Dianeham - up late reading

This is the Gweebarra river running through Doochary in Donegal Ireland. My father grew up there and there are still some cousins there.

I am a retired systems librarian. I live at the Jersey shore. I tend to stay up all night and sleep until noon. I read whatever I think I’ll like. I like literary fiction, scifi, some mysteries. I am a sucker for a story that includes a cult. I read nonfiction about the Amazon. And astro-physics for the masses.

I’m a poet who hasn’t written anything in ages. When I write reviews they are more impressionistic than informative. Maybe I’ll write review poems this year. I plan on reading more poetry this year. I take care of the Poetry topic here in Club Read.

I decided to start reading a book published each year since I was born. I started with 1950 and read The Martian Chronicles yesterday. Next up for 1951 is The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. I have to find it first. It’s around here somewhere. I usually read ebooks but poetry doesn’t always format well in ebook format.

I want to be healthier and more active and tidier in the new year. We’ll see how that goes.

Welcome to Club Read 2024, Diane. Impressionistic reviews work for me. I can always turn to professional reviewers, if I need analysis. When reading a review, I like to know whether I will like a book, i.e. form an emotional connection, and a less formal review sometimes conveys that better.

Good luck with your non-book goals in the new year as well.

Got your message over in the 75ers. Glad you’re reading Solomon! I think several others in the 75ers also read a book or two.

>3 drneutron: thank you

Welcome back Diane. Gorgeous opening picture.

>5 dchaikin: thank you, Dan.

>1 dianeham: "I’m a poet who hasn’t written anything in ages."

Ha! I can relate. I'm a short story writer who hasn't finished a short story since Hector was a pup.

But, also, from the Land of Long Digression, your statement there reminded me of a line I heard a musician say once that I've always thought was sadly funny. This was a rock/Cuban fusion band called the Cuban Cowboys. Everyone in band had been born in the U.S., but they were all children of people who'd fled Cuba when Castro came to power. They sang very eloquently about their parents' sadness at leaving, and about their own feelings of alienation from what they still felt was their own culture. This was a while back before the short window when Americans were able to travel to Cuba more easily. After the concert, when I went up to get my CD signed, I asked the lead singer if he had ever visited Cuba himself. He said, "No. I'm like an astronomer who's never been to Mars."

>7 rocketjk: I almost went to a jazz fest in Cuba with a local group here but couldn’t find anyone to go with me. So I haven’t been to Mars either but I’m not Cuban. I have been to Ireland. 😎

>8 dianeham: I've never been to Spain, but I kind of like the music.

>9 lisapeet: :-)

I think I might have too many books to read next. I’m finishing Death Writes which I started last year. And next I have Molloy by Beckett, checked out on Hoopla for 3 weeks, then Orbital hardback checked out from the library for 2 weeks, then All the Sinners Bleed from Overdrive. I also have two books I bought but they aren’t going anywhere.

ETA: fixed the touchstones for Orbital.

An embarrassment of riches...

>12 labfs39: conspicuous consumption

a plethora of possibilities

You guys might think I’m crazy but I’m very excited. I’m getting an individual subscription to Granger’s Poetry Index for only $50. I tried to find a way to do this 2 years ago but gave up. I don’t think they had the individual option then or I couldn’t find it. I tried to get it through any of the colleges I went to but had no success. Went looking for it earlier this week and there it was. I used it years ago and it had lots of full text so hope it still does.

I’ll post this in the poetry thread too.

Congratulations Diane! Sounds like a great deal.

>15 dianeham: Congrats, Diane.

Happy New Year! I love the photo at the top.

Good luck with all of your New Year resolutions.

I lasted four days in my resolution not to buy any books.

The audience may well be adult readers who like middle grade/ya books but want adult protagonists. I'm not one of those readers, myself, but from what I see on Tumblr, there are a fair number of them out there.

>17 BLBera: thanks for wandering back here.

>18 Julie_in_the_Library: Hi Julie - how are you?

Hi Diane, I've been sticking my nose into various topics and I was caught by your photo. How lovely! I'm an old scifi fan who hasn't read much for quite a while, but I got back into it a little last year. I'll be interested to see what you're reading.

>20 Jim53: Hi Jim. Thanks for stopping by. I have a scifi book here that I should be starting soon - Orbital.

Finally finished Death Writes. It’s 6th in a series and I think I may be done with the series. Didn’t care for this one at all.

I thought I had a book checked out from overdrive but now it’s back on hold so I must have not checked it out. I have 2 other books ready to go so I better get reading.

It’s raining out - it’s snow further north of here but here by the Delaware Bay, it’s lots of rain. My neck is killing me. Some days it’s better but other days not so much. Probably the weather.

No fun having a disappointing first book and yucky rain. Wish you hot tea and a better book.

>23 dchaikin: I went with coffee but tea may be next.

>19 dianeham: I'm doing better right now, thanks! Still working through some health stuff, but a lot is better now that we have diagnoses and treatment plans.

>25 Julie_in_the_Library: oh good. I was worried.

I tried reading Molloy last night. I liked Samuel Beckett when I was younger but it wasn’t the book for me. It was like a boring precursor to Waiting for godot. I gave up and fell asleep and had postmodern nightmares. I don’t remember details of the dreams but people in the dream kept saying "that’s postmodern." And for nightmares they were really boring and nothing happened.

>26 dianeham: "I gave up and fell asleep and had postmodern nightmares."

Thanks for that. I laughed out loud. If I'd been drinking coffee at the time it might have been a postmodern spit take.

>27 rocketjk: now I’m laughing.

>26 dianeham: Can someone explain to a non-educated literary reader how to recognize 'understandable' postmodern versus 'not-understandable' postmodern books?
I find that I have read 44 'postmodern' books and some of them were all-time favorites, and some were not enjoyable.

For example, one of my most favorite books is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Not every reader tagged that book as such but many did.

Another book Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami had me struggling after about mid-way through the book, and I loved the beginning, but finally dropped it with what I couldn't comprehend.

I’m finding that the older ones from the 40s and 50s are harder to undersrand. I’ll do more research.

Welcome back, Diane. I hope you're not up too late in 2024 ;)

>31 AlisonY: thank you. We had a huge storm here last night and I slept through the whole thing.

I think I’m discovering a link between sleeping and postmodernism. I just fell asleep reading an article about postmodernism.

