Witchyrichy (aka Karen) Reads Across the Shelves

I am 56 years old, living with my husband and 2 old dogs in an 1854 farm house on 18 acres in southern central Virginia. The picture above is the old silo on the back edge of our farm. We've had pigs and chickens but now just have a couple royal palm turkeys that free range along with some barn cats that drive the dogs crazy.

I work from home running a state nonprofit related to educational technology, teaching online and doing instructional design consulting and project management. I get to tinker with lots of technology as part of my job.

We are getting out of the farming business, but I raised a nice crop of ginger this year in our high tunnel and a small crop of turmeric on our sun porch.

Besides reading and techie stuff, I love to crochet. I want to bring more music into my life in 2019: I play piano pretty well, know a bit about guitar, and have plucked at a ukelele.

I love to read and have shelves full of books in the library. (That was one of the selling points of the house: an honest to goodness library.) I love buying books, too, but really need to think about downsizing the collection. So, my goal for this year (the same as last year) is to read for free...either from my own shelves or the public library. I'm using various challenges to help me locate books to read.

Reading List




January 7
Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams (audio)
Writing All Wrongs by Ellery Adams (audio)
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Blessings by Anna Quindlen
Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile
Killer Characters by Ellery Adams
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman

February 9
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon RLBG
The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
A Picture of Murder: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery by T.E. Kinsey
The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality by Paul Halpern
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West by David Weston Marshall
The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

March 10
Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Well-Read Black Girl
The Book of Unholy Mischief
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Looking for Alaska
Books for Living
The Happiness Equation

April 10
brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
What She Ate by Laura Shapiro
Murder in the Locked Library by Ellery Adams
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Wishes and Wellingtons by Julie Berry
A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
The Museum of Mysteries by Steve Berry and M.J. Rose

May 15
In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Charles Vess' Book of Ballads & Sagas by Charles Vess
Murder in the Reading Room by Ellery Adams (audio)
The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle
The Kings and Queens of Roam by Daniel Wallace
Maus I by Art Spiegelman
Maus II by Art Spiegelman
In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen
Squirm by Carl Hiasen
The View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Death at Dawn by Caro Peacock

June 11
With the Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
The Spook in the Stacks by Eva Gates (audio)
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen (audio)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
The Demon Breed by James H. Schmitz
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth by e.l. konigsburg

Alpha KIT

Jan: Q, A
Blessings by Anna Quindlen
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman

Feb: K, O
The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Mar: U, L
The Last Witchfinder: A Novel by James Morrow
The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Apr: B, M
The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

May: H, V: Pulled a few things off the shelf:
The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus
Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

Jun: J, D
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Jul: C, P
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Aug: N, I
Sep: F, W
Oct: G, T
Nov: S, Y
Dec: E, R

CalendarCAT

January: National Bird Day, January 5, 2019
Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding

Update01: I started this and then got distracted. I plan to pick it up again at some point.

Update02: Finished this on March 9.

TBR CAT

January: First In, Last Out
The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary

UPDATE: I tried. I really did. It came from my Dad along with Graham Green's The Power and the Glory. Neither one really holds any interest to me.

BingoDOG



Author Uses Middle Name or Middle Initial: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth by e.l.konigsburg
Debut Novel: Queen Sugar
About or Featuring Siblings: The Secret Keeper
Book Bullet: Uprooted
Mentioned in Another Book: brown girl dreaming
Artistic Characters: The Summer Before the War
Eastern European Author or Setting: In Paradise
Children or Young Adult: On the Come Up
Alliterative Title: Lethal Letters
Part of a Series: A Picture of Murder
Read a CAT: The Happiness Equation (March Calendar CAT: International Day of Happiness)
Prize Winning Book: The View From Saturday (Newberry Medal for 1997)
Short Stories or Essays: Books for Living
Made Into a Movie: Dumplin'
A Fairy Tale: Charles Vess' Book of Ballads & Sagas
Graphic Novel: Maus I and Maus II
Title Has 6+ Words in It: The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street
Cover Has At Least 2 Human Figures: The Last Witchfinder
Book in Translation: The Librarian of Auschwitz
Food Related Title or Topic: What She Ate
LT Rating of 4+: The Poet X
Title Contains Homophone Word: Writing All Wrongs

Welcome back!

>7 drneutron: Thanks! I am planning to be more active this year. This is such a positive group of people to hang out with online.

Still processing last year's reading and not quite done. Finished Becoming yesterday and really enjoyed reading it. Michelle Obama's voice is clear and strong. She deals with the negative in a forthright, here's how I feel about it way, while emphasizing the positive nature of the work she was able to do.

The book provided a fascinating insight into Michelle Obama's contrasting lives. She was raised in a poor but loving community and recognized her own responsibility in making the most of her opportunities. By doing so, she escaped that poverty and became a woman of privilege who never forgot her own past. Perhaps one of the telling moments that showed the contrast was when, in response to Sasha's weight problems, she hired a personal chef to cook more nutritional food for her family. This wasn't an option her parents would have had and she understands that. But she is honest about finding ways to balance all the needs of those around her, including her own needs.

One part of the book that stuck with me was her frustration of having to look perfect all the time. I am wondering when the double standard will be loosened. Neil Pasricha talks about "automating" things such as clothing and describes how he basically wears a uniform of black jacket, white shirt, black jeans and the same sneakers every day. I was reminded of my reaction to his comments, and it was echoed in Obama's comments about her husband's easy wardrobe decisions even as she had to hire two or three people to help her. I do seem to remember he took some criticism for a tan suit at one point.

Now reading; Out of Spite, Out of Mind by Scott Meyer. This is Book Five of the Magic 2.0 series, and I'm wondering if it may have jumped the shark. But, I also haven't given it a real chance yet. Plus, I listened to most of the others so am wondering if that might make a difference. I'll have quality reading time today.

Hi Karen, just dropping my star off and hope to be a more regular visitor this year.

>9 witchyrichy: Both my RL bookclubs are reading Becoming for the first meeting. Luckily (I made my daughter buy it for me for Christmas!), I have a copy. I will be starting it as soon as I finish Educated.

Happy new thread!

>11 johnsimpson: I am making the same commitment, John! Less time on those other networks and more time here!

>12 Berly: I bought it for my mother for Christmas, and she was thrilled. I actually would like my own copy but I borrowed the library copy. Our local yokel government is threatening to cut more funding from the public library system so every book I check out is a positive data point. Doesn't mean I still can't buy one, too, right?

My RL book group that meets at the library read Educated last year and it engendered very lively discussion. I was fascinated by her life. I wrote a review that includes some background information you might find interesting.

>9 witchyrichy: I'm so looking forward to reading Michelle Obama's book. Nice comments, Karen.

Happy New Year and Happy New Thread!

Dropping off my star. :-)

>15 EBT1002: Welcome aboard! Hope to share some good reading this year.

Happy New Year Karen!

Happy reading in 2019, Karen!

>17 The_Hibernator: >18 FAMeulstee: Thanks for stopping by! Best wishes for good books in 2019.

What I Plan for January:

Alpha Kit: Jan: Q, A

Blessings by Anna Quindlen
The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Other Alcott
Queen Sugar
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Calendar CAT: January: National Bird Day, January 5, 2019
Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding

TBR CAT

January: First In, Last Out
The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary

Random CAT
Confederate Like Me

Beartown

Happy New Year, Karen. Great comments on Becoming. I also loved that one, and I know it's one I will read again.

Happy New Year, Karen!

>21 BLBera: I agree and I am not much of a re-reader. I feel like she has more to teach once you get past the gloss of the public personna.

>22 AMQS: Same to you! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you, Karen, this year.

I see that you are participating in the RandomCAT challenge this year. I'll see you over there. :-)

Oh, and we both downloaded the same BingoDOG card so that will be fun, too.

>25 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I have good intentions for the year and the group.

>26 EBT1002: >27 EBT1002: I signed on for challenges as a way to really weed this year. And the BingoDOG is just fun.

Hi Karen!

I bought Becoming in December, but don't know when I'll read it yet. I should read more off my shelves - I do participate in the ROOTs challenge and plan on reading 45 off my shelves out of the 100 total I want to read this year. The problem with reading off my shelves is that instead of getting rid of them, I usually keep them. I don't gain shelf space, but do move them upstairs, making room downstairs for new books. It's a vicious cycle. *smile*

Good luck with your reading this year.

>30 karenmarie: One of my focuses continues to be reading books I know I can part with. I have a few collections of various genres that I plan to keep. But I also have lots of one off fiction and mysteries that came in those fill the bag for $1 deals at the thrift shop. Those I can donate to friends with little free libraries or the local community center and library for the sale.

