Streamsong 2024 #1; Cool and crisp in Montana

(in very small letters at the bottom, it's attributed to neil gaiman)

Hi - I'm Janet.

I've been a member of LT since 2006.

I retired in the fall of 2016 from my career as a technician in an NIAID research lab. (Yes, that made Dr Anthony Fauci my ultimate boss .... way up the chain.)

I'm now enjoying all the things I never had time to do.

I live in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana along Skalkaho Creek.

I'm about half way between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks - so if you're traveling or vacationing in the area, I'd love to meet you. Give me a bit of warning, though - the house often looks like a bomb went off in it. Unless of course, you find cluttery piles of books interesting decor (as I do)

Glacier National Park - photo by Jack Bell Photography



I have Appaloosa horses and usually raise a foal or two each year. I'm probably expecting one foal this year - updated photos soon.

One of my mares at her trainer's place here in the valley:



What do I read? A bit of everything. I enjoy literary fiction, mysteries and the occasional feel good cozy. I'm working my way around the world in a global reading challenge. I had started my way through 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (actually 1300 + books since I use the combined version spreadsheet), but that project seems to be on hold. About half the books I read are non-fiction.

I belong to two in-person book clubs and occasionally join a couple of online book clubs. A favorite online club for nature reads is the Glacier Conservancy Book Club here - https://glacier.org/glacier-book-club/ This is a fund-raising arm for Glacier National Park.

Here's the link to my last thread of last year: https://www.librarything.com/topic/353013#n8332996

In 2023 I read 122 books - still need to do reviews on seventeen of them.

✅= Outstanding Book! ❤️ = Favorite

2024 BOOKS READ

First Quarter

January

✅1. Two Old Women - Velma Walls - 2013 - library
❤️2. The House of Doors - Tan Twan Eng - 2023 - Global Reading: Malaysia - library -
3. Emergent Properties - Aimee Ogden - 2023 - library
❤️4. Jimmy Bluefeather - Kim Heacox 2016 - Reread - Root #1 -Copy purchased 2023.
5. Tom Lake - Ann Patchett - 2023 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - library
✅6. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World - John Vaillant - 2023 - library
7. The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah - 2018 - Book Girls Global Tour: Arctic - library
✅8. Almost an Elegy - Linda Pastan - 2022- library
✅9. Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Contreras - 2018 - Global Reading/Book Girls Global Tour - Columbia - library

February
10. A Council of Dolls - Mona Susan Power - 2023 - library -
11. The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher - E. M. Anderson - 2023 - library -
12. Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education - Stephanie Land - 2023 - library
13. Unlikely Animals - Annie Hartnett - 2023 - library
❤️14. Funny things : a comic strip biography of Charles M. Schulz - Luca Debus - 2023 - library
15. The Memory of Animals - Claire Fuller - 2023 - library
16. Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication - Bart D. Ehrman - 2013 - audiobook/The Great Courses - library
17. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Glacier National Park - David R Butler - 2022 - Glacier Conservancy Book Club - library
18. Wolves at the Door - Judith Pearson - 2022 - NC Book Club - Purch Kindle 2023
19. The Queen of Water – Laura Resay and Maria Virginia Farinango – 2011 – Book Girls (2023) – South America/Ecuador – YA - library
20. Take What You Need - Idra Novey - 2023 - library

- 15 - BOOKS READ IN 2024

YEAR CATALOGED OR ACQUIRED
43 - library/Hoopla
1 - 2023

1 = Total ROOTS read (acquired before 2024):
1. Jimmy Bluefeather - Kim Heacox purchased 2023 (Reread)

FORMAT
15 - print
- audiobook
- Kindle

- 10 - Fiction (May Fit into more than 1 category)

----1 - aging
----1 - apocalypse/dystopia
----2 - contemporary fiction
----2 - Global Reading
----2 - historical fiction
----3 - literary fiction
----1 - magical realism
----2 - Native Americans
----1 - Pandemic
----1 - Romantasy
----1 - Science Fiction