Could be a useful benefit sometimes

>33 dianeham: A cure for insomnia perhaps?

4 books down.

1) I finished the one from last year. Death Writes - #6 in a mystery series that takes place in Donegal, Ireland. I liked the series but didn’t care for #6.

2) All the Sinners Bleed by S.A Cosby - This was an excellent crime/thriller/mystery. Won’t be to everyone’s taste because the crimes involved a serial killer targeting children. The main character is a black sheriff in a very small, very racist town in Virginia. He worked at the fbi previously. The book deals with his personal struggles as well as his brilliant crime solving.

3) Lost and Wanted - I started this book in 2019 and just found it and finished it. The main character is a quantum physicist whose best friend died and seems to be "haunting" her - which is impossible according to the laws of physics. I think they settled on some level of quantum entanglement. I like it but I like physics.

4) The Tree and the Vine - According to Library Journal: First published in 1955, this lesbian love story is set against a backdrop of the Nazi rise to power and eventual occupation of Amsterdam. Fairly risque for the 1950s. For me this was a very sad book. It’s more like a denial love story than a love story. The two women although they live together can’t get together.

I came across this idea somewhere on LT - read a book that was published every year since you were born. The idea appealed to me.
1950 The Martian Chronicles - read this at the very end of 2023
1951 The Day of the Triffids - started this yesterday.
1952 I’m having trouble deciding. I think I might go with Charlotte’s Web since I never read it. Although The Sea Around Us is a possibility.
1953Thousand Cranes
1954The Tree and The Vine - read this yesterday.
1959 I have a copy of Henderson the Rain King that I’ve never read.

I haven’t researched the other years. If anyone has any suggestions, I welcome them. My page limit is 400. I think I could read all 74 books in a year or two.

>37 dianeham: I really enjoyed The Sea Around Us.

>38 dchaikin: I remember.

>37 dianeham: I started a project like that once. I too was born in 1950, and I got as far as 1953. I was using it to whittle down the unread books from my shelves, and I was able to find books published in most of the "years of my life." I still have my extensive lists of books published in each year. Of course I didn't own many of the books, but as I said if I had continued with the project, I could have used a TBR book for most years.

If you go on wikipedia and search "Books published in (year)" (or some similar search term) you should find a wiki page with extensive lists of books published that year. Some of the entries weren't always accurate so when you choose a book you might need to look further to confirm publication date. And with translations decide whether you want to use publication date in original language, or publication date in translation.

>40 arubabookwoman: I was going to use books I already owned but didn’t seem to have too many in the 1950s that I wanted to read. For 1951 I have The Schuylkill - the river that runs through Philadelphia. The history might be interesting but it was so dirty when I lived there it was nicknamed the Surekill. And we have several Navy and Coast Guard manuals from the ‘50s that belong to my husband. The only way I can keep this project going is to read books that appeal to me.

The Schuylkill (pronounced skoogle, right?) sounds terrific

>42 dchaikin: I’ll dig it out. Oh, you’re the rock guy so I can see the attraction.

>43 dianeham: i just have crossed it so many times. My sister lives in Philly.

>43 dianeham: “The rock guy”?

>45 kjuliff: Dan's a geologist.

>46 labfs39: Really? I never would have guessed. But now I know, it makes a lot of sense ;)

>44 dchaikin: what part does she live in? Did I ask that before?

Tonight I read this article A 1993 dystopian novel imagined the world in 2024. It’s eerily accurate. The novel is Parable of the Sower. I’m going to reread it now.

>47 kjuliff: 🙂

>48 dianeham: Blue Bell, near King of Prussia. So i cross near the wonderfully named Conshohocken.

>50 dchaikin: I had a friend from Blue Bell.

>50 dchaikin: They sure have interesting place names there!

>49 dianeham: I read Parable of the Sower a couple of years ago and thought it was excellent. Reading it in 1993 when it came out would have made it seem like science fiction, reading it now feels like social commentary.

>52 FlorenceArt: >50 dchaikin:
Conshohocken (/ˌkɒnʃəˈhɒkən/ kon-shə-HOK-ən; Lenape: Kanshihàkink) is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in suburban Philadelphia. The name "Conshohocken" comes from the Unami language, from either Kanshi'hak'ing, meaning "Elegant-ground- place",or, more likely, Chottschinschu'hak'ing, which means "Big-trough-ground-place" or "Large-bowl-ground-place", referring to the big bend in the Tulpe'hanna (Turtle River, or modern Schuylkill River). It has also sometimes been rumored to have been translated from the Lenape Native American word for “pleasant valley." In the regional slang, it is sometimes referred to by the colloquial nickname Conshy (/ˈkɒnʃi/ KON-shee).

Schuylkill Is from the Dutch meaning little stream.

5) The Day of the Triffids ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A 1951 British scifi classic. I found it entertaining and liked it more than I thought I would.

Definitely one i want to read.

>56 dchaikin: Really? The Triffids?

I think I’ve settled on a 1952 book - The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. I’m not sure if I’ve read any Thompson before. I meant to. I couldn’t get into The Sea Around Us. Then I tried The Holy Sinner by Thomas Mann and even though I had only been awake an hour - 5 pages put me back to sleep. Next I started a sample of Charlotte’s Web and the whole nursing a baby pig thing was too much for me. So a psychotic serial killer book seemed more up my street. :)

>57 dianeham: yes. And you’re having quite the battle with 1952.

>55 dianeham: I read and enjoyed The Chrysalids some years ago, but can't remember a thing about it now, and I didn't write a review. Sigh

The Killer Inside Me is excellent, and a short and compelling read. I hope you like it.

>59 labfs39: I’ll put that on the tbr list. I wondered about his other books. Thanks.

>60 arubabookwoman: Guess what? I read your review and I figured a 3.5 from you was high praise indeed! :)

I started another book last night because the ebook hold came in. House on Endless Waters. Some people over in 75 books were talking about reading it as a group - but not till the summer.

House on endless waters is on my potential TBR, so I'll be interested to hear how you find it Diane.

I’m having a hard time with House on Endless Waters. It jumps around in time and in stories. I seem to prefer books that start at the beginning and go through to the end. In this book, the MC goes to Holland - something his mother always told him never to do. And there he finds out his past is not what he thought it was. He is a well known Israeli author and decides to stay in Holland and write a book about his past as he discovers it. Before he goes his sister tell him all the secrets she knows but the reader isn’t privy to that. So the story is told through his investigations and through the novel he is writing. I’m finding it frustrating. Information coming out in dribs and drabs.

