Book a Week 2016 - BW27: sailing west of the prime meridian

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 27 in our quest to read 52 books. Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature.
 
52 Books - Sailing West of the Prime Meridian:  Ahoy my dear seafarers and welcome to Maritime July.   It's time to weight anchor and head west of the Prime Meridian. We'll head out across the Pacific Ocean and let the trade winds determine our direction. You can go in search of Moby Dick, join the Napoleonic Wars, experience mutinies and ship wrecks or simply explore. 

Let's climb on board Herman Melville's fictitious Pequod with Captain Ahab as he searches for Moby Dick. For those who have already read Moby Dick, explore nautical adaptions, alternatives or non fiction. Join the Essex (inspired Moby Dick) in Nathaniel Philbrick's historical tale In the Heart of the Sea.  Fight the seas as well as the whales in Mel Odom's Hunter's of the Dark Sea.  You could also chose to stay on land with Sena Jeter Naslund's historical fiction saga Ahab's wife or China Mieville's dystopian parody Railsea. Follow Ishmael into outer space with Ray Bradbury's Leviathan 99 or Philip Jose Farmer's Wind Whales of Ishmael.  

Immerse yourself in sea life during the Napoleonic wars and climb on board with Captain Aubrey in Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series or Horatio Hornblower in C.S. Forester's Hornblower Saga.  

Live vicariously through Thor Heyerdahl as he replicates the mythical voyage of Kon Tiki across the Pacific in a raft or with Joshua Slocum in Sailing Alone around the World.

Our nautical explorations wouldn't be complete without Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny or Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea or Jules Vernes' 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Need more ideas?  Check out the Mother of all Maritime Links or the ever helpful Goodreads Book of the High Seas and Books about Seafaring Cats.

Happy Sailing!

 

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History of the Renaissance World - Chapters 45 and 46 

 

 

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What are you reading this week? 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 26

 

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

:grouphug: and  :wub:  to all. I missed you last week.  My dad is doing great, keeping busy setting up city's food bank which will serve all the churches, dating his church lady friend, and working out with his senior group at mad dog fitness.  I barely kept up with him during the class and my thigh muscles are still sore.   :lol:   We cleaned out his office and found the genealogy for both sides of the family. So cool.  Worked on the Trust and shredded 4 file cabinets full of stuff.  Too hot to work in the garage. 113 the whole time. Oy!   Didn't have much time for reading.  

 

In my backpack currently - Bradbury's Leviathan, Kon Tiki and In the Heart of the Sea as well as a plethora of other sea faring books.  

 

 

[Stacia]

Hi all.

 

Sending hugs to mumto2 & family. :grouphug:

 

Robin, it's great to hear that your dad is doing so well. It makes me happy to hear that!

 

Angela, thinking of you for the upcoming weeks as Abby's surgery approaches.

 

Thanks for all the good thoughts & prayers for my mom last week too. She is doing pretty well after surgery. She has a follow-up appointment this week, so we will see what that brings.

 

I finished Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I like some fantasy (Terry Pratchett), but don't really get much into traditional fantasy (Tolkien). Fantasy as a whole is a middle-of-the-road genre for me; it's not my favorite, nor do I avoid it.



So, I was completely surprised at how much I loved this book. It's an excellent mix of traditional high fantasy, Tolkien-esque touches, & eastern European folklore & fairy tales meshed to create something riveting & new. Layered, deep, & well-written with memorable characters & settings. In my opinion, it definitely lives on a plane above much of the traditional fantasy writing out there. It's no surprise that it is the Nebula Award winner for Best Novel 2016. (Btw, Jane, I don't know how much of a fantasy reader you are, but I'm thinking you may like this one purely because of the eastern European fairy tale flavor of it.)

 

I really had planned to tackle Moby Dick this year (also reading Matt Kish's illustrated version alongside it), but I'm not sure I can tackle it now.

 

In the meantime, for maritime adventures, I still have The Plover by Brian Doyle sitting here & I think I'll start that next. And, Robin, you reminded me that I have Kon-Tiki sitting on my shelves & I've wanted to read it because I loved Heyerdahl's Fatu-Hiva when I read it years ago.

 

I also have quite a few other books piled up here to tackle, but it will take me awhile as I manage to just get through one at a time these days. One I definitely want to get to soon, though, is Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff.

[Jane in NC]

Stacia, your Mom has been on my mind.  Glad to hear the positive report.

 

Robin, sounds like your dad is doing great!

 

And continued hugs to Mumto2 in her time of loss.

 

I had been on an escapist roll with mysteries but am taking time out for the second volume in the Wilfred Price series by Wendy Jones.  I am reading (and enjoying) The World is a Wedding.

 

Still reading Steinbeck's Once There was a War which gives me the occasional gut punch.

 

And I am getting caught up with HoRW! 

 

It has been hot here (although not 113) so I have enjoyed being inside and doing some craft work.  To keep me entertained in the process, I have been listening to the BBC Radio 4 Ex dramatizations of Le Carre's Smiley novels.  I was reminded how much I like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor.  I know the plots but still sit at the edge of my seat.

 

 

[Violet Crown]

We are leaving for home tomorrow and my airplane book will be Catherine Carswell's The Life of Robert Burns. This biography was controversial when it was published in 1930; one anonymous critic sent Carswell a bullet together with the advice to use it to kill herself. There have been more historically neutral bios of Burns since, but Carswell was a talented Scottish writer in her own right, and her Life is generally read as a good novelization of Burns.

 

Earlier this week I finished Oliphant's ghost story collection A Beleaguered City and wanted to give an intriguing snippet from it--inspired by Penguin's "Little Black Penguins" website--but it's been packed. The best and creepiest story, "The Library Window," is set in this very town, two streets away, the crucial scene taking place on St John's Day, which was Friday last. A little too close for comfort on a dark night.

[Mothersweets]

Good morning everyone!

 

Last week I read Too Hot to Handel by Sherri Cobb South - it's the fifth? sixth? installment in the John Pickett mystery series. I enjoyed seeing the characters again and it wasn't that great of a mystery but still found it a worthwhile read.

 

I'm almost done with Still Woman Enough by Loretta Lynn - my goodness, she put up with all kinds of terrible treatment from her husband. Honest, direct, and self-deprecating, I liked her and enjoyed her storytelling.