Finally finished a book! Post-holiday visits with friends and families limited reading time but the car drive gave me time to finish listening to Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams and start Writing All Wrongs.

These are books #6 and #7 in Adams' Books by the Bay mystery series. It focuses on a group of friends in a small coastal North Carolina town. Olivia Limoges, the main character, was born in Oyster Bay but after her mother dies and her father disappears, she spends many years living with a wealthy aunt and traveling the world. She has returned to the town as a business owner and a member of the Bayside Writers Book Group. The group includes the town's police chief, and they work together to solve the mysteries, each bringing different strengths to the problem. Olivia's smart and obedient standard poodle Captain Haviland often plays a role as well.

I really enjoy the series. I often vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina so love the setting and have been to many of the locations. Adams uses the setting to form the basis of many of the stories with plots revolving around Native American and Appalachian communities.

Adams has created characters that grow and change with each book. She explores their relationships within the group and with others outside the group. In Oyster Bay, she has created a rich community with few of the sometimes flat characters that can populate mysteries. Even peripheral characters have a bit of a back story.

Lethal Letters examines the relationship between rich and poor in both historical and contemporary North Carolina. A time capsule leads to old secrets that the Drummonds, the local first family, would prefer to keep secret. Intrigue spans one hundred years as Olivia and the team work to solve two mysterious and tragic deaths.

I have already started Writing All Wrongs on audio and then have the last book in print. The narrator is easy to listen to so I may use a credit to get the final one on audio as well.

Hi Karen! A latish Happy New Year as I am finally making my rounds and checking in with a few threads.

I also doing the RandomCat, although I will probably be in and out and not try to do them all. TBRCat is on my list, too, due to my never-ending resolution to read more of the books off my shelf. er SHELVES. Many many SHELVES.

I look forward to watching your reading this year!

>33 streamsong: Thanks for stopping by! Just left a comment on your thread with my tips for eating more vegetables ;-)

For now, I'm happy just to find time to read anything as I have a bunch of good books within reach but also a pretty challenging to do list after a nice long break.

>32 witchyrichy: That does sound like a fun series, Karen.

Finally...a complete and utter day off! No traveling, no work, not even a husband at home. He left very early to do a humanitarian errand and was kind enough to let me stay home with the dogs. My mother calls him "good old Bob" and that is what he is. The errand meant our dinner for tonight was moved until tomorrow.

Aah...it is a testament to the start of my year that my first two books are audio. I visited friends and family in Pennsylvania and then had two hours back and forth to a meeting on Thursday. I've also been listening as I work on downsizing. At some point, we are moving out of this sprawling old farmhouse, and I don't want to have to do it all at the last minute. I am actually looking forward to getting back to it today and have started listening to A Picture of Murder by T.E. Kinsey. It's a cozy series that features a cheeky lady's maid and her wealthy employer in early 20th century England. it looks like this is the fourth and last one in the series.

But, I think I may stoke the fire in the wood stove, treat myself to another latte and finish The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton, my RL book group read for January. It is intriguing with its twisted story but also full of rich relationships. Morton got me with the early description of the house itself, and the way the sisters felt back into their typical routines around who did what and how they connected.

Bad weather of some sort--snow, sleet, rain--is on its way tomorrow, but the cold weather has already arrived. BTW, if you want to know what the weather is like where I live, you can check out our weather station on Weather Underground.

Hi Karen!

I hope you have a lovely day-to-yourself. With dogs, of course.

We're supposed to get some weather from the same system, I think. Mostly rain with the possibility of up to .2" of ice.

Just checked out KVAWAVER2! We have some lovely neighbors who have a Weather Underground station less than a mile from our house, and I have it set up on my cell phone app. They are KNCPITTS22.

>32 witchyrichy: I'm not sure why I haven't continued that series. I read the first and liked it. I guess I need to make sure it is on my Overdrive list.

>36 witchyrichy: sounds like a perfect day!

Hi Karen my dear, hope you are having a good weekend my dear, it was nice to see you on my thread. So far it has been a good start to 2019 in general and with the reading and Karen is noting her reading down, as I suspected she is in front of me by 6 to 4, not that I am competitive, lol.

Sending love and hugs dear friend.

>39 AMQS: It turned into two perfect days as the dinner did not materialize. Reading, crocheting, binge watching Victoria in anticipation of the new season. I baked bread and made a lovely frittata for dinner.

>40 johnsimpson: Thanks for stopping by! My husband reads the news but not books so there is no competition there ;-) It was a wonderful weekend.

>30 karenmarie: I am purposely choosing books I know I will be able to part with when I finish them. I have a couple collections of nature and history books that I suspect will go along with me to the new house, but I am finding it easier to donate the fiction that I know I won't reread.

>37 karenmarie: Checked your weather this morning: looks like we're about the same. Cold but above freezing with a lovely warming trend for the week. I love my house but it is a much happier place in the winter when the sun is shining as we can take advantage of the southern facing porch. Now we are looking ahead to next weekend.

>43 witchyrichy: Just keeping current here. Wishing you a wonderful week filled with sunshine and books.

>43 witchyrichy: Thanks! I need to go thread visiting myself! And I have one review to write having finished The Secret Keeper. But somehow today was filled with meetings, most pretty short but enough to break up the day oddly. One more and then a break of a few hours.

Hi Karen, thanks for the healing hugs my dear.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton connect the past and present as the narrative moves between the chaotic days of WW II with contemporary Britain. Laurel witnessed a violent act in her teens but only now, as her mother celebrates her 90th birthday, does Laurel pursue the circumstances around the violence and her mother's past.

I enjoyed reading the book: interesting characters with complicated but familiar relationships between the family members. We see things primarily through the eyes of the oldest daughter, Laurel, who has kept her mother's secret all her life. But there are other secrets, too, some spoken and others only hinted at. As with many of Morton's book, this one hinges on coincidences to create twists in the narrative. I was a little put off by those coincidences as they seemed to pile up in the second half of the book.

My RL BG discussed it yesterday and found plenty to talk about.

There is immense sadness and loss in this quiet story. But, the tragedies woven throughout Anna Quindlen's novel Blessings occur in a world where love and forgiveness can still be found.

Skip Cuddy is the new caretaker for the Blessings estate. Once home to a wealthy family, it is now inhabited by the sole remaining child, an elderly daughter who is cared for by a maid who comes each day and Skip, who mostly tends the property. Skip, on parole after being released from jail, seems happy with his simple life, until he finds a baby on his door step. He makes a decision that changes everyone's lives.

The story is told in a matter of fact way that mirrors the quiet of the world of Blessings. The novel moves from the present to the past as Lydia Blessing remembers her own life, first as a debutante in New York City and then as the disgraced daughter relegated to the country where she finds she is content to stay.

This isn't a dramatic book: life happens, and we witness it, with characters who, for the most part, are trying to do the right things in a changing world. But it is a lovely written tale and worth the time.

Killer Characters is the eighth and final book in the Books By the Bay series. I don't think I have ever read all the books in a cozy mystery series. And while I will miss it, I think Ellery Adams made the right decision. We had grown with this group of writers in Oyster Bay, NC, as far as we all could go together. It was time to let them all go. And, as she had with the whole series, Adams didn't provide the perfect happy ending you might expect.

This was the first book in the series that I read rather than listed to as I accidentally ordered the Kindle version. I read it in a day and cried at the end and then even read the first chapter of the first book that was included with the digital version. Adams had created a wonderfully rich character in Olivia Limoges and I will miss her.

Hi Karen - The Secret Keeper sounds good.

I am also trying to get rid of books I know I won't read again.

Hi Karen! Hope your new year is a happy one!

I have three Kate Morton books on my shelves and still haven’t read her. I’m not sure why. Maybe this year!

>51 BLBera: One of the activities at our upcoming maker faire will be to make hedgehogs out of old books. Link: https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/book-hedgehog I have offered to donate some books.

>52 Copperskye: Thanks for stopping by. I read Morton's The Distant Hours and remember that it had similar twists. A good read if not memorable. I may have another one on the shelf and will eventually read it. Hmm...not an overly enthusiastic recommendation. You will enjoy it. It won't change your life. How's that?

I've read The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. It's nice to know she worked well for your book club.

>53 witchyrichy: I love the hedgehog, Karen. I think I'll forward the link onto my local librarian friend. In earlier years, I would have said defacing a book is sacrilege. Now I understand the sad truth that there are books that need to be recycled or tossed.

>55 streamsong: It is sad, but at least they are promoting some creativity in their reuse. When we bought our farm, the outbuildings were filled boxes of old books that had gotten wet and were ruined. We took the whole lot to the dump. Throwing out books is my absolute last resort if I can't donate them to someone or make something out of them. I may end up with a whole family of hedgehogs or fiddle around with folded book art like this one on Instructables.