>63 dianeham: it’s becoming almost a standard to have the novel structured like this. It’s as if the writer thinks she has to do this - maybe it’s easier for the writer? They don’t need to work out structure.

>63 dianeham: Hmm . . . Sometimes I like to puzzle things out with the mc. But is it necessary, or is there a good reason to structure the novel this way?

>65 markon: I’ve read in reviews that there is a major plot twist revealed at the very end. Maybe this structure is a way to keep that hidden until the end? It seems very convoluted to me. Maybe I’m just getting too old for these kinds of twists and turns? Who knows?

>65 markon: Ah, Caroline_McElwee explains it very well in her review of House On Endless Waters:

Elon is trying to do several things in the novel, as well as the history of the era, she is offering an insight into the creation of a work of fiction that may evolve out of a true story, and showing how one might choose to present/style a novel. As someone interested in creativity this would be of interest to me, but I wonder if it over weights an already weighty subject.

I’m done House on Endless Waters. As promised there was a big plot twist at the end. I still find the book puzzling. The MC’s mother lied to him his whole life about who he was. He began his life as a Jewish child in Holland. He escaped as a child with his mother and his sister. His mother made him promise never to return to Holland. He became a famous Israeli author and a few years after his mother died he agreed to go to Holland to publicize his latest book. And while visiting a Jewish Museum there, he saw a film clip of his mother and sister with a male child who wasn’t him. Spurred by that, he returns to Holland to investigate his origins and write a novel about it.
At that point the book develops multiple story/time lines. He is in Holland in the present - his mother and sister and the boy who is not him are in Holland in the past - and sometimes they are all there in a present/past blend. He has a interesting encounter in the present in Holland with his own grandson. He realizes that as an adult he has had a blind spot where children are concerned. That he pretty much ignored them until they were older. His grandson plays an important role in reconciling Yoel with his past. I would have liked to better understand why his mother made the choices she did and why she never wanted him to know the truth.

I gave it 4 stars.

ETA: fix typos

>68 dianeham: He is in Holland in the present - his mother and sister and the boy who is not him are in Holland in the past - and sometimes they are all there in a present/past blend.

Well put. I think this jolting of time and persona back and forth over the years is getting taken to absurd limits. Thanks for letting me know; I could have been sucked in by this book. :)

>68 dianeham: great review. I’m so curious now about who he was and why his mother lied to him.

>70 dchaikin: Me too!

I read The Deep last night. I thought it was by Rivers Solomon which is partly true. It is cowritten by her and 3 others. It’s very unusual. There isn’t much of a plot. It’s more like reading an origin myth of "the water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard and have built their own underwater society - inspired by the Hugo Award–nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’s rap group Clipping."

Interesting. How did you come across it?

>73 dchaikin: I read two books by Rivers Solomon last year and I really liked them - An Unkindness of Ghosts and Sorrowland.

Hi Diane. I love the challenge to read a book published each year since you were born. Also, I love the picture of the Gweebarra river. My partner and I spent three weeks in Ireland this past August/September and absolutely loved it. We would definitely like to go back.

Yours is the second thread on which I have seen praise for House on Endless Waters. I have put it on my watch list with the public library.

I have also starred your thread so I can follow along with your reading this year.

>75 EBT1002: welcome Ellen! House on Endless Waters kind of drove me crazy trying to figure out what was going on. That final twist at the end was a bog one though. Did you go to Donegal when you were in Ireland?

We didn't make it to Donegal. We didn't get that far north this trip. After a first nightingale Dublin after arrival, we spend one night in Leitrim, explored the Cannemarra, spent three nights in Galway, three nights in Kilkenny, three nights in Dublin, one night in Cork, and then were on a guided hiking tour for a week in Counties Cork and Kerry. The hiking was amazing!!!

>72 dianeham: I struggled with The Deep last year. I agree that it is very unusual. It was, in part, moving and in part, completely mystifying.

>78 rv1988: I gave it a 5 because I think it is stunning for what it is.

Yesterday I read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. It’s what I’ve seen called philosophical science fiction. There are 40 women imprisoned underground. They’ve been there a long time. They don’t remember how they got there and they don’t know why they are there. There are always three guards on duty at a time. The guards never speak. There is one woman who was a child when they were imprisoned and she doesn’t remember anything before prison. Suddenly something happens and they get out. But they find nothing outside except eventually more of the same. There are no clues to what happened. There are no dwellings, no people, no towns. Eventually the women settle in one place, build houses and live out their lives. The book sheds no light on what happened

I definitely need to read some books with real solid plots. Beginning, middle and end. I’m going back to The Killer inside me. I still have trouble reading physical books so I keep reading ebooks but I can’t find an ebook of this Thompson book to borrow.

Harpman didn’t read her Luiselli. Every story has a beginning, a middle and end. 🙂 The book sounds good though

>81 dchaikin: It’s not bad. But baffling.

I’m reading The Killer Inside Me and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. I actually slept last night so need to get reading.

How are you liking The Killer Inside Me. It fascinated me.

>84 arubabookwoman: I just saw it was available in my library, and borrowed it. I see so many members I follow on LT have it in their libraries. What was fascinating about it? I’m intrigued.

>85 kjuliff: It’s a very early look at a psychopath and it’s told from his perspective.

>85 kjuliff: >86 dianeham: He's the narrator and you're inside his head. Everyone thinks he is an inept simpleton, but he's a very clever psychopath.

I’m afraid that if I make a list of my projected reading for February that I’ll end up not reading any of them.

>87 arubabookwoman: >86 dianeham: Thanks. I’ll try to read it as it looks interesting. But it sounds a little disturbing. I don’t usually mind disturbing but am a little sensitive lately.

>89 kjuliff: it’s disturbing.

>88 dianeham: Ha! Yes, I'm the same. For the first couple of years on LT, I'd carefully make a list of the books I wanted to read, following specific goals and themes. Then, looking at the lists at the end of the year, I'd see that I had not read any of those books. So I no longer do that, but a stack does form on my nightstand, only to be reshelved when it gets too tall to be stable.

>86 dianeham: Personally, over the years I have discovered that I can't handle a book that has a psychopath POV. True thrillers are the same for me. Unfortunately, publishers have decided that calling a book a thriller is good for marketing. I just look at the details and downgrade it if it isn't one..