- 1- Poetry

- 3 - Non-Fiction (may fit into more than one category)
1 - biography
1 - Climate Change
1 - Graphic Non-fiction
1 - Memoir
1 - Natural Disasters
1 - Women

AUTHORS

11 - Female Authors
4 - Male Authors
- Non-binary
- Combination of male and female authors

10 - Authors who are new to me
5 - Authors read before
- Combination (Anthology) of previously read and new to me authors

- 1 Rereads

Original Publication Date
1 - 2013
1 - 2016
2 - 2018
1 - 2022
10 - 2023

The Global Challenge: Read five books from each of the 193 UN members plus a few additional areas. (Ongoing project over **Many** years!)

Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/188308

1 COUNTRY VISITED IN 2024


visited 2 states (0.88%)


COUNTRIES PREVIOUSLY VISITED
Columbia: Book #3: Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Conteras - 2018 - Fic (location, author) - 1/2024
Malaysia: Book #3: The House of Doors - Tam Twan Eng - 2023 - Fic (location, author) 1/2024


Create your own visited map of The World

39 COUNTRIES VISITED IN 2023 (not quite up to date)

visited 39 states (17.3%)



Create your own visited map of The World

ALL COUNTRIES VISITED: 113


visited 113 states (50.2%)


Create your own visited map of The World

To help expand my global reading, I've been following along The Book Girls Around the World Book Voyage Challenge: https://bookgirlsguide.com/world-reading-challenge/

✔ January: Arctic and Antarctic: The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah US
February: Western Europe: UK:
March: Africa -
April: Islands
May: Eastern Europe and Russia
June: Australia and New Zealand
July: South Asia:
August: Northern Asia
September: Transportation
October: Middle East and Israel:
November: North America
December: South America

2024 In-Person Brown Bag Book Club

January: Tom Lake - Anne Patchett
February -- Candide by Voltaire
March -- The Spy Who Knew Too Much by Howard Blum
April -- Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes by Alvin M. Josephy Jr.
May -- The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons
June -- A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
July -- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Read
August -- Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami
September -- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
October -- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
November -- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang Read
December -- Potluck and 2025 choices

In Person Newcomers' (and others!) Book Club

✔ January: Jimmy Bluefeather - Kim Heacox -- (reread for me)
February: The Wolves at the Door - Judith Pearson

Glacier Conservancy Book Club

January ***Reading*** Crooked: The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American… - Nathan Masters

Goals:
- Read at least two ROOTS each month from the first TIOLI challenges.
- Read at least one book each month acquired in 2023 (counts as one of the ROOTS)

The below numbers include the dozen or so library books I have at home:
As of 01/01/2024: 549 books on physical MT TBR
As of 01/01/2023: 535 books on physical MT TBR
As of 01/01/2022: 530 books on physical MT TBR
As of 01/01/2021: 522 books on MT TBR

1 Book Acquired 2024
1. The Wolves at the Door - Judith Pearson NC's Book Club - Kindle
2. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi - 2/2023

I'm intrigued by everyone's lists of series. These are the ones I read so far in 2023: I will add other series that I am also working on.

Series

Robert Galbraith - Cormoran Stike (1/7)
Elsa Hart - Li Du (2/3)
Anne Hillerman - Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito (5/8)
Alka Joshi - Jaipur Trilogy (1/3)
William Kent Krueger - Cork O'Connor (1/ )
Ngaio Marsh - Roderick Alleyn (2/27)
Dorothy Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey (2/?)
Fred Vargas - Chief Inspector Adamsberg - 2/10

And here's the list of books I still need to review from last year (sigh)

