Oberon's 2019 75 Book Challenge Thread

Welcome to thread 2 (which I failed to denote as thread 2 in creating so if anyone knows how to rename it without abandoning a thread please let me know)!

This is Lake Louise, north of Banff in Alberta Canada.

Books Read in 2019:

January

1. Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer
2. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
3. City of Thieves by David Benioff (audiobook)
4. The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley
5. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

February

6. Nok: African Sculpture in Archaeological Context by Peter Breunig
7. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (audiobook)
8. Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
9. Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung
10. The Soul of America by Jon Meacham (audiobook)

March

11. Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour (audiobook)
12. The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer (audiobook)
13. One Billion Hungry by Gordan Conway
14. Djenne-Jeno by Bernard De Grunne

April

15. The Mongoliad, Book 3 by Neal Stephenson
16. Evicted by Matthew Desmond

May

17. Red Wolf Black Leopard by Marlon James
19. Lucifer, Volume 2 by Holly Black
20. Issac's Storm by Erik Larson
21. The Nile by Toby Wilkinson

June

22. Lucifer, Volume 3 by Mike Carey
23. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson (audiobook)
24. Lucifer, Volume 4 by Mike Carey
25. History of the Renaissance World by Susan Wise Bauer (audiobook)
26. Kingdoms of Faith by Brian Catlos (audiobook)

July

23. Lucifer, Volume 1 by Mike Carey
24. Captain America, Winter in America by Ta-Nehisi Coates

August

25. Black Panther, Avengers of the New World by Ta-Nehisi Coates
26. Landscape with Smokestacks by Howard Trienens
27. The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin (audiobook)
28. The Property by Rutu Modan
29. Underland by Robert Macfarlane (audiobook)
30. Bush Runner by Mark Bourne
31. Rise of the Black Panther by Evan Narcisse

September

32. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (audiobook)
33. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
34. Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder, The Gates of Heaven by Mike Mignola
35. War on Peace by Ronan Farrow
36. The Back Channel by William Burns (audiobook)
37. Joe Golem: The Outer Dark by Mike Mignola
38. B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, Vol. 5 by Mike Mignola
39. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
40. Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands W. Scott Persons

October

41. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
42. B.P.R.D. Ragna Rok by Mike Mignola
43. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
44. Boundless by R.A. Salvatore
45. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (audiobook)

November

46. Hellboy: House of the Living Dead by Mike Mignola
47. Sandman: Dream Country by Neal Gaiman
48. Black Panther, Vol. 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
49. Sandman: Fables & Reflections by Neil Gaiman
50. The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler (audiobook)
51. The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
52. Abe Sapien: The Drowning and Other Stories by Mike Mignola
53. Baltimore Omnibus, Volume 1 by Mike Mignola
54. Monstress, Volume 4 by Marjorie Liu
55. Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden by Stan Sakai
56. Usagi Yojimbo/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Stan Sakai
57. The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee (audiobook)
58. Loot by Sharon Waxman
59. Captain America: Captain of Nothing by Ta-Nehisi Coates

December

60. Kongo: Power and Majesty by Alisa LaGamma
61. A History of Pictures by David Hockney
62. A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor
63. Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy by Matt Stoller
64. Doofus Dad Does Everest Base Camp Mark Johnson
65. A Field Guide to the Natural World of the Twin Cities by John Moriarity

2019 Year in Review (in Progress)

My reading has been slow thus far this year. I am current working on The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin but my rate of reading is down, especially compared to last year.

My top books of the year thus far are:

1. City of Thieves by David Benioff
2. The Nile by Toby Wilkinson
3. Issac's Storm by Erik Larson

2018 Book Year in Review

I knocked out a lot of books in 2018 (part of the reason I am stressing less over hitting 75 this year). My year in total came in at 118. While a chunk of that was graphic novels, there were plenty of substantive books too. So, I am using that as an excuse to arbitrarily expand my top 5 books to 10.

1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
2. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
3. Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog
4. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
5. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
6. The Africa House by Christina Lamb
7. Justinian's Flea by William Rosen
8. From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple
9. The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes
10.To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild

Mother bear with two cubs.



Family standing on glacier in Jasper.



Large elk.



Lake Agnes from the Lake Agnes tea house.

All and all a fun trip. Lots of gorgeous mountain scenery. We did some whitewater rafting. We also went to Drumheller and toured a very impressive dinosaur museum and went on a guided hunt for dinosaur bones. We traveled up to Jasper and did a tour to go on a glacier. Finally, we did a lot of hiking. Reminded me that I need to be more vigilant about my exercise!

Kingdoms of Faith by Brian Catlos

This book is a history of the Moorish conquest of Spain and the eventual collapse of Islamic rule. Catlos makes it clear that his goal is to rebut the romanticized conception of the caliphate as a particularly enlightened place where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in peace and harmony. Equally, he wants to explode the myth that the Reconquista (the Spanish reconquest of Islamic Spain) was a holy war/clash of civilizations between the Christian and Islamic world. Rather, Catlos demonstrates that, once the caliphate fell, that the successor states - the Taifa kingdoms (basically city states) - were as likely to war on each other as they were the Christian kingdoms. Similarly, while we today view Spain as a single nation it was not united and the various segments frequently warred against each other.

Importantly, Catlos makes it clear that the idea of a religious war was one that was advanced later as a justification for expulsions and confiscations of property that occurred long after the conquest. While religion was an important factor in decision making about whether to go to war, it was just one factor and often ended up being far less important than things like economic considerations. the other point that comes across clearly is that it was hardly a foregone conclusion that the Moors would eventually be driven from Spain. In fact, had the Islamic cities and Islamic empires that controlled Spain been more united by their common faith it is conceivable that southern Spain could be Islamic today. Constant conflict among them was skillfully used by the Christian kingdoms to slowly whittle away the empire until it was not sustainable.

One criticism is that Catlos tries a bit too hard to make the book relevant to present politics and events. For example, he compares the court behavior of many of the Taifa and their interests in warfare, drink and poetry to modern gangsters with rap taking the place of poetry as the way to express bravado. There are a few other examples but the instances are not many and are annoyance rather than a major detraction from the book. Recommended.

Beautiful photos! It's been many moons since I have been to Banff and Jasper. Drumheller is still on my bucket list! Sounds like a terrific trip!

Happy new thread, Erik. I love the photos.

Wow - a still-existing Glacier AND The Royal Tyrell = two of the best places in the world!

>6 jessibud2: I had gone as a kid but frankly didn't remember much. None of the rest of the family had ever been.

>7 BLBera: Thanks Beth!

>8 m.belljackson: I kind of agree. The Royal Tyrell really is one of the best dinosaur museums I have seen and I have been to a lot of them. Plus a glacier? Sadly not that many left plus it is relatively accessible. We debated doing the tour but ultimately concluded if we didn't visit the glacier when else would we have the chance?

Happy new thread. Erik.

Hey, the Loons are doing fairly well this year. I'm keeping an eye on their standing.

Your elk picture made me laugh. I'd never before seen an elk when we encountered some on our way to visit jessibud two years ago. I asked my husband to stop the car so I could and take a picture of them. When we got to the Toronto Zoo in Ontario, I even bought a tee shirt with an elk on it...only to soon realize that my tee shirt had a moose, not an elk, on it. I love that tee shirt anyway. What do we Americans from south of the Mason-Dixon line know about these animals anyway?! :D

Great holiday photos Erik.

