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2022 Independent Challenges
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Laurel's 2022 Book Lists By the Dozens!
#17 Winter's Bite3 green stars, only because it left me wanting more. If this is meant to be a teaser then it served its purpose. It really is much too short, so I can't say anything other than I liked the writing. I do not think it is a prequel to anything. I did not read the "bonus" 5 chapters of book:A Heart in Sun and Shadow|10714047, which really made up the bulk of this ebook, but I will be adding it to my TBR, because it is set in "a Cymru that never was".
Description: Many years ago, Ysabon made her living by the sword as a skilled mercenary. Now she lives in Westedge with her brother's children, tending to the animals and afraid of dying old and useless. When a horrible winter storm drives monsters down from the mountains, Ysabon can save her family and her village if only she can find the strength and take up the sword for a final battle.
Cumulative pages: 4,574
#18
Behind the Scenes with Burt: A Breaking Cat News Adventure5 blue stars
Even though this contains a number of redone strips from the first book, Georgia's style has changed a lot from the "old" days, (i.e. before newspapers). I liked the framing of going behind the scenes with Burt. The "Our IX Lives" Christmas special was a bit underwhelming, and it was a little hard to follow. Hey, I know! Georgia should do a whole book just on Our IX Lives! Loved the paperdolls, and if I were younger, I just might copy them onto tagboard and cut them out to play with. Laughter is the best medicine and this gave me a very pleasant hour away from the real world.
Description: It’s big changes for the kitties at BCN! Burt is bringing this news station up a notch. Join Burt behind the scenes as he updates some of our favorite broadcasts from the past, with better imagery and brand new footage! Including a trip to the vet, exploring the cupboards, hordes of trick or treaters, the action packed "Our IX Lives" Christmas special, and Puck daring to believe in the elusive, mythical Mailman. This book welcomes some of the first BCN newspaper strips as Breaking Cat News made the jump from web to newsprint! Enjoy classic strips with beautiful updated artwork and never before seen broadcasts! Includes a “More to Explore” section with paper dolls and a real-life behind the scenes peek into when BCN first rolled out in newspapers.
Cumulative pages: 4,766
May update:We are one third of the way through the year, and with some effort this week, I have managed to catch up quite a bit. I am only one book behind schedule! Of course, three of my reads this past month were short stories and one was a graphic novel. But since I have a number of ongoing chunky reads, I don't feel one bit guilty!
Ongoing reads being
1. Moby-Dick or, the Whale
2. Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
and just added
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (current group read in Reading the Chunksters)
Up-coming book club reads for May will be
READ 4. Behold the Dreamers
READ 5. The Lager Queen of Minnesota
I don't need anything new for A Good Yarn, so perhaps I can catch up on
READ 6. A Brush With Death
Currently reading
DNF 7. Here We Go Again: My Life in Television
Will try and finish
READ 8. Awayland - the last of my A titles not counting Ahab's Wife...
Debating whether or not I want to reread
9. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
before diving into
10. The Book Woman's Daughter
And I'm sure some other random reads will claim my attention by mid-May, so I'll post another update then.
Mod
I have quite a few of those on my tbr and have not touched them.
I hope you enjoy Moby Dick; I thought it was great.
Alondra wrote: "Great update, Laurel. I hope you enjoy Moby Dick; I thought it was great."
Yes, I read it 10 years ago. This is reread, and hope to read some other Moby Dick tie-ins that I didn't read that year, like Ahab's Wife.
It seems I'm a glutton for punishment, not even mid-May but I've already added another book. And it's another Chunkster. Aughhh! But it's an "A" title, and darned if that alphabet challenge isn't pushing me to do it. I've started it several times in the last several years, and this is a push I need to finally get it read:...And Ladies of the Club
My grandmother gave this book to me many, many years ago, because it was one she liked. So even though I'm already reading 3 other Chunksters I'm going to do it. At 20 pages a day, I can finish it by the end of June. Anyone want to do a buddy read?
#19
Anglesey Blue4 red stars.
Definitely gritty/gruesome - not for the faint of heart. So if you can't read detailed descriptions of violence, this isn't for you. This reminded me a lot of the Cormoran Strike series by "Robert Galbraith." But without the humor and love interest. Tudor Manx is hard-boiled, jaded even, and carrying a lot of baggage from his past. Despite all that, I think he is likeable. There is hope for him! Other characters are well-developed and I hope they will become regulars: officers Morris "Minor", Kevin Priddle, Maldwyn Nader, and potential future love-interest (?) bar-tender/ beautician Gwen and her son Owain. I enjoyed the Anglesey setting, and all the references to things Welsh. Yes, there were errors and inconsistencies. I hope the sequels will be better edited. (Yechid dda? Not quite.... But then, Manx has been away from Wales for a long time...)