 

And yay! for sailing the high seas! :) I've started re-reading my favorite of the Aubrey-Maturin series, Desolation Island. Patrick O'Brian really raised the bar for me in what good writing should be.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Mothersweets

[Onceuponatime]

I finished Dreaming Spies and Steeplechase, and I thoroughly enjoyed both. I've started The Darling Buds of May by H.E.Bates. My book has three stories in one. It is wild, hilarious, and full of blatant innuendo. It reminds me of Cold Comfort Farm, but it's quite warm. Instead of the main character lifting the unusually disgusting family up out of its rut, this carefree family corrupts a straight laced young (tax) man with earthly pleasures. He's not sure if he is being dragged down to the depths or has found a place in heaven.

 

I do have some nautical books I need to get read. So I may join in with one or two.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Onceuponatime

[mumto2]

I finished some fluff, the Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13489925-the-countess-conspiracy. I think it's my favourite in this seris so far. It does have adult content.

[Kareni]

My travels will soon be ending as I head home tomrrow.  I've had a good time with Friend Two in Livermore.  I've attended synagogue with her and witnessed a bar mitzvah as well as a conversion ceremony.  We also got together with her daughter who is now an independent young woman rather than a teen.  Today we're off to stroll around Berkeley and Oakland and hit a thrift store or two.

 

Meanwhile, my husband and daughter have been enjoying their time together in Seoul.  My husband will start his long journey home in about thirteen hours.  

 

I've read a couple of books but most recently finished a re-read of Patricia Briggs' Blood Bound.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Chrysalis Academy]

As another option fitting this week's theme, might I suggest Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfoboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers by one of my favorite nonfiction writers, Simon Winchester?  The audio version is read by the author, and he has a lovely voice.  Or, for something completely different, there is always Island of the Sequined Love Nun.  :D

 

I've never managed to finish Moby-Dick, so I should.  I think maybe I'll start with Why Read Moby Dick first. For motivational purposes.  ;) The other book on my TR list that fits the theme is The Sex Lives of Cannibals.  ETA: I just started listening to this, and it's hilarious so far. Good light/fluffy/entertaining listening for while I'm working around the house.

 

I finished a few interesting books since my last post:  Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye, author of Jane Steele, which I completely loved.  It is a Sherlock Holmes fanfic novel - Sherlock vs. Jack the Ripper. I enjoyed it.  I give her 95% for her portrayal of Watson, but only ~80% for Sherlock. Hers just seems a bit to genial, somehow. But I did really enjoy the book, which had an interesting Conan-Doyle worthy surprise twist at the end.

 

I also finished Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves, which I liked a lot and will assign as a read-along with The Odyssey.  The premise is that The Odyssey was not written by Homer, but by Princess Nausicaa, a Sicilian princess whose own adventures inspired part of the story.  Very enjoyable story, great strong female protagonist, and lots of great details about life in the ancient world.

 

I finally got around to reading Day of the Triffids - given my interests in post apocalyptic fiction and botany, I'm surprised I didn't get to it sooner! It was very much a product of its time and place, the late 50s, fears of nuclear holocaust, efforts to come to terms with the fact that humanity now had the power to destroy itself. Part of the same cohort as novels like Alas Babylon, No Blade of Grass, and Earth Abides.  I think it's the best of that bunch, slightly less sexist, and definitely more philosophical.  But these books do feel very much like a product of their times, and have a dated feel even though many of the same themes are still front-and-center in post apocalyptic writing today.  

 

I also finished Love in the Time of Cholera. This was a re-read for me, but I feel like I got a lot more out of it this time. I also feel like it's a book that is hard to appreciate before 40, and that one should re-read it each decade after that, because it probably speaks to you in a different way at each life stage. It's a book about love, growing old, and death.  I dislike some aspects of it very much, but I absolutely love and I'm blown away by some aspects of it too, and those outweigh the former.  As I'm doing this chronological reading through Marquez, I can say that IMHO, this is the first of his books that really explores  timeless, eternal, universal themes and has really new, surprising, and thought-provoking things to say about them. To me, this is his break-out book, that takes him from being a great 20th century South American writer, to being a great writer, period.

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Ali in OR]

Didn't read a lot this week. The only one I finished was the middle-school one I picked up mostly for the girls, Goodbye Stranger. I started it as a treadmill read on Monday (it's thin enough to fit on the treadmill rack, whereas my other read, Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name, definitely is not). Anyway, I brought it to the breakfast table to finish a chapter, then youngest took off with it and finished it that afternoon! She is not that much of a reader, so I was thrilled. Then her big sister got it and finished it the next day. Meanwhile I kept reading 30-40 pages at a time on the treadmill each morning. I finally finished it at the end of the week. It was a good book for us to share together. I thought it brought up good themes for the girls (eg dangers of texting photos of yourself). I appreciated the many examples of characters being supportive to one another, contrasting the few mean and nasty types.

 

As mentioned above, I'm working my way through the second book in Ferrante's Napoli series and enjoying it probably more than the first. But it is long--may need a third week for it! And since I can't read it on the treadmill, I've also just started one that my rising junior needs to read for summer reading this year--A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. I've just started it but already think it's going to be really interesting. It was written in 1990 and won the Pulitzer prize. The author starts with the actual diary of Martha Ballard from 1785-1812 and then adds a lot of commentary to explain more about it. So I'm in the first chapter still--she started with a few pages of actual diary entries from August 1787 and now I'm in the commentary where she explains that there was a scarlet fever epidemic which is why the midwife was visiting so many very ill people along with her usual births and a few deaths. Really fascinating. So this next week I'll be continuing with that and the Ferrante.

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by Ali in OR

[Violet Crown]

It occurs to me that we've all been reading so avidly on this trip that I'd like to post our family booklists. (Dh was working, much of the time on the writing of his own next book, so he gets a pass.) Most recent reading first; *asterisk indicates Scottish books or writers.