Happy New Thread, Erik!

What a stunner photo up top. Beautiful. And the photos from the trip are great, too.

Happy new thread! That’s one heckuvan elk!

Great vacation photos, Erik! The one of you and your wife together is absolutely precious.

Superb review of Kingdoms of Faith. I read a similar book earlier this year, The Moor's Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End by Elizabeth Drayson, and she also pointed out that many of the emirates were weakened by battles with each other, and by struggles for control within many of the emirates themselves.

I'm also happy that Minnesota United is having a so far successful third campaign in their new home.

Happy new thread, Erik! Beautiful photos! I guess I wouldn't know the difference between an elk and a moose :0/

Happy New Thread, Erik. I LOVE the Banff photos. What an amazing place. It is high on my bucket list. I also love the moose and elk.

Happy new thread, Erik, what a lovely photo of you & other half at the top!
You have been to beautiful places, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us! A work thing took me to Kananaskis and Canmore several years ago, and it was hard not to just stare out the windows at the landscape.

Happy new thread, Erik.

We are on the cusp of a new soccer season in England (first weekend in August) and I do hope that now is finally the time for Leeds to get back to the EPL especially after last year's cruel near miss.

>10 SqueakyChu: Yes the Loons have been on a good run as of late. The winning streak ended on Saturday but it was an away draw against another playoff team so hardly a bad outcome. Great story about elk/moose.

>11 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline.

>12 jnwelch: Hi Joe. Those glacial lakes are really striking.

>13 drneutron: He looked good sized to me. Right next to the road too.

>14 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl. I did put The Moor's Last Stand on my wishlist. I want to see how it compares to Kingdoms of Faith.

>15 Carmenere: Hi Lynda. I know my moose since there is still a population in northern Minnesota and we go looking for them when we are up north but I could see how antler-less animals would be harder to distinguish.

>16 msf59: Highly recommended Mark. Maybe look for a quieter time of the year than when we went though.

>17 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!

>18 katiekrug: We stayed in Canmore and the views were spectacular. I suppose they become common place eventually but it is hard to imagine as someone who rarely gets to see mountains.

>19 PaulCranswick: Good luck to Leeds Paul. Things are looking up for my Loons but there is a lot of time to pull off a classic Minnesota sports team collapse.

Art in the office. More Nok sculpture.

One more Canadian lake. This is Peyto lake which is supposedly the bluest of the lakes. Apparently the blue color is due to pulverized rock crushed by the glacier and washed into the lake.

>22 Oberon: I like this little guy.

>23 Oberon: stunning.

>5 Oberon: *sigh* Once, just once, I'd like there to be some truth in the myth of Shangri-La. This isn't that time, obvs.

Happy new thread.

>24 Caroline_McElwee: I think stunning is the right word.

>25 richardderus: I am afraid that people just can't build a utopia Richard. Oh well, I will keep watching Star Trek - Next Generation reruns and pretending otherwise.

Thought I would share this here. The City of Minneapolis rededicated Peavey Plaza - a modernist park in downtown Minneapolis. Several years ago I got into an epic piece of litigation to keep the city from demolishing it and building something new in its place. We won and as a result the city set about grudgingly rehabilitating and repairing the plaza. While it was not an exact recreation of what had been there we were pretty pleased with the outcome. Historic preservation fights often end with a wrecking ball and this one didn't.

Yay to the lack of wrecking ball Erik. I could have done with a fountain to stand in today.

Congrats! Looks great and I love the barefoot professional look! :-)

Great photo, Erik.

>27 Oberon: That's great news! It also explains how the lawyer drag met the bare feet in the fountain.

Nice place!

Congrats, Erik! Glad to see that one had a happy ending.

Well done, Erik! Excellent photo as well.

>27 Oberon: Good work, Erik!
It was fun to scroll down and suddenly see your bare feet ;-)

>28 Caroline_McElwee: It seems like it has been crazy hot all over the place. Certainly need more fountains these days.

>29 jessibud2: In my defense on the bare feet, the mayor and several council members also all took off their shoes and wandered out into the plaza's water.

>30 BLBera: Thanks!

>31 richardderus: You saying it is a bad look Richard?

>32 drneutron: It really is a neat place. We will see if the city actually maintains it this time.

>33 jnwelch: Thanks Joe.

>34 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl.

>35 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita!

Loons report: Went to the Loons game on Saturday night. Loons only managed a tie against the lowly Vancouver Whitecaps. Given the relative standings it was a disappointing outing for the Loons. On the plus side, we got to go into the tunnel outside the locker rooms and shake hands with the players as they came out for the second half. That was a fun experience.

>27 Oberon: great picture!

>36 Oberon: re: >31 richardderus: No, no, merely observing the juxtaposition of person and persona with a wry and amused smile.

Hi Erik! I'm glad your hard work paid off with Peavey Plaza!

>37 Oberon: Hope the season improves for your guys.

Leeds got off to a great start winning 3-1 at Bristol and largely confirming their favourites status.

>23 Oberon: That lake is amazing!! Sooo blue.

>27 Oberon: Congrats on winning this one. Love your casual footwear. LOL

>37 Oberon: How did you score the halftime handshakes?!

>38 banjo123: Thanks!

>39 richardderus: Yeah - thinking it would look good on the firm website.

>40 The_Hibernator: Thanks - it took long enough.

>41 PaulCranswick: Actually the Loons are now in a tie for second place in the Western Conference and are off to play Darryl's team for the Open Cup championship. We have been on a good run.

>42 Berly: We bought tickets through the kids soccer team and the offered the opportunity to the first few who purchased regular tickets so just an added perk.

Big week for the Loons. Sunday they beat Portland to move into second place in the Western Conference. On Wednesday they beat Portland again to advance to the final of the Lamar Open Cup. To top it all off, the Loons went big in the transfer market and paid out a reputed $4 million for a young Uruguayan midfielder who should be with the team in a few weeks. Fun stuff for the Loons as of late.

The reading front remains a bit bleak. However, I was very excited to order a signed copy of Samantha Power's new book, The Education of an Idealist. Her other books A Problem from Hell and Chasing the Flame were superb so I am very much looking forward to this one.

>44 Oberon: I'm so excited for you and the Loons.

My team is sinking...sinking..sinking...and now I heard that Wayne Rooney ls leaving DC United after season's end. I'm not happy about this at all.

>46 SqueakyChu: I saw that about Rooney. Really too bad. He has been an incredible spark for DC. Several years left on the contract too - I guess his family was really homesick though that seems like a weird reason to walk away from a contract like he had.

>44 Oberon: Yay!

I'll continue to root for the Loons...except on August 27th. Hopefully I can round up a crew to go to that match with me.

>47 Oberon: The timing on this was weird indeed. The rabbi of my synagogue recently broke his contract early to return to Florida, also citing “family reasons”. I wish both of them well, but I feel a great disappointment in what both Rooney and my most recent past rabbi did. Both DC United and my congregation deserve stability. That is why contracts are negotiated in the first place. Watching Rooney in coming games will not be the same. It’s almost as if he is no longer of this team. Now I’d rather he be gone sooner so we could once again form a cohesive team in the same way we did when Rooney first arrived—a time I became excited about following local soccer. I really will not be happy to see him play now. I feel as if he deserted my local team.

