Ron Begins the Beguine

2021 dawns and what to do? I've been puzzling again lately. Jigsaw puzzling. Don't feel like reading all of a sudden. Maybe we should dance. Why not Begin the Beguine ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCYGyg1H56s

Here is a puzzle my daughter and I just finished. We've already got another going.



December sunsets where I live are a visual treat and surprise. This is a sunset view from my side yard looking over the Carquinez Strait.



So a new year and new books to read, and maybe revisit a few old favorites.

My 2020 reading adventures can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/315022 at the end of that thread you can see my favorite books for 2020.

I had a slow reading start last year but as the world shut down thanks to the coronavirus my wife and I curtailed most of our usual activities starting in February and my reading really picked up. A friend had dropped off several bags of books not long before this and these proved to be a great resource once I no longer had the library or the friends of the library sales and bookshops to peruse - not even our goodwill stores. Having a huge accumulation of unread books finally paid off.

And so I read a lot in 2020 and it turned out to be one of the most satisfying book reading years that I can recall. Our library expanded the ebooks available as the year went by since they were no longer physically open (although they did partially reopen for a short period but have since closed back down). So my books on hand to read plus about a dozen ebooks worked out quite well.

I think my 2021 reading will be similar to 2020, except my goal will be a modest 50 books and there will likely be fewer science fiction anthologies. I have some chunksters to work on, I have several series to work on, several I might start, and I want to continue to revisit favorite authors for new reads and a few re-reads. I'm going to loosely follow the American Author challenge and join in there from time to time with books off my shelf that I want to read or re-read. I also would like to do some focused reads now and then where I pick a topic I'm interested in and read several books by the author or on a topic in a relatively short period of time. This is something I used to do all the time years ago but doing it again in 2020 with a bit of Australia was mentally rewarding to me. I'm going to continue a light focus on Australia and Australian authors and I have a small group of books already selected to work from. I have a couple other ideas for personal theme reads as well. I'm about half way through setting up 6 shelves of TBR books with about 22-28 books per shelf to keep me busy in 2021.
Here is a look at two of the shelves:

I have not yet chosen any favorites from my childhood or my children's childhood to re-read or read for the first time, but we have plenty here to choose from.

I've been on LT since early 2009 and my activity here has varied, but I do keep this thread up to date as it serves as a great reading diary for me. I welcome visitors and hope to see some old and new friends here this year. I welcome comments on books.

Welcome back! I can’t even tell you how many times I played that song in band over the years... 😀

Howdy New Year, Ron.

Happy reading in 2021, Ron!

I'll be following along, Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Have a great 2021 of reading!

And keep up with my friends here, Ron. Have a great 2021.

>2 drneutron: I do hope you played it a lot Jim because it is a classic.
>3 weird_O: and a Howdy New Year back atcha Bill
>4 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita. I hope you have a great reading year also.
>5 Berly: Thank you Kim.
>6 karspeak: Hi Karen. I enjoy your comments and notes on the books you read.
>7 majkia: Thank you Jean.
>8 thornton37814: Thank you Lori.
>9 PaulCranswick: and thank you Paul. One day the world should settle down a bit and we can have more of those things. Well, maybe not more tea as i am drinking too much already!

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

Love the puzzle - that would be my kind of game! And the mix on the shelves is very intriguing! Happy New Reading Year!

Happy New year! I fell far behind on threads last year but hope to keep up better this year, and look forward to seeing what you're reading.

Happy New Year, Ron!

Man, I wish your puzzle bookstore was a RL one. I like the looks of it. I'm ready to browse.

>13 swynn: I fell behind as well Steve and just lurked when I tried to catch up on some. Glad to see you checking in.

>14 jnwelch: That bookstore puzzle was a lot of fun Joe imagining it was a real place. The next one we did was a library which was very cool but none of the book titles were visible.

Happy New Year to both of you!

I've decided to start the year with a read of The Chronicles of Prydain. There are 5 novels and a prequel of short stories. I started last night on The Book of Three. I read some of Lloyd Alexander's books when I was fairly young but only one in this series that I can vaguely recall (The Black Cauldron). This series was my wife's favorite young adult series and I raided her stash to add her books to my LT inventory.

Hello, Ron!

>16 RBeffa: I *loved* that series when I was a kiddo. I reread them a few years ago and am so happy that they hold up.

Dropping off my star! Intrigued to hear your thoughts on the Chronicles of Prydain -- and if you'll watch the Disney animated film from 1985 afterward (some interesting history behind it), or if you're going into reading the series with it already in mind! I might be due for a re-read as well, it has been a loooooong time...

>17 scaifea: Thanks for dropping by Amber. I have high hopes and I am enjoying this first book so far.

>18 dk_phoenix: Hi Faith. I am unsure if I ever watched the Black Cauldron film. I know it has a bad reputation. Our library has the DVD so when they reopen I might give it a try later this year. I see on LT that Roni led a group read of the series in 2010 (Before I was a member of the 75 group). I'm going to try and not look at the threads until I get at least the first book done!

Hi Ron. I also spend time putting together 1,000 piece puzzles. For the first time ever, a piece was missing after hours spent of an image much like your opening. It was a lovely book store, with ONE piece missing. ugh.

I look forward to visiting here and learning what books you are reading.

>20 Whisper1: Thanks for dropping in Linda. I've dropped a star on your thread. My wife and I have been doing a puzzle swap in recent months and have encountered several that were missing a piece. That is always frustrating. Don't think I had that happen with a brand new one. This is a lovely Ravensburger my daughter and I finished after the bookstore one - appropriately a library.

>21 RBeffa: That is a very nice-looking puzzle! My brother's family always gets a landscape to put together at Christmas. They always frame them after Christmas.

>16 RBeffa: I did not read these as a child--I was 20 before the first was published--but did fall in love with them when I read them in those 20s, so I hope you like them too. The first book is completely a child's book, but they grow up along with Taran, so stay in for the long haul. I just went back and reviewed the thread from 2010 and I think it's worth looking at once you are done.

>21 RBeffa: I've put together puzzles since I was a child. Sunday night was always family night when my mother, and my sisters and I played games or did puzzles.

I read somewhere (can't remember where) that puzzles are more popular since the covid virus mandates that we stay inside.

I saw the puzzle you noted above, and I was tempted to purchase it. Now that I see how truly beautiful it is, I will look for it.

>24 Whisper1: One of the smart things I did when this pandemic was just starting was stock up on puzzles. Puzzles started going out of stock and the prices have gone up and up. We have been doing puzzles for many years - it has been a family activity - but the last 8 years or so we just started really enjoying it more and more.

>23 ronincats: Roni, I think I was in my early 30's when I first read some of the books by Alexander. My wife was really a fan of them. A well done children's book is timeless.

1. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, finished January 5, 2021, 4 stars



For a children's fantasy book from the mid 1960s this holds up extremely well. This is the first book in a series of 5 novels plus a collection of shorts. It has a good cast of characters and a story well told. I wondered why I didn't read these when I was young but my wife tells me they were more for young girls. "You wouldn't have bonded with Eilonwy, the princess" she tells me. She's probably right. The target audience for this book would be about age 9-12. My fiction reading at that age revolved around Andre Norton and the Tarzan novels and this series would have been coming out when I was on to other things. I had no trouble enjoying this one now. There's something for everyone in this, and plenty of dark business on the periphery that the best fairytales have. Oh, and a happy ending.

I'm looking forward to continuing these stories which I'll mix in with other readings.

Yay, glad it worked for you. They just get better.

>27 RBeffa: >28 ronincats: I agree with Roni - I love that first one, but the rest of the books just get better and better as you go, and the last one is a masterpiece.

>28 ronincats: >29 scaifea: It is hard not to like this first book. My only complaint is that it jumps by leaps over events esp at the end. My wife tells me that The Black Cauldron was her favorite.

I was undecided what to read next. Several books I had chosen for January reading just sat there looking back at me, uninspiring for the moment. I wanted more adventure and so I have started the second Prydain book, The Black Cauldron. Just a bit though. I also started a very difficult 1000 pc Dowdle puzzle that I spent many hours on last night and have many more hours to go. Although I have done quite a few Dowdles in the past I forgot how bothered I was by how loosely the pieces fit. Lovely and fun illustrations but hard work to do them. (I'll note that Costco had a bunch of ones for 9.99 on my last visit)

This is the bugger I'm working on:


I had originally thought I had read The Black Cauldron novel in the mid 80's, but now I think not because the characters of the first book who also are part of the continuing adventure in The Black Cauldron were unfamiliar to me, and they are not forgettable characters! My wife insists we did not see the Disney film. I also took a closer look at the maps for each story and note that they show the routes taken by Taran and compadres.

So on I go.

>31 RBeffa: That looks like a nice brown and blue puzzle. ;-)

>32 thornton37814: That it is. I think I need to stay away from the 1000 piece dowdle puzzles. The 500 piece dowdles are hard enough.

Second book for the year:

2. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander, finished January 9, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



I don't think I enjoyed 'The Black Cauldron' as much as most readers. The second book in the Prydain series that follows 'The Book of Three', this one loses the innocence of the first novel and has a sadder tone to it. And yet, it is still an excellent story, with our nominal hero Taran growing up.

Love your puzzles, Ron. When I was in high school, there was almost always one in progress on the dining room table. And I carried on with them myself from time to time in later years, but not recently. I think I just have enough other sedentary projects to keep me occupied. And then there's the stiff neck issue...and the cat...

>34 laytonwoman3rd: Oh the cats are great helpers, especially our Foo. You should be able to see these embarrassing FB pix:

Your cats are definitely great helpers. Mine enjoy helping too.

>35 RBeffa: Lovely cats! Do they hide pieces?

>37 PersephonesLibrary: We do an excellent job of hiding pieces ourselves! However, a swishing tale can do wonders to puzzles in progress.

Yes, I see that the cats are most definitely adept in the puzzle department! Molly has been satisfying herself by removing one plastic icicle a day from the Christmas tree...never the same one two days in a row...just to see how smart we are. I hate to take the thing down. She's having such a good time messin' with her hoomans.

Your cats are beautiful. My daughter and son in law have two cats, one named Gordan Shumway (from the tv series Alf.) They dress the cats in costumes for Christmas, Halloween, and, now they purchased a stroller for them. I laugh. My grand daughter is 17. She is in the photos a lot.

Funny, weird and something that makes the family laugh.

Love the puzzle/cat photos! I can see how those helpers could also be a hindrance. LOL

>38 RBeffa: Yes - I am very good at hiding them myself, too. :D

Linda and Linda and Kim and Kathy, thanks for dropping by. My reading remains in slow motion with several in progress, but not much progress. Another puzzle awaits me on the puzzle table but I have not started yet.

>39 laytonwoman3rd: Jasper (our orange cat) is a terror around Christmas trees. We have not put one up for the last couple years.

>40 Whisper1: My daughter has on occasion done some funny stuff with the cats - she has some cute photos but I try not to encourage that!

>41 Berly: >42 PersephonesLibrary: In all my years I have never had a puzzle helper like Jasper.

3. Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate, finished January 15, 2021, 3 stars



When I finished up 'The Black Cauldron' a week ago my overall feeling was one of sadness. It is not a happy book and bad things happen to everyone. I was unsure what to read next and I am working on a book for the American Author challenge, but it is a serious book. After a while I decided I'd like something lighter. So a book aimed at middle schoolers about a boy with an invisible friend who happends to be a very large cat seemed a little irresistible.

Well, it is a good book but it isn't exactly a happy or light book either. The title character is almost superfluous. The story is about an 11 year old boy Jackson who has a close loving family, but health and job issues have things falling apart and Jackson wants to know the truth of what is happening but his parents divert the subject. Soon they are homeless, the father has developed MS, the fall back jobs aren't enough and so on. Serious issues for a ten or eleven year old to read and think about but I wanted more from this story.

>44 RBeffa: After a while I decided I'd like something lighter. My first thought was, "Welp, *that's* not the book you want, then." Ha! I'm glad you enjoyed it, though. I was weeping by the end (but in a good way).

>45 scaifea: Really a poor choice for something lighter! My own fault. The book had a happy sad end as you know. All I could think was, what is going to happen to Jackson's family in another month!

Actually, The Castle of Llyr could be that book, Ron.

I read Crenshaw awhile back. I remember liking it, but also reacting to what I thought was too much sadness. I tend to like the books of Katherine Applegate.

>46 RBeffa: It was definitely worth the tears, though, I think. She's a pretty fantastic writer.

>47 ronincats: I think you are right Roni. Reading some summaries it looks like the little romance I have been expecting in the series starts to blossom. I didn't want to rush through the series, but I will get to that one soon.

>48 Whisper1: I had Crenshaw and the Ivan book tagged in my library app. I've seen positive mentions of Applegate's books so I went with it when I browsed the ebooks available at the library. She seems like a very good writer.

>49 scaifea: I agree Amber.

I'm currently reading a novella set in a series I read 8 or 10 years ago. I was surprised at how well I remembered the setting given the time span. I can't say that I like the story (one of the main characters is really a nasty dude) and I am somewhere past the halfway point, but there are elements of the story I like a lot, especially really fleshing out a character from the prior books. I hope it has a good finish. Should finish it up today.

Here is my latest puzzle finished this morning. For a 500 piece puzzle it was pretty hard. It is a Bits and Pieces puzzle called "Best Snowman Ever". We have had it for a while but I had never done it. I had a little bit of help from my wife and daughter.

What a lovely puzzle.

That’s a nice one. I have to confess that I’m more a standard tab-and-slot puzzle piece person. The irregular pieces usually give me quite a bit of trouble. Fortunately, the puzzle app on the iPad uses regular ones!😀

>51 Whisper1: >52 drneutron: Thanks!

Jim, I have been a little slow to warm to these variable shape puzzles. I think it may say on the box that no two pieces are alike. The odd shapes are a help in some ways once you get used to them but you have to work at them differently than a standard shape puzzle. One thing I like is the larger sized pieces. My next puzzle is beautiful but it will be a real challenge.

4. The River Horses by Allen Steele, finished January 17, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



Relatively speaking, this novella is a weak entry in the Coyote Trilogy series. It follows the first two novels and precedes the third, Coyote Frontier, although it was written and published after the three original books. It suffers from the weak points of the novels (especially the first), yet fails to have moments that really rise above the mediocre storytelling. I'd suggest this for completists only reading Steele's works, as it does provide some additional background to the overall story of the colonization of the planet Coyote. As a standalone I think new readers would be a little lost. One of the three main characters is a real ass and distinctly unpleasant.

However, I really liked the fleshing out of Manuel "Manny" Castro, who is a savant. Savant here is a human consciousness that has been saved to a robotic body. We might have thought him something of a bad guy in prior stories but here we see the true soul behind the hard exterior. Manny certainly saved this book for me. But also, this is a story of redemption and giving life a restart. It makes me want to read the followup novel Coyote Frontier (if I can only find where I put it with my recent shelf reorganization...)

5. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake, Illustrated by Jon Klassen, finished January 18, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



Linda, laytonwoman3rd, read this a couple months ago and it caught my eye primarily because I enjoyed Jon Klassen's drawings in the novel Pax and wanted more. Plus the story sounded a bit like Wind in the Willows for 2020. Well luckily Badger here is a little cranky and self absorbed but nowhere nearso as Mr. Toad was long ago and the book is about an odd couple who forge a friendship in spite of Badger's reluctance. Skunk is just so persevering and they both are funny and entertaining. I probably would have adored this book when I was 9 or 10.

Klassen's drawings are few and far between but very good.

I highly recommend Klassen's other picture books, too. They're clever and funny and a little strange, but always in a good way. And, of course, the illustrations are amazing.

>56 scaifea: One more Klassen here

6. The Nest by Kenneth Oppell, illustrated by Jon Klassen, finished January 19, 2021, 4 stars



Holy cow this is a scary story. Targeted at those 10 and over I think I might up that age to 12 and older. This is another one lightly illustrated by Jon Klassen. His images here are more 'primitive' black and white sketches. My daughter and I read several of Oppel's novels about the time she started at high school. She hadn't been much of a reader much to my dismay, and while I was at the library one day I spotted Airborn and thought it the sort of book I would have loved at her age so I checked it out on a hunch. She loved it. Then I read it and really liked it as well. Oppel turned out to be one of a handful of authors who turned my daughter into an avid reader.

So, this book. This one. This book is very very good. It tackles a serious issue, an infant born with congenital defects and a family trying to cope as best they can. The story is told from the viewpoint of a young boy Steve and the author doesn't wait too long before the creepy stuff starts and it gets thicker with it, and you can't stop turning the pages. Is this scary stuff real or mostly in the boy's head? The story tackles other serious issues also as we head through the book. Steven it turns out has some problems of his own that we the reader didn't know about (and some we did).

I don't want to spoil this by saying more. Recommended

>55 RBeffa: Glad you enjoyed that one, Ron. I tried to read Pax a while ago when people were warbling about it here, and it didn't quite catch me, but it is a lovely book, and I intend to give it another go one of these days.

>58 laytonwoman3rd: Pax does have some 'bothers' Linda, I agree.

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This one is for the American Author challenge. It left me emotionally exhausted by the end.

7. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, finished January 26, 2021, 4 1/2 - 5 stars



Before starting I thought this might be a re-read but I couldn't place when or where I might have read this before. I do know that I have read an excerpt from it, but I think that is all, other than having seen the film decades ago.

The dedication: 'This book is for Martha Gellhorn'.

In any event, with Hemingway one gets love and war. The story is a tragedy in multiple ways. It is incredibly powerful despite some faults. The writing is unmistakably Hemingway but the way he chose to write this is a little strange to me, and to many others judging by comments readers have made. I don't want to focus on the negatives. The story itself is very rich (although more than a little drawn out) and we really get inside the American Robert Jordan and what he is dealing with when he joins up with anti-fascist Republican guerillas who are not entirely on his side. Robert Jordan's romance with Maria changes him and felt very believable, although a bit over the top. But passionate love does things to you. The 507 pages concern one small incident within the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), but many other stories are told within to give the reader a sense of the ugliness of the whole affair.

A very good book considering it is from 1940. It was not a book I wanted to speed through. Not a slog, just read small portions at a time. I would have enjoyed it more if the language had not been so odd. There are really strong moments of the story throughout the book and Hemingway's skill in creating this becomes more apparent. I felt a little tricked because when Robert Jordan realizes that Maria is the love of his life and he would rather live with and for her rather than die 'for the cause', the narrator says at the beginning of a life changing passionate moment: 'and all his life he would remember the curve of her throat .... ". And so I thought, thank goodness that Robert Jordan is not going to die in this. But at the end of the novel which is only 2 or 3 days later, I am pretty certain that Robert Jordan had only minutes left to live.

I'm going to take a reading break from new books for the moment. I want to re-read much of this very big novel now that I know the characters so much better than I did at the start.

ETA: After reading parts of this novel again I am more impressed with it than ever. I just get knocked out with this. It really is a Hemingway masterpiece.

>59 RBeffa: It is possibly my favourite Hemingway, Ron.

What book by Hemingway would you recommend for the start? I know he is always on "best books" and "books to read" list but somehow the stories around his personality have kept me from reading anything. Probably The Old Man and the Sea?

>59 RBeffa: I think I read that one in high school, when I was in no way prepared for it and I got the distinct feeling my teacher wasn't a fan. Although as I look back, I'm fairly sure she would have had a LOT to say about the curriculum, unless it was dictated by the New York State Board of Regents at the time, which is a possibility. I have never revisited it, although I have a "time to give Hemingway another go" spell every once in a while. I liked The Green Hills of Africa, and A Moveable Feast makes up for a lot.

>60 PaulCranswick: It is very good Paul. If I had to pick a favorite it would be A Moveable Feast

>61 PersephonesLibrary: That is kind of a tough question Kathy. The Old Man and the Sea is the first Hemingway I read - probably at the end of high school. I re-read it again sometime later, and then once again two years ago. It had the advantage of being novella length but it is an excellent book and certainly an acceptable starter. I think I would recommend A Moveable Feast however and pair it with Paula McLain's The Paris Wife. There is more than one edition of the book - I have not read the new one (although I plan to one day). Try to find the original edition. Many years ago I remember singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter talking about Hemingway's Moveable Feast and how strongly it affected her. She even wrote a song "Mrs. Hemingway", who in that case was Hadley. I think in any of Hemingway's books one can find something to bother about if so inclined. But I would not worry about that. Chapin talks about Hemingway near the end of this interview: https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2010/06/mary_chapin_carpenter_talks_ab.ht...

>62 laytonwoman3rd: I know you haven't been a fan of Hemingway Linda. I have Green Hills but I only read a small part of it long ago.

>53 RBeffa: This is a pretty puzzle!

>64 Whisper1: Very pretty and hard as well. I didn't get very far and decided to put it away. I'll do it later. No more puzzles for the moment. My puzzle table has seeds and starter pots getting ready to grow veges, especially tomatoes.

>63 RBeffa: Thank you, Ron!

>66 PersephonesLibrary: You are welcome Kathy - I wish you success.

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This one is for the British Author challenge

8. The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton, finished February 1, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



Last year I enjoyed the first two entries in the Borrowers series quite a lot for children's books. They had a lot of charm and interesting things happening. The first half of this third entry frankly bored me and I couldn't quite shrug off the frustration when the story did pick up.

