This week I read How to Hygge. It wasn't very inspiring and didn't feel cozy. Like Stacia's simplicity book, it did not seem to make hygge accessible to the humble masses. The food alone was primarily ingredients that would be pretty pricey around here. The Little Book of Hygge was much more Hyggelig. (I think that's the word.) I'm Still Working on the Summer Before the War. For some reason I'm finding it difficult to invest myself in the story, even though I can't really find anything to complain about. There are other things tempting me, so I might abandon it.

This was posted in another online book club I attend: http://twentytwowords.com/people-are-adding-and-then-the-murders-began-to-famous-book-openings-and-its-hilarious/6/ The result can be hilarious. Edited: The article suggests putting "Then the murders began" after the first line of famous books as a humorous exercise. 😄

I've finished The Country of the Pointed Firs. I give it five stars. Highly recommended. Such lovely lyrical writing! This one won't be traded in. ETA: Next up is The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

I've recently finished The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. It's a new book and kind of cheesy, but I liked it. There is a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a little bit of magical realism. My heart is heavy for so many this morning, especially you, Rosie. I agree that you don't deserve what has been dished out. I wish there was more I could say or do.

I popped in here to gush over The Country of the Pointed Firs. It is a perfectly lovely nostalgic book, probably my favorite read this year, so far. It's another one of those books you take your time reading to savor the atmosphere. It is the book closest to me right now, so noone will need to guess, but I'll quote the requested line anyway: "It wasn't all I expected it would be," she said sadly, as many an artist had said before her of his work. More: " I must say I like variety myself; some folks washes Monday an' irons Tuesday the whole year round, even if the circus is goin' by!" "Perhaps now and then a castaway on a lonely desert island dreads the thought of being rescued."

Sorry for the loss of your friend, mumto2. March has been a crazy month for me, with lots of family birthdays and anniversaries. Plus, we had spring break with a stay-cation, painting the dining room and making a few fun local excursions. I'm currently reading The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett. So far, it feels like the antidote to Virginia Woolf. We visit a small Maine town where the author goes to write. There we are introduced to various personalities, but the author does not pretend to be able to read their thoughts. She describes them with good humor and empathy for their humanity, in spite of their faults.

I finished Huck Out West. Here is my final review: "A crazy story, more like a tall tale. Fuller than full of the violence and exaggeration of the old west. Every single cliche western element is included. Through it all Huck reveals himself to be saner, humbler, kinder, and wiser than most, in spite of his many scrapes with death and disaster. The story got bogged down a bit in the middle. The senseless and greedy vigilante violence became tiresome. The story is summed up when Huck says, "Tribes, they're a powerful curse laid on you when you are born. They ruin you, but you can't get away from them. They're a nightmare a body's got to live with in the day time." Tom Sawyer was there too, but as a piece of Huck's past that he had to contend with, battling loyalty and his own personal ethic. Three stars for Twain nostalgia and a somewhat entertaining story. I wouldn't read it again. I'm currently reading Who is Simon Warwick, by Patricia Moyes. When I'm done, I'm willing to pass on this book and Death and the Dutch Uncle, if anyone wants them.

I'm about half way through Huck Out West by Robert Coover. The book follows A grown up Huckleberry Finn through all sorts of misadventures in the wild west. He crosses paths with many a famous historic westerner and gets himself in a heap of trouble time and again. He is still the Huckleberry who secretly harbors a true nonconformist's mind and avoids hurting others, if he can help it. On the other hand, he's at home with the rough and violent life of the west, hard riding, hard drinking, fast shooting, and fast talking. He spent time with the Pony Express, on a wagon train, on a cattle drive, with Custer's army, and with a Lakota indian tribe. The author tries to use Twain's tone of mild sarcasm and mildly succeeds. There is only one Twain. The story also reminds me somewhat of Little Big Man, which I read a couple of years ago.

I may have reached that point too.

Big hugs to all who are hurting and frustrated right now. I feel like my last post was a lie. Despite my best intentions, I couldn't get more than a third of the way into To the Lighthouse. It was just blah, blah,blah. Droning on and on, revealing peoples' innermost illusions and disillusions, pathos, silent martyrdom, petty thoughts, yada, yada. Then a book I had on hold came in: Huck Out West by Robert Coover (a Man, lol). That book looked far more appealing. So I dumped Woolf for Coover. We'll see if I'll be sorry later.

I finished The Little book of Hygge. I had never heard of this concept before last December. In spite of that, after reading this book, I think I've had an Americanized version going on for a while. Wood stove- check, wool socks- check, nature inspired decorating-check, warm cozy ambiance-check, hot tea with a good book-check, homemade treats and satisfying soups-check. There are a couple of things that disqualify me though, no reindeer or sheepskin throw, and most of all no candles. I'm just not that into candles. According to the book, that means I don't have the Hygge after all. Oh well. 😉 I also finished Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart. I suspect I've read it in the distant past, but it It was long ago enough to enjoy again. I decided to start reading To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf today. Since this is the international month of women, it is my intent to read only women authors the rest of this month. Except for my statistics book. ðŸ˜

😳ðŸ˜ðŸ˜„ I got that recommendation too! I've also never read a book with a scantily clad man on the cover. It baffled me.

BAW friends on goodreads: Are you as fascinated as I am to see the intricate web of books choices and how we are affecting each other? It's like a visual representation of what happens here in this thread. Just my musing for the day.