 

Wee Girl:

Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator

Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy

Lemony Snicket, The Miserable Mill

Lemony Snicket, The Reptile Room

Enid Blyton, The Strange Umbrella

Noel Streatfield, Dancing Shoes

*Amanda Mitchison, Alexander Selkirk

Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

Noel Streatfield, White Boots

Roald Dahl, Esio Trot

 

Middle Girl:

Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel

Pu Songling, Wailing Ghosts

Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Dickens et al., The Haunted House

Daniel Defoe, The King of Pirates

*Margaret Oliphant, A Beleaguered City

Jane Austen, Emma

The Observer's Book of Modern Art

*John Buchan, Greenmantle

G. K. Chesterton, The Secret of Father Brown

Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest

*Stevenson, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde & other stories

Rebecca West, The Fountain Overflows

Hawthorne, Selected Tales & Sketches

 

Me:

*Allan Ramsay, Selected Poems

*Margaret Oliphant, A Beleaguered City, & Other Tales of the Seen and Unseen

*The Penguin Book of Scottish Verse, ed. Tom Scott

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

J. H. Newman, Verses on Various Occasions

Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up

*Thomas Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship

*J. M. Barrie, Sentimental Tommy

Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That

*Alexander Smith, Dreamthorp

Herman Melville, Moby Dick

 

ETA: I am VERY proud of Wee Girl's reading!!!

Edited July 3, 2016 by Violet Crown

[Negin]

I read Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - 3 Stars - I recommend this book mainly for aspiring writers. As for me, I’m not a writer by any means (although I often dream that I was a good one), so much of the book wasn’t particularly relevant to me. Yet she does have lots of sweet stories and lovely pieces of advice throughout. There’s depth and humor and I appreciated her open style. I’m glad that I read it.

 

Here’s the beautiful story behind the title:

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.â€

 

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Loesje22000]

I read 'Mayflower' last week:

 

and Book Love:

 

I preferred the first above the second.

 

Grotius is easier to read compared with Rousseau.

He is very systematic in his arguments, and even I disagree sometimes, I can follow his reasoning.

Rousseau ask more from my concentration, but is better to read now I read Grotius concurrently.

 

DD will be next week on camp,

so I hope to read more next week :)

[Jane in NC]

Rose, I failed to mention that my audio book in the car is Simon Winchester's Atlantic. Thanks for the suggestion!

[ErinE]

.

Edited November 8, 2016 by ErinE

[ErinE]

I finished Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I like some fantasy (Terry Pratchett), but don't really get much into traditional fantasy (Tolkien). Fantasy as a whole is a middle-of-the-road genre for me; it's not my favorite, nor do I avoid it.

So, I was completely surprised at how much I loved this book. It's an excellent mix of traditional high fantasy, Tolkien-esque touches, & eastern European folklore & fairy tales meshed to create something riveting & new. Layered, deep, & well-written with memorable characters & settings. In my opinion, it definitely lives on a plane above much of the traditional fantasy writing out there. It's no surprise that it is the Nebula Award winner for Best Novel 2016. (Btw, Jane, I don't know how much of a fantasy reader you are, but I'm thinking you may like this one purely because of the eastern European fairy tale flavor of it.)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed this book. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I gave it to DS and he begged for more books in this style. If you haven't read it, we liked Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, which can be called literary fantasy if such a genre exists. The second book didn't hold my interest as much, but the first is just lovely. Here's a brief example of his style.

 

 

It was night again. The manor lay in silence and it was a silence of three parts.

 

The first part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking. If there had been horses stabled in the barn, they would have stamped and champed and broken it to pieces. If there had been a crowd of guests, even a handful of guests bedded down for the night, their restless breathing and mingled snores would have gently thawed the silence like a warm spring wind. If there had been music… but no, of course there was no music. In fact there was none of these things, and so the silence remained.

 

Inside the manor, a woman huddled in her deep, sweet-smelling bed. Motionless, waiting for sleep, she lay wide-eyed in the dark. In doing this, she added a small, frightened silence to the larger hollow one. They made an alloy of sorts, a harmony.

 

The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened for an hour, you might begin to feel it in the thick stone walls of the empty great room, and in the flat, grey metal of the axe that hung over the mantel. It was in the dim lamplight that filled an upstairs room with dancing shadows. It was in the mad pattern of a crumpled spell book that lay fallen and forgotten on top of the desk. And it was in the hands of the woman who sat there, pointedly ignoring the pages she had read and discarded long ago.

 

The woman had true-black hair, black as an abyss. Her eyes were bright and piercing, and she moved with the weary calm that comes from knowing many things.

 

The manor was hers, just as the third silence was hers. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, wrapping the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as day’s ending. It was heavy as a great river-smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ErinE

[ErinE]

We visited the Lewis and Clark museum in Great Falls, MT. Can anyone recommend a good book to read about the expedition?

[Faithr]

Robin, a wonderful book that would fit your theme this week is To the Ends of the Earth by William Golding of The Lord of the Flies fame.  To the Ends of the Earth is a trilogy of short novellas.  There was a miniseries made of it starring, at the time, the rather unknown actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.  His acting is phenomenal!  So I highly recommend both the book and the miniseries.  

 

I finished Living with a Dead Language.  I never warmed up to the author all that much but I still found the book enjoyable and relatable (as my kids say) for anyone who is studying Latin.

 

Right now I am reading an ebook called Classical Unschooling or something.  Not sure of the exact title.  I started reading it but then my son borrowed my kindle, so I'm on hold until I can get it back.  The author has a website/blog.  I had never heard of her before. http://purvabrown.com/  I am at the tail end of my homeschooling days, so sometimes I read homeschooling books to inspire me or to get nostalgic over.  I miss have little kids around to read aloud to.

 

I am also reading LIfe of Christ by Fulton Sheen for my church's book club.  Gorgeous, poetic, deep - it will take a while to get through this tome!

[Stacia]

ErinE, thanks for the rec for The Name of the Wind. I've wondered about it as I've seen it recommended so many times. It wouldn't bother me if the sequel isn't as good. I rarely tend to read series books anyway. I much prefer stand-alones. Literary fantasy sounds about right to me. Maybe that's why I enjoyed Uprooted -- I think literary fantasy could be a way of describing it. Don't know of any Lewis & Clark recs for you but I'd love to find a good book on the expedition. My sister's college roommate & our longtime friend is a descendant of the Lewis family. She definitely has wanderlust & traveling in her veins & I have to somewhat attribute it to her distant relative of old. (I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but I still like to think of it that way, lol.)