Fortunately, there are other players on DC United that I really love. They work hard, are not always successful, but I feel as if I can count on them for my team. Arriola, Jara, Birnbaum, Rodriguez, and Mora are some of my favorites. I wouldn’t mind if Acosta left. Probably now France won’t want him anyway

*Just my sour grapes*

Rooney joining Derby County is also controversial as basically Derby are effectively cheating by finding loopholes in the financial fair play rules to maintain and improve their position. Last year the clubs owner "sold" the clubs ground to himself and turned a £70 million loss (and certain sanction under the rules including a points deduction) into a profit. The Rooney deal is funded by a betting company, already morally questionable, and his salary subsidised by them. I hope that the football league investigate this terrible club and impose substantial penalties on them that will wipe the smile off Rooney and their disgraceful chairman's presently smug faces.

Have a great weekend, Erik.

>51 PaulCranswick: Thanks for that information, Paul. I will not be following Leeds or Rooney. I'll stick to my local team, DC United. They deserve my support. I'll still enjoy watching them play the Five Stripes (Atlanta) and the Loons (Minnesota) without Rooney next year.

>51 PaulCranswick: As a followup, I got to watch a game tonight without Rooney. I really didn't want to see him play as I'm still mad about him breaking his contract. I was actually happy to not see him in the roster. They said he didn't play because he was "sick". Who knows what that means? However, DC United had a great game against LA Galaxy (a very good team) without Rooney...so much so that no one missed him! At least I didn't. :D

P.S. I know. I'm a fair weather fan! :)

Loons report: Loons won on Wednesday (we went to the game) and tied tonight. Still in second place in the west (but may drop lower if a couple other teams get 3 points.

In other news, soccer coaching has started back up for me and the kids are back to playing so our hectic schedule is back in swing.

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Bully Pulpit tells two interwoven stories about American history. The first is the story of the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft and how the friendship led to Taft's presidency and how that friendship was later shattered by Roosevelt's attempt at a third term. The second story is the rise of the "muckrakers" and how the rise of investigative journalism worked to fuel the rise of Roosevelt and progressivism. At the same time, Doris Kearns Goodwin demonstrates that part of the reason why Taft's administration was the failure of Taft to recognize and use the press to his advantage.

Having been a big TR fan for awhile much of the history related about his administration was not a new but I had not known of the level of friendship between Roosevelt and Taft. It many ways, I found the fracture of that friendship tragic. TR and Taft had a deep friendship and yet the two fought bitterly over the presidency and manged to ensure that neither man won and that the presidency went to Wilson instead.

The Bully Pulpit is an excellent book and well worth the read.

>55 Oberon: The big tragedy was TR saying publicly he wouldn't seek a third term! He would've been a shoo-in in 1908 and should've gone for it.

Pity about the friendship, though, it's always awful to lose the close friends one manages to make in this life.

>56 richardderus: I agree with that - TR himself admitted how much he regretted making the statement. Lots of very interesting what ifs if Roosevelt had been president for WWI.

>57 Oberon: I've always somewhat suspected that WWI would've ended by Christmas 1914 with TR on hand to spank paddies and send the fools to the Naughty Stair. Look what he did in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and extrapolate!

>58 richardderus: He did earn that Nobel Peace Prize. Plus, he had a personal relationship with the Kaiser. A better prepared U.S. intervention into WWI combined with personal diplomacy might have led to far less less bloodshed (plus - if Roosevelt is at Versailles do we get the punitive reparations that lead to WWII?

Post Banff, we have been making an effort to do more hiking as a family. Today, we went out to Taylor's Falls - a locale with some interesting glacially created sinkholes.

>60 Oberon:

Taylor's Falls sinkholes look exciting - how deep are they?

>59 Oberon: I think it's likely to be, "do we get to Versailles?" I think ol' TR would've put more patches on the extant system and then WWII would be the "Great War of Rebellion" or some such name as the tribes finally fought free of the smothering empires.

>60 Oberon: How fun!

>61 m.belljackson: They really don't know - they got filled up with boulders and sediment long before people showed up here. Several of them are over 20 feet deep when they have dug down.

>62 richardderus: "Great War of Rebellion" - interesting idea Richard.

The Property by Ruth Modan

This is a very good graphic novel that traces the story of a woman who returns to Warsaw Poland from Israel with her granddaughter supposedly to recover property lost by the family in the Holocaust. Ultimately, everyone's motivations are different than what they initially appear to be. To tell more would be to spoil the plot. That said, the story being told illustrates the human loss in the Holocaust and the way in which identities pre-war shifted so greatly when the Nazis invaded.

I came across a recommendation for this book from the website Five Books https://fivebooks.com/. It appeared among other books about Nazi art theft during WWII.

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane is a particular sort of nature writer. His focus is on human interaction with nature and how we name, trek, worship in, use, pollute and so on, the natural world. I have previously read (and enjoyed) Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways and The Lost Words and fully intend to read The Wild Places and Landmarks in the near future.

Underland is Macfarlane's exploration of the underground - whether that be natural cave systems or human excavations. Macfarlane travels to and describes (in truly beautiful writing) places like the Parisian catacombs, Greenland's glaciers, an underground river in Italy, a nuclear waste storage site in Finland, Norwegian cave art, mines below the English Channel and so on. In addition to describing these subterranean places, Macfarlane spends a lot of time thinking about what he calls deep time and the impact of the Anthropocene. Much of this is driven by the ancient nature of the places that Macfarlane visits. For example, while visiting the glaciers Macfarlane delves deeply into the science behind ice boring and how the ice cores can show us about climates in the past and how that research informs our understanding of what the global climate might look like due to global warming.

In good ways, parts of Underland remind me of Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction. Evidence of mankind, often in the form of plastic, can be found in some of the remotest places on earth. This leads Macfarlane to repeatedly question whether we are being "good ancestors' or whether future archaeologists will be able to excavate strata from our time on earth and find clear evidence of our carelessness, degradation of the land and pollution. This is not a book of solutions or prescriptions - rather Macfarlane is focused on observing and reporting on the places he visits. Those travels are a gorgeous and absolutely worth the read. The fact that Macfarlane makes us think about how we are collectively acting is simply a bonus.

Excellent book.

>65 Oberon: this one is in the pile, glad you liked it Erik.

>65 Oberon: I'm still waiting for the paperback: glad to hear it's worth the read.

>66 Caroline_McElwee: & >67 charl08: - I did the Audible version but I will likely pick up a paper version if I can find a copy in my local used bookstore.

Loons update: Loons lost 1-0 versus Sporting KC. It was a lackluster outing. The next game is the championship for the Lamar Cup against Atlanta United. Sadly, I am rather concerned about the shape of play going into that game. Atlanta is at home and is playing well - Minnesota will certainly be the underdog.

We continued to try and make the most of the tail end of summer with another hike day. We visited the Jeffers Petroglyphs in SW Minnesota. The petroglyphs are believed to be as old as 7000 years although that is a bit of a guess. Located near a river, the site is Sioux quartzite that was exposed by glaciation some 14,000 years ago. Many of the thousands of petroglyphs are indecipherable but some are obvious in what they depict - usually bison and atlatls (spear throwers). As an added bonus, the area around the petroglyphs is restored prairie making for a nice hiking area.



Bison carving



Daughter agreeing to pose in prairie

Love the bison Erik.

Your daughter is a young woman now. How time flies. I can see both mom and dad in her.

