Chatterboxs Starts 2024 With Reading Resolutions!

THANKS

W.S. Merwin
(1927-2019)

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
standing by the windows looking out
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
taking our feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
thank you we are saying and waving
dark though it is

Back again... I don't want to stop and do the math, but I've been hanging around this group with varying levels of activity since 2010. In 2023, my posting and reading both kinda fell off a cliff (although the latter only on a relative basis, LOL... I'm still a bibliomaniac)

My name is Suzanne; I live in Rhode Island with two cats (Sir Fergus the Fat, although he's not as fat as he used to be, and Minka the minx, a jet black velveteen prima donna) and lots of books.

Last year was a weird and turbulent one. It started off with my spending a lot of time in Canada, helping my father in what proved to be the final months of his life. Then, in the final months, I landed a new gig, working remotely for Reuters and covering exchange-traded funds. (Who would EVER have imagined I'd become an expert in bitcoin investments??) It's a return to the roots for me, since I started my career in journalism back in the mists of pre-Internet, pre-mobile phone days (aka the 1980s), and spent 14 years working for the Wall Street Journal in Toronto, NYC and London before opting to freelance instead from 2002 until, well, last September! I've written books, including some ghost writing, and now I'm also mentoring a young journalist up in New Hampshire working on a daily paper there. For the first time in a long time, I'm actually cautiously optimistic about a new year... (fingers/toes/paws all crossed)

My new year's resolutions involve reading more thoughtfully, and more actively flagging good/bad/indifferent books here. My definition of an ideal book? Anything in which I can completely immerse myself, and at the end, wish I hadn't read it, so that I could read it again for the first time... Every year, I set out to imagine my thread as being a cyber version of my ideal literary salon would be like. You can track my reading by searching my library for "Read in 2024" tags.

As always, the only "rules" of the road for this thread: please treat each other and everyone else's views with courtesy, civility and thoughtfulness, and leave the politics and drama for other kinds of social media. Pretty please.

Here's my current reading list...

This is where you can find an ongoing list of what I'm reading. I always read far more than 75 books; this year, as before, I'll set my _target at 401 books. In 2023, the total fell significantly to 371, thanks ot the new job, so I can't mourn too much. Also, vision problems (and trying to adjust to relying on glasses) is imposing new constraints. As long as I find a lot of enjoyable tomes, the quantity is less important. My reading each year always includes re-reads of some old faves (marked by an asterisk on the list).

To see what I have been reading in real time, your best bet is to go to my library on LT, and look at the dedicated collection I've established there, under the label "Books Read in 2024". As I complete a book, I'll rate it and add it to the list. I'll also tag it, "Read in 2024". You'll be able to see it by either searching under that tag, or clicking on https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Chatterbox/booksreadin2024.

I do have some reading objectives, noted under a variety of categories in subsequent posts, below. I am very sure that I'll fall well short of completing these, as new books or book bullets distract me!

Here's a quick guide to my star ratings, which are very definitely personal and idiosyncratic.

My guide to my ratings:

1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic, sometimes so astonishingly well-written that they make me swoon. Always transformative and memorable



The January list:

1. My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr (finished 1/3/24) 4.35 stars
2. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (finished 1/5/24) 3.5 stars (A)
3. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein (finished 1/6/24) 4.75 stars
4. The Flower-Arranger at All Saints by Lis Howell (finished 1/7/24) 3.5 stars
5. Number Go Up by Zeke Faux (finished 1/9/24) 4.3 stars
6. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (finished 1/11/24) 3.35 stars
7. Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis (finished 1/12/24) 3.65 stars (A)
8. The Red Hotel: Moscow 1941, the Metropol Hotel and the Untold Story of Stalin's Propaganda War by Alan Philip (finished 1/13/24) 4.1 stars
9. A New Season by Terry Fallis (finished 1/14/24) 3.25 stars
10. Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis (finished 1/14/24) 3.7 stars (A)
11. The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier (finished 1/15/24) 3.85 stars
12. Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov (finished 1/16/24) 4.7 stars (A)
13. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (finished 1/19/24) 3.25 stars
14. *Thornyhold by Mary Stewart (finished 1/19/24) 3.9 stars (A)
15. The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey (finished 1/20/24) 5 stars
16. Losing Music by John Cotter (finished 1/21/24) 4.2 stars
17. The Postcard by Anne Berest (finished 1/22/24) 5 stars
18. Beirut Station by Paul Vidich (finished 1/24/24) 3.7 stars
19. Tired of Winning by Jonathan Karl (finished 1/25/24) 3.65 stars
20. The Guest by Emma Cline (finished 1/26/24) 3.1 stars
21. *Dictator by Robert Harris (finished 1/27/24) 4.35 stars (A)
22. God Save Benedict Arnold by Jack Kelly (finished 1/28/24) 4.15 stars
23. Goodbye Girl by James Grippando (finished 1/29/24) 3.8 stars (A)
24. The Swiss Summer by Stella Gibbons (finished 1/30/24) 4.1 stars
25. *Long Summer Day by R.F. Delderfield (finished 1/31/24) 3.3 stars
26. *Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan (finished 1/31/24) 4.3 stars (A)

The February list:

27. Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis (finished 2/1/24) 3.7 stars
28. Mind Games by Nora Roberts (finished 2/2/24) 3 stars
29. Putin's Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia by Paul Starobin (finished 2/4/24) 4.6 stars
30. The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray (finished 2/4/24) 3.8 stars
31. *Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (finished 2/5/24) 3.25 stars (A)
32. Munich Wolf by Rory Clements (finished 2/6/24) 4 stars
33. The Flight of the Romanovs by John Curtis Perry (finished 2/7/24) 3.85 stars
34. *Guilt by Association by Susan Sloan (finished 2/7/24) 3.4 stars
35. The Slowworm's Song by Andrew Miller (finished 2/8/24) 5 stars
36. Christmas Pie by Jodi Taylor (finished 2/9/24) 4 stars
37. The Women by Kristen Hannah (finished 2/9/24) 4 stars
38. The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd (finished 2/11/24) 4.1 stars
39. *Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum (finished 12/13/24) 4.35 stars (A)
40. Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart (finished 12/13/24) 4.2 stars
41. Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark (finished 12/14/24) 3.65 stars
42. Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin (finished 2/16/24) 4.7 stars
43. *Snared Nightingale by Geoffrey Trease (finished 2/16/24) 4.35 stars
44. The Wizard of the Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli (finished 2/18/24) 4.4 stars
45. Living With Our Dead by Delphine Horvilleur (finished 2/19/24) 4.3 stars
46. The Chorister at the Abbey by Lis Howell (finished 2/20/24) 3.65 stars
47. Tales From the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch (finished 2/21/24) 3.9 stars
48. Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin (finished 2/22/24) 3.7 stars (A)
49. Hanging Mary by Susan Higginbotham (finished 2/24/24) 3.7 stars
50. The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes (finished 2/27/24) 3.2 stars
51. *Catastrophe: An Investigation Into the Origins of Modern Civilization by David Keys (finished 2/28/24) 4.5 stars
52. The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell (finished 2/29/24) 3.45 stars
53 *The End Game by Michael Gilbert (finished 2/29/24) 4.2 stars