 

Rose, at your mention of Simon Winchester, I meant to mention the other week that I had given my dad a copy of Winchester's The Professor and the Madman. I read it years & years ago & loved it. My dad thought it was really good too. Also, I meant to ask you, didn't you &/or your dd like Uprooted too? (I think I noticed on Goodreads that you marked it as abandoned though???) Re: Moby Dick &/or nautical reading, I also have Why Read Moby Dick -- I figured I might need it to spur myself into reading it at all, lol. But, this is not the right moment in my life for it, I think. I like some of your other suggestions too. I started The Sex Lives of Cannibals a few years ago, but never finished it. Maybe it's funnier on audio than in print. I'm curious about the Christopher Moore title. Is it a good one? I've read one of his books (Sacre Bleu) & tried one or two others, but something about his humor just doesn't quite click with me. I keep thinking he's an author I should/would like, but I'm just not finding that to be the case for the most part. Yet, I'm still willing to give him another try.

 

Violet Crown, hooray for Wee Girl! And, I have to ask -- what did Middle Girl think of Poe's Pym? :bigear:

 

Kareni, safe travel/no delays/no lost luggage wishes for you & your dh. Same for you & your family too, Violet Crown.

[Stacia]

Oh & for anyone looking for a short, quick maritime read, I'll recommend the book I read a couple of weeks ago: The Island of Last Truth. It's worth seeing if your library carries it.

 

 

 

[Stacia]

And, my list of 2016 reading to date....

 

5 stars:

• The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez (Mexico) [baW Bingo: Library Free Space]
• What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi (Europe: Various) [baW Bingo: Fairy Tale Adaptation]
• West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Kenya)
• Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto (Brazil & USA)
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Europe: probably eastern European)

4 stars:

• The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Columbia) [baW Bingo: Picked by a friend – idnib]
• Good Morning Comrades by Ondjaki (Angola) [baW Bingo: Set in Another Country]
• An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook (USA) [baW Bingo: Mystery]
• The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenström (South Africa) [baW Bingo: Translated]
• A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer (North Korea)
• Narconomics by Tom Wainwright (Various: mainly Latin & North America) [baW Bingo: Published 2016]
• A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez (England)
• Eleven Days by Stav Sherez (England)
• The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (India) [baW Bingo: Epic]
• The Stranger by Albert Camus (Algeria) [baW Bingo: Nobel Prize Winner]
• The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (Algeria)
• An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel (USA)
• The Island of Last Truth by Flavia Company (Other: unnamed island off the coast of Africa) [baW Bingo: Nautical]
• Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning (England)

3 stars:

• Gnarr! How I Became Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr (Iceland) [baW Bingo: Non-fiction]
• A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Lawrence Smith (USA)
• The Three Trials of Manirema by José J. Veiga (Brazil) [baW Bingo: Dusty]
• Necropolis by Santiago Gamboa (Israel)
• North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Asia: Various) [baW Bingo: Historical]
• Smile as they Bow by Nu Nu Yi (Myanmar) [baW Bingo: Banned (in Myanmar)]
• Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan (USA) [baW Bingo: Number in the Title]
• Bossypants by Tina Fey (USA)
• The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay (USA & Italy) [baW Bingo: Over 500 Pages]
• Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama (Burma/Myanmar)
• Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston (Other)
• Time and Time Again by Ben Elton (Europe: Various)

2 stars:

• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) [baW Bingo: Female Author]

[Onceuponatime]

I dug through my to-read stacks and came up with these books that kind of fit a nautical and/or Pacific theme:

 

Billy Budd- Melville

The Ra Expeditions- Heyerdahl (I've already read Kon Tiki and Fatu Hiva)

Following the Equator- Twain

The Island of the Color Blind- Sacks

 

They were all thrift store purchases.

 

I will at least read Billy Budd. I have two library books that need to be read also. So many books, so little time.

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

Rose, at your mention of Simon Winchester, I meant to mention the other week that I had given my dad a copy of Winchester's The Professor and the Madman. I read it years & years ago & loved it. My dad thought it was really good too. Also, I meant to ask you, didn't you &/or your dd like Uprooted too? (I think I noticed on Goodreads that you marked it as abandoned though???) Re: Moby Dick &/or nautical reading, I also have Why Read Moby Dick -- I figured I might need it to spur myself into reading it at all, lol. But, this is not the right moment in my life for it, I think. I like some of your other suggestions too. I started The Sex Lives of Cannibals a few years ago, but never finished it. Maybe it's funnier on audio than in print. I'm curious about the Christopher Moore title. Is it a good one? I've read one of his books (Sacre Bleu) & tried one or two others, but something about his humor just doesn't quite click with me. I keep thinking he's an author I should/would like, but I'm just not finding that to be the case for the most part. Yet, I'm still willing to give him another try.

 

 

 

How lame is this - I actually own The Professor & the Madman, but I've never read it. I bought it years ago, but it's been sitting on the shelf ever since.  Well, at the moment it's in a box somewhere, along with most of the rest of my library, but still.  I'll definitely have to unearth it at some point.

 

Uprooted - it came in from the library on a 3-week no-renew loan, and I was in the middle of a bunch of other things, so I gave it to Shannon, and she got a ways into it then said, "Um, Mom, you didn't pre-read this, did you?" Apparently the sex scene was enough to make her uncomfortable, so she decided not to go on with it.  Not having read it myself, I can't say what about it in particular bothered her.  I will probably pick it up again at some point. 

 

I'm finding The Sex Lives of Cannibals funny and entertaining to listen to, but I probably wouldn't read it, either - there isn't enough to it, but it is making my giggle while I hang the clothes on the line.  I actually can't remember much about Island of the Sequined Love Nun - I know I found it funny and weird at the time, but it's been a long time ago.  I went through a phase - late 20s? early 30s? when I read and enjoyed a bunch of Christopher Moore, but when I picked one up recently I had no patience for it.   So maybe that ship has sailed.  Some books fit a certain stage, but don't really hold up. That may be the case here too.

[Ethel Mertz]

I had been on an escapist roll with mysteries but am taking time out for the second volume in the Wilfred Price series by Wendy Jones.  I am reading (and enjoying) The World is a Wedding.

 

I loved that 2nd Wilfred Price book! Hope you enjoy it.

