Trim Challenge 2024: Announcement and Community Thread

[Sallys]

I finally started the Museum of Failures. I’m overwhelmed by work and life in general right now but I love it so far.

[Meli]

Heather Reads Books wrote: "I am trying to get better at DNFing books, so I am doing this to my February pick, Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Disappointing, because I've loved other works by ..."

DNFing more should be fruitful, at least it was for me.
Regarding Gods of Jade And Shadow, I think I liked it but it didn't blow me away and it wasn't a fav. I don't think you will miss much by DNFing.

[Jenni Elyse]

I finished my February pick: Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma. It also worked for Authors of Color!

That's 2 for 2. Woot woot!

[Amy]

Sally, I share your overwhelming. And I think you’re gonna love the book. I sure did.

[Heather Reads Books]

Meli wrote: "DNFing more should be fruitful, at least it was for me.
Regarding Gods of Jade And Shadow, I think I liked it but it didn't blow me away and it wasn't a fav. I don't think you will miss much by DNFing."

Thank you!! I have kept reading books I should have DNFed lately, thinking a) they must get better and b) I am too far in to turn back, I might as well see how it ends.... but that's led to a lot of disappointment. I am trying to stick to my guns now and trust my judgment when I suspect I won't love it.

[Heather Reads Books]

Theresa wrote: "We have a buddy read for The Silence of the Girls but fine with me if it's not right for you in March. Not sure when i can get to it - I've not read February yet!"

Sorry, Theresa, I may have misunderstood - is a buddy read planned for Silence of the Girls in March? I just got my copy from the library so I might be able to participate if so!

[Theresa]

Heather Reads Books wrote: "Theresa wrote: "We have a buddy read for The Silence of the Girls but fine with me if it's not right for you in March. Not sure when i can get to it - I've not read February yet!"

Sorry, Theresa, ..."

Yes - though I haven't set up the buddy read yet.

[Heather Reads Books]

Theresa wrote: "Yes - though I haven't set up the buddy read yet."

Ok, got it! I'll keep an eye out for the thread, then.

[Theresa]

Heather Reads Books wrote: "Theresa wrote: "Yes - though I haven't set up the buddy read yet."

Ok, got it! I'll keep an eye out for the thread, then."

Setting it up right now!

[Hayjay315]

Great pick Hannah! My #18 is The All-American which matches the coming of age tag and is a book I've been wanting to read for awhile!

[Sallys]

Almost done with The Museum of Failures, a quick easy read which is what I need right now. Contemplating my next read.

[Kelly]

#18 - March

The Maid by Nita Prose

4 stars

link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jen]

My #18 is completed.

Giving Up The Ghost by Melissa Ecker 2 stars

[Sallys]

I’m reading the Maid which is an absolute delight-just what I need for now

[Booknblues]

Finished #18 Things We Lost to the Water
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Amy]

Heather ~. Whenever you are ready my dear. Sorry about Star Wars....

[Heather Reads Books]

Amy wrote: "Heather ~. Whenever you are ready my dear. Sorry about Star Wars...."

Can I not declare a Star Wars trim month??? LOL (I kid - but I'm definitely going to put together something for May the Fourth ;)

April's trim pick will be: #21!

Mine is either Fire & Blood or A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin. My book club buddy and I already decided to read the latter for April! Not sure I'll get to Fire & Blood, it's a chonker...

[Theresa]

Heather Reads Books wrote: "Amy wrote: "Heather ~. Whenever you are ready my dear. Sorry about Star Wars...."

Can I not declare a Star Wars trim month??? LOL (I kid - but I'm definitely going to put together something for Ma..."


Lordy - I have both of those sitting here but no way am I getting to either anytime soon. LOL.

[Theresa]

My #21 is Stoner - glad to get to this one which has been lurking one of the nightstand TBR Towers for too long.

[Booknblues]

My #21 is Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness. This is a nice choice because I am attempting to read about an animal every month this year.

