Joe's Sixth Book Cafe 2023

Art by Alex Katz

January 2023

1. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
2. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
3. The Guest List by Lucy Foy
4. Mass Effectby Drew Karpyshyn*
5. Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
6. Rainby Joe Hill*
7. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
8. A Spark within the Forge by Sabaa Tahir*
9. The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel.
10. Loveless by Alice Oseman
11. What’s the Furthest Place From Here by Matt Risenburg*
12. Desert Star by Michael Connelly
13. Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock by Linda Bailey*
14. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
15. A Court of Mists and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

February 2023

16. Creature by Shaun Tan*
17. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
18. Laura by Guillem March*
19. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
20. A court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
21 Everyday Hero Machine Boy by Irma Kniivila*
22. Encore in Death by JD. Robb
23. The Twilight Man by Koren Shadmi
24. A Wanted Man by Lee Child
25. The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz
26. By the Book by Jasmine Guilloty
27. In a Dark, Dark. Wood by Ruth Ware
28. Silk Vol. 1 by Maurene Goo

March 2023

29. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
30. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
31. Storm Watch by c.j. Box
32. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (re-read)
33. Revenge of the Librarian by Tom Gauld*
34. Ducks Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton*
35. It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood*
36. Ms. Marvel Something New by G. Willow Wilson*
37. Number One Is Walking by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss*
38. Gideon the Ninth by Tamlyn Muir
39. A Different Kind of Normal by Abigail Balfe
40. Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami

April 2023

41. The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev
42. Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond
43. Celestia by Manuele Fior*
44. once Upon a Book by Grace Lin*
45. The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
46. Altered Carbon by richard Morgan*
47. A Career in Books by Kate Gavino*
48. Love Everlasting by Tom King*
49. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
50. Georgia by Dawn Tripp

May 2023

51. To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Coste Lewis
52. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
53. The Customer is Always Wrong by Mimi Pond
54. Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
55. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes
56. Happy Place by Emily Henry
57. Aunt Bessie Assumes by Diana Xarissa
58. The Banned Bookshop by Maggie Banks
59. Fixit by Joe Ide
60. Promises of Gold by Jose Olivarez

June 2023

61. Damsel by Evelyn Skye
62. Monstress Volume 7 by Marjorie Liu*
63. Einstein by Jim Ottaviani*
64. Who Owns the Clouds by Mario Brassard*
65. Cafe Unfiltered by Jean-Philippe Blondel
66. Nomenclatures of Invisibility by Mahtem Shiferraw
67. Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazalwood
68. Simon Says by Andre Frittino*
69. The Family Izquierdo by Ruben Delgado
70. Side Effects by Ted Anderson*

July 2023

71. All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
72. Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner
73. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
74. The Phantom Scientist by Robin Cousin*
75. The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
76. Library of Small Catastrophes by Alison C. Rollins
77. Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson (no touchstone?) by Youssef Daodi
78. Yellowface by RF Kuang
79. The Light of Days by Judy Batalion

August 2023

80. Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka
>81 m.belljackson:. Dessert with Buddha by Roland Merullo
>82 alcottacre:. Anais Nin Sea of lies by Leonie Bischoff*
83. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
84. Chivalry by Neil Gaiman
85. Salvage Right by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
86. The Human Target Volume One by Tom King*
87. One by One by Ruth Ware
88. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
89. The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu*
90. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

September 2023

91. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
92. Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh
93. Hawking by Jim Ottaviani*
94. Fangirl Vol.3 by Rainbow Rowell*
95. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
96. Bride’s Story Vol. 14 by Kaori Moru*
97. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
98. The Complete The Killer by Jacamon & Matz*

October 2023

99. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
100. Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
101. The Last Count of Monte Cristo by Jamize Yama-Everett*
102. Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter
103. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson
104. The Detective Up Late by Adrian McGinty
105. Murder on the Orient Express adapted by Bob Al-Greene*
106.Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
107. Past Tense by Lee Child (re-read)
108. Blue Moon by Lee Child (re-read)
109. Haruki Murakami Manga Stories by PMGL*
110. Hilda and the Troll by Luke Pearson*
111. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery by Miles Hyman*
112. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood*
113. From From by Monica Youn

November 2023

114. The Secret by Lee Child
115. Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire
116.

Favorite Books So Far in 2023

Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea (WWII fiction)

Loveless by Alice Oseman (YA asexuality)

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (light-hearted fantasy)

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor (NF neurologist’s memoir about her stroke)

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (re-read) (his remarkable best)

Ducks Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton (GN memoir by one of the few women in the facility)

A Different Kind of Normal by Abigail Balfe (engaging, partially graphic memoir /guidebook by an autistic author)

Poverty By America by Matthew Desmond(more revelatory social analysis by the Evicted author)

The Last Remains by Ellie Griffiths
(Outstanding conclusion (hope not) to the Ruth Galloway series)

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (scathing social science fiction by an exciting young author)

Promises of Gold by Jose Olivarez(an insightful, love-filled Mexican-American poet)

Cafe Unfiltered by Jean-Philippe Blondel(fills the hunger for a Parisian cafe)

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (a rough, tough, discomfiting mystery by a rising star)

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (a favorite author’s Malaysian tale centering around W. Somerset Maugham)

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (fiction: desperate writer steals a manuscript and lets herself be misrepresented as Asian)

The Light of Days by Judy Batalion (NF: women resistance fighters in WWII)

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (David Copperfield with opiates everywhere; exceptionally well-written)

Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (fiction: mixed Jewish-Black community in 1920s/30s Pottstown, PA)

The Complete The Killer by jacamon and Matz* (GN: page-turning noir of a skilled assassin with a wife and son)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (moving tale of a good man in an Irish town faced with a testing dilemma)

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood*(exceptional GN of a loner artist experiencing success as her vision deteriorates)

From From by Monica Youn(my top poetry pick; Korean-American author explores racism against Asians and other topics)

Essential Graphic Reading for Beginners

Maus by Art Spiegelman,
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi,
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
Ducks, Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton .

Added, per Shelley: Good Talk by Mira Jacob

Added, per Kathy:
the March trilogy by John Lewis and Nate Powell
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

Added, per Ellen: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Added, per brother Mark:

The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire.
Local by Brian Wood
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Hugo Cabret & Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

Added, per Amber: Lumberjanes by Nate Diana Stevenson

Added per Megan: French Milk by Lucy Knisley

Good list!

Alex Katz

Our Colombia trip:










Plaza de Santo Domingo, Cartagena

More Colombia:



Adriana's mother Alba at the birthday celebration



The birthday girl and son Jesse



The celebrants





Adriana's grandmother

More Colombia:

Today’s Bargain: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald for $1.99 on e-readers. I hadn’t read this essay collection follow-up to H is for Hawk, and snapped it up.

Happy new one, Joe!

>10 drneutron:. Thanks, Doc!

Happy new one, Joe. Great photos!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread Joe. Great pics from Columbia!

Re the Booker short list from your prior thread, I've read If I Survive You and This Other Eden, and I'm currently reading Prophet Song. I think all of them deserve the recognition. I'll have to acquire the other three. I brought How to Build a Boat and A Spell of Good Things home from Ireland. Neither got promoted to the short list.

Happy new thread Joe!

What a clan. What a fascinating place too.

>12 jessibud2:. Thanks, Shelley! I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. They’re from Facebook. They’ll last about two weeks, and then I’ll probably replace them with art.😀

>13 foggidawn:. Thanks, foggi!

>14 EBT1002:. Thanks, Ellen! That’s helpful re the Booker list. I was hoping the Tan Twan Eng book would make the shortlist. Which one did you like best of the ones you read/are reading?

>15 quondame:. Thanks, Susan! We love our new clan. They were so welcoming. Some had stayed with us in Chicago for New Year’s, but many were new to us.

It is indeed a fascinating and beautiful country. We’ll be back.

>8 jnwelch: What a lot of happy in those photos, Joe! I'm smiling ear-to-ear just from the sight!

>6 jnwelch: looks like everyone was having a blast!

>2 jnwelch: Just so you know...Touchstone on book # 88 shows up as The Woman in white by Wilkie Collins instead of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

>17 richardderus:. Thanks, Ricardo. Adriana was SO happy, and we all were having such a good time. A tip of the hat to Adri’s and Jesse’s friends who made the trip for them. Jesse planned the whole thing as her 40th birthday present.

>18 figsfromthistle:. Hi, Anita. Thanks. Everyone sure was having a blast.

Thanks for the Woman in the Library touchstone catch. I decided years ago that my reading list on the thread is just too long to doublecheck the touchstones in it. It’s hard enough to put together a new cafe. My thinking is that LTers like you who check out the list (I’m glad you did!) can use the title and author info to find the book. Sorry; I know the touchstones would be quicker, but it would just be too much.

Happy new thread, Joe.

A bit frustrated that I cannot see any of your photos for some reason.
I am adjusting to the joys of being a grandpa and hope that I get the chance to go and see my little Pip in the very near future.

Don't be a stranger, buddy.

>21 PaulCranswick:. Thanks, Paul. Huh, not sure why the photos don’t show up for you. Hani could find you Debbi’s Facebook postings if you wanted to go that route.

Nothing better than being a grand. Is Pip Nami’s nickname? Or are you just being Dickensian?

I’ll try to set aside some time this week for traipsing about LT, and come visit.

P.S. I just realized the word “traipse” connotes some weariness, and that’s accurate. Right after getting back from Colombia at 1:30 am (bad weather in Miami) we had friends from Vermont visit ( the only time they could do it). We had a wonderful time with them, including a Cubs game, but they just left yesterday and we’re just starting to get our feet back under us.

>22 jnwelch: It is my nickname for her, Joe and to be fair the origin is not really Dickensian (as much as I love Great Expectations).

Nami (her given name) means red apple apparently in Japanese and I joked that the little one was the "pip" from the red apple and therefore that will be her name. I have a habit of coming up with names like that as Kyran has always been Peanut to me since he looked eerily like Charlie Brown as a small boy!

I will go and check FB soon, Joe. We block access to FB and You Tube, IG and all the others during working time.

>22 jnwelch: Joe, happy new thread. Your photos are lovely, but I get exhausted just reading about all your travels and events and guests, etc., even though I know they're all worth it. I give you tons of credit for hanging in there when you're running on fumes...I think I would have balked and locked myself in my room for some enforced down time.

Happy new thread, Joe!

Thanks for sharing the family photo's, what a wonderful birthday present for Adriana having everyone around.
As always you found some great toppers, and made me search the internet for some more Alex Katz :-)

Happy New Thread, Joe. Love the Katz toppers and the gorgeous Columbia pics. Glad you are bingeing and enjoying The Killer.

BOO to the Bears!! Disgraceful...🤮

>23 PaulCranswick:. Good nickname, Paul. Is it too early to know what Pip will call you? My “Grandpa Joe” turned into Banjo, so Debbi and I are Bubbe and Banjo.