 

This week I've read:

 

1.     The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 – Lionel Shriver. I loved this book. I was hooked from the beginning. The book is based on 4 generations of a family living through a devastating national economic implosion. Highly recommended.

2.     The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax – Dorothy Gilman. Second in the Mrs. Pollifax series. Quite enjoyable.

3.     Miss Julia to the Rescue (Miss Julia #13) – Ann B. Ross. Fun read.

4.     Three Junes – Julia Glass. (This was to fulfill my book with the name of the current month in the title.) I just wanted to knock some sense into these characters. The book dragged and the writing was way too navel gazing for my taste.

5.     Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble (Miss Julia #14) – Ann B. Ross, Another fun read in the series. 

6. Miss Julia’s Gift (Miss Julia #14.5) – Ann B. Ross.

 

I'm currently reading Ellen Herrick's The Sparrow Sisters. Magical realism, riveting novel. Also reading Louise Erdrich's Beet Queen. Nautical read for this week is to finish The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. Geographical region is somewhere off the coast of the Kingdom of Narnia.

[Butter]

Book #67: Deceived by Heather Sunseri.  It's the 5th book in the Mindspeak series.  I loved it.  I read the first book because I got it free on Kindle.  Now, sometimes the freebies are awful, but I'm pretty good at guessing which will be good based on the reviews.  Other times, like Mindspeak, the freebies are amazing.  And in the case of Mindspeak, offering a freebie worked well since I bought the other 4 books.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I loved that 2nd Wilfred Price book! Hope you enjoy it.

 

This week I've read:

 

1.     The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 – Lionel Shriver. I loved this book. I was hooked from the beginning. The book is based on 4 generations of a family living through a devastating national economic implosion. Highly recommended.

 

 

Glad to hear you liked this, I read a review recently and was considering reading it. It's now on my TR list! I thought We Need to Talk About Kevin was an amazing, gut-wrenching book, much more profound than the movie, so I've kept my eye on her since then, but haven't read anything else. This looks like a book I'd like, though.

[mumto2]

Safe travels to Kareni and her dh today.

 

Also to VC and family. Wee girls booklist was wonderful. So glad she had a chance to read Ballet Shoes. I love that book!

[idnib]

The nautical theme works very well for me this week! I had already decided to scrap what I've been reading and start over. I'd either lost interest or lost track while traveling the last couple of weeks.

 

After that decision, I was recently reading about how people discovered Hawaii and in general navigated around all of those Pacific islands. (Did you know that clouds can literally point to land, like this? I didn't!)

 

Anyway, reading more about the subject online, I was lead to the idea of reading James Michener's 1959 historical novel Hawaii, and I received it from Amazon on Friday. As I said, the theme works well!

Edited July 4, 2016 by idnib

[Stacia]

Tried starting many different books this evening, but only one stuck:

 

 

Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

 

From Publishers Weekly:

At the beginning of award-winning Ghanaian writer Parkes's debut novel, life in the quiet village of Sonokrom is disrupted by a minister's girlfriend in a short skirt "whose eyes would not lie still." Arriving by car, she follows a stench-and a hunch-into the abandoned hut of a man named Kofi Atta, and the narrator of these early pages, hunter Opanyin Poku, follows. So many maggots swarm the remains; "the hut was filled with their buzzing." The case draws the attention of a power-hungry inspector who forces Kayo, a talented young forensic pathologist, into service, pairing him with the able Constable Garba. Kayo is able to gain the confidence of a local medicine man so that he can collect research samples while still respecting traditions. He's alarmed by oddities related to the case, like a blue bird feather that appears when the remains are burned. But the inspector isn't interested in oddities; he wants a "CSI-style report." A beguiling exploration of the power of storytelling-ancient stories and humble, modern and official. "On this earth," Kayo learns, "we have to choose the story we tell, because it affects...how we live."

 

[Faithr]

I forgot to mention that I am listening Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson on Audible as I drive around.  It an enormously long book and for some reason my audible version jumped back two chapters, so I re-listened to chapters 11 and 12.  At first I was upset because I'm being very goal oriented (must. get. through. this. book!).  But it was great to listen to it again because I think I caught much more of it the second time around.  The language is 18th century wordiness and of course much more formal than now, but how rich it is!  After listening to it for a while, I find myself expressing my inner thoughts in a way not dissimilar to that noble style of oratory! The book makes me jealous.  I want to have my own 'salon' where I meet with friends over port at the Mitre and discuss everything under the sun.  Johnson and Boswell have lots of good company:  Oliver Goldsmith, Joshua Reynolds, David Hume, Adam Smith, to mention some of the big names.  They just met Edward Gibbon of Decline and Fall fame at some soiree or something.  

 

The book makes me think I've really lost the art of conversation; long, deep, topic oriented conversations.  

[Jane in NC]

I loved that 2nd Wilfred Price book! Hope you enjoy it.

 

 

Yup, I sure did.  I finished it last night and started my morning with a volume from the dusty stacks:  The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, a book that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972.

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I already did my nautical book for BINGO. I recently finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't believe I hadn't read it before. I've downloaded book two, but haven't started. Won't get a chance until later.

 

Right now I need to get my butt off the computer to do my scheduled workout then make the food for the July 4th potluck pool party this afternoon. I'm making blueberry, raspberry, strawberry cream pie. I serendipitously found premade gluten free graham cracker crusts! Wham! Decided to make cream pie. Ds is making cocoa crackle crispy treats (think rice crispy treats but made with a type of cocoa pebbles cereal with peanut butter and marshmallows). Oh, and coleslaw. I'm not excited about the coleslaw though. Only making it for the obligatory veggie dish we parents feels we need to provide children at parties.

 

 

[idnib]

I want to have my own 'salon' where I meet with friends over port at the Mitre and discuss everything under the sun.  Johnson and Boswell have lots of good company:  Oliver Goldsmith, Joshua Reynolds, David Hume, Adam Smith, to mention some of the big names.  They just met Edward Gibbon of Decline and Fall fame at some soiree or something.  

 

This sounds wonderful, yes!

[NoseInABook]

Stacia, glad to hear the positive update about your mom. My husband and my brother are obsessed with Patrick Rothfuss and were just talking about it again. I tried Name Of The Wind like six times but can't ever make it past around page 50. They say push through, the story starts to get good around page 75 and sucks you in there.