A gorgeous day here in south central Virginia! We have the doors to the old farmhouse thrown open. We took the dogs for a walk down to through the barn yard and were pleased to discover that the bee hive was active in the lovely weather. I suppose there is more winter to come, but I am heading out to our high tunnel to plant seeds for lettuce and kale and cabbage. I put in some potatoes and garlic yesterday: all harvested from kitchen scrap that showed signs of life.

I am midway through The Devil in the White City and loving it. I decided to drop most of the challenges and stick to the Alpha KIT and the Bingo Card. Just read...

I am jealous of your hint of spring. We are getting hit with an unlikely long period of potential snow. Congrats on whittling down the challenges and just enjoying READING!! Carry on. : )

>58 Berly: I have been following the snowstorm through friends in Portland and Seattle. Stay safe! It looks like winter may mostly skip us this year....actually, we're getting YOUR weather. It just keeps raining.

Hi Karen!

Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. Have you read anything else by him?

Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile tells the story of a family with tenderness and love. In many ways, it is a typical story: family history causes present feuds as they struggle to revive the family business. But the setting in the Louisiana sugar cane fields and the relationships that develop between Charley, the young widow who returns to the family farm with her daughter, and her farm managers brings interest and some complexity. She learns to trust them and, eventually, herself.

I haven't seen the television show but there is plenty of drama in the book to sustain a series, I think. The books ends but the story could go on. I may look it up when I'm needing to do some binge watching.

I don't use a rating scale but if I did this would be a 3.85 or so: it wasn't the best book I ever read but I'm not sorry I took the time to read it. I'm going to donate it to my friend who runs a little free library at a middle school.

The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman is, on the surface, the story of Malka Treynovsky aka Lillian Dunkle, matriarch of an ice cream empire. Once known as the Ice Cream Queen, host of a popular Saturday kids show, she is a prickly old lady when the story opens, facing jail time for tax evasion and sparring with her family. Behind the scenes, Lillian is nothing like the kindly host of the show. She is brutally honest, often a little drunk, and her paranoia keeps her from ever seeing her own success. That complexity kept the book from being a typical rag to riches story.

The setting of the book also adds interest. New York in the early 1900s through the Second World War mostly in New York but also along the byways of America where Lillian and her husband Bert drive their ice cream truck, using their special formula to create a unique blend. I had not known about the role ice cream played for the military in WW II, as a special treat for the troops who were served by ice cream barges.

It probably gets that same 3.85: not the best book but not bad. There were times when I wanted to slap the main character but maybe that was part of the author's intention.

Hi Karen! It's been snowing here an awful lot, too. I read >62 witchyrichy: The Ice Cream Queen when we were traveling a couple of years ago, and definitely agree with you. Fascinating and long slice of history but the main character was really hard to like.

>63 AMQS: And we just get rain. I took the dog for a walk, and we sloshed through mud and honest to goodness streams running through the farm. I think there is snow in the forecast for other parts of Virginia this week, but we are...wait for it...just going to get rain.

This weekend, I was part of the second annual Roanoke Mini Maker Faire. My organization is the major sponsor and we have a wonderful organizer who pulls together kids to show off their making skills. From robots to programming to homemade cardboard instruments and more...one young lady was selling her Lego jewelry. Others had made lip gloss using the honey from the hives on their campus. And, I am ready to try to make crystals using some of the stuff in my cupboard. There as a woman who was growing crystals on all sorts of things including a horseshoe crab shell and starfish. Beautiful!

I helped kids "bling" their badges and then taught them to make light sabers with LED lights and straws. Her's my name tag. I have to admit I still get a kick out of making this work. And, the looks on kids' (and grownups') faces when the make the LED light for the first time is always a joy to see!

Karen, that sounds awesome - what fun!

The Devil in the White City was one of the reasons I dropped some of the challenges. It has been on the pile for awhile, and I really wanted to read it after my visit to Chicago last summer.

And, I was rewarded by a great read. Erik Larson captures the grandeur of the age as America completes with Paris to create an amazing, unparalleled experience for fair attendees. The stories wind together: Ferris and his wheel, the assassination of the mayor, and, the "devil" of the title, a cruel murderer who took advantage of the fair to attract victims.

It was an against all odds kind of story: the opening of the fair coincided with the panic of 1893, which began just days after its opening. The weather itself seemed to hold a grudge against the fair, with rain and unprecedented storms wreaking havoc several times. But the fair organizers, a list that included Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmstead, persevered and created a fantasy world for the public, including soaring sculptures, neo classical buildings, and an exotic village that became the first fair midway.

>67 witchyrichy: I loved that book, too! Have you had a chance to read his book, Dead Wake? It's incredible! That's the book that got me reading non-fiction!

>68 Dianekeenoy: I haven't but I have added it to my list. Thanks for the tip!

I really appreciate historical non-fiction that tells a compelling story and gives enough history so you feel like you learned something. I don't want to get bogged down in all the details. I think David McCullough also does a good job with this. Bill Bryson's book about 1927 One Summer: America, 1927 is also a nice tapestry of facts and stories.

In The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality, author Paul Halpern paints a mostly loving portrait of two leaders in the development and exploration of quantum physics. My scientist father loaned me the book, and it took several tries to get through it. I finally convinced myself that I could appreciate the story of two incredible thinkers without completely understanding the science.

Both men were passionate teachers and used teaching as a way to learn themselves. When John Wheeler, for example, realized that, in order to solve a particular problem, he would need to better understand general relativity:

The best way to learn a field was to teach it, Wheeler had found. he had acquired the habit of assembling meticulous lecture notes for each course, which could double as an excellent resource whenever he continued to research a subject. Often in his notebooks, he scattered speculation among his course notes. He might ask those questions of his students, consider them himself, or both. Learning begets teaching, which begets more learning, in a marvelous spiral of rising knowledge. (p. 173).

In fact, Halpern writes, because physics is "built from the ground up, based on fundamental principles that might be stated or interpreted in many ways...Even concepts typically addressed in the first weeks of an introductory physics course, such as force and inertia, are nuanced" (p. 22). According to Halpern, working together on Wheeler's classical mechanics course at Princeton led to conversations about Mach's principle of distant stars causing inertia and how it might still be relevant when we know the universe is expanding. These conversations spilled over into the classroom as they challenged their students to think hard about the concepts.

Feynman, of course, became known as the great explainer. Here he is at the Esalen Institute in 1983, just five years before he died. The video opens with bongo drums, Feynman's instrument of choice:

Feyman Lecture

Hi Karen!

>69 witchyrichy: Those are three of my favorite nonfiction authors.

>70 witchyrichy: I may need to check that one out for my daughter Marina. I was pretty sure that physics is all made up, but she gets it (like my husband), and rather than a course to survive in order to graduate from high school, she is thriving in it, and planning to take AP physics next year. She might enjoy this one.

>72 AMQS: I think she would. Seems like, even now, the physics community is close knit. The author met Wheeler at least twice. And it would be cool to understand the science!

Actually, in terms of the made up part, Wheeler became popular with the Esalen spiritual community because of the way he talked about physics. He kind of hated it but it shows that there is a fine line sometimes.

>71 karenmarie: Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are staying warm. I think you were in the snow belt. I was in Roanoke for the weekend but was able to have a dry day for driving on Monday.

In the spirit of the wonderful John Simpson, I hand wrote my list of January books in a new book of lists I started. It is quite freeing to write lists of stuff: books to read, food to cook, daily routines. I dedicated a page to January 2019 books and discovered the following:

It was a light month. I just wanted to read good stories without being overly challenged.

I read eight books, all fiction. Three were part of the Books By the Bay Mystery Series by Ellery Adams. I listened to the sixth and seventh books in the series as I had done with all the others that came before, and then, because I bought the wrong version. I read the eighth and last one.

Number of Books: 8
Number of Authors: 5
Gender: All of them were women and one was a woman of color.
Hours of Audio: 19
Number of Pages: 2,077
Shelf Clearing: 3 books donated
Library Book: 1 (RLBG)

>75 witchyrichy: In agreement re: my good friend John Simpson, Karen.

He hails from the same home town as I do and, although we meet up rarely, we do try to get together every time I am back in the UK. He is also the only person in the world who I actually know how many pots of tea per month he is imbibing!

>76 PaulCranswick:, Lol Paul.

Hi Karen my dear, I am glad I have inspired you to list your reading, food to cook and your daily routine. We visited the lovely town of Holmfirth on Thursday, a place that Paul Cranswick loves. We went to visit the new independent bookshop that has opened there within the last ten days, I took my reading record book as I have been following their progress on Twitter and mentioned my book bible. The lovely lady who was on that day thought it was fantastic and suggested I come again on a Friday to see another member of staff, Jim, as he would be delighted as he wants to know what the folk of Holmfirth and surrounding area are reading and provided all sorts of list etc on his job application. I will be going next Friday to see Jim and have a good chat with him and show him some of my reading stats.