I think most readers enjoyed this more than I did - and I really like the Spiller character coming back to the second half of this book (I think he and Arrietty make these fun - the mother Homily was rather overbaked with her fretting and whatever it is - it gets old fast).

This comes in at the low end of an OK read.

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I'm going back to my re-read of Hemingway before I start on my choice for the February American Author challenge.

>67 RBeffa: The low end of OK? I like that as a rating - a polite form of meh!

I have only read the opening book in the series and liked it a lot whilst reading it to the kids half a lifetime ago.

>68 PaulCranswick: I'm not so fond of meh! I was perhaps a tad harsh in my assessment of the book, but I was disappointed.

I left a note similar to this on the American Author thread and attempted to avoid spoilers, but I keep notes here more as a reading diary.

I've started The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin. It consists of four novellas, three of which were published in 1993 magazines - Granta, Esquire and The Paris review. I do not think they are related. I like when books show the origin of story collections at the opening of the book. My copy of the book was published in 1995. I've read the first story 'The Accountant' and I am impressed even though it is an odd but well told story. Very different from my normal reading and different than prior things I have read by Canin. In keeping with the title the story is very well ordered just as one would expect an accountant to do as he relates a large portion of his life. I was surprised that the settings of the story are near where I grew up. (among others not specifically stated but a nod to Malvina Reynold's song about ticky tacky houses which I drove past a couple thousand times in my life probably. He even goes on to describe how the boxes were arranged!. The last sentence of the story pretty much summed up my impression of the man's life. Spoiler of sorts - I was quite surprised that the great ballplayer Willie Mays shows up as a character in the story.

The second novella included in The Palace Thief is titled 'Batorsag and Szerelem' and first appeared in the July 1993 issue of Granta Magazine. It was made into a 2006 film "Beautiful Ohio" based on a screenplay by the author in 2006. I'm at a bit of a loss to describe this but it is set starting in 1973 with Vietnam, the Paris Peace Accords, the whole Nixon and Agnew happenings etc as a background to a small Jewish family - two teenaged boys and their parents with the parents suddenly losing their religion and becoming Quakers (as protests to the Vietnam war). The story is told from the viewpoint of William whose brother Clive is a math genius and rather strange - Clive speaks a secret language that only his friend Elliot can speak back to him - spoiler - we and William learn much later that it is Hungarian. There is another secret here as well which we don't see until the end. Another slight spoiler: If one googles one will find that the title means something like Courage and Love. One does not know this within the story but knowing it illuminates it afterwards.

Very good story.

Hello Ron! Happy belated New Year! I hope all is well with you.

I love what you have going in your thread this year. From the puzzles to the younger reader selections, it has been fun to read through it.

>27 RBeffa: >33 RBeffa: I was a huge fan of The Prydain Chronicles as a kid and devoured them speedily. To tell the truth, I don't remember much about it. I did remember that the third book, The Castle of Llyr was my favorite. The Disney animated film was terrible. my two cents.

>53 RBeffa: Love this image. It would make a great puzzle.

>55 RBeffa: Skunk and Badger looks like a good one as well.

>72 brodiew2: It is so good to see you here Brodie. I've missed your commentary. I am having fun with younger aged reading. There are plenty of books that I missed for myself, and newer ones when my kids were young, although there are of course many we enjoyed. And new ones come all the time. I have one more just finished that I'll put up with some comments before too long. I think I have 6 or 7 books in progress at the moment but I have just not been reading so much the last couple weeks. And I'm overdue for another puzzle too!

I plan to continue with the Prydain chronicles before too long, as well as the Borrowers and others. I'll mix in a serious book too.

Drop by here when you can. Life has plenty of challenges these days, but we deal with them. Covid has changed the world. I hope all is well with you.

9. Sleep Like A Tiger by Mary Logue, Pamela Zagarenski (Illustrator), finished February 11, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



I picked this one up from our library along with several books I'd had my eyes on for a while. Whisper1 Linda had read this a short while ago and it caught my eye. I wasn't expecting such a short book - it seemed over too fast. However, this is the sort of book I would have liked to have shared with my kids when they were somewhere near 1 to 2, and I could read it and they could have fun with the pictures while trying to guide and talk them to sleep. We had several books that we loved to go through together when they were at the not going to fall asleep stage - I'm not sure this would have been one of them.

Some of the photos have a lot going on if you look behind the main picture and I'm unsure what it is but it is kinda fun to explore the little bits. I was slightly disconcerted by the artist's portrayal of humans - they have very long arms and legs and very tiny feet and hands. It felt just a little creepy.

10. The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin, finished February 14, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



Four stories of roughly 50 pages apiece. I've discussed the first two above. The stories are well constructed and written but the subjects are primarily unlikeable people. The author also seems to have a fetish for baseball (like many Americans, but not me).

The third story in The Palace Thief collection, City of Broken Dreams, left me sad. Three years before the story opens the main character has been betrayed by his wife who places no fault on him. When their son reached 18 she revealed she had been having an affair with one of his coworkers for 2 years and she couldn't explain it better than that she was drawn to him. Her husband had been everything she wanted from a spouse. Until she fell for the other guy. Our guy has a bit of a meltdown and feels lost at 54 years of age. He is also losing his son he feels and tries hard to keep connected with him away at school but the son thinks very differently about the world. On a short visit home the son manages to teach his father some new life lessons and just perhaps put him on the road to a new life.

The fourth story 'The Palace Thief' was turned into a film, 'The Emperor's Club'. I remember liking the film nearly 20 years ago but in my memory now I think I have conflated it with 'Dead Poet's Society'. However watching a few youtube clips refreshed my memory a bit - I liked the movie at the time - Kevin Kline is so good. If you remember the film the story seems familiar, about a schoolteacher with a challenging student. This story is the best of the bunch here but like the others I didn't become very emotionally invested. The writing is very good.

I've decided there is something of a theme with these stories and it is about men who in late middle age look back on their life and are unhappy with it, or something was broken in it. That kind of thing is a bit of a downer.

I looked at the back cover of the book and the description and three blurbs, although overly enthusiastic as they tend to be, describe this collection very well (and much better than I can). From the description: 'Ethan Canin's stories capture people at crucial moments, as they struggle to understand the strange, surprising turns their lives have taken. Canin infuses the ordinary with drama and mystery; each story illuminates a secret life and speaks with the force of confession. Contemporary in voice, The Palace Thief promises to be a lasting fiction classic.'

Confessional - that was the word I mentally searched for to describe these stories.

Overall I was hoping for more from this.

>75 RBeffa: I will try my first Ethan Canin soon with America America. Hopefully it sings to me more than that one did for you, Ron.

>76 PaulCranswick: I have no regrets about reading the book Paul. Canin is an extremely skillful writer. I have America, America on my bookshelf so I hope you enjoy it. I read an excerpt from it in a Granta magazine years ago and it was very thought provoking. Canin does make one think about things.

Delurking to wish you a happy reading weekend, Ron!

>78 PersephonesLibrary: Thank you Kathy.

I'm almost but not quite in a reading pause at the moment. I've started an anthology of six novellas which are basically Dashiell Hammett in space. An odd combo but as I read the first novella, 'Guardian Angel' by Mike Resnick the whole time in my head I heard Humphrey Bogart's voice as the narrator. So, I guess it worked.
The first one was OK but utterly forgettable. We'll see how it goes - I have a whole bunch of books demanding my attention but I have been spending much of my spare time in the garden.

I have an appointment for my first vaccine shot tomorrow. Excited.

Just finished a novel.

11. The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, finished February 21, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



This wasn't the best Preston and Child story I ever read, but it is the most recent, just being published a month ago in January. I like the new to me FBI agent Corrie Swanson. I hope the writers continue with her as a character. Part of the central mystery resolution I suspected very early on. A lot of clues are dropped. I didn't care for most of the characters in here other than Agent Swanson and Sheriff Homer Watts. I was slow to warm to this story but it improves and for an easy to read suspense thriller it met my needs. I also got to learn a bit of New Mexico history.

Hi Ron. I am sorry to hear that The Scorpion's Tail did not do the trick.

1 I am in the final stretch of Light of the Jed. It is the first in a new Star Wars publishing event that takes place 200 years prior to The Phantom Menace. It is a refreshingly good reintroduction to Star Wars.

Have a pleasant Sunday.

>81 brodiew2: Hi Brodie. My comments on The Scorpion's Tail sound a little disappointing, I know, but my rating of 3 1/2 stars I consider at the high end of an OK read. It IS an entertaining book, just not as good as I had hoped.

I hope you enjoy your Jedi book. I've never read a Star Wars book. Hope your weekend went well.

This seems like a good time to pull out some of our James Herriot's children's books.

12. Moses the Kitten by James Herriot, illustrated by Peter Barrett, finished February 24, 2021, 4 stars



Like all of the James Herriot stories for children, Moses the Kitten has beautiful illustrations, big large sized ones. The pictures tell the story as much as the words and I remember reading this with my daughter when she was very young. I am sure she has no memory of this now. The Taxi Dog and Marvin the ape stories were among both my kids early favorites. I seemed to have enjoyed the Herriot books more than they did! In this story a homeless kitten finds a home on the Butler farm and joins a family of piglets, just as if he was one. It is a cute story of finding a place in your world wherever you might be able to fit in.

I think I'll read more of these stories over the course of this year. I'm not sure where all our kids books are but that seems to be a theme that resonates with me at this time.

This is a San Francisco born author I was completely unfamiliar with, although the book I just read was her sixth release in 20 years. Her parents were both immigrants, her mother Swedish, and that is reflected in the Swedish mother and influences in this book. She has a rather famous husband, Dave Eggers.

13. We Run The Tides by Vendela Vida, finished February 28, 2021, 4 stars



I picked up this new release almost, but not quite, at random. The title teased me. The cover teased me. I remember "running the tides" when I was young. When there was a low tide you could run around some of the coastal bluffs very quickly if you watched the waves closely. It could be dangerous.

The story is set in San Francisco around 1985, a time and place I am quite familiar with. Diane Feinstein is the mayor. It is a San Francisco that I remember. Our main character Eulabee lives in the most prestigious and exclusive area in San Francisco. This is a coming of age story for a 13 year old girl but I can't quite call this a young adult novel - there are some serious and mature things in here. When I started to casually read this I didn't stop until more than a third of the book was done. I wanted to see where this was going to go. I'm glad I did. The last chapter is set in 2019 and it was a very good finish.

Eulabee does indeed run the tides. Very good book that will probably be on my favorites of the year list. There were a few bits in here that keep me from praising this and giving it more than 4 stars. It was the strong ending I think that made this for me.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a good review of this book: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-privileged-teens-take-on-1980s-san...

DNF Survivors by Jane Harper, abandoned 3/1/2021

I liked Jane Harper's Dry well enough to want to read this new release of hers from the library. I'm pearl ruling it at 43 pages after reading the prologue and 3 chapters, plus a little skipping ahead.. Just too bored and disappointed with the storytelling here.

>85 RBeffa: Sorry to hear that one didn't click for you, Ron. I enjoyed The Dry myself. Have you read any of Garry Disher's novels? He's how I've been getting my fix of Australia recently.

>86 laytonwoman3rd: I think you may have mentioned him to me before Linda since I have one of his books dropped into my library "wishlist". A branch in our system must have a resident fan because it has six different books by him whereas our local one has exactly one. And all the others none! I should check if they have any ebooks. Thanks for the reminder.

I just had my 12th thingaversary and bought a bunch of books including Harper's Force of Nature which features the same detective as the Dry. I hope my purchase does not disappoint. I had gone a full year without a book purchase!

Hi Ron. I tried The Lost Man and put it down, but not because it was particularly bad.

I have heard good things about A Contest of Principles. It may be time to do that palate cleansing star trek novel.

>88 brodiew2: I do have a few unread Star Trek books on hand so if I get desperate I can have a go.

What I have started however is the book that the recent George Clooney film Midnight Sky was adapted from. I liked that movie altho my wife and daughter were underwhelmed. (There were one or two really stupid bits in the film). I have high hopes for the book Good Morning, Midnight. The title copies a Jean Rhys novel and the epigraph is "I heave myself out of the darkness slowly, painfully. And there I am, and there he is... - Jean Rhys

I think I'm going to like this book. It is different enough from the film at the start, but also familiar.

I heard mixed to negative reviews on Midnight Sky.

Have you gotten to the Castle of Llyr yet?

Castle of Llyr is waiting on the shelf in my reading corner. I won't wait too long for it.

Yes, I recall mixed reviews on Midnight Sky. I enjoyed it overall but recognize a few problems. It is anything but an action packed film and some viewers might get bored.

I've been enjoying my garden - we have a spell of mild weather and a number of our fruit trees are in bloom - plum, apricots, apple and peach.

Reading Good Morning Midnight after having watched the film Midnight Sky in December is proving to be interesting. My initial strong feeling is that the film and book complement each other. The stories are not exactly the same although some important elements are and the excellent visuals in the film of the arctic base and especially the spaceship have really enhanced my reading of the story. It is too early for me to draw conclusions but I am getting no sense of the side characters in the book beyond Augustine and Sully. Also, knowing the two "tricks" of the story already gives me a different approach to reading the book. The film gave me a reasonably good sense of the supplemental characters. I'm thinking I may watch it again before I finish the book. The biggest difference in the story right out of the box is that Augustine is not dying and on dialysis as in the movie. He is simply the aged man that George Clooney portrays very well. The illness in the film seems unnecessary reading the book.

What this is about is isolation and the meaning of life.

>88 brodiew2: I meant to mention, Brodie, that I had browsed the beginning of The Lost Man at the library shortly before the shutdown a year ago and it really didn't seem to interest me and so I put it down as well. If you look at most reviews on Goodreads you will see fangirls gushing all over themselves in their desire to be "influencers" for the book whereas I am pretty sure that it is not a very good book.

>92 RBeffa: I am glad that you are finding good morning midnight to be complimentary to the film. That doesn't seem like a bad experience all the way around.

No one can say you didn't give her a try. I haven't returned to her either.

As I mentioned above, seeing the film 'The Midnight Sky' and then reading the book it was based on worked out well. There are a number of differences between the film and the book. The core idea and story are pretty similar. The contemplative nature of the book is mostly absent in the film where action scenes are inserted that make no appearance in the novel.

14. Good morning, midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, finished March 4, 2021, 4+ stars



If I remember some of the complaints about the film Midnight Sky, one of the biggies is that we have no idea what happened to the population of Earth. The film suggests radiation from something like a nuclear war is spreading across the earth with origin points at major cities in early visuals. Who knows? Whatever, it kills everybody. It IS a bother. In the book early on the astronauts returning from their journey to Jupiter's moons are trying to figure out why the earth has gone completely silent. Their sensors can tell them that the earth wasn't hit by an asteroid or comet and there is no indication of a massive explosion or nuclear holocaust that would have covered the sky. That alone pretty much rules out widespread nuclear bombs. So the earth goes silent in one day. No radio, no TV, no internet, no nothing.

But here's the thing. It doesn't matter whether it ended with a bang or a whimper. It ended. The story is about how Augustine, probably the last man on earth, and the spacefarers returning from Jupiter deal with their own histories and the end of their days. Augustine has an additional responsibility since a young girl, Iris, seems to have been left behind at the observatory.

The story in the book differs from the film, for the better. But the visuals in the film are excellent. There are two or three biggie differences. One is the ending. The book ends very differently than the film. I'm not sure if one is better than the other. Second, in the film George Clooney's character Augustine is old, dying (and drinking) and needs transfusions/dialysis to stay alive. In the book he has no illness, he's just old. The other big difference is that the crew on the spaceship Aether in the film vs. the book are completely different people with the exception of Sully. The book, despite my first impression does a very good job with the secondary characters. I give the nod to the book here with an interesting and international crew. Despite some other story changes it strikes me as odd to completely reinvent the crew (although a few characteristics are echoed into the new characters). The author has done a good job in the book. Some stuff was put into the film I suppose to juice it up. Leave a good story alone dudes. Really. I will admit that there are a few spots in the novel that drag a bit from too much introspection.

So in the end I give a fairly strong nod to the book as the better story. I liked it a lot. As I just said though, the film has amazing visuals. But they sorta screwed up with the film unfortunately.

I went looking around on the web for comments on the film vs the book and what I found were people writing articles who had obviously NOT read the book. They probably skimmed 10 or 20 pages if that. Maybe just the publisher summary of something. Who knows. They should be embarrassed.

So, the book I recommend - read the book then see the film. The film has a tighter focus. I don't want to spoil the story.

Well, you got me with that one!

It is a very good book Jim. I'm a tough grader but I even contemplated giving this 5 stars. The more I think on it the closer it gets to 5 stars rather than 4. An early reader on goodreads said it reminded him of On The Beach. Been a long while since I read or saw that one so I can't say for sure.

>94 RBeffa: Excellent review of Good Morning, Midnight, Ron. When thing I wasn't sure of is whether the Earth is uninhabitable or whether humanity simply disappeared. It would certainly make a difference returning astronauts

I love your reading middle aged and YA books! I have so many that I bought and haven't read. Your journey reminds me to go to the top of the steps and delve into the large book case there that holds many jems!

I formerly was on the quest to read all Newbery's medal and honor books. I was quite successful for a year. I found many of early ones were trite, and then, bam along would come a wonderful thought provoking one!

>97 brodiew2: If you watch the movie Brodie (I need to watch it again soon) you will note that in the beginning at the arctic observatory after everyone evacuates Augustine is looking at some computer screens and it shows large circles expanding from North American cities. Without it ever being said the idea is given that radiation from this is sweeping rapidly over the world. Much later in the film I seem to recall that arctic terns fall dead from the sky. So it makes no sense other than suicide for the astronauts to return to earth.

None of that is in the book. We never know what happened. There is one thing at the very end of the book that gave me a slight doubt that the earth may no longer be friendly to life but for the full year after the event that Augustine lives in the arctic he is surrounded by life - fish (artic char which he catches and eats, arctic hares, musk ox, a few wolves, a polar bear and nesting arctic terns. So, if the astronauts return to earth they may have a chance to live.

As I've hopefully suggested above, I think both the film and book go together - some things I think are done better in the film, notably the contact between Augustine at the arctic base and Sully on the Aether space ship.

>98 Whisper1: Thanks for dropping by Linda. I am definitely enjoying my children/ young adult reading this year. I'm not sure where we have stored some of our lovely books but I have a number on hand to keep me visiting them for a while. Years ago my wife also sought out the Newberry and Caldecott books so we have a bunch of the older ones.

>94 RBeffa: Got me with it too, Ron.
Like you I have enjoyed reading a bit more YA fiction this year. Strong on story.

>101 PaulCranswick: I hope you enjoy the book someday Paul. If you have not seen the Netflix film 'The Midnight Sky' I would recommend it to see if you like the story idea. The film got mixed reviews. I think George Clooney is excellent in the film and the entire time I read the book George Clooney was firmly in my mind's eye. I think I enjoyed the book more for having seen the film.

>103 PaulCranswick: Stuck in my mind today, Ron. Saw it in the bookstore and picked it up immediately.

15. Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick, novellas by Resnick, Catherine Asara, Robert Reed, Jack McDevitt, Robert Sawyer and David Gerrold, finished March 7, 2021, 3+ stars



The premise of this collection of six novellas is interesting. The author and editor Mike Resnick commissioned 6 original stories from a variety of science fiction authors to meld science fiction with hard-boiled detective fiction. Detective fiction in science fiction was viewed as relatively rare.

There is a very good story summary posted in a LT review on May 6 2019 which pretty much sums up my feelings on the stories, so I don't need to recap it. I'll add that I agree with just about everything noted there and agree that these stories are quite forgettable, but I did enjoy them while reading. Robert Reed's stories set on "The Great Ship" are something I've read a number of over the years in the science fiction magazines and anthologies and I almost always enjoy them unless they are too far beyond my ken. I thought this was one of the better ones.

Anyway, I started reading these about three weeks ago in between the last several books and finished up this morning. The very first story in the collection by Resnick was possibly the weakest of the bunch but it was also I think most true to a Dashiel Hammett style of storytelling. I didn't really care for the Gerrold story but I couldn't even recall it by the end of the book. Overall these stories were worth the read, better than I expected, but very forgettable and nothing to write home about or rave on LT!

16. Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot, illustrated by Ruth Brown, finished March 8, 2021, 4 stars



This is a sweet children's picture book story. The illustrations in this short book are really lovely. I was looking for a quick book to read before bedtime and then I remembered to look at some of our children's books. This one caught my eye immediately because of the name Smudge. Smudge is the nickname I have given to a neighborhood cat who visits us several times a week. I named him that because he has a smudge of color on the side of his nose in his white fur. In fact just as I typed this Smudge is at my back door looking in. The boy in the story names a newborn lamb on their farm Smudge becuase of a smudge of white color on the lamb's black face. Smudge is an adventurous lamb who wants to see the world outside of their field. He pushes his way through a wire fence and rapidly discovers that the world outside is a lot scarier than he would have imagined. He almost dies in a snowstorm but is saved by a girl who finds him. There is a happy ending. This would be a good book to read along with early readers but like most of Herriot's children stories it is rather short.

I have not been working on my science fiction anthologies of which I have far too many unread (a friend dropping off about ten more oldies does not help my TBR pile!). Here is one of them I've had for a very long while. This turned out to be a mixed bag as is typical, but some good stories mixed in the collection.