>92 JoeB1934: I'm with you Joe. Thrillers don't thrill me! But I do love a police procedural.

I finished How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. It was entertaining and very clever. If I put it down and picked it up again, it was hard to get back into. I really don’t know how to explain it. The MC was a time traveling time-machine repairman. He was searching for his time traveling Dad and his Mom lived in a 60 minute time loop. 3 1/2 stars.

About 50% done The Killer Inside Me.

I’m having a hard time with peripheral neuropathy. My feet feel like they are freezing all the time but they aren’t actually cold. Also I’ve been losing weight since last March and it’s tapered off in last 3 months but according to the doctor I need to lose more. I lost about 30 lbs and another 30 would be good. I’m not getting any exercise because it’s too damn cold. Hopefully that rodent in PA was right and it will be spring soon.

Other books I’m thinking of reading in February:
Thousand Cranes - for 1953 of my a book year since I was born project
When We cease To Understand the World - library hold says "available soon"
Before We Say Goodbye
The Kaiju Preservation Society
I wonder As I Wander by Langston Hughes - I’m worried about this because it’s over 400 pages which has been the limit of my comprehension lately.
And something by Lydia Davis - she refused to sell her latest book anywhere except independent booksellers. So I have to figure out where to get the ebook or I can start with an older collection of short stories.

>94 dianeham: Hopefully that rodent in PA was right and it will be spring soon.

Right?! It hasn't been above freezing in at least a week here as well.

>94 dianeham: How are you going with The Killer Inside Me? I had a go but couldn’t get interested enough to finish.

>94 dianeham: I’m having a hard time with peripheral neuropathy. My feet feel like they are freezing all the time but they aren’t actually cold. I get that in my hands a lot, and in my feet sometimes, too. It's awful. I hope things get better for you soon.

>94 dianeham: I sympathize with the cold feet Diane. I HATE feeling cold. And I know what your doctor, said, but I say congratulations on the 30 lbs you lost! That's a big deal. Here's hoping you will get some sun and some temperatures above freezing.

>97 Julie_in_the_Library: I get it in my hands too. They go numb when I’m sleeping and wake me up. They’ve been better lately - don’t know why.

>98 markon: Thanks. You know the song "Nothing Compares to you?" I listen to the Prince version - he wrote it. Anyway:

I went to the doctor guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said girl you better try to have fun no matter what you do
but he's a fool

So that’s what I’ll tell him - he’s a fool! Although I agree with the having fun part.

>96 kjuliff: Still reading it. I’m actually interested in sociopaths so …

>94 dianeham: I found The Kaiju Preservation Society a lot of fun.

>101 Jim53: Thanks Jim. That was free on kindle unlimited. I keep getting holds come in from Libby so books I already own get pushed down the list. Last night When We Cease to Understand the World came in. That looks like a weird one.

I’m having fun with 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. It covers all genres but is arranged alphabetically by artist - which is really weird - so it jumps from zydeco to classical to r&b etc. my favorite "discovery" so far is Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers,; he called himself the godfather of go-go. "It’s impossible to remain still when the Soul Searchers are playing: If you’re not dancing, you’re at least nodding your head."

Last night I fell asleep while on my ipad. I was in the middle of renewing my QPL online library card. And I swear this link came up that said watch this first, it only takes 2 minutes. It was a man talking about curing adult onset diabetes in the time it takes to get up and pee in the morning. I think the video was real but I have no idea how it got there. I doubt the library put it there. Then I fell asleep while this guy was talking. I woke up and he was still talking. And I thought - this is longer than 2 minutes. And he kept saying - at the end of this video I will tell you the simple secret to cure diabetes. So I left it on, wanting to know the secret and I fell asleep again. And there he was still talking when I woke up again. And I thought - where did the library go? I just wanted to pay to renew my card and go back to sleep. I shut it down finally because it seemed to be never-ending and went to sleep. It wasn’t there when I woke up today. QPL was still there in the last browser tab. I renewed my card and got no message to watch a video. Maybe I dreamt the whole thing. But it didn’t feel like a dream. Honestly that man just talked and talked and talked. The last thing he was saying was how he used to work as a analytic something or other. I assume he was leading up to trying to sell me something but I have no idea what.

>103 dianeham: HaHaHa. I had a similar thing happened to me. I think I dreamed mine, but you have related this so well. Thrash it out and get it published as micro fiction somewhere.

>104 kjuliff: Thanks. I was thinking the same thing -or turn it into a prose poem.

I actually figured out how it happened. It’s called glucoswitch. There was an email at like 5am and I must have clicked on it.

>105 dianeham: “glucoswitch‘‘ a new word though I will probably forget it.

>105 dianeham: Sounds like you were asleep at the glucoswitch.

>107 rocketjk: I sometimes fall asleep listening to an audiobook and bits of the book blend into my dream. It’s an unpleasant experience, though quite creative at times; well so I think upon waking.

>107 rocketjk: pretty funny!

I’m sorry he ruined your sleep, but entertaining story. The was we try to process our memories when we wake up…

>103 dianeham: that's a great story, Diane. Sorry to hear about your peripheral neuropathy. We have had a really mild winter, with only a couple of really cold weeks.

>94 dianeham: Good luck with your February reading.

I'm behind in my reading because instead of not being able to fall asleep lately I can’t stay awake. I fell asleep making a playlist last night.

“The more I reflect on the physical part of Schrödinger’s equation, the more disgusting I find it . . . What Schrödinger writes makes scarcely any sense. In other words, I think it’s bullshit.” Letter from Werner Heisenberg to Wolfgang Pauli

Really? I thought Schrodinger's cat was illustrating Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

The quote is from the opening of the 4th chapter in When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut. I was going to dnf this but may need to read the last 2 stories/chapters.

>113 dianeham: very entertaining! 🙂

Can you make out what this is? If you give up, look at the next message.

I couldn’t tell what it was untilI turned it upside down. Could you?

No. I see a woman and a tea mug.

>118 dchaikin: that’s right but on the actual cover I couldn’t see it. I had to turn it upside down.

>119 dianeham: ok, that happens to me all the time. I load a cover on LT, and stop, and have an "oh?" moment. As if I have to shrink the cover to see the pattern.