I started this on Kindle last year, and then decided to start over with the audiobook narrated by Malk Williams. I've tried other books set in Wales with narrators that had no clue how to pronounce Welsh place names, never mind replicate a passable Welsh accent. Malk did a pretty good job, although not so much on the North Walian local characters. Close enough for jazz, as they say, and close enough for a character that has been gone from Anglesey for many years.
Description: Recently transferred from the London Met to the North Wales Constabulary, Detective Inspector Tudor Manx has returned to his childhood home Anglesey hoping for a quiet life. But his hopes are dashed when a brutally mutilated body is found crucified to the bow of a fishing boat sending shockwaves through the peaceful community. Manx faces pressure to solve the case quickly equipped with an inexperienced team. Is the body a message or a premonition of more murders to come? Adding to his mounting problems, Manx’s troubled past returns to haunt him. Can Manx solve the case before the body count rises? How will he cope when he is forced to choose between his family and his duty as a police officer?
Cumulative pages: 5,224
#20
Knight Owl5 purple stars
This little owl is adorable. The illustrations are detailed and wonderful. (There's even a nod to the Bayeux Tapestry.) I love owls, I love dragons, I'm a night owl, and I love anything medieval. So an enthusiastic 5 purple stars. The text is quite simple and the message is one of determination, finding and doing what you are good at, and making friends.
Description: A determined Owl builds strength and confidence in this medieval picture book about the real mettle of a hero: wits, humor, and heart. Since the day he hatched, Owl dreamed of becoming a real knight. He may not be the biggest or the strongest, but his sharp nocturnal instincts can help protect the castle, especially since many knights have recently gone missing. While holding guard during Knight Night Watch, Owl is faced with the ultimate trial—a frightening intruder. It’s a daunting duel by any measure. But what Owl lacks in size, he makes up for in good ideas. Full of wordplay and optimism, this surprising display of bravery proves that cleverness (and friendship) can rule over brawn.
Laurel wrote: "#19 Anglesey Blue4 red stars.
Definitely gritty/gruesome - not for the faint of heart. So if you can't read detailed descriptions of violence, ..."
That looks really good! Have added it to my lists
Laurel wrote: "#20 Knight Owl5 purple stars
This little owl is adorable. The illustrations are detailed and wonderful. (There's even a nod to the Bayeux Tapestry...."
Darn, I just returned this book to the library yesterday and I didn’t catch the Bayeux Tapestry reference! I’ll have to go back to the library and flip through it again. It was a very cute book.
Ann wrote: "Darn, I just returned this book to the library yesterday and I didn’t catch the Bayeux Tapestry reference!"It was one of the illustrations. It's when he imagines himself fighting dragons, and there's a whole tapestry across the two page spread. And the fire coming out of the dragon's mouth looks just like the comet in the Bayeux Tapestry. I really thought he did such a great job with all the detail in the illustrations!
#21
Behold the Dreamers3 green stars
My rating for this book keeps going up and down. I'd say it shows great promise as a debut novel. The writing is good, the ideas are good. I like that it looks at the American dream from two extremes: the poor black immigrant family, and the wealthy white family. I found all of the characters hard to like, except maybe the children. I had sympathy for them, but I was really appalled at some of the choices they made. I "think" the author is saying at the end that family is the most important thing, and that wanting or having wealth is often not worth the sacrifices that are made to obtain that dream. I really wanted to rate this higher, but it just didn't have the hook that should have drawn me into the story and the plight of the characters. I wasn't convinced by the ending, and didn't really care what happened to them. On a different day I might rate this 4 red stars, but for now I will give the author room to grow.