17. The Best Science Fiction of the Year #6 1976 edited by Terry Carr, finished March 12, 2021, 3 stars



It is nice to read an old anthology with very good to excellent stories. I just wish there were more of them in here. Terry Carr selected eleven stories from 1976 that includes one of the better stories Isaac Asimov ever wrote. He writes a nice introduction for each story.

The included material is:
ix • Introduction • essay by Terry Carr
1 • I See You • (1976) • short story by Damon Knight
18 • The Phantom of Kansas • (1976) • novelette by John Varley
64 • Seeing • (1976) • novelette by Harlan Ellison
93 • The Death of Princes • (1976) • short story by Fritz Leiber
115 • The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats • (1976) • novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
145 • The Eyeflash Miracles • (1976) • novella by Gene Wolfe
217 • An Infinite Summer • Dream Archipelago • (1976) • novelette by Christopher Priest
243 • The Highest Dive • (1976) • short story by Jack Williamson
258 • Meathouse Man • (1976) • novelette by George R. R. Martin
291 • Custer's Last Jump • (1976) • novelette by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
332 • The Bicentennial Man • (1976) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
380 • Recommended Reading - 1976 • essay by Terry Carr
382 • The Science Fiction Year (1976) • essay by Charles N. Brown

As the editor points out in his introduction, reading short stories is harder work than most novels. The reader has to figure out a lot that is not written. The first story here, Damon Knight's "I See You" is one of those. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on. Slowly the reader realizes that some sort of viewer that can see through time is being used - it can see anywhere and any time, even as is done in the story to see each moment of the assassination of JFK. The ramifications of the invention of such a device is left open but the suggestion is that it will lead to world peace and little crime because everything can be found out via the viewer. Disturbing but thought provoking story.

John Varley's novelette 'The Phantom of Kansas' I thought I had read before but I didn't remember it. I have read a number of his shorter works over the years in the science fiction magazines and in best of the year collections. This is one of his earliest stories, and quite intriguing as a sci fi mystery of a woman who is murdered again and again ... I liked it a lot and this was full of a lot of ideas. It was a finalist for the 1977 Hugo award which was won by Asimov's 'Bicentennial Man' that appears at the end of the collection.

The third story, Harlan Ellison's 'Seeing' is a science fiction horror story. Ellison's stories have always been a little hard to digest, but he was one of the most influential writers for a reason. That said, he could be a nasty person and some of his stories seem to reflect that nastiness. This is a dark future story about kidnapping people to harvest their special gray-blue eyes. Unsettling to put it mildly. Having a dictionary helps - when was the last time you used anemophilously in a sentence? Well if you were a dandelion, say, you would know about throwing anemophilously into the wind. Despite the skill in creating this story, it is one I would prefer to have not read.

Rather than a lengthy blow by blow of the remaining stories I'll quickly mention a few highlights. There were a couple stories were uncomfortable or that didn't impress me and I got rather bored with the strangeness of Gene Wolfe's novella and skimmed the latter half of it.

Christopher Priest's 'An Infinite Summer' intrigued me. I think it had a happy ending but I was slightly unsure. In the story people from the future come visiting the past and for unknown reasons (presumably they are artists of some sort) they use a device to freeze people in moments of time. There are consequences to this which the story shows us. I liked the whole thing.

George R R Martin's story Meathouse Man is an incredibly dark horror story about a man who works with reanimated corpses. I didn't finish it. I skimmed. I wish I could unread it.

I skipped Custer's Last Jump because I read it before and didn't think I needed to revisit.

The final story in the collection won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards for best novelette. It is one of my favorite stories by Isaac Asimov and I've read it more than once before including when it first came out and I bought the Asimov collection that included it. I was avidly reading a lot of fiction and science fiction in the mid 70's, fresh out of college. Perhaps because Alex Haley's 'Roots' was out and so popular at the time I couldn't help but think that the 'Bicentennial man' was at least in part an allegory for slavery. It is the story of a robot who yearns to be a free man and it takes 200 years for that to happen. More than an allegory however it looks at the meaning of being human. Robin Williams did an excellent job in the film adaptation which made me like the story even more. It had probably been 20 years since I last read this story and I enjoyed it almost as much as the first time.

So, in sum, there were four stories I liked and a few too many that I did not.

>106 RBeffa: And this is why I don't read anthologies any more. Too many times I have ingested a story I wish I could unsee.

>107 ronincats: It does seem to happen more often with shorter stories Roni. Some of Heinlein's later novels I found distasteful and I stopped reading him. I'm really rethinking anthologies though. I tended to trust "Best of the year" ones but George R. R. Martin's story was quite repellent. Harlan Ellison's one was too dark for me also, but I half expected that. I'm thinking I'll put some of these anthologies in the giveaway box unread. The late 60's and 70's produced some strange and very dark stuff.

ETA: Before I give the heave ho to a number of 50s, 60s and 70s anthologies I am going to read a few more. Clearly they have not aged well for me. I did purge several and will purge a few more shortly. However, generally speaking DAW's best of the year collections were quite agreeable to me in the past. The series ran from 1965 to 1990 ending only with Wollheim's death. I'm going to read some of the ones I never read in between other books. They almost always had 10 stories in them and they included many authors I liked and introduced me to some who who become favorites. Will see how it goes.

I was very much looking forward to this book from the library.

18. Tokyo Ueno station by Miri Yu¯, finished March 14, 2021, unrated but I'll mark it as 1 star as a poor read.



I like Japanese literature a lot. This short novel entirely underwhelmed me. I was bored. I had to skim some pages. About 2/3 of the way through I gave up.

Not recommended. Don't understand how this got a National Book Award for 2020. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

Hello Ron. I hope all is well with you.

>106 RBeffa: >108 RBeffa: Anthologies can be a crap shoot, which is why I steer clear. I don't have the patience for short story collections. I'd rather read a novel or pick an choose from a collection without feeling like I have to read them all. C'est la vie. Don't give up on them if you don't want to.

I am taking a break from Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare to fit in another, shorter Star Wars audio, High Republic Into the Dark, in the same series as the one I read last month. It is a digital download that is likely more in the demand that the war book. :-P

I recently rewatched Fellowship of the Ring. I look forward to The Two Towers, which is my favorite film of the trilogy? Have you seen them? Recently?

>110 brodiew2: Hi Brodie. I have seen the films tho not recently. My daughter loved the series so we got the dvd's long ago. Oddly enough I almost started reading The Hobbit last night - I read the first page or two but couldn't focus on it - there was a reason .... I got my 2nd covid vaccine yesterday morning and got increasing aches and pain and then the chills about 10 hours after the shot. Muddy head and aches all over in the morning but slowly has gotten better this afternoon. Other than a really sore arm I seem to be over the worst of the reaction.

Years ago I got so much pleasure from anthologies and sci fi/fantasy magazines. I discovered many good authors that way. I didn't mind the occasional stinker story. I guess I've gotten more critical as I've gotten older. I'll just skip the stories that turn me off but I'll focus more on novels.

>105 RBeffa: Hi Ron, Smudge the Little Lost Lamb sounds so soft and cozy!

I did a search at my local library to find they did not have the book. I'll keep trying to find it.

All good wishes!

>112 Whisper1: Linda, on another thread it was mentioned that Smudge and Moses and others are included in James Herriot's Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales. Your library probably has that oversized book. I realized that we have it too - I should have remembered that we got it after having a couple of the smaller books. Our library has the book so I hope yours does also. After some hunting I found our copy of the book and it made me happy. I have more stories to look forward to.

19. Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan, finished March 19, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



This is one of the early Star Trek novels, first appearing in 1985. Star Trek novels are sort of like comfort food to me. I have not read a lot of them, but enough to know that there are good ones and there are poor ones. This without a doubt is one of the very good ones, one of my favorites so far. After an excellent beginning the story is drawn out a bit too much but the characters in here ring very true and this story represents the best of what Star Trek could be. Highly recommended for those who enjoy Star Trek stories. There's a big twist surprise at the end. It was apparent from the hints and slight misdirection along the way that something was up with one of the characters, but the surprise surprised me because I don't quite get it. Despite re-reading the revelation a couple times. Dr. McCoy didn't get it either so I feel I'm in good company. So there's my one complaint - a better ending. Plus this should have been shortened.

Time for a short reading break even though I have the clock ticking on a library book I need to finish.

Something a little different - a graphic novel from the library.

20. A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted, finished March 21, 2021, 4 stars



Think of this as a picture book for early middle schoolers, maybe. The title attracted me, as did the story although I was not very satisfied with how this ended. Most of this I really enjoyed, and the artist's style took a little getting used to but once I did I really enjoyed it and what she did with art and this story of two young cats from the island of Malta looking for a home. The artist writes a detailed afterword explaining how and why she created her story which I appreciated. This isn't just a cat story but a clever journey through art of the ages.

I have not done a re-read in quite a while.

21. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey, finished March 23, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



'The Ship Who Sang' seemed like an excellent choice to re-read. I read it perhaps 45 years ago and recall liking it a lot but none of the details of the story, just a gentle remembrance. In addition it has a number of sequels with co-writers published in the early 1990's that my wife collected but that I never read.

This is one of McCaffrey's earliest books, comprised of five short stories published between 1961-1969 which were edited and put together for this novel along with a long concluding chapter of the novel. The first story in the collection, the title story, was published in the April 1961 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I would hazard a guess that The Ship Who Sang short story was the one that put her on the map so to speak. McCaffrey would become world famous from her Dragonflight stories beginning later in the 60's.

So, The Ship Who Sang has an intriguing premise: brainships. Infants who are born with extreme physical disabilities are screened for mental skill. This is the story of Helva, who was selected as a newborn to have possibilities. She would grow up to be the brain within a starship (she does have a body, but her brain does the work).

A bit uneven, but it is a very good story. I felt this suffered in the middle part of the book with the novella "Dramatic Mission" being too long and rather weak. It caused my enthusiasm to flag a bit. I look forward to trying the followup stories in the future.

Oh, one last thing. I like when you get to the end of a story and at the very bottom of the last page it says "THE END". This story does that. Why don't 'they' whoever they are, do that anymore?

Hello Ron. I hope all is well with you. I am glad that you enjoyed Uhura's Song. Though I have heard nothing but good things about it I could not get into it.

How funny that you just finished an Anne Mccaffrey. After almost 25 years of thinking she was not for me I just picked up Dragonflight and having a good time with it.

>117 brodiew2: I really hope you enjoy Dragonflight Brodie. I'll age myself by saying that I first read it when it was relatively new. When I was a teenager and in my early 20's I haunted a few used bookshops in San Francisco in search of the Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks that I didn't have - the Mars stories seemed pretty hard to find for me - and on one of those trips I saw Dragonflight. I'm not sure what impulse caused me to buy it but I can actually remember standing in the back of the shop where the SF books were stacked and holding it in my hands. I had finally found John Carter of Mars and several other ERB paperbacks that same day so I was happy.

Well, I ended up liking Dragonflight a lot and avidly read the next half a dozen or more books in the series as they came out. It has been a very long time since I read the books and I have been very tempted to read them again someday. I held on to them and my daughter enjoyed them a lot in her high school years. The stories I enjoyed the most came later as sort of a spinoff - the Harper Hall trilogy. My wife read almost the entire series long ago.

Uhura's song is a different sort of story and although I didn't care for the trickster ending I certainly enjoyed the read. Must have been in the right mood for it. Sorry it didn't work better for you. It put me in the mood to squeeze in a few more Star trek books later this year.

ETA: Brodie, I've been thinking about your reaction to "Uhura's Song" some more, as well as thinking back on the book. I liked the core idea of the story but I also realized as i read that it was trying awfully hard to be cute - and the story was drawn out much longer than it needed to be - that would be fine if you enjoyed the antics of the alien cats and the trickster doctor Wilson, but I do recognize that got a little too much. I think I could judiciously chop out 50-60 pages of the middle chapters at least and make it a better book.

The ending of 'The Ship Who Sang' novel I just finished wasn't exactly satisfactory

22. Honeymoon SS by Anne McCaffrey, finished March 25, 2021, 3 stars



McCaffrey published this novelette called Honeymoon as a wrap-up tidy up story for her Ship Who Sang book. It was included in a collection of shorter stories that touched on many of her various series, and was titled Get Off The Unicorn. I wasn't satisfied with the ending of The Ship Who Sang even though I liked the novel overall, and I'm not crazy about this story either. This story does tie up some things and puts an unexpected twist into the mix. McCaffrey writes a revealing introduction to this story and the stories included in her prior novel that verified some things I suspected but gave some new info as well. Notably she says that Helva, the cyborg who runs the ship who sang, was her alter-ego and the story is her favorite story she wrote. She wrote it as a way to deal with the grief of her father's death.

Does this woman really hate people who have horses?

23. The Mount by Carol Emshwiller, finished March 29, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



I went into this story with very high expectations only to see them dashed somewhat. There is a very good coming of age story buried within this book.

An over the top allegorical wanna be and/or a ham-fisted parable? Very strange construction. Many readers like it. Me, I was irritated with the first chapter. The second chapter got the story going and we eventually figure out that first chapter if we pay close attention. The premise of this book was just too odd for me although the story of a boy trying to live and adapt to unexpected "freedom" in this upside down world was compelling.

This was worth the read if you don't give up on the first chapter.

Time for the first quarter wrap-up. My reading this year has been different than years past with an emphasis on books for children and young adults. Like prior years I read some science fiction. I have some ideas for this coming quarter but nothing certain other than I want to read a Larry McMurtry novel pretty soon to recognize his recent death. McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is one of my favorite novels of all time, and I am thinking of reading the prequel Dead Man's Walk. I'm overdue for a mystery novel or two, and I want to enjoy some more Preston and Child thrillers. I'll also fit in some more kids books which I am really enjoying this year. I'm waiting for a library hold to come in so I am not starting another novel yet. I'll just lightly read a short story here and there for the moment.

So far my most notable read of the year are as follows:

Top Ten Fiction for 2021:

1. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
2. Good morning, midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
3. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
4. The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
5. The Mount by Carol Emshwiller
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Very Honorable mentions:

Worst read(s) of the year:

1. Tokyo Ueno station by Miri Yu

Top Non-Fiction for 2021

1.
2.
3.

Five Favorite anthologies/ short story collections for 2021:

1. The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin
2. Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick
3.
4.
5.

Honorable mentions:

Best fiction re-reads in 2021:

1. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey
2.

Favorite Young Adult or Children's reads in 2021:

1. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
2. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
3. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
4. A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted
5. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
6. Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot
7. Moses the Kitten by James Herriot

Best fun reads in 2021:

1. Uhura's Song (Star Trek) by Janet Kagan
2.

Hi Ron, putting puzzles together with your daughter is a wonderful thing to do.
That was a pretty puzzle.

Like you, I am having a reading melt down. I started 2021 with a great record of reading a lot of books. Lately, I pick up a book, other than the illustrated books I love, and I put the book down.
It will be better, but for now, reading isn't a priority.

I like puzzles because they are challenging and it feels good when they are finished.

Happy Spring!

Oh dear, a third of 2021 IS over! And I have read only 20 books.

I also read the McCaffreys as they came out. Enjoyed the dragon books, although in this more "woke" age there are certainly some issues with certain aspects of weyr culture. But they are quite entertaining, and the first two Harper Hall books are my favorites as well. Robinton is also a favorite character and probably the main reason I read as far as Masterharper of Pern before gradually letting the series go.

I always found it amusing that Get Off the Unicorn was supposed to be Get of the Unicorn but an editor's error changed it. I liked the early Rowan books and the first Ship book, but not the Damia ones so much and didn't read the Acorna books. One of my favorites is her first book, Restoree.

>122 Whisper1: thank you for the note Linda. I have failed to take photos of the last couple puzzles we did. I'm in the mood to do more and have gotten the puzzle table cleared and four puzzles at the ready.

>123 ronincats: I know what you mean about Weyr culture Roni. I re-read "Weyr Search" (the novella that won the Hugo and became part of Dragonflight) several years ago. I was rather surprised at the dark tone of it and quite a contrast to modern sensibilities of things. Masterharper is also the last one I read, although I skipped the Dolphin book as I recall. I never heard that about "Get of". I'll be off looking for that in a moment. My wife really enjoyed the Acorna books that she read - one of her favorite McCaffrey things. I think we have them all (LT says I have 67 McCaffrey books! including stories in collections - I do have 57 actual ones tho). I liked her Black Horses For the King quite a bit. ps Roni - only 1/4 of the year not a third! Plenty of time to get going.

Oh, true, my mistake. Shows you where my brain is these days. I have Black Horses for the King as well and like it very much. She credits Jane Yolen for inspiring it and improving it with her editing. I also love No One Noticed the Cat, which she wrote for her granddaughter.

McCaffrey talks about the misprint in the intro to the book, and as I check, the typo was in the contract for the book.

>125 ronincats: Thanks. I bought the cat book for my daughter when she first got interested in McCaffrey. But I never read it! The first she read was 'The White Dragon' probably because of the nice cover on the hardback. She has many of my/our McCaffrey books and now I'm getting in the mood to read some more. I'll work on another ship book when I tackle a novel I think. I'll have to ask about where the cat book is. I had forgotten all about it.

ETA: My daughter says the first Mccaffrey books she read were the three wildside press novellas I gave her when she was little, including the cat one. She says she didn't read the early Dragon books til college time (They were too dark for when she was younger she says, esp the harper hall books. hmmm)

Thanks to Roni mentioning 'No One Noticed The Cat' I have rediscovered several of Anne McCaffrey's books for younger (but not too young) readers that I gave to my daughter many moons ago. I borrowed this one back from her.

24. No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey, finished April 2, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



This is a rather sweet and charming short novel - a fairytale light fantasy. Not exactly a fast children's book - and there were several words in here I didn't know! I did however enjoy this clever tale and didn't expect the ending. Liking cats is probably a pre-requisite to liking this book. Liking 'love at first sight' probably helps too. There are a number of pen and ink drawings in here which underwhelmed me unfortunately. The cover art however is cute.

I should mention that elements of the story bear a passing resemblance to 'A Game of Thrones' for children even though this was published a decade before.

I also read The Ship Who Sang 40ish years ago. I liked it a lot at the time, and also liked the first Dragonrider trilogy, but then didn't read any other McCaffrey books for a long time, and when I tried some of her other work later (Crystal Singer and The City Who Fought), found them just okay -- the magic wasn't there. Your review makes me want to revisit the ones I did like, someday.

>128 swynn: I am a little hesitant to dive too deep into McCaffrey Steve. Although she was an early favorite of mine I fear they won't hold up. I will be giving some more a chance however.

Our Friends of the Library had a mini sale of books for 3 hours this afternoon. I believe the last book sale they had was at the beginning of Feb 2020. I dropped by for about 15-20 minutes. I picked out one book just because - Cape Cod by Thoreau in a lovely Heritage Press edition. Otherwise it was nice to browse for a few minutes with well behaved people. It felt like the world might be getting slightly back to normal.

I went and reread No One Noticed the Cat because, well, it was just about the speed my mind is operating at at the moment, and it is indeed fantasy light. Probably spot on for the granddaughter she wrote it for!

>131 ronincats: It was a fun read.

This was a library book I didn't get very far with. It is a new release by an author I have liked a lot in the past - I starting reading this knowing absolutely nothing about the book - I put a hold on the ebook ages ago before it was released.

DNF. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, unfinished not rated



I'm not sure how far I got with this - I have trouble judging length with ebooks. Almost a quarter of the way maybe. I don't know, this was just too simple for me. Underwhelming.

Time to get back to Bob Dylan's Chronicles.

>133 RBeffa: I DNF this, either, and I had really liked 3 of his other books I had read.

>134 karspeak: Thanks for the comment Karen. It isn't a long book but it felt like such a waste from a great author.

I took a full ten day book reading pause and kept myself busy with other things. I wanted to restart on a non-challenging book and after some comments from Linda I picked this. I've had it on the shelf a long time. This is for the American Author challenge. My reactions to this book varied as I went through it.

25. Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan, finished April 19, 2021, 3+ stars



This book was published in 2004 and so far it is the only volume of Chronicles that I am aware of. Dylan has always told stories and one could never believe them, so I am pretty sure that even though he tells his story now he remains an unreliable narrator. Dylan's music was an important element of my musical interest, but his later material has only infrequently had my attention. Nevertheless, if I made a list of my 25 favorite albums of my life Dylan would have three, maybe even four albums in it. I think Blood on the Tracks is one of the best albums ever created by anyone. So Dylan's greatest work - does it get a mention here? Uh, no. But I coulda missed a clue somewhere. Some mysterious signs and portents somewhere.

Dylan landed in New York City in the dead of winter when he was just 20 years old. That is where the Chronicles begins. In a remarkably short period of time he took the American musical world by storm.

So this book. Dylan tells a story like one of his songs. Reading this unusual memoir was easy and very interesting much of the time. It was also hard. Wikipedia etc became my friend. There is a lot of stuff missing here and at times the manner of telling is odd. He becomes incomprehensible to me at times when describing things like some new singing or musical technique. Is he flimflamming me the reader? He does not dwell on negative stuff other than the impact that being famous had on him trying to have a family life with an increasing number of children. and unnamed wives frequently referred to as "my wife" who I think was Sara in most early references. Who he seems to have adored. What happened? Never says. There is a lot of stuff about Dylan in here I never knew about, particularly concerning his long absences.