As Paul alluded to, my tea drinking is just the same as when I noted down my tea drinking two years ago, I am still having between 10 and 14 pots a day unless we are out when it is probably halved.

I hope you are well my dear and life is treating you well and that you have had a good week, I wish you a fantastic weekend and send love and hugs dear friend.

>76 PaulCranswick: >77 johnsimpson: It is lovely to have both of you stop by! I'm not sure I knew that you were from the same home town. The UK is on my list to visit sooner rather than later. I did the grand tour 10 years ago but now am dreaming of renting a canal boat and explore that way. I knocked on the door of one of them in Stratford to meet the author of Innocents Afloat: A Yank Discovers the Cut. He invited me in, gave me the grand tour and signed my book to Carol ;-) My husband is not a world traveler but he does love boats and locks so just may be willing to fly for that.

I am not a re-reader for the most part so figured I would just skim Where'd You Go, Bernadette, the March book for my RLBG. I read it, loved it, and, unlike some books, have a good memory of it.

Then I started reading and remembered that it was one of the funniest books I had read so I am settled in. It was Bernadette's early comment about cruise ships that got my first out loud laugh:

"Even the smallest one has 150 passengers, which translates into me being trapped with 149 other people who will uniquely annoy the hell out of me with their rudeness, waste, idiotic questions, incessant yammering, creepy food requests, boring small talk, etc. Or worse, they might turn their curiosity toward me, and expect pleasantry in return."

I wasn't sure what to expect with The Kashmir Shawl. The reviews make it seem like a love it or hate it kind of book. I definitely fall on the love it side. I was a little worried about its billing as a romance but the story drew me in. The parallel narratives were easy to follow and the history of Kashmir was woven into the two stories. I finished it just as the news stories about Pakistan and India fighting over Kashmir came out. I felt like I understood the situation a bit better.

As other reviewers have pointed out, there were coincidences and, one in particular, seemed a little extreme. But it made for a nice ending.

>80 witchyrichy:, Hi Karen, thanks for the review my dear as I have this on the shelf waiting to be read.

Hi Karen!

>79 witchyrichy: I've added this to my wish list. It sounds great. It also reminds me of the cruise ship article written by David Foster Wallace and published by Harpers Magazine in 1996. Here is the link if you're interested: Shipping Out

>82 karenmarie: I laughed out loud at both his description of the ship and his footnotes! Thanks for sharing.

February Stats:

Number of Books: 9
Audio: 1
Analog: 8

Number of Pages: 2,513
Audio: 9 hours

Fiction: 7
NonFiction: 2 (History and Science)

Gender:
Male: 6
Female: 3

Authors of Color: 1

Biggest Pleasant Surprise: The Kashmir Shawl (great history and geography)

Proudest Moment: The Quantum Labyrinth (Read it for the story of two fascinating men and maybe understood a little of the science)

Keeping in mind the U and L for AlphaKit, I piled up a few books to take me through March:

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and The Unthinkable Power To Control Evolution (loaner from scientist dad)
The Book of Unholy Mischief (book from the shelf)
The Edge of the Orchard (book from the shelf)
The Librarian of Auschwitz (recently purchased)

Your Dad is loaning you some interesting books! What sort of scientist is he?

>86 streamsong: He is a chemist. He worked in R&D for Armstrong. He's been retired for a long time (20 years!) but keeps up with science.

I started this as part of a January challenge but put it aside half way through. It called to me, however, and I finished it up this week. It is a loving portrait of American birding including the fathers AND mothers of birding. Weidensaul also explores the two different types coming down on the side of spending time with birds rather than aggressively pursuing the list. The blurb from The Washington Post calls it gossipy and scholarly and that's just about right as the author has hung out with the contemporary folks and likes telling tales about the characters from the past.

I think this brief history--there is just enough detail--will be interest to anyone who has paged through a field guide. And, if you a bird nerd, I can highly recommend Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. As a teenager, he embarked on his big year with little more than a backpack and a map. Kaufman almost won the annual competition but has since lost interest in the list. Weidensaul quotes him, "As for me, my own passion for list-chasing was dwindling fast, while my interests in the birds themselves was becoming ever stronger. So the contest was coming to matter least of all to the contestants."

Hi Karen!

Both birding books sound wonderful and I've added them to my wish list. The only book I've read about birding is The Big Year, but have read it twice.

>89 karenmarie: Thanks for the tip: just added it to my TBR list. It will be interesting to see how those competitors felt about birds.

Meanwhile, we saw a brown headed nuthatch at our feeder: a first for both of us even though its very limited range are southern piney woods. We live very close to the Piney Grove preserve (LOTS of southern pines). It is also protected habitat for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, which we still have not seen.

Two reviews to come but here's the short version:

The Last Witchfinder was an amazing read with Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica serving as the narrator.

The Librarian of Auschwitz takes us into the heart of the death camps through the eyes of a young woman. Powerful.

Now on my way to the library to pick up The Poet X.

I picked up The Poet X, started reading it yesterday afternoon into evening and then finished it this morning. I was going to return it to the library when I went to pick up Well-Read Black Girl but forgot and I think it's a sign I should read it a second time.

>90 witchyrichy: Fascinating about the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Looks like my part of central NC is within their range although I don't have any very old pines near me.

Karen; I'm waiting to get The Poet X from the library. It sounds great.

>93 karenmarie: >94 BLBera: Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a lovely St. Patrick's Day.

Can't recommend The Poet X enough. I also learned that the author was a student of a colleague who is now a principal of a progressive school in Philadelphia. I learned this on Twitter and he posted that he mostly just tried to get out of her way.

I am enjoying Well-Read Black Girl: kind of a nostalgic romp through my youth although I, of course, easily found myself in the books I read as a pre-teen and teen.

Wasn’t Poet X great? >95 witchyrichy: Sounds like a smart guy! :)

I’m going to have to try Well-Read Black Girl.

>96 Copperskye: It was, indeed.

I am really enjoying Well-Read Black Girl. Short essays by wonderful writers. Many tell the stories of when they finally found themselves in a book but they also talk about reading in general and their love for books. Something we all share, I think. I can remember being the kid on the band bus curled up with a book on the long rides back and forth to football games.

Almost done with The Book of Unholy Mischief, an historical mystery of sorts set in 1498 Venice.

And, my husband made a library run for me to pick up Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Lots of good reading ahead.

Meanwhile, I am knee deep in accounting work so binge watching the Shakespeare & Hathaway series to entertain part of my brain. I like it.

Hi Karen - hope you have a wonderful weekend.

>98 AMQS: Same to you. I have a Board of Directors meeting on Saturday but plan a long, lazy day on Sunday.

Well-Read Black Girl has a list of All the Books in This Book and I can't find it online anywhere. So, as a public service:

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
Training School for Negro Girls
Children of Blood and Bone
black is brown is tan
Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010
Inferno
Little Match Girl
Flowers in the Attic
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
How to Love a Jamaican
Everyday People: The Color of Life--a Short Story Anthology
Another Country
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Nobody Knows My Name
Notes of a Native Son
The Salt Eaters
The Story of Little Black Sambo
Jam on the Vine
Little Witch
The Mothers
The Berenstains' B Book
Black by Design
The Thunder Beneath Us
Gal: A True Life
The Purple Flower
Wuthering Heights
Annie Allen
Emergent Strategy
The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic
The Secret Garden
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Talents
Kindred
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Our Movement
Trouble in Mind
Soul on Ice
What We Lose
The Book of Light
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980
Colette Claudine Series
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love
Black Feminist Thought
The Crunk Feminist Collection
Halsey Street
Boy: Tales of Childhood
The Witches
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism
Bright April
Nicole Dennis-Benn
Stick Fly
On the Bus With Rosa Parks
Copper Sun
My Soul to Keep
Freshwater
Witch Family
Electric Arches
Harriet the Spy
The Turner House
A Soldier's Play
Bad Feminist
Difficult Women
When and Where I Enter
Black Feeling, Black Talk
My House
Spin a Soft Black Song
Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe
Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems
We Love You, Charlie Freeman
Eclipsed
The Friends

Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought
Homegoing
The Mountaintop
The People Could Fly
A Raisin in the Sun
My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir
Amazing Grace
Feminism Is For Everybody
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
Brown Girl in the Ring
Langston Hughes Simple Stories
All the Women Are White, All the Blacks of Men
But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies
Color Struck
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Star Side of Bird Hall
Negroland: A Memoir
The Fifth Season
This Will Be My Undoing
Corregidora
An American Marriage
His Own Where
Naming Our Destiny
Things That I Do in the Dark
Funnyhouse of a Negro
Bling
Annie John
"Girl" Jamaica Kinkaid