The March list:

54. Last Boat out of Shanghai by Helen Zia (finished 3/3/24) 4.5 stars (A)
55. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant (finished 3/4/24) 4.85 stars
56. The Perfect Passion Company by Alexander McCall Smith (finished 3/5/24) 3.45 stars
57. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willinham (finished 3/7/24) 3.6 stars
58. How to Win an Information War by Peter Pomerantseve (finished 3/8/24) 4.5 stars (A)
59. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall (finished 3/9/24) 4.65 stars
60. Dancing Fish and Ammonites by Penelope Lively (finished 3/9/24) 4.85 stars
61. The Internationalists by Alexander Ward (finished 3/10/24) 4.2 stars (A)
62. *Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (finished 3/11/24) 3.7 stars (A)
63. The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller (finished 3/12/24) 3.65 stars
64. Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt (finished 3/15/24) 4.3 stars (A)
65. 2034 by Elliot Ackerman (finished 3/16/24) 3.9 stars (A)
66. Goddess by Deborah Hemming (finished 3/16/24) 4.1 stars
67. Bournville by Jonathan Coe (finished 3/18/24) 4.4 stars
68. The Rumor Game by Thomas Mullen (finished 3/19/24) 4.3 stars
69. Blowback by Miles Taylor (finished 3/22/24) 3.8 stars (A)
70. Neferura by Malayna Evans (finished 3/25/24) 2.9 stars
71. King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien (finished 3/28/24) 3.85 stars
72. The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis (finished 3/29/24) 3.9 stars
73. Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray (finished 3/30/24) 3.9 stars
74. On the Ravine by Vincent Lam (finished 3/31/24) 4.1 stars
75. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan (finished 3/31/24) 4.2 stars

The April list:

76. Slow Horses by Mick Herron (finished 4/1/24) 4.2 stars (A)
77. The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan (finished 4/1/24) 3.7 stars
78. The Girl You Call by Tanguy Viel (finished 4/3/24) 4.15 stars
79. Dead Lions by Mick Herron (finished 4/5/24) 4.2 stars (A)
80. *Collaborator by Murray Davies (finished 4/5/24) 4.1 stars
81. Class by Stephanie Land (finished 4/6/24) 4 stars
82. Real Tigers by Mick Herron (finished 4/6/24) 4.2 stars (A)
83. Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher (finished 4/7/24) 4.1 stars (partly A)
84. Maria by Michelle Moran (finished 4/8/24) 4 stars
85. Finish What We Started by Isaac Arnsdorf (finished 4/10/24) 4.2 stars (A)
86. Shake Hands With the Devil by Romeo Dallaire (finished 4/11/24) 4 stars
87. Spook Street by Mick Herron (finished 4/11/24) 4.2 stars (A)
88. A Better World by Sarah Langan (finished 4/13/24) 4.2 stars
89. Circle of Treason by Sandra Grimes & Jeanne Vertefeuille (finished 4/14/24) 3.4 stars
90. London Rules by Mick Herron (finished 4/15/24) 4.2 stars (A)
91. Spring Cannot be Cancelled by David Hockney & Martin Gaylord (finished 4/17/24) 4.35 stars
92. *The Dust and the Heat by Michael Gilbert (finished 4/18/24) 3.7 stars
93. Travels with Epicurus by Daniel Klein (finished 4/22/24) 4.4 stars (A)
94. Final Demand by Deborah Moggach (finished 4/25/24) 3.9 stars
95. The Family Gift by Cathy Kelly (finished 4/26/24) 3.35 stars
96. The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson (finished 4/29/24) 4.65 stars
97. *The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer (finished 4/30/24) 3.8 stars (A)
98. The Secret Beach by Veronica Henry (finished 4/30/24) 3.75 stars

The May list:

99. *Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (finished 5/1/24) 4.5 stars (A)
100. The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (finished 5/3/24) 4 stars
101. *I Can't Begin to Tell You by Elizabeth Buchan (finished 5/3/24) 4.1 stars
102. Fighting Words: The Bold American Journalists Who Brought the World Home Between the Wars by Nancy Cott (finished 5/4/24) 4.5 stars
103. We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida (finished 5/4/24) 4.2 stars
104. A Spy Alone by Charles Beaumont (finished 5/6/24) 4.4 stars
105. Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan (finished 5/9/24) 4.8 stars
106. Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde (finished 5/10/24) 4.3 stars (A)
107. The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon (finished 5/11/24) 3.85 stars
108. After Annie by Anna Quindlen (finished 5/11/24) 4.5 stars
109. I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell (finished 5/12/24) 3.6 stars
110. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (finished 5/13/24) 3.35 stars
111. Phantom Orbit by David Ignatius (finished 5/14/24) 3.4 stars
112. The Queen's Lies by Oliver Clements (finished 5/16/24) 4 stars
113. *Falls the Shadow by Sharon Penman (finished 5/18/24) 4.1 stars
114. The Summer Skies by Jenny Colgan (finished 5/18/24) 3.8 stars
115. To Catch a Storm by Mindy Mejia (finished 5/20/24) 3.3 stars
116. Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham (finished 5/21/24) 4.3 stars (A)
117. Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America by Shefali Luthra (finished 5/22/24) 4.4 stars
118. Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming (finished 5/23/24) 4.5 stars (A)
119. The Stoic Anthology by Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca (finished 5/25/24) 4.5 stars
120. Bonjour Sophie by Elizabeth Buchan (finished 5/26//24) 4 stars
121. But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present as if it Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman (finished 5/26/24) 4.15 stars
122. *The Reckoning by Sharon Kay Penman (finished 5/27/24) 3.85 stars
123. The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore (finished 5/27/24) 3.7 stars
124. The Appeal by Janice Hallett (finished 5/28/24) 3.9 stars
125. *The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston (finished 5/29/24) 3.8 stars (A)
126. The Passionate Tudor by Alison Weir (finished 5/30/24) 3 stars (partly A)
127. Joe Country by Mick Herron (finished 5/31/24) 4.1 stars (A)

The June list:

128. Jack's Boys by John Katzenbach (finished 6/1/24) 4 stars
129. *Wedding Tiers by Trisha Ashley (finished 6/1/24 4.1 stars
130. Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (finished 6/2/24) 4.3 stars (A)
131. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker (finished 6/2/24) 5 stars
132. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (finished 6/3/24) 3.5 stars
133. Slough House by Mick Herron (finished 6/3/24) 4.2 stars
134. The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (finished 6/4/24) 3.4 stars
135. The Death of Truth by Steven Brill (finished 6/5/24) 4.35 stars
136. *The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth (finished 6/7/24) 3.4 stars (A)
137. Every Spy a Traitor by Alex Gerlis (finished 6/7/24) 3.75 stars
138. *Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (finished 6/8/24) 4.8 stars (A)
139. Autocracy, Inc.: the Dictators who Want to Run the World by Anne Applebaum (finished 6/9/24) 4.35 stars
140. Killing Time by Jodi Taylor (finished 6/11/24) 4.2 stars
141. A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson (finished 6/11/24) 4 stars
142. The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear (finished 6/12/24) 4.2 stars
143. What You are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama (finished 6/13/24) 4 stars
144. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (finished 6/15/24) 3.4 stars
145. Evicted by Matthew Desmond (finished 6/17/24) 5 stars
146. Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan (finished 6/18/24) 3.75 stars
147. *Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield (finished 6/19/24) 4 stars
148. Daughters of the Night by Laura Shepherd Robinson (finished 6/20/24) 4.3 stars
149. A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings (finished 6/20/24) 3.6 stars
150. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson (finished 6/21/24) 4.1 stars
151. A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare (finished 6/21/24) 4 stars
152. *Overtures by Anita Burgh (finished 6/22/24) 3.7 stars
153. The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore (finished 6/23/24) 4 stars
154. *The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie (finished 6/24/24) 3.75 stars (A)
155. When the Night Comes Falling by Howard Blum (finished 6/26/24) 3.6 stars (A)
156. Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan (finished 6/27/24) 4.35 stars
157. The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North (finished 6/28/24) 4.4 stars
158. Deep Blue Sea by Tasmina Perry (finished 6/29/24) 3.9 stars
159. Julia by Sandra Newman (finished 6/30/24) 4.1 stars

The July list:

160. Losing My Religion by William Lobdell (finished 7/2/24) 4.2 stars
161. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (finished 7/3/24) 3.85 stars
162. The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy (finished 7/4/24) 3.6 stars (A)
163. The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (finished 7/4/24) 4.3 stars
164. Flower of the Pacific by Lana McGraw Boldt (finished 7/4/24) 3.65 stars
165. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege (finished 7/5/24) 4.15 stars
166. The Conditions of Unconditional Love by Alexander McCall Smith (finished 7/5/24) 3.9 stars
167. Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell (finished 7/6/24) 4.35 stars (A)
168. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (finished 7/7/24) 3.8 stars
169. Flight Without End by Joseph Roth (finished 7/8/24) 3.65 stars
170. *Orders from Berlin by Simon Tolkien (finished 7/10/24) 3.7 stars
171. Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right by Anne Nelson (finished 7/11/24) 4.3 stars (A)
172. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (finished 7/11/24) 3.45 stars
173. Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva (finished 7/12/24) 3.75 stars
174. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (finished 7/13/24) 3.65 stars
175. The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr (finished 7/14/24) 3.5 stars
176. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (finished 7/16/24) 4 stars
177. Hotel Florida: Truth, Love and Death in the Spanish Civil War by Amanda Vaill (finished 7/18/24) 4.15 stars
178. The Burning by Linda Castillo (finished 7/20/24) 3.8 stars
179. The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin (finished 7/21/24) 4.2 stars
180. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (finished 7/23/24) 4.3 stars
181. Moving the Moon: A Night at the Acropolis Museum by Andrea Marcolongo (finished 7/23/24) 3.2 stars
182. The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (finished 7/24/24) 3.9 stars
183. Twilight Prisoners: The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of India by Siddhartha Deb (finished 7/24/24) 4.15 stars (A)
184. The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella (finished 7/26/24) 3.7 stars
185. Games & Rituals by Katherine Heiny (finished 7/27/24) 4.35 stars
186. The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang (finished 7/27/24) 3.7 stars
187. Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin (finished 7/28/24) 5 stars
188. A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft (finished 7/28/24) 4.35 stars (A)
189. The Twyford Code by Janice Hallet (finished 7/29/24) 3.6 stars
190. *The Complaint of the Dove by Hannah March (finished 7/30/24) 4.2 stars
191. The Gathering Place: A Winter Pilgrimage Through Changing Times by Mary Colwell (finished 7/31/24) 4.35 stars

The August list:

192. Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks (finished 8/1/24) 3.85 stars (A)
193. Murder at the White Palace by Allison Montclair (finished 8/2/24) 3.7 stars
194. *The Romeo Flag by Carolyn Hougan (finished 8/2/24) 3.9 stars
195. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (finished 8/3/24) 5 stars
196. Impossible City by Simon Kuper (finished 8/3/24) 4.35 stars
197. The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic (finished 8/4/24) 3.65 strs
198. Death on the Tiber by Lindsey Davis (finished 8/6/24) 3.7 stars (A)
199. Genius and Ink by Virginia Woolf (finished 8/7/24) 4.4 stars (A)
200. In Search of the Romanovs by Peter Sarandinaki (finished 8/8/24) 3.8 stars (A)
201. A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra (finished 8/9/24) 3.9 stars
202. The Twice-Born by Pauline Gedge (finished 8/10/24) 3.8 stars
203. Orbital by Samantha Harvey (finished 8/10/24) 5 stars
204. Willful Disregard by Lena Andersson (finished 8/11/24) 4.1 stars
205. Shanghai by Joseph Kanon (finished 8/12/24) 4.2 stars
206. The Seer of Egypt by Pauline Gedge (finished 8/12/24) 3.9 stars
207. Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (finished 8/13/24) 4.5 stars
208. The King's Man by Pauline Gedge (finished 8/14/24) 3.7 stars
209. *Last Hope Island by Lynne Olson (finished 8/15/24) 4.35 stars (A)
210. The Dark Heart of Florence by Tasha Alexander (finished 8/16/24) 4.1 stars (partly A)
211. A Blood Red Morning by Mark Pryor (finished 8/17/24) 4.2 stars
212. *The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran (finished 8/17/24) 4.15 stars (A)
213. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd (finished 8/18/24) 3.9 stars
214. The End of Summer by Charlotte Philby (finished 8/18/24) 4.1 stars
215. Our Culture, What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple (finished 8/19/24) 2.9 stars
216. The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook (finished 8/20/24) 4.35 stars (A)
217. *A Place of Execution by Val McDermid (finished 8/21/24 4.3 stars (A)
218. The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O'Connor (finished 8/23/24) 4.3 stars
219. Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre (finished 8/23/24) 4.1 stars (A)
220. In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger (finished 8/23/24) 4.65 stars
221. The Trap by Ava Glass (finished 8/25/24) 3.8 stars
222. Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem (finished 8/25/24) 4.5 stars
223. 33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen (finished 8/26/24) 4.5 stars
224. The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson (finished 8/28/24) 4.7 stars (A)
225. A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh (finished 8/29/24) 4.2 stars
226. Precipice by Robert Harris (finished 8/30/24) 4.2 stars
227. Fourteen Days by multiple authors (finished 8/30/24) 4 stars
228. Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan (finished 8/31/24) 3.5 stars
229. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (finished 8/31/24) 4.35 stars

The September List:

230. Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search by Russell Potter (finished 9/1/24) 3.9 stars (A)
231. *Ross Poldark by Winston Graham (finished 9/2/24) 4.2 stars (A)
232. The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton (finished 9/4/24) 4.5 stars
233. A Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque (finished 9/4/24) 3.9 stars
234. The Ministry of Time by Kailiane Bradley (finished 9/5/24) 4.3 stars
235. The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable (finished 9/5/24) 4.4 stars
236. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (finished 9/7/24) 4.8 stars
237. The Stalin Affair by Giles Milton (finished 9/8/24) 4 stars (A)
238. *A Time Without Shadows by Ted Allbeury (finished 9/9/24) 4.15 stars (A)
239. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallet (finished 9/10/24) 3.9 stars
240. The Siege by Ben Macintyre (finished 9/11/24) 4.2 stars (A)
241. The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth (finished 9/13/24) 4.35 stars (A)
242. Babel by R.F. Kuang (finished 9/14/24) 5 stars
243. The Man in Black and other Stories by Elly Griffiths (finished 9/15/24) 3.85 stars
244. Hitler's Peace by Phillip Kerr (finished 9/15/24) 4.1 stars
245. The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal by Jodi Taylor (finished 9/16/24) 4 stars
246. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss (finished 9/20/24) 4.35 stars
247. The Coming Storm by Gabriel Gatehouse (finished 9/20/24) 4 stars
248. Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance by Ramie Targoff (finished 9/21/24) 4.2 stars (A)
249. The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez (finished 9/21/24) 5 stars
250. *Napoleon's Last Island by Tom Keneally (finished 9/22/24) 4.15 stars (A)
251. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (finished 9/22/24) 3.6 stars
252. The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald (finished 9/27/24) 3.85 stars
253. The Phantom Patrols by James R. Benn (finished 9/28/24) 3.45 stars (A)
254. Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland (finished 9/28/24) 3.75 stars
255. *False Colours by Georgette Heyer (finished 9/29/24) 4 stars (A)
256. Secrets of the Nile by Tasha Alexander (finished 9/30/24) 4.1 stars

The October list:

257. The Moers Murders by Graham Brack (finished 10/02/24) 3.65 stars
258. Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle that Saved a Child's Life by Rachel Clarke (finished 10/03/24) 5 stars
259. Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow (finished 10/5/24) 4.3 stars
260. Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood (finished 10/5/24) 3.85 stars
261. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen (finished 10/6/24) 5 stars
262. Imagine a City: a Pilot's Journey Across the Urban World by Mark Vanhoenecker (finished 10/7/24) 3.6 stars
263. *The Ambassador's Women by Catherine Gaskin (finished 10/8/24) 3.75 stars
264. Midnight in Vienna by Jane Thynne (finished 10/11/24) 4.1 stars
265. *Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart (finished 10/11/24) 4.2 stars (A)
266. The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu (finished 10/12/24) 3.7 stars
267. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (finished 10/13/24) 4.2 stars
268. A Grave in the Woods by Martin Walker (finished 10/14/24) 3.75 stars
269. *The Fever in the Bone by Val McDermid (finished 10/15/24) 4.2 stars (A)
270. The Hours Count by Jillian Castor (finished 10/15/24) 3.25 stars
271. War by Bob Woodward (finished 10/17/24) 4.3 stars (A)
272. Pack of Cards by Penelope Lively (finished 10/18/24) 4.15 stars
273. *The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (finished 10/18/24) 4.3 stars (mostly A)
274. Murder Under Her Skin by Stephen Spotswood (finished 10/18/24) 3.7 stars
275. We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida (finished 10/19/24) 3.6 stars
276. The Black Bird Chronicle by Deborah Harkness (finished 10/22/24) 3.7 stars
277. The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz (finished 10/23/24) 4.4 stars
278. A Big Storm Knocked it Over by Laurie Colwin (finished 10/24/24) 4.55 stars
279. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (finished 10/25/24) 4.7 stars
280.Bundori by Laura Joh Rowland (finished 10/26/24) 3.5 stars
281. The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter (finished 10/28/24) 4.35 stars
282. The Soho Murder by Mike Hollow (finished 10/31/24) 3.65 stars

The November list:

283. The Black Loch by Peter May (finished 11/2/24) 4.15 stars (A)
284. The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor (finished 11/3/24) 4.3 stars (A)
285. The First Casualty by Ben Elton (finished 11/3/24) 3.85 stars
286. One Final Turn by Ashley Weaver (finished 11/9/24) 3.6 stars
287. An Eye for an Eye by Jeffrey Archer (finished 11/10/24) 3.4 stars
288. The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (finished 11/11/24) 3.2 stars (A)
289. The Address by Fiona Davis (finished 11/12/24) 3.55 stars
290. The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (finished 11/15/24) 4 stars
291. Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams (finished 11/16/24) 3.65 stars
292. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (finished 11/16/24) 3.75 stars
293. River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road by Cat Jarman (finished 11/18/24) 4.45 stars (A)
294. *We Couldn't Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold (finished 11/19/24) 4.65 stars
295. Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel (finished 11/19/24) 4.3 stars
296. The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (finished 11/20/24) 4 stars
297. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (finished 11/20/24) 3.4 stars
298. Diva by Daisy Goodwin (finished 11/21/24) 3.35 stars
299. *The Seas of Morning by Geoffrey Trease (finished 11/22/24) 3.8 stars
300. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (finished 11/23/24) 5 stars
301. String Theory: the Parents Ashkenazi by Dara Horn (finished 11/23/24) 3 stars
302. The Leftover Woman by Jean Kowk (finished 11/24/24) 3.5 stars
303. Black Pill by Elle Reeve (finished 11/24/24) 4.2 stars (A)
304. Eight Very Bad Nights edited by Tod Goldberg (finished 11/26/24) 3.4 stars
305. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (finished 11/27/24) 4.4 stars (partly A)
306. Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of Tech Billionaires by Douglas Rushkoff (finished 11/28/24) 4.5 stars (A)
307. Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey Through Opium's Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh (finished 11/29/24) 5 stars
308. American Mother by Colum McCann & Diane Foley (finished 11/30/24) 3.85 stars (A)

The December list:

309. Paris Requiem by Chris Lloyd (finished 12/3/24) 3.8 stars
310. Pilgrimage by Lucy Pick (finished 12/6/24) 4.2 stars
311. The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths (finished 12/8/24) 3.9 stars
312. Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood (finished 12/9/24) 3.8 stars
313. Landlines by Raynor Winn (finished 12/10/24) 4 stars
314. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (finished 12/11/24) 4.3 stars
315. *Madame Fourcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson (finished 12/11/24) 4.6 stars (A)
316. The Way of the Traitor by Laura Joh Rowland (finished 12/13/24) 3.8 stars
317. The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig (finished 12/13/24) 5 stars (partly A)
318. The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler (finished 12/14/24) 4.4 stars
319. Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan (finished 12/14/24) 4.85 stars
320. Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow (finished 12/15/24) 3.8 stars
321. I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons (finished 12/16/24) 4.15 stars
322. The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin (finished 12/17/24) 3.45 stars
323. Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila (finished 12/19/24) 4.2 stars
324. The Nazis Next Door by Eric Lichtblau (finished 12/20/24) 4 stars (A)
325. The Mirror of Simple Souls by Aline Kuner (finished 12/22/24) 3.9 stars
326. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (finished 12/23/24) 4.15 stars
327. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (finished 12/24/24) 4.2 stars (A)
328. Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux (finished 12/24/24) 4.3 stars
329. Lights! Camera! Mayhem! by Jodi Taylor (finished 12/25/24) 4.3 stars
330. The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear (finished 12/25/24) 4.2 stars
331. The Christmas Book Hunt by Jenny Colgan (finished 12/26/24) 3.7 stars
332. Ocean State by Stewart O'Nan (finished 12/26/24) 4.15 stars
333. A Cold Highland Wind by Tasha Alexander (finished 12/28/24) 3.45 stars
334. The Partisan by Patrick Worrall (finished 12/28/24) 3.65 stars
335. The Dead City by Michael Russell (finished 12/29/24) 4 stars
336. Held by Anne Michaels (finished 12/30/24) 4.5 stars
337. The Bishop's Villa by Sacha Naspini (finished 12/30/24) 4.4 stars
338. Moscow X by David McCloskey (finished 12/30/24) 3.7 stars (partly A)
339. *The Passing Bells by Philip Rock (finished 12/31/24) 4 stars