His discussions and observations on things can be very interesting. Overall entertaining if a bit unsatisfying at times. Ultimately I was bothered by his slapdash handling of almost everything. For example he completely ignores the creation of his greatest albums. In fact he ignores the creation of a lot of things and when he does give one like the 'New Morning' album it is seriously lacking. For example, he discusses Charlie Daniels at some length and mentions Russ Kunkel on drums but he makes no mention of George Harrison being there and the recording of the most popular song from the album, "If Not For You". The song was ultimately re-recorded several times and the version with Harrison didn't come out until 1991 with the first Bootleg Series box set (a release of such great material that it revitalized my personal interest in Dylan's music and history).

He does go into great detail over the creation of one of his albums. An entire (the longest) chapter, one of five, is spent in New Orleans with Daniel Lanois and the creation of an album I don't recall ever listening to: "Oh Mercy"

The last chapter is perhaps the best one in the book. It should have been the first chapter, but that isn't how Dylan tells this story.

I occasionally put on some Dylan music while reading.

Thank you to the local library for having this for me. Can't quite call this an excellent 4 stars

26. First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami, finished April 22, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



A new collection of eight stories from Murakami, recently published in magazines such as the New Yorker and Granta, and one brand new one. These are distinctly in the author's usual style, but all told from a first person viewpoint. They halfway feel like moments from a memoir, as if the unnamed narrator is Murakami himself slipping in and out of the real world. When I finished the first story I thought, is that all there is? Well there is more in the stories that followed of course, and we are in mostly familiar territory with the things Murakami likes to talk about. These are short stories in larger type with a lot of white space so the 8 stories go by pretty fast. I enjoyed reading them. Favorite story or stories? I'm not sure but I really enjoyed "Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova".

Most of this is told like Murakami is sitting across from you at some nameless coffee shop, with strong coffee wafting in the air, and memory flashes of dreams or events trigger stories from him which he then tries to tell you. Murakami fans should be satisfied spending a couple of hours with this collection.

eta: This is the 13th Murakami book I have read although I have also read parts of 2 others. I think 13 books would qualify me as a fan.
I should also add that the coverstory (by photo), 'Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey' was the most surreal of these tales and I think the most Murakami-ish. The only story I didn't like - my eyes literally glazed over - was the baseball story - I just skimmed it and it was the prime reason I couldn't rate this collection higher.

There's an odd story in here - odd because it echoes a story Murakami wrote a very long time ago. The prior story appeared in the collection 'Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman' and is titled the "A Shinagawa Monkey", so if the reader gets that "its deja vu all over again" feeling, well, there's a reason for that. Think of this as an extension of the original story - which one can read in the New Yorker if so interested: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/13/a-shinagawa-monkey

>136 RBeffa:. "Ultimately I was bothered by his slapdash handling of almost everything." That perfectly sums up my reaction to this book, Ron. I really fail to see how it contributes much to any understanding of the music business in general, or Dylan's place in it, or his creative processes, or his life story, or anything. But, as you said, it was somehow a fairly interesting read anyway.

>138 laytonwoman3rd: An odd book it is, Linda.

I needed to remind myself that some of the older science fiction collections are very good, and then there is the rare superb one, which is what we have here. I have mostly been reading the stories from this large anthology in between other books.

27. The Best of C. L. Moore by Catherine L. Moore, finished April 28, 2021, 4 1/2 stars



To give this collection of Catherine Moore's fiction from 1933-1946 less than 4 stars would be a crime. Closer to 5. She is a pioneer of a woman writing in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. She also brought depth and a sensuality that was usually lacking in stories of that era. I have never read a bad story by her over the years and one of the stories in this book, the last one, 'Vintage Season' is a longtime favorite of mine. It is a strange story of travelers from the future visiting the past to witness disasters. It was made into a film starring Jeff Daniels in the early 90's. The opening story in here, “Shambleau” is certain to give you the creepy crawlies. It was the author's first sale and appeared in a 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine. What a debut! Not a planetary romance, but a planetary nightmare.

The author had quite an imagination and there are some great stories here. Several of these have an element of 'horror' to them. That is not my go to genre but I had to admire the skill of these well written stories, artifacts from another age. Here is the cover from one of the included stories when it came out in Weird Tales.


These are longer stories, novella or novelette length and so are richer in the story than a typical short story would be. Among the many good ones I especially enjoyed 'Fruit of Knowledge' a retelling of the Garden of Eden creation and fall of Man myth. I doubt I have ever read a story like this before that really brought the Garden of Eden, and Adam and ... surprise, Adam's first woman Lilith, to life.

The included material was:
Introduction: Forty Years of C. L. Moore • (1975) • essay by Lester del Rey
Shambleau • Northwest Smith • (Weird Tales, November 1933) • novelette
Black Thirst • Northwest Smith • (Weird Tales, April 1934) • novelette
The Bright Illusion • (Astounding Stories, October 1934) • shortstory
Black God's Kiss • Jirel of Joiry • (Weird Tales, October 1934) • novelette
Tryst in Time • (Astounding Stories, December 1936) • novelette
Greater Than Gods • (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939) • novelette
Fruit of Knowledge • (Unknown, October 1940) • novelette
No Woman Born • (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1944) • novelette
Daemon • (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1946) • shortstory
Vintage Season • (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946) • novella by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
Afterword: Footnote to "Shambleau"... and Others • (1975) • essay by C. L. Moore

This one will probably show up somewhere on my favorite reads of the year list. I'll be thinking about this one for a while. Not a great book but an interesting one and a look into aspects of Japanese society that non-Japanese probably wouldn't know.

28. Grass For My Pillow by Saiichi Maruya, finished May 10, 2021, 4 stars



I don't feel the least bit qualified to write a proper review for this novel. I was very impressed with this. The story begins in Japan shortly after the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 but also moves 20-25 years into the past. Briefly it is the story of a man who resisted the draft in Japan during WWII, something punishable by death, and we learn how he lived for those 5 years from when he was about 20 to 25, but we also see how he lives in the present of the novel. The story begins about 1965 or 1966, contemporary with the initial publication of this novel in Japan. It was translated into English in 2002 which is the copy I read.

This story is told so well with a special sort of realism I felt like I was hearing a true narrative from someone. I've never read a Japanese novel like this before. However it needs to be read rather carefully as our narrator may be in the middle of a business meeting in 1966 and suddenly we are back in 1941 or 1943 and then a paragraph or three later back to his present. Memories come to him and we experience them in his real-time. There is also a rather abrupt switch in the middle of the book to a secondary character having a drunken jag.

Haruki Murakami apparently admires this author but this isn't a story like one by Murakami. There is a long introduction written by the translator that helps explains things about the author and the setting of the book, although some of it was "over my head".

---------------

A library book has come in for me, one I have been waiting for, but I may not dive into it yet.

With the exception of 2, one of which is pretty small and crowded, all of the library branches in our county will be opening next Monday. This kind of stuns me for some reason. Also, our friends group at one of the libraries is going to have a full FOL sale this coming Sunday where the numbers will be controlled but it will be completely available for browsing, not just a pop-up of a limited selection of books.

>141 RBeffa: We haven't started "normal" FOL sales again yet, but we will have a sidewalk sale this Saturday, with precautions in place. Most of our county libraries have been open, with intermittent limited service depending on the local COVID statistics, since last fall. Lots of precautions in place: the main Scranton library didn't open the stacks for browsing for quite a while because they are not wide open and visible from the circulation desk; some branches have been taking patrons' temperature at the door, some closing the restrooms; plastic sheeting and plexiglass everywhere; half the computer stations closed to aid distance requirements; no in-person programming until just lately, and curbside pick-up has been very popular. But I'm surprised at how many library systems I hear about that have not offered any services during most of this pandemic.

>142 laytonwoman3rd: We have had curbside pickup available for a while but it works rather poorly for my needs. I like to browse and also to "sample" the book. So for the odd new release or a book in a series i am familiar with it has been an OK thing but not for general purposes. For the longest time the library had restrictive return windows which were a PIA. My favorite branch remains closed however for now. Our main branch has allowed entry by appointment since sometime last year as well, although it fluctuated a bit based on the covid numbers. They would allow appts for 10 people within each hour window. That was OK.

eta: the computer stations have been entirely unavailable as far as i know. Half or so will now become available with distancing.

I'm currently reading a mystery thriller sort of book - a piece of historical fiction set in Germany and the book begins with the Reichstag fire in Berlin, Germany in February 1933. Hitler has just taken power so why not burn down the parliament building? This prequel, Wedding Station by David Downing will hopefully be as engrossing as the other books I have read in the series.

Friends of the Library sale tomorrow afternoon - first real sale since Feb 2020. I do hope I do not forget ...

29. Wedding Station by David Downing, finished May 17, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



I have been looking forward to this prequel novel in Downing's John Russell series. I've read 6 previous books by Downing this past decade but this one disappointed me for a couple of reasons. First off, I think the book I am looking for would be a prequel to this one! I want to read about Russell's life 8 or 10 years before this book opens - the time when he was in the communist party, when he met the woman who would become his wife, the birth of his son and early days with him. In fact, the story could even begin 15 years before at the battle of Ypres. This book, like the others in the series, does touch base with people and events from John Russell's past. However, I would like to have read that story.

My other problem here is Downing's portrayal of the 1933 brownshirts (SA) as full of homosexuals. I believe that is a debunked myth probably spawned by Hitler and his cronies as one of many reasons for his purges and persecutions in Nazi Germany. Yes, the leader of the SA was homosexual. Are we to equate homosexuality with Nazi thugs? In any event I found the portrayal here troubling even though it isn't a major theme - it is a minor theme though and we are reminded of it throughout the book. Downing is a skilled writer and the "tours" across Berlin he gives in his books are a big element of his stories. I enjoy that aspect but it is also getting a little repetitive. There is enough good material in this novel to carry the story through.

I think someone who is starting out with this as the first Downing book would enjoy this more than me. I felt let down.

30. First snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata, finished May 26, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



Pulitzer Prize winning author Yasunari Kawabata gives us this collection of ten shorter stories that are a glimpse into another culture and time, this time the 1950's after the war in Japan. East meets West. Coincidently one of them concerns a draft resistor who avoided the war, which was the theme I just read in the novel 'Grass For My Pillow'. This person hid very differently.

Having read some reviews before I started the collection I had high expectations. In truth I was a little underwhelmed by some of the stories which tend to focus on domestic unhappiness. Within these stories however are small elements which are quite insightful and sometimes revealing of things I would not have thought. There are one or two outstanding stories here that all by themselves would make this worth the read. The last story was a play which unfortunately I wasn't really able to understand very well.

Those readers who enjoy Japanese literature should be satisfied.

This book from the library, in a beautifully made edition, had one of my pet peeves. A prior reader had bracketed lines here and there throughout the stories. This is not your personal textbook, dude or dudette. Jeez ...

31. Oystercatcher by Martin Walker, finished May 27, 2021, 3 stars



A nice little short in the Bruno Chief of Police series. Bruno and Isabelle keep in touch. They are snuggling on the beach at night, starting to freeze. A short adventure ensues with most of the things we usually have with a Bruno story. My biggest complaint is that it is too short and ends too fast. Comfort food.

My library had this as an ebook so I checked it out.

32. Da Vinci's cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, finished May 29, 2021, 4 stars



This book has only been out for several days and I saw it as a new release at my library. I took a chance on this middle-school level book when I read a few comments about it. It began as a pure delight. Historical fantasy with lots of detail from 1511 Rome with a young boy, Federico, held 'hostage' by the Pope as Raphael and Michelangelo paint the papal quarters and Sistine Chapel. Slightly irreverant and reminiscent of books like 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' with a wardrobe here invented by Leonardo Da Vinci whose cat goes time travelling. The interactions between Federico and others in 1511 were fun.

However when the story jumps to the present this adventure begins to stumble. The puzzle pieces don't quite fit. Just how old is the old woman? 110 and something? Where has Juno the time cat been for nearly a century? What first began to bother me was all the machinations trying to create a sense of urgency in the present with delayed trains and phone calls and so on. The charm that was with us at the start was rather suddenly gone although there were some clever moments.

But ... when we return to Rome in 1511 the story picks up again, thankfully, and gets quite exciting when Federico gives chase to Michelangelo, riding Bathsheba, the fastest horse in Rome.

This proved to be a very entertaining book. There are some very nice chapter decorations drawn by Paul Zelinsky as a little bonus.

33. Blind willow, sleeping woman : twenty-four stories by Haruki Murakami, finished June 5, 2021, 4 stars



This selection of 24 short stories collects material written over Murakami's career up until the time of publication in 2006. Murakami writes a nice introduction to the collection. Among other things he explains that he alternates short story writing with writing a novel. Several of the short stories are oddly repetitive in various ways. Murakami tells these from the viewpoint of either himself or characters who are almost always his same age - they went to school when he did, have social touchstones the same. They have the same feel to them and occasionally drift into surreal territory. These are mostly domestic dramas for lack of a better description, although there are bits of horror tossed in.

After what I think of as an uneven start, this turned into an excellent book. There are quite a few standout stories in the collection that made me glad to have visited. When Murakami is good he can be very good, and capture essential truths about about lives and weave them into stories.

There was one story in the collection that I know I had read before - it was called 'Man-eating cats'. It is one of the better stories, although like many of these the end is strange. There was one unique passage in the story that I immediately recognized. I looked it up and found the only publication other than this book was in the Dec 4, 2000 New Yorker magazine. My mother-in-law was a longtime subscriber and I've decided I must have read it at her house long ago. I used to browse her copies sometimes. This, then, was probably the first Murakami story I had ever read. There was another story that was also very familiar - it may be that Murakami recycled elements into another story or just used a similar idea. I'm not sure.

There's a story in here, 'Firefly', that became a part of Murakami's famous novel 'Norwegian Wood'. It is an excellent story and makes me want to revisit that novel again.

The big surprise for me was reading 'A Shinagawa Monkey' at the end. This story is a prequel to a story that appears in Murakami's newest short story collection.

Thought I'd better read another old science fiction anthology. I've got a stack of them gifted from a friend. This one, however, I've had for a while.

34. 4 For the Future edited by Groff Conklin, finished June 8, 2021, 2 - 2 1/2 stars



The included stories are:
Enough Rope • (Wing Alak series) • (Astounding Science Fiction July 1953) • novelette by Poul Anderson
The Claustrophile • (Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1956) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
The Children's Hour • (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1944) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Henry Kuttner)
Plus X • (Astounding Science Fiction June 1956) • novelette by Eric Frank Russell

This collection was published in August 1959 and covers stories from 1944 to 1956 from two leading science fiction magazines of the era. These stories illustrate some of the good things of the era as well as suffering from people behaving like it is the 40's and 50's in a space opera many centuries in the future across the galaxy. The pseudo-scientific explanations of things in these stories rarely if ever made sense to me years ago or now.

This gets a barely OK from me. Each story had a bit of interest but also none of them I really liked.

I started this reading year with the first two books of the Prydain Chronicles. For no good reason I did not start the third. Well, now I have. I give myself a small kick in the pants for delaying.

35. The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander, finished June 12, 2021, 4 stars



This is the third book in the Prydain series and every bit as good as the first two books. Since I already knew most of the characters here it was very easy to jump into the book and enjoy reading about these familiar 'friends'. Each of these books is different from the others so far and this one advances the story arc. These are great little adventures. I thought Princess Eilonwy would be the star of this episode but I was wrong. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series. Young adult books are giving me a lot of pleasure this year.

Hello Ron. I hope all is well with you. I just haven't been able to do it these last couple of years. Not like when I started a few years back. My reading is sporadic and maintaining a thread is hard work. I have finished a couple of things and will at least update my page something soon.

It is good to see that you go to The Castle of Llyr. This was my favorite of the series as I recall. Strangely, I can't remember why. But I remember it being a lot of fun.

>152 brodiew2: I'm glad to see you here Brodie. For your own page do what you want and can do. Nothing wrong with minimal. I miss having you here and seeing what catches your fancy ... and not many of us read and enjoy Star Trek novels!

I mostly use this as my reading diary and I agree it can be a bit of work but it also helps me a lot with my reading. The Castle of Llyr is probably my favorite so far, by just a bit over the first book. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.

When I tried 'Life After Life' a number of years ago I was not impressed and gave up on it. So I thought now, years later, to try this early celebrated work by the author.

36. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, finished June 15, 2021, 2 stars



Kind of a mashup of family drama, mysteries and crime novel. The book seemed to have promise, except I didn't like most of the characters. Well, except that the one I did like mysteriously disappears at the start of the book. I also don't like most of the ways women are portrayed in this book. I especially don't like the way parents are portrayed. The rambling and shifting points of view and the dangling pieces of story. Can I mention almost everyone is dysfunctional? This book is infused with something sick and icky - various forms of extreme violence and hate. Well, I very much recommend skipping this unpleasant mess. Some people like this but I don't see how. Once I realized that this wasn't my cuppa I skimmed a little, but by the end my worst fears were realized.

I don't like beating up on books. I don't like stories built on child incest/molestation.

A number of people liked this so I gave this one from the library a try.

37. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, finished June 16, 2021, 2 1/2 stars



Matt Haig is a popular author I've never read before. We didn't connect. If you read a couple two star reviews here you'll see why I didn't like this. There is an interesting story in here but I just wasn't taken by it.

>155 RBeffa: Yikes, I bought that one!

Happy Father's Day, Ron.

>155 RBeffa: I read Haig's The Radleys years back....gave it 2 1/2 stars. It had a few things going for it, but not enough for me to recommend it to anyone.

>156 PaulCranswick: Well Paul, you may have a better reaction than I did. Happy Father's Day back at you. With fruit from our trees my daughter made us a plum-apricot galette this morning. A day early perhaps but she has to work tomorrow so I suggested today! I'll post a photo of it to facebook.

A Happy Father's day to you as well Paul.

>157 laytonwoman3rd: That's kinda my feelings about The Midnight Library, Linda. It has a few good things but not enough for me to recommend.

----------------------
Meanwhile I finished another book this afternoon. These shorter novels work well.

A return to the Prydain Chronicles which I left a few days ago.

38. Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander, finished June 19, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



This is the fourth book in the Prydain series and keeps to the pattern of being different from the others. This is another good read, mostly a story of Taran trying to find who he is. He has acknowledged to himself that he wishes to wed Eilonwy. He seems to be growing up extremely fast. Hard to gauge time in these novels.

One more proper novel to go, along with a collection of shorter stories.

Hi Ron! I remember Taran Wanderer being a longer, slower paced lead in to the finale, The High King. I hope it has a strong finish for you.

If you want to read more Lloyd Alexander, try The Kestrel trilogy. Again, it has been decades, since I've read them, but I loved this author for years.

>159 brodiew2: That's a good suggestion Brodie. I am going to continue reading some of these excellent young adult books I have missed.

I started on Preston and Child's 2016 novel Beyond The Ice Limit which I picked up at our library last week. I am really enjoying it. It is a sequel to The Ice Limit, a book of theirs I read last year.

Last October I read an early (2000) novel by these authors called The Ice Limit. I liked that story well enough but I wanted the rest of the story. Apparently because of repeated reader requests the authors also felt that they needed to tell the rest of the story 16 years later, so this sequel came out in 2016.

39. Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, finished June 23, 2021, 4+ stars



'Beyond the Ice Limit' is part two of the story from 'The Ice Limit' and I think it is the better story. It benefits from all the action and adventure of the first novel which is still pretty fresh in my mind. However a reader coming upon this book without the first one will be OK as the author weaves pieces of the happenings from the first book into this one. Better to have read The Ice Limit first I think, but OK if you didn't. It was well done and served as a refresher for someone like me and also with enough info for a new reader who has in their hands this entertaining and scary thriller. This book becomes exciting very early on. Preston and Child write very exciting stories, period. At times I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

I enjoyed this a lot, but I must give a word of warning. This becomes one of the creepiest thrillers I have ever read. I mean goosebumps and shivers and shakes. Remember what Khan did to Checkov in the film "The Wrath of Khan"? Multiply that a bunch. You have been warned.

I have wanted to resume my Australian reading so I gave Jane Harper another try

40. Force of Nature by Jane Harper, finished June 27, 2021, 3 stars



I liked Jane Harper's first novel The Dry quite a bit. I read it last year after several recommendations from friends. I did not care for her newest 'The Survivors' which I bailed on earlier this year. This one, 'Force of Nature' has the same lead character, Aaron Falk, from 'The Dry'. That was a big plus. This story started with some promise but I just really do not care for Harper's overly disjointed storytelling style, plus some red herrings which bothered me mostly because they distracted from the actual resolution of this novel. Overall I'd rate this as OK but I think I am done for any future Harper novels as much as I appreciate the Australian setting.

Finished up an anthology

41. 1984 Annual World's Best Science Fiction edited by Donald A Wollheim, finished June 28, 2021, 2 stars



In my mind I think of the 80's as a really good time for science fiction so I found myself pretty disappointed with the ten stories chosen by the editor to represent the best of 1983 (The collection is assembled in 1984 with 1983 stories). There were only two stories to have my attention: "Homefaring" by Robert Silverberg and "The Harvest of Wolves" by Mary Gentle. I'd read Gentle's story a long time ago - short but well done, and memorable. The Silverberg story answers that timeless question of the far future: What if giant lobsters inherited the earth? Much better than it sounds! Greg Bear's short story "Blood Music" opens the collection. I had read it when it was new, but my memory of it was better than the story strikes me now. It was innovative for the time it was written. A couple stories in here are pretty poor. I'd avoid this collection, except that the novella "Homefaring" is such a good story and it was Nebula nominated as well. A 4-5 star gem amongst the dreck. sigh.