>69 Oberon: Thanks to one of my friends, a nurse I work with who is a rabid Atlanta United fan, she, I, three of my partners, and the very pregnant wife of one of them will attend tomorrow night's U.S. Open Cup final between Atlanta United and Minnesota United. Loretta, who is also a pediatrician, is in her 39th week of pregnancy, and I joked that we should purchase another ticket, in case the wee one decides to make an appearance at the match.

>71 Caroline_McElwee: I have noticed! I came home last night to a couple of boys who stopped by the house to go swimming in the lake. I am afraid it is going to be hard for me to adjust to the attention she is getting.

>72 kidzdoc: I am envious Darryl. I don't even get to watch the game on tv as I would have to pay for ESPN+ for the privilege. I hope your pregnant friend doesn't deliver due to the shock of a Loons win!

Pteroglyphs and teenagers. Oh my, yes, you run an interesting thread, you do.

>74 richardderus: Too interesting some days Richard.

Sigh. The Loons lost to the evil empire of Atlanta United last night 2-1. We were the underdog in the match so no great surprise but disappointing.

Well heck, there's no shame in being beaten by the third-year-of-existence expansion team from a right-wing bastion of Trump's Murruhkuh!

Is there?

>73 Oberon: I just posted a summary of Tuesday's match, with photos, on my thread. Fortunately Jason and Loretta's soon to be baby girl decided to stay in her watery home for the duration of the match, probably because of the noise in the stadium. I almost didn't invite them, figuring that Loretta wouldn't want to go to dinner and a football match so close to the end of her pregnancy, and Jason also doubted that she'd want to go, but she was all in!

>76 Oberon: The Loons played well, especially in the second half when they were the far more aggressive club, and Atlanta United was fortunate to escape with a victory, especially after the 74th minute when they played with only 10 men. The score should have been tied in second half stoppage time after a Loon striker received a crossing pass with no one around him, but he kicked the ball over the crossbar instead.

>77 richardderus: Hey! Atlanta is a bastion of liberalism and diversity in an otherwise regressive and xenophobic Deep South. All six of us are good liberals, and I'll bet the same could be said for a clear majority of Atlanta United's fans. The rednecks here overwhelmingly support the Atlanta Braves and UGA (University of Georgia) football.

>77 richardderus: Ha! Darryl's defense aside, I can't say that I have the slightest interest in moving to George - even if the soccer is better.

>78 kidzdoc: While I am still bummed that the Loons couldn't bring home some first ever hardware, they did rebound very nicely this past weekend with a 2-0 win over LAFC in LA - the only team to win there in MLS play this year. Very nice confidence boost for us.

The USWNT came to the Twin Cities this past Tuesday as part of their World Cup Victory Tour. The US won in a convincing 3-0 victory led by a pair of goals from Carli Lloyd. The US utterly dominated possession and Portugal has very few opportunities the entire game. The only downside to the evening is that Rapinoe, Morgan and Lavelle did not play due to injury but were still present. Lots of fun to see the team in action.

Incidentally, Minnesota was by far the smallest venue the team is playing at on their tour. It was a total sell out.

>80 Oberon: That was a fun game to watch. I was thinking of you. What fun it must have been to be at that game. I like Rapinoe's hair better lavender than that new stranger color she just dyed it! :D

At least in DC we can watch and cheer for the USWNT. The USMNT was such an embarrassment last night! Did you catch that game against Mexico? Somewhere after the first fifteen minutes, they just fizzled out. I cheered for Chicharito's goal because I love watching him play. :D I missed Mexico's GK Ochoa whom I think is a cutie! :D . I know. I'm a turncoat. I think under Martino, the Mexican team is playing a cleaner game (up until the fisticuffs). I used to hate all of their dirty tactics in previous games, but they seemed much better in that respect last night.

>78 kidzdoc:, >79 Oberon:

Great to meet you, Erik! I hope you got the rest of the day off.

>81 SqueakyChu: I did watch that game - at least through two Mexico goals and then I gave up. it is a lot easier to cheer for the US women. They are a far, far better team.

>82 richardderus: Ha!

>83 BLBera: It was lovely to meet you too Beth! Sorry to have talked you into The Lost Words but hopefully you will like it. I was fortunate to have all those books in the car when I drove for the afternoon practice and I did get to avoid the car wash fiasco so it made for a wonderful day.

We didn't get in a hike day this weekend but I did get a very nice LT meetup and more Loons action in. Saturday night (after two other kid games) we went to see the Loons play an international friendly game against a Liga MX team. It was fun to see some of the Loons who aren't regular starters play and it was a good game although it ended in a 2-2 tie.

On Sunday I participated in a meetup with Kim, her brother, Beth and Rachel. I didn't get to linger over brunch due to more soccer but had a good time. Plus, we went to a new bookstore (for me) and I promptly bought too many books. My haul: Trees of Minnesota, A Field Guide to the Natural World of the Twin Cities both of which I am hoping will help on our hiking excursions to help me better identify trees and plants, Landmarks because I love Robert Macfarlane's writing, and They Called Us Enemy because of the love it has gotten on other threads around here. That plus, the expected arrival of The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power is adding a significant uptick to my TBR pile and we have yet to hit my birthday or Christmas which always adds to the pile.

Good thing I recently cleaned the office/library at home so there was a bit of shelf space to make the new acquisitions "disappear" into.

>85 Oberon: They Called Us Enrmy is a fabulous book. So powerful and educational as well. I was amazed and horrified to read this book and realize how history is repeating itself, especially in regard to the legislation that _targeted/still _targets immigrants. I’m eager to hear your remarks about it. I still have the book as I’d like my husband to read it before I return it to the library.

>85 Oberon: I loved meeting you in person, Erik! I am hoping to get to They Called Us Enemy on the plane ride home (I brought that one with me on the trip) and I hope to get to Underland by Robert MacFarlane (which was your recommendation to me) soon. Full list on my thread. ; ) Glad you got to watch the Loons and that you recently made room for new acquisitions. LOL

Erik - No worries. You'll remember you didn't have to twist my arm. :)

>86 SqueakyChu: I finished it over the weekend and promptly lent my copy to my dad to read. I will try to get a review up but I am a bit behind on those.

>87 Berly: Likewise! Really hope you like Underland.

>88 BLBera: :)

Loons update - continues to be one step forward and one step back for the Loons. Midweek they failed to win against a not very good Houston Dynamo team. However, Sunday they won 3-1 at home versus Real Salt Lake, a better team that is neck and neck with the Loons for a playoff spot.

The problem is that there are six playoff spots still available with seven teams legitimately in the hunt for those spots and someone is going to be on the outside looking in after a pretty good season. Currently 2 through 7 range from Seattle at 49 points to Portland and Dallas tied at 43 points. The Loons are at 48 points. Teams get 1 pt for a draw and 3 for a win. So, if the Loons can't get any more points this season there is a very real possibility that they will get passed up. The Loons have to play Portland next Sunday in Portland for what is probably a must win game for Portland. Going to be very tense as the season runs to a close.

>90 Oberon: Portland scored an own goal to lead DC United to a victory of 1 to 0 yesterday and give Bill Hamid another clean sheet. Hopefully they’ll do the same for the Loons! :D

We have to play Seattle next weekend. Best of luck to both of our teams! Vamos United! Go Loons!

>91 SqueakyChu: I was thrilled about that result - both for the DC win and the Portland loss. I will definitely by cheering for DC versus the Sounders!