>120 dchaikin: Dan, I really appreciate that you comment here. It’s usually just you and a few other people. Thanks.

Oh, I enjoy your entertaining thread and just your presence here. I think all CR does. Thanks for being here

>122 dchaikin: Certainly. I drop by nearly everyday

I had a wonderful day on Monday. I met my grand-niece for the first time. She is 4 months old. They live 2.5 hours north of here which is a bit of a trek for us. They came down here and rented an airbnb in Cape May. We had a wonderful time. I don’t spend much time with people. So I was in a very sociable mood. I wish they lived closer.

Here’s an interesting book related thing that happened there. Besides my nephew and his wife there was another couple and their 3 children. They introduced me to their 2 year old daughter and her mother said: her name is Esme. I said: oh, "To Esme with love and squalor." And the mom said: you’re the first person who ever got that - who knew where the name came from - A short story by J.D. Salinger. But of course!

This is the house they rented

I’ve read 14 books so far this tear. So far in February:

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Killer Inside Me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Ploughmen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When We Cease to Understand the World ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now I am reading Women Talking, Thousand Cranes, Naked for Tea: Poems and Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories.

I wanted to say something about When We Cease to Understand the World but it’s a difficult book to talk about - and to read. This book came together and redeemed itself at the very end. My advice if you’ve never read anything about quantum physics then don’t read this. If you know what a wavicle is then you’ll be ok but you still may not like it. It really isn’t a novel. Some people say it’s short stories. But it’s all connected in the way that they all cease to understand the world. They being: Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger.

>126 dianeham: Glad to see you found The Ploughmen worth of 4 stars. Will you be posting a review? (Or have I missed the one you already posted?)

That house is gorgeous. I think you failed to make me not want to read When We Cease to Understand the World. I’m curious about several of those titles in >126 dianeham:

>127 rocketjk: I just wrote a short comment in the what are you reading topic.
I read The Ploughmen and found it fascinating. I liked the contrast of people being lost in the wilderness in winter with the lives of the two main characters. Thanks for your review rocketjk.

>128 dchaikin: It’s one of the most photographed houses in the country. I should have taken pictures but I was distracted by my grand niece. Dan, you probably know a little about quantum physics and Werner Heisenberg. It’s funny that I liked it since I was having trouble last month with some plotless books. They were so memorable that I forget which they were. Ah, one was Molloy and the other was House on Endless Waters which had a plot or 2 or 3 but jumped around too much. When We Cease… has a plot but sometimes the plot is a wave and sometimes it’s a particle.

Crap I saved the highlights I made in the When We Cease book because it was a library ebook but I can’t figure out where the highlights are stored on my ipad.

Found them. Some highlights from When we cease to understand the world

Their two theories could not have been more opposed; while Schrödinger had needed only a single equation to describe virtually the whole of modern chemistry and physics, Heisenberg’s ideas and formulae were exceptionally abstract, philosophically revolutionary, and so dreadfully complex that only a handful of physicists understood how to use them, and even they suffered headaches trying to solve the simplest problems.

Although Einstein himself took to the study of “matrix mechanics” as if it were a map to a buried treasure, there was something about the ideas of the young German physicist that he found truly repulsive.

Not even the state of one miserable particle could be perfectly apprehended.

However much we scrutinized the fundamentals, there would always be something vague, undetermined, uncertain, as if reality allowed us to perceive the world with crystalline clarity with one eye at a time, but never with both.

"Its underlying physics and mathematics are no longer amenable to modification.” This was more than Einstein could bear.

In the book Einstein is referred to as the Pope of Physics!

Popping up to say hello. I read all your posts, but sometimes don't have anything to add. I love the house and am glad you had a fun time. My very young neighbors across the street named their baby Esme. I wonder if the name is making a comeback.

>125 dianeham: I LOVE that house!

I have a great niece named Esme, and when I said, oh, the name is from the Salinger story (great title), my niece had never heard of it. :( So cool that the women with your Esme had named her after it.

>115 dianeham: I do see the naked upside down woman. I think the title clued me in.

When We Cease to Understand the World sounds kind of interesting.

>132 BLBera: Beth, thanks for stpping by. Funny about the Esmes. When there are pictures hidden in pictures I can never see them. I also have a mild form of face blindness so maybe it’s connected. I want to read The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut who wrote When We Cease...

I am reading a book published in each year since I was born. I’m thinking I can do that in 1 to 3 years.

Here’s the 50s so far:

The Martian Chronicles (1950) read 12/2023 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 stars
The Day of the Triffids (1951) read 1/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Killer Inside Me (1952) read 2/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thousand Cranes (1953) reading 2/2024
The Tree and the Vine (1954) read 1/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1955 - it’s between Madam, Will You Talk? and Winter in the Air and other stories.
1956 - probably The Fall by Albert Camus
1957 - Owls Do Cry
1958 - A Case Of Conscience
1959 - Playback: A Novel (Philip Marlowe series Book 7) or Henderson the Rain King (surprisingly the Chandler book is shorter plus the Bellow’s book is a hardback and I still have trouble reading anything other than ebooks.

So it may take longer than 3 years unless I concentrate on this project more. 2 a month will probably take 39 months.

“ Not even the state of one miserable particle could be perfectly apprehended.” 🤣
I’m not a physicist and I have only very vague notions about quantum physics, but I find that very disturbing too.

For me, “Esme” is Esme Weatherwax from Discworld. At least, I think that’s her first name? She is usually referred to as Granny Weatherwax so it sounds strange to name a baby after her ☺️

>135 FlorenceArt: Baby Granny.

>130 dianeham: poor miserable particle. Fun post.

Last night I dreamt about huge, giant plates - like chargers that you set at the table to fill the space. The plates were being used as decoration but there weren’t a lot of them. There were lots of places set at a big table in a garden but only a few of these giant, colorful plates.

>138 dianeham: I never remember my dreams. Maybe that's a good thing!

>139 labfs39: I think you said that before. I’ve always remembered my dreams - not all of them and not every detail but lots of stuff. I can still remember dreams I had as a child. I’ve tried to become a lucid dreamer - to become conscious in my dreams so I can direct them. My results were not consistent. Years ago I used to have sleep paralysis experiences which were really interesting. I am able to redirect any scary dreams usually so that’s not an issue. I feel like all my dreams are pretty much the same now and kind of boring. There are usually lots of people and there is a task or goal which I have to achieve. Maybe if I record them more, they will get more interesting.