Cumulative pages: 5,672
#22
The Lager Queen of Minnesota5 blue stars, rounded up
Minnesota. Lots of local references. Craft beers. Pie. Gutsy women. What's not to like? I loved it. We follow the lives of three women - two sisters and a grand-daughter. Women just trying to follow their dreams and deal with whatever life gives them. And life isn't always a bowl of roses. I especially liked Edith. She did what she loved. She had a big heart. And life wasn't fair to her. But she persevered. She raised her grand-daughter after her daughter and son-in-law were killed in a car accident. She works two jobs and a third volunteer job well into her 70s because she has to. Meanwhile, sister Helen, kept all the inheritance to herself in order to further her dream of brewing beer. She rests her laurels on a mediocre but popular "light" beer, and spends her life haunted by guilt, estranging herself from her sister. Then we have Diana. Resorting to stealing tools and equipment from garages to sell just to help support her grandmother. She has inherited Edith's big heart. Luck and a lot of hard work puts her also into the brewing business. And in my favorite part of the book, she enlists her grandmother (the former pie queen who knows a thing or two about recipes) and her grandmothers friends, and they have a ball following their hearts in this new late career change. 5 blue stars, despite the open-ended and somewhat weak ending. The style reminded me a lot of Fredrik Backman. Audiobook narrated by Judith Ivey, who grew up in Michigan and Illinois, so her accent was more Midwestern than Minnesotan, but it was passable.
Cumulative annual pages: 6,021
Late May update:I was doing SO well at the beginning of May, and outlining a "schedule" whereby I would finish 3 chunksters by the end of June and another one that goes into August. But my roller-coaster life has taken a deep downward swing yet again, to be followed by an upward swing in June (trip to Prague and Vienna). I haven't felt much like reading (except for the audiobooks in my car), and I know I won't get any reading done on the trip.
The second week of May my beloved nearly 20-year-old cat reached the end of her long life. And how do you say goodbye to an intimate companion of nearly 20 years? On top of that, we had had a major storm (winds and tornado warnings) the night before. The vet was still there when my upstairs neighbors came home and asked if I knew about the hole in the wall.... It seems the wall of my root cellar had caved inward in the storm letting in lots of rain, mud, etc. And that is the room where I had been storing all the boxes of stuff that I had hidden away so the landlord could show the apartment without so much clutter. I knew it was a very bad idea - okay while it was still cold and things remained frozen, but now that it was spring I needed to get stuff out of there. Too late. The wall collapsed, and I had boxes of books on plastic book cases along that wall. Well now those books were buried under huge cement blocks and a good 6-inches of mud and water. I didn't even have 5 minutes to grieve. I had to find people to help me get everything out of that room before we had another storm that would cause the wall to collapse even more. My sister was working until 6 pm and couldn't come out until about 7:30. The landlord couldn't help - said he had a prior commitment and I should ask the neighbors. To say I was pissed is putting it mildly. Anyway, I did manage to get everything I could get out that evening. But several boxes were buried in mud and bricks and I didn't know if it was safe to try and get to them. A few days later I went back in and was able to get to those boxes. Amazingly, there were still some books I could save, but I ended up throwing out more than 50 books. Mostly, they were ex-library books that I had accumulated and wanted to read, but nothing that I felt I needed to replace, except for one book The Illuminated Desert with beautiful paintings of desert plants and animals that reminded me of my grandparents, who spent their final years in Arizona.
Then I had 4 performances over that weekend as well with my two choirs. No time to grieve or even relax. I was sad, angry, exhausted, etc. etc. Then the following week there is water in my furnace room. The landlord said someone would be out right away - well, a week and a half later, after umpteen loads of wet towels in the washer and drier, and the realtor telling me she was showing the house on Friday, I called her up and said no way was he showing the downstairs. The landlord hadn't told her about the water, and probably thought his guy had come out and fixed it by then. Ha ha ha. Anyway, he finally got out here and brought a little pump with a hose which now snakes through the bedroom to the bathroom drain. The culprit seems to be the water tank from the well, or the pipes underneath. He'll be getting someone out to fix it this week (I'll believe it when I see it.) In the meantime, I plug in the pump periodically to deal with the slow leak and keep the water at least contained to that room... And I need to move stuff out of there (mostly in plastic tubs - Christmas stuff, etc.) but they'll need room to get back in there to do the repairs. Needless to say, I don't think he'll be showing the downstairs in the next couple of weeks.
He'd better have it fixed by June 10th however! That's when I leave for Prague with my women's choir. I'm trying to get excited, but honestly it feels like one more major source of stress to be "gotten through." I haven't been abroad in over 20 years - I had to get a new passport, I got a new phone with a great camera (though I think I'm still going to take my DSLR. My carry-on bag is too big for international requirements, so I've been searching out luggage, and trying to figure out what else I need for the trip.