* - Re-read
(A) - Audiobook

Best Books of 2023

Still to come!

Reading Goals I

New New Things:

The Fraud – Zadie Smith
The Apology – Jimin Han
After Annie - Anna Quindlen Read
Wandering Stars – Tommy Orange Read
The Enigma Girl - Henry Porter Read
Burma Sahib – Paul Theroux Read
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride
Come and Get It – Kiley Reid Read
The Continental Affair – Christine Mangan
Orbital - Samantha Harvey Read

Going Global:

A Dictator Calls - Ismail Kadare (Albania) Read
An Honorable Exit – Eric Vuillard (France)
The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa (Japan) Read
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany)
Flights – Olga Tokarzuk (Poland)
Heart, Be at Peace - Donal Ryan (Ireland) Read
Waiting for an Angel - Helon Habila (Nigeria) Read
The Throne – Franco Bernini (Italy)
Beyond the Door of No Return – David Diop (Senegal)
The Noodle Maker – Ma Jian (China

Travel:

Following Caesar by John Keahey
The Underworld – Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean – Susan Casey Read
The Naked Tourist – Lawrence Osborne
The Gathering Place: A Winter Pilgrimage Through Changing Times - Mary Colwell Read
Landlines – Raynor Winn Read
Shadowlands – Matthew Green
Imagine a City – Mark Vanhoenecker Read
Out of Istanbul – Bertrand Ollivier
In Putin’s Footsteps– Nina Khruscheva
Islander – Patrick Barkham

Reading Goals II

Nonfiction

Number Go Up – Zeke Faux READ
Doppelganger – Naomi Klein READ
Language City – Ross Perlin
Shakespeare’s Sisters – Ramie Targoff READ
God Save Benedict Arnold – Jack Kelly READ
The Bluestockings -by Susannah Gibson READ
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen READ
The Revolutionary Temper: Paris 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton READ
One Fine Day: Britain's Empire on the Brink by Christopher Clark
The Book-Makers by Adam Smyth. READ
Losing Music by John Cotter READ

New To Me/Debut Authors

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros READ
To Catch a Storm – Mindy Mejia READ
The Wizard of the Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli READ
Slow Horses – Mick Herron READ
Listen for the Lie - Amy Tintera READ
Julia – Sandra Newman READ
The Partisan – Patrick Worrall READ
How to Kidnap the Rich – Raina Rahul
33 Place Brugmann - Alice Austen READ

Series & Sequels

The Dark Heart of Florence -- Tasha Alexander READ
The Grey Wolf - Louise Penny READ
The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret – Nev March
The Year of the Locust - Terry Hayes READ
Babel – R.F. Kuang READ
A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh READ
The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray READ
Murder at the White Palace by Allison Montclair READ
The Great Deceiver – Elly Griffiths READ
The Dead City by Michael Russell READ

Reading Goals III

Europa Mania

Forgotten on Sunday – Valerie Perrin Read
One Hour of Fervor – Muriel Barbery
Bournville – Jonathan Coe Read
The Café with No Name - Robert Seethaler Read
Ghost Town – Kevin Chen
The Slowworm's Song by Andrew Miller Read
The Ghosts of Rome – Joseph O’Connor Read
The Other Profile – Irene Graziosi
The Bishop's Villa -- Sacha Naspini Read
The Silence of the Choir – Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Historical Fiction

The White Lady – Jacqueline Winspear Read
The Romantic – William Boyd
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable Read
The Great Passion – James Runcie
Booth – Karen Joy Fowler
Pilgrimage -- Lucy Pick Read
Love and Fury – Samantha Silva
Precipice – Robert Harris Read
Neferura -- Malayna Evans Read

Canadiana

Do You Remember Being Born? – Sean Michaels
Held – Anne Michaels Read
Snow Road Station – Elizabeth Hay
Tenderness – Alison MacLeod
On the Ravine – Vincent Lam Read
The Strangers – Katherena Vermette
This Eden – Ed O’Loughlin
The Mystery of Right and Wrong – Wayne Johnston
Away From the Dead – David Bergen
A New Season – Terry Fallis Read

On the Lighter Side

Assassins Anonymous – Rob Hart Read
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson Read
The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon
Diva – Daisy Goodwin Read
Shanghai - Joseph Kanon Read
The Flower Arranger at All Saints – Lis Howell Read
Moscow X - David McCloskey Read
The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre Read
The Summer Skies – Jenny Colgan Read
The Girl in the Vault - Michael Ledwige

Still mine, all mine!! (But saving it for later)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

You're now rewarded for your patience...

All the best for the New Year Suzanne. Delighted that the Reuters job came in for you in the end. I've picked up a lot of great reads over the years by following your threads.

Happy to (1) see you back and (2) see that you are thriving! Hi to the cats too :)

Good to see your new thread, Suzanne. You are always a good source of recommendations for me.

Happy New Year Suzanne!

Happy new year! I'll be quietly following along, as usual...

Happy New Year and new thread! Hope 2024 is kind to you

Welcome back, Suzanne!

Happy new thread and new year, Suzanne. Here's to a great one to make up for the last one!

Thanks, all! To get it going on the right note, I'm reading an upcoming memoir by Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist about his unique bond with a half wild cat who "picked" him when he went to a Vermont animal shelter. My Beloved Monster really explores the human-feline bond in an expressive way without resorting to anthropomorphism or sentimentality. As someone who, when she was a little girl of two or three asked to show others where her ears were, pointed to the top of her head and who collected postcards of cats and kittens sent by grandparents, I relate to Carr's intimacy with and trust in cats...

(This message has been approved by Sir Fergus and Minka)

And tomorrow it will be back to the spot bitcoin ETF beat. The SEC may give the go-ahead this week, and these things might launch next week. Who knew that I'd go from being an expert in one arcane area (utilities and power generation, waaay back in the late 80s) to another, cryptocurrency, 35 years later?

Hi Suz and Happy New Year to you and the kitten-cats. :-)

Happy new year! My Beloved Monster sounds interesting

Happy reading in 2024, Suzanne!