Oh, I do know that taking vitamin b-6 will help you remember your dreams. Funny I can remember my dreams but not what I went into the kitchen for! 😎

>140 dianeham: Funny I can remember my dreams but not what I went into the kitchen for!

Ha, ha

I didn't know that a vitamin would help me remember my dreams... I remember some of them, but they usually fade as the day progresses unless I write them down when I wake up.

I finished Women Talking. It’s about isolated Mennonite women in Bolivia who are preyed upon and raped repeatedly by men from their compound. It happened in the middle of the night and the women are drugged. They are later told it was ghosts and/or devils. The women are illiterate, have no knowledge of their surroundings and do not speak the language of the country they are in. They spend two days discussing whether to stay or leave their cult. The book is narrated by a man who is taking notes of the women talking. To me having him narrate just complicates things. The book is well written but lacks something in my opinion.

Women Talking sounds disturbing.

>138 dianeham: I’m intrigued by your plates.

>143 dianeham: I don’t think I could read Women Talking.

Re dreams - I usually have dreams that blend in the last thing I was thinking about before falling asleep with some event from my past. I’ll probably dream of plates tonight. Remember the trend in plates a few years back? Those outsized plates that were unusual shapes - rectangles and squares etc - that had pastel-colored New Yorker-like wispy figures painted on them. Maybe they are still in fashion, I don’t go to classy restaurants anymore so I don’t know. .

>145 kjuliff: that sounds like the plates in my dream.

>146 dianeham: That’s very strange. Or do you own plates like these?

>147 kjuliff: no, i have no idea where the plates came from. And it was outdoors.

>145 kjuliff: "I’ll probably dream of plates tonight. "

Great first line for a novel or short story.

>149 rocketjk: Now I have to think of a second line.

>150 kjuliff: This gives me an idea for an Avid Readers question!

>151 rocketjk: what’s the idea?

>151 rocketjk: please do some of the fun questionaires. The ones where we answer with book titles. I’m not big on the essay tests. 😎

>152 kjuliff: "what’s the idea?"

You'll find out soon enough! :)

>153 dianeham: Are there particular questionaires that you have in mind?

>154 rocketjk: I have look back a couple of years. There was one where we recommended books for other CR people. That’s the only one I remember but it wasn’t the the most fun. Will message you…

I started Not Even Wrong: A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism last night and I hated it. Luckily I was able to return the ebook for a refund because I realized right away that I couldn’t read it. The author while discovering that his 2 year old son is autistic is researching a "wild child" discovered in Germany in the 1700s. The "hook" is that the child was probably autistic. I didn’t want to read about that child. I wanted to hear about the author’s child. It seemed very odd to me that he was already planning to write about the wild boy before he supposedly had any idea that his son was autistic.

So on to the next book.

Reading The Listening Walls by Margaret Millar. I was browsing ebooks I own that I haven’t read and started reading it. It was published in 1959 so it fits my book a year plan.

Sounds better

Whenever I’m looking for this topic/thread and don’t see it, I think to myself: I can’t find myself.

ETA: nothing

>159 dianeham: I like this thought

I finished two books yesterday.
The Listening Walls by Margaret Millar - Someone died in the beginning of the book. It was not considered a murder. For the rest of the book everyone related to what happened was acting very suspiciously. The death was in Mexico. At the end, the death scene was recreated in Mexico. Actually that wasn’t the end. At the very end there was a zinger of a secret revealed. Made me gasp. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Have to set the table. To be continued…

The above book was published in 1959 so it goes on my book a year list. I like Margaret Millar even though her books are pretty dated. Her husband was also a mystery writer, Kenneth Millar aka Ross MacDonald. They were both Canadian-Americans.

I also finished Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata. This book was referenced with two other of his titles when he won the Nobel prize in literature in 1968. The book seemed very strange to me. A young man went to a tea ceremony and a woman who had had an affair with his father tried to set him up to meet a young woman who was wearing a scarf with cranes on it. Meanwhile he encountered another woman who his father had a long relationship with. That woman had a daughter - also marriageable. Flowers and flowering trees and bushes feature very prominently in the story. They probably symbolize things that I am unaware of. The story is very much about the old (tea ceremony) giving way to the new. It is in the 1950s. I had the sense that the people were walking around and talking and doing things and most of that had nothing to do with the novel’s essence. The seasons changing, the flowers and the tea ceremony were the story not the backdrop. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>162 dianeham: I have read two of Kawabata's books and I appreciated both for the atmosphere and writing, not necessarily the plot or even characters. I have his Palm of the Hand Stories, but Thousand Cranes sounds appealing.

>163 labfs39: which two did you read?

My book a year project is coming along.

The Martian Chronicles (1950) read 12/2023 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 stars
The Day of the Triffids (1951) read 1/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Killer Inside Me (1952) read 2/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thousand Cranes (1953) reading 2/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Tree and the Vine (1954) read 1/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For 1955 I am leaning toward The Chrysalids which would make 2 books by John Wyndham who I never read before this year.
1956 is still up in the air.
1957 - Owls Do Cry
1958 - A Case Of Conscience
The Listening Walls (1959) read 2/29/2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

>164 dianeham: I read Snow Country which has some beautiful writing, but a rather unlikable protagonist and The Old Capital, which was a slow, not-much-happens sort of book, but very atmospheric.

>165 dianeham: If an author is working for you, I say go for it! I haven't read anything by Wyndham either.

Seems the literature was alright in the 1950’s. Interesting about Kawabata and the Millars.

>168 dchaikin: As I start looking into books of the 1960s, I’m running into more books I’ve already read.

I’m reading Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin.

A list of all the books I’ve acquired since the last week in December 2023.

These are ebooks
Hard Girls by J. Robert Lennon pre-ordered
The Pole by J.M. Coetzee
Six of One by Rita Mae Brown
Lolly Willowes or the Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner 49 CENTS
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
Corinne, Volume 1 (of 2) by Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine) Staël FREE
The Stranger & The Fall & The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus 49 CENTS
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
The Grey Wolf: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Book 19) by Louise Penny pre-ordered
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ludmila Ulitskaya
The Body of the Soul: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) by Ludmila Ulitskaya
Modern Poetry: Poems by Diane Seuss

Physical Books
Collected Poems by Edwin Muir
Raspberries and Eye Kisses: Tales from the Cockatoo Protection Program by Tim Campbell & Barney Campbell

>171 dianeham: Nice! I would like to read Thousand Cranes. Lolly Willowes has received a lot of love here on LT. Supposedly I've read The Chrysalids, but I didn't write a review, and I remember zilch! I do remember with admiration Daniel Stein, Interpreter. I've meant to read more by Ulitskaya.