Needless to say, my entire reading plan has gone out the window, and I don't even know if it will resume at the end of June. The writing is probably on the wall, so AFTER my trip to Europe, I'll be house or apartment hunting. I honestly don't know what I can afford - I'm frankly expecting to be underwhelmed at the choices that might be available to me on a part-time income. So I don't know how much reading I'm going to be able to get done over the summer. My comfort entertainment right now is turning on the TV and watching Men in Kilts or some other diversion.
I really, really hope things will settle down! It's been a very long year since my father's death last July, and my mother's move into assisted living in March.... And being in limbo over the whole house thing since August - hoping I would get to stay as a tenant with the new buyer. I never thought it would drag on this long. I should have been looking last fall when mortgages were 3% instead of 6% which it's heading toward now...
Sorry for the long, drawn out, and mostly non-bookish update! But that's where I'm at.
#23
The Illuminated Desert5 gold stars
I treasure this book because it reminds me of my grandparents who spent their final years in Arizona, and loved the desert and all its natural wonders. It is also patterned after the medieval illuminated manuscripts known as "A Book of Hours." The page for the letter A might say Antelope, but there is so much else going on: ants marching across the page, arrowheads, aspen leaves, a red rock arch, and more. There is a glossary in the back describing all of these things, as well as the poetic text under each picture. An exquisite book. I am pretty sure I have past lives in the four corners area of the southwest. I have studied both North and South American spiritual traditions and many of these animals have significance to me: bat, badger, golden eagle, hummingbird, jack rabbit, owl, prairie dog, raven, stag.
Description: The Illuminated Desert is a stunning dialogue in painting and prose by two daughters of the Colorado Plateau: Terry Tempest Williams and Chloe Hedden. This is more than an abecedarian, or alphabet book. It is an exquisite rendering of life in the red rock canyons of Southern Utah and the natural history that evokes a poetry of place. The audience for this book is the audience of the desert itself, from children to adults who share in discovery and delight.
I'm sorry to hear about your cat, and then not being able to grieve with all the house issues must have been so hard, no wonder you feel exhausted and can't muster up the enthusiasm for your trip, it sounds like it's been a very trying 12 months or so for you.
I am sad to hear about your cat and your home. Losing companion animals is tough. Some do not understand it is like losing a child. Mother Nature can be so destructive and landlords sometimes make things worse before better. Hoping this are cleaned up before your trip. I hope your June is better and you have a happy and safe trip.
I'm so sorry about your cat :( It sounds like May really was a tough month to get through, though maybe more accurately, this whole past year. Sending you so much positive energy to get you through your upcoming trip and then your move. The books will be there when you're ready.
June plans:The water issue is almost resolved. It was a hole in the water tank, and the tank has been replaced. The old one is draining and will be taken out tomorrow. No more new water is there, so I have turned off the pump. Will probably have to do more mopping with towels to finish up tomorrow.
The ongoing reads that I had planned to finish by the end of June, won't get picked up again until after my trip, so I'll redo the reading schedule for those when I get back. Before I go, I hope to finish
READ An American Marriage - audiobook. Book club isn't until the end of June, but I wanted to be sure I got it out of the way.
READ Awayland - if I read a story a day, it'll be done before I go.
DNF Here We Go Again: My Life in Television - Maybe...
For the trip, I have downloaded on Libby
READ The Prague Sonata - audiobook for the plane ride...
The Summer Queen - green cover challenge for June, and F is for France for A Good Yarn book club.
I have a couple other Prague books lined up, but probably won't get to them
The Lost Wife - takes place in Prague and Terezin, which I'll be visiting
Time's Magpie: A Walk in Prague
For later in June, I hope to get to
Queen By Right - half-read but long stalled...
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
And somewhere in there, I'd like to add a reread of
The Apothecary Rose
Too ambitious, as usual, but I'm REALLY hoping things will settle down, so I can enjoy my summer!
Mod
First; I am so sorry about your Kitty. Our cat (my daughters), is 16 and I cannot imagine. She has many of our own at the Rainbow Bridge to greet her.
Secondly; the housing issues after that storm. You have a right to be upset, ugh. How frustrating and upsetting (again). Grrr.
Third. My copy/paste. My dad passed in 2019, and my mom went to asst'd living as well. I was depressed for most of that year, up until late last year. Just one thing after another and then stupid COVID pandemic while working in healthcare. I get it and don't wish any of it on anyone.
I hope you find a breath, an embrace and some peace. Do your best to enjoy Prague; maybe I will join you! LOL. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was based there and it made it even more interesting.
