Michelle’s Comments (group member since Dec 08, 2021)

Michelle’s comments from the On The Same Page group.

So for all of us bemoaning our expanding TBR's I'm going to share one of my favorite book quotes.

“If you don't know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”
― Clive James

I consider that a goal so if you look at your TBR with that in mind you can be thankful for your Goodreads friends and their help growing your TBR. There is little danger of any of us running out of good books before the lights go out.

Lillie wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Checking off The House of Unexpected Sisters

3 sipping a cup of redbush tea stars”

I have this one downloaded ..."

Yes if we could all just reason through our problems the way Mma Ramotswe does the world would be a better place. Maybe the world needs Clovis Anderson's instruction manual.

Checking off The House of Unexpected Sisters

In the 18th installment of the No. 1 Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe discovers that she has a sister she never knew. Mma Makutsi and Mr. Polopeleti investigate a case of wrongful dismissal which reveals potential catastrophe for Mma Makutsi all at the hands of her arch enemy Violet Sepotho. To make matters worse Mma Ramotswe's former husband returns to town. No worries though Mma Ramotswe skillfully navigates all dangers and avoids disaster, discovering along the way that some of life's unexpected things are blessings in disguise.

I actually think I had read at least part of this book before but didn't have it marked. That's O.K. It was a great way to get back into this series. I love the characters of this lovely series with their old fasioned values and their traditional life view. These books always leave me with a sense of calm optimism. That makes them great book therapy.

3 sipping a cup of redbush tea stars.

Quotable:

“Families come in different ways... sometimes they are given to you, but sometimes you find them yourself, unexpectedly, as you go through life.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters

“She would give him the benefit of the doubt, as she always did: her experience had taught her that the names we gave to others, and the things we accused them of, often said more about us than they did about them.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters

“Not forgiving was like scratching at a sore to keep the healing scab from forming.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters

“Nobody is so bad that there is no chance of change.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The House of Unexpected Sisters

I agree actually it wasn't a not good ending. I just can't quite find the right adjective. Maybe dire?

Ioana wrote: "To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a novella, but with a lot going on. And I don't necessarily mean action.
A group of 4 astronauts are exploring the universe, in search of life. New tec..."

You don't say whether you liked it. I hope you liked it. Just as you said it was a short book without a lot of action but there was so much to think about. I think that is Becky Chambers forte an exciting setting but the action is largely internal. She always leaves me with a sense of peaceful conflict resolution at the end even when, as with this book, the end is actually not good.

You can take comfort Ioana in the fact that you are personally responsible for most of the nonfiction on my library TBR and a good bit of the fiction.

Thumbs up 👍 for Homecoming by Kate Morton.

A reporter is summoned home to Australia to care for her grandmother who is hospitalized. As she searches for a reason for her grandmother's sudden decline, she discovers a whole host of family secrets including murder. Her determination to solve a decades old family mystery will turn her world upside down and challenge the answers that everyone had accepted as the truth.

Morton contrasts the sunny modern Sidney setting with an almost gothic southern Australia historical setting for this dark family mystery, involving murder, secret lovers and poison. The flashbacks to the past were revealed to the reader via an out-of-print true crime novel and, though entirely fiction, it gave the novel a true crime vibe that kept me reading. In spite of the fact that I felt the ending involved just a few too many convenient twists and what I think was a continuity/editing error, I did enjoy this book as a whole. The writing was top notch.

4 murder down under stars.

Quotable:

“There was a truth observed by all good preachers, leaders, and salesmen: tell a good story, tell it in simple language, tell it often. That’s how beliefs and memories were formed. It was how people defined themselves, in a reliance upon the stories about themselves that they were told by others.
― Kate Morton, Homecoming

“Home, she'd realized, wasn't a place or a time or a person, though it could be any and all of those things: home was a feeling, s sense of being complete. The opposite of "home" wasn't "away," it was "lonely." When someone said, "I want to go home," what they really meant was that they didn't want to feel lonely anymore.”
― Kate Morton, Homecoming

“For all that "home" was considered a word of warmth and comfort, policemen knew better. Home is where the heart is, and the heart could be a dark and damaged place.”
― Kate Morton, Homecoming

Hope you enjoy them both Patricia. Happy reading!

No sympathy here. You both increase my TBR daily.

That's the spirit!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did Karol.

I did put one in but the process seems to move slowly.

Adding:

21. Book has four or more stars on GR The Running Grave

So jealous that you got to read Chaos Terminal. I'm still hoping my library will pick it up. I did not enjoy Murder Your Employer very much. I'm glad you seemed to like it overall.

Listening to The House of Unexpected Sisters now. Good to get back to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Series. As The Crow Flies coming soon.

My reading seems to be leading towards stories involving midwives and puritan values lately. I'm going to break that up a little (hopefully) with No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency #18 but these last few books have added to my TBR. I definitely want to reread The Scarlet Letter now and I put some more books by Ariel Lawhon on my TBR list. She's an author I would like to read more from. I also added another Alice Hoffman book that was hinted at in the book above- The Red Garden. All sometime in the future like my TBR doesn't have hundreds of books to choose from. I do like it though when one book seems to lead to another with a little bit of a theme. Entirely accidental in this case but fun.

“Words were magic, that was all he knew.”
― Alice Hoffman, The Invisible Hour

“Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It’s all preposterous. That’s why we have novels. To make sense of things.”
― Alice Hoffman, The Invisible Hour


#13 The Invisible Hour This book was magical! I always enjoy Alice Hoffman but I truly loved this book. A young girl raised in a cult finds her path to freedom at the library, through one special book. This had all Hoffman's regular trademarks magical realism, bittersweet love story, the heroine has to save herself, and beautiful writing. This story just hit the perfect note with me. 5 now I have to reread the Scarlet Letter stars. Audiobook. Contemporary Fiction/Magical Realism.

#14 The Frozen River This book blew me away! It was so much more than I expected. This was not just the colonial historical fiction novel that it appeared to be but a stellar mystery with modern sensibilities. A midwife is called on to observe a body found frozen in the river and declare cause of death. Soon, however, not only is she determined to prove who murdered the man but her family and her work as a midwife all become entangled in the outcome. And the ending? Wow! I won't give a hint of a spoiler you'll just have to read it for yourself. Nice audio production on this one as well. 5 taking justice into your own hands stars. Audiobook. Mystery/Historical Fiction

14 books/1630 pages

Current:
Homecoming ebook. Great story just need reading time to finish.
The House of Unexpected Sisters auddiobook. Trying to get back to Mma Ramotswe


“Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality. That, I believe, is why so few women are taught to read and write. God only knows what they would do with the power of pen and ink at their disposal.”
― Ariel Lawhon, The Frozen River

Ioana wrote: "The Tiffany Girls was our real life book club pick for February. It was ok, with some interesting bits about the Tiffany glass manufacturing, cutting and assembling process, but pre..."

I love it when you can follow up a book with a related road trip. Hope the windows are worth it!

I felt much the same about Light Pirate and Warrior Girl. Light Pirate was OK as I like apocalypse novels but the plot left something to be desired. Warrior Girl did not really live up to the first book. I think you hit on one of the reasons why. Too much going on. If it had stuck to the theme of the return of Native American bones I think it could have been a great book.

Yes! Every one is better than the one before.