>172 labfs39: thanks for the comments. I was curious about Ulitskaya.

Hi Diane, I came to your thread due to the disussion of House on Endless Waters, one I really enjoyed for all the reasons that others disliked it.

>165 dianeham: I read and enjoyed Janet Frame's Owls do cry a few years back. She is a brilliant writer.

>174 avatiakh: Tell me why you loved House on Endless Waters.

>175 dianeham: I have just put House on Endless Waters on my tbr book. I’ve been reading a fair few books set in the Netherlands lately, but all by Dutch writers. I’m intrigued by your review of this novel.

>176 kjuliff: It’s a fascinating book. But it is not plot driven.

>175 dianeham: I was one who actually enjoyed the meandering timeline. I posted in the Holocaust Literature group and an LTer there mentioned that the timeline was why she disliked the book. I think sometimes you just meet a book at a time when you are in the right mood.

>178 avatiakh: >177 dianeham: Thanks for the info. I sometimes get annoyed with meandering timelines. They can be overdone. If I can get it at a library I will go for it but don’t think I’ll buy it because sometimes I do not read such books to the end if I get lost in the meandering.

>179 kjuliff: looking forward to your thoughts on it.

I had a very lucky library experience today. A librarian where I used to work added two titles that I requested to their overdrive ebook collection. I pay $50 a year for an ecard at Queens public library because they have more of the titles I want in their ebook collection than the library here. The local library usually has what I want in print but I need ebooks where I can resize the fonts. So happily, the two books I got at The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut and You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue. So I need to finish Mona of the Manor.

>181 dianeham: That's nice, Diane. I'm glad the librarian was able to get the titles you wanted.

>181 dianeham: That is great, Diane. I don't request that the library purchase books very often, but they are usually obliging.

Catching up, Diane. Behind, as with most threads.

I was very glad to read that in February sleep seemed to be eluding you less. As someone who feels exhausted on anything less than 8 hours sleep, the very thought of suffering with insomnia sends chills through me.

Loved your photo of where your nephew rented. I noticed that the houses behind were in a similar style, which then led me to Google Cape May. Wow - just love that architecture. What a charming place to live.

>184 AlisonY: I don’t live in the actual Victorian town of Cape May but I live 10 miles away. The whole town is on the historic register. It is very charming. I believe the town can even lay claim to "George Washington slept here." And on top of that Cape may is a great place for birding. Because of its geography migrating birds fly here and then the land runs out and since most don’t fly over large bodies of water, they have to turn around and fly north for a while. Sorry, I sound like a tour guide. I need to catch up on your thread too. Thanks so much for stopping by.

>185 dianeham: Don't be sorry - I love hearing about other people's corner of the world. That Victorian architecture really is something. Is it just centred on a small strip within the town, or is there a lot of it in evidence throughout the town?

We get quite a few migratory birds close to where I live as well. 90% of the world’s population of light-bellied Brent Geese comes to Northern Ireland in the autumn, with Strangford Lough (which is just down the road from me) being their favourite staging post for some reason. Round about this time of year they'll be setting off on their 2,900 mile journey back to the high Canadian arctic. It blows my mind to think how far migrating birds travel.

>186 AlisonY: i was just over posting in your topic. There is an historic district in Cape May but it’s a large portion, not just a strip. During and after the pandemic many people from New York started buying real estate here - often paying cash. So it’s gotten more and more expensive. There’s a small lower income town nearby but people are buying that property up for airbnbs. So it’s getting difficult for the people who work in Cape May to find a place to live that they can afford.

I was looking at my most recent ebook samples earlier. I read the beginning of each and decided whether to keep it or chuck it. One of them was so good I have to read it now. It’s on the Booker International long list - Crooked Plow.

Some of these are for my book for every I’ve been alive. Some are Booker International. The others I’m keeping tbr are:
A Jest of God 1966
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun 1966
A Mind to Murder 1963
The Deadly Joker 1963
The Outsiders 1960
The Leopard 1960
After Visiting Friends recommended by Mark, I think.
Rembrandt’s Hat 1973
How to Speak Whale nonfiction (want to learn more about whales)
Two Sherpas sounded interesting
Undiscovered Booker
Crooked Plow booker
Lost on Me booker
The Details booker
The Einstein Intersection 1967
Herzog 1964
Owls Do Cry 1957

>188 dianeham: I haven't read any of these.

>189 labfs39: I didn’t realize the touchstone didn’t work. Sorry. Fixed now.

>188 dianeham: some of the touchstones are, I think going to the wrong boo, eg Lost on Me.

>191 kjuliff: thanks. It was the Booker international ones.

>192 dianeham: oh I’m not familiar. Who wrote if?

>193 kjuliff: who wrote which?

Lost on Me. See >191 kjuliff:

>195 kjuliff: Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo. It’s on the Booker international long list. The author is Italian.

I started another from that long list that really grabbed me. Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior. The author is a man from Brazil. Heralded as a new masterpiece, this fascinating and gripping story about the lives of subsistence farmers in Brazil's poorest region, three generations after the abolition of slavery, is at once fantastic and realist, covering themes of family, spirituality, slavery and its aftermath, and political struggle.

I finished rereading Thirteen ways of Looking last night. I think it made a stronger impression the first time but it was still great.

Life in my world has suddenly taken an unexpected turn. My husband has pain in his leg. He had an xray and they found a lesion which the radiologist suspects is multiple myeloma. He needs an mri but has already gotten referred to a cancer dr. That dr called him today and wants to admit him to the hospital for further tests and a biopsy. They are waiting for a room to open up and then they will call him to come in. The hospital is like 60 miles away. Also today is hubby’s birthday - surprise! And we have fancy ass dinner reservations for tomorrow night. So we’re just waiting to hear back and he packed a bag.

>197 dianeham: so sorry to read this Diane. I do hope it’s not myeloma but it looks like your doctor is on to it. Sending good thoughts. x

>198 kjuliff: thank you Kate. There are some other indicators that make it look like cancer. Some blood tests. I had a burst of energy. Now I’m exhausted.