Yeah, we blocked Facebook and the others at work, too. Too tempting for everyone. For too many, much more interesting than actual work. I’m glad you’ll be able to see Debbi’s posts. What a trip that was.

>24 kac522:. Thanks for the appreciation, Kathy. My grand plan normally is to do as much as I can, go as far as I can, before I have to rest. It helps that I’m mentally squared away and not needing …. much of anything. I just want to avoid disrupting family adventures, which are a precious commodity. If I have to sit on my cane chair for a while and wait for them to come back to me, that’s not a hardship. I can continue quite a ways on fumes if my companions can be patient. In some ways accepting that I have limits is an improvement over my rash younger days, although I do miss having all that energy!

>25 FAMeulstee:. Thanks, Anita! You’re welcome re the photos. I still hope to find one of Debbi and me that everyone seems to like.

You’re the first person to mention the toppers. I’m glad you like them - Katz really has the knack, doesn’t he. I may post some more as we go along.

>26 msf59:. Thanks, buddy. Katz is a good ‘un isn’t he.

Man, I’m loving The Killer GN. Thanks for the rec! Just my kind of noir. I wonder whether the Netflix adaptation will be any good, I’ll surely check it out when the time comes.

Did you ever read This is How You Lose the Time Wars? It’s certainly a clever piece of work.

I join your booing of the Bears. They’re going backwards and doing nothing to help a promising young quarterback. If only they could hire Mike Reid! If the Bears had drafted Mahomes, would even he have been able to overcome our lousy coaching?

Today’s Bargains: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok for$1.99 on e-readers. Debbi and I thought The Testaments was a solid follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale. I enjoyed Girl in Translation.

>27 jnwelch: Great attitude, Joe. I'll try to improve my grumpy self based on your wonderful model.

Happy new thread, Joe! Love the photos of your grands and the Colombian trip. Sounds like your family made some great memories!

>28 jnwelch: I was very impressed by the toppers and later additions but I got distracted! All the Columbia pictures!

Great holiday photos Joe.

>9 jnwelch: I really enjoyed this volume. I still have H is for Hawk to read. She has just co written a SciFi novel.

Looking forward to Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad, due to land today. Autumn reading.

>30 kac522:. Thank you for the kind words, Kathy. Good luck!

>31 bell7:. Thanks, Mary. Yes, great memories and - an expanded family. So many good people on Adriana’s side.

>32 quondame:. Ha! Glad to hear it, Susan. His art is impressive, isn’t it. Hail, Colombia!

>33 Caroline_McElwee:. Thanks, Caroline. Co-written a sci-fi book? Intriguing. Haven’t read H is for Hawk? What an uncommon route to reading her, but I love the endorsement of Vesper Flights.

How cool! I’m going to be reading the Emily Wilson Iliad translation, too. Are we a couple of nerds, or what? Please let me know if anything strikes you as you’re reading along. I’m staying in touch with Amber about it.

Today’s Bargain: Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke for $1.99 on e-readers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H197GV7?_bbid=163803920&tag=bookbubemail1-20

One of my favorites of his.

Happy new thread Joe!

Lovely photos of all the family (for once I can see them). How nice that you got to meet Adri's extended family. Looks like you all had a wonderful time.

>3 jnwelch: I always love seeing these lists! I have read several, have several in the BlackHole already, and it looks as if I need to add several.

>6 jnwelch: >7 jnwelch: >8 jnwelch: Thanks for sharing the pictures, Joe!

Happy new thread, Joe!

>36 humouress:. Thanks, Nina! We had some trepidation going to Colombia, but meeting Adriana’s family was not a reason. (Heat was). We’d met her folks and a cousin, and her aunt, uncle and another cousin stayed with us in Chicago. Nonetheless, the number of family members greeting us on our first night was a bit jaw-dropping. All of them welcoming and looking to help make our stay a happy one. Her uncle told her she was lucky to have us for in-laws, and we’d say the same for our son and his new family. And oh my, do they all love Rafa and Fina to pieces. (Hard not to). Good thing R&F have their parents to bring them back down to earth.

>37 alcottacre:. Isn’t that fun, Stasia? I love seeing Favorites lists, too. What a good reading year it’s been. Once again I’m grateful for how much LT has upped my reading game.

Thanks re the photos and the new thread!

>38 jnwelch: I will say that 2023 has been an awesome reading year for me too and it is not done yet! I know LT has upped my reading game - if you go back to my original thread in 2008, you could see just how much. It is embarrassing.

>39 alcottacre:. Glad to hear it, Stasia. Can’t wait to see your list of favorites. There are so many times LTers persuaded me, through a review or otherwise, to read something excellent. Most recently it was Mark and Demon Copperhead. Anne has put Trust in my future. And the years-ago Steinbeckathon had a big impact, turning him into one of my favorite authors.

Today’s Bargains: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and House of Broken Angel by Luis Alberto Urrea, each for $1.99 on e-readers. Engaging sci-fi by a popular author, and an excellent novel by the author of Good Night, Irene.

>41 jnwelch:
I will put in a plug for Old Man's War as well. It is also a series, so if you like Sci/Fi this may be a great starting point into a new series.

I got to hear Luis Alberto Urrea speak at the Southern Book Festival in Nashville one year and really enjoyed his speech. He is as engaging to hear as he is to read.

>42 benitastrnad:. Thanks, Benita. I’m glad you pointed that out. Old Man’s war starts a topnotch series, so if you like it, there’s more good reading to be had.

I’d love to hear Urrea speak. Good to hear your positive reaction.

>41 jnwelch: I loved Old Man's War when I read it several years ago, but I have not read The House of Broken Angels yet although it is in the BlackHolw. Maybe after I read Good Night, Irene?

>44 alcottacre:. Old Man’s War was memorably good, wasn’t it, Stasia. I was staggered at first by how different Good Night, Irene is from House of Broken Angels. Knowing now how GNI is connected to his mother’s war experience, I get it. Be sure to read the Afterword.

Some thoughts on art, writing and graffiti: as you can tell, I prefer representational art to abstract. There are exceptions and gray areas. I enjoy Rothko’s misty color transitions- they reach something inside me. I love Matisse’s cutouts, which i guess are representational-adjacent. Where would we fit in Sarah Sze’s fascinating sculptures?

As to abstract art, my perception (perhaps unfair) is that too often its intended (?) audience is other painters and critics, sophisticates, rather than the public. To me it is akin to academic writing, written for other academics and often with an eye toward tenure. My English prof BIL is a charming, funny guy who has written books about fun topics (con men in literature-not many women, as far as I know) (Fast Talk and Flush Times) and explorers in South America (Ruins, Revolution and Manifest Destiny). But I find (don’t tell him!) his prose impenetrable. They’re not written for the general public.

I just read about Stephen Hawking’s determination to write a book for the general public, which back then his publisher took a dim view of. The result was the spectacular commercial success A Brief History of Time. A book some times called the most purchased, least read ever.*

I also relate this to what I call “signature graffiti” taggers, who subject all of us to their unappealing signatures on walls, bridges, etc. Their intended audience is other taggers, other gang members, maybe with a thumbed nose at the general public. Directed to “sophisticates”, I guess, in their world. Compare that to the beautiful street art created by artists like Alice Pasquini,Banksy or Keith Haring. Debbi and I have gone on street art tours where it’s been thrilling to see a drab public space transformed by a talented artist.

*. I read and enjoyed it, but spent a more than brief amount of time watching his ideas sail high over my head . His ideas, Einstein’s and other physiciists’ are so intriguing, but they are so big that they can be hard to grasp. I need to read about them from a variety of sources to get a glimpse of understanding for many. Black holes, gravity, light, quantum events are some of them. Why is the speed of light fixed, the only physical event that is. Well, why does the universe exist at all? Why is macro so different from micro?

>45 jnwelch: I will do that, Joe. Thanks for the heads up.

BTW - I will be reading This is How You Lose the Time War in October. I am really looking forward to it.

Have a wonderful weekend, Joe!

Today’s Bargains: The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern and The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, each for $1.99 on e-readers.

Debbi, Becca and I all loved the phantasmagorical The Night Circus. They persuaded me to read it, and I agree that it’s probably one you don’t want to miss. The other is prime Bradbury.

This Is How Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Just about everyone seems to agree that the beginning of this short novel is confusing. You hit the ground running in a multi-verse time travel story featuring characters named Blue and Red. Once you get your bearings and the structure sinks in, though, it becomes a smart poetic story about an endless battle to control butterfly effects and secure the right future. It’s not exactly epistolary, but there are a number of letters in unusual forms and receptacles that show us the developing relationship of Red and Blue. I can see why so many are excited about this one; it seems to break new ground in the way Ann Leckie did a few years ago. Our son and I have been texting about it. He’s determined to do a re-read, and I think I probably should, too.

>47 alcottacre:. Cool, Stasia. I can’t wait to hear what you think of Good Night, Irene. Adriana and I are big fans. Such a good author.

You can see my comments above on This is How You Lose The Time War. Please report back!

>46 jnwelch: Joe, my Monday book group is discussing When We Cease to Understand the World, which deals with, among other things, Heisenberg's dizzying Uncertainty Principle, similarly difficult to grasp. But the book, actually a novel, deals more with the effects of discovery on the scientists themselves, and the ways in which discovery is put to use. The author states in an afterword that the first chapter, titled 'Prussian Blue', is almost entirely non-fiction, while the subsequent parts are more and more fictional. The science, however, is true. Have you read this? If so, does it read like a work of fiction to you?

>51 ffortsa:. I wish I could say yes, Judy. Shame on me, I’ve not even heard of it. Do you think I’d like it? Anyway, if time permits, it’d be fun to hear about your book club’s reactions.

BTW, we saw an excellent Steppenwolf play last night called “ Sanctuary City”, by the Pulitzer winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living). I believe it started in NYC. Did you see this one? We were impressed.

I seem to be an outlier on This is How You Lose the Time War - the form was interesting, but the content less so. Much less so.

>53 quondame:. I’m surprised there aren’t more readers like you, Susan. It’s elusive, a story you have to chase after.

. Also, the underlying story is pretty … basic. Agent and agent fight for aeons, begin to like each other, begin to love each other, employers decide to end them, but the two over time have become one, eluding their employers’ plans to end them. It does seem akin to a poem, to me, where the beauty lies in the presentation.

From The Killer by Jacamon & Matz. Is this right?:

“I’m not sure real change is possible. I don’t even know if it’s desirable. Man’ll never change. Always ready to rough up his fellow man if there’s something in it for him.”

And is this limited to the male gender?

>55 jnwelch: t is true, and it is gender-blind. Depressing, ain't it?