General question: I got an Audible account for Christmas this year and am slowly accumulating books in that library. However, I haven't added them into my collection cataloged here because I can't seem to find an audio classification for many of the books. Am I just missing something when I am adding books or do people just add the hardcover version to their library and tag it as an audiobook? Curious how other people are keeping track of these books.

(Side note - I have been doing audiobooks for a few years but I have been checking them out from the library and thus have not "owned" them like I have with Audible).

I just add them like a regular book and put them in a Collection I created called "Audiobooks." I also note the format in the "Media" field on the Edit Your Book" screen.

>92 Oberon: Great. Thanks! I'll be cheering for the Loons!

>94 katiekrug: Thanks Katie - I didn't notice the Media field so thanks for pointing that out.

>95 SqueakyChu: Fingers crossed!

Two recent acquisitions - notable because both are signed by the authors. I had ordered Power's book after seeing her tweet that she would be signing books at Strand Book Store but the Kearns Goodwin was a surprise. My parents picked it up for me as an early birthday present when they visited her local bookshop in Concorde Massachusetts. Having read The Bully Pulpit this year I am well primed for another Doris Kearns Goodwin book.

Nice acquisitions! Your parents deserve kudos for thoughtfulness and congratulations on their luck.

Hi Erik! Based on how the Timbers have been playing, and the general black cloud that has been over Providence Park this year; I would say that the Loons have a good chance. But apparently the purpose of soccer fandom is to create a place for misery and despair year after year.

Hey, Erik (and Darryl) Our teams are looking good! In the East, Atlanta is in second place, and DC United is in 4th place. You know the Loons are in third place. This should be a fun end of season for all of us.

>98 richardderus: Agreed Richard! Now dad is suggesting I could take the autographed copy of Team of Rivals too.

>99 banjo123: That tie left no one satisfied - at least the Loons finally picked up last night. I would agree with your statement about misery and despair and simply substitute "Minnesota" for "soccer" as our professional teams often seem to be on the verge and yet never able to break through (with the notable exception of our women's professional basketball team, the Lynx).

>100 SqueakyChu: It appears all three are guaranteed to be playoff bound. Now we can watch them play each other and never speak to one another again!

Loons update - the Loons are in! The first MLS playoff spot is clinched (on the same day the Twins won the Central Division in baseball). The Loons could have guaranteed a playoff spot over the weekend but could not get a win in Portland. Last night, the Loons beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 in a hard earned win to secure their first even playoff spot. Now the goal is to finish top 4 so that their playoff games are at home. Currently the Loons sit second in the Western Conference with two games to play. Unfortunately those games are against #1 LAFC and #3 Seattle so their is a very real chance that the Loons could lose their last two regular season games.

Still, playoff were promised by the coach by year 3 and he has delivered despite year 1 and year 2 being pretty dismal affairs. To add to it, the Loons roster features three rookie players with a very expensive Uruguayan player who is only 19 on the bench too. So - there is hope that the Loons might be competitive going forward too if some of the younger talent keeps performing.

In other news, I am behind on book reviews having completed Half of a Yellow Sun, The War on Peace, and nearly done with The Back Channel, all of which were good books. I have been immersed in international political reading. I have been thinking a lot about international politics, especially with the latest drama involving Trump and Ukraine. Hopefully this will be the beginning of what I expect to be a long term rebuilding project for the U.S.

Also, I added further to my signed books collection. William Dalrymple whom I admired greatly for From the Holy Mountain and City of Djinns gave a free speech at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Thereafter, he was signing copies of his new book The Anarchy. It will likely be some time before I get to it but of course one never wants to get to the point of actually seeing the bottom of Mt. TBR. Anyway, The Anarchy looks a bit like a doorstop but should be an interesting read none the less.

Go Loons!

In Cubs and Sox land, we're not talking about baseball. But there's always next year. :-)

>100 SqueakyChu: I won't stop talking to you or Darryl! LOL! We're all on the SAME team...the LT team. :D

Yhe good news is that, in the very last DC United game I watched this past weekend, they finally played well for the entire game. That hasn't happened in many moons. Maybe they're getting serious about this playoff thing.

Last year DC United was eliminated in the first round by Columbus. I forgave the opposing team because at that time Zack Steffen was their GK. He's a homegrown player who once played for University of Maryland (who now are the reigning collegiate champions). Steffen comes back to play for the USMNT from time to time. Plus he's so cute! :D

>104 jnwelch: That is us most of the time in Twins Territory. We shall see how it goes if we get the Yankees. Our postseason path through Yankee Stadium has been historically unkind.

>105 SqueakyChu: You say that now . . . Steffens is a good keeper. I am not in much of a position to comment on his relative cuteness.

>106 Oberon: LOL!

Big sports weekend here. Final fall soccer games for my oldest and youngest. Playoff baseball starts today for the Twins versus the Yankees (the Yankees have won so often that I am deeply pessimistic). It is Gopher homecoming. Finally, the last regular MLS season game for the Loons is Sunday against Seattle. If the Loons win they will finish second in the west and the first two playoffs games would be home.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This a fictionalized account of two sisters and the Nigerian civil war (also known as the Biafran war). I admit that I originally wanted to read the book because of the centrality of the Biafran war to the book. However, having read the book, it is the characters that stand out and it is a disservice to view the story as simply about the war. Just as War and Peace is intertwined with Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the Biafran war shapes Adichie's characters in Half of a Yellow Sun. However, an understanding of the work is completely unnecessary to appreciate and enjoy this book. Rather, it is the relationships between the two sisters and the relationships that each sister has with the other's lover that drives the book.

Ultimately, Half of a Yellow Sun does a good job of explaining the conflict that lead to the Biafran war and describes the horrors of that war in a compelling way - but read it for the characters. They won't disappoint.

>109 Oberon: I've read this twice Erik, and it held up the second time. I agree, it has great characters. I have to say that Purple Hibiscus is still the best of her novels so far IMO though.

I'm hoping for a good series (and ultimate Yankees victory, of course)!

>109 Oberon: One of my favorite books. My dad was in Nigeria during the Biafra war, and he says that the book actually made him cry (a rare thing) because he knew he was one of those white people ignoring what was going on around him.

>110 Caroline_McElwee: I will have to try Purple Hibiscus. I have Americanah on the shelves but have not read yet.

>111 katiekrug: Well you are clearly getting your Yankees victory - not much of a series so far as our curse continues. Go Houston. (Sigh).

>112 The_Hibernator: My grandfather was stationed in Nigeria during the war too. I am not really sure what he thought about the war.

Loons update: the Loons lost 1-0 in Seattle to finish the season. The loss dropped them from second to fourth showing how tight the MLS Western Conference is. Importantly though, the Loons finished good enough to earn a first round playoff game. Allianz Field has been something of a fortress this year so there is real hope for a first round playoff win. Everything after that is gravy.

>114 Oberon: I’m glad the Loons finished strongly even after losing their last game. The DC United Game was ridiculous. My team should not even be in the playoffs. They tied their game with Cincinnati 0 to 0, but they could not even score one goal. Cincinnati is in last place in the Eastern division. DCU had 66% ball possession, made 32 shots, only TWO of which were on goal, and Cincinnati played the whole second half with only NINE players as two had been red-carded!!!! DCU goes to Toronto next weekend for round 1 of the playoffs. Good luck to our teams and to Darryl’s.

I'm a huge Adichie fan, Erik, and loved this one. Americanah is my favorite, I think.