Happy New Year, Suzanne!!

Happy new year, Suzanne. xx

Happy New Year, Suzanne. That Caleb Carr sounds just right for you.

Happy New Year, Suz!

Happy new year to everyone who has dropped by!

Yes, My Beloved Monster really is the perfect cat/human memoir, by a long shot. That said, the author is a bit quirky in his own way, too, which I fear may be a prerequisite to communicate with cats. But then this particular Siberian Forest Cat turned out to love Wagner, so go figure. Completely captivating -- 4.35 stars.

Started reading the new novel by a Canadian author, Terry Fallis, only to discover that it starts out as a book revolving around grief and loss, too, so I may have to put that aside and turn to a mystery for a palate cleanser!

Stopping by to say hi Suzanne. Hope you link some of your work for Reuters from time to time.

>28 Oberon: Thanks for the visit!

For anyone who's curious or feeling a bit masochistic, here's a one-stop link to my Reuters home page.

https://www.reuters.com/authors/suzanne-mcgee/

Adding My Beloved Monster to the wish list. I feel like that title could be used to describe my Carson. :-)

Good luck with your 2024 reading!

>30 EBT1002: Yes, indeed!! At various points of each and every day, it's either Minka or Sir Fergus -- or both. Minka's new party trick is to treat my neck and shoulders as an alternate lap. She is my new fashion accessory, since I end up "wearing" her part of the day. Then, at the end of December, I was in the midst of a Zoom call with some folks at Blackrock, and Fergus jumped on the desk between me and my laptop. That was enough of a faux pas -- but then he turned his back to the camera so some of the world's biggest asset managers got a close up of his posterior. I'm sure that someone out there is going to feature this on a B-roll of "memorable conversations with journalists."

Finished Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, and it was completely fascinating. Thought provoking and fascinating, even if I'm not completely aligned with her wholesale dismissal of current society. I do share many of her concerns, and our reasons for those concerns are largely in sync but I struggle with a purely collective strategy to move forward. Human beings -- perhaps unfortunately -- can be extremely bloody minded and sometimes Klein veers too far in favor of preaching to be able to reach some of those her thinking should influence/needs to influence. That said, this was definitely eye-opening. 4.75 stars.

Hi Suzanne! I hope this year brings many good books!

>32 Chatterbox: 'I'm sure that someone out there is going to feature this on a B-roll of "memorable conversations with journalists."'

Cracked me up!!!

Remember that guy who had his son rush in during a ZOOM call?

Or the doofus who was caught fingering himself on cam?

O the lawyer who showed up for a deposition with a cat face filter on the chat?

This O Best Beloved is but a ripple on the waters of the great river of Time

>32 Chatterbox: Doppelganger
I'm about halfway through the audio book which is read by Naomi Klein herself. Disturbing.

>32 Chatterbox: Well, I am sure that vision livened up the day!! LOL.

Doppleganger sounds interesting...

>35 magicians_nephew: I absolutely loved the cat filter lawyer... The panicky human eyes moving around behind the cat "mask" and the quavering voice trying to assure the judge that "I'm really not a cat"...

Well, the spot bitcoin ETFs are launched, and we beat Bloomberg by a whopping 30 minutes. Possibly entirely by accident, since the SEC issued a ruling that then promptly disappeared from its website, but someone on the team had captured a version. Was it real? the day before the SEC's twitter/X account had been hacked, so was this another blip? It was -- but thankfully premature, not wrong. And it gave us the scoop. And all my sources came through.

That compensated for a 19-hour day Wednesday, and a 12 hour day Tuesday.

Most entertaining of all was reading Number Go Up by Zeke Faux while it all was unfolding; it's all about the last few years in the world of cryptocurrencies. Helped me develop an (even more) skeptical view of some of the assertions from some of the die-hard crypto fans out there incapable of taking a step back from what they believe to be the infinite promise of a bitcoin-o-verse.

>38 Chatterbox: Good for you and Reuters!!!

I look forward to your reading and commenting this year. Best from me and our 7 (!) (We added my SiL's Misty since none of her children could take her) to you and your 2.

Hello, nice to see/find your thread! I don't know if my library will get My Beloved Monster, and it's not my usual fare, but it sounds interesting so I've added it to my "notify me" list. Thanks for the comments on it!

Hi Sue. I hope you are doing well.

I'm enjoying my time on Kauai, but I miss Carson. This is silly, I know, but it happens every time I travel.

>41 EBT1002: Ellen!! Saw that you were traveling -- so glad you have a chance to get away and explore a new/different place! Missing one's proprietors (let's face it, they're NOT our pets; we are their property) is the norm. There's a conference down in Miami Beach next month, and one of the reasons I'm reluctant to push editors for a decision about whether or not to go is abandoning Sir Fergus and Minka for several days.

>40 ursula: What appealed to me about My Beloved Monster is the fact that it was by an author whose books (or at least a couple of them) I had read and enjoyed. As another single person who tends to be solitary by nature, I also found his narrative compelling.

Generally -- I'm having much better luck with non-fiction than novels so far this year. I realize that's partly because the fiction I'm picking up tends to be escapist, as I find myself very tired after 10 plus hours working each day. (This job also has turned me into a morning person for the very first time in my life -- and I hate that!)

Even the standout 'novel' that I read, The Postcard by Anne Berest, is really fictionalized memoir!

But a particular shoutout re Susan Casey's new book about the very deep abyssal ocean (I am increasingly fascinated by books like this), The Underworld. Also to Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov, an eyewitness account by a Ukrainian-born reporter working for the Wall St. Journal about the first year or so following Russia's invasion. It was remarkably in depth and personal without being polemical. (I'd also recommend the excellent documentary about Mariupol that is up for an Oscar...)

Amusing tidbit of the day. I interviewed a professor from Carnegie Mellon about Chinese stocks recently -- and just realized that she also is Diane Wei Liang, author of two mystery novels set in China that I enjoyed quite a lot. She tells me she's working on some more fiction, but that academia (teaching at business school) keeps interfering...

I re-read a book by Georgette Heyer in the last few days (or rather, listened to a new audiobook version of it...) and finally stumbled across a Heyer heroine who I actively disliked. I don't know how much is due to the narration flagging some of her more unpleasant character traits, but Bath Tangle really did not stand the test of time for me. Lady Serena comes across as oblivious and arrogant -- I'm accustomed to the 'strong' women who occasionally pop up in her books, like the title character in The Grand Sophy, but they are leavened with humor and compassion, both of which seem to be singularly lacking here. When the silly ingenue character (another Heyer trope) is frightened by her fiance's romantic approaches, Serena is scornful, and keeps telling her to just face up to the deal she's made. It's not the conflict (including with one of her own suitors) but the disdain that shows up.

Sigh.

So I'm taking refuge from romance in suspense novels. Usually, it's the other way around!

>44 Chatterbox: Bath Tangle is one of the few Heyer Regency novels that I dislike. I had an earlier audio version, read by Sian Phillips but I felt her voice was too 'mature' for a story about rather young women and, as you say, the characters are rather unattractive anyway, so i haven't tried the new version. I've found the readers of the new versions generally inferior to my old ones anyway so I haven't been tempted to upgrade!

