Laurel's Chronicles of a Crazy Cat Lady (2025 Lists and Reviews)

[Laurel]

#64 Fireside Tales
4.5 blue stars.

Daniel Owen was a Welsh novelist from Mold. He is generally regarded as the foremost Welsh-language novelist of the 19th century and the first significant novelist to write in Welsh. This translation of Straeon y Pentan is excellent, and I am enjoying also working through the stories in Welsh. But for those who don't know the language, this is an important translation and I hope it will be reprinted so that it is available to a wider English audience. I visited Mold 25 years ago, and tributes to Daniel Owen were all over the town. Until now, I had not read any of his work, and I will certainly be reading more. His characters are memorably drawn, and 1890's Flintshire, Wales comes vividly to life.

Description: Populated by a cast of beautiful women, over-zealous preachers, gullible simpletons and the occasional ghost, Daniel Owen's Fireside Tales appear here in English for the first time. This new collection of nineteen short stories showcases the trademark quick wit and good-natured satire for which the author's novels are admired. Often based on popular urban legends of the period, Fireside Tales is full of fascinating, often funny depictions of nineteenth century life in Wales. This book was intended to be read by the fireside on long Victorian evenings; it is sure to bring a welcome warmth to our modern lives.

Cumulative pages: 17,624

[Laurel]

#65 Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul
4.5 blue stars, rounded up.

Very creative, and shows impressive scholarship. My favorite parts of this book - while I enjoyed learning about other Welsh immigrant musicians and composers - were the parts about Mari herself, and her father. I'm familiar with Joseph Parry's opera Blodwen, but now I need to go find a recording of Arianwen! The chapter about Mari's experiences and the healing power of music after the 9/11 tragedy was very moving. I have known Mari since before her immigration to the U.S. and I was a part of the North American Welsh Choir in its first five or so years. I left because all of the travel was quite beyond the means of a part-time librarian, but I was very proud to have been part of it. Now that I am retired, I may give it another go. The fact that it is still going strong more than 25 years later is a tribute to Mari's leadership and musicianship. I hope that Mari will take all of her research and consider writing full biographies of these musicians, who are mostly not well-known outside of Welsh circles. I had never heard of Marie Novello, and the part of this book about her was all too brief.

Description: Memoir of four musicians who left Wales to pursue their art in the USA: composers Joseph Parry and Daniel Protheroe, pianist Marie Novello and the author herself. It is written in a blend of literary styles, from creative non-fiction essays to dramatic monologues and letters, all laced together with songs and poems – both found and original – into a grand concert of tales. These overlap and interweave in time to show what it is to be an immigrant with a creative soul in the vast land of opportunity that is America.

Cumulative pages: 17,864

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Laurel wrote: "#56 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
4 red stars. Reread.

A childhood favorite and one I reread several times, although not for many years n..."

Enjoyed both of these classics. A very different time and both books bring about tough discussions. I managed to grab copies off kindle which were divvied up into smaller books for some reason. It made it more digestible for me.

[Laurel]

#66 Company of Liars
4 red stars.

A sort of Canterbury Tales, with travelers forming a company and telling tales along the way, except that these travelers are not pilgrims on a religious quest, but on the road for various reasons and running to escape the plague. But where is safe? Enter a medieval world, full of superstition and violence and fear. There are thieves, murderers, and charlatans. There is also a touch of the supernatural, though perhaps not enough to call this a fantasy. Certainly it is a world without a lot of redeeming qualities, and each of these travelers (including the narrator) is hiding a potentially shocking secret. Probably all of the seven deadly sins are represented. The company is being stalked by something - whether human or supernatural we do not know - and one by one they are either murdered or driven into suicide. Can anyone be trusted? Will any of them survive? The world building was great, the characters were well-developed, and there was no lack of creepiness. But to be honest, I thought the ending was pretty weak. Some hint of reward or redemption for the characters would have been welcome. I'm giving this 4 stars on the strength of atmosphere and world-building, and keeping me guessing, but be warned there isn't much redeeming for the reader either. Still, it is rather compelling....

Description: The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them. Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group’s leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of all—propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.

Cumulative pages: 18,440