>115 SqueakyChu: Yeah a scoreless draw against Cincinnati is not the best way to end the season BUT doesn't matter because they are in the playoffs now! I bought my Loons playoff tickets today - I have dreams of singing Wonderwall as Ibrahimovic trudges back to the locker room.

>116 BLBera: Adichie is coming to speak at the University of Minnesota and do a book signing in about two weeks. I am trying to decide if I should go.

>117 Oberon: Can't wait to watch all of our three playoff games (if I can catch them on cable).

By the way, DC United suddenly broke the FloSports four year contract before the end of the season of year one. No one would state why. DC United fans are so happy about this. Me, less so because I could not get the rest of my money back. I watched NOTHING ELSE on FloSports. Oh, well! I was able to catch our homes games there this season, though.

Portland Timbers are still in the mix by a squeak. If they lose then I'll vote Loons. ; )

>117 Oberon: I'd love to see her. I'll have to check it out.

Darn. All the tickets are gone.

I am glad that you liked Half of a Yellow Sun. It is still my favorite Adichie.

>118 SqueakyChu: That is unfortunate and annoying. I specifically paid extra for a channel a few years back to get La Liga games only to have the cable provider dump the package so I feel your pain.

>119 Berly: Good luck - unless they get to the Loons of course.

>120 BLBera: That is a shame that the tickets are gone. I am a bit surprised given the size of Northrup Auditorium.

>122 banjo123: I really did like it - now I have to try some more Adichie since I have only read the one book.

War on Peace by Ronan Farrow

Farrow has been in the news recently for his most recent book so I figured it was time to jot down some notes on his prior effort. War on Peace is a highly readable book based on a very impressive set of interviews (I believe he interviewed every living Secretary of State).

Farrow's main point in War on Peace is to describe what has happened to America's capacity for diplomacy since the end of the Cold War. He makes a compelling argument that the State Department has been steadily sidelined in policy debates due to America's reliance on the Pentagon and the increased centralization of foreign policy with the growth of the National Security Council. This has all kinds of collateral consequences as State's expertise is often not in the room when important decisions are being made. Farrow's uses some of the early decisions in the Iraq occupation (the Baathist party purge from government) to demonstrate that there were plenty of people who knew that the early decisions of the occupation would lead to chaos but they were not given a chance to voice their concerns.

What gives the book its urgency are the parts covering the State Department under the Trump administration. Trump (perhaps not surprisingly) massively accelerated trends that were isolating the State Department and diplomacy in general. Right now, we can watch the consequences of those decision play out in real time as Turkey invades Syria to attack the Kurds while the Russians step into the security vacuum created. Meanwhile, Trump has removed career diplomats to run his own diplomatic efforts designed to bolster his fortunes and not those of the United States.

Like most books touching on present politics War on Peace can be depressing. However, if we are going to find our way back books like this one that concisely identify our wayward drift are necessary for when we have the opportunity to mend our political house and set about apologizing for the damage done to the global order. Highly recommended.

I just picked up War on Peace in a Kindle sale. Looking forward to it.

^^^What she said. Now I'm even more interested in reading it.

There is no joy in Mudville.

>129 Oberon: there is also no joy in DC. :(

>128 SqueakyChu: Sorry to see your team went the way of the Loons.

While I am still in mourning over my beloved soccer team we did get away for a long weekend in northern Minnesota.



Northern Minnesota is beautiful and we took the opportunity to hike a number of the state parks. This is Jay Cooke State Park.



Shovel Point at Tettegouche State Park.



Watching the large ore boats come in to Duluth harbor under the aerial lift bridge.

>130 Oberon: Very, very pretty indeed! And visited before the frost sets in.

The harbor at Duluth is always entertaining. I haven't been to Duluth for a few years. I think it's time for a trek.

>131 richardderus: It was perfect hiking weather all weekend long. They got smacked by serious storms 2 days after we left though . . .

>132 BLBera: Agreed. I find the little maritime museum endlessly entertaining and there is always stuff at the Duluth Pack store that I would love to buy.

As regular readers of my thread will know, I am a sucker for old things and have a bad habit of investing too much time and money into preserving said old things. My grandfather's bar being an example. So here is the most recent story:

Several years ago (2015 to be exact) some neighbor kids found an old boat sitting abandoned in the marshy woods behind the garage of my parents' lake home. We don't know how long it sat out in the woods but it had gone unrecognized by us for at least a decade as my parents had bought the property long before the boat was found. We didn't know much about the boat but it was clear that it was old. Surprisingly it was not in terrible shape though there were definite holes in it and plenty of places the wood had rotted through.









The only real clue we had about the boat was this bow plate identifying the manufacturer as Alexandria Boat Works (Alexandria being a Minnesota town about an hour away from my parent's house) and the cedar strip design of the boat. Alexandria Boat Works was founded in 1885 and produced wooden boats of its own manufacture up until 1954 at which time it switched to fiberglass and stopped making its own boats and sold boats made by other companies. The company survived in this fashion until the 1980's. We found out about all this history only because Alexandria has a small maritime museum focused on Minnesota lake culture and Alexandria Boat Works features heavily in their exhibits.

So, being a sucker for such things, I set out researching the boat and trying to find someone who would be willing to refurbish the boat. It took almost two years but through the museum I was able to get a name of a person who refurbished old wooden boats. After some further effort I got him to come out to my parent's place to take a look at the boat we had pulled out of the woods. Sadly, after providing him with the address he drove the 50 minutes to the town where they live only to get lost and turn around and go home. So, I was back to square one.

While trying to figure out how to get the restorer to actually look at the boat my father casually informed me that my mother had sold the boat to the person who cut their grass for $40 and that it was his intention to saw the boat in half and make a rustic bookshelf out of it. After complaining bitterly about the time and effort I had already invested in researching the boat and finding someone to possibly restore it, I persuaded my mother to tell her lawn mower that he couldn't have the boat after all. Nevertheless, I got a stern lecture that it was not to sit in their yard for much longer or it would be used for firewood or another bookshelf. Thus, on my next visit north, I helped load the boat into mom and dad's little utility trailer and persuaded my dad to drop the boat off with the restorer the next time he visited Alexandria.

Thus began my saga with the boat restorer. Initially the restorer said he could fix it up but was vague on cost. After that, he somehow developed a narrative that the boat was a replica of one that I used to fish with my grandfather in (my grandfather did have a boat and I did fish with him but it was a very ugly, very utilitarian pontoon boat that didn't even have seats and for which you sat on folding chairs you brought with you.) False narrative aside, he was willing to take a stab at restoration.

So six months or more goes by and I hear nothing until the late fall of 2018. At which point the restorer calls me to tell me that A) his health is failing B) the existing paint on the boat is all lead based and C) he doubts he will be able to get to the restoration of the boat. Not knowing what to say, I tell him the truth that there is no plan B for the boat and if he can't fix it up it might just as well be firewood but that he should take care of his health and not to worry about the boat. He signs off with a vague "we'll see how I feel" and I assume my boat project is now permanently sunk. Two to three weeks of silence pass and he calls again. This time he says he has been feeling better so he removed the paint and has started in on carving a new transom for the boat out of white oak. I thank him and he goes silent for six months. At which point he pops back up and says that he is making good progress on the boat and would I like it painted green "like your grandfather's boat." I agree to the green figuring that since neither grandfather ever had such a boat and green seemed like a perfectly good color so why not? I sent him off a partial payment (routed through the office to avoid having a conversation with my wife about what I was spending our money on) and hoped for the best. Several more months went by until I got a call saying the boat would be done in late September.