December
122. Fima - Amos Oz - 1994 - Nov TIOLI#1 - Root #3 for month/ #24 for year - acq'd 2013
121. Narcolepsy: A Funny Disorder that's no Laughing Matter - Margerite J. Utley - 1995 - Dec TIOLI #1 - ROOT #2 for month/# 23 for year - acq'd 2006
120. Come Together, Fall Apart - Cristina Henriquez - 2007 Book Girls World Tour: Panama - short stories - purch 2023
119. A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea - Melissa Flemming - 2017 - Book Girls World Tour - Middle East/Syria - library
118. We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer - 2019 - library
117. YellowFace - R. F. Kuang - 2023 - library
116. Tenacious Beasts - Julian Stockwin - 2023 - New Comers' Book Club - acq'd 2023
✅115. The Maid - Nita Prose - 2022 - library
114. The Future - Naomi Alderman - 2023 - library
113. Murder Your Employer - Rupert Holmes - 2023 - library
112. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell - audiobook ROOT#1 for month/Root #22 for year; acq'd 2007

November
111. The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka - 2012 - Library Brown Bag Book Club - library
✅110. Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause - Ty Seidule - 2022 - library
109. The White Mirror - Elsa Hart - 2016 - library
✅108. The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave - 2023 - NewComers' Book Club - library
107. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba - 2009 - Book Girls' World Tour/Global Reading - Malawi - library

Reviews Completed
❤️106. Salt to the Sea - Ruta Sepetys - 2017 - Book Girls: Bodies of Water - library

Currently Reading:

House of Doors - Tan Twan Eng


Almost an Elegy - Linda Pastan poetry book rec by Mark


Fire on the Rim - Stephen J. Pyne


Solving the Climate Crisis: A Community Guide to Solving the Biggest Problem On the Planet by Palmer Owyoung - LTER

Welcome back, Janet!

Thank you, Jim! And thanks for your hard work every year!

Happy New Year, Janet. I look forward to following your reading again this year.

Happy New Year, Janet. You have quite a few books on the go!

Happy reading in 2024, Janet!

Hi Janet, and Happy New Year to you.

>1 streamsong: My Zoe Rose deliberately knocks things off the window sill in the Sunroom. Buh-bye to 2023!

>2 streamsong: Love it. Saved it, will use it sometime here on LT.

>3 streamsong: Congrats on 122 books for 2023. I appreciate the depth and variety of your reading, love your reviews.

Karen got me Grounded: A Senator's Lessons on Winning Back Rural America – Jon Tester’s book – for Christmas, and got him to inscribe it for me. I want to read it early this year.

Happy New Year, Janet!

>16 BLBera: Thank you, Beth! Happy New Year to you, too!

>17 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deb. Yes, I always have several books going at once.

- One I consider my 'main book' - which is probably whatever is due back at the library next. House of Doors
- I aspire to read more poetry and short stories - something I can just dip in and out of. I'm really enjoying Almost An Elegy. I had never read anything by poet Linda Pastan and she is wonderful. I may have to buy a copy of this.
- I have at least one nonfiction - In this case Fire on the Rim which is a ROOT (Reading Our Own Tomes) I started months ago and sort of pushed to the side.
- I haven't been doing many Early Reviewers books. Solving the Climate Crisis is interesting and well written, but I dislike reading electronic books, so I'm lagging on it, too.

But on New Year's Day, I threw away my reading plan and read the short and very good Two Old Women by Athabaskan (above the Alaskan Arctic Circle) native author Velma Wallis. It's a telling of a native legend and was a perfect start to the new year. I can't wait to read more by her.

>1 streamsong: bwahaha! I'm stealing that one.

>18 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! Happy New Year to you, too!

>19 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Happy New Year! I'm glad you enjoyed the toppers.

I'll be interested to see what you think about the Jon Tester book. I haven't read it, yet, but I know I should.
That was wonderful of Karen to get it for you and have it autographed!

>20 norabelle414: Thank you and Happy New Year to you, too!

>22 fuzzi: Glad you like it, Lor! I stole it off FB so feel free to use it yourself

>4 streamsong: Looks like your 2024 reads are off to a good start! I have added that one to the BlackHole.