>49 jnwelch:
This is How You Lose the Time War was one of those books that has caused me to think, think, and rethink. I read it back in October of 2021. It proved to be an extremely popular title in our library collection and was always going out on Inter-Library Loan requests. I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Comparing it to Ann Leckie is a very astute connection, in that it has all that gender ambiguity of her Breq novels. Time War is also akin to Leckie in that time is fluid as well. I am thinking here of Leckie's novel Raven Tower in which Leckie explores the idea of religious fervor and philosophy that develops over millennium. And, perhaps, the biggest question in Raven Tower what is time to a rock? Or what is Time to God?

The rhythm and pacing of Time War is interesting. What happens to Red and Blue is the epitome of the old military adage of "hurry up and wait." It is also the epitome of the life of a solider in which the common soldier's lot is just to obey without question. Too much thinking is dangerous. Especially the question of the purpose of the war.

I found it to be an exploratory novel. By that I mean, that it tested the boundaries of what a novel is or could be. For that reason, I suspect that rereading Time War would still lead to questions. Perhaps with different answers than the first time around, but still questions. I think that is the beauty and the bane of science fiction. It is a genre that can make you think, but it can also puzzle you and cause great reader frustration as well. I do have to applaud the author for writing such a novel, and the publisher for taking a chance on it and publishing and distributing it.

For those of you out there reading this exchange, I have this advice for you. If reading novels that cause you to think and rethink, and think again of the purpose of the novel, or what story is it telling, this is your kind of novel to read. If those kinds of things confuse you, find a different novel to read.

>52 jnwelch: Not at all sure you would like When We Cease to Understand the World. It was only recently translated from the Spanish (I think). As I indicated, it doesn't feel so much like a work of fiction, but it does get weirder and weirder as it makes what I think are the points the author is after.

>56 richardderus:. Leave it to you to give me a straight (pardon the word choice), unwelcome answer, Richard. This kindness project is going to be even tougher than I originally thought.

>57 benitastrnad:. Thanks for the deep thinking in this one, Benita. I’m glad you liked the Ann Leckie comparison. I was indeed thinking of the Ancillary books, although it sounds like I could’ve included Raven Tower.

You may be right that a reread of This Is How You Lose the Time War would only create more questions. But it’d be interesting to try it with an understanding from the get-go of what generally is going on.

Its relative brevity probably makes its challenging presentation more palatable.

>58 ffortsa:. Hmm. Thanks, Judy. I’ll mull. Can’t wait to hear what your book club has to say about it.

>59 jnwelch: ANY attempt to top up Humanity's kindness tanks is doomed, Joe. It will end in failure. It needn't end in unhappiness or frustration if you decide that failure is okay, the attempt is the important part. THAT was my hardest battle, still being waged daily.

>61 richardderus:. Gotcha, RD. Yup. It may never reach the numbers we’d like, but it’s worth doing regardless. On a small scale, there are plenty of times it makes all the difference. Doomed as it may be, I’ll of course continue to hope for large scale incremental change. The way we individually behave is always a vote for what we want to have.

But my abstractness may unintentionally sail us up into the blathersphere. Facebook had one of those questions yesterday: what is the secret of a successful marriage. I answered: Don’t keep score; be kind to each other. That’s what I’m talking about.

Today’s Bargain: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami for $1.99 on e-readers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004AP9W1O?_bbid=164161000&tag=bookbubemail1-20

When asked for my favorite Murakami, I answer Kafka on the Shore and Wind up Bird Chronicle. But this one also comes to mind. Talk about challenging reading! This is an awful lot of mind boggle for very little money.

Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths. Well, this was a disappointment. After the satisfying ending to her Ruth Galloway series, i was looking forward to this one featuring a promising new detective, gay sikh DI Harbinder Kaur, who first appeared in Stranger Diaries. Debbi had warned me this one is just okay and she’s right. The biggest missing ingredient- almost no development of the characters, including Kaur. Since the characters (especially Ruth, Nelson and Cathbad, but many others, too) are what powers the appeal of Ruth’s series, the big fail in Bleeding Heart Yard is hard to figure. The plot has holes, too. Turns out a victim of falling under a train actually had been shot - but no one in the original investigation caught that. Huh?. Well, we all have off days, and I guess this is an off-book for Griffiths.

>64 jnwelch: Bleeding Heart Yard Would the police check what they could find of a head which had been run over by a train to find evidence of a bullet wound? I can see how that might be overlooked or simply not detectable.

>65 quondame:. Forgive me, Susan, i just can’t buy it. Cause of death is such a biggie. . The police also didn’t question obvious witnesses - all to help sell the “reveal” at the end. Unlikely,?and that’s seemingly sloppy authoring.

>66 jnwelch: But wasn't it thought to be accidental/suicide? That's not an uncommon device in books when a private detective is brought in because the police didn't investigate a death that's suspicious to the client.

>68 jnwelch: I guess that the impact on me of inconsistencies 21 years before the main story line was glancing while for you it was a direct hit. I was probably concentrating more on different aspects, though it's been long enough (more than 4 days) that I can't say what.

>69 quondame:. Understood, Susan. I probably had a stronger than usual reaction after being pleased with The Last Remains (and all her others). I expected better.

P.S. it won’t keep me from reading her next Harbinder Kaur story. One more like this might.

>48 jnwelch: I am also a huge fan of The Night Circus. I read my local library's copy and promptly bought a copy for myself :)

>49 jnwelch: On my list to read this month!

>64 jnwelch: I was not that big of a fan of Griffith's previous series so I think I will be giving this one a pass.

Have a marvelous Monday, Joe!

Today’s Bargain: Big Sky by Kate Atkinson for $1.99 on e-readers. Kate Atkinson, Jackson Brodie; need I say more?

>71 alcottacre:. Right, Stasia? The Night Circus is such a good one. Kudos to Debbi and Becca for keeping after me about it.

If you’re not a big fan of her other ones, it makes sense to skip BHY.

Thanks re a marvelous Monday; I hope the same for you. I have another sleep test tonight. Fingers crossed something good comes out of it.

Can’t wait to hear what you think of This is How You Lose the Time War.

Emily Wilson, acclaimed translator of The Odyssey and her new version of The Iliad (no touchstone comments please), in a CNN interview, responding to a question about how many media reports have focused on her gender:

“I also worry that if you say being a woman is the main thing about this woman, then you're being really reductive and suggesting that all the choices that somebody makes, if they're a woman, are completely determined by gender. Whereas all the male translators never get asked about their gender. We never have a conversation with a male scholar or male translator and say, How does being male affect your work?”

She also points out that, if you look internationally, she is NOT the “first woman” to translate Homer, and that saying so denigrates others.

More from EW:

“My daily life as a translator is I'm enmeshed in this really difficult and fascinating task about these words and then a hundred different words I could use in English to render these same words. I can think of 50 different ways of doing this, each of which will be responsible, each of which would tell the truth in some way or other about the Greek. Was there already. Which of those truths do I most want to tell? Which is the most true out of 50 different possible truths? What does that have to do with gender? Mostly nothing, I would say.“

P.S. i’m reading her new Iliad, along with the new Cormoran Strike novel, Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling. The latter is 950 pages and the former over 700. I’m joining the John Simpson hefty tomes club.

Today’s Bargain: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Illustrated Edition by Douglas Adams for $1.99 on e-readers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XUBC2C?_bbid=164171558&tag=bookbubemail1-20

I don’t know about the illustrations, but what a cool book .

National Book Award Finalists

Fiction

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, “Chain-Gang All-Stars”

Aaliyah Bilal, “Temple Folk”

Paul Harding, “This Other Eden”

Hanna Pylväinen, “The End of Drum-Time”

Justin Torres, “Blackouts”

Nonfiction

Ned Blackhawk, “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History”

Cristina Rivera Garza, “Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice”

Christina Sharpe, “Ordinary Notes”

Raja Shehadeh, “We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir”

John Vaillant, “Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World”

Poetry

John Lee Clark, “How to Communicate”

Craig Santos Perez, “from unincorporated territory åmot”

Evie Shockley, “suddenly we”

Brandon Som, “Tripas”

Monica Youn, “From From”

Hi Joe, Happy New Thread mate.

>78 johnsimpson:. Thanks, John, ol’ buddy. I just mentioned you at the end of >75 jnwelch:. I’m joining your hefty tomes club.

Today’s Mystery Bargains: Whip Hand by Dick Francis and Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, each for $.99 on e-readers. One of DF’s best, and a classic from DLS that is a particular treat for Lord Peter and Harriet Vane fans.

Joe - from YA Keynan Masters and The Peerless Magic Crew -

"Great Poems
get past the surface,
past what your eyes show you."

>76 jnwelch: I agree it is a cool book. I read it several years ago and need to reread it at some point.

>77 jnwelch: My local library has exactly 2 of the fiction and nonfiction books combined, one of which I have home from the library to read now (Liliana’s Invincible Summer). Hopefully the library will get some of the others in soon!

>80 jnwelch: Oh, Gaudy Night is a good one!

>82 alcottacre:. I’m glad you agree, Stasia, re Hitchhiker’s Guide and the good one Gaudy Night!

I can recommend Chain Gang All Stars from the NBA list. Scathing. Your library is likely to have it. His previous book, Friday Black, was a success, too.

>81 m.belljackson:. Nice one, Marianne. I like that.

I love it when I come across an interview with an author I admire. Here’s one of the author of Trust:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trust-author-hernan-diaz/?fbclid=IwAR0XkBTh3Yul3Qjs...

>84 NarratorLady: I saw that too....wasn't he interesting? I have not read Trust, and am still not sure I will, but I enjoyed hearing Diaz talk about his work.

Sweet Thursday, Joe. It sounds like you are enjoying those current reads. I am enjoying This Other Eden very much. Dude can certainly write. I am also having a good time with my audio Five Wounds. She reminds me of Luis Albert Urrea.

Thanks for posting the National Book finalists. I am curious about the Justin Torres novel. I have added Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World to my audio list. I like his writing. Are you familiar at all with any of these poets?

>84 NarratorLady:. Thanks for the link. I like his attitude, and it’s good to have a fellow appreciator or writing longhand.

>85 laytonwoman3rd:. I’ve got Trust in my future, Linda. Although reading four finance-based stories won’t be my usual cuppa.

>86 msf59:. Sweet Thursday, Mark. This other Eden has me intrigued. His Tinkers went over well with me a few years ago. I’m glad you’re liking it so far. Five Wounds is new to me, but I caught that Urrea reference. Good for you for continuing the audio books post-retirement. I thought they might fall by the wayside.

Those NBA poets are mainly new to me, although I believe I’ve read Monica Youn along the way. I’m going to start with hers.

>83 jnwelch: No, my local library does not have Chain Gang All Stars. I wish it did. I started Liliana's Invincible Summer last night and gave it up after 50+ pages. I just could not handle the author's style.

>88 alcottacre:. Jeesh, I’m surprised, Stasia. Too bad. He’s a big deal new author. 83 copies available here to me in our city system. If you want to come visit, I’ll get one.

Good job Pearl-ruling that offputting style one. Life is too short, and there are so many good ones clamoring for your attention.