Finished up another anthology. Like many of my science fiction reads this past year, this book was a 'pandemic' gift from a friend who gave me several bags and boxes to go through starting about a year and a half ago. It was a mix of science fiction anthologies as well as more literary works. This one turned out to be one of the very best.

42. Nebula Winners Thirteen edited by Samuel R Delaney, finished June 30, 2021, 4 - 4 1/2 stars



Most or all of these stories were published in 1977 and were up for the Nebula awards in 1978. Delaney selected stories he liked from the winners and runner ups. Two short stories, two novelettes and two novellas. The included material is:

"Introduction" (Samuel R. Delany)
"Jeffty Is Five" (Best short story winner, 1978) (Harlan Ellison)
"Air Raid" (Best short story nominee, 1978) (John Varley)
"The Screwfly Solution" (Best novelette winner, 1978) (pen names Raccoona Sheldon aka James Tiptree Jr) real name Alice Bradley Sheldon
"Particle Theory" (Best novelette nominee, 1978) (Edward Bryant)
"Stardance" (Best novella winner for both Hugo and Nebula award, 1978) (Spider Robinson & Jeanne Robinson)
"Aztecs" (Best novella nominee, 1978) (Vonda N. McIntyre)
"The Nebula Winners, 1965-1977"

It seems hard for me to believe that these stories are now 44 years old. A few things date themselves but in no way detract from the stories. I have previously read at least the first three stories, probably the fourth as well. 'Jeffty is Five' I have always considered one of the best of Harlan Ellison's stories. "Air Raid" was a pretty startling story when I first read it. It still is. Tidbit: The short story was adapted into the 1989 film "Millennium".

These stories are rather edgy science fiction, and apocalypses of various sorts factor into half the stories. 'Particle Theory' is a good example of a story that combines a coming personal threat with a galactic one, but all on a very small personal story level.

Stardance won both major science fiction awards and was then expanded into a series of three novels. I can see why. It is an excellent story that melds dance with science fiction. I was caught liked this story from the first page.

Aztecs is a strong female character focused novella that is a polished, mature piece of writing.

Overall very good stories. They are very people focused, character focused.

Time for the 2nd quarter wrap-up. I've been reading a lot of shorter works this year as well as stories for children and young adults. A much bigger mix than I usually do. So that makes my number of books read, 42, artificially high in a sense. If I were reading more novels like For Whom the Bell Tolls my numbers would be lower. Still, I am mostly reading what appeals to me in one way or another.

I still have a pile of science fiction anthologies to work through. Lots of good stuff on hand for future reading. I have really enjoyed the Preston & Child books I have read this year and am eager to read more.

My jigsaw puzzle making has really suffered recently. I've vowed to myself to work on a few. Here's a recap of notable books so far this year.

Top Ten Fiction novels for 2021:

1. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
2. Good morning, midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
3. Grass For My Pillow by Saiichi Maruya
4. Beyond The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
5. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
6. The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
7. The Mount by Carol Emshwiller
8.
9.
10.

Most Disappointing or Worst reads of the year:

1. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
2. Tokyo Ueno station by Miri Yu DNF
3. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro DNF
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Top Non-Fiction for 2021

1. Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan
2.
3.

Five Favorite anthologies/ short story collections for 2021:

1. Nebula Winners Thirteen edited by Samuel R Delaney
2. The Best of C. L. Moore by Catherine L. Moore
3. Blind willow, sleeping woman : twenty-four stories by Haruki Murakami
4. First snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
5. The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin


Honorable mentions:

Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick

Best fiction re-reads in 2021:

1. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey
2.

Favorite Young Adult or Children's reads in 2021:

1/2. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
1/2. The Castle of Lyr by Lloyd Alexander
3. Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander
4. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
5. Da Vinci's cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
6. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
7. A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted
8. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
9. No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey
10 tie. Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot
10 tie. Moses the Kitten by James Herriot

Best fun reads in 2021:

1. Uhura's Song (Star Trek) by Janet Kagan
2.

I chose this book for the July American Author's challenge.

43. Ooti : a Maidu legacy by Richard Simpson, finished July 4, 2021, 3 stars



I'll refer readers to this website http://bearriver.us/ooti.php

The book has two parts - the first third is creation myths, and then the bulk of the book is about what was probably the last living person who knew and practiced Maidu culture and how she prepared acorns. That part is used as material for the website link above. The book should have listed Lizzie Enos as a co-author because much of the text are her words that the author wove into a narrative. Lizzie tells many stories.

I was disappointed with the book because the author chose to go with "artsy" photography in many places that didn't work for me at all. The couple of the author's photos on the website I have noted are much better and there should have been more like that. There are black and white photos in the book similar to the photos on the website And there are some excellent photos in the book, but if you are documenting the end of Maidu culture it should have had much better photos (and color ones). I also think the book would have benefited from a chapter or two on what happened to the Maidu.

The website will give one the sense of the best parts of the book.

I thought I would start posting a jigsaw puzzle photo once in a while. This is one I completed today - it is called Paws & Claws (by Ceaco). It was a fun puzzle. My wife had already done it and she wants to do it again.

>167 RBeffa: That looks like a fun puzzle to do, Ron.
Last winter I did a lot of jigsaw puzzles. Somehow I don't get to them when the days are longer.

>168 FAMeulstee: Same here Anita. I think this is the first puzzle I have done since Spring arrived and now we are into summer. I'm going to start another this afternoon though.

44. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the year Volume Five edited by Jonathan Strahan, finished July 7, 2021, 3 - 3 1/2 stars



This is a very large collection of stories from 2010 - 29 of them, plus the editor's introduction. The editor also provides a brief introduction of each author before their story. This is a good mix of some genres. Most of these are not science fiction - they are more weird fantasy and oddities. As with virtually all collections like this, enjoyment of stories varies. The included stories were:

7 • Elegy for a Young Elk • short story by Hannu Rajaniemi
21 • The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains • novelette by Neil Gaiman
41 • Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots • short story by Sandra McDonald
53 • The Spy Who Never Grew Up • novelette by Sarah Rees Brennan
73 • The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue • short story by Holly Black
81 • Under the Moons of Venus • short story by Damien Broderick
97 • The Fool Jobs • (The First Law Universe) • novelette by Joe Abercrombie
115 • Alone • (The Great Ship Universe) • novella by Robert Reed
159 • Names for Water • short story by Kij Johnson
163 • Fair Ladies • short story by Theodora Goss
179 • Plus or Minus • novelette by James Patrick Kelly
203 • The Man with the Knives • short story by Ellen Kushner
215 • The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening • short fiction by Cory Doctorow
225 • The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon • novella by Elizabeth Hand
265 • The Miracle Aquilina • short fiction by Margo Lanagan
279 • The Taste of Night • short story by Pat Cadigan
289 • The Exterminator's Want-Ad • short story by Bruce Sterling (variant of The Exterminator's Want Ad)
299 • Map of Seventeen • novelette by Christopher Barzak
317 • The Naturalist • novelette by Maureen F. McHugh
337 • Sins of the Father • short story by Sara Genge
347 • The Sultan of the Clouds • novella by Geoffrey A. Landis
387 • Iteration • short story by John Kessel
393 • The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn • novelette by Diana Peterfreund
423 • The Night Train • short story by Lavie Tidhar
435 • Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale) •short story by Ian Tregillis
451 • Amor Vincit Omnia •novelette by Tom Holt, as by K. J. Parker
471 • The Things •short story by Peter Watts
487 • The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball •short story by Genevieve Valentine
495 • The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window •novella by Rachel Swirsky

I am not going to comment on very many of these stories. There were several stories that I rather quickly realized were not to my taste and I abandoned them, but many were OK and just some that I thought were really good. “The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” by Neil Gaiman is one of the really good ones. I've read it before and I think revisiting it just made me like it more. A dark fairytale. If you have Gaiman's multi-author collection titled "Stories" you can find it in there also.

"Fair Ladies" by Theodora Goss was an excellent fairy story. "The Man with the Knives", a short story by Ellen Kushner I found very moving and it made me want to find other stories in this series by Kushner. The novella “The Maiden Flight of McAuley’s Bellerophon” by Elizabeth Hand slowly got its hooks into me. Very good story that was nominated for a bunch of awards, but only won the 2011 World Fantasy award for best novella.

Margo Lanagan is an Australian writer and she has one of the most powerful stories in here. “The Miracle Aquilina” is a horror fantasy story about the strength of women in the face of medieval, evil men.

>167 RBeffa: I like this puzzle. As soon as all projects are finished in the house, I will begin to work on the many, many puzzles I've purchased and new to put to together. I love the challenge of a 1,500 piece puzzle!

>171 Whisper1: My wife and I have pretty much given up on 1500 piece puzzles. They can be very hard and time consuming. We do have one on hand to tackle some day. I seem to prefer 500 pc puzzles these days, and 300 or 1000 piece ones I enjoy also. This is my latest puzzle. It was harder than it looks!

>172 RBeffa: Oooh...I can see that one was a divil, because of the repeated images.

>173 laytonwoman3rd: Yep.
----------
Here is a story I liked from the very first paragraph. I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often. This is the first book I've read by this Japanese author although she has been on my "I should check this one out" list for many years. I had a little push because the translator did such an excellent job with Kawabata's "First Snow on Fuji" that I read a couple weeks ago.

45. Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Michael Emmerich, finished July 9, 2021, 3 1/2+ stars



This book was published in Japanese in 1989 and translated into my English edition in 2000. I thought the style of this book was reminiscent of Haruki Murakami's style. I suppose that means they both write in a Japanese modern style and share certain elements of style and themes. There are three novellas/short stories thematically connected.

The book description on Libraything describes this very well:
Banana Yoshimoto has a magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.

I enjoyed this one and almost bumped it up a little to 4 stars for surprising me. I'll probably try another from this author.

The third part of this book was adapted for a Japanese film in 2015 (Asleep - Shirakawa yofune)

Continuing with my Australian interest here is an author new to me

46. The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay, finished July 13, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



This story is set in a coastal community on the East Coast of Australia. The author does an excellent job giving the reader a sense of the place in 1948 as World War II continues to echo. How do people move on from loss? From the horrors of war. Some do. Some never do. This is at the heart a story about love and romance. The characters are very well done. This is a sad and melancholy book. The story bounces around in time so much with flashbacks that it doesn't flow as well as I think it should.

The ending of this book I was not pleased with. That doesn't help my overall feeling either. I would likely have given this 4 stars if not for the last several pages. I'd still recommend this.

47. Old Bones by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, finished July 17, 2021, 3 - 3 1/2 stars



A mystery thriller about a lost camp and treasure of the Donner Party in the Sierra.
I've been on a bit of a binge with Preston & Child books recently. My wife told me I could skip this one which was too dark and not to her taste although she liked some of it, especially the young FBI agent Corrie Swanson. Since it is related to other books by the authors including 'The Scorpions Tail' that I read in February I gave it a try. I'll agree that this is not one of Preston & Child's best books, but it was still interesting and entertaining. Pendergast does make a small but crucial appearance.

I was tempted to say that this book really jumped the shark but Preston & Child seem to revel in strange wrap-ups.

48. Death of A Gentle Lady by M. C. Beaton, finished July 23, 2021, 3 stars



This is the second Hamish Macbeth mystery I have read and being familiar with the characters I slipped right into the story and enjoyed it. I think I will pick up one of these books every so often. Cozy mystery.

ETA: I forgot to mention one glaring author's error in the midst of the story. Hamish goes into hiding in a far way village midway through the story using an assumed name, William Shore. One of the villagers addresses him as Hamish when inviting him in. aha I say, his cover was blown. But no. This villager is later aghast when discovering who William Shore really was.

I picked up several Connie Willis books on a library visit. I have a large collection I plan to read next month also. Here is one from the library.

49. D.A. by Connie Willis, finished July 24, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



This is a short special edition book from Subterranean Press for a story that probably isn't even novella length. It seems pretty clearly to be an homage to Robert Heinlein's boy adventure stories from the 50's although this is a girl's adventure story with some added humor and snark. It is a light young adult read that goes by quickly and gets an OK.

If I had paid cash money for this I would be pretty disappointed. The author's name is even misspelled as Connie Wills on the inside front cover flap!

Here is another one from my local library - and it turned out to be an accidental re-read.

50. Inside Job by Connie Willis, finished July 25, 2021, 4 stars



As I started to read this I got a very strong feeling I had already read a story like it. A few pages further and I was certain I had read this story before. The novella was first published in the January 2005 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine which I had read in early 2009. It is a noirish story about a professional psychic debunker and a young actress who want to expose a supposedly fake channeler. The charm of this is in the telling and I think one of Connie Willis' better stories. It is very good fiction and well told.

Here is yet another one from my local library.

51. A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton, finished July 28, 2021, 4 stars



A heartwarming gentle tale, not much of a mystery but didn't need to be. I got to know Hamish better and his village and wider area better. Liked this one.

Connie Willis is the August selection for the American Author challenge. The following collection of stories was the second collection of her career and was published in 1993. It contains eleven stories from 1986 to 1992 which were primarily first published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She was quite a prolific author in the 1980's and 1990's and I read several of these stories in the magazines which I read avidly at the time. Despite liking many I grew tired of them and moved on. Never read one of her novels. A surprising number of her stories have not been republished in collections as far as I know. I've owned this collection for a very long time but never got to it.

52. Impossible Things by Connie Willis, finished July 28, 2021, 3 stars



Renowned science fiction editor Gardner Dozois writes what I can only call a gushing and long foreword to this collection of stories by Connie Willis. He didn't select the stories to be in this particular book but he published most of them in Asimov's magazine while he was editor.

Connie Willis's stories are often not easy reads. She uses humor and comedy in many of her stories, but she can also be deadly serious. Shorter stories are often not the easiest things to read since they don't have the luxury of words to fully develop characters and background. We get shoved into the story. The opening story in the collection, "The Last of the Winnebago's" is told in something like a stream of consciousness fragmented fashion and takes some time to develop before the reader realizes what is really going on. I had read this at least twice long ago but it was almost like a fresh read to me. Reading this twice is not a bad thing - it makes more sense initially if one already knows what is going on.

I'm not a fan of all of these stories. The madcap humor is OK in small doses but in a bunch of stories or in the longer ones like "Spice Pogram" I find it tiresome. Willis tells us she adores the old screwball comedy films like "It Happened One Night" and "How To Steal a Million".

Some of the stories are nearly impossible to understand. They are indeed "Impossible Things". Willis does write brief introductions to each story to help understand the origins. Some of these stories resonated with me. Then, one night I had this extended sequence of dreams that I am pretty sure had an origin in some elements of these stories.

So for me this was hit and miss but there are a couple very good stories among the eleven. I thought I would enjoy this more than I did. I'm just not a fan of the comedies. The stories I liked best were "The Last of the Winnebagos," "Chance," and "Jack." When I started the last story it was another madcap thing and I decided I could skip it since it was making no sense at all.

The included material is:
ix • Foreword to Impossible Things by Gardner Dozois
2 • The Last of the Winnebagos • (1988) • novella
66 • Even the Queen • (1992) • short story
90 • Schwarzschild Radius • (1987) • short story
115 • Ado • (1988) • short story
126 • Spice Pogrom • (1986) • novella
224 • Winter's Tale • (1987) • novelette
255 • Chance • (1986) • novelette
294 • In the Late Cretaceous • (1991) • short story
312 • Time Out • (1989) • novella
372 • Jack • (1991) • novella
434 • At the Rialto • (1989) • novelette

May I suggest, should you want to move to her novels, Bellwether, which is slightly dated but a hilarious send-up (in a totally understated way) of bureaucracy and research institutions. Her Doomsday Book is justly popular, but I fear that one of my favorites, To Say Nothing of the Dog, may be a little too madcap for you. But so delicious, especially if you have read Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat--To Say Nothing of the Dog. I also really enjoyed her WWII duology, Blackout and All Clear.

>182 ronincats: Our libraries have most of her novels on the shelf or as ebooks if I ever get the urge. I don't think Bellwether is among them however. I owned Doomsday and To Say Nothing for many years without reading them so I gave them away several years ago. I do enjoy how Willis pokes at things and takes ideas to extremes but especially after this collection of stories I just don't see myself tackling one of her novels when I have so many other thins I want to read. I did really enjoy her "Inside Job" as I noted above at >179 RBeffa:. I'm hoping to get to the last Thief of Eddis book soon. I'm a little hesitant since it has been a while since the other novels. When I nibbled on the start I felt a little lost but I do not want to re-read the earlier works unless I have to! We will see.

I thought I had posted a photo of the last jigsaw puzzle I did but it wasn't here so I'm doing it now. A simple puzzle of fake stamps for the 50 states with a Christmas theme. My wife has been puzzling away but I've been busy reading ... although I have been doing some library books I'm really happy with reading off the shelf this year. What I want to do is work on series books. I have a bunch of series I want to continue and/or finish off. The Thief of Eddis series, Prydain Chronicles, The Borrowers, the Bruno Chief of Police series by Martin Walker, Alan Furst's WWII series ... but I do have some holds at the library I need to pick up

>184 RBeffa: That does look like a fun one!

I had this handed to me with a statement something like "If you've never read this author you have to read this." I thought it was a bit of hyperbole. It wasn't.

53. The Devil's Home on Leave by Derek Raymond, finished August 2, 2021, 4 1/2 stars



This is one of the darkest, grittiest novels I have ever read. British noir, literally hard-boiled. I found myself repulsed and yet transfixed as I read through this. Disgusting stuff, small doses of it at a time. There is an awful lot packed into this book set in 1984 London. It does not paint a pretty picture of the economy, the government, the people. This is much more than a police procedural or crime novel. Some chapters will blindside you. Like a punch it knocks the wind out of you - you have to get up, walk a bit, let the tightness in your chest and throat relax. There's a fair bit of slang in this, but what powerful storytelling here.

Fans of someone like Mo Hayder might like this, but the graphic descriptions in this book make me hesitant to recommend it to anyone despite being impressed by this work.

>185 ChrisG1: It was a fun one.

Here's another, this is a 1000 pc eurographics puzzle that my wife finished today and I only helped a little towards the end. It is called "Yoga Cats" and is cute and colorful.

Oh, I love "Yoga Cats"!! But I can't handle 1000 piece puzzles...

>188 ronincats: I know what you mean Roni. I rarely go beyond 500 pieces but the paws and claws up at >167 RBeffa: was 550 pieces and I have one more in that set to get to. Because of the colors used in yoga cats it was easier to do than many 1000 pieces which can be very tiresome. Sort out the rose pieces, the purples, the greens etc it was almost (not quite) a bunch of mini puzzles that made a big one. Eurographics puzzles are frequently (like this one) all the same shaped pieces which makes it difficult if you are a shape sorter - but since I am more of a color and pattern puzzler when I can be this kind of puzzle appeals to me. Mostly, tho gimme the 300-500 piece ones!

I'm getting my introduction to Connie Willis by reading To Say Nothing of the Dog. Not my usual fare, at all. It has a Jasper Fforde flavor, for me. I read two of his Thursday Next series, which my son-in-law loved (in fact, he and my daughter named their dog Thursday Next). I was not inclined to read more, but so far the Willis is amusing me enough that I'll keep going. I read Three Men in a Boat nearly a decade ago, and don't remember much about it, but my review says it felt like Wodehouse, with a dusting of Twain.

>190 laytonwoman3rd: I'm holding off any comments on Connie's AAC thread until other readers have had a chance to have a say. I heard her speak a very long time ago and she struck me as the rare author I would enjoy being friends with. She's very good at poking fun at things like political correctness and newspeak. I really wish I liked more of her stories. She sometimes really resonates with me so I hope the book you have hits that sweet spot for you.

>187 RBeffa: Yoga Cats - awesome!

I should get back to some serious reading, but here is another puzzle I completed last night. It is a 550 piece called 'Paws Gone Wild'. I enjoyed doing this one. I think it is a companion to the puzzle at >167 RBeffa:

>186 RBeffa: Well, you got me. Into the Someday Swamp with it!

>193 RBeffa: Oh, that looks like fun. I really liked the yoga cats too.

>194 swynn: "Someday Swamp"----brilliant!

>194 swynn: Well Steve, if you read the several reviews of The Devil's Home on Leave here on LT it should warm you up for what the novel entails. I will be on the lookout for other novels by the author. This is the rare book that really got to me.

>192 ChrisG1: >195 laytonwoman3rd: Puzzles, cat ones in particular are fun. I picked up what I hope is a great puzzle yesterday, altho the 1000 pcs scares me off a bit. The puzzle is a collage of classic Nancy Drew books. I could not pass it by.

I read a book by this author last month and wanted to try another.