Happy New Year! Happy New Thread!

I believe this one was recommended by Cindy.



1. Two Old Women – Velma Wallis – 1993 – library

This is an old Athabaskan story. The Athabaskans are a native people living in the far north interior of Alaska, close to and above the Arctic Circle. A grandmother of the Gwich’in people of the Athabaskan tells it to her granddaughter.

With early fall snow, there was a time of great hunger and the band was having no luck in their hunting. The council decide to leave two elderly women behind although this was a heavy sorrow to many of the band, including the daughter and grandson of one of the women. The two elder women, Ch’idzigyaak and Sa are stunned by the decision which they had no part in making.

As the band of people leave, Ch’idzigyaak’s daughter sneaks her a bundle of thongs; her young grandson gives her a bone hatchet which he has made.

The old women cry as the band leaves. However, deep in their stunned sorrow, Ch’idzigyaak decides that if they must die, it is better to die trying. She and Sa fashion rabbit snares and then crude snowshoes. Slowly they remember their old skills and decide to try to make it to the site of a fish camp they remembered from better years.

It’s a story of perseverance, of not giving up even in the face of death. It’s a story of the elders’ wisdom gained by their years of experience. And ultimately, it’s a story of love.

At only 140 pages, it’s a very short book, but this native author knows how to pack much into few words. I’m eager to read more by her.

>25 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia! Happy New Year to you, too!

I was writing my review of Two Old Women as you posted.

It was a wonderful book and I hope you enjoy it. I'm determined going to try hard to keep up this year.

Happy New Year, Janet! You seem to be off to a great start. I'm very interested in your international reading and will take a look at the website you listed. Thanks.

Happy New Year, Janet. Wishing for a safe and healthy 2024 for you. I loved The House of Doors. Eng has been on a roll. It sounds like you are also loving Almost an Elegy. I want to read more of her work.

Keep in mind, we will be traveling past you on our way to Glacier in early September. Hope we can work something out.

I am a bit slow out of the gate this year Janet, but I have made it at last.

Star dropped.

Love the thread set up and am envious of the photographs of the beautiful wide open spaces you enjoy over there in Montana.

Happy new year.

Hi Janet and all the best wishes to you in 2024. I have had a great time looking at all your amazing reading and getting ideas for my future reads, with thanks. I always appreciate your stories about your horses and new foals and the challenges of your property, lots of physical challenges to solve. You must be busy. I will be following your threads! Happy New Year! I'm reading House of Doors right now too and very much enjoying it!

Good luck with your 2024 reading goals, Janet. I especially like Read at least one book each month acquired in 2023 (counts as one of the ROOTS) I think I might adopt that stance too. I tend to buy books and then let them sit for a year waiting for them to become ROOTs before I read them. That really doesn't make any sense, does it?

Happy New Year, Janet! Liking the reads on several of your bookclubs--I think you have a great reading year ahead. : )

>28 ffortsa: Hi Judy!Happy New Year to you, too. The international reading is fun. I like the Global Challenge group here on LT because each person gets to set their own parameters. That means it doesn't necessarily have to be an author native to the country - although I try.

One of the books I don't have reviewed (so don't have in my stats yet) was Come Together, Fall Apart a terrific collection of short stories by Panamanian author Cristina Henriquez .

>29 msf59: Hi Mark! Yup, so many good books to come this year! Thanks for recommending Almost an Elegy. I'll be looking for more poetry by Linda Pastan for sure. And Tan Twang Eng is weaving his usual spell as I read House of Doors.

I would love to get together if your Glacier Park trip comes together this fall. The glaciers are melting so quickly in the park, that you can't put it off much longer. Although ... you'll definitely have to keep an eye on the fire season this year. We've had no snow at all in November or December so the wild fires may be fierce this year. And Glacier is not much fun if the spectacular views are obscured by smoke.