>85 laytonwoman3rd: The other night I went to hear Walter Isaacson speak about his new book Elon Musk. (I was far more interested in Walter than I was in Elon.) These author readings have taken the place of movies for me. I get a real thrill listening to smart people talk!

>90 NarratorLady: we heard him on streaming from the 92nd St. Y, I think. Remarkable discussion.

>90 NarratorLady:. Hi, Anne. I heard Walter Isaacson speak on TV about Code Breaker, featuring Jennifer Doudna (still my favorite of his), and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not the same as the electricity of being there in person. But as you say, listening to smart people talk is thrilling.

My favorite in-person appearance is from many years ago: Walter Mosley, reading from his newest book (Bad Boy Brawly Brown) and answering questions.

How great to have author appearances replace going to the movies as your favorite (?) entertainment. Although I confess I’d have to do both.

>91 ffortsa:. He’s an impressively sharp guy, Judy, isn’t he. What a range of brilliant folks he’s profiled. Einstein was another good one of his.

I'd love to hear Isaacson...I will recommend adding him to our list of possibles for our library system's American Masters Lecture series. This year we had Doris Kearns Goodwin; in the past we've had Colson Whitehead, Salmon Rushdie, David McCullough, and others of that stature, so I dare hope.

>93 laytonwoman3rd: Isaacson’s teacher at Harvard was Doris Kearns and when he said that a collective “Ooooo!” went up. (To be fair we were in Cambridge so that was to be expected.)

>94 NarratorLady:. 😀

Today’s Bargain: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel for $1.99 on e-readers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099DRHTLX?_bbid=164437288&tag=bookbubemail1-20

More riveting storytelling from the Station Eleven author.

>89 jnwelch: Eighty-three copies and I cannot even get 1! Man. Unfortunately the closest I am getting to Chicago in the near future is Joplin here in a couple of weeks. Maybe my local library will get a copy in soon.

>96 jnwelch: I liked that one quite a bit when I read it several years ago.

Have a wonderful weekend, Joe!

>97 alcottacre:. Hi, Stasia. Fingers crossed that your local library gets in Chain Gang All-Stars. Are you all having your annual Joplin LT meetup?

Wasn’t Sea of Tranquility good? I felt quite tranquil reading a lot of it. Her writing style carries me along like a boat on the sea.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too.

>96 jnwelch: Great deal, and one everyone should get in their heads ASAP.

Have a great weekend-ahead's reads, Joe.

Hey, I’m in the middle of G-man, a bio of J Edgar Hoover. Just read the chapter about Hoover and the Army-McCarthy hearings - and guess who’s there… some guy named Welch. 😀

Hi Joe. Finally making my way back to your thread. I finished Prophet Song this week and I gave it five stars. I haven't read the whole short list but so far this is my pick for the Booker.

Happy Saturday, Joe. I circled back and read the Emily Wilson comments. Utterly fascinating. An art form all by itself. I am also glad she called out the misogyny.

I am glad you posted the Sea of Tranquility deal. Such a good book.

This Other Eden is a terrific read but it will also break your heart.

Joe - Praying that Hamas releases her alive.

>99 richardderus:👍. Thanks, RD. Just finished the very good Running Grave, and I’m enjoying The Iliad, which Emily Wilson has made come alive like she did The Odyssey.

>100 drneutron:. Hi, Jim. Ah, what a treat that Welch was and is. Geez, was j. Edgar as much of a whacko as it seems?

>101 EBT1002:. Cool, Ellen. Prophet Song is now on my radar. From the longlist i can recommend Tan Twan Eng’s House of Doors.

>102 msf59:. Happy Sunday, Mark. Aren’t those fascinating comments on translation by Emily Wilson? I can tell you that this new one of hers jumps off the page.

Hope you’re having a great weekend. Nice find with that Linda Pastan collection.

The Complete The Killer by Jacamon and Matz. Not for everyone, but this noir is my favorite GN of the year. Thank you to Mark for recommending it. As he said, it’s reminiscent of GNs by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, e.g. their Reckless series. As it got more international, it also made me think of the Jack Ryan streaming series, in a good way.

I’ll try to post some of the illustrations later.

Running Grave by JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith. Robin volunteers to go undercover in a cult that emphasizes diversity and good works, but may have hidden agendas. The goal is to persuade the brainwashed son of a client to break free of the cult and help him do it. Those fascinated by cults will find a lot to like here. Fans, like me, will enjoy the new ride with Cormoran and Robin. As happened with the Harry Potter series, the books in this series keep lengthening. This one clocks in at 950 pages. I won’t be surprised if she breaks the 1000 page barrier with the next one.

Today’s Bargain: Open Season by C.J. Box, for $1.99 on e-readers. The first in the Joe Pickett mystery series, which is one of my favorites. An honest guy often caught in dishonest situations.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00452V3VE?_bbid=164440278&tag=bookbubemail1-20

>104 jnwelch: I got ILIAD ON MY Kindle the day of; it's poetry, so naturally it's slow reading for me since I need to stop before seasickness sets in. Taken in doses I can endure it. Very much liked The Guardian's review:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/27/the-iliad-by-homer-translated-by-e...
Most definitely agree with:

There are appealing features that distinguish her version from others. {...} We can hear Agamemnon’s narcissism and negativity, Nestor’s senescent garrulity, Thersites’ demagogic snarls, Hecuba’s near-derangement after multiple bereavements and Andromache’s intelligence and despair.

All in all, a far superior read to the old Fitzgeralds and Fagles ones I knew.

Happy week-ahead's reads!

>104 jnwelch: Like everything else. He was complicated. But, yeah, he was a wacko.

>108 richardderus: oh, good to hear, RD, thanks. I’ve certainly gotten what an a**hole Agamemnon was, loud and clear. I’ll look forward to getting herctake on the others.

I’ll enjoy reading that Guardian article. Right now I’m getting a kick out of the New Yorker article about/ interview with her. I hope you get to see their photo of her - she has a spectacular octopus tattoo on her arm.

I first liked the Fagles’ Homer the best, then Stanley Lombardo’s, with its clarity and immediacy, became my favorite. Now Emily Wilson is my #1 for The Odyssey, and I suspect hers will be for The Iliad, too. What a thoughtful genius for translation she has. She’s gotten some criticism for her modernisms (e.g. “Stop! You are acting crazy, Menelaus!”) but overall it works for me. And it’s way better than flowery formalism.

P.S. I couldn’t wait, and read the Guardian review. Love the enthusiasm, and of course agree with Edith Hall’s points. My one peeve is her failure to include the Lombardo translations in her list of predecessors. He deserves more recognition and appreciation.

>109 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. Kudos to you for reading about him. From what little I know, he seems a bit like the Orange Disaster: heavy-handed abuse of power and personally all screwed up. Devoid of what anyone might call charisma, though.

>106 jnwelch: No kidding, about the length of those books! I'm looking forward to this one, but I usually listen to the audiobooks, to save my wrists!

>110 jnwelch: I completely agree about Stanley Lombardo's translation of Odyssey not getting enough luuuv...I got it way back when on your advice and you were right about its pleasantly poetical nature. I like Wilson's better, largely because of the modernisms. This cycle of stories wasn't meant to be trapped at one moment in time, forever locked into one and only one meaning or sound. This was ancient Greek oratorio-cum-rap. I will bet money that, given a way to bring a 10th-century BCE bard into the present, they'd be at poetry slams and listening to rap with gusto. You don't get more violent and angry and offensively loud than Iliad, after all.

>111 foggidawn:. Ha! Good idea, foggi! I Kindled this one, for similar reasons.

>112 richardderus:. So well said, Richard! Yes, this was rowdy entertainment back then, and I can imagine the surge of emotions in the audience. These weren’t for hushed, reverent contemplation. In that NYorker article wilson emphasizes that aspect, and the emotional charge and force she’s trying to bring to the translation.

I’m so glad I helped persuade you to try the Lombardo translation! It would be my favorite but for Wilson’s. I think it’s still Amber’s favorite. She’s not as sold on the wilson translations as you and I, if I read her right. Maybe we can get her to comment on all this.

Man, I’m reading W’s new Iliad right now and my reaction is, it cooks!

>113 jnwelch: It does indeed...I'm not far in, but...wow

>114 richardderus: 😀. Ditto.

Today’s Bargains: The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers and Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey, each for $1.99 on e-readers. The first is one of my favorites from this acclaimed sci-fi author, with individuals from three different species having to learn to understand one another, and to work together toward a critical goal. The second is a memoir much-admired by LTers, by a poet I much admire.

>98 jnwelch: Yes, we are having our annual Joplin LT meetup, although for the first time ever, we are having it in October. The 20th to be precise.

>116 jnwelch: I very much enjoyed the Wayfarers series by Chambers a few years ago :)

I wanted to mention that I just finished I Saw Death Coming by Kidada E. Williams which is on the National Book Award longlist for nonfiction as Chain Gang All-Stars is. I thought Williams book was excellent!

>117 alcottacre:. Nice, Stasia. That seems like such a fun meetup. Do you ever accept newcomers, or has it become a tradition as is?

Ditto re the Wayfarers series. I had a great time with that. I’m less enchanted with and more undecided about herMonk & Robot books. You?

Good to know about I Saw Death Coming. I’ll take a look!

>118 jnwelch: We accept anyone, Joe! We are having a couple of newcomers this year as a matter of fact - Benita and Roni are both coming.

I have only read the first book in the Monk & Robot books and I liked it, but I have never gotten around to any of the others in that series.

My thoughts on I Saw Death Coming are posted on my thread :)

Today’s Bargains: Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, each for $1.99 on e-readers. The first is a compelling look at poverty in this country, our contribution to it, and solutions. The second is overwhelmingly good and scary.

>119 alcottacre:. Great to hear, Stasia. What an LT year Roni is having! Some day I may figure out a way to join you all.

My experience with the Monk & Robot books is identical. The first was all right, and I haven’t gone on.

I’ll take a look at I Saw Death Coming.

Happy Wednesday, Joe. I hope you are having a good week and enjoying those books. I still intend to get to Poverty in America. I am going to try it on audio. I am starting the 3rd book in the Sean Duffy series. I also like these on audio. I have not started the Yeats yet. Skippy Dies has been taking up most of my reading time. It is quite good, though.

A great question from Nicholas Mendoza in the Silent Book Club on Facebook:

What book (within the last 10 years) do you see becoming a modern classic and eventually a classroom staple?

My picks were both NF: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and Evicted by Matthew Desmond.

P.S. Fiction picks also welcome.

>122 msf59:. Hiya, Mark. Happy Wednesday, as we slide our way into Sweet Thursday.

Can’t wait to hear what you think of Poverty by America. I just nominated his Evicted as an enduring classic. One of those “thank goodness we have him” authors like Wilkerson.

I think I’ve got that 3d Sean Duffy on my tbr - or is there a 4th out? Good character and series.

Go Yeats! I had some poems in a college exhibition (on the wall, like paintings), and the curator described them as “”Yeatsian”. Yes, please!