[Jen]

I've got Only the Rain by Randall Silvis for number 21. LOL I don't even remember what that one is, so this will be a fun surprise.

[Amy]

I have two. A Beautiful Rival and Vera Wongs Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.

[LibraryCin]

My 21 is Calligraphy of the Witch by Alicia Gaspar de Alba.

[Sallys]

I am currently reading a memoir my daughter recommended called Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. It's not my usual read- way out of my comfort zone, but I'm completely engaged and immersed in the lives of the people reported upon. I picked this treasure up in a used bookstore in my neighborhood several years ago and gave it to my daughter and forgot about it until the other day when I asked her for a book she'd recommend.

[Meli]

My #21 is I Let You Go which has been on my tbr FOR YEARS! But I have even started my March trim book 😬

[Jenni Elyse]

My #21 is Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough.

[Heather Reads Books]

Finished my #18: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. 4.5 stars. My review is here.

[Jen]

Still marking GMO assignments. Also have titration assignments to mark And will be getting stoik tests tomorrow to mark plus bonding tests from the y11s.

Way behind on reading for feb and march but it has to fit around work and I have no life anyway to make time. I have a choice of 21) Where They Found Her/Trial by Fire/The Bookshop of Yesterdays any of which I would love to have time to read.

[LibraryCin]

Oh, I think I missed posting that I finished my March read the other day:
Arbella: England's Lost Queen / Sarah Gristwood. 2.75 stars

[Book Concierge]

March - # 18


The Oracle of Stamboul – Michael David Lukas – 4****
This work of historical fiction takes us to 19th-century Stamboul, seat of the Ottoman Empire (now, Istanbul, Turkey). Eleanora Cohen, a child prodigy, becomes a trusted advisor to the Sultan. She’s intelligent and an astute observer, but she is only a child. Still, she will have to rely on her own gifts to make her way. On the whole, I found this novel atmospheric and enchanting.
LINK to my full review

[Joanne]

Completed March #18 The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride 4 stars

Review:

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

[Linda C]

My #21 is Women of the Silk – Gail Tsukiyama

[Amy]

Just wanted to announce that I made the changes to the Buddy Reads and Added Library Nerd to both lists, and while I am on, that Sue is our Trim Picker for May.....

[Meli]

Librarynerd ( loves books in a series) wrote: "I am changing my #4 Every Which Way But Dead to Legends & Lattes."

I don't know anything about Every Which Way But Dead, but Legends & Lattes is a great choice! Just finished Bookshops & Bonedust, the prequel which came out after L&L and it is also great, maybe even a little better??

I hope you enjoy!

[Hannah]

Finally finished my January book - #13

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride - 3 Stars

This book has such high ratings that I had such high hopes for it, but I just was a bit underwhelmed. Whilst I could appreciate the writing and I could understand why so many people think highly of it as it was both heart-warming and hard-hitting at the same time, but it just wasn’t for me. There were so many characters that each contributed something small to the winding plot that I felt there was a lot of “telling” rather than “showing” to move the plot forward. I did enjoy reading about the interracial neighbourhood in the 1930s, but by having so many characters, I just wasn’t able to get to know them deeply enough.

[Hannah]

Finished my March #18 - The Cactus by Sarah Haywood

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

[Joy D]

Finished #18 for March:
Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack by Steve Twomey - 4* - My Review

This book provides a detailed look at the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, what happened, when, and who was involved. The author has obviously researched this topic in depth and recounts the facts in a way that keeps the reader’s attention. It is a gripping account. Though the subtitle indicates it covers “the twelve days to the attack,” it is, in fact, much more extensive. Twomey does not shy away from revealing the reasons behind the lack of preparedness, exposes the communications gaps, the attitudes of the time (hubris, racism), and how a confluence of factors led to the surprise attack. Considering its subject, it is shorter and more direct than many accounts I have read. Recommended for those interested in the history of WWII.