I've finished Isaac Asimov's Utopias,a collection of short stories about utopias by different authors that were featured in Asimov's magazine. Because all utopian stories end up dystopian in some way, I'm counting it for my dystopian bingo square. Some stories were better than others. For a scandinavian read, I've got the Little Book of Hygge waiting.

I've been to catacombs in Palermo, Sicily. Hundreds of skeletons are laid out on limestone shelves. Bones are lovingly cleaned by family members in an annual ceremony, some skeletons are even decked out in clothes. We saw one in a tux and top hat.

I forgot say that I also read Elsewhere for my book title with one word. It was a teen book with a fantasy version of life after death. Simple and sweet and totally unbelievable.

I finished The Snow Leopard. I give it high marks for descriptions of the Places, people, flora, and fauna encountered on the author's pilgrimage to Shey Gompa monastery in the Himalayas. The Buddhist stuff started to become a little annoying to me, and I began to think the author was too "attached" to Buddhism and needed to "kill the buddha." (A zen buddhist phrase.) I get that he was trying to find himself, but just a little western arrogance seemed to seep through his selfconscious practice. Of course that is my personal opinion. Otherwise, it was a fascinating book, to be read slowly.

I'm currently reading the first Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It is for my IRL book club. I've read it a couple of times before, but at the moment I can't remember whodunnit.

I recently finished Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine. A circus with mysterious mechanical humans and a ringmaster with a special gift have their stories revealed through alternating 1st and 3rd person accounts. I enjoyed reading it, probably because it was not based on real places or times. Some lists have it as steampunk, but I feel like that is a bit of a stretch. It is earth, maybe North America. It is modern enough to know it is not Victorian, like a lot of steam punk; but it is analog, not digital. Do an abundance of copper tubing and gears, used in unusual ways, make a story steampunk? There isn't any steam, and there are modern fueled vehicles. The setting is a post apocalyptic dystopian landscape, decimated by war. As the story progresses, conflict between the personalities in the circus and danger from local government creates an intense ending. My 17yo tells me there is "deisel punk." I have not looked into this claim or what it means.

I added to my review- "Edited to add: To be fair to the author, after new information about historical context, I think the author was trying to make a point through allegory about the historical treatment of minorities, especially native americans and women. I think most readers miss the point and see only the surface story. I also missed some of the allusions at first. Now I realize that even the title "Snow White" is an ugly title. Its ugliness has been hidden for generations." I still don't know how to rate something like this.

This morning I was reading some of the reviews to see why other people did and didn't like it. I read a review by a native American woman who thought it was disgusting. When I read what some of the elements of the story said to her, I cringed. I hadn't seen the story from that perspective. It made me realize how much we ignore the historical treatment of others, not fully seeing the implicit disgust for another's ethnicity in some words and actions.

I read a western! It was Six-Gun Snow White by Cathrynne Valente. Here is my review: I can't rate this. The story was very cleverly written with the Snow White symbolism and narrative weaving, but I can't say I liked it. It was too raw and ugly for me. On the other hand it exposes the story of Snow white as ugly and not at all enchanting. I should have known it would be like this after reading Valente's Deathless.

I'm 52 and i just want it to end already. In my early 40's I starting getting horrible day one headaches and longer cycles with heavier bleeding. A few years later they switch to lighter bleeding and significantly shorter cycles. Then they went back to normal, but i got anemia, which i still battle with. A couple of years ago, i got my first 45 day cycle, followed by a 17 day cycle, very heavy. This happens more and more frequently. I'm on a 45 day cycle now. Hot flashes: i think i must be lucky. My first hot flash was memorable. I woke up at 3 am convinced the house was on fire. Nothing else until my first 45 day cycle, six months later. Then i had what i call rolling hot flashes, just wave after wave of warmth for a few weeks. I only have hot flashes when i am on a 45 day cycle, and the flashes have become much less frequent and less strong. I now have seasonal hair loss. I lose lots of hair in september and most of it grows back grey over the winter. My skin is getting looser and dryer. Nothing seems as important as it once did, but small things irritate me more, especially sounds. Sleep patterns are baffling. Most days i wake up between 4 and 5, involuntarily. But some days i will sleep till 6 and want to bottle whatever did that. I still remember the family story of my grandfather's MIL going crazy and chasing him with a baseball bat when she was at a certain age. My own mother left my father at that age. I feel a greater empathy for these women now. I think i'm handling myself fairly decently but I don't know if dh would agree. My opinions have more airtime than they used to. 😊

I've read most of DuMaurier's books multiple times. Many of the stories are frustrating in some way. They are what I would call atmospherically oppressive.The main characters are rarely happy, things rarely turn out well. They are great if you are young, idealistic, and like an excuse to wallow in helpless emotion. 😜 I guess you would call it psychological fiction, exploring themes of addiction, codependence, narcissism, suicide, etc. In the last 15 years I find that I no longer enjoy reading them, but I still think they are well written. I agree that the House on the Strand is a good read, fascinating because of the time travel angle, but still very much DuMaurier. I'm caught up with The Story of Western Science! This week I read Neil Gaiman's The Sleeper and the Spindle a quick read that retells the story of Sleeping Beauty by combining it with Snow White, shaking it up, and turning it upside down. It was...different. I'm still working on the Snow Leopard, which crossed paths with The Story of Western Science by discussing ancient science and philosophy. I'm also reading Death and The Dutch Uncle by Patricia Moyes.

I'm sorry you have such a difficult time getting materials. 😞