I’ll have to find out more about Skippy Dies.

I’m enjoying Emergent Properties, which has a bit of Murderbot flavor, and my long term read The Iliad.

P.S. I’m on the 7th Sean Duffy, The Detective Up Late. Hooked.

Kirkus Prize Winners: Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Our Migrant Souls by Hector Tobar and America Redux: Visual Stories by Ariel Aberg-Riger.

This prize is 10 years old and new to me, but I sure like that James McBride pick.

>124 jnwelch: Oh, I just realized I too am up to the 7th Sean Duffy. I may save it for traveling later in November, but it's good to know there's more!

>123 jnwelch: A great question, Joe. I don't read a lot of contemporary books, but I would anticipate that these books could work well in classroom settings and generate a lot of discussion:

March, John Lewis
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder
Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

They are all short enough to fit well into a school's curriculum (I'm thinking junior high/high school), but filled with important topics that are accessible to students at different levels.

>121 jnwelch: I would love to meet you and Debbi in person, Joe! The Joplin meet up has always been open to everyone.

>123 jnwelch: Does it have to be a nonfiction book? I would nominate the fictional Prophet Song that I just recently read. There are certainly a lot of topics for discussion in it!

>125 jnwelch: I have not read any of those yet. I will have to remedy that.

>126 ffortsa:. Go Sean Duffy! Glad to hear we’re fellow fans, Judy. It should make for an excellent travel book.

>127 kac522:. What great picks, Kathy! I’m right there with you on the March Trilogy (shove it, Florida!), and on Tyranny. I don’t know Small Things Like These, but no doubt should remedy that.

>128 alcottacre:. Thanks, Stasia. We’d love it! Would the best way to come to Joplin from Chicago be to drive, do you know?

No, fiction would be great in answer to >123 jnwelch:. I just happened to think of a couple of NFs. Both you and Ellen admire Prophet Song. I’m going to go look at that right after posting.

I’m curious myself about the other two, but I can heartily recommend The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

Taking leave of the threads here has such tribulations. I lost my way in September. Jumping in is, for me, fraught. I skimmed a comment that referenced a post without citing the post number, but I really wanted to read that old post. So I jumped back in time, returning to the top of the thread and scrolled through until I found it. (And realized that I had read it.)

I'm my own worst enemy it seems, being unable to jump past unread posts and reintroduce myself. No, I gonna traipse through the entire thread. Seeing what I missed. Dumbass.

>130 weird_O: I really struggle sometimes when people don’t use the post number referback thingy, or when they’re skimpy with book titles or other identifying info in their responses. I keep up with LT, at least once or twice a day, but if someone references a post that happened days ago, I’m not going to remember. So I skip it. Makes me sad.

Karen O

P.s. Hiya, Joe!

>129 jnwelch:
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store won the 2023 Kirkus Award for Fiction last night. I like James McBride and want to add this book to my Books Read list ASAP. However, it is checked out at the local library and so I will have to wait a bit for it to be available. The fact that it is checked out makes me think it is popular so that is a good thing!

Bee Sting, the book everybody is talking about over on other threads, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize as well.

>130 weird_O:. Good to see you, Bill. No worries. It’s all for fun, yes? I know your dilemma - I face it every time I catch up on others’ threads. We do the best we can. What was the post you thought you hadn’t read but you had? I’m intrigued that there was one that caused you to go back like that.

You can shuttle me to Saskatchewan for my not getting to your thread in a while. I’ll try to fix that today.

>131 klobrien2:. Hiya, Karen! You inspire me to want to be careful in identifying refer-backs. I’ve certainly experienced what you and Bill are talking about.

I have mixed feelings about touchstones. I do my best, but sometimes LT makes it so hard to hunt and find the correct title and author. A few years ago now I tried to push for at least putting any exact matches at the top (that should be “easily”programmable, right?), but no dice.

>132 benitastrnad:. Hi, Benita. Yes, I mentioned the Kirkus winners up in >125 jnwelch:. Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is well-deserving (it’s even a good candidate for >123 jnwelch:), and I’m pretty sure you’ll be happy with it.

>129 jnwelch: Would the best way to come to Joplin from Chicago be to drive, do you know? I honestly have no idea, Joe, as I come from the opposite direction! I have never gone to Joplin other than by car myself.

I gave Prophet Song 5 stars - and then promptly donated to my local library which did not have a copy at the time. I think the book deserves wide attention!

Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is already in the BlackHole or I would definitely be adding it again.

>134 alcottacre:. Worth asking, Stasia. If there were a train to Joplin or nearby, I’d be tempted.

Prophet song looks most excellent. I added it to my WL.

You seem like a natural for enjoying the heck out of Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

P.S. There may be such a train. I’ll investigate further. Is the meetup usually in October?

>131 klobrien2: I do love when people take the responsibilities of non-synchronous communication to heart. Referents are our dear friends.

>129 jnwelch: Yes, I think you should get to know Claire Keegan. She usually writes short works. One of her works (either Small Things Like These or Foster) is already part of the curriculum for secondary students in Ireland.

>136 quondame:👍

>137 kac522:. Thanks, Kathy. I’ve added STLT to the WL.

In my opinion the best way to get to Joplin, MO is to drive. There is a nice four-lane national highway that goes from Joplin to K.C. (I49). It is listed as being an Interstate but the last time I was on it, it was not an Interstate all the way to K.C. I44 goes from Tulsa to Joplin.

If you were asking me I would say get in your car and drive from Chicago to Joplin. It will be a long drive as both Illinois and Missouri are big states, but you would spend as much time driving as you would trying to fly. If you were flying I would say that flying into Tulsa, OK, renting a car, and then driving to Joplin would be the shorter route. You could also fly to K. C. and then drive south to Joplin.

It has always amazed me that, as big of a state as Missouri is, it has a dearth of Interstate highways. Most of them are along the edges of the state. Only two cross the state - Interstate 70 and Interstate 44.

Missouri is the 21 largest state and Illinois is the 25th so both states are close to the same size.

>139 benitastrnad:. Hi, Benita. Thanks. I’d sure like to make it to that Joplin meet-up some year. We could do an Amtrak train ( we enjoy riding a train) but we’d need to go through Kansas City and probably have to switch trains, so it might be simpler to drive.

Today’s Bargains: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, both for $1.99 on e-readers. In the first a struggling teen benefits from meeting her Buddhist nun great-grandmother, and the second is classic sci-fi.

RIP, LG

The Untrustworthy Speaker
BY LOUISE GLÜCK

Don’t listen to me; my heart’s been broken.
I don’t see anything objectively.

I know myself; I’ve learned to hear like a psychiatrist.
When I speak passionately,
that’s when I’m least to be trusted.

It’s very sad, really: all my life, I’ve been praised
for my intelligence, my powers of language, of insight.
In the end, they’re wasted—

I never see myself,
standing on the front steps, holding my sister’s hand.
That’s why I can’t account
for the bruises on her arm, where the sleeve ends.

In my own mind, I’m invisible: that’s why I’m dangerous.
People like me, who seem selfless,
we’re the cripples, the liars;
we’re the ones who should be factored out
in the interest of truth.

When I’m quiet, that’s when the truth emerges.
A clear sky, the clouds like white fibers.
Underneath, a little gray house, the azaleas
red and bright pink.

If you want the truth, you have to close yourself
to the older daughter, block her out:
when a living thing is hurt like that,
in its deepest workings,
all function is altered.

That’s why I’m not to be trusted.
Because a wound to the heart
is also a wound to the mind.

Hi Joe! For modern classic, I'm going to nominate Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

>143 banjo123:. Great pick, Rhonda! You (Gilead) have got my vote.

>137 kac522: Totally agree - Claire Keegan is a terrific writer.

>142 jnwelch: Oh dear. Something real. Very real.

Oh, and thank you, Louise Glück has grandparents of the same original name and origin as my grandmother, and so may be a distant cousin so I could count one of her books in the family connection TIOLI.

Happy Sunday, Joe. I like the Gluck poem. Thanks for sharing. I would like to make the Joplin trip one of these days too.

I am currently enjoying The Killer Vol 2. I just got The Complete The Killer from the library. I will see how far I can get.

Go Bears! It would be nice to see back to back wins.

>131 klobrien2: WHY do people do that? You just hit reply, the number appears, go to town. As close to zero effort as it gets. Replying to several and don't know the other posts' numbers? Look 'em up or, if that's too much effort, maybe reply to them individually with a see post above. It's better than assuming other people should do the work for you.

>133 jnwelch: ^^^see post above

Today’s Bargain: Booked to Die by John Dunning for $1.99 on e-readers. https://www.amazon.com/Booked-Die-Cliff-Janeway-Novels-ebook/dp/B0078XFWGY?_bbid...

A fun one for bibliophiles.

>150 jnwelch: I love the John Dunning bookman series. Read them all.

>148 richardderus:, >149 richardderus:. Thanks, RD. I wish I’d known to hit reply when I was recovering from my stroke. I drove poor Bill and others crazy by just responding without that referent. It was a monumental task to do any of it back then.

>145 EBT1002:. Thanks for the endorsement boost, Ellen. All right-ee then, I’ll do a Picard and make it so re Claire Keegan.

>146 quondame:. How cool to have the family connection with Louise Gluck, may she rest in peace. 80 seems too young these days. Here’s her Guardian obit: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/13/louise-gluck-prize-winning-america...

>147 msf59: Hiya, Mark. I read a ton of her poetry a few years ago when she won the Nobel, and was impressed. As I said, 80 seems too young these days.

I found The Complete Killer completely addictive. I hope you have fun with it. Thanks again for the original tip-off.

Go Bears! It’s great to see Justin Fields finally starting to show his stuff.

>151 ffortsa:. Right, Judy? John Dunning was a former bookseller, as I recall? I enjoyed the first two for sure, and may have lost track after that.

>152 jnwelch: I don't think anyone feels testy about post-stroke troubles. No one said anything to me, or you that I remember; really talking about people who just...don't or won't.

>155 richardderus:. You’re right, people were great about my post-stroke typos and general sloppiness. Bill just expressed relief once I resumed identifying the posts I was responding to. (I tried at least to do them in order, so people could follow along that way).

Hi Joe. It looks like Booked to Die is first in the series. I think I'll take advantage of the sale.

>157 EBT1002:. Good! You’ll have some happy escapism, Ellen.

>152 jnwelch: I think Moskovitz is too common a name to assume anything closer than nth cousin with n>5.

>159 quondame:. Moskowitz?

Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter. This memoir of the author’s 12 years at Amazon was a page-turner thanks to the author’s writing skills. She has a good sense of humor and no intention of appearing a hero. Not a place I would choose to work, but our son did. And now I understand better why. Challenging, demanding, exciting, with often cutting edge work. But worth the slam on your life? I’m not so sure. But he handles it well; he’s fortunate not to have to deal with the frustrations of being a woman there like the author did. Interestingly, both his immediate bosses are women.

