joy for january

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

WOW We made it though a hard year/ Yet I think we all had a pretty good reading year, despite some difficulty in concentrating.
I am just about finished with the amazing Rupa Marya andRaj Patel Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice
It may well be the most important book of the century so far.
I hit a wall with Ben Marcus Leaving the Sea: StoriesHe is such a masterful writer but the stories got more and more distressing. Brilliant, yes I think so, but the pain////
I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Mirabai StarrWhat a scholar and mystic! And I found Last Impressions such a gripping read I can't imagine how some people dissed it so.
The add books function is out of order, I was told to go read a book.
I want to know what you are readingQ
Happy New year, please

[Petra]

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a good year ahead. We sure could use one.

I am carrying over a few books from last year:

First Degree, I really enjoy this light, humorous series
They Were Divided, I'm looking forward to seeing how this trilogy ends.
Moms, a graphic novel. I'm a bit perturbed at how these women are being portrayed as man-hunting (rich men) cougars. It's written by the son of one of the portrayed women. Makes me wonder about his image of Women.
A Killer in King's Cove (audio). I've been going for lots of walks with step-dad but we've been talking, so no listening to a book for me. I'm so close to the end of this one. Things are just ramping up for the big Finish. I'm looking forward to finding out "who dun it".

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Youve been enjoying the trilogy so much Petra but i dont remember in what form you're reading it. Its only available on e book as far as the library is concerned and I'm not up for that kind of challenge. :-]
Somehow I've ended up with another Wwll account, not intentionally, its just the next due interlibrary book. It's written in such a different style and the characters are quite distinct, so should be ok

[Petra]

Magdelanye, I'm reading the ebook format.
I like an ereader for bedtime reading. Hubby is such a light sleeper. When I wake up before him, and it's still earlier than our usual(ish) wake-up time, I can read with the backlight.

I finished First Degree today. I really enjoy this series. It's warm, fun and the characters are such nice people. I like character driven books and this series is just up my alley.


Which WWII book is it? I hope you enjoy it.

[Ellen]

Petra, I may check out First Degree. Looks relaxing.

The Moving Target: love MacDonald's writing; superior, especially for the PI genre but really just plain excellent writing.

Swann's Way: the Lydia Davis translation. I adore Davis' writing and look forward to reading her translation (I also have her translation of Madame Bovary, which I've read several times in French but not yet in English--and my French is no longer good enough to read it again in the original). I read the entire Remembrance of Things Past (Lost Time) many years ago and am reading again as part of a group read. I'm only up to 32 but I remember it surprisingly well and am loving it.

Blessed Are the Consumers: Climate Change and the Practice of Restraint: still reading, slowly but surely. I liked it, then didn't like it, and am now liking it again. I think she's especially good on Dorothy Day

Finished: Kathleen Turner's memoir (Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles--fascinating although her energy is almost intimidating. Katie and I saw her one-woman show a couple of weeks ago & she was mesmerizing.

Next up is Kathleen Turner on Acting: Conversations about Film, Television, and Theater--I've just read the opening and love it.

Also, I'm hoping to read The Night Watchman as part of another group I'm in. I started it last year and then got distracted, as I often do. But Swann's Way and The Moving Target, as well as Consumers, may keep me too busy.

Also just finished: Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, and Los Angeles, California. Loved the first third and love the people he's discussing but after a while I tired of his drinking, self-pity and obsession with & romanticizing of failure & self-destructiveness. I felt like I was reading an extremely gifted & precocious adolescent--only the level of self-absorption in a 55 year old man is almost unforgivable, certainly (to me) both irritating and dull.

[Ellen]

I forgot, I'm also reading Cloud Cuckoo Land but I'm having a difficulty with the jumps between not just narrators but time. Especially the sections from the middle ages (although the ones set in the future also feel a little weird to me). I intend to finish but as you can see I'm a little swamped at the moment.

[Ice, Pilgrim]

Happy New Year, from the one yet to pick up my current reads this year, it's been busy already !

[Ellen]

Ice wrote: "Happy New Year, from the one yet to pick up my current reads this year, it's been busy already !"

Good to hear from you Ice. Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing your list. :)

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

where is my comment?
going to wait and see if it shows up

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Ellie wrote: "Ice wrote: "Happy New Year, from the one yet to pick up my current reads this year, it's been busy already !"
[
Good to hear from you Ice. Happy New Year! I look forward to seeing your list. :)" Me too Ice.
And thats quite and impressive list you've got going Ellie. I zoomed in on on the Doerr and I am #78 on the list now at the library.

Petra I stalled on the Olivia Hawkins because I needed a bit more distance from [book:Last Impressions|49460003] by Joseph Kertes
I decided Not to read Edeet Ravels the Cat when I found out the topic but somehow read it quickly . I can't imagine anything more awful than losing a child.