 

Robin, glad to hear your dad is doing well!

 

Mumto2, I am so sorry about your mom. My heart is aching for you. *hugs* 

 

Kareni, good luck with the travels! You too, VC!

 

Mom-ninja, who makes the gf graham cracker crust? I must get my hands on some!

 

I am reading Charlaine Harris' Nightshift, the third in the Midnight, Texas series, but not getting as far as I'd like. Every time I crack the book open, I pass out cold... *snort* Not too surprising seeing that we brought home twin babies a couple weeks ago. They are 31 week preemies and spent 5 weeks in the NICU. I found out about them in mid-June and spent a little over a week bouncing between the NICU and home before they were both released. They'll be 7 weeks at the end of the week but they're like teeny tiny newborns and are so very sweet. The little girl isn't even 5lbs yet but the little boy is packing on the pounds and is up to 6.5lbs now! We're enjoying them very much even if they do put a damper on getting reading done. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Leaf Storm, a Marquez novella. It's set in the Macondo of 100 Years of Solitude, but the characters aren't Buendias, they are other townspeople. It's an Antigone story, about the obligation to fulfill a promise to bury the dead in the face of the objections of the town.  It's a little hard to follow, the POV shifts between the grandfather, his daughter, and her son, a young boy. It has all the things I don't like about Marquez and few of the things I do.

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

Last week I read Too Hot to Handel

 

This typo made me :lol:  I don't think we can post memes here anymore, so you'll have to click on the link: this is what immediately popped into my head!  Still don't get it?  Think Hallelujah chorus. Good ol' George Frederick Handel can be too darn hot for his own good sometimes :laugh:  How about a little Royal Fireworks music for the day?

 

 

I haven't reread Name of the Wind in quite a while, but agree it is lovely writing. I'm not sure if it would be something Stacia would enjoy, though. I think Rose would like it if she hasn't read it already.  Patrick Rothfuss is quite the rock star in the geek world, and if you ever get a chance to see him at a signing or convention, go!  He is very funny and full of great stories, but as an author of epic fantasy he is glacially slow.  In the time it takes him to publish one of his novels, other fantasy authors are churning out volumes!  

 

I read, and really enjoyed, another Icelandic mystery this week, Silence of the Grave. Not sure what I will read next -- I too need to step away from the computer and start getting ready for our low key 4th.  We need munchies to fuel us as we work on a jigsaw puzzle, perhaps swim with the dog, and watch the latest Star Wars dvd.

[Mothersweets]

This typo made me :lol:  I don't think we can post memes here anymore, so you'll have to click on the link: this is what immediately popped into my head!  Still don't get it?  Think Hallelujah chorus. Good ol' George Frederick Handel can be too darn hot for his own good sometimes :laugh:  How about a little Royal Fireworks music for the day?

 

 

lol, not a typo but that link made me laugh :)  Too Hot to Handel

[Stacia]

It has all the things I don't like about Marquez and few of the things I do.

 

:lol:

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

This typo made me :lol:  I don't think we can post memes here anymore, so you'll have to click on the link: this is what immediately popped into my head!  Still don't get it?  Think Hallelujah chorus. Good ol' George Frederick Handel can be too darn hot for his own good sometimes :laugh:  How about a little Royal Fireworks music for the day?

 

 

I haven't reread Name of the Wind in quite a while, but agree it is lovely writing. I'm not sure if it would be something Stacia would enjoy, though. I think Rose would like it if she hasn't read it already.  Patrick Rothfuss is quite the rock star in the geek world, and if you ever get a chance to see him at a signing or convention, go!  He is very funny and full of great stories, but as an author of epic fantasy he is glacially slow.  In the time it takes him to publish one of his novels, other fantasy authors are churning out volumes!  

 

I read, and really enjoyed, another Icelandic mystery this week, Silence of the Grave. Not sure what I will read next -- I too need to step away from the computer and start getting ready for our low key 4th.  We need munchies to fuel us as we work on a jigsaw puzzle, perhaps swim with the dog, and watch the latest Star Wars dvd.

 

I actually started The Name of the WInd, I was listening to the audiobook and enjoying it at first, but then . . . Here's what I wrote when I abandoned it: "I was really enjoying this book at first. But it just got too . . . much. Too violent. I just couldn't take another detailed description of a 12 year old kid getting the sh@# beaten out of him. I'm done, for now at least."

 

I don't object to violence in service of the story, but I am sensitive to reading very violent stuff, especially violence against children. Maybe it was worse because I was listening to it on a long road trip, I couldn't get away from it when it got too intense. If I'd been reading, I could have put it aside and come back to it later.  It's the same way that I won't watch violent movies: the visual channel is just too intense.  When I read, I can pace myself.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Jane in NC]

Nose--you are a rock star. Twin preemies! One exhausted me. What a wonderful service you provide!

[Stacia]

Nose--you are a rock star. Twin preemies! One exhausted me. What a wonderful service you provide!

 

:iagree:

[JennW in SoCal]

lol, not a typo but that link made me laugh :)  Too Hot to Handel

 

 

Awesome!!!  I'll have to read it now  :hurray:

[JennW in SoCal]

I actually started The Name of the WInd, I was listening to the audiobook and enjoying it at first, but then . . . Here's what I wrote when I abandoned it: "I was really enjoying this book at first. But it just got too . . . much. Too violent. I just couldn't take another detailed description of a 12 year old kid getting the sh@# beaten out of him. I'm done, for now at least."

 

I don't object to violence in service of the story, but I am sensitive to reading very violent stuff, especially violence against children. Maybe it was worse because I was listening to it on a long road trip, I couldn't get away from it when it got too intense. If I'd been reading, I could have put it aside and come back to it later.  It's the same way that I won't watch violent movies: the visual channel is just too intense.  When I read, I can pace myself.

 

I completely understand because I'm the same way.  I read Name of the Wind in book form, so either skimmed sections that bothered me or put it down. Maybe it is why I have not reread it in its entirety -- the 12 year old's story rough journey is the central part of the story, and it can be a difficult slog to the more sensitive among us. The 2nd book is really good, though there is a long random section where the now older main character enjoys lots of graphic, erm, adult situations, and get this, with fairies.  Seriously.  It is a fanboy's wet dream, and the extent of it felt gratuitous to the point of it being distasteful. But there are wonderful aspects to the books, most notably his writing. His novella that came out last year about one of the minor characters is downright poetic in its beautiful prose.