This created a new problem. Dad had already taken the old utility trailer home and I had no way to get the boat home. Plus, the trailer we did have really didn't fit the boat nor was it actually street legal, having no functional electric system. Not the sort of thing to tow several hours down to the Twin Cities. After weeks of researching options, I managed to persuade my father-in-law to come with me since he had a car with a towing hitch and I managed to borrow a boat trailed from my kind Canuck neighbor though the trailer was for a much larger boat than the one I was picking up. Nevertheless, we set out this past Thursday to claim my restored row boat.

Turned out the restoration had turned out nicer than I expected. Other than the transom, almost none of the original wood had to be replaced. The seats, the hardware, the cedar striping is all original.









So now I have a new fishing boat. While we still don't have an exact date for the boat, the restorer thought that the boat was most likely constructed in the 1930's as evidenced by the boat being a transitional boat that was moving from a design used strictly for rowing to a boat using an outboard motor. Upon seeing the restored boat my father-in-law paused for a long time before finally saying that if it were him he would just the boat up for display and never put it in the water. I am not convinced that I want to go that way but to me it is a work of art. My wife remains unconvinced as she suggested I spend the night in my boat rather than in our bed. However, I remain optimistic that the enraptured reactions of my neighbors will slowly lower her resistance. Either way, I am looking forward to the spring when I can row my nearly century old rowboat around the lake to catch fish.

I love the boat, Erik. What a piece of history. Good luck convincing your wife of its value.

It looks beautiful! What a great job he did!

Is that a book on one of the benches in the first (restoration) photo....?

>134 Oberon: Whoa, Erik! What a great story...and such a wonderfully detailed narrative about its restoration. My younger son is interested in the same kind of thing and would have proceeded exactly as you did except he might have tried to restore the boat on his own. He and friends restore old cars. He loves to fish with his son. His parents-in-law own a house on the Potomac River. Too bad he didn't live near you at the time! Thanks for sharing the story.

I generally believe in using old things, not displaying them, so I'm right up there with you when you say you will take the boat out on fishing expeditions. Enjoy it! Be sure to post a picture of the first fish you catch from that boat.

My younger son took his six-year-old son camping and trout fishing in New Mexico this year. Just the two of them for five days. They left his wife and toddler daughter home. They had a wonderful time and are already planning another camping trip for next year. Should I send them to Minnesota? ;)

>134 Oberon: It's gorgeous!

I'm generally in >137 SqueakyChu:'s camp about old things...I drove my dad's 1966 Wildcat until it died...but this might be different, considering it's on its second life already, and its manufacturer is defunct...but then, it's not really a boat if it ain't floatin'...but History has its own demands...round'n'round'n'round....

Oh, it's beautiful, Erik! Well done on persevering.

>134 Oberon: oooo, I love the boat and boat story Erik. I bet the kids love it too. I hope the Mrs comes round.

Wow, he did a gorgeous job on the boat!

>135 BLBera: Yeah persuading my wife will probably be an equally lengthy process.

>136 jessibud2: Good eyes. Yes, the restorer prepared a little book detailing what he did for the restoration and including before and after photos and care instructions.

>137 SqueakyChu: You should certainly recommend Minnesota to your son for camping and fishing. In my (biased) opinion it is some of the best in the lower 48. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is hugely popular for good reason.

>138 richardderus: Yup. If it never sees the light of day what is the point?

>139 katiekrug: Thanks Katie.

>140 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline - we shall see - I am hampered at the moment that I can't row her around romantically as I have yet to acquire oars plus it is getting awfully cold here for a row boat riad.

>141 drneutron: Totally agree Jim. Wildly surpassed my expectations.

I haven't been to much theater recently. I am not as enamored with the new director of the Guthrie Theater (vastly preferred Joe Dowling) and his artistic direction and the play selection has resulted in me attending fewer productions. Nevertheless, the Guthrie did a production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and so I went with my mother. Despite the play's fame, I had not seen a staging before.

The Guthrie's production was well done with a surprising dose of humor for what is a fairly depressing piece. Also, I thought the actress portraying Laura made her seem more likable and relateable than you would expect from someone whose storyline can be summed up as a shut-in who spends her free time staring at glass animals. Rather, this portrayal of Laura gave the audience the sense of a character that could almost, but not quite, break free of her circumstances only to be trapped by self doubt and misfortune. It made the story feel all the more tragic.

The staging was spare with a fire escape dominating much of the thinly furnished apartment where the action takes place. The use of lighting was well done and evoked the "memory play" idea that is spelled out by Tom the narrator/brother at the beginning of the play.

All and all, I enjoyed the production so much that I think I will need to give the new artistic director a couple more tries before I pass judgment on his tenure at the Guthrie.

GREAT Boat Story - except for the SCARY firewood episode!

Your new boat is incredibly beautiful
and hope that some smart journalist writes a story about the truly amazing restorer,
featuring The Boat.

DC is feeling a bit better these days as the Washington Nationals play the last game of the World Series against the Houston Astros tonight...at the same time that Darryl's beloved Atlanta Five Stripes are playing Toronto for the MSL Championship! Terrible broadcast timing!

I used to be a baseball fan when I grew up in Baltimore (as in Orioles). Last night was the first baseball game I watched in maybe 40 or 50 years. It was fun to watch with another friend who also likes baseball. I've turned into a much more avid soccer fan. but I do enjoy watching baseball.

Go Nats!
Go Five Strioes!

:D

>144 m.belljackson: Agreed - the restorer is a true artist and it was a neat tradition to keep alive.

>145 SqueakyChu: I was rooting for the Nationals though I confess I didn't watch much of the World Series. I am planning on watching the MLS final though all our teams are out now.

>146 weird_O: Happy belated Halloween!

So I had a less fun spooky Halloween story for this year. After the trick or treating was done my wife went down the block to hang out with a friend. While there she checked Facebook and saw that a friend of our middle child and a boy that I have coached in soccer for years had been missing for about six hours. They believed it was a possible runaway. In any case, a 12 year old boy that we knew well was missing at a time when temperatures were already in the 20's. So, I and a lot of other people went out to join the search. I searched for nearly three hours before finally coming home feeling horribly defeated. Thankfully, about a 1/2 hour later at 12:30 am it was announced that the boy had been found.

It was a terrifying several hours (I can only manage the pain of his parents) and a stark reminder that even fall in Minnesota is not to be taken lightly. With temperatures well below freezing I am not sure he could have made it the night outside. Anyway, here is hoping that everyone else's Halloween was the conventionally (not) scary sort.

>147 Oberon: I want the Sounders to win. Cheer them on with me! I'm mad at Toronto FC for beating both DC United and Atlanta United, plus I don't like Michael Bradley, and I'm quite tired of Jozy Altidore. However, I do still like Nick DeLeon who once had been with DC United. I'm sorry they let him go to Toronto.

>148 Oberon: What a terrifying Halloween for you! I'm relieved that the boy was found in time. Our Halloween was a bit quieter than usual because it threatened rain and possible tornadoes. During the peak trick or treating time, the worst problem was that the high winds kept blowing out the candle in my jack o'lantern. I should have put the candle in a glass much sooner than I did. The other problem was less than the normal number of trick or treaters so that my husband and I are still gobbling down the leftover candy bars (all containing chocolate, of course!).