Kudos on all of your progress. Reading-wise and emotionally.
🤗🤗
Alondra wrote: "I hope you find a breath, an embrace and some peace. Do your best to enjoy Prague; maybe I will join you! LOL. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was based there and it made it even more interesting."Thanks. I might have to add that to my Prague list of books.
Laurel wrote: "June plans:The water issue is almost resolved. It was a hole in the water tank, and the tank has been replaced. The old one is draining and will be taken out tomorrow. No more new water is there, ..."
Happy to hear the landlord solved the issue. You have a great mix of reading for June. I just started rereading the Owen Archer series a few months ago. Have book 3 slated for July or August and hope to read them all by new year. Think I have only read the first 4-5 so there will be some new mysteries. Have you read the entire series?
〰️Beth〰️ wrote: "Think I have only read the first 4-5 so there will be some new mysteries. Have you read the entire series?"I've read 5 or 6 way back when, but I know there are some newer ones I haven't read.
#24
An American Marriage3 green stars
I've been reading quite a few books relating to the theme of what it means to be American this year. This one tells the story of an already somewhat rocky marriage tested by the separation of a wrongful conviction, and a love triangle. I read books like this to try and expand my empathy and understanding of people different from myself, but I'm not sure how much the implied racial injustice depicted here actually had to do with the story. As a single woman, I can't relate to the kinds of choices needed to make a marriage work, I couldn't relate to the affluence of the characters, and while I felt the writing tried to depict honest and heartfelt emotions, the characters themselves came across as very shallow at times. I am left feeling that I am not the right audience for this book.
#25
Awayland3.5 pink stars
I loved, loved, loved the cover of this book so I really wanted to love the stories, too. It was... interesting. I like quirkiness, so 3.5 pink stars, but a few of the stories were just too weird. My favorites were "You Can Find Love Now" and "The Animal Mummies." Looking a little deeper, I'd say these stories are an exploration of death, loss, longing, and loneliness. Wanting love, wanting children, wanting connection.
Description: Acclaimed for the grace, wit, and magic of her novels, Ramona Ausubel introduces us to a geography both fantastic and familiar in eleven new stories, some of them previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Elegantly structured, these stories span the globe and beyond, from small-town America and sunny Caribbean islands to the Arctic Ocean and the very gates of Heaven itself. And though some of the stories are steeped in mythology, they remain grounded in universal experiences: loss of identity, leaving home, parenthood, joy, and longing. Crisscrossing the pages of Awayland are travelers and expats, shadows and ghosts. A girl watches as her homesick mother slowly dissolves into literal mist. The mayor of a small Midwestern town offers a strange prize, for stranger reasons, to the parents of any baby born on Lenin's birthday. A chef bound for Mars begins an even more treacherous journey much closer to home. And a lonely heart searches for love online--never mind that he's a Cyclops.
Cumulative pages: 6,609
July plans:Here we go into July. I have some hope that life is going to settle down for awhile. Rick is taking the farm off the market, at least until October (so he says). Barring any new crises I might be able to get my reading mojo back. I revamped my May/June schedule on the 4 chunky long-term reads for July and August. I won't relist them here, but those are my priority.
Still reading:
DNF Here We Go Again: My Life in Television which is kind of stalled and kind of boring. I'm not very far on it and it may get abandonned. We'll see.
Current audiobook:
READ The Prague Sonata
When I finish that, it will be time for my Daytimer's book club book for July
READ The Four Winds
A Good Yarn:
July is still reading F locations.
Currently reading
The Summer Queen (France)
Other selections are
READ The Forest of Vanishing Stars (a forest)
Knit One, Kill Two (Fort Connor - based on Fort Collins, Colorado)
July cover challenge (something yellow or fuchsia)
The Fall of Atlantis
To finish up my A titles
The Apothecary Rose (reread)
Still unfinished, and would like to get to this sooner rather than later
Queen By Right
Mod
Here we go into July. I have some hope that life is going to settle down for awhile. Rick is taking the farm off the market, at least until October (so he says). Barring any new crises ..."
I hope you enjoy your July selections.
Looks like you have a good plan for July. I really need to start planning better. Happy reading.
Thanks, Lillie and Bill. A week in, I've already decided THREE chunky books at one time is my limit. I've managed to keep up on those this week, but I haven't touched the fourth one, so I think it is going to be put aside until September. That way maybe I'll get some of these other books read too!I'm really enjoying The Prague Sonata. About halfway through it.