This book provides an entertaining view inside one of our most influential companies. I liked the take on it by this Goodreads reviewer, Keila:

“I don’t normally write reviews, but I’m thankful as a woman & Amazon employee that this book exists. Reading this, I could feel so much of my own experience reflected in the ways the author talked about being shuffled, meeting ever changing deadlines, and transforming herself into someone different to fit the culture, while also never quite measuring up. Though this book is hyper focused on the Amazon experience, I think many women can probably relate to the feeling of trying to make yourself more digestible for others, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to any of my female coworkers or girlfriends grinding through corporate life.”

>160 jnwelch: The name of my maternal grandmother (shortened to Mosk) which is also the name of Louise Glück's maternal grandmother, an strange fact in her Wikipedia page.

>133 jnwelch: The specific post that got me going is >102 msf59:, authored by the irrepressible BirdDude. He wrote: ...I circled back and read the Emily Wilson comments. Utterly fascinating. An art form all by itself. I am also glad she called out the misogyny. I know who Emily Wilson is, and I wanted to read what she had to say. So I scrolled back until I found it.

(Adding that I had to repeat the search because I didn't write it down.)

>162 quondame:. Ah, gotcha, Susan. The family connection. I didn’t see Moskowitz in the Guardian obit, and wondered.

>163 weird_O:. Thanks, Bill. What good ones to go back to. I had highlighted >74 jnwelch: and >75 jnwelch: for Mark because of Emily Wilson’s illuminating comments on translating.

A NY Times Book Review Editor identifies 5 essential poems, with links to them, by Louise Gluck, who passed away on Friday:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/books/review/five-louise-gluck-poems-to-get-y...

>142 jnwelch: Sad loss Joe.

>166 Caroline_McElwee:. Agreed, Caroline. She left behind an impressive body of work. As I said to Mark, I read a ton of her poetry after she won that Nobel.

Good news: I am cleared (no heart problems) to try ASV therapy for my sleep apnea, which should work much better with my brain. Essentially my brain is sometimes erroneously telling my system not to breathe (!) while I’m sleeping. This therapy has a machine continuously monitoring that, then giving me air as needed through a well- fitting mask. I had a really good experience with it at the sleep test. For the first time after a year of delays and disappointments, I’m optimistic.

I’m off to Washington,DC for a couple of days so I can get educated and keep my law license.

>168 jnwelch: Great news about your renewed health, Joe,
and have fun celebrating in Washington DC!

>168 jnwelch: Great news -- I hope it all goes well.

Have fun in our nation's capital. What a weird and wacky place it is these days, eh?

>168 jnwelch: ASV therapy ought to do wonders for you, Joe. Here's hoping the DC visit doesn't knock points off you IQ. Seems to be doing that to old white men who stay there for a minute. Get home quick,preserve your soul.

>168 jnwelch: I hope it does everything it needs to for you!

>168 jnwelch: Good news indeed. Good luck with the ASV therapy. I hope you get the desired results.

Safe trip to Washington.

>169 m.belljackson:. Thank you, Marianne. Nice weather here.

>170 EBT1002:. Thanks,Ellen. I’m far from the hubbub, with more IP lawyers than you can shake a stick at ( at least your arm would get awfully tired.

I’m enjoying the newest Longmire mystery when time permits, so that helps.

Jeez, you must be getting mighty close to the magic day? I’d better get to your thread and catch up.

>171 richardderus:. I’ll stay away from politicians, Richard. What does it say about our system that there are so relatively few that you’d want to spend time with? I would like it with Tammy Duckworth, from our state. She seems very down to earth.

This is a quick turnaround. I’ll be back home, preserving my soul, late Saturday.

>172 quondame:. Thanks, Susan. Me, too! My fatigue and wooziness have been getting worse. We’re a week or two away, but i’m excited about the possible help.

>173 figsfromthistle:. Thanks, Anita! I’ll report back on the ASV therapy. Maybe all this will help someone with a similar problem, or someone who knows someone. If I’d known about ASV, I’d’ve pushed for it from the beginning. I’ve now read that a CPAP actually is harmful for someone with my brain condition, so thank goodness something inside me ( or the gods of breathing) rejected using that over several iterations. What bugs me is i was telling them from the beginning that the air pressure was making me feel like I could NOT breathe, which should’ve been a major clue. Instead, they just had me try different masks. Oh well, we seem to be in the right place now.

Washington is fine. I hope all is going well for you.

BTW, in my angst about my medical experiences, which seemed filled with delays, disappointments and ineptitude, I looked up where the U.S. ranked in the world. This study placed us 69th! https://www.internationalinsurance.com/health/systems/

We trail Albania, Jamaica and Armenia, among so many others? (Singapore(!) and Japan are one and two). Pathetic, given our resources. Having read Poverty by America this year, which argues we could painlessly solve all poverty in this country right now, I’m struck more than ever by how we misuse our bounty.

The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson. Man, what a good one in this series. If you’re a. Longmire fan, you won’t want to miss it. A complicated financial crime, with huge money at stake and challenges telling the bad guys from the good. Walt is extended in his self-preservation more than maybe ever before. He perplexes and maybe alienates longtime sidekick/romantic interest Vic. Can’t wait for the next one.

>168 jnwelch: Hope that works for you Joe.

>177 jnwelch: ...but if we used our collective wealth to help people, THEY would get help and THEY don't deserve it! It's worth being immiserated if THEY suffer more than *I* do.

(THEY = whoever that kind of idiot hates, obvs)

>177 jnwelch: Add this to your Medical Ineptitude list:

Daughter in Pain for 3 days (doctor was out of office - nurse did not bother to rely that message) -
this morning waiting for Medication to arrive at Walgreens -
now told it needs Medicare Authorization, which has to come from doctor's office...waiting...

>179 Caroline_McElwee:. Thanks, Caroline. Ditto.

>180 richardderus:. Yes, yes, now it all makes sense to me. I also can see that we’d all be better off straight and white. (Ah, what fools we mortals be).

>181 m.belljackson:. Ah, so frustrating, Marianne. My sympathy to you and you daughter. We’re just going through switching to Medicare now.

>182 jnwelch: The sad part is that there are lots of people who really do feel that way and vote accordingly. So disheartening.

>183 richardderus:. Agreed, RD. The real danger to democracy is that there are so many people with paranoid, fear-filled screwed up views who have a vote. Also., lots of gullible people easily misled. So far sane people not driven by fear of each other or the future are carrying the numbers in general, thank goodness. But that leaves lots of room for mischief and malevolence (did you hear that threat to the congress guy’s wife?!) in the “not general” cesspools.

>182 jnwelch: Medicare, with a private insurance back up like QUARTZ, seems to work well.

>185 m.belljackson: Thanks, Marianne. We have someone helping us sort it out. I think our backup will be AARP.

Love gained and lost by one of my favorite poets.

The Host of the Air

W. B. Yeats

O’Driscoll drove with a song,
The wild duck and the drake,
From the tall and the tufted weeds
Of the drear Hart Lake.

And he saw how the weeds grew dark
At the coming of night tide,
And he dreamed of the long dim hair
Of Bridget his bride.

He heard while he sang and dreamed
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.

And he saw young men and young girls
Who danced on a level place
And Bridget his bride among them,
With a sad and a gay face.

The dancers crowded about him,
And many a sweet thing said,
And a young man brought him red wine
And a young girl white bread.

But Bridget drew him by the sleeve,
Away from the merry bands,
To old men playing at cards
With a twinkling of ancient hands.

The bread and the wine had a doom,
For these were the host of the air;
He sat and played in a dream
Of her long dim hair.

He played with the merry old men,
And thought not of evil chance,
Until one bore Bridget his bride
Away from the merry dance.

He bore her away in his arms,
The handsomest young man there,
And his neck and his breast and his arms
Were drowned in her long dim hair.

O’Driscoll scattered the cards
And out of his dream awoke:
Old men and young men and young girls
Were gone like drifting smoke;

But he heard high up in the air
A piper piping away,
And never was piping so sad,
And never was piping so gay.

He’s so adept at that line repetition, isn’t he?

>187 jnwelch: Beautiful poem by Yeats…I haven’t read enough (any?) of him. Off to find me a book…

Karen O

I can certainly say that I have learned a great deal about our Medicare system and it does NOT work. I agree that our country should do better.

>189 klobrien2: oh good, Karen. He’s a treasure. Recommended: “Second Coming” and “Lake Isle of Innisfree”. “When You Are Old” also has a special place in my heart.

>190 benitastrnad:. Yeah, Benita, I’ll bet there are a lot of tales to tell about Medicare. I wish it was simpler: “Yes, everything is covered.” Dream on!

Today’s Bargain: Alanna by Tamora Pierce for $1.99 on e-readers. Our then-teen daughter loved the young adult Alanna books and persuaded us to read them with her. We loved them, too. Alanna is a very appealing protagonist.

>192 jnwelch: Okay, here's Medicare Tale # 1: My daughter has to give herself a shot in her leg every month.
This month, the holder slipped and medicine went all over her leg.
When she called to request a replacement (after years of never needing it),
the company refused because she has "Government" (Medicare) and not private insurance.

Joe - on a lighter note, I just completed 1,001 LT Book Reviews, ending with Ivan Doig's best one, THE WHISTLING SEASON,
and THE WARSAW SISTERS!

>194 m.belljackson:, >195 m.belljackson:. How awful and frustrating for your daughter, Marianne. What’s she going to do? Out-of-pocket?

Congrats on the 1001 reviews! That many books read alone is impressive. Ivan Doig unfortunately never enchanted me the way he has so many.

>196 jnwelch: $3,000.00 for Out Of Pocket.

If you are ever drawn to set up a semi-pro-bono lawyer group
dealing with Medicare and Medicaid challenges, it would have a Full House of takers.

>197 m.belljackson:. Ouch! Yeah, no doubt true for pro bono Medicare lawyers. Such a group may well exist -check with your local bar association. I used to do pro bono work in IP- or whatever I got appointed to do by our federal court, as a member of its trial bar.

Lawyers in IL are required to do a set amount of hours of pro bono work. Why not plumbers and doctors I always wonder, or other appropriate professions? Many plumbers and doctors probably do it on their own, but requiring it could be a game- changer.

Today’s Mystery Bargains: Six Easy Pieces by Walter Mosley and Round the Mark by Andrea Camilleri, each for $1.99 on e-readers. Easy Rawlins short stories and an Inspector Montalbano novel.

Joe - So Welcome that Mark has your strong LT friendship in this hard time.

>200 m.belljackson:. Thanks for the nudge, Marianne. I’d commiserated with Mark on Facebook, but should’ve done it on LT, too.

Today’s Bargain: Coraline by Neil Gaiman for $1.99 on e-readers. Most excellent creepiness.

The 2023 Hugo winners:

Best Novel

Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)
Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)
Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

Best Novella

Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
A Mirror Mended, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)
What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire)

I thought Legends and Lattes was excellent, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

I thought The Kaiju Preservation Society was so-so.