[Booknblues]

#21 fir April -Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

Review -https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Hannah]

Finished #21 for April

The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner
4 Stars

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

[Theresa]

I'm finally nearing the end of my February book ... I'm behind.

[Amy]

I just wanted to announce that our Trim Picker for May is....

Sue!

And looks like I am for June....

[Sue]

Thanks Amy!!

I'll be off-line for a few days later this week. So depending on when the monthly tag is announced, I can pick our trim number as early as late on Saturday.

[Amy]

Not till around the 22nd….

[LibraryCin]

And to post in the correct thread:

Finished my #21:
Calligraphy of the Witch / Alicia Gaspar de Alba
3.5 stars

[Theresa]

Finished finally my February #14 read:
Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London by Lauren Elkin

5 stars

Flâneuse: noun, from the French. Feminine form of flâneur, an idler, a dawdling observer, usually found in cities. This as an imaginary definition as only the masculine form exists in language. It is a woman who walks the streets of a city without direction or necessity or, most importantly, without restriction, with a certain amount of anonymity.

There is something very special, very original, about what Lauren Elkin has given us here. It's also very difficult to describe just what this book is because it is her personal memoir, her musings on women and walking, but also there is literary and art criticism as almost every chapter has at its center a woman who creates and walks: Authors Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf, and George Sand; photographer/filmaker Agnes Varda; artist Sophie Calle, and journalist/author Martha Gelhorn. Walking is liberating, even a key to that spark needed to create. Walking is also explored by each of these women in their writings and art.

The author also explores how walking has affected history and women's role in history, perhaps most deeply in the chapters centered on George Sand and the french revolutions in the 19th century - in which Sand was either/both an observer and a participant. But the analogy is made to protests and marches in 1968 and in the 2000s, and how walking is a mechanism for protest and for change and revolution.

Walking is also shown as a means to own a place, claim a neighborhood. The question is asked: Can a woman achieve freedom and become invisible as a flâneur does, just part of a community, blending into the scene, attracting no special attention. The answer is one all women know, yet somehow the conclusion still feels fresh here.

I also felt a very personal connection to this book, one I did not anticipate. Turns out that the author came to NYC to attend Barnard College in the 1990s, where she discovered how walking and walking in cities fulfilled a need she barely realized she had. I too had that experience, though 20 years earlier. She spends the spring semester of her Junior year in the same program in Paris as I did, and had the same reaction to Paris, one where the city claimed her as she walked its streets. Her chapters on George Sand reflect research and analysis I did for my senior thesis, which is extraordinary because George Sand is not studied, nor is her political activism or her direct involvement in 1848 Revolution generally known, here. Her writing brought coherence to thoughts I have long had about the specialness of a walkable city, and what makes a city walkable. That latter is brought to vivid life in the Tokyo chapter which she did not find at all walkable. But of course, our lives are not mirror images; the author immigrated to Paris not long after college and eventually became a french citizen. I just left my soul there, and visit it from time to time. Yet being a woman who walks, lives in a walkable city, loves cities that are walkable, I have in my lifetime many of her thoughts and ideas.

This is a book that I will be returning to again and again.

There are an extensive bibliography, index, and footnotes. My TBR grew by leaps and bounds while reading. I found it best to read this a chapter at a time, sometimes needing to take a break for a few days before resuming to recover from a particularly chapter, or simply to absorb what I'd just read. Yet it's also a light read, even a travel essay at times.

[Jen]

Finished my April trim!

Only the Rain - Randall Silvis

[Sue]

I finished my April trim: All the Light We Cannot See

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

[Amy]

Sue! Tomorrow is your Day! I will be Passover Crazy, so I don't know how or when I will be checking in - but naturally I will want to know the tag and trim so I can start thinking about it.

[Amy]

And Welcome Back from your trip!

[Sue]

Thanks Amy! I'll be ready to share my pick once we hear the monthly tag.