#26
The Prague Sonata4.5 blue stars. This review may contain spoilers.
Having a graduate degree in musicology, and having just been to Prague, I enjoyed this a great deal. I could picture the places mentioned: Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, etc. I wouldn't call this a thriller, because it moved too slowly, and the "villain" really wasn't necessarily dangerous, just a bit unprincipled and unethical. Sort of a dual time-frame story, it alternates between the lives of the people involved with the manuscript during and after WWII, and Meta's search for it and for the original owner. I enjoyed the music talk, and now I think I need to read a biography of Beethoven. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more of a "family" connection with the manuscript in the end. I kept waiting for some reveal between the names of Beethoven and Bartova, but it never happened. The love interest was pretty low-key, and the sex scenes (thankfully brief) did nothing to add to the story. I really enjoyed Otillia's story more than the contemporary mystery, moving from Prague, to New York City, to finding new love among the immigrant Czech community of rural Nebraska, and of course, finally being reunited with the music manuscript that she had believed to be lost forever.
Description: In the early days of the new millennium, pages of a worn and weathered original sonata manuscript—the gift of a Czech immigrant living out her final days in Queens—come into the hands of Meta Taverner, a young musicologist whose concert piano career was cut short by an injury. To Meta’s eye, it appears to be an authentic eighteenth-century work; to her discerning ear, the music rendered there is commanding, hauntingly beautiful, clearly the undiscovered composition of a master. But there is no indication of who the composer might be. The gift comes with the request that Meta attempt to find the manuscript’s true owner—a Prague friend the old woman has not heard from since they were forced apart by the Second World War—and to make the three-part sonata whole again. Leaving New York behind for the land of Dvorák and Kafka, Meta sets out on an unforgettable search to locate the remaining movements of the sonata and uncover a story that has influenced the course of many lives, even as it becomes clear that she isn’t the only one after the music’s secrets. Magisterially evoking decades of Prague’s tragic and triumphant history, from the First World War through the soaring days of the Velvet Revolution, and moving from postwar London to the heartland of immigrant America, The Prague Sonata is both epic and intimate, evoking the ways in which individual notes of love and sacrifice become part of the celebratory symphony of life.
Cumulative pages: 7,128
Well, I said at the beginning of the year (see post #1 above) that a goal of 60 books was unrealistic. It might have been doable if this hadn't turned into the year of hell - okay there have been a few bright spots - but all of it entirely too much stress, and I don't need my reading goals to be another source of stress. So I have changed my Goodreads 2022 goal back to 48 books. That puts me only one book behind schedule instead of 5.I have 4 definitely chunky books on the go, and really have not done much reading this summer at all. I just took a one week vacation, which coincided with Welsh Heritage Week held in Madison, WI this year. It was a much needed break seeing old friends, and having lots of fun with Welsh language classes, singing, and folk dance classes, plus activities every evening. Not a vacation for reading! Anyway, if I get those 4 chunksters finished by the end of the year, I still might reach my page count goal.
I finished one book so far for July, and I will finish my Daytimer's book club book. No idea what August will bring, since I am now investigating mortgage approval, figuring out what I can afford re buying a house versus renting, and beginning the search for a new place to live. My rent was just increased $300 per month, and surely I can find better for what it will now cost me.... Wish me luck. I don't want to spend another winter in this basement of a farmhouse. Would like to be out of here by the end of October.
General plans for the rest of the year
Daytimers book for July (almost finished):
READ The Four Winds
Next up for August:
READ Somebody's Daughter
Next Perspectives book club read (Sept.):
READ The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Next up for A Good Yarn (Aug/Sep) - G locations:
Perhaps I shall make an effort to read The Odyssey (Greece) - I had planned to try and get to it by Sept. anyway.
Still reading these chunksters (over several months...)
Moby-Dick or, the Whale
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
...And Ladies of the Club
Other books I need to get back to and finish:
Wolf Hall
Queen By Right
Various challenges:
To finish off my A titles:
The Apothecary Rose (reread)
B titles planned so far (will add more):
The Book of Joby
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - reread
The Book Woman's Daughter
READ A Brush with Death
Monthly cover challenge:
July (yellow or fuchsia) - The Fall of Atlantis
August (red or black) - TBD
12 + 4 challenge (not already listed):
The World of Odysseus
The Evening Chorus - ooh that could count as a red cover... AND it is set partly in Germany
Homer's Odyssey
READ Every Living Thing
Checked out from the library just for fun and an EASY 3 books:
READ Max and the Midknights
READ Max and the Midknights: Battle of the Bodkins
READ The Tower of Time
And that right there would be 48 books for the year....