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
Quicksand
C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia
Pippi Longstocking
The Song of Hiawatha
Redemption in Indigo
Sister Outsider
Betty MacDonald The Piggle-Wiggle series
The Seven Chinese Brothers
Brown Girl, Brownstones
Ann M. Martin The Baby-Sitters Club series
The Hero and the Crown
Daddy Was a Number Runner
Anne of Green Gables
She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Detroit '67
Beloved
The Bluest Eye
The Reader As Artist, Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon
Sula
Tar Baby
She Would be King

More From Well-Read Black Girl

Linden Hills
The Women of Brewster Place
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Sweat
A Moonless, Starless Sky
Binti
Who Fears Death
Forever
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
Topdog/Underdog
Francine Pascal Sweet Valley High series
The Street
The Darkest Child
No One Is Coming to Save Us
Citizen: An American Lyric
With Child
American Cocktail
Year of Yes
Wild Sargasso Sea
You Can't Touch My Hair
Homegirls and Handgrenades
The Bridge of Beyond
Ordinary Beast
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbox is enuf
Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo
Wild Beauty
Everfair
Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth
This Is Just My Face
Coffee Will Make You Black
Caps for Sale
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Incendiary Art
Life on Mars
Swing Time
Disgruntled
An Unkindness of Ghosts
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
A Child's Garden of Verses
Black Women Writers at Work
How We Get Free
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The Hate U Give
Free to Be...You and Me
Dark Matter
Heads of the Colored People
J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Beauty and the Beast

More from Well-Read Black Girl

Alice Walker
The Color Purple
Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
Langston Hughes: An American Poet
The Temple of My Familiar
Alice Walker In Search of Zora Neale Hurston
Jubilee
Baby Love
Black White and Jewish
Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman
Salvage the Bones
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Piecing Me Together
Charlotte's Web
Alice Walker: A Life
Our Nig
Another Brooklyn
Brown Girl Dreaming
Last Summer with Maizon
A Room of One's Own
Black Boy
Black Girl in Paris

And I am almost done with Books for Living that also has a long list of books at the end. Fortunately, someone on Good Reads printed the list in his review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2054286765

Happy Spring! Where I live in Virginia, spring means daffodils and forsythia. We have conquered daffodils, rows along the roads, clumps in the front yard, wild ones at the woods' edge. If left to themselves, the forsythia sprawl gloriously, graceful branches bending from the center. There are several spectacular examples along the edge of the woods as you drive into my town. Here's the funny part: I am a decent gardener but have never managed to get a forsythia to do more than spit out a couple of random yellow blossoms. Honestly, they are weeds, and I can't grow them!

Until this year...these have been in place for at least two years now and maybe three:



The large one came from our old backyard. The smaller ones came from a dear friend. They make me happy.

That is quite a list from Well-Read Black Girl. I knew there were a lot of recommendations, but listing them all together really shows them. I really enjoyed the essays and the recommendations.

>104 witchyrichy: Lovely.

>105 BLBera: it is quite a list, isn't it? Messy but I had to get the book back to the library. I may try a bit more organized list and wondering about sharing it in the wiki.

That's amazing that did listed the books from Well-Read Black Girl, Karen. Adding it to the Wiki (in Lists?) would be awesome! Maybe I could help - although it would be mid-April before I could do so ....

And I love your forsythia - I am celebrating that I have one tulip leaf poking through the recently melted snow-mud.

>I have a couple hotel rooms nights coming up and will put this on the to do list but thanks for the offer.

My husband brought in daffodils from the back yard. They are our spring heralds: We don't plant tulips as it doesn't get cold enough here in the winter so you have to dig them up and put them in the freezer if you want them to overwinter. More work than I am willing to do ;-) Most local gardens do plant tulips but just treat them as annuals and plant new bulbs each year.

Hi Karen my dear, hope all is well with you and your husband and that you are having a really good weekend, sending love and hugs to both of you from both of us dear friend.

>108 witchyrichy: Spring heralds. I like that, Karen.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>109 johnsimpson: >110 PaulCranswick: Thanks for stopping by! I had a lovely weekend and then started my spring road trip. The upside was getting to listen to an audio book and reading in the hotel room.

Getting ready to take a break...some staycation to work on my garden and then a visit with my family in Pennsylvania over Easter. Lots of reading planned, too.

This week began in Roanoke with a school safety summit that my organization sponsored with a local school division. We got some press since our keynoter was General James Clapper and we had two speakers from Safe and Sound Schools, one who lost a child at Sandy Hook and another who was in the building during the VT shooting. Emotional but also with a clear message: you can and should have a plan but it may not be adequate. We got a little press about the event.

From there, I headed to the far southwest part of the state--Abingdon--to do a workshop. I took an extra day to come home along Virginia's southern border. Beautiful weather for a drive through some of the most gorgeous scenery in our state. The hills are covered with flowering shrubs and trees.

Managed to finish a couple books: Murder in the Locked Library on audio and Everything I Never Told You for my RLBG that meets next week.

Bingo! I used What She Ate to fill in the food related square and Writing All Wrongs for the title with the homophone word.

Still working on the rest of it...

And the bigger news: got a good look at a male ruby-throated hummingbird who stopped for a drink at my feeder. I put it up on April 1 and had just refreshed the food. I saw a hummer buzz the feeder yesterday but I'm calling this the first real siting and adding it to the map. Spring is sprung and summer is coming.

Ooh, happy spring! Love the forsythia - so beautiful! When Callia was little her best friend was named Cynthia, and she thought forsythia was "for Cynthia." We still think of them that way and they're still friends:)

Hi Karen!

Happy Spring to you, too.

>104 witchyrichy: Forsythia also makes me happy. Mine were marvelous this year and have settled into their summer green outfits.

I just saw my first hummingbird of the season, literally as I was typing the last sentence. He zoomed around the feeder but didn’t land.

>114 AMQS: A wonderful story! I will forever think of them that way myself, I think!

>115 karenmarie: YAY to hummingbirds! I am heading out to the porch now with a late cup of coffee to see if I can catch another glimpse.

If a story set in the hell of Auschwitz can be triumphant, it is The Librarian of Auschwitz. In the midst of the unimaginable, the inmates set up a school, providing some semblance of safety to the children. The librarian--14-year-old Dita--manages the few precious books, those made of paper and flesh, and risks her life in doing so. We see Auschwitz through her eyes, her fear of Mengele, her worry for her family and friends, her need to understand her mentor's motive in a moment of crisis.

Xiomara Batista doesn't seem to fit in her real life. A Dominican American, she clashes with her ultra religious mother and pushes others away with her fierceness and fists. Her notebook is where she really lives: her poetry that speaks for her. The Poet X is a powerful narrative--written in the form of a prose poem--of a young woman coming into her personal strength and changing the world for herself and her family.

March Reading:

Number of Books: 10
Number of Pages: 3,549

Fiction: 4
Historical Fiction: 2
Non Fiction: 4

Gender:
Male 6
Female 4

Authors of Color: 2

Not on my radar but glad I read it: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Quite a month of reading, I think: books about books and reading, two fictional historical romps--The Last Witchfinderwas more fantasy historical fiction and The Book of Unholy Mischief brought Italy to life--and several young adult novels that tell adult stories.

Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Well-Read Black Girl
The Book of Unholy Mischief
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Looking for Alaska
Books for Living
The Happiness Equation

I wouldn't have chosen Everything I Never Told You for myself and that is one of the reasons I belong to my library's book group, to push me beyond my own bias against what seems like popular fiction to me. The book was, as they say, a good read. I was pulled into the story of the Lee family, living in 1970s Massachusetts, a time when the Lee's mixed marriage--James is Chinese, Marilyn is American--causes a family rift for Marilyn and general isolation for their three children. Each family member harbors secrets about their lives and their desires, some more destructive than others, and when tragedy strikes, those secrets push them apart just when they should be coming together.

The book begins with the death of Lydia, the favorite and favored daughter. Individually, family members vow to discover the truth of her, and their journeys of discovery say more about them than about Lydia, although we learn much about her throughout the rest of the novel.

I may add Little Fires Everywhere to my wish list at the library. The description sounds similar: it opens with the climax as it were but then we backtrack to learn the story. An interesting technique which ensures that the climax will come with a surprising twist.

I use Twitter as my social media tool of choice, mostly as part of my work. But, each Friday morning until 11 AM, the New York Public Library will reply to requests for book suggestions via the @NYPL_Recommends account. I don't always remember to check in but this morning just happened upon their reminder. Having just finished A Dangerous Collaboration, the fourth Veronica Speedwell mystery, I was looking for other feisty Victorian heroines.