I was liking book:The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump|36978232] until I started ti disagree with her LOL

[Petra]

Ellie, I enjoyed Proust's Lost Time. I look forward to hearing about Davis' translation. It may inspire me to reread Swann's Way.

Magdelanye, Last Impressions sounds right up my alley. I'm always drawn in by the harm secrets can have. It's not really secrets....but more of someone trying to shield loved ones from a pain but the shielding brings on it's own pain to the loved ones. So it's a bit of a spiralling of pain.
Thanks, I'll look this one up.

I'm about to begin Alias Grace for a group read. I read it when it first came out but have no clear memory of the story line.

I finished Moms and am perturbed at this son's view of women his mom's age. In the epilogue he states that this was a humorous look at his mom and her friends and he hopes (and thinks it so) that she sees the humour. Maybe she does; I didn't.

[Ellen]

Petra, so far I love the Davis translation. I think I'll skip Moms.

[Petra]

Thanks, Ellie! I'll see if the library has Davis' translation.

What's everyone up to these days? It's so quiet here. Are we all reading so much that we have no time to visit? Or have we put all books aside?

I was leading a group read for The Chimes. All the prep took up a lot of time, as did the discussion, but I enjoyed it.

I finished an interesting mystery, first of a series, A Killer in King's Cove. It's set in the Nelson region of British Columbia, which was interesting. I was in Nelson just a few years back and could envision the scenery in this book. The mystery was okay. I enjoyed the characters and their backstories. This series has possibility for a character-driven, enjoyable read. I will give the second book a try soon.

I'm currently reading and enjoying Alias Grace. I read it so many years ago and don't recall the story at all.

I hope to hear from everyone soon. What are we reading?

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Thanks Petra for showing up. I took some much needed days off from the machine and even the thought to check in here couldnt induce me. This was the aftereffects of just two or three days of overexposure to the point of overload, attending sessions in two different conferences, machine on from morning until the voices stopped making meaning and were only rebounding in my head. Total quiet was needed and I appreciate that have it here so now I feel rejuvenated and even up to watch the last few days of The Best Years of Your Life superconference. I really liked Jack Kornfields meditation and there were some other surprises. Ellie maybe you tuned in as well?
I am finally back to Olivia Hawkers The Ragged Edge of Night which Petra you may remember I put aside because I figured it was too much like the book I just read that I loved on the scattered by war theme. It turns out there wasn't to much danger of conflation as this book has a vastly different perspective. It's very moving and yet another slant on those terrible times.

Also reading Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World by Shelly Tygielski and can easily recommend her personal and inspirational approach to communities of care.

Finally finished In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman
My feelings are mostly wow now that I am not arduously trying to follow the threads and parse meaning in this meandering philosophical character study. ZHR has several videos on youtube that I watched after putting the book down and moving on. Against the feeling that this book is never going to end, by the time it did rather abruptly I was like, wait....don't stop now!

Petra the Chimes does sound like it would be interesting and the bonus: short! I am supposing my antipathy to Dickens was due to my severe approach and that I shall live so long as to have the chance to reconsider. I did like Alias Grace though I seem to remeber I had a few issues. How's the re read Petra?

Meanwhile, I am keen to read Cloud Cookoo Land and wonder how Ellie has made out with this. I note too how a personal connection, like Ellie got by going to the theatre, gives a certain nudge to our reading pattern. Hope you are enjoying those books Ellie.

Ice probably has a new list by now.

[Ice, Pilgrim]

Still ploughing through Memoirs of a Polar Bear and a couple of others. Busy winter months at present.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

At least none of us are having to commute to work, except maybe Megan if you are reading this, I hope things are much better and that you are all out of the woods.

Ice, unpacking the last few boxes I found a book I had grabbed with you in mind Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear
LOL forgive me, but there are over 40 entries for the book I was meaning to forward, called Polar Ice, so I gave up after 6 pages when I came upon this one which is even more resonant.

I have come to the conclusion that I lent out my Proust set.

May everyone be well and enjoying the occasional bit of returning sun

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

heres a bit of January joy
My number finally came up and I have Absolutely on Music....too tired to go on the computer buth I think most of you have read this.
It will be a nice change from the grim stuff i have been reading.
Tomorrow will be soon enough to bring my just read list up to date. Anybody hsve a chance to check out Inflamed?

its quiet here. May everyone be relaxed and reading to brighten our gloomy days.

[Ellen]

Magdelanye wrote: "heres a bit of January joy
My number finally came up and I have Absolutely on Music....too tired to go on the computer buth I think most of you have read this.
It will be a nice change from the gri..."

i loved Absolutely on Music! I hope you do too.