#27
The Four Winds5 blue stars
5 blue stars (which is really 4.5 rounded up). I think Kristin Hannah is really beginning to hit her stride here. Strong women characters fighting to find their voice against social injustice, all the emotions of a desperate time in our history, impeccable research (but with the tendency to throw EVERYTHING at her characters, stopping just short of making them into caricatures). Her style is a bit overwrought, but sometimes a good emotional, heart-wrenching journey is just what you need. I really have to disagree with the knee-jerk reaction of some reviewers over "Communist propaganda." The Communist Party and other left-wing "socialist" groups were influential in the 1930s and 40s. These groups formed coalitions that worked hard to promote programs of social justice, leading to strong labor unions, pensions for workers, and unemployment insurance. In the 1940s their efforts were largely aimed at fighting against Fascism. Seems to me we have the same knee-jerk reaction today against the "socialist" policies of far-left groups. And we have the same dangerous lurch today toward authoritarianism and Fascism among the far-right. Maybe we could use a few strong women to stand up and say "No more!"
Description: Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.
Cumulative pages: 7,667
Mod
So glad you got a vacation. Our official one is upcoming; and I can't wait.
I will be keeping my fingers crossed that you get mortgage approval, since it is usually cheaper than rent. Example: My daughter pays 3x my mortgage to rent in Charlotte. Its crazy!!
Thanks, Alondra. I have pre-approval - that isn't the issue. I did get approved for the first-time home buyer program, so that covers the down payment. But the monthly payments would still be more than I can wrap my head around at the moment. Still, when my current place (renting) sells, I may not have a choice. Even if the new buyer wants to keep a tenant, I'm not sure I want to stay at this point. Now I think I need to consult a financial advisor...
August plans:I have officially marked Here We Go Again: My Life in Television as a DNF. I never read enough of it to rate it at all. I was attracted to it when Betty White died and I started watching Golden Girls which I had never watched before. Loved it, and I loved her in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. But the moment has passed, and I have been struggling to read anything of late except for book club books. Hard to say if I will ever pick it up again. So many books - so little time....
I think I am also postponing a couple of those chunksters for later in the year, and just focus on finishing
Moby-Dick or, the Whale and
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer for now.
Book clubs:
READ Somebody's Daughter for Daytimers. Just started this on audio. Then I will start
READ The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration for Perspectives, which won't be meeting until mid-September.
The Evening Chorus for A Good Yarn (set in Germany) and it is also a red cover for the August cover challenge.
Leftovers:
The Summer Queen and
Queen By Right
Would really like to finish both of these sooner rather than later.
Checked out from the library just for fun and an EASY 3 books:
READ Max and the Midknights
READ Max and the Midknights: Battle of the Bodkins
READ The Tower of Time
Postponed (for now):
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - although.... a black cover also fits the August cover challenge...
...And Ladies of the Club
Wolf Hall - also a red cover (August is red or black) hmmmmm.... but who says I have to read them within the month!
Sorry to hear that you are still struggling with decisions on where to live, not surprised you are struggling to focus on certain books with that being over your head. Glad you got a vacation and had a good time though
Mod
Ahhhh, I hear that. Coming across quaint living quarters nowadays is hard to come by. Those leasing out property, whether single family homes, apartments, etc., are enjoying this housing "shortage" and taking advantage. The market is ridiculous, because most places are not worth whats posted. Ugh.
Lightning may have struck in the form of a house I've been watching coming down in price. I went and looked at it Friday. It's very small, but it has a wonderful yard, and most of the features I want. I'm going to look at it again on Wednesday, and probably will make an offer. I've only talked briefly to a financial advisor, but if I pay off my car AND switch from county health insurance (I'm paying $900/month because I'm part time...) to Medicare (I am eligible), then just maybe I can wrap my head around how much this is going to cost, but renting something would cost almost as much, be even smaller, and I would have to put some things in storage, so it would end up costing as much or more. It's a lot to take in, but just maybe the end is in sight, and I can get back to reading by wintertime!
Laurel wrote: "Lightning may have struck in the form of a house I've been watching coming down in price. I went and looked at it Friday. It's very small, but it has a wonderful yard, and most of the features I wa..."Good luck, Laurel. Lots of decisions to be made and that is not easy.
