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Trim Challenge 2022 – Community and Announcement Thread
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Book Concierge
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May 23, 2022 09:30PM

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Excellent choice! Far more disturbing and chilling than Hitchcock's excellent adaptation.

Suspect Life on the Leash will be last choice. Probably why it has been on the shelf so long.

It is actually a reread for me. Last read in high school. I guaranty much went right past me. That was around 1970 and we were all a lot less informed and more innocent than same age now.


Judith Hearne is a devout convent schooled Catholic in Protestant Belfast. Judith is also a plain woman from a genteel bourgeois background, raised to marry but instead sentenced to years of caring for a cold, rigid, and ultimately senile aunt who left Judith impoverished at her death. Judith is also a lonely secret alcoholic whose fragile hold on the image of a life of promise and belonging is on the verge of breaking forever.
This is a beautifully written tragic tale of a middle-aged woman's ruin, told only as an Irishman near the generation of James Joyce, Eugene O'Neill, and even Samuel Beckett can tell it. It also questions quite deeply whether the catholic faith, especially the trappings of it, can support its most needy supplicants, or does it abandon them leaving the needy with nothing.
I read the beautiful NYRB edition - which has the perfect cover:


My # 8 is The Boat People

The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy by Jo Marchant - 4.5* - My Review

My Review https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Seems like a waste that far in for such a short book but it was making me not want to read and it was a slog. This is my main reason for DNFing these days. Trying to finish this book, not enjoying it at all which means I just don't read.
The main problem was the mom, and whole family really, are insufferable. The titular fifth child is a monster but creepy kid stories aren't really my thing. I just found this read annoying.
But I consider this a successful trim month because it is officially off the TBR!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Seems like a waste that far in for such a short book but it was making me not want to read and it was a slog..."
Taking it off your list is a definite success!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I loved this one!



So sorry to read that Sally. What a time you have had.

So sorry to read that Sally. What a time you have had."
I know- bad year.

Those are 2 rays of sunshine in a difficult period for sure. So sorry for you and your family losing member!


Mine will be In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, which will fit the monthly tag nicely, I think!

I just finished my May and June books. I enjoyed them both quite a bit.
🍁 8. Singapore Sapphire - A.M. Stuart - 4 Stars - 6/17/2
🍁 9. Her Dark Lies - J.T. Ellison - 4 Stars - 6/20/22

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly / Jean-Dominique Bauby
Ha! And it's a memoir!


Hey BNB! I'm your buddy for this one! I'm going to be traveling through the July 4th weekend, but should be able to pick this one up anytime after that. What time in July works best for you?
Books mentioned in this topic
Homage to Catalonia (other topics)The People of the Abyss (other topics)
Girl, Interrupted (other topics)
The Shadow King: The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut's Mummy (other topics)
Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Johann Hari (other topics)George Orwell (other topics)
Paul A. Offit (other topics)
Susanna Kaysen (other topics)
Jo Marchant (other topics)
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