Any comments on what they picked?

I have been reading Seanan McGuire's series Wayward Children since she started publishing them. I read Where the Drowned Girls Go last year when it came out. The books don't have to be read as a series, but they do fit together. I find them easy quick reads as they are rarely over 200 pages. I think only one of the series was even that long.

The books are based on Nursey Rhymes or other literary items such as famous classic novels and many of the characters in the novellas are take off's from the series. They are all about finding your identity. The stories are about children who disappear, go on a fantastical journey, and when they return they end up in a school for Wayward Children. Each of the children has a unique experience but all of them are bound together by their larger experience of alienation from regular society for one reason or another.

I find them very interesting and present an interesting take on the struggle to find your own identity and then to find others who are sympathetic and accepting to that individual identity. For instance this novel Where the Drowned Girls Go is about a girl who is obese and finds herself more at home in a water world than in the normal world of her parents and friends.

McGuire is an interesting author in that her life experience is one of being an outsider and the struggle that people have of finding a place in the current culture and society. Almost all of her books are about this struggle where the McGuire uses either a science fiction or fantasy setting to help readers find their way in our world. This series Wayward Children is aimed at tweens and teens and in my opinion do a good job of telling kids to not give up being who you are. There are kind accepting people out in the world as well as dolts, dunderheads, dimwits, and dangerous people as well.

This series Wayward Children is the kind of series that needs to be available in our schools and public libraries for all readers. They can be read by everybody and have something to say to all of us, but they are precisely the kind of book that a certain class of people (mainly the dolts, dunderheads, dimwits, and dangerous) want to get rid.

If you can find one of the titles in this series, I would recommend that you try them. Readers of T. J. Klune should also like this series.

As a postscript to the above post:

TOR publishing should be congratulated for the work they have been doing in the last five years to promote authors from diverse backgrounds and providing fantastic books for all readers of the SciFi genre. Looking at the list of titles you posted TOR dominates the list. There is a reason. They have been going outside of the normal author list to find, encourage, and promote authors from diverse backgrounds. They rock!

>203 jnwelch: Of the novel nominees I'd pick the same winner, it's just that there were 2 non-nominated books I liked much more than Nettle & Bone and a third I'd have preferred to any of the other 4.

Today’s Bargains: Mysterious Affair at Styles by Dame Agatha and Theodore Rex by Edmund Moore, each for $1.99 on e-readers. The classic that introduced Hercule Poirot, and the acclaimed biography of Teddy Roosevelt.

>203 jnwelch:
I have not read Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo but I have read the first two volumes in the Singing Hills Cycle and loved them. They are great fantasy using Chinese myths, legends, and history on which to build these new interpretations. They are absorbing and the writing is very good. I would recommend that you read the Cycle in order because there are reoccurring characters - not the same main character each time, but others that show up in the stories. For instance, the main character in the first book, is also in the second, but serving a different role. I also would like to make plain that you don't have to read them in order. The two I read could each be a stand alone and be great adventure stories.

If you like South Asian myths and legends, this is a fun series.

>204 benitastrnad:, >205 benitastrnad:. Thanks for the good posts, Benita. I will give Where the Drowned Girls Go a try. Coincidentally, I’m reading Seanan McGuire’s new October Daye novel, and enjoying it per usual with her.

Thanks for pointing out what Tor is accomplishing. Good to hear! I’ll keep an eye out now for them and their books now.

>206 quondame:. I wondered about Nettle and Bone, Susan. What are the two you thought better, and what was the third one better than the other Hugo-nominated ones? How’d you like Legends and Lattes?

I liked Legends and Lattes quite a bit, and am glad for some warmhearted fun Fantasy. I also want a bit more than what was added to the "let's up-end fantasy role" trope in L&L. A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking is gold for that.

I will now lure you to my thread for specifics on what I preferred.

>210 quondame: *waving to everyone in the cafe to join him*. C’mon! Let’s take a field trip to Susan’s thread!

P.S. wow - thanks for the tips on ones I’m unfamiliar with! Not to mention Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking.😀

>203 jnwelch:
I should have explained that Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo is the third book in the Singing Hills Cycle. There is a fourth title in the series to come out in the spring of 2024.

There are 7 books in the Wayward Children series. You don't have to read them in order but I would recommend that you read the first book in the series Every Heart a Doorway first, as that book sets up the premise for the series. Without that introduction you might find yourself lost in a different world and not be able to find your way back. (That last is a reference to the series.)

Happy Sunday, Joe. Thanks for your rec of The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott. I requested it. In regard to GNS, I am enjoying The Human Target. I rarely read any DC or superhero comics but this has a very interesting angle.

I am also enjoying Chenneville. You liked News of the world, right? I also encourage you to get out to see The Killers of the Flower Moon. Incredible film, despite its very dark subject matter.

Today’s Bargain: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov for $1.99 on e-readers. Topnotch sci-fi stories by a master.

>212 benitastrnad:. Thanks for the clarification, Benita. I’m going to take an uncharacteristic chance ( usually I’d follow your advice and read the first in the series) by trying Drowned Girls. I’m influenced by its being an award finalist.

>213 msf59:. Happy Sunday, buddy. I read more of that Monica Youn collection this morning. Man, she’s good.

I’m another fan of The Human Target. I’m glad you tried it despite its being super hero-adjacent.

Zoe Thorogood got a lot of buzz for It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, but actually I like this Blindness of Billie Scott GN more.

Yes, I like reading Paulette Jiles, including Simon the Fiddler. Chenneville is in my future. Thanks for the nudge for that and the Flower Moon movie. We’re going to watch the latter at home, which for us is better-suited to its length.

Poet Monica Youn has a broadside of this poem on her wall:

Lust

Yusef Komunyakaa

If only he could touch her,
Her name like an old wish
In the stopped weather of salt
On a snail. He longs to be

Words, juicy as passionfruit
On her tongue. He’d do anything,
Would dance three days & nights
To make the most terrible gods

Rise out of ashes of the yew,
To step from the naked
Fray, to be as tender
As meat imagined off

The bluegill’s pearlish
Bones. He longs to be
An orange, to feel fingernails
Run a seam through him.

For me, the final lines make the poem a standout.

Those of you who know Darryl (kidzdoc), please put him and his mom in your thoughts and prayers. After a long love-filled life, she’s going significantly downhill. He’s a wonderful son, and has been taking care of her in Philadelphia for quite some time.

>218 jnwelch: Sad news, Joe, but glad you shared it with us.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. As Ellen and others have said, this is a beautifully written, moving book that got Booker long-listed. Bill Furlong is an admirable man, husband and father in a small Irish town. When delivering coal to a convent he finds out something that brings together his past and present and puts him in a dilemma. This isn’t a long book, and she tells a lot of story in relatively few pages.

>218 jnwelch: Thank you for passing on this sad news

>219 richardderus:. Thanks, RD. Tough times for our Darryl.

Today’s Bargain: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. , for $1.99 on e-readers. A chance to inexpensively read, or re-read, the classic.

Also: Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh for 99 cents on e-readers. This contemporary of Agatha Christie comes close to her heights, and this is one of her best. What a hard-to-resist price.

The Parable of the Magpie in the Trap

Monica Youn

A certain magpie was caught in a wire-mesh trap.

And the trap was small, and the magpie could not fly, neither could it stretch out its black wings.

And the trap held no food nor did it hold water, and the magpie was hungry and thirsty in the shadowless sun.

And then the hunter came, and the magpie said Hunter, you should release me from this trap, for I am no food for you, and my meat is stringy and foul in the mouth.

But the hunter put food and water for the magpie in the trap, then the hunter went away.

And then the cold rains came and the wind, and the magpie huddled in the trap, and the magpie could not dry its feathers, nor was there any dry place for the magpie to rest its feet.

And the hunter returned, and the magpie said Hunter, you should release me from this trap, for you cannot sell my feathers, for my black feathers are not beautiful, and neither are they proof against the wind and rain.

But the hunter placed a stick in the trap as a perch for the magpie, and placed a roof on the trap to shelter the magpie, and then the hunter went away.

And the trap was on the ground, and the coming night was near, and the predators began to wake in the shadows of the woods, and therefore the magpie was afraid.

And the hunter returned, and the magpie said, Hunter you should release me from this trap, for I am no threat to you, nor do I prey upon your beasts, nor do I feed upon your gardens or your crops.

But the hunter placed a larger trap around the smaller trap, and turned to go away.

And the magpie cried Hunter, you must release me from this trap, for no animal preys on me, so therefore I am not bait for any quarry you might wish to trap and kill.

Now for the first time the hunter spoke, and said, Magpie, others will not come for you to eat you; others will come for you to attack you, and to drive you from their lands;

For know now, Magpie, that you are not bait because you are wanted, but you are bait because you are hated, and it is because you are hated that therefore you are valuable to me.

And the magpie cried and said, Hunter what quarry is it that you so wish to trap and kill?

And the hunter said, Magpies, and then the hunter went away.

Amazingly to me, the parable in >224 jnwelch: is based in reality. This kind of trap supposedly still used in the UK. Magpies are territorial and will attack one kept live in a cage like this, and get trapped themselves. The traps have been outlawed elsewhere for inhumaneness.

From From by Monica Youn. . This is the best book of poetry I’ve read in quite a while. This Korean poet is particularly moving on the frustrating and sometimes dangerous experience of Asians in the U.S. The racism includes the absurd kind: “ But where are you from from?” (Our families are all “from from” elsewhere, right?). She explores the role of Asians as a
“buffer” between white and black and brown, as sometimes being the more accepted alternative. She thinks deeply and writes beautifully. Most of her poems are too long to quote in a review (see >224 jnwelch:), but here is an excerpt from “King Midas”, in which the U.S. seems to be represented by the King:*

“He takes a deep breath in.
Aspiration.
A nebula of gold stars swarms into his open mouth.
Gold spangles the moving darknesses of his blood, his lungs.
Even the rivers in this country pave their streets with gold.”

*As pointed out in a New York Times Book Review.

Poetry fanciers and those thoughtful about racism will want to take a look at this one.

>224 jnwelch: >225 jnwelch: What a strangely compelling bit of lore. But why would anyone hate a magpie?

>227 quondame: Isn’t it, Susan? You got me -I think the poet is enchanted by them. This is not her only magpie poem, and they’re all mesmerizing. I learned in her notes that the canard that magpies collect shiny things has been disproved by science. I enjoyed her notes at the end almost as much as her poems.

For those interested, I’ve annotated my “Favorites of 2023” up in >3 jnwelch:.

It's Halloween, so BOOOO! Eat some candy.

>218 jnwelch: - I feel for Darryl. If you speak to him, please let him know we are all thinking of him.

>224 jnwelch: Hunting Season in Wisconsin is a true Horror Story for people living in the country.