54. The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto, finished August 6, 2021, 2 - 2 1/2 stars



I don't think I can properly review this book. Much of it didn't click with me although I was drawn in right from the start. But then it stopped working for me and I kept wondering what I was missing - I'd flip back some pages and say, no I didn't zone out, and then read on. Like the last book the style of the telling reminds me a little of Haruki Murakami, but not as good. The storytelling felt very uneven to me. We are inside the head of the main character a lot but she never got to the place where she felt "real" to me. Bits seem inconsistent. The book does have it's moments so it gets a weak OK. I was expecting more from it, and more than once I felt like just stopping and not finishing it (which I should have done). I could not relate to the people in this book.

>196 RBeffa: Oh my goodness - I don't know the Nancy Drew books but I still love the cover puzzle!

>198 PersephonesLibrary: I've never read a Nancy Drew book (I might have once read a Hardy Boys mystery) but I remember seeing many of these books years ago. I suppose just my love of books drew me to this jigsaw puzzle.

>196 RBeffa: I would love to try a puzzle similar to that but preferably the books of Hammond Innes, Emile Zola, Charlie Dickens, Graham Greene or Somerset Maugham.

Have a great weekend.

>200 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. There are a lot of authors or series I would pick before Nancy Drew. These book covers promised a lot of intrigue, mystery and adventure to young minds. Personally I would love a cover collage of Edgar Rice Burroughs' adventures, the classic ones from the 1950's by Roy Krenkel Jr..

I have a dilemma. I am reading the sixth and final book of Megan Whalen Turner's 'Thief' series. It is called The Return of the Thief. I am presently at page 110, the first page of chapter 6 and I have been bored 90+% of the time reading this book. Wondering if it was just me I went so far as checking out the downloadable audiobook version from the library so I have both read and listened to one quarter of the book. The narrator is very good. But the bits I have enjoyed in this book are few and far between.

It has been 4 years or so since I read the last book in the series and I recall being rather underwhelmed by that book. It was the first three books together in this series that I really enjoyed. The 4th and 5th less so, but still enjoyable. I just feel like I am wasting time on this sixth book. The reviews of this are generally quite favorable. I have strongly resisted the urge to skip ahead, and I do not think it was the gap in time from the last book to this one that has resulted in my dissatisfaction. I just don't find this interesting in the least bit. I may give one more chapter a try later today.

>202 RBeffa: Well, I have come to a decision. The Return of the Thief is not a book for me. I listened to another half hour or so of the audiobook and I continued to be underwhelmed and uninterested. This is not the first time I am completely out of synch with other readers. Many years ago I was browsing the mystery section in a nice used bookshop. I asked the bookseller a question about an author I was looking for and we ended up talking a bit. He strongly recommended the Mary Russell series by Laurie R King which he was reading himself. I ended up going home with the Beekeeper's Apprentice and a couple other books early in the series. I could hardly wait to start reading. The Beekeeper's Apprentice was a terrible book. I'm not the only person who thinks it terrible, but the majority of readers seem to like it a lot. Well, I didn't. The books went straight to the giveaway bag.

I don't think 'The Return of the Thief' is a terrible book but it is a big uninteresting book to me and so I am marking this off as a DNF. Rare for me to bail after 5 or 6 hours spent on a book, but so be it. I will probably listen to a bit more before I return to the library. I figure I can have it on in the background while I wash the dishes or something.

55. The Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, DNF as of August 8, 2021, 2 stars

Hey, life’s too short for books that don’t work for you. Happens to all of us, and we shouldn’t fall for “sunk cost”. 😀

Happy birthday, Ron.

>203 RBeffa: Sorry that one didn't do it for you. Have you not read the earlier books in the series?

>204 drneutron: Yep

>205 PaulCranswick: Yes Paul, I have read the five previous books, although it was fours years ago in June 2017 that I read the fifth book, and it was sort of an offshoot book at that. The 2nd and 3rd books were the best. I mentioned on your thread recently that I thought this was a great series you were reading. When you get to this one, maybe having everything fresh in your mind this will make you happy.

The reviews say everything gets wonderfully tied up at the end. I don't know what that would be.

>206 RBeffa: Ha yes I see that now, Ron.

After my last post I let the audiobook continue and somewhat amazingly my interest was almost immediately tickled by the appearance of a character from prior books, Delius. After listening for a bit I picked the hardback back up and have read on for the last three days. Finally, finally, a third of the way in the story had got going. I'm still not a big fan of this ponderous attempt to name every character who ever had a moment in a prior book, who I really could have cared less about, for the most part. Even Gen didn't really act like himself until suddenly he did. I don't think this was a story that really needed to be told, but here it is. I'm raising my rating to three stars.

I will say that after "The End" there is a delightful short story tacked on to the book called "Alyta's Missing Earring". I would have been more than happy i think with a book of short stories like that one.

55. The Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, finished August 10, 2021, 3 stars

>208 RBeffa: Funny how that happens. I don't have a lot of patience with series fiction that recaps too much before getting on with it. What's wrong with expecting a little from the reader...like remembering what went before? And if you're leaping ahead in time, but what's happened in the interim matters to the story you're telling...why didn't you just write that book first?

>209 laytonwoman3rd: I think what I enjoy in a story isn't exactly what many other people enjoy. There was not a lot of recap, per se. There was a lot of bringing back characters for cameo appearances. I did feel there were missing things untold altho the author tried to cover all that near the end. I'm a fan of this series but apparently not a hardcore enough one. Well, it is done and I am glad I finished it after all. Maybe I'll re-read some of the early books in the series before too long.

Whew! I was so bummed when you weren't finishing The Return of the Thief, so I am thrilled that you finished it and at least enjoyed the latter part of the book.

>211 ronincats: I was bummed too Roni!

Continuing my reading of Australian authors and/or books about Australia

56. Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice, finished August 12, 2021, 3 stars



This short novel is an odd one. It is set in the opal mining town of Lightning Ridge, NSW. A man, and his son, our narrator, try to find opals. The daughter KellyAnne has two imaginary friends, those of the title. The mother supports the daughter's imagination as does much of the town. Pobby and Dingan go missing, maybe-dead the girl says. Dad and his mining seems to be the cause of it, having lost them on a trip to his mine. Things get bad. KellyAnne begins wasting away. The boy rustles up support from the townspeople to find Pobby and Dingan. Later, a burial at the cemetery for the imaginary friends. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust ...

Very different sort of story. Sad, depressing. After reading this I had kind of a waking dream and it gave me the thought that Pobby and Dingan were not imaginary friends. Rather, I think they were ghosts, spirits, to take KellyAnne in some manner to the dreamland afterlife.

>213 RBeffa:. Hi there! It's been a while. My bad.

Your latest read sounds very interesting, but I am in need of lighter books right now, so maybe not. ; ) Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

>214 Berly: Thanks for dropping by with good wishes Kim. A number of my recent books have not been "lighter reading". I want to work on my series reads and themes (like Australia) but I need to mix some fun stuff in. I'm sorry Oregon is getting hit so hard with fire, smoke and heat.

Back to a series read

57. The Children Return, original title Children of War by Martin Walker, finished August 18, 2021, 3 1/2+ stars



'The Children Return' is the highest rated book in the Bruno, Chief of Police series on Librarything. It is the tenth Bruno story and the seventh novel in the series that I have read. As much as I enjoy these books there always seems to be a bit or two that keeps me from loving them. This one is no exception. I think this one was too much of a terrorist thriller for me to really like it, although I will admit it may be one of the best books in the Bruno series so far.

For those who follow such things, Bruno has a serious new love interest by the end of the book.

I have learned a lot of hidden French history by reading these books.

I think I started reading this book about 20 or more years ago. My bookmark was still sitting in it somewhere around page 49 but I never continued the read even when I cataloged many of my books in 2009 for LT. Instead it was reshelved behind other books until I pulled it out while looking for something else.

58. Some of Your Blood, by Theodore Sturgeon, finished August 20, 2021, 3 stars



Frankly I'm not sure how to rate this or describe it. Kind of a crime novel, a psychological thriller, first published in 1961. Psychoanalysis was in vogue in the 60's and is here aplenty. This book is apparently highly regarded. I found it unsettling. Although I wouldn't call this a horror novel it is sort of, and a number of people think this is a vampire novel. This is not what I would call a vampire novel although there is blood drinking.

I can see why I didn't continue this book the first time I read it. The first part of the novel recounts a man's childhood in a severely dysfunctional family setting with severe spousal abuse to his mother as well as child abuse to him.

This book gets high praise in some places but I didn't like it and would not recommend it. Sad story. I think this is the first book by Sturgeon to disappoint me.

A new series for me, with thanks to Linda (laytonwoman3rd). I did a marathon read last night and this morning to finish this one.

59. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Domenica De Rosa), finished August 25, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars, let's call it 4.



Just some thoughts here. Not a real review.

I think that this is a promising beginning to a new to me series that makes me want to read more and see how things develop. I really like the main character Ruth Galloway. She feels like a completely real person to me. The setting and everything is different enough to be intriguing. All the archeology stuff in here really sucked me in and I was only disappointed when after the story she says: "The Saltmarsh and its henge are completely imaginary" I so wanted it to be a real place! For a first book in a series, well done. I'm hooked. To make sure I was hooked at the end of the book were the first two chapters of the "Coming in Fall 2010" next book.

I must say however that I had a bit of nervousness before and during the novel about two trigger items of mine. I try to avoid stories about child abductions and/or death. That was known to me up front and if it hadn't been handled well I would have rapidly bailed on the book. To the author's credit she wrote this very well. My second trigger showed up before the halfway mark, and that is animal death or cruelty. That was completely unexpected and gave me pause. Along with what was being revealed it almost immediately made me feel like I knew whodunnit, unlikely as that may have initially been. It turned out I was right. Was the animal bit necessary? I'll say it was a material clue, but I wish it would have been done differently.

Overall I really like how the author blends history, archeology, detective work and very interesting well developed characters.

Well, I am behind the times but this Ruth Galloway series is firmly on my plate. I will be reading more soon.

I may have brought this puzzle home a few weeks ago but my wife just did it in less than 2 days. 1000 pieces. I've never done a 1000 that fast I am pretty sure. She says she was a little obsessive about it. So here is "Avian Friends" which LT won't display vertically

This novel falls into that length that I really appreciated in the past and often yearn for when one has a bloated work in one's hands. This is a novel from 1968 that comes in just under 200 pages.

60. The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg, finished August 29, 2021, 1 star



I have read and own a large number of Silverberg's stories since the late 60's. I would guess I have read over a hundred of Silverberg's stories, long ones and short ones, over the past half century. I consider him one of my favorite science fiction writers. He also writes some fantasy and historical fiction as well as non-fiction, but he is primarily a science fiction writer. However, even though I have read a lot he has written a lot more and many of his novels and stories I have never read or even known about. This is one of the unread ones coming from a time when a younger version of myself was discovering his writing and enjoying many of his tales.

I found this book to be bizarre and strangely unsatisfying. Silverberg tries to write a serious work here, looking forward from his time to 30 years in the future and apocalyptic cults of 1999 and the appearance of what seems to be a 5 foot tall man from the future who has traveled 1000 years back in time. The man from 2999 seems to be an aphrodisiac and a cult instantly springs up around him. In a way this is a second cousin to something like "Stranger in a Strange Land". The first chapter starts off very well. One must remember that when this was written it was 60's sexual revolution time. Everything in here is sexualized whether it is a power cord "He set his grip on thick cables and massaged them in frank obscenity." or a woman dictating into a small hidden recorder at a party: "Helen McIlwain was dictating notes into the amulet at her throat, a task that required her to give a good imitation of the fellative act, while Lloyd Kolff was enjoying the act itself not far away ..."

That 60's revolution seems to mean we also talk about breasts and their shape and see through clothes incessantly and who wants to do what with who on just about every female in the book. Relentlessly. We even have a young woman pissing on someone's face. A little bit of sexual patter can be titillating but this was really absurd. How bad is it? Well, let me give you one more example here, the assessment of a fiftysomething physicist evaluating who I think is a fortysomething anthropologist who just had the front of her garment ripped open: "One bare breast jutted into view, surprisingly firm for a woman her age, surprisingly well developed for a woman of her lean, lanky build."

The novel does have some interesting parts but honestly I was rather bored with it much of the time and could not get past the dreadful package the story presented. I couldn't wait for it to be over. This one goes down as the worst Silverberg I ever read. I did lightly skim through a few bits. I'm surprised I didn't throw this in the trash. Hey, good idea!

This is simply poorly written and I'm surprised that when my copy was reissued in 1988 that a glaring time zone error wasn't fixed. And it really is glaring.

I needed something after the Silverberg story. I think I found it.

This Murakami short story was posted to the New Yorker website on August 29, 2011, 10 years ago from today. It would appear in print in the Sept 5 issue. This link was posted to Murakami's Facebook page today which is how I found it. You can find it too at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/05/town-of-cats?fbclid=IwAR1k8o3NFeHA...

61. Town of Cats by Haruki Murakami, finished August 29, 2021, 4 stars



A remarkable story. Makes me hungry for more Murakami.

So you grab that book you've wanted to read and head for your usual reading chair and what do you find? Chair thief!

My cat Albert does let me sit in the chair now and then, and I have been reading the 2nd Ruth Galloway mystery, The Janus Stone. About a third of the way through.

I'll put a trigger warning right up front here. Right from the start one knows this is a possible child murder case. I have a strong aversion, a distaste for the subject. I would prefer that no books were written on the subject. The death of a child in the first book bothered me but the book was so full of positives I wanted to continue the series. We also have another animal killing. Trigger #2. I pretty much feel the same way here as with the prior book, that despite these deaths the overall book is very good. Our main character, Dr Ruth Galloway, is a lecturer and expert in forensic archaeology so when buried bones turn up, she is the bone expert. The history and archaeology in here is a big part of the appeal of the two books so far. But I do hope she moves on from buried children and cat killings.

This is the second book in the Ruth Galloway series. I read the first one about 2 weeks ago.

62. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths, finished September 4, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



I did not enjoy this story quite as much as the first story in the series. The first novel had such a sense of place about it. I still really like Griffith's storytelling and this novel is almost a direct continuation from events in the first book in the series, and clearly the next book will continue in the same way. There is history aplenty in this book but the odd mystery part was not so compelling to me and I wasn't impressed with the ending of this. I noted my two primary bothers in >223 RBeffa: but I am also bothered by Ruth being placed in deadly peril again. On the plus side I am pleased with the development of several characters.

There are actually a couple mysteries within the story. One of them had an interesting twist that I didn't expect but should have. The author had dropped a few clues along the way - I looked back and checked - and it made things interesting. The pace of the story picked up towards the end for an exciting finish even if I wasn't thrilled with it.

I'm looking forward to the next book. This will be my go-to series for now although I have plenty more to work on! Time for something else next. I have a lot of books on the shelf calling my name.

Hi Ron. I hope all is well. I'm still reading in the Freaky Florida Mysteries by Margaret Lindsey. I've not read three successive titles in decades, but these are feeding my need for something silly and inviting, comforting. Presently reading her Oral Robbers. Also started Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris. Looks to be good as well.

>225 brodiew2: Thanks for dropping by Brodie. It is good to hear from you. I can't recall the last time I read three successive titles in a row. Maybe back in 8th grade when I was reading the Tarzan novels!

Hi, Ron. I avoid child abduction and murder books,too, but not in the hands of Elly Griffiths. She’s got the rihght touch, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve gotten hooked on the Ruth Galloway series, too, and I try to get my mitts on the newest one as quickly as I can. You’re in the enviable position of having a bunch of good ones waiting for you.

>222 RBeffa: LOL!

>227 jnwelch: Yes Joe, I'm hooked on Elly Griffiths. I stopped by the library late yesterday just before closing to pick up a book and couldn't resist going over to the mystery section and grabbing The House At Sea's End as well. I am certainly looking forward to this series, not that I needed another series!

ETA 9/8/21 Well I could not let it sit there so I read 100 pages of Ruth Galloway before bed last night. Very good so far altho one of the characters, Trace, is behaving out of character in my mind, not that we knew a lot about her character to begin with.

The book I thought I was going to read next wasn't working for me so I went right to the third Ruth Galloway mystery.

63. The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths, finished September 10, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



I liked having a mystery in this one that was distinctly different than the first two books, and it expands the area we are visiting in Norfolk. This turns out to be a WWII mystery. I thought briefly that this would be my favorite of the first three books but some things like character's behavior bothered me. There is plenty of good stuff in here, but some of this I did not like at all such as Ruth's Bosnian friend. We get some backstory on Ruth's younger years. Overall I'd say this was my least favorite so far, but still a pretty good read. The murders pile up here and it was resolved in a way I didn't expect. The herrings are very thick in here.

I have picked up the next book in the series from the library ...

ETA: I am beginning to harbor a suspicion that Elly Griffith is a pseudonym for Grace Metalious.

I picked up a copy today of Howard Norman's The Bird artist for the Sept American Author challenge. That book and the next Ruth Galloway episode of Peyton Place will be my next reads.

Howard Norman is the September author for the American Author Challenge. 'The Bird Artist' got a bit of buzz on LT so I went for it.

64. The Bird Artist> by Howard A. Norman, finished September 15, 2021, 4 - 4 1/2 stars



I liked this book literally from the first paragraph. I didn't know if I would like it further than that, but this quirky novel set a hundred and more years ago (1910) kept my interest all the way until the end. Eccentric characters everywhere. Set mostly in a small fishing village on the coast of Newfoundland, our main character Fabian discovers a talent for drawing the local birds.

I should maybe call this a dark comedy. Things don't end well for many. The characters here came to life for me. I don't want to be spoilery but I think the marriage scene is the funniest part of the novel. I did wonder about a couple of possible anachronisms in the story. One possible that comes to mind now are the Halifax people calling our bird artist and mother "Newfies" in 1911.

I really enjoyed this novel.

Well this is kind of crazy, my 4th Elly Griffiths/Ruth Galloway mystery within a month.

65. Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths, finished September 20, 2021, 3 1/2 stars



Quite a different sort of story than the first three novels. I still like the first novel best. This one had a number of complicated stories going on at once. Our usual main characters Galloway and Nelson step to the side a bit (probably a good thing) while other players hog the stage. I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this at first, but the stories are intricate and rather exciting.

The "mummy's curse" angle was rather uninteresting to me.

I'll take a break from the series now but this has been an enjoyable diversion. My other "planned" reads have been calling to me. I've also started a rather intense Japanese novel, Silence, that was made into a film a few years ago. I also think I need a reading break soon. Haven't been doing any jigsaw puzzles ...

I had forgotten I wanted to read this right after Room Full of Bones. It is a short story available for free at Amazon for kindle or kindle reader. It takes place a few days after the events in the novel. It could even have been the final chapter.

66. Ruth's First Christmas Tree by Elly Griffiths, finished September 20, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



A pleasant slight story that serves very well as an introduction to the Ruth Galloway series. It isn't complex. One doesn't read this series for the mysteries, really, but for the characters. It has a sweet finish.

>230 RBeffa: Glad you liked The Bird Artist, Ron. Like Fabian, I'm often slow on the uptake, and I read it at first as a serious story. I finally recognized the humor, as in the wedding episode.

Elly Griffiths has a lot of fans, but I'm trying to avoid stumbling into any addictive series. Haven't noticed any Griffiths books at library sales. I'm grateful for that. :-)

>232 weird_O: I'm pretty sure I didn't recognize the humor aspect of it right away, Bill. It is a serious story, but at some point one realizes that the author is having some fun with the reader as well. I think this one will have to be on my favorite books of the year list.

When I was at the last Library Friends book sale I looked for Elly Griffiths and didn't find anything either and hadn't remembered seeing any since the sales restarted. But right after I read the first one from the library I checked out the Friends book nook where some books are for sale. The Friends prez was stopping in and asked me if I was looking for anything in particular - I said not really, but then, "Elly Griffiths". Her face lit up - "I think we just got some in" she said and disappeared for about 5 minutes and came back with a Galloway one which I gladly took. She knew there were two more tho but one was The Crossing places and the other wasn't in the Galloway series so I made myself pass. One series at a time ...

Glad you're enjoying the Ruth Galloway series, and that The Bird Artist was a hit. It's been so long since I read the latter that I think I'll revisit it soon. I know exactly what you mean about missing humorous intent. I can see how that might happen with Norman. He's often chucklin' funny, but dry...once you catch on, he can make you laugh out loud.

>234 laytonwoman3rd: They were both hits for me. Not sure I want to run out and read another Howard Norman right away but he's on my radar now.
-----------------

I can kick myself in the behind. I got this in the beginning of February, read a couple pages and only got back to it now.

67. Coo by Kaela Noel, finished September 22, 2021, 4 1/2 stars



This is an older children's book that adults should be able to love. The book says the audience age is 8-12 which sounds about right. The publisher summary is: “Coo, a ten-year-old girl raised by a flock of pigeons, delights in finally making human contact, but quickly learns that our world is more cruel and complicated than she could have guessed”

I loved it. The cover is charming and there are cute pen and ink drawings of pigeons scattered through the book. I would actually disagree with the book description that says Coo "delights in finally making human contact". Coo is actually very afraid of most things human and just as she slowly grows and adapts life gets very scary again among the humans. The book actually tackles some important and complex ideas. The idea of being raised by pigeons seems silly, but this never feels that way. It is entirely believable if one doesn't think about it too hard. Our girl Coo has been with her pigeons since she was an infant and now she is ten. The way she talks with the pigeons seems so real. But then she finally is forced to interact with humans. If you have a heart, this book will tug at it.