I'm reading two short story collections, The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories by Joy Williams and Cloudbursts: New and Collected Storiesby Thomas McGuane. Both excellent, albeit totally different in tone and subject matter! I love Williams' work but it often leaves me sad. And I didn't realize it's a complete collection so I probably won't read the entire book but each story is a little jewel, beautifully written with vivid characters who are not at all like me or people I know yet completely believable.

I continue with The Night Watchman which is very good. I'm worried about the future of the reservation, which is one of the themes of the book, being erased by the white men in the legislature. Interesting look at the Mormon view of the indigenous people.

I continue, slowly, with Swann's Way which is beautiful but I can only read a little at a time. Last time I made it through the entire work in a year. Who knows how long it will take me this time?

And I read Edward Albee's Three Tall Women yesterday which was excellent.

I'm watching the old film version of The Importance of Being Earnest. I love the play--or did when I read it (several times) years ago & I'm enjoying the film. Another filmed play I'm watching is A Man for All Seasons, another play I adored in my teens as well as the film (Paul Scofield is brilliant). I'm loving it. And I rewatched for the I don't know how many times The Lion in Winter which I totally adore and never get tired of. I've read the play many times but the film--Katharine Hepburn & Peter O'Toole (not to mention Anthony Hopkins) are fabulous.

Today it's snowing hard and a perfect day to read. I think Swann's Way is calling for me--a dreamlike kind of book for a dreamlike kind of day.

Hope you are all well and warm.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

Theres a trend I detect here Ellie and I'm wondering if that is a next step for you, plays. I can imagine that there are all kinds of venues for all kinds of performance art that are simmering right now to get back into regular production.

Here there was a short interval where live performances were happening. Right now things are being postponed...

I would rather stay home right now anyways.

Did nobobody get the message re my invite one friend scheme? I am keen to invite someone but feel i need the groups blessing.
In fact, its in the flight paths lounge but i forgot to check and i cant remember what thread. I love reading some of these old threads go back a decade, before any of us retired. Ellies kids were still teenagers.

Havent started the Murakami yet but Ellie twas you who alerted me, am anticipating.

Today, being Saturday the buses are sparse. It took me four hours that is twice as long as usual but at least the rain held off till I made it home. so, no energy for computer and anyways its Saturday.

I am #5 on the list for Cloud Cuckoo

[Petra]

I recall seeing that message then not finding it again.
Invite your friend, Magdelanye. Any friend of yours is always welcome.

[Petra]

There are some interesting titles being mentioned here.

Ellie, you've got a lot of books started right now. It makes me twitchy to have more than about 3 books on-going at any one time. I start feeling overwhelmed.

I'm still reading Alias Grace. I'm slow at reading books on the ereader because I usually only read it at bedtime.

I started listening to A Deadly Education and am enjoying the quirkiness of it. Another group is having a Fantasy Tournament and this is one of the chosen books. I don't read a lot of fantasy, so this will be an interesting experience. I'm pretty sure I can't keep up with the schedule of reading but I may find a few good books in the mix.

I have so many books from the library right now. It's a bit daunting. I may have to weed through them and take some back.
On the other hand, there are no more late fees, so I may keep them for awhile.

[Ellen]

Petra wrote: "There are some interesting titles being mentioned here.

Ellie, you've got a lot of books started right now. It makes me twitchy to have more than about 3 books on-going at any one time. I start fe..."

I love "no more late fees": such a relief.

I keep trying to reduce the number of books I'm reading at a time. It would certainly help me finish faster but so far no luck.

[Magdelanye, Senior Flight Attendant]

It does seem to be a losing battle with the library if the plan is to reduce the number of books demanding attention. I remember back in the summer Petra when we were both working on it. I got down to below 20 for a while but then a whole batch of holds came in and I maxxed out again at the library limit.

They have reestablished fines at our two branches btw.
Most of my books are interlibrary loans and they have always been strict about those.

I am glad that one of these to finally come through that I am quite immersed in now is Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems by Rita Dove. Ellie do you know her?

The fiction that I am reading now also has a poetry connection.
Traveling Sprinkler Nicholson Baker is even more delightful than the first book in the series, so I guess I must revise my opinion of this man, maybe even go back and see just why I disliked the first books I read by him.

Really enjoying The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane

Just starting what seems like a perfect book for the moment,
On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard by Jennifer Pastiloff
. Anyone know her? The inro was exciting so I've discovered two new favourite authors right at the start. Lidia Yuknavitch might be famous and I'll be ok with that, but she's new to me.

I did finish Babylon Rolling bY Amanda Boyden which hit me like a ton of bricks. Non of the characters were that likable and a few were odious but AB manages to make them understandable anyways. and tragic

I must add that as the day has its many moods, it only seems natural to have different books to align.