They suggest Caro Peacock and Tasha Alexander. Heading out to check on them at my library. Any other suggestions? If you haven't read Raybourn's series, I can highly recommend it. A bit of breathless Victorian kitsch with tongue firmly in cheek.

Hi Karen my dear, didn't know you were on Twitter, I have been on for about a year after Rob persuaded me that I really needed to go on Twitter.

Hope you and your husband are well and have had a good week, sending love and hugs to both of you from both of us dear friend.

>122 johnsimpson: I use Twitter much more than Facebook and am glad to connect with your there! A lovely weekend so far with lots of gardening and then brats and asparagus for an informal supper with friends. Getting ready to retire to the side porch to enjoy the evening.

Hope you and your family are well!

I've heard many good things about The Poet X, Karen. I hope to get to it soon. March was a good reading month for you.

>124 BLBera: Agreed about March, and April has been good, too. I've started putting the phone down more, and it is perfect outdoor porch reading weather. My husband added a light so I can read past dusk. My back only allows so much gardening each day, and I'm tired of Facebook and cable news. I have been doing some writing as well, posting to my occasional blog mostly about education called In Another Place.

My RLBG is reading In The Unlikely Event, Judy Blume's recent adult novel. It is based in her home town of Elizabeth, NJ, where three planes from Newark Airport crashed in the space of six months in the early 1950s. Blume tells the story mostly through the voice of Miri but we hear the voices of her families and friend and the strangers, all impacted by the crashes that make lasting changes on all their lives. A little slow moving and it took me a bit to get all the characters connected. There is a helpful guide to the various families in the beginning that I returned to when I realized how the prose was written.

Finished up In The Unlikely Event. It just seemed long and I found myself counting the pages when we moved into the last section of the book. I think it was the choppiness of the prose that made it seem longer than it was. I will be interested in hearing from my RLBG friends. I'm not sorry I read it but can't highly recommend it.

Now, compiling H and V books for the May Alpha KIT and started Horrorstor. Laughing out loud and looking forward to the rest of it!

April Stats:

Number of Books: 10
Audio: 2
Analog: 8

Number of Pages: 2,681
Audio: 19 hours

Fiction: 7
NonFiction: 3

Gender:
Male: 3
Female: 7

Authors of Color: 1

brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
What She Ate by Laura Shapiro
Murder in the Locked Library by Ellery Adams (audio)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Wishes and Wellingtons by Julie Berry (audio)
A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
The Museum of Mysteries by Steve Berry and M.J. Rose

Just Fun: Wishes and Wellingtons was an Audible exclusive read by Jane Entwhistle. Wonderful entertainment for my Easter trip to Pennsylvania.

I had the opportunity to meet Neil Pasricha at a conference. We also received a copy of The Happiness Equation. I wonder how I would feel about the book if I hadn't met the author. I like him: he is earnest and ready to tell his own story as well as listen to others tell theirs. His advice is thoughtful and research based but can tend to the overly optimistic, feel good rhetoric that seems to be prevalent these days. Think happy, be happy.

I'm a little cynical about that attitude, and, as someone seriously considering retirement, I bristled at the advice to not retire. There is nuance and these kinds of books don't necessarily thrive on nuance: I may work but in a different kind of way. Is it retirement? But I have adopted his suggestions for managing decisions including automating my clothing options and regulating time sinks like email and social media.

I also subscribe to his newsletter and listen to his 3 Books podcast. He feeds my love of reading and books.

>128 witchyrichy: You had a great month of reading in April, Karen. I loved Brown Girl Dreaming and Lillian Boxfish. The Boss's memoir is on my list.

>129 witchyrichy: Not sure about this. I share your suspicion about the "be happy" books.

>130 BLBera: Thanks for stopping by! I have some thread browsing to do myself.

I just couldn't stay awake last night to finish the last 75 pages of The Summer Before the War. So now I'm starting today with that bittersweet feeling of finishing a wonderful book. I laughed and cried and felt nostalgic for the loss of that last Edwardian summer before the war. Helen Simonson created a whole village of memorable characters who seem to sense they are on the edge of real change in their lives beyond just men going to war. We see women coming into their own strength, some leading the charge while others are pulled along. And, we see tragedy leading to a new understanding of who might be brave and deserving outside the strict rules of polite society.

>132 witchyrichy: I’ve had that one on the shelf for a couple of years and I keep meaning to start it. I really should. You’ve nudged me in the right direction!

>133 Copperskye: Honestly, I pulled it off the shelf for the Alpha KIT for April which includes H. Sometimes, those challenges help connect me with good books!

>132 witchyrichy:, We both loved this book my dear and echo your comments. Hope you had a good weekend and are having a good week so far my dear. Sending love and hugs.

Lovely comments about The Summer Before the War. It's one I'll definitely have to keep in mind. I've had Major Pettigres's Last STand on Planet TBR for a while now. Have you read that one?

>135 johnsimpson: I had a lovely weekend and hoping you did, too. Need to visit a few threads myself.

>136 streamsong: I haven't...I think Major Pettigrew is lurking on my shelf somewhere.

I managed to pull off a major surprise for my mother that pulled in both Mother's Day and my birthday that I share with my nephew. I drove to Annapolis on Monday and my sister, nephew and his pretty serious girlfriend (that none of us had met yet) headed to Pennsylvania on Tuesday which is the actual birthday. My dad knew we were coming, but my mother was VERY surprised. She evidently couldn't imagine why he had declined a meeting and put off giving me a call. She was ironing when we arrived.

We had a lovely lunch, did a bit of shopping at a fun farmer's market and then had cupcakes and coffee before the four of us went back to Annapolis. I returned home yesterday. I treated myself to a lovely suite at the Hampton Inn so had a bit of vacation there, too. Honestly, if it weren't for my books, I could live in this suite!

She has emailed me twice to say thank you and was just thrilled. I figured it gave her something to brag about at the retirement community.

And...I did something I haven't done for ages...read a whole book in an evening. I had picked up Where the Crawdads Sing on my way out of town after being on the waiting list forever at the library. Started it about 9 PM that night and by 1:30 AM was closing the pages and wishing it wasn't over. I was a little tired the next day but it was worth it!

I have just read some wonderful books this year!

Hi Karen! What a wonderful way to combine Mother's Day and your/your nephew's birthday. I love being alone in a hotel room with a good book, and having just recently finished Where the Crawdads Sing can understand your marathon read.

>139 karenmarie: Thanks for stopping by! I need to do some thread visiting. I'll bet you have a new one ;-) And cheers to a hotel room: I'm traveling quit a bit in June but don't mind. I get suites and whirlpools and enjoy a bit of vacation amongst the work. Happy to do a grocery store salad and microwave pizza as I read a good book. Sometimes, I even pack my small espresso maker ;-) And the travel means audio books! Took advantage of Audible's two for one credit offer this week.

A few road trips meant an audio book so I listened to Murder in the Reading Room by Ellery Adams. It is the fifth book in A Book Retreat Mystery series and, it seems, the last one. Threads from the various books come together, and Jane Seward, the main character, makes decisions that mean revealing secrets that have been kept for generations for the safety of her family and friends.

The series, set at Storyton Hall, a fictional resort catering to book lovers and readers in the mountains of western Virginia, follows Jane Seward as she discovers her family's secret and the important role she must play. Jane juggles life as the manager of Storyton Hall, mother to pre-teen twins, girlfriend to Edwin Alcott, and friend to the Cover Girls, her book group. She shares life with her eccentric aunt and uncle. They have preserved the secrets of Storyton Hall all their lives and in this fifth book, they actively discourage Jane from revealing the secrets.

I like that Adams ends her series when she could certainly write more of them. She seems to have a good sense of ending on a high note as well as truly crafting a series where each book contributes to an ongoing story. Characters develop and change over the course of the series.

Just finished The Barrytown Trilogy. I have never seen the movie made from the first book in this trilogy, The Commitments. The book has been on my shelf for while and I figured the third book, The Van, would count as a V for the Alpha Kit.

Roddy Doyle brings us the Rabitte family and their friends who live in the Barrytown section of Dublin. It was laugh out loud funny and then sad and then bittersweet. Doyle even managed to make me feel drunk a few times. But his characters are not stereotypes: amid the bravado and insults, they are educated and thoughtful. They make mistakes and learn to live with them as well as they can. Doyle explores relationships, especially in The Snapper and The Van. In the former, a father tries to connect with his pregnant daughter. And in The Van, two friends struggle with their working relationship.