Laurel wrote: "Lightning may have struck in the form of a house I've been watching coming down in price. I went and looked at it Friday. It's very small, but it has a wonderful yard, and most of the features I wa..."Good luck Laurel. Exciting and stressful but so true about renting verses owning.
Hope you get your housing situation settled soon! Sounds like things may be working out?I enjoyed reading through your lists & your reviews. I have The Four Winds to read but have been a bit intimidated by both the size & subject matter. Glad to hear you found it well done. I have enjoyed several of her other books.
I have had a copy of ...And Ladies of the Club for years! It sounds like something I would like (and I'm pretty sure my mother read it years ago & loved it), but it is definitely a chunkster to carry around. Not something I can throw in my purse or backpack. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts on it when you get to it. In the meantime, maybe I'll move it up in my queue!
Good luck with your housing situation
Well, I saw the house again and put in an offer. It was accepted! House inspection is on Monday. It happened so fast I can hardly believe it! Now I'm going to be busy downsizing and packing and moving and unpacking and organizing. But come November I should be well settled in my new home.I read a good chunk of ...And Ladies of the Club the last time I tried to read it. I did enjoy it and I look forward to getting back to it this winter.
Laurel wrote: "Well, I saw the house again and put in an offer. It was accepted! House inspection is on Monday. It happened so fast I can hardly believe it! Now I'm going to be busy downsizing and packing and mov..."Laurel~Congratulations On getting your new home. Can definitely understand moving and packing getting in the way of reading. 📚Luckily, once you get settled in, you can hopefully find a nice reading nook and relax again. My best wishes to you.
Congratulations Laurel! What great news. Good luck on your move.
Lillie wrote: "Congratulations Laurel! What great news. Good luck on your move."Now for the ironic update:
So today, the landlord says he is 80% sure he has changed his mind about selling the farm. Hahahaha haaa! Too late, dude! He's also been showing it this week. In fact, just this minute an "investor" came through to look at it who told me "Don't worry, if I bought it you could stay." Yeah, but I'm going to have MY OWN PLACE! For the first time in my 67 years! Getting excited and still pinching myself. It will be above ground (well, there's a finished "family room" in the basement), a lovely new deck on the back, a garden shed, practically new doors and windows, not to mention that yard and I can continue to do the gardening of my dreams. So I'm not going back now!
So now I work on downsizing, and packing and digging up plants to take.... And come November, I am going to be reading up a storm in my own house!
Glad you have a house sorted, good luck with the downsizing!
Mod
Now for the ironic update:
So today, the landlord says he is 80% sure he has changed his mind about selling the fa..."
YAY!!!! Congratulations, Laurel!!! This is fabulous news.
The landlord was a little too late. You snooze, you loose, buddy. LOL
#28
Somebody's Daughter3 green stars
Book clubs: Daytimers
Not what I was expecting. There is very little here about her absent father, and if she told the readers what she learned about why he was in prison, I don't remember. This is a sometimes raw and honest exploration of growing up with a single parent who was abusive, coming of age dealing with feelings of being unloved, coping with body-image issues, being gay, being raped - a childhood of trauma and the influences and relationships (a loving grandmother) that helped her to overcome these things, go to college, and become a published author. The writing is very good, but nothing that will stick with me. I wanted it to be more.
Audiobook read by the author. She has a wonderfully expressive voice. Also includes an interview.
Cumulative pages: 7,891
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3.5 pink stars
3.5 pink stars. First of a cozy mystery series set on the Isle of Man. The author is American, but lived on the Isle of Man for about 10 years. Aunt Bessie is quite likeable. She likes her routine, and her murder mysteries, she knows all the locals and is best friends with Doona, who works at the police station. Aunt Bessie is also keen on local history, and I hope that future books will tell us more about her "research." She apparently is something of a local authority, writing a book and giving lectures. That doesn't really have any bearing on the story, except that it establishes that she knows and is known by a lot of people. Aunt Bessie is coy about her age, but if I had to guess, I would say somewhere around 75. Not too young, but not too old either. The plot was not bad for a first of series. The glue, I think, is going to be the relationships between Bessie, Doona, the young constable Hugh, and Inspector Rockwell, who is from "across", but by the end of the book is one of those who is there to stay. The author has several other series. In fact Aunt Bessie (deceased) is introduced in one of her romance novels Island Inheritance. I'm not much of a romance reader, but that one is going straight onto my TBR. Aunt Bessie is probably not the only character that crosses over between series.
Cumulative pages: 4,520