 

Hmmm.  I'm supposed to be hard at work. Does it count that I'm now in the kitchen and hanging out on the forum?  My intentions are still focused on cookies and guacamole, though I've yet to do more than take the butter out of the fridge....

[Violet Crown]

Violet Crown, hooray for Wee Girl! And, I have to ask -- what did Middle Girl think of Poe's Pym? :bigear:

 

She thought Pym was very strange, but liked it. She found the ending surprisingly satisfying.

[Violet Crown]

Safe travels to Kareni and her dh today.

 

Also to VC and family. Wee girls booklist was wonderful. So glad she had a chance to read Ballet Shoes. I love that book!

I never read any Streatfield, but Middle Girl discovered her "shoes" books and directed Wee Girl to them. She's having a lot of fun lately directing her little sister's reading habits. (She's responsible for all the Lemony Snicket, too.)

[mumto2]

I never read any Streatfield, but Middle Girl discovered her "shoes" books and directed Wee Girl to them. She's having a lot of fun lately directing her little sister's reading habits. (She's responsible for all the Lemony Snicket, too.)

I only had Ballet Shoes available as a child but Dd (and I ;) ) were able to read several others. Theatre Shoes was another favourite and there was another one linked to that one I believe. Lemony Snicket was popular with my kids also. Has Middle Girl tried the Charle Bone series? Needs to be read in order but I have read most of them (blush) to myself. :lol: It's a bit of a Harry Potter spin off but I liked this setting better for younger dc's.

 

I finished a new release historical by Lisa Klepas called Marrying Winterborne https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26242354-marrying-winterborne?from_search=true&search_version=service last night before I lost it to overdrive return. I have discovered that I let a stack of books go overdue last week so am back on top of my multiple libraries, sort of.

[Stacia]

Well, I started reading Brian Doyle's The Plover today & love it. I'm close to the halfway mark & have already been laughing, smiling, & sobbing. I'm having the same thoughts as when I read his book Mink River -- he's just such a lovely writer that he can turn from gruff, to funny, to magical, to deep, to lonely, to so touching that you feel a tiny tear open up in your heart.

 

It's a treat of a book.

 

 

Starred review from Kirkus (though Publishers Weekly didn't seem to care for it). I have to side with Kirkus.

 

Doyle (Mink River, 2010, etc.) sets off with Declan O'Donnell, he of "flinty soul" and "salty confidence," sailing along the 45th parallel across the wide Pacific.
 

In near stream of consciousness, wave upon wave of words tumbles out in long, beautifully rendered, description-packed sentences, running on and on, as Declan, captain of the Plover, "a roomy coffin," skims across water two miles deep and weighing "about eighty quintillion tons." The narrative is rife with allusions, symbolism and metaphor, as Declan first encounters the Tanets, a tramp freighter/pirate ship/smuggler captained by amoral Enrique. Declan next tires of 45th parallel weather, bears south and finds an isolated island. There, he's met by his Oregon friend, Piko, who knew Declan would stop there, even if Declan did not. Beloved wife dead of cancer, Piko boards the Plover with Pipa, his brain-injured, paralyzed daughter, who’s still "sending her large spirit out exploring in ways and realms she has not yet tried to explain." Pipa chirps, whistles and peeps, and birds flock to the little boat. The Plover is again stopped at sea by the Tanets. Enrique needs a navigator and shanghais Piko. Declan follows, rescues Piko, and then finds that Enrique’s mysterious, giant, androgynous crewman, Taromauri, has slipped aboard the Plover. Taromauri is searching for her sea-swallowed daughter. Shadowed by a single gull, "one of the thirteen...one of the shining ones," a spirit of life’s energy focusing on Pipa, the Plover’s crew gains a boy from northern forests; Tungaru is "minister for fisheries and marine resources and foreign affairs," exiled because of his utopian politics. After a fiery confrontation with the Tanets, Declan and company sail "[f]ree as air" on "[t]he continent of the sea."
 

A rare and unusual book and a brilliant, mystical exploration of the human spirit.

 

ETA: Nan, I think this may be a must-read book for you.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Stacia

[-M-]

Happy Independence Day, BaWers!

 

Here are some random reading notes:

 

■ Fifteen of the sixty-five books I’ve completed to date have been works of graphic fiction; ten have been plays; and eleven have been non-fiction titles. I had (unspoken) goals of reading at least twenty-six non-fiction books this year and at least four volumes of poetry. Obviously, at eleven and zero, I am not poised to reach them; however, putting the goals in writing may increase the odds that I will, at the very least, try harder.

 

■ Of the twenty-nine novels I’ve read so far this year, the standouts comprise:

 

The Shawl (Cynthia Ozick; 1990. Fiction.)
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan; 2013. Fiction.)
The Sparrow (Mary Doria Russell; 1996. Fiction.)
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad; 1899. Fiction.)
A Good School (Richard Yates; 1978. Fiction.)
The Girls (Emma Cline; 2016. Fiction.)
The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 (Lionel Shriver; 2016. Fiction.)
The Only Ones (Carola Dibbell; 2015. Fiction.)

 

■ The Mandibles… How is it possible that each Lionel Shriver novel I read is better than the last? I am made speechless by the humor and horror she wrings from a believably developed economic collapse and the slow apocalypse that follows. Here is something I added to my commonplace book:

 

p. 15
Since the Stonage, he’d had an ear for it. Everyone else thought that the worst was behind them; order had been gloriously and permanently restored. But for Willing, during his own seminal where-were-you-then occasion at the grand old age of eight, The Day Nothing Went On had been a revelation, and revelations did not un-reveal themselves; they did not fit back into the cupboard. As a consequence of this irreversible epiphany, he had learned to upend expectations. There was nothing astonishing about things not working, about things falling apart. Failure and decay were the world’s natural state. What was astonishing was anything that worked as intended, for any duration whatsoever.

 

■ McCreight's Where They Found Her was a good beach read (even if I had solved much of its mysteries well before the midpoint and the central mystery almost upon “meeting†the character). I read her debut, Reconstructing Amelia, a couple of years ago. That’s the better book.