Fifty books by May 31...I think it is doable. It is amazing how much time I have freed up now that I don't have the Facebook app on my phone and take a more realistic approach to my work habits that includes moving away from the desk area where temptation lies just a laptop click away. It IS a part time job after all.

I also set the social media filter to stop everything after an hour. I can invoke more time if needed but it is a heads up about just how long I have been on other social media including Twitter and Instagram.

We had a breathtakingly lovely week this week: perfect late Spring weather but the coming week will be miserably hot. I'll creep out to the garden in the early mornings and late evenings and brave the porch for a bit if there is a breeze. There will be time to read as I am winding down a pretty major to do list: I finished the nonprofit's financial report for the year so far and put together what I think looks like a great budget for next year. We have enough money to support other groups and that's a good feeling. June events are mostly planned.

Hummingbirds are back in full force, and we live among them with feeders hanging near and on the porch. My husband saw a rose breasted grosbeak when I was away but just one day.

All in all, a lovely end to a good week. Making chicken pie with cornbread dumplings and then heading to the porch for the evening. Not sure what my next book is but I'm sure I will have it in hand by then. Maybe Einstein or Tash Hearts Tolstoy although I think I should save that one for the T month. Just found The Food Explorer and Our Towns tucked behind a pile of other books and both would be good for the Memorial Day weekend, celebrating America.

>138 witchyrichy: That sounds lovely and so worthwhile. And I know what you mean about being able to "live" in that suite. I actually love staying in (nice) hotel rooms. They are usually great places in which to do some reading! I travel to Denver next week for a conference and, while I will be working working, I always look forward to evening in the room with whatever I'm reading at present.

The filter to limit (or at least make you aware of) social media time sounds really great. I sort of have to "do" Twitter for work -- it's one of the mechanisms through which we try to engage students but also raise awareness about whatever is going on on campus, etc. -- but I keep Facebook more personal. I have strictly avoided adding any other social media to my life with the exception of LibraryThing! :-D

"...chicken pie with cornbread dumplings..." YUM. That sounds delicious!! And time on the porch for the evening sounds just lovely. And good luck with the 50-by-May-31 goal!

Have a great holiday weekend!

>143 witchyrichy: I am traveling quite a bit in June and have lined up at least a couple suites, one that I am in for two nights with a whirlpool tub!

Social media is also part of my work and I have invested a fair amount of time on my professional twitter thread for myself and the organization so that's where I spend the most time. I didn't do Instagram at all until a friend's daughter moved to the Netherlands She posts pictures of the adventures with the kids. And, I discovered the #unreadshelfproject2019 which is people posting pictures of their book stacks plus lots of younger authors like Angie Thomas are there along with #WellReadBlackGirl.

Books sometimes seem to appear when they make sense, don't they? I read Maus I and Maus II yesterday and then pondered my next read. Next thing I knew In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen was in my hands after lurking on the shelf behind the bed for a long time. It tells the story of Clements Olin, a Holocaust researcher, who has joined a group of who have gathered at Auschwitz for a retreat. Olin moves from observer to participant as he considers his own family's past in Poland and searches for connections. I didn't realize it was Matthiessen's final novel.

Hi Karen my dear, thanks for stopping by on my thread. I hope that the temperatures for the week ahead are not too uncomfortable for you and that you get to enjoy the weather.

It sounds as if you are determined to get to fifty books read by the end of the month, I am doing well so far and hope to finish my current book and another before month end which will put me at 38 for the year so far hopefully.

I hope you are having a really good weekend my dear and wish you a good week ahead, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>147 johnsimpson: Thanks for stopping by! It is hot but we know how to survive: outside early and late and inside in the heat of the day. Perfect reading weather.

We are having a nice weekend. Same to you and your family!

I gave away my last be hive today to a local farmer friend who is starting a small apiary. I enjoyed learning about beekeeping but did not have the passion, or frankly the physical strength, that it required. I am trying to streamline my life in terms of responsibilities so I wasn't too sad to see the hive heading to its new home. I only got stung twice last night as I closed them in.

So, instead of having to don my suit on this hot day and fire up the smoker on a 90 plus degree day, I sat on the shaded back porch and played with my husband's security camera to get a bird's eye view of the hummingbird feeder. They are back in full force and I grabbed a few seconds: Hummingbird Video

Love the hummingbird video! Which reminds me...I need to change the food in mine. : ) Enjoy your lovely shaded back porch.

Fifty books by month's end? Very nice! I am currently at 39. Maybe I can squeeze in another one by the end of the week.

Hi Karen! Your days sound lovely - especially as you head to the porch to read! You're smart to regulate your social media that way - it can be a terrible time suck. I've heard great things about Twitter, especially as it relates to professional development and connecting with colleagues, but honestly, I don't think I can handle more media. I am limiting my time of FB, but keep an Instagram account for my library and really enjoy that platform.

You definitely got me with The Summer Before the War and Where the Crawdads Sing, which I think was already on my list. I really enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. I also loved both Maus and Maus II, which I was assigned in college.

Love the hummingbirds! We've had a lot - especially up at school, and I've worried about them, especially with our late snows, but they seem to be fine! Hardy little things.

>151 AMQS: Hi! I ended today much the same way, reading on the porch as night fell. The bugs haven't been too bad but we are trying to figure out some kind of screening.

I am thinking about exploring Instagram a bit more as it relates to books. I share my photos on Flickr but books stacks and covers are much more appropriate for Instagram. Glad to know you like using it. Mind sharing your library account?

Read my 50th book and a Bingo DOG: The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. I don't remember reading it as a kid: I LOVED From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler but remember being underwhelmed by whatever next book of hers I tried which may have been Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth. It has moved up the TBR pile as it will help file in another Bingo square: uses initials or middle name.

Congrats on reading 50 books already!! I’m about 20 books behind you.

I love your hummer video!

>154 Copperskye: Thanks! Heading to the library now to pick up With the Fire on High. It is all a plan to monitor how much I work. Books and reading get me away from my desk onto the porch or into the living room. Hope all is well with you and you are looking forward to summer break.

>149 witchyrichy: Ah on the beehive. I'm hitting the same thing - just not strong enough, energetic enough, and maybe just plain not driven enough to manage all the projects around my place.

Hooray for the hummer video.

Congrats on 50 books! I'm right there with you. I'm doing a reread of The Hate U Give to lead the Real Life Book Club on it tomorrow. That will be my 50th book. Can I squeeze another into May? I'll at least have one started.

Hi Karen! My Instagram account is Parmalee Library, or parmalee_library is the way it appears when I look at it. It is about to get a lot slower now that I'm nearly done with school, but I try to post regularly when school is in session. If you find any good book-related accounts, let me know. I do follow other school librarians, and I love our local library system's account. I think they must have a new person managing their social media, and whoever it is is fabulous. I really love IG for travel - it helped so much when Marina and I were planning a trip to Wales to follow some official Wales tourism accounts to get ideas of what to see and where to go. I also follow the accounts of the schools Marina is looking at - it's a good way to get a feel for the school and see the kinds of things that go on.

Hi Karen!

I loved the hummingbird video, thanks for sharing the link.

And congrats on 50 books...

>156 streamsong: When people come to our farm, my husband's greeting is "Welcome to Bottle Tree Farm, land of many unfinished projects." He is doing less farming these days but helping others set up small vegetables plots in our field. It is rewarding to help others but with less ongoing responsibility. I planted tomatoes and jalapenos but limited myself to six San Marzano for canning and freezing, three Brandywines for slicing and three Sweet 100s to eat right off the vine. I use jalapenos a lot and they freeze beautifully so I put in three plants. Add a few herbs like rosemary and basil and that is just about what I can handle when the temperatures get where they are now.

And congrats on the 50th book. The Hate U Give is a good one for that milestone. It continues to be a favorite of mine and has opened some real connections to others young women writers of color. Can't wait to crack open With the Fire On High tomorrow evening when I settle into another hotel room.

Hi Karen my dear, just stopping by to say hello and hope the week has been good for you so far, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

>157 AMQS: I found yours and it is terrific. Librarians are always on the cutting edge, aren't they, and looking for creative ways to support books and reading and learning!

>158 karenmarie: Thanks! I'm making a quart of food a day already!

>160 johnsimpson: Thanks for coming by! It has been a good week despite the heat. We got a huge thunderstorm last night and more are on the way tonight. My hound dog is deathly afraid and ends up standing over me in bed, panting, trembling and shedding.

I have a small Pentax camera with a zoom lens and have been trying to capture the hummingbirds. Getting them in focus is a challenge but I think this one is pretty good:

>161 witchyrichy:, Hi Karen, bless your poor dog my dear, he just wanted lots of cuddles really, lol. Love the photos of the Hummingbirds, I have only ever seen them on television, you are so lucky.