Although I have also responded on your other thread, I wanted to add to take care of yourself too while all this is happening.

>200 labfs39: I’m feeling kind of stressed now that he left for the hospital.

I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s health problems. I hope he and you will be all right.

So I take it, Michael did get a room at the hospital? It's tough not being able to drive at times like this. Do you have local transport options or a local support network? Hang in there.

>203 labfs39: My stepson is nearby but I don’t think michael has had a chance to talk to him yet. Also a 22 year old grandson. I’ve been texting with the husband. They did a cat scan this morning.

>204 dianeham: I’m thinking of you. It’s hard waiting for the results. Hoping you will know more later today.

So sorry to hear this Diane. Keep us posted when you have more information.

>205 kjuliff: >206 markon: it just keeps getting worse. Now they say the bone stuff is secondary. The found a mass in his lung which they say is the primary cancer.

>207 dianeham: That sounds worrying. Have you been to the hopital, or are you hearing the results by phone? Are they talking about treatment options yet?

>208 kjuliff: I talked to the doctor’s pa on the phone today. I saw Michael tonight. He hasn’t been seen by the people who will treat the lung cancer yet. So far they are treating the leg. He has surgery scheduled on Monday to repair his leg.

Now that the cancer has been detected, the doctors seem to be moving quickly. I hope his surgery goes well.

So sorry to hear this, Diane. Thinking of you both.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. I hope everything goes well.

Thank you all. This is exhausting. I have a nephew who lives like 3 hours away from me but only 50 minutes from the hospital. I’m going to the hospital Sunday night with my stepson and then my nephew is going to pick me up and I’m going to stay at his house until Michael gets released. Then he will pick up Michael and take us back home to the seashore.

I’ve been reading The Maniac and I’m 50% done. The ebook hold ends in 1 day and 21 hours. Should I stop or keep going.

I’m about 65% done The maniac. The library is going to reclaim it soon and there are other people waiting. Maybe I’ll skip to the ebd.

Hubby is having surgery tomorrow. I am hoping the hospital will let me stay overnight in his room tonight.

Do you read on an e-reader where you can easily turn off the wifi? On my kindle I leave the wifi off so the battery lasts longer and I don't lose access to the book even after it's due unless I turn the wifi on.

Good luck with the surgery and all of the logistics you're dealing with to be there.

Crossing fingers for you and hubby.

>216 japaul22: >217 japaul22: I read on my ipad and can’t turn off the wifi. Thanks for the kind words. I seem to really need positive feedback here. I think I have more online friends than real life friends. What do you call that - the non-online life? I had a friend a few years back and his house-mate called us his imaginary friends.

My husband is on facebook a lot and several times a week he posts photos of the sunset over the Delaware Bay. And his fb friends love his pictures. So there have been no sunsets posted for 6 days. He actually has a great view from his hospital room. Funny thing is the hospital is on the Delaware river - so he’s just upstream from here. But he hasn’t said anything on fb about where he is or what’s going on. I think it’s time to do that.

>219 dianeham: Good luck to Michael tomorrow. I hope everything goes well. Please take care of yourself too.

ETA: Regarding virtual friendships: they are important to me too, and sometimes they turn into real-life friendships.

>216 japaul22: That’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought of that.

>219 dianeham: it seems as if you have the travel aspect organized. have they given you any idea as to when your husband can come home>

>222 kjuliff: they said they thought he might stay Tuesday and Wednesday for some pt. And while he was there the other doctors could see him about his lung. Put it could be earlier if he has no issues walking after the surgery.

Good luck with the surgery, Diane.

>220 labfs39: What Lisa said, virtual friendships are friendships.

Thanks beth

If anyone here wants to know what’s going on with me and my hubbie’s illness, you can read my thread in 75 - https://www.librarything.com/topic/358983#n8483222 - I don’t have the energy to post in both places and…

No problem, Diane. I starred your thread there too. Take care of yourself.

I am no longer up late.

Can't sleep?

Woke up at 7 but fell asleep on the ipad for a bit. I’m never awake that I’m not tired.

Stress can cause so many difficulties for our bodies.

I’m just now seeing your posts. I’m so sorry for all you and your husband are dealing with. I’m glad the surgery went well. Thinking about you both.

My prayers go out to you and your husband, Diane.

>233 kidzdoc: thank you, Darryl.

>thank you, Dan

I have a few books that appeared. I have The MANIAC which I didn’t finish last time I had it. I have All the Little Bird-Hearts which I haven’t started. And I’m still reading Two Sherpas.

DH had several visitors today. I stayed home to clean but didn’t get too much done. I have 3 people who will take me to visit any time I call. They are practically fighting over me. I hope it will be as easy to get Michael to doctor appointments. I’m looking for some one to install a new shower, help me to take a rug up, fix it so we get hot water in the kitchen and I really need help organizing and cleaning.

I’m trying to stay calm and relax. It’s hard.

Holding you both in the light.

Sorry I've been out of touch a few days. I'm glad you are having an easier time getting rides. Do you know yet how long Michael will be in rehab?

>236 labfs39: you’ve had a tough up there in down Maine. We’re hoping he’ll be out next Friday but not sure. We’re working to get hte house ready.

How are you coping? I’m up very early and see you were up late. Thinking of you.

Sometimes I wake up and look online briefly anf go to sleep. I worked all day with my organizer/cleaner and went to sleep at 9 pm.

My husband went into the hospital on his birthday 3/20 and he is finally coming home on my birthday 4/19. We have to take him to the surgeon’s office tomorrow so a long road trip.

I’m reading RuPaul’s memoir - The House of Hidden Meanings.

I’m glad he’s coming home

>240 dianeham: Good to hear Diane. I do hope things go well for you now; you’ve had a rough patch.

>242 kjuliff: lots of doctor visits in our future.

>243 dianeham: I understand. I know what it’s like. But at least he’s home. I do understand that your life right now is not what it was. Hang in there.

>244 kjuliff: thank you. ❤️

Yay! I'm so glad Michael's coming home. Nice birthday present. :-)

My crappy news https://www.librarything.com/topic/358983#8511151

I'm so sorry, Diane.

>248 dchaikin: thank you.

>247 dianeham: So sorry to read this, Diane.

>250 japaul22: thank you