 

■ My youngest and I were alternately fascinated and horrified by the 2012 article “How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy†(The Atlantic). So, yes, I had to pick up McAuliffe’s book. I placed the order in response to this letter from Jeff Deutsch, director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

 

If every current member bought one additional book from us this year and then convinced a friend, family member or colleague to do the same, we would double our sales and nearly eliminate our operating deficit. I am asking you to advocate on behalf of this business with the same passion that you would if you were the sole owner.

 

 

I can't imagine a world without the Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books.

 

■ Other books in my current TBR include Dubliners (a reread) for book club, The Merchant of Venice (another reread) because we have tickets to see the production featuring Jonathan Pryce, and My Name Is Shylock because, well, The Merchant of Venice. A virtual acquaintance's sonnet-a-day project prompted me to pull Booth's book from the shelves. No promises. I began another beach book, The Hidden Child (Camilla Läckberg), but am annoyed by an early scene describing a party for a one-year-old in which both she and her same-aged friend are behaving like much older children. Does the author not have children? Friends or relatives with children? Access to the internet so that she might complete some cursory research into age-appropriate milestones? My annoyance pulled me from the story such that I now realize nearly every verb and noun is encumbered by a modifier.

 

â–  And here is my list:

 

July
â–  Where They Found Her (Kimberly McCreight; 2015. Fiction.)

 

June
â–  The Sparrow (Mary Doria Russell; 1996. Fiction.)
â–  Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad; 1899. Fiction.)
â–  The Fireman (Joe Hill; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  A Good School (Richard Yates; 1978. Fiction.)
â–  The Girls (Emma Cline; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (Vincent Bugliosi; 1974. Non-fiction.)
â–  Outcast, Vol. 3: This Little Light (Robert Kirkman; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Postal, Vol. 3 (Bryan Hill; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Saga, Vol. 6 (Brian K. Vaughan; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Monstress Vol. 1: Awakening (Marjorie Liu; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Edward III (William Shakespeare; 1596. Drama.)
â–  Henry VI, Part I (William Shakespeare; 1591. Drama.)
â–  Why We Get Fat and What to Do about It (Gary Taubes; 2011. Non-fiction.)
â–  Think Thin, Be Thin (Doris Wild Helmering; 2004. Non-fiction.)
â–  Descender, Vol. 2: Machine Moom (Jeff Lemire; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 (Lionel Shriver; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  The Only Ones (Carola Dibbell; 2015. Fiction.)
â–  I Let You Go (Clare Mackintosh; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  The Blondes (Emily Schultz; 2015. Fiction.)

 

May
â–  Imaginary Girls (Nova Ren Suma; 2011. Fiction.)
â–  The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community (Marc J. Dunkelman; 2014. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Odd Woman and the City: A Memoir (Vivian Gornick; 2015. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Walking Dead, Volume 25: No Turning Back (Robert Kirkman; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Paper Girls, Volume 1 (Brian K. Vaughan; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
■ They’re Not Like Us, Volume 2: Us Against You (Eric Stephenson; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Sleeping Giants (Sylvain Neuvel; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  Symmetry, Volume 1 (Matt Hawkins; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Letter 44, Volume 3: Dark Matter (Charles Soule; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Who Do You Love (Jennifer Weiner; 2015. Fiction.)
â–  Making Toast: A Family Story (Roger Rosenblatt; 2010. Non-fiction.)

 

April
â–  The First Time She Drowned (Kerry Kletter; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  Shelter (Jung Yun; 2016. Fiction.)
■ The Nest (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  Cardenio (William Shakespeare and John Fletcher; 1613. (Adapted by Charles Mee and Stephen Greenblatt; 1994.) Drama.)
■ Long Day’s Journey into Night (Eugene O’Neill; 1956. Drama.)
â–  Richard III (William Shakespeare; 1592. Drama.)

 

March
â–  In a Dark, Dark Wood (Ruth Ware; 2015. Fiction.)
â–  What She Left Behind (Ellen Marie Wiseman; 2013. Fiction.)
â–  Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Jon Krakauer; 2015. Non-fiction.)
■ Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan; 2013. Fiction.)
â–  Othello (William Shakespeare; 1603. Drama.)
â–  The Cold Song (Linn Ullmann; 2014. Fiction.)
â–  The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry (Gabrielle Zevin; 2014. Fiction.)
â–  Pax (Sara Pennypacker; 2016. Fiction.)
â–  The Call of the Wild (Jack London; 1903. Fiction.)
â–  The Life of Galileo (Bertolt Brecht; 1940. (Trans. John Willett; 1994.) Drama.)

 

February
â–  The Shawl (Cynthia Ozick; 1990. Fiction.)
â–  The Book of Jonas (Stephen Dau; 2012. Fiction.)
â–  The Bunker, Volume 3 (Joshua Hale Fialkov; 2015. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Squirrel Mother (Megan Kelso; 2006. Graphic fiction.)
â–  The Silence of Our Friends (Mark Long; 2012. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Lazarus, Volume 4: Poison (Greg Rucka; 2016. Graphic fiction.)
â–  Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport; 2016. Non-fiction.)
â–  When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi; 2016. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Invaders (Karolina Waclawiak; 2015. Fiction.)
■ A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy (Sue Klebold; 2016. Non-fiction.)

 

 

January
â–  The Heir Apparent (David Ives; 2011. Drama.)
â–  Neighbors (Jan T. Gross; 2001. Non-fiction.)
â–  Our Class (Tadeusz SÅ‚obodzianek (adaptation by Ryan Craig); 2009. Drama.)
â–  Scored (Lauren McLaughlin; 2011. Fiction.)
â–  Ready Player One (Ernest Kline; 2011. Fiction.)
â–  Arcadia (Tom Stoppard; 1993. Drama.)
â–  Purge (Sofi Oksanen; 2008. Fiction.)
â–  Revival, Volume 6: Thy Loyal Sons & Daughters (Tim Seeley; 2016. Graphic fiction.)

 

[Butter]

Remember how I offered the travel author Tony James Slater and his wife a bed and some meals when they come to the US?  Yeah, so it's happening.  They'll be here September 4-6.  I am so excited!