Hello Suzanne, how are ya today?

Sorry the Heyer didn't work out for you. Guess I am skipping that one!

I am thrilled to see you back among us, Suzanne. It feels like a better place!

>3 Chatterbox: Hi, Id like to borrow your book rating if I may? Lots of great reading there. Welcome back!

I will echo my peers, Suz. I am so pleased to see you back updating at least.

Hope that all is well with you and that you'll post life updates too. xx

>49 cindydavid4: Feel free; borrow away! No intellectual property will be harmed...

Sorry for the long absence, but it's been difficult to juggle work, health, energy levels, etc. Things just -- give.

An attempt at a humble-brag, and also an example of the kind of stuff that's been keeping me too busy to hang out here as much as I'd like to:

Most read stories on Reuters.com July 7 - 13
MARKETS
1. Meme stock speculation propels Koss shares 25% higher on Friday (Suzanne McGee)

(This is part of a regular weekly roundup of which stories perform best within the business/financial part of Reuters....) So this is a Very Good Thing.)

Here's the story in case anyone else wants to read it!

https://www.reuters.com/markets/meme-stock-speculation-propels-koss-shares-25-hi...

>52 Chatterbox: Oh cool!

>52 Chatterbox: Very Good Thing indeed! You make us proud.

Congrats! I can't read the article because it won't allow me unless I disable my ad blocker but congrats anyhow!

Great to see your work again!

Good writing Suzanne!

>52 Chatterbox: Great!

>52 Chatterbox: Well done, Suz. Proud of you. x

Can't remember a time when we were two months without having you around, Suz.
I hope you are ok. Please come and update us soon.

Exactly right, Paul!

Suzanne, we don't want to lose you.

Suzanne is still participating in the TIOLI Challenges, she is just not checking in here for whatever reason. Maybe she has a thread in another group on LT?

Hi everyone, nope I'm NOT cheating the 75ers, either with another group or elsewhere in the cyber universe. It's just real life, good and bad, that is intervening!

So, for the second time in a few years, the house in which I rent an apartment is being sold. Which is making me nervous. BUT -- and this is a hoot -- the first person to walk through the apartment during the open house turns out to be the author of a book I had finished reading (about the Franklin expedition -- see my September reads, above) only days earlier! AND he and his wife put in a bid, and may become my new landlords... The inspection was done on Saturday, so fingers/toes crossed.

Wrestling with a few health issues, and work is very demanding -- I would kinda like my one-year contract to be renewed or converted into a full time gig by December, so I have to spend a lot of time and energy on that. I hope things are going well, but sometimes it's hard to tell. I'll have a good week, and then one where I feel as if I'm dropping balls all over the place. But still, after a year, I love working with this group of people.

I'm currently taking three whole days of vacation and spending them doing a kind of work. I'm up in Keene, NH, to attend the "Radically Rural" conference. One of the tracks is community journalism, and I'm part of a nonprofit with other Wall St Journal alumni that mentors small/community newsrooms. We're still in the fledgling stage, but I spent a year or so working with a reporter up here in New Hampshire, and am meeting with all the local people AND lots of people from community newsrooms nationwide. And another very cool coincidence: I was talking to a woman from Oklahoma at a group dinner tonight and we were part of the same car pool back to hotels. I realized she was a member of a tribe in Oklahoma, and started waxing rhapsodic about a great documentary I watched as part of the NYC Documentary Film Festival last year -- "Bad Press". I picked up on an odd silence in the car and then I realized -- she had been the documentary's subject! All about battling for freedom of the press with a tribal council. GAH. I felt like I'd been doing a variant of 'mansplaining', but we all laughed about it, and I mentioned that I had sent links to every journalist I knew about it.

I have been updating my reading list of books (up top) and also, as Stasia noted, participating in TIOLI. I've just been appalling at social media most of the year, including FB and even LinkedIn. By the end of most days (some of which are ten hours long) all I want to do is curl up with the cats.

Minka has to go have dental surgery, but Sir Fergus-the-not-so-fat-any-longer is doing fine. He loves Oskar, the 10 year old neighbor who is his new catsitter, and will play with the laser toy with him and feed him treats endlessly. Even Minka appeared to say a brief hello to Oskar. (She is not a big fan of Other People, including my cleaner -- perhaps because the cleaner comes with a vacuum cleaner??)

I do check on my thread, and I'm kinda sorta around, just with too little time and energy these days. A good problem to have? except when it comes to time to read. I'm certainly not going to make it to 400 books this year!!

>63 Chatterbox: Thanks for the update, Suz.

Your last sentence made me smile. Not many of our number could have said that with anything approaching a straight face!

GLAD to hear from you, Suze! If there are any brains (and I assume that there are), they will surely want you full time.

Good for you in NH!!!

Also glad for the update, Suz!

Glad that you sent us an update. I have tried to follow the adage about no news is good news so thought that you were OK, just busy. I am also busy. Packed 35 boxes of books to ship with my moving company to go to Kansas and the new/old house. Now I just have to pack the rest of the stuff in my Alabama house!

>63 Chatterbox: Thanks for checking in Suz! We miss you when you are not around.

I hope all goes well with the sell of the house and with you getting a permanent position at Reuters.

I hope the couple you mention get the bid on the house and become your Landlord's, Suzanne. I hope you get the permanent position.

Sadly, the couple opted not to pursue the house -- they made an offer, it was accepted -- but they walked away because the house needs some work done here or there (and it's very lavishly priced, I have to say). So tomorrow the parade of people through my home continues.

Dealing with health stuff -- in the last year, I've somehow managed to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes (borderline) and the first signs of cataracts. Nothing likely to kill me immediately, but none of it all that great. And my subsidized health care plan was yanked because I now make too much -- but the only plan I can replace it with costs more than my rent. And so it goes. The only good news is that this MIGHT be lighting a fire under Reuters in terms of a permanent gig. They def don't want me keeling over, lol.

I have had to ease up on my reading after eye tests, which left me with blurry double vision for a day or more.

My fave book for September was probably The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez. I concluded that while I respect Rachel Kushner's way with language, I never find her books tremendously captivating. I had fun with Shinju, the first in a series of mysteries set in Shogunate era Japan, by Laura Joh Rowland, and I'll look for the others at the Athenaeum. And Robert Darnton's book about the growth of revolutionary feelings within the Parisian public was very intriguing.

Onward and upward...

>70 Chatterbox:
I have never liked anything I have tried to read but Nunez or Kushner. I do like Japanese mysteries. Sometimes they are a bit bloody for my tastes but then what isn't nowadays. Good to hear from you and that you are still reading. Reading less, but still reading. And still employed at a job you like. That is all good.

>70 Chatterbox: My sister was struggling with high cholesterol and triglycerides and diabetes, and finally decided to try a mainly vegetarian diet, also cutting out yellow cheese, which she loves. Lost 18 lbs, her blood lipids dropped by half. Still on the diabetes drugs, however. I worry about her. Now I'll worry about you too.