Recommended. It gets a little scary at times but this is a positive and uplifting story. You might even get teary eyed. Will certainly be one of my favorites of the year.

Coo goes onto the list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Ron.

If you run across it I hope you enjoy it Linda. I think I ran across it randomly - I can't for the life of me remember anyone suggesting it. I was reading a bunch of younger targeted stuff and looking around. I got an ebook of it but this would be nice to have in paper.

>109 RBeffa: I read this one as well this year. It was a nice story, but that's about it. Maybe something was lost in the translation?

>238 ocgreg34: I think it is one of those Japanese books that could really use a good introduction and reader's guide. Endless digressions that bored me. I can scarcely recall it now several months later.

Here are some recent jigsaw puzzles. A 1000 piece Nancy Drew as noted >196 RBeffa: and two 300 piece ones, Silly Cats which was more fun that it looks and a nice Ravensburger, Toy Shelf, also 300 pc.

I feel I'm not really able to review this book properly. It is a powerful and very affecting novel. This will be my last book for the third quarter.

68. Silence by Shusaku Endo, finished September 29, 2021, 4 stars



This rather unconventional novel is about Japanese Christians and society in the 1600's and several Jesuit missionaries from Portugal. It primarily focuses on the trials of one, named Rodrigues.

I like reading Japanese authors and I have looked forward to reading this book, although with a worry, and to a certain extent the worry proved itself. When I had seen Martin Scorcese's very long film about 3 years ago I found it historically fascinating but very depressing on several levels. It has a very visceral visual impact and the film has stayed with me much longer than most films do. The novel is a bit different from the film but to my memory stays very true even though the graphic nature of the film such as beheading has a much harder impact than the words. Reading the book I would find myself saying, yes, this was in the film. There is one truth in this, the never-ending man's inhumanity to man. I picked this book up about the time of the film. I am pretty sure I hadn't seen the movie at that point, but I enjoy exploring Japanese writer's works.

I do have one sort of criticism and I don't know if it is the author or the translator, or most likely me. The book begins, the first four chapters, with a series of very long letters from a missionary who has gone to Japan, sending letter reports back to Portugal. I think we are told these are letters found in archives, but I don't recall precisely nor did I understand while reading these letters how they were sent and preserved. My problem was that these letters from the early 1600's sound pretty much like someone could have been writing them 50 or so years ago when the author and translator wrote them. In other words they have a very contemporary feel. They also seem to be written by someone who knows more than one would expect or would even seem possible at the points in time they occur. It makes for easier reading but it was also distracting to me. This can be a problem with historical fiction in general but seemed notable here. After the first four chapters the book without explanation switches to a traditional narration of a story observing Rodrigues and others and the author otherwise does very well in telling this story. The end of the book has an appendix of records which reveals the final outcome.

This book covers the beginning of the era of roughly 250 years of self-isolation by Japan with the stamping out of Christianity and western influences. The Japanese view here is made clear. We experience the thoughts and faith of a Portugese missionary. It is essentially a book about faith in God in the face of silence from God. That is where the title comes from.

This is a rather unique book and I can see why many readers feel strongly about it.

Time for the 3rd quarter wrap-up. With the covid crisis continuing I spend much more time reading than compared to many prior years. I am glad that our Friend of the Library have resumed their monthly sales. As we get further in the year it becomes harder for me to comparatively rank books. Suffice it to say that each of the books listed here was a very good to excellent read. I rank these mostly for how much I enjoyed and/or appreciated the story, and the emotional impact and how much it has stayed with me.

Top Ten Fiction novels for 2021:

1. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
2. The Devil's Home on Leave by Derek Raymond
3. Silence by Shusaku Endo
4. The Bird Artist by Howard A Norman
5. Good morning, midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
6. Grass For My Pillow by Saiichi Maruya
7. Beyond The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
8. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
9. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
10. The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay

Honorable mentions:
The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Mount by Carol Emshwiller
The Children Return by Martin Walker

Top Non-Fiction for 2021

1. Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan
2.

Five Favorite anthologies/ short story collections for 2021:

1. Nebula Winners Thirteen edited by Samuel R Delaney
2. The Best of C. L. Moore by Catherine L. Moore
3. Blind willow, sleeping woman : twenty-four stories by Haruki Murakami
4. First snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
5. The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin


Honorable mentions:

Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick

Best fiction re-reads in 2021:

1. Inside Job by Connie Willis
2. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey
3.

Favorite Young Adult or Children's reads in 2021:

1/2. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
1/2. The Castle of Lyr by Lloyd Alexander
3. Coo by Kaela Noel
4. Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander
5. Da Vinci's cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
6. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
7. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
8. A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted
9. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
10. No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey

Honorable Mentions:
Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot
Moses the Kitten by James Herriot

Best fun reads in 2021:

1. Uhura's Song (Star Trek) by Janet Kagan
2.

The prolific Australian author Thomas Keneally is famous for books other than this one. I had picked this book up several years ago and like so many others I had never gotten to it, but it fits right in to my Australian reading.

Sometimes when I finish a book I have trouble saying something non-spoilery and concise about it. I kind of feel that way about this one.

69. Shame and the Captives by Thomas Keneally, finished October 6, 2021, 3 stars



This is a fictional story set around a true event. A prison break in NSW, Australia in 1944 where as the blurb puts it: "more than one thousand Japanese prisoners of war staged the largest and most violent prison escape of World War II." The author was 9 years old at the time and states it was terrifying. So we know at the outset how this is going to end up.

There is a very long buildup to the prison break. The opening chapter set in Japan in 1946 intrigues the reader with a brief story of Aoki returning home, but then we go to Australia in 1943-1944 to learn some history. This historical drama has some odd romance in it but the story takes a while to build. I found it a rather tedious portrayal of a handful of Australians and Brits as well as a few of the prisoners and prison guards (the prisoners were more interesting, little that we got about them). I never felt like I would stop reading this, but I was underwhelmed and can't find a reason to praise it. Keneally seems to enjoy painting women as man hungry.

Some readers find a real insight into understanding Japanese soldiers' martial and moral code in World War II, something that I for one have always had a hard time understanding - banzai death charges, never surrender, disembowel yourself, kamikazes. This does give a person some insight in how it might be inside the soldiers' heads. The captured soldiers live in shame for not having died in battle. They want an honorable death.

When Fall comes our sunsets out here on the left coast can be very beautiful. When October comes, it becomes time for Ray Bradbury. LT says I have 44 Bradbury books. I have read and reread every one this past decade with one unread exception that I will read this month. I also have 2 that I have not reread in decades and I will try and squeeze them in also.

So sometimes in September and October the witches fly at sunset here, and here is an example from several years ago.

>244 RBeffa: Eerie....and beautiful.

>245 laytonwoman3rd: No witches in the sky yet this year Linda.

But I did watch William Shatner fly into the sky today and I thought it was pretty cool.

This turned out to be rather unexciting. Not every Bradbury collection is a winner.

70. I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury, finished October 14, 2021, 2 1/2 stars



This was first published On October 31, 1969 which seems perfect for Ray Bradbury.

When I first started reading the opening story I'm going Jeez... Bradbury is channeling Ernest Hemingway. I soon realized this was intentional and being a Hemingway fan I could not help but love this story, a blend of fantasy and a touch of science fiction, and certainly a homage to Hemingway who had only been dead for a few years when this was published in 1965.

This collection of Bradbury stories is a mix of genres primarily from the 60's. There is a gently amusing Irish story, some light fantasy, things surreal, mild horror and science fiction and the best story in the collection is the title story, which began as a 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone until Bradbury adapted his screenplay into the remarkable and touching story of the electric grandmother.

There are quite a few so-so stories and several duds such as 'Tomorrow's Child'. This was a disappointment because Bradbury is a fountain of ideas but what he does with them isn't always as good as the idea. An example of this is "Downwind From Gettysburg". I was rather charmed by "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's Is a Friend of Mine" although I could not convince myself that the title was grammatically correct. Here is the list of contents:

1 • The Kilimanjaro Device (original title 'The Kilimanjaro Machine' in January 22, 1965 Life Magazine) • (1965) • short story
13 • The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place • (1969) • short story
30 • Tomorrow's Child • (1948) • short story
49 • The Women • (1948) • short story
61 • The Inspired Chicken Motel • (1969) • short story
72 • Downwind from Gettysburg • (1969) • short story
90 • Yes, We'll Gather at the River • (1969) • short story
100 • The Cold Wind and the Warm • (Harper's magazine, July 1964) • short story
120 • Night Call, Collect • (1969) • short story
133 • The Haunting of the New • (1969) • short story
151 • I Sing the Body Electric! • (McCall's magazine, August 1969) • novelette
191 • The Tombling Day • (1952) • short story
200 • Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's Is a Friend of Mine • (1966) • novelette
229 • Heavy-Set • (Playboy magazine, October 1964) • short story
241 • The Man in the Rorschach Shirt • (Playboy magazine, October 1966) • short story
255 • Henry the Ninth • (1969) • short story
264 • The Lost City of Mars • (Playboy magazine, January 1967) • novelette
298 • Christus Apollo • (1969) • poem

I know I've read that collection, because I read everything Bradbury as a teenager. But the only stories I recognize are "Night Call, Collect" and "I Sing the Body Electric!"

>248 swynn: I was pretty sure I had read "Night Call, Collect" before. I read loads of Bradbury mostly in my early twenties. Night Call is the story of the last man on Mars who had set up a planetwide automated phone call system to keep himself company sixty or so years in his future but he's going nuts over it.

Aha, here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR36HbWgxYw

Time to return to the Prydain Chronicles.

71. The High King by Lloyd Alexander, finished October 17, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



I find it hard now to individually rate each book in this 5 novel series now that I have finished. The books build upon each other in the journey of Taran and his companions. I think the first and third books will remain my favorites. 'The High King' was barely an OK wrap-up. I think it was the weakest of the series and I was unsatisfied. The return of the once giant Glew I found to be a constant annoyance. There is too much death and destruction here. At about the 3/4 mark I mentioned to my wife that this last book is too sad and although this is one of her very favorite fantasy series, she agreed. Most readers rate this novel much higher than I did.

I do have a smallish collection of short stories which appear to be pre-history to this series and I will move right on to them.

72. The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, finished October 18, 2021, 2 1/2 - 3 stars



This is a very slim collection of six slight short stories fleshed out with simple illustrations to add a few details to the history of Prydain. I think it useful primarily to someone who has finished the novels and wants a little more time in the world of Prydain. If I think about the ending of The High King I would think that an entire novel and more could have been written as a prequel. These stories for the most part are quite skipworthy.

I have a number of Alexander's other books on hand so I will continue to read them as the mood strikes me. Probably next year as the soonest though.

>247 RBeffa: I was relieved that after that opening sentence, you loved the title story, as it is one of my favorites of his. I don't remember the other stories in the series and it has been years since I read the collection, but because of that story the book is still in my library.

>250 RBeffa: I was very disappointed the first time I read The High King--but I have liked it more each and every time I have reread it. It is so neat to see all the threads being woven together.

>251 ronincats: Roni, "I Sing The Body Electric" is one of my favorite stories of his for me too. I know I have read it before, probably more than once.

I could admire what Alexander was doing in the High King as he reached back seemingly everywhere to touch base with characters. I especially liked when near the end the gwythaint that Taran had found as a fledgling and cared for in The Book of Three now not only saves Taran's life on top of Mount Dragon, but placed him where he could find the lost sword and ultimately save them all. Unfortunately Alexander then kills off this magnificent bird. I felt like I was reading George R. R. Martin. Everybody dies. Well, not everybody and every thing, but far too many. I think the lowest point for me was the destruction of the fortress with all the art, music and history and knowledge of Prydain destroyed with it.

Hi Ron. I'm sorry to be out of touch. The puzzle you posted is incredibly beautiful. I visited a friend who lives in a beautiful place called Country Meadows. While her space is smaller than my books would accommodate, I very much liked the ambiance. There are a lot of spaces were residents can sit round the fireplace and chat. And, in a lovely space, there is a table with a puzzle that those who live there can stop by and put a few or more pieces together. Each time I've been there, they put the previous puzzle box standing up.

I know where I would spend my time if I lived there.

BEAUTIFUL sunset!! Wow. And I love the puzzle. Two days is impressive!

I was very happy for Shatner to be able to have that experience. He was so emotional about it!

Sorry Ray Bradbury didn't deliver this time. Bummer.

How about Happy Tuesday!!

>253 Whisper1: Hello Linda and thank you for dropping by. The photo of the bird puzzle doesn't quite do it justice. It was really lovely. One of the plusses of being closed up for this long pandemic has been the enjoyment my wife and I have gotten doing puzzles. Just a simple pleasure. There is an inn (The Benbow Inn) that my family used to stay at in the Northern California redwoods that has an absolutely lovely lobby/sitting room with a fireplace and there was always a table or two with jigsaw puzzles in progress where we could sit and relax with tea and scones and puzzles. Sounds like you found something similar,

I'm sorry for your loss of Will's brother and his spiteful wife giving grief.

>254 Berly: Hi Kim. You've been a busy bee! I'd love to say Happy Tuesday but I got both my covid booster and flu vaccine yesterday morning and I am achy and tired. It should pass soon. I was unexpectedly touched by Shatner's emotional reaction to space.

This is a series read I have wanted to get back to.

73. Dark Star by Alan Furst, finished October 26, 2021, 3 - 3 1/2 stars



This is the sixth book by Alan Furst that I have read in his espionage series. Every one has been very good to great except this one which I will just consider good enough. The author has an uncanny ability to take me to a place unknown and make me feel like I am in an atmospheric movie. This novel takes place in 1937-38 and our main character is a Russian Jewish journalist. A reviewer on LT notes that the first part is very hard to get into and I would agree. Furst packs a lot into his pages and he sometimes, as he does here, puts a lot of characters on those pages and it can be hard to know who is there for a moment and who will show up later. This book is a little worse that way and I groaned when I hoped the worst was over and then the second chapter starts off with an organization chart of 22 characters, and most of the characters in the novel have at least two names. The intense soviet spy vs spy and Stalin purges and pogroms was just too much for me to try and fathom in the early part of the book.

This is the second book in the series. The first novel, Night Soldiers is brilliant and Dark Star comes to me as a letdown but still a worthwhile read. Furst creates main characters the reader can really care about. If you want a feel for Europe in the lead-up to World War II and all the goings on I can strongly recommend this series. The first few pages of this story were remarkable in their ability to create a time and place in my mind. I focused on the story immediately surrounding the main character and shrugged off the rest. After the first third of the book the novel improves. So this story has plusses and minuses.

I really wish I had liked this one more. By page count this is much longer than later books in this series. I would have been happier with a slimmed down version of this.

ETA: I watched a bit of an interview with Furst and he remarked that his first two books were big sized historical fiction (I forget the exact words he used) and then he concentrated on writing tighter stories. I'll add that the latter part of this book felt much more like the later books I have read in this series and Furst does go to some effort to construct an explanation of the machinations as the book wraps up with a surprise ending. This was still much too complicated for me to say I enjoyed this.

One half of an Ace double that a friend gave to me very recently

74. Dr. Futurity by Philip K Dick, finished October 29, 2021, 3 - 4 stars



Dr. Futurity is a rather strange time travel story from 1960. A Doctor in our near future has his car thrown off the road by an unknown force as he is travelling highway 101 towards San Francisco. He awakens from the crash in the future but geographically in the same place. He is picked up on the highway after nearly being killed by a very young driver who thought he wanted to be killed ... and continues on to San Francisco. It is a strange future populated by young people who speak a language he can barely decipher. This is a Logan's Run sort of future where you die young but it really gets crazy with a time travel battle with a group trying to negate the other's past. The Doctor has been called to save a leader of one group. There is some interesting stuff amidst the weirdness of a Philip K Dick novel. This is a short lesser celebrated novel that I imagine most PKD fans will get a kick out of. Typical of Dick, there are a lot of things to think about here. Parts of this novel are very good, and parts just so-so. The end was full of surprises. Definitely worth the read for me.

Now it is time to work on my numerous series for the rest of the year. Ruth Galloway, here I come ...

I collected science fiction magazines for many years, new and used. I never got around to reading them all. I've just started a Ruth Galloway mystery but decided to finish this magazine I've been nibbling at. I've pretty much ignored the magazine of fantasy and science fiction for a while now but have a couple dozen (at least) back issues like this one I should be reading.

75. Fantasy And Science Fiction (No. 562) May 1998 by various authors, edited by Gordon Van Gelder, finished October 31, 2021, 3 - 3 1/2 stars for the fiction content



I seem to have really enjoyed the years of this magazine when Kristine Kathryn Rusch was editor (mid '91-mid '97). Gordon Van Gelder had been editor since June 1997 and would continue until January 2015 so this issue is pretty early in his tenure and is the earliest issue I have read where he is editor.

There are several lengthy book review columns in this issue, some I read through, some I skimmed. There is also a column from Paul Di Filippo called Plumage from Pegasus that I ignore. The fiction content is my focus with these magazines. There are 7 stories here, 4 shorter ones and 3 novelets. I immediately recognized the first story as I had read it in a Year's Best collection last year and I enjoyed reading it again. The included fiction is:

• Maneki Neko • shortstory by Bruce Sterling (selected for Hartwell's Year's Best #4 and included in the F&SF anthology for the 50th anniversary of the magazine) This also received the best short story award from Locus in 1999 and 2nd place for the Hugo award short story! This quirky story is probably not for everyone but I found it pretty amusing and a little prescient of years to come with mobiles, flash mobs and things.

• The Questing Mind • novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (this is the only place the story was published) an affecting account of an elderly writer who is experiencing his memories rapidly disappearing in an unusual way following the death of his spouse. As he slowly fades he works to discover what is happening to him. Very good.

• Card Shark • novelette by Mike Resnick. I didn't finish 'Card Shark'. In fact I didn't get very far in it - it is apparently part of a series of stories and I felt like I had jumped into the middle of a movie where the humor escaped me.

• Ex Terra, Ex Astris • shortstory by Mary Soon Lee. a short but well done piece - that felt like it should have been in a bigger story - but was interesting.

• Thanks, Diaz • shortstory by Robin Scott Wilson (this is the only place the story was published) I liked this odd tale about robbery and creating false internet identities.

• Mommy Nearest • shortstory by Kit Reed. This was an odd one about geriatric treatment excess. meh

• The Allies • novelette by Mark S. Geston (selected for Hartwell's Year's Best #4) I read this one a while ago and this was a re-read. This was the best story here for me. An alien force begins to selectively destroy the human race and then rapidly repairs so that nature without man can flourish. All this in the first few pages of the story. As humans try to flee the earth in massive ships using the alien technology, most are quickly destroyed. We then follow the captain of what will be the last ship to leave earth. A different approach to the end of the world type story. The cover of the issue is a fine rendition by artist Bob Eggleton of the last ship leaving Nebraska.

>258 RBeffa: Congratulations on reaching 75, Ron!

Congratulations on 75, Ron.

By the way I don't know how I missed commenting on >244 RBeffa: earlier - that is some photograph!

Congrats!

>259 FAMeulstee: >260 PaulCranswick: >261 drneutron: Thank you Anita, Paul and Jim. I'm glad you liked the photo Paul. It is one of my favorites.

I think I need to call this one a re-read. I do not remember these stories but I certainly remember getting this copy of the magazine. It was about 40 years ago and our local library branch had set up a paperback swap. There were a couple shelves by the checkout desk. I had started bringing in books to trade one for one. I think some of my early DAW paperbacks got traded away at this time. Someone started dropping off Asimov's science fiction digest magazines. It was a fairly new magazine at the time and I had never read one. Well, I picked one up for a swap and then another and another and this may not have been the first one, but it was one of the first. The cover story "The Book of Baraboo" by Barry Longyear had an enticing title. After that I picked up the ones that came in, read them and swapped them back. I later tracked down many of the early issues in used bookshops. It would be a Barry Longyear story in another one of those issues that really caught my interest - that one was the original story of "Enemy Mine" later made into a good film in the mid 80's and provided numerous awards for the author.

76. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, March 1980, whole No. 25 by various authors, edited by George H. Scithers, finished November 3, 2021, 3 1/2 stars for the fiction content



This was the 25th issue of the magazine edited by George Scithers with Isaac Asimov. There are a couple poems, some illustrations, plus 8 short stories and a novella packed into about 175 pages.

Darkmorning • shortstory by Sydney J. Van Scyoc - a very good story about a small group of colonists stranded on a planet, and two youths in particular. Some are slowly evolving over the centuries. Are they still humans, or is it human to change?

Vacation on the Moon • shortstory by Martin Gardner - a kind of a puzzle for the reader to catch all the science errors in the story. fun

Heritage • shortstory by Joanne Mitchell - This was a cute little story about the selling of heritage.

Hark, Hark, the Quark! • poem by Grant Carrington

Martian Walkabout • shortstory by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre - I was never a big fan of the stories by this author that I would run across. I read this once long ago and decided to skip reading it again. Odd author. I don't think you could believe anything he may have said. His death was reported in a lengthy NY Times piece which mentions this story and magazine issue. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/nyregion/12froggy.html

Storyteller • shortstory by Ardis Waters - this was the author's only published story. Four friends on another planet rely on Sherry the storyteller to keep them awake. Not much to this one - kind of a filler story.