>149 SqueakyChu: I don't think I have a favorite for the game - just hope it is a good one.

Glad to hear that your Halloween was less eventful. We had some pumpkin related mishaps too - the family dog ate a big chunk of my youngest's pumpkin! Still, a funny anecdote compared to a missing child.

>148 Oberon: Scary indeed Erik, did you find out where he had been?

>150 Oberon: I remember one Halloween when we watched from our window and saw a squirrel eating the top of our Jack O'Lantern , so much of it that the squirrel fell inside!

>151 Caroline_McElwee: No they haven't said. It went very public when they were trying to find the boy and have been pulling back now that he is safe. Which I think is wise frankly. I just hope it was somewhere warm.

>152 SqueakyChu: That sounds like it served the squirrel right. We have plenty of squirrels but none with a taste for pumpkin apparently so it is just the dog to contend with.

I finished off The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter Hessler over the weekend. My favorite book for the year so far. I will get around (hopefully) to writing a proper review but for those of you nuts who start their holiday shopping early keep this one in mind if you have a non-fiction fan.

>148 Oberon: I hope that experience will never be repeated among your circle. How horrendous.

Happier days ahead!

>154 Oberon: Apart from myself, I know someone I can by that for... thanks Erik.

Hi Erik! Have to say the boat looks beautiful. Hope you wife lets you back in the bedroom soon. LOL. I miss the Guthrie and I certainly hope the latest director turns out to be a good one so you can keep attending. Scary Halloween story--glad it had a good outcome. Hope you had a fun Thanksgiving!

Been doing too much lurking and not enough posting. My reading pace has finally picked up however it is probably too late for me to reach 75 for the year. We will see how close I manage to get. We hosted Thanksgiving as is customary in the family. While people enjoyed themselves it was a bit strange for me as my mother is still recovering from bilateral knee replacement surgery so my parents and sister were not present meaning it was just my wife's side of the family.

In other news, we got thumped with multiple plowable snow storms starting the day before Thanksgiving. Given the amount of snow it seems certain we will have a white Christmas this year.

I did get a chance to see my parents over the holiday weekend as we had long standing tickets to see All is Calm, a play about the Christmas truce of 1914 when English and German troops left their trenches on Christmas Eve to sing carols, play soccer and celebrate Christmas. The singing was lovely even if the weather and mom's surgery made it a bit of a logistical nightmare to get there.

Here is the NYTimes review when it came to off-Broadway https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/theater/all-is-calm-review-christmas-wwi.html

>155 richardderus: Agreed. All has been quiet with the boy's family so hopefully the underlying problem is resolved.

>156 Caroline_McElwee: I hope you like it Caroline. I think a copy will go to my parents for Christmas.

>157 Berly: Hi Kim! The boat is safely stored (under a coat of snow) so hopefully out of sight out of mind for a bit. I got out this weekend to see a production at Theater Latte Da which was very good.

December is off to a slowish reading start with a couple of clunky art books. As a consequence, it looks all but certain that I am going to fall short of the 75 book goal. On the positives, I did get through The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee about Christopher Columbus's son and his attempt to put together one of the first universal libraries. I thought the book started slowly but improved a lot as it got further into the story. It probably didn't hurt that we started work on our spring break plans and have booked tickets to Madrid with plans to visit Seville where much of the book takes place. I am more than a little excited for the trip since my time in Spain was pretty formative for me. I think it will be a lot of fun to take the kids and see what has changed in the nearly 25 years since I was last there.

>161 Oberon: The last time I was in Spain was 45 years ago! Haha! My daughter, her husband and friends, will be returning to Barcelona for a visit in a few months. I loved Spain. As a matter of fact, visiting Spain was one of the reasons I decided to learn Spanish after returning to the US after a year abroad in Israel.

I visited Madrid and Seville while in Spain. I loved Barcelona the best, though. There my friend and I hung out with student activists (Spain was still under Franco at that time) so we learned a lot while having fun. I still have a poem that was written for me by a guy I met there. Yes, it was in 1974. :D

>161 Oberon: Fabulous! I'm glad to read that you'll visit Sevilla this spring, Erik. I loved the few days I spent there with Bianca in the summer of 2016, except for the blazing hot temperatures. I look forward to reading about your travels there, and I hope to return in the next year or two.

>162 SqueakyChu: Ok, that is a longer hiatus than me. I have not visited Barcelona. I think we are going southern Spain for this trip so Barcelona is probably not in the cards.

>163 kidzdoc: I think it will be great. I know you didn't have the best experience but I am hoping to get to the Alhambra as well as day trips to Toledo and Segovia. We will see - so far only the tickets to Madrid are finalized.

I have yet to make it to Spain on my European trips. I probably should rectify that, huh? My husband went. And, in fact, he ran with the bulls!! Not once, but three days. Which makes me question his intelligence, but I didn't know this until after we married. ; )

>165 Berly: I would certainly say so but then I am a bit biased. For example, the Prado is my conception of the perfect art museum and justifies a trip all in itself.

I had vague ambitions about running with the bulls until I watched a chunk of it on Spanish tv on one of my earlier trips. I recall one of the runners making an Olympic caliber jump to clear a wall moments before he would have been killed by an on rushing bull. That pretty much cured me of my ambition. That said, I bet your husband has some cool stories from it.

The Alhambra is amazing, Erik. You should definitely see it. My kids studied in Granada, so I have been to the Alhambra several times. When are you going?

Ooh, fun! Spain is great, and the food in Sevilla is amazing. The Alhambra is worth it, we also enjoyed a day trip to Cordoba for the Mezquita, and also a great Sephardic Jewish restaurant.

I have to agree on Barcelona being the best Spanish city, and then you could go to Camp Nou.

>167 BLBera: I certainly want my kids to see it. I thought it was utterly enchanting. I still enjoy Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra. We are going early April.

>168 banjo123: I would like to see Camp Nou. I just don't think we can squeeze in Barcelona and Seville to go along with Madrid.

Soviet Santa says "Happy Yule!" Solstice Greetings to all. Read more here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-santa

Thank you Richard! Great image.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/extraordinary-500-year-old-library...

Interesting update to the book The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee that I enjoyed a great deal.

Merry Christmas Erik.

Thank you for keeping me company in 2019.......onward to 2020.

Best to the Loons, Erik.

My team remain well in the promotion places.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, some other tradition or none at all, this is what I wish for you!

Best wishes this holiday season!! See you in 2020!

>173 Caroline_McElwee:, >174 PaulCranswick:, >175 PaulCranswick:, >176 ronincats:, >177 Berly: Thank you all for the holiday wishes!

A brief update - I have been sadly silent as of late on my thread for which I apologize. I had grand ambitions of using the Christmas/New Years break for starting a final thread and updating it with my end of 2019 reviews that I am so far behind on. However, given that I have about 12 hours left in 2019 it seems unlikely that that will happen. Happily, my absence has been due to a busy work schedule, the whirl of holiday activities and the ordinary stresses of raising three children and is not a consequence of some negative turn in my life.

I will be getting a 2020 thread up "soon". Hopefully tomorrow. Nevertheless, I am here, reading and doing just fine and I always appreciate people dropping by. I will be doing my usual lurking and occasional commenting in the new year.

Good to hear from you, Erik! Happy new year.

Have a blessed New Year, Erik! May the best team(s) win in 2020. Ha!