>72 ffortsa: Do NOT worry about me, please! Because then I will have to worry about the fact that you are worrying about me, and we could into a toxic spiral that way...

GOOD NEWS ALERT:

1. It looks as if the buyers I hoped would snap up the house in which my apartment resides will be buying it after all. Should know by tomorrow morning!!

2. Even better news: Told late this afternoon that Reuters will be making my gig permanent as of Jan 1!! And I will then have HEALTH INSURANCE and all kinds of other cool benefits.

Job security and residence security anxiety appeased all in one fell swoop.

I'm assuming my rent will go up significantly, given that I'm paying below market right now and they are going to pay a whole wad of $$ for the house, but I'll cross that bridge in February...

Meanwhile, I can think about using my remaining vacation days for a quick trip to London (there's a great exhibit I want to see) and possibly Paris in December.

>73 Chatterbox: Yay! for the job and fingers crossed for the rent.

Hurrah for permanent status and BENEFITS!

Good news about the gig. And ooh, let me know if you make it to London, please!

Good news about your place and also the Reuters gig, Suzanne! Congratulations. I recently found out I have high cholesterol and triglycerides. I've been on Lipitor for just over a month now. No side effects, but I am trying to lose 25 lbs ( more would be better) and I am already a walker, but I have upped my walking to see if I can eventually stop the medication.

>77 vancouverdeb: Thanks for letting me know about your experience with Lipitor... I'm kinda worried about starting that as I already battle stomach stuff and very painful arthritic ankles/hips, so adding that after reading the side effects warning -- gulp. I'm supposed to phase in the new meds, so today will be my first Lipitor day, after adding the high bp meds last weekend. (no problems with that). Apparently the diabetes meds will be the real killer, at least for the first week.

>76 elkiedee: I'm looking at -- believe it or not -- the week starting Nov 8 or 9. There are two things I'd love to see at Wigmore Hall (recital featuring Roderick Williams) and at the Barbican (Klaus Makela, sorry no patience for adding accents today, the new super-young Chicago Symphony conductor designate who may not even be 30 but who I've heard conduct, and he's tackling Sibelius and the Rite of Spring.) Then the Silk Road Exhibition at the British Museum. Not to mention theatre. And I'll have to zoom up to Cambridge to see an American novelist friend who relocated their with her husband and kids. And I'll also get to meet some of my London-based Reuters colleagues who I talk to on MSFT Teams all the time. Flights are cheap; have been looking at Airbnb, which isn't too bad, but finding myself very tempted by a Travelocity offer for free airfare if I book a hotel room. One of the hotels on offer is the Rembrandt, very near the V&A, which I know visiting family & friends stayed at some 50 years ago, and which is superbly located for me. A bit pricey, but I could make it work.

So, shall concentrate on saving my pennies and WALKING more, trying to build up strength and reduce the pain.

And good news -- the book author and his wife WILL BUY THE HOUSE. Closing is at the end of October.

Think I need to go in search of wood to touch to protect all this unaccustomed good luck, with stuff going my way!!!

Congrats on the tide of great luck, Suzanne. Well-earned and a long time coming!

I take Crestor for cholesterol. I believe it is like Lipitor but just a different brand. I have been on it now for a few years and haven't had a single side effect. Just keep it in mind to mention to your doctor in case the lipitor doesn't agree with you.

Congratulations on the good news!!!!

I have used the Travelocity offers twice in Germany and never been disappointed. They are usually for nicer hotels and I have been lucky to be in grand places both times. In fact one trip was 5 nights in Berlin and Air fare and the whole thing was $960.00. I figured that the hotel room was free. Or maybe the plane ticket on KLM was. Who knows - but it was a bargain. The hotel was a Viktor's and it was in a wonderful location.

>80 benitastrnad: I think the cheapest one is about $900 for six nights, but that's in a hotel I know a bit in Paddington, and honestly, I wouldn't pay much more than $50 a night to stay there, and then only if desperate. I'm not 25 any longer. The Rembrandt is a gorgeous hotel, and at $1,500 it's about the cost of the airfare and an Airbnb combined, with the benefit of knowing what I'm getting. I miss the days of being able to be able to bunk with friends in Holland Park, or Bermondsey, or Primrose Hill!! Talk about privilege...

>73 Chatterbox: Wonderful news, Suzanne!

This is good news, Suzanne. I must be imagining it but since I moved away from near London about six years ago, I'm sure there are many more meet-ups there by my various groups... I'm too far away (in Cheshire) to go comfortably for a day.

>83 CDVicarage: The key word there being "comfortably". I've gotten accustomed to occasionally making day trips to NYC -- 3/4 hours by train in each direction. It's a killer... And even then, in this case I live in a city with a direct rail connection.

Big story of the day -- working on Hurricane Milton coverage, and the story I did with my colleague Svea is now somewhere between #2 and #4 most read on the website:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/florida-based-fund-managers-brace-hurricane-m...

Apologies for any paywall/ads/anything else blocking access...

Read Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario, which scared the wits out of me. The world could be over within 45 minutes.

Then read pilot Mark Vanhoenecker's book about cities he has known. It's far too choppy to be as interesting as it could have been, but he nailed one thing: the phenomenon he dubs "city lag", where you struggle to absorb the fact that you are where you are. I've had some very vivid experiences of that in my life....

I expect to be a mystery-reading junkie for a while. New "Bruno" book from Martin Walker, the second book in the series by Laura Joh Rowland, and a number of others. Happy days! Assuming, that is, that I get time to read...

>85 Chatterbox: I was pleased to be able to read the article on fund managers in Florida without any paywall problems. And I've been thinking about my former colleagues at DTCC, the ones who moved down to Tampa - what is called 'New Tampa', not quite on the bay. The initial reason for the second site was to get off the New York grid (DTCC also has a site in Plano, TX), but there is vulnerability everywhere.

Booked flights/airbnb to London, and bought tix for the classical music stuff I desperately want to see. Next is to get ticket for the British Museum exhibition about the Silk Road. After that, aside from a day budgeted for Reuters at Canary Wharf, it's all gravy. Arrive one Saturday (after the election here) and leave the next. Staying in Bermondsey.

sooo jealous! have a great time

Literally just got, finally, my formal offer letter from Reuters; as of today, I've made the leap from contract to permanent staffer, aka correspondent. So that's my Christmas gift sorted! :-)

>89 Chatterbox: How wonderful! Congratulations, galore!

Karen O

Huge Congrats!!

That is very good news!

>89 Chatterbox: Good news!

>89 Chatterbox: Congratulations! Such good news.

Congratulations, really great news for you.

>89 Chatterbox: Congratulations!

Great news! So glad that is settled.

>89 Chatterbox: Fabulous news, Suz! Hearty congratulations on your permanent position with Reuters.

>89 Chatterbox: That is wonderful news, Suz. What a great way to end 2024.

>89 Chatterbox: Another HOORAY! Congratulations! They will be very happy to have secured you!

Congratulations!

Thanks to you all for the good wishes!!

Congrats!

Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Thinking of you at this time, Suz.

Congrats on the full time gig!
Hope you had a good Christmas!