Psycho-Stars • First shortstory by Rory Harper - God has been missing. He shows up in the newspaper room to talk to the science editor. Stuff happens. Cute enjoyable short.

Cosmic Cowboys • poem by Peter Payack - kinda cute. The author has been providing poems to Asimov's magazine for over 40 years

One Kidnapped Clicka • shortstory by John Kelly - an allegory, this one was good and also very sad. A young Clicka is captured and taken from her family, taken off her planet. Much later she is rescued from her captors and efforts are made to disentangle her from humans and she is returned to her home and family. But she can never assimilate even though she tried.

Missing the Points • shortstory by Chuck McMichael - a one page story which essentially could be told by a stand-up comedian, complete with the punny punchline. This was the author's first and only sale to a science fiction magazine.

The Book of Baraboo • Circus World • novella by Barry B. Longyear - A story set in Longyear's Circus World series. This story and others by Longyear that appeared in other issues of the magazine made me a fan of the author for several years and I eagerly looked forward to the stories. I believe most or all of this story was incorporated into one of the Circus World novels. It is a circus in space story and more than a little zany. Upon re-reading it 40 years later I wondered that I really thought it was so good at the time. Tastes change, but this is still a good story that I enjoyed again and still a fond memory.

In the real world, there is a City of Baraboo and a Circus World in Wisconsin.

>257 RBeffa: I haven't read that PKD, but it sounds like one to get to.

>258 RBeffa:
>263 RBeffa: I love these magazine reports -- I too have a large collection of old SF magazines I need to get to.

Hi Ron

Tomorrow I will begin a 1,000 piece puzzle of a pumpkin patch. I'm sure it will be challenging, and I'm on my on. My neighbor, and my granddaughter do not like the challenge of anything over 350.

I note you read many books of space travel, and science fiction. Years ago, I read about the Apollo astronaut Russell Sweickert. When looking from space to earth, he remembered science fiction Robert Heinlein and his short story, noted in the link below.

Schweickart was selected in 1963 for NASA's third astronaut group. He was the Lunar Module Pilot on the 1969 Apollo 9 mission, the first crewed flight test of the lunar module, on which he performed the first in-space test of the portable life support system used by the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon.

He found looking at earth from moon to be an incredible spiritual experience. He thought of the poem The Green Hills of Earth.

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

>264 swynn: Steve, I was a little surprised when I realized I had not read a single SF magazine this entire year. I've read some SF anthologies but it is pretty unusual for me to not mix in some of the magazines. I plan to work on them.

>265 Whisper1: I hope you enjoy your puzzle. My wife just completed a 1000 piece pumpkin patch puzzle several days ago. I have not done a puzzle in over a month but I have several waiting for me to do. It is very interesting that you mention Heinlein and 'The Green Hills of Earth'. That wiki article you linked has Heinlein crediting a story by C L Moore for inspiration. I read that story Shambleu for the very first time this year - you can read my comments above at >139 RBeffa:.

What is equally interesting to me is your comments about the Apollo astronaut and his remembering The Green Hills of Earth. Here's why ... That collection was one of the earliest collections of science fiction stories that I recall reading. I was in high school and it made a very big impression on me because I read it at about the time of the Apollo moon landing. I had kept the paperback tucked away all these years with a memory in my mind of how much I liked it. Five years ago I pulled it out of my closet and re-read it. This is what I wrote:

The stories were originally published in a variety of magazines between 1941 to 1949. I would expect them to feel incredibly dated, and elements of these stories are laughably outdated; yet for the most part they hold up fairly well as stories. It isn't easy or possible to fit myself back into a teenager in the late 60's to know why this collection caught my interest so much. "The Green Hills of Earth" was a great title. I could not recall at all what these stories were about, not even a favorite one, except that story, The Green Hills one, did have some elements to it that I did indeed remember these 46 or 47 years later.

These stories are really only of interest to someone who likes better than the average early moon and solar system exploration stories from that long ago pre-spaceflight time. I'm glad I re-read it even though it no longer packs a punch. When I first read this Armstrong had just walked upon the moon, and that was a marvelous time to be excited about spaceflight. Even then however these stories would have been wildly out of date.
RBeffa | Oct 30, 2016 | 3 stars

I've been reading this over many months

77. Australia, the New New World Granta 70 various authors edited by Ian Jack, finished November 5, 2021, 4 stars



An excellent issue of Granta with 15 stories, photographs, history, reportage, memoirs, essays on Australia new and old, plus a nice introduction from the editor. There's even a long remembrance at the end by Thomas Keneally called "My father's Australia" and this was written, quite coincidently, shortly after the novel Shame and the Captives which I read last month. Of the 15 items in here, some were of lesser interest to me, many were positive surprises and only one disappointed and it was a memoir piece which started well but ended with some pretty intense navel gazing.

This really fits in with the Australian writing I have been doing over the last year and encourages me to keep it going.

Let's get another one done.

78. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2005 (no. 645) by various authors, edited by Gordon Van Gelder, finished November 8, 2021, 4 - 4 1/2 stars for the fiction content - as a whole they rarely get better than this one.



I miss Lucius Shepard. His film review column titled here "Earth Hits the Fan" goes on a rant about Spielberg's 2005 remake of War of the Worlds. I went on a rant about it when I watched it when it was new. He hits on everything that bothered me about that film and its style - it was almost like I had written it - a bad movie sticks in one's craw for a long time - but he adds some good color to his criticism and mentions a few things I don't remember. There are quite a few book reviews and other columns in this issue as always, and Charles de Lint and James Sallis gave me a handful of interesting books to look for. I'll just recap the stories, which are two novelettes and six short stories.

• Walpurgis Afternoon • novelette by Delia Sherman - selected for 2 different Year's Best Fantasy (and Horror) collections and several anthologies. This was a fun and enjoyable fantasy where two women and a house move into the neighborhood. I think this happened on a May day and the boundary between real and supernatural opened up a bit. Hard not to like this one! I hope I find more stories by this author.

• Poppies by Moonlight • short story by Sydney J. Van Scyoc - This is the last published story by this author as far as I know. She was well regarded in the late 60's to the early 80's. I just read one of her stories in the March 1980 issue of Asimov's. >263 RBeffa: I enjoyed this story as well.

• An Incident at the Luncheon of the Boating Party • short story by Allen Steele - This was a charming little tale about a woman from the future who travels back in time to France, August 1880, with cameras hidden in her hatband. She is there to document the creation of a famous painting. When she returns to the 24th century she will no longer be allowed to participate in historical missions because she now appears in the painting with her face cupped in her hand and her arm leaning on the rail. How this happens is the story, but as she says at the end: "To be honest, though, it matters little to me. It's a magnificent piece, and I like to think that I was a better model than Alphonsine. And now I know what it was like to pose for a painting during a summer afternoon in a restaurant near Chatou and, for just a little while, to gaze into the eyes of Renoir."



• The Cure • short story by Robert Reed - Reed has written a gazillion stories in the F&SF field. This, the third story of his I read this year, in my opinion is not one of his better ones. I can't see it as fantasy or science fiction for one thing. It is just a little story with a clever idea and a plot twist at the end. Almost the weakest story in this fine issue, I would call it boring.

• When the Great Days Came • short story by Gardner Dozois - I read this story last year - it was selected for Hartwell's Year's Best SF 11. A short bit about a day in the life of a rat in New York City. The spoiler: at the end the rat sitting on a rooftop watches the asteroid streak through the sky that spells the end of humans and our observor and most, but not all rats.

• The Last Akialoa • short story by Alan Dean Foster - this is an excellent story about the search for an extinct bird in Hawaii. The editor tells us that this is not fantasy or science fiction. This is a scary story about some real people, an extreme adventure tale. The bird was certainly real at one time, and maybe still. Here's the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaua'i_'akialoa This story has all the elements of a rich, fantastic story.

• Cannibal Farm • short story by Ron Goulart is a funny one, or not. I'm not sure which. Didn't really care for it and kinda skimmed it. Not my cuppa but it has a few chuckles.

• The Last Ten Years in the Life of Hero Kai • novelette by Geoff Ryman - selected for the 19th annual Year's Best Fantasy & Horror - fantasy tale set in the mythical mysterious east. Except not so mythical. The author published a novel about Cambodia, The King's Last Song shortly after this story. Excellent, powerful and enjoyable. I should probably look for the novel.

Back to Elly Griffiths and the Ruth Galloway mysteries. This is the fifth novel in the series

79. A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths, finished November 10, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



On the plus side of this book we do get to learn more of the history of characters. Every book I like Cathbad more. I wish Ruth and Cathbad would get married. I do love the settings of the stories, and learning history, archaeology and puzzling mysteries. Griffiths also always manages to weave some universal things about life into her stories. This mystery is different than all the rest and much of the story is set in and around Blackpool this time. One of the better books in the series so far. The story wraps up well.

As much as I like these books, I am going to take a break now from the series and return a little later.

>268 RBeffa: I recognize the Dozois story, but not where I encountered it because I'm pretty sure I haven't read the Hartwell anthology.

I have read very few of Sydney van Scoyc's stories, but I admired "Deathsong," which appeared in Donald Wollheim's 1975 Annual World's Best SF

Thanks for sharing these magazine reviews, Ron!

>247 RBeffa: Personally, I feel that "The Martian Chronicles" is Bradbury's best short story collection. I enjoyed each story and the way that he ordered them in the collection to tell a complete story as a whole.

>271 ocgreg34: I think that the Martian Chronicles is my favorite and the best of Bradbury also.

---------------

I first read this when I was 10 - 12 years old. I probably re-read it when my children were young. My daughter remembers it - "of course she says, and Stormy too!".

80. Misty of Chincoteague Marguerite Henry, finished November 20, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars for younger readers



This book was first published in 1947. I read it as a young child and re-reading it now all these years later I was struck by how much I remembered of the outline of the story as I read along. I can only conclude that I had re-read it fairly recently even though I don't remember having done that.

The story surprisingly isn't so much about Misty but about her mother Phantom, a mare on the island of Assateague, and the history and horse culture of the islanders. The opening of the story tells of the legend of how the horses came to the islands of Assateague and Chincoteague. The author tells us before the story starts that all the events in the story are true, as are the people, although things didn't happen in exactly the order they appear in the story. Ms. Henry seems to delight in portraying the grandfather.

This book made the ponies of Asssateague and Chincoteague quite famous. There was a film made from this book about the time I first read it. You can watch it on youtube. I plan to watch it soon. I don't remember this film as a child but that may change when I watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNsF7U6OX4

I'm now in the mood to read more animal story books. It was probably my favorite sort of book for a couple of early years around 3rd to 5th grade. Lassie Come Home, The Incredible Journey, big red series and so on. I have a bunch of them here including some more from my own kids years such as James Herriot's stories, a couple of which I read early this year.

ETA: I forgot to mention the very nice pen and ink illustrations throughout the book by Dennis Wesley.

There is a very good biographical article about Marguerite Henry, Misty and the way the books were created. https://biography.yourdictionary.com/marguerite-henry

A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)

In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road

At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.

Ron, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving

Ron, I wish you (and yours) happiness and health on this day of Thanksgiving. And cookies. : )

>273 PaulCranswick: >274 Berly: Thank you Paul. Thank you Kim. We had a quiet day. Melanie and I made pumpkin pie - she did the crust and I whipped up the spices, milk and pumpkin. It turned out well. Neither one of us was in the mood to make a big dinner so we had some lasagna with pie for desert. I would have gladly snacked on one of your cookies Kim!

Melanie observed and commented I had not been doing my usual voracious reading. In the last 2 weeks I have read just one slim book for young readers. After dinner I decided I should fix that - I have plenty of books here needing to be read but I couldn't decide. Knowing i wanted to continue series reads I settled on a book by Preston and Child The Pharoah Key which I think is a series finale and the followup to a book I greatly enjoyed earlier this year. So before bed I started to read it and it would seem to be a very good one.

Paul and Kim, I hope your day was good and peaceful.

81. The Pharoah Key by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, December 1, 2021, 4 1/2 stars



This is really an excellent adventure thriller. Perhaps a little reminiscent of H Rider Haggard sort of adventures and the multitudes who have written since then. It seems to be the final novel in the Gideon Crew series and is a direct sequel to Beyond the Ice Limit which I read in June and really really liked. This story which I won't talk about touches back to adventures in earlier books in the series but can still be read as a standalone. Much better to have at least read Beyond the Ice Limit and The Ice Limit previously however.

I really enjoy the writing of Preston and Child and the stories they tell. This book in rather surprising ways wraps up the characters and series well. Adding this one to my favorite reads list for 2021.

>276 RBeffa: I keep intending to dive into the Preston & Child oeuvre. Maybe 2022.

>277 swynn: The more I read them the more I enjoy them. My wife began reading them ages ago and collected many of the books (she's read maybe 30 of them). I read one here and there until I started reading a number of them in the pandemic. I have not read a clunker yet. The stories have a bit of the supernatural element to most of them. The Ice Limit would be a good starter book but you should be prepared for 1000 pages cause you should read Beyond the Ice Limit afterwards. Or go with Relic/Reliquery. I hope you do give them a try Steve.

82. Only One Woof by James Herriot, illustrated by Peter Barrett, December 5, 2021, 4 stars



A short and sweet book by Herriot, one of his earliest children's stories. I have a couple boxes of our kids books and after reading some early this year and recently Misty I want to get back to it more often.

This story has beautiful watercolours by Peter Barrett who has also illustrated some of Herriot's other books. They are the highlight of the story. This is a good book to read to a child. A sheepdog who has been silent his whole life gives a woof when he has a happy reunion.

I think I need to call Elly Griffiths my "author of the year". I'm reading The Stranger Diaries which is a terrific murder mystery not in the Ruth Galloway series. I've barely been reading this past month compared to usual. The Stranger Diaries is almost unputdownable for me - It got my reading engine revving. Told in a very unconventional style for me. Will probably finish it up tomorrow.

>266 RBeffa: Ron, Many thanks for your insightful comments regarding my fascination of the works of Robert Heinlein, and in particular The Poem The Blue Green Hills of Earth.

I read many, if not most of Heinlein's books. I was spiritually awakened when I attended a concert by the Paul Winter Consort at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. As the notes gently soared up, up into the incredible beauty of the interior of the cathedral, I was surprised at how much this particular piece of music spoke so deeply to my soul.

This is the cd of Misa Gia by the Paul Winter Consort. Indeed, it is a celebration of the earth and the wonders therein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBP5tigKt_Q

Here is another rendition of the Earth Mass at the annual blessing of the animals at the cathedral. And, yes, to my utter amazement, they did have an elephant boldly striding down the nave of the church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRr-lkdlf94

>281 Whisper1: Thanks for sharing those Linda.

>280 RBeffa: That one is on my shelf, too. I may pick it up before the year is out. I've read 8 Ruth Galloway novels this year.

>283 laytonwoman3rd: I think it is every bit as good as one of the Galloways, Linda. After reading half the book I did not pick it back up yesterday and instead idled away a couple hours catching up with my magazine backlog and with a silly but fun game on my tablet. The Stranger Diaries seems to be modeled after books like The Woman in White which is referenced a number of times. It is a story within a story and is told by shifting first person characters going over many of the same events. One of the main characters I really do not care for (I am sure it is intentional on the author's part) but there are a lot of interesting things in the book - I'm not even trying to figure out who dunnit. One of the suspects just got done in himself.

Back to Elly Griffiths but not the Ruth Galloway mysteries.

83. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths, finished December 13, 2021, 3 1/2 - 4 stars



If I was better schooled in gothic horror and mysteries I could probably better appreciate what Griffiths has done here with this novel. My lack of understanding the English school systems also put me at a slight disadvantage. I did really like this murder mystery and the shifting first person narration among three main characters along with the piece by piece presentation of of a century-plus old gothic horror tale that is quite good. This story is every bit as good as a Ruth Galloway mystery. The resolution of the murder mystery was almost a complete surprise although I did pick up on a little clue dropped early in the novel that I found interesting but didn't make me suspicious. The writer throws suspicion (red herrings) almost everywhere. Where it isn't thrown is important.

"Where it isn't thrown is important." Always. That's a secret the great mystery novelists wish no one ever discovers.

>286 laytonwoman3rd: Elly Griffiths seems to be good at it. If you read the book we can talk a bit more. I do not want to be spoilery. There are a couple things that keep me from giving it a clear 4 star excellent rating, but it still is a very satisfying book. I'm looking forward to more of these next year.

This was for the December American Authors challenge. However I had planned on reading this this for a number of years, so I was glad to get a little prompt to do so by several positive comments about this book.

This might be my last book of the year, although I have two unread library books sitting on the table.

84. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, finished December 22, 2021, 4 stars



I have a slight feeling that I may have read part of this novel many years ago. There were several scenes that had a ring of familiarity to them - however, it may be the universal nature of this story which reads almost like a memoir of the life of Francie Nolan and her family. I enjoyed reading this and it worked very well to read pieces at a time over a couple weeks. Although there are some upbeat moments overall this repeatedly struck the sad chord in my breast. It really captures a period of time in the early part of the 20th century. There are things in here I hadn't thought of in 50 years or more that echoed stories from my grandmother.

Two scenes in the book were especially familiar and memorable to me. The vaccination scene for Francie and her brother Neeley is quite memorable and had so many echoes of the vaccine mandates of today it was uncanny. The other scene is a rather horrifying episode when Francie's mother Katie uses a gun to protect Francie.

I cannot say that this is one of my favorite reads of all time - although if I had read this in my 20's I might have thought differently. I can say that I really admire this book and the way it is put together. It was a way to visit Francie and the Nolan family a little bit each day of this month. My interest never flagged even if it was not a "page turner". This will make it somewhere in my top ten novel reads of 2021.

That vaccination scene really startled me on my recent re-read, Ron. I had totally forgotten it, but its applicability to the present situation was, as you say, uncanny.

>289 laytonwoman3rd: Just imagine transplanting social media and "news" networks back into time. Smallpox would still be raging around the world.

Have a lovely holiday, Ron.

Thank you Roni and Paul. I wish you peace and happiness this season. I wish this for all my LT friends.

I have been thinking about my reading plans for next year as I take a momentary pause. I think I have a solution to balance my various interests and desires. I think I am going to choose some months to try and focus on a single author. I'm not going to be strict about it. However, there are certain authors such as Elly Griffiths and Preston and Child that I really enjoyed this year. I can read them throughout the year again but I have a lot of other authors on my shelves or available at the library. I'm thinking authors like Ursula Le Guin, Martin Walker, Alan Furst, Harlan Ellison, Guy Gavriel Kay among many. I may devote one month to science fiction and mystery magazines, another to Australian writers (as I have been doing spread out) or Japanese authors as I have been doing for a couple years. So many books ...

and Merry Christmas from my cats, Teardrop, Jasper and Prince Albert.

>293 RBeffa: That's good plan, Ron. I really enjoyed immersing myself in Louise Erdrich for a couple months this year, and long ago, I used to have a Faulkner fest almost every summer.

These were our family ornaments this year and, despite COVID, a merry time was had by all. I hope the same is true for your holiday and here's to next year!!

>295 Berly: Thank you Kim. All the best wishes for you and your family.

About time for the year-end wrap-up... I'll post a link at the end of this thread when I set up a 2022 thread.

-----------------------

I had an abundance of very good to excellent books to read in 2021. I rank these mostly for how much I enjoyed and/or appreciated the story, and the emotional impact and how much it has stayed with me. Elly Griffiths and the Preston & Child duo were my go to people for satisfying books this year. I will certainly be reading more of them in 2022 along with my other usual stuff. I very much enjoyed my young adult reading this year, in particular I am glad to have finally tackled and finished Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. There were so many good books read this year that picking a top ten was very hard - I kept moving stuff around on my best novels list. I'll probably go lighter on younger age material next year, but will always include some.

Top Twelve Fiction novels for 2021:

1. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
2. Silence by Shusaku Endo
3. Beyond The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
4. The Pharoah Key by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
5. The Bird Artist by Howard A Norman
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
7. Good morning, midnight : a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton
8. The Devil's Home on Leave by Derek Raymond
9. Grass For My Pillow by Saiichi Maruya
10. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
11. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
12. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida

Very Honorable mentions:

The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay
The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths
The Mount by Carol Emshwiller
The Children Return by Martin Walker

Top Non-Fiction for 2021

1. Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan

Five Favorite anthologies/ short story collections for 2021:

1. Nebula Winners Thirteen edited by Samuel R Delaney
2. The Best of C. L. Moore by Catherine L. Moore
3. Blind willow, sleeping woman : twenty-four stories by Haruki Murakami
4. Australia, the New New World Granta 70, edited by Ian Jack
5. First snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata


Honorable mentions:

The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin
Down These Dark Spaceways edited by Mike Resnick

Best fiction re-reads in 2021:

1. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
2. Inside Job by Connie Willis
3. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey


Favorite Young Adult or Children's reads in 2021:

1/2. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
1/2. The Castle of Lyr by Lloyd Alexander
3. Coo by Kaela Noel
4. Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander
5. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
6. Da Vinci's cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
7. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
8. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
9. A Cat Story by Ursula Murray Husted
10. Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake

Honorable Mentions:
No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey
Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot
Moses the Kitten by James Herriot

Best fun reads in 2021:

1. Uhura's Song (Star Trek) by Janet Kagan

Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Ron.

My new 2022 thread has started here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338323