Hope you have a great weekend dear friend, sending love and hugs from both of us.

>162 witchyrichy: That is a terrific photo! Thanks for the follow on IG :) Hope you're having a good weekend.

>163 johnsimpson: >164 AMQS: Thanks for stopping by. I'm on my way to read threads now having settled into my hotel room.

I am having a good weekend even though I am really "working." Today was the first meeting of our diversity task force. It is a group of educator in Virginia, mostly related to ed tech, who are coming together to learn more about Virginia's history of racism and segregation and how we might move forward in positive ways. We still have a very lopsided system with schools that have large gaps between the number of students of color they have versus the number of teachers of color.

Tomorrow is a little less serious: it's the Northern Virginia Maker Faire. My org is sponsoring the educator meetup in the morning with guest speakers and breakouts and then there is the Faire. Looking forward to it.

Hi Karen my dear, I hope the weekend has gone well and that the maker Faire was worth looking around. We are hoping for a repeat performance from the Hedgehogs tonight, a week or so ago it looked like the Hedgehogs had abandoned us as a local cat that is quite thin was getting into the Hedgehog house and eating the food I put down. We left it empty for a couple of days and then I got some specialised Hedgehog food and put that down, the cat disappeared and the food was going. I thought I saw a Hedgehog a couple of days ago and then last night we had three although the little one left the bigger two to their bit of a kerfuffle.

Karen left some food near the back door step as we thought the little Hedgehog would be tempted, when I looked out this morning the food had gone so hopefully it came back and tucked in.

>162 witchyrichy: That’s a great photo, Karen! Today was the first time I’ve seen more than one - two in this case - hummers at my feeder so I’m very impressed that you have three. I like your feeder, too. It looks like it wouldn’t leak. The two I have will drip if they blow around too much or a larger bird lands on the pole. And of course the sugar water attracts the dreaded wasps.

Our tanagers seem to have moved on to higher elevations. It was nice to have them around for a few weeks.

>166 johnsimpson: I just don't think the US has an equivalent...maybe chipmunks? I do hope they stick around. We love watching nature here at the farm.

>167 Copperskye: By mid-summer we will often have at least 8 buzzing the back yard area. They like having the bushes and the porch for cover and perching. The feeders are my favorites as the also have a reservoir around the post that you fill with water. It helps with the ants. I also love having a window feeder but have had no luck keeping the ants out.

Poet X was a favorite book so far this year, coupled with On the Come Up. And, just as Thomas's second book was a departure from her first but equally well written and engaging, Elizabeth Acevedo's new book, With the Fire On High was a joy to read. She titled her last section 'Bittersweet' and that is how I felt at the end of the story. I connected with the main character, Emoni, immediately, as we are plunged into her world of being a single mom heading into her senior year in high school. She juggles a baby, a job, her grandmother and father, a budding romance and the baby's father, all the while finding out how to pursue her own dream of being a chef.

We see the world through eyes but she is honest enough to tell us how others see her. It isn't always flattering and she is able to acknowledge when she has let her own ego or prejudices get in the way.

Hi Karen- Congrats on reaching 50. The Summer Before the War sounds great - I know my mom also loved that one. I really enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand as well.

I hope to get to The Poet X soon; I've heard so many great things about it.

I also loved Where the Crawdads Sing, except maybe the ending. I would have liked it to end after the trial. But I loved the description and vivid sense of place. I still think of Kya thinking she would never learn what comes after 29.

Hi Karen! Great review of With the Fire on High. I'm still waiting for my copy from the library line, but your review makes me anxious to read it.

I agree with you whole heartedly about Angie Thomas and Elizabeth Acevedo. It's wonderful to see really quality work from diverse authors.

I have had no luck at all trying to grow herbs inside. I need to go plant shopping today. Your herb pots are inspiring me. Perhaps I will give them another go.

>171 streamsong: I may not be the inspiration you seek. I put rosemary, thyme and lavender in pots outside so I can keep after them.

But keeping them alive in the winter inside IS a challenge: we only really heat one room in our house with a wood stove so it can get pretty cold in the rest of the old, leaky farmhouse. I put two small plastic covered greenhouses in sunny rooms upstairs. My pineapple sage cuttings did fine this winter, but it was pretty mild. I am going to do cuttings of rosemary and lavender to see if I can start new plants. I used cinnamon as the rooting medium.

I've never had luck with herbs in pots, either, so I've been just planting them outside and enjoying them while they last.

>173 BLBera: The one summer herb I preserve is basil. I process it a little and then pop it in small plastic containers. Just pull it out and throw the whole frozen chunk into sauce. Depending on garlic availability, I will also make and freeze pesto. A lovely treat in the midst of winter.

On the road...Board meeting on Saturday and professional development tomorrow. It wasn't worth driving home just for one night so I treated myself to a room with a whirlpool. Last night, I tubbed and finished Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.



What a book: narrated by main character Willowdean, a young woman who "wears" her plus size body and tries to break out of the prison she feels even as she struggles to figure out why a good looking co-worker would want to date her publicly. Her single mother, formerly overweight herself, runs the local award winning beauty pageant which she won when she was in high school and is something of a celebrity.

Both mother and daughter are mourning the loss of Lucy, sister and beloved aunt, who loved life and Dolly Parton, but whose obesity may have led to her early death by heart attack. A lifelong friendship is tested when Will enters the beauty pageant along with a group of other girls who are subjected to bullying. They learn how to love themselves from former friends of Lucy's. I will leave it to you to read the book and find out who these people are as they are quirky and a fun addition to the story.

I finished the book too early to go to sleep so watched the Netflix original movie made from the book starring Jennifer Aniston as the mother and Danielle Macdonald as Willowdean.

June has been one long road trip and the last leg starts tomorrow with a train to Philadelphia for a national conference. I have a few meetings, one presentation and a party and then come home for some desperately needed time off. I am fortunate to love my work and the connections I make with others but I am ready for a few days of down time.

I can highly recommend all the books I read or listened to in June. I was excited to find an old Carl Hiaasen book that I somehow missed, Tourist Season. And I'm not sure where I heard about The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek but it was a fascinating look at the Pack Horse Librarians, mostly women, who carried reading materials to the hill people in Kentucky. The author did not spare us the horrific details of poverty and violence as well as the tyranny of the coal mines seen through the eyes of the narrator, Cussy Mary Carter. She bears her own extra burden of being a "Blue," one of the mountain people born with blue skin. Her fight for acceptance forms an important part of the story.

NPR did an interview with the author of a non-fiction book about these women that you might find interesting.

On the train home from Philly. Got poked by the travel gods pretty good today but have maintained my good humor. Hotel was evacuated at 2 AM due to fire alarm. Trudged up and down five flights of steps. (Did I mention I have a gimpy leg so am relying on a cane until I can get to the doctor on Friday?) I had an easy morning planned with a noon time train so curled up and went back to sleep. Woke to a phone call from Amtrak saying that my train had been cancelled due to a derailment. Managed to throw everything together and get to the station in about 20 minutes. I take a Zen-like approach to travel so it does take a lot to upset me. Plug in the headphones and read or, in this case, get caught up on all the LT threads. Some good reading going on out there, folks. Keep it up. Going to work on my May stats now since June is almost over.

May Reading Stats:

Total Books: 15
Pages Read: 4559
Hours Listened: 8 hours 35 minutes

Male: 60%
Female: 40%

Fiction: 53%
Graphic Novel: 20%
Historical Fiction: 13.3%
Mystery: 13.3%

Living: 87%
Dead:13%

Author Origin:
US: 80%
UK: 13%
Ireland: 7%

Source:
My Shelf: 80%
Public Library: 13%
Audible: 7%

In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Charles Vess' Book of Ballads & Sagas by Charles Vess
Murder in the Reading Room by Ellery Adams (audio)
The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle
The Kings and Queens of Roam by Daniel Wallace
Maus I by Art Spiegelman
Maus II by Art Spiegelman
In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen
Squirm by Carl Hiasen
The View From Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
Death at Dawn by Caro Peacock

Hi Karen - Well, the end of your trip gives you something to talk about, right?

You have some great reading in May. And June, too, I hope. ?

>179 BLBera: Certainly, having real time updates from Amtrak helped make sure I was able to get on a train earlier rather than later. The tracks were closed for a couple days. Very quiet at the farm as our long northern edge borders the tracks, and we get trains all day long making their way between Petersburg and Norfolk. Our hound dog Spot howls at the western bound trains, and we often join in. He has taught Major, our smaller beagle mix, to howl. Major is choosier about when he chimes in but does occasionally throw back his head and give a higher pitched howl.



And, yes, June has been pretty good. Going to update the list and the Bingo card (almost done) and start a new thread on July 1. Thanks for visiting to help me move along.