>218 jnwelch:
Please tell Darryl that I am thinking of him. I keep thinking I will make it over to his thread on Club Read but I just don't. I am in the same boat as he is with my mother.

>218 jnwelch: Thank you for letting us know.

Happy Wednesday, Joe. Happy November. I had an excellent reading month in October. It looks like you did too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Youn collection. I especially liked the magpie poem. I will request it. I am also glad you loved Small Things Like These. Such a fine little book. Foster was very good too.

Today’s Bargain: The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton for $1.99 on e-readers. A good mystery for thems that likes ‘em, by the author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.

>218 jnwelch: Pass my thoughts and support on to Darryl too Joe. It was going to happen, but it is always hard. A good son indeed.

>229 jnwelch: Will check it out. I'm slowly reading the complete poems of Ursula K Le Guin, and enjoying them Joe. About 130p into 700p volume. It will keep me occupied till years end.

>135 jnwelch: Sorry for the delayed response, Joe. This is the first year we have held it in October and I think we are going to leave it for now.

>203 jnwelch: Yet another list that I am going to have to hunt for books. Thanks, Joe (I think)

>218 jnwelch: I am sorry to hear Darryl's news. I will keep him and his mother in my prayers. Thank you for the update.

>221 torontoc:. You’re welcome, Cyrel. He’s trying to get some help, and if he does, I’ll pass it on. I believe the current situation is unsustainable.

>230 weird_O:. You scared the wits out of me, Bill! Or maybe I just forgot where I left them, as happens these days.

We ate some candy. It snowed and turned cold here, so we had a lower kid turnout than usual. That candy wasjust begging to be eaten - Hershey’s and Reese’s for me, as we didn’t have my favorite, Nestle’s Crunch.

>231 jessibud2:. Thanks, Shelley. I’ll let Darryl know that you and Benita and others are thinking of him.

From poem-a-day:

Galleria Ode



Patrick Phillips

Something there is that doesn’t love the mall
where we used to chainsmoke on the mezzanine

and watch the escalator’s endless crawl
up from Häagen-Dazs to Chuck E. Cheese—

something so embarrassed by it all, it shatters glass
and scatters yellow lading slips among the weeds,

and strips whole runs of copper from the walls
of what was once a Limited, a County Seat—

their slender mannequins spray-painted now
with cartoon boobs and cocks, unseen

until the new kids come to flash their phones
inside the ancient ruins of the Regal 6—

where webless, clueless, on our own,
we used to hold hands in the dark and kiss

>240 jnwelch: I'm not sure if that's more of a parody or an homage, but I like it. There's something of the spirit of the original in it.

>241 foggidawn:. Hi, foggi. Right, i>240 jnwelch: is a clever jump-off from Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” (something there is that doesn’t love a wall). It has its own memories and nostalgia that are very appealing.

>235 msf59:. Sweet Thursday, Mark. Happy November - what a shame that warm weather didn’t carry over from the weekend to our chilly Halloween.

I’m glad you liked that Youn review. I find reviewing poetry books harder than other kinds for some reason. She has a whole magpie section that I think you’re gonna like. Do read her notes at the end -fascinating. I’m sold on her and will be looking for more.

Claire Keegan also has convinced me, and I’ll look for more of hers. Thanks for the tip on Foster.

>237 Caroline_McElwee:. Thanks, Caroline. I will. “A good son indeed.” Yes.

Wow, I like Ursula Le Guin’s novels, but I wouldn’t have taken on 700 pages of her poetry. Kudos to you for doing it; I’ll look for your comments.

>238 alcottacre:. October sounds good, Stasia.

I like these award lists- they make me rethink sometimes, or highlight books I’ve missed.

Thank you re Darryl and his mother. I’m impressed by the sacrifice he’s made for her - she raised a good one.

>244 jnwelch: Yeah, I think Darryl's mom raised an outstanding man.

I should be finished up (finally) This is How You Lose the Time War tonight. I got no reading done at my mother's and it was first up on my agenda when I arrived home.

>245 alcottacre:. Can’t wait to hear your reaction!

>246 jnwelch: My thoughts are posted on my thread now, Joe, if you care to take a look.

Hi Joe, Along with being midway through Moby-dick - skipping the whale slaughtering episode -

I'm back with Knausgaard's Second Struggle, the part where her says he thoroughly does not like/get poetry,
and enjoying both a November poem by Susan Wismer (will send when there's more snow)
and Ivan Doig's classic depiction of The Fourth of July in ENGLISH CREEK.

>218 jnwelch: Thanks for sharing this sad news, Joe.
It is so admirable Darryl put all aside to take care of his mother. Thinking of him.

Today’s Bargain: Dubliners by James Joyce for $1.99 on e-readers. I struggled in college to appreciate the other stories, but the last one, The Dead, is worth the price of admission.

>247 alcottacre:. Thanks for the heads-up, Stasia. I’ll be visiting.

>248 m.belljackson:. Kudos to you for taking on Moby Dick, Marianne. And Knausgaard! You’re ready to join the john Simpson Tomes Club. You know, so many people don’t like or “get” poetry that his saying so rates as banal and disappointing in an author. I haven’t read that Ivan Doig, unfortunately.

>246 jnwelch:. Hi, Anita. Right? You know Darryl well. It’s not surprising, given his kind heart, but man, what a lot to take on.

>251 jnwelch: Somewhere in his 2nd Struggle, a friend says that Knausgaard can make a 20 page trip toward the bathroom a page turner!

In addition to disliking Poetry, K. also does not like food!!!

I enjoyed reading his 'demasculization' (?sp - maybe not a word...) while taking his tiny daughter to a Rhythm class.
He may be completely bonkers at times, but his honesty here was refreshing.

>252 m.belljackson:. That page-turner accolade is a good one, Marianne. Makes me more inclined to take a look at his writing some day.

If he adds wine to his dislikes, he’ll pretty much bar the door to traditional romance.😀

Glad you’re enjoying the read.

Ha! Not sure how this one happened.

January 2023

1. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
2. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
3. The Guest List by Lucy Foy
4. Mass Effectby Drew Karpyshyn*
5. Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
6. Rainby Joe Hill*
7. Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
8. A Spark within the Forge by Sabaa Tahir*
9. The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel.
10. Loveless by Alice Oseman
11. What’s the Furthest Place From Here by Matt Risenburg*
12. Desert Star by Michael Connelly
13. Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock by Linda Bailey*
14. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
15. A Court of Mists and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

February 2023

16. Creature by Shaun Tan*
17. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
18. Laura by Guillem March*
19. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
20. A court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
21 Everyday Hero Machine Boy by Irma Kniivila*
22. Encore in Death by JD. Robb
23. The Twilight Man by Koren Shadmi
24. A Wanted Man by Lee Child
25. The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz
26. By the Book by Jasmine Guilloty
27. In a Dark, Dark. Wood by Ruth Ware
28. Silk Vol. 1 by Maurene Goo

March 2023

29. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
30. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
31. Storm Watch by c.j. Box
32. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (re-read)
33. Revenge of the Librarian by Tom Gauld*
34. Ducks Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton*
35. It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood*
36. Ms. Marvel Something New by G. Willow Wilson*
37. Number One Is Walking by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss*
38. Gideon the Ninth by Tamlyn Muir
39. A Different Kind of Normal by Abigail Balfe
40. Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami

April 2023

41. The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev
42. Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond
43. Celestia by Manuele Fior*
44. once Upon a Book by Grace Lin*
45. The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
46. Altered Carbon by richard Morgan*
47. A Career in Books by Kate Gavino*
48. Love Everlasting by Tom King*
49. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
50. Georgia by Dawn Tripp

May 2023

51. To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Coste Lewis
52. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
53. The Customer is Always Wrong by Mimi Pond
54. Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
55. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes
56. Happy Place by Emily Henry
57. Aunt Bessie Assumes by Diana Xarissa
58. The Banned Bookshop by Maggie Banks
59. Fixit by Joe Ide
60. Promises of Gold by Jose Olivarez

June 2023

61. Damsel by Evelyn Skye
62. Monstress Volume 7 by Marjorie Liu*
63. Einstein by Jim Ottaviani*
64. Who Owns the Clouds by Mario Brassard*
65. Cafe Unfiltered by Jean-Philippe Blondel
66. Nomenclatures of Invisibility by Mahtem Shiferraw
67. Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazalwood
68. Simon Says by Andre Frittino*
69. The Family Izquierdo by Ruben Delgado
70. Side Effects by Ted Anderson*

July 2023

71. All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
72. Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner
73. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
74. The Phantom Scientist by Robin Cousin*
75. The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
76. Library of Small Catastrophes by Alison C. Rollins
77. Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson (no touchstone?) by Youssef Daodi
78. Yellowface by RF Kuang
79. The Light of Days by Judy Batalion

August 2023

80. Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka
>81 m.belljackson:. Dessert with Buddha by Roland Merullo
>82 alcottacre:. Anais Nin Sea of lies by Leonie Bischoff*
83. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
84. Chivalry by Neil Gaiman
85. Salvage Right by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
86. The Human Target Volume One by Tom King*
87. One by One by Ruth Ware
88. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
89. The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu*
90. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

September 2023

91. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
92. Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh
93. Hawking by Jim Ottaviani*
94. Fangirl Vol.3 by Rainbow Rowell*
95. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
96. Bride’s Story Vol. 14 by Kaori Moru*
97. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
98. The Complete The Killer by Jacamon & Matz*

October 2023

99. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
100. Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
101. The Last Count of Monte Cristo by Jamize Yama-Everett*
102. Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter
103. The Longmire Defense by Craig Johnson
104. The Detective Up Late by Adrian McGinty
105. Murder on the Orient Express adapted by Bob Al-Greene*
106.Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
107. Past Tense by Lee Child (re-read)
108. Blue Moon by Lee Child (re-read)
109. Haruki Murakami Manga Stories by PMGL*
110. Hilda and the Troll by Luke Pearson*
111. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery by Miles Hyman*
112. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood*
113. From From by Monica Youn

November 2023

114. The Secret by Lee Child
115. Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire
116. The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Today’s Bargain: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel for $1.99 on e-readers. What do you all think of this one? I liked her other two. I’m tempted.

>255 jnwelch: I liked it, though not as much as Station Eleven. Still, a good read!

>255 jnwelch: I think I started The Glass Hotel but DNF it. I should probably give it another try at some point.

>256 foggidawn: Thanks, foggi. I’m glad it worked for you, but I’m not hurting for good reads. I think I’ll stick with the two that I liked.

>257 alcottacre:. That fits, Stasia. I think I’m going to give it a pass for now

Today’s Bargain: Dark Sky by C.J. Box for $1.99 on e- readers. I love the JoePickett series, and this is a good entry.

>259 jnwelch: My spouse is a huge fan of the series. Don't know if she has read the latest ones but she devoured that series!

>260 RBeffa:. I hope you give it a go sometime, Ron. Joe P. is your kinda guy, methinks. A tip of the hat to your highly intelligent wife and her good taste.😀