>30 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul and Happy New Year to you, too. Yes, it's beautiful country, but I miss what cities have to offer, too. I have not been to Spokane or other city since before the pandemic.

>31 mdoris: Thanks, Mary! Happy New Year! I had a very small adventure right before Christmas that I'll write up below. I love visiting your thread, too.

>32 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg and Happy New Year! Yeah, those tempting new books do seem to pile up unread, don't they? Especially as I jump the book queue with library books that I want to read but have to return shortly.

Ha! I have not bought a book so far this year

Hi Berly! Happy New Year! I'll be over to your thread to drop a star, too.

Happy New Year Janet. Looking for more book recommendation - the Glacier book recommendations have been great!

So here is my small Montana adventure the week before Christmas.

On the Monday before Christmas the horses were being exceptionally silly as I was going out to feed. Heads up, tails up, snorting with ears and eyes pointing towards the creek.

I strained to hear and see and eventually made out a very dark blackish creature at the creek. OMG! A bear?

No, it turned out to be a this-year's moose calf. I didn't see Mama anywhere and moose are notoriously mean and short tempered, so I didn't go to investigate. Mama was probably just behind a tree somewhere.

The next day the calf was still there without its mama. The horses were starting to calm down and take this baby- which was a big as they are - a little more in stride.

Wednesday - still no mama and there were definite signs the calf had been in my yard overnight. I was becoming a bit concerned. Could a this-year's calf make it through the winter all right? I really didn't want to stumble across a moose in the darkness; also moose, even babies, go through fences instead of jumping or crawling through them.

So that afternoon while enjoying a glass of wine with my DDD group (one of the D's stands for Democratic, you can make up the other two ...) I mentioned the moose. I remembered I had heard a volley of gun shots (10 or 20) from across the road about the time the little moose showed up. Nobody knew if the calf would be OK on its own during the winter. The concensus was that I should probably call the wildlife people and talk to them.

So when I got home, I googled (what else?) and learned that moose calves stay with their mother for about a year until she is ready to calve again - and that if you see a lone calf you should call the Wildlife people after about three days. (Think how useful this story may be if you are ever in a trivia contest with questions about moose!)

Thursday morning the horses were on maximum silly once again. And straining my eyes .... Yes!! After four days, Mama had finally shown up. As she was 2-3 times the height of the horses, they had once more gone into full alert.

I finally thought about photos and got in my car to drive along the road to the creek. But mama moose was so spooked after losing her baby for a few days that she gathered up her offspring and took off before I could get close.

So all's well that ends well.

But no photos.

>36 Oberon: Happy New Year, Erik! I enjoy your thread and hope you make it out to Glacier Park! That would be awesome.

>37 streamsong: Ivan Doig would have enjoyed your Moose Adventure!

>37 streamsong: That is a great moose story!

Hi Janet, I am so glad that the story ended well. It was a nail biter for awhile. Poor baby, poor mama.
Thanks for sharing another adventure. Loved the description of your "silly horses"!

I'm glad that Mama Moose found her baby. Great story. I'm sure you will enjoy your new book from your secret Santa! I also have a puzzle board that tilts, but I couldn't use it for the puzzle I put on my thread that I just completed. Novel Avenue, the puzzle I recently finished , was 2000 pieces and my puzzle board fits up to 1500 pieces. The titling puzzle board is great , so much easier on the neck and back.

Happy New Year, Janet! Glad mama retrieved her baby.

>37 streamsong: Great story, Janet, glad moose calf and mama moose were reunited. Your horses have good ways to alert you.

Wow, great moose story! I'm glad it ended well for the moose AND you and your horses and your fences.

>39 m.belljackson: >40 Oberon: >41 mdoris: >42 vancouverdeb: >43 ronincats: >44 FAMeulstee: I'm glad you all enjoyed the moose story. I've only had moose along the creek once before so it was a novelty for me, too. I'm very glad they were reunited and moved on. Fun to see them, but I don't want to live with them!

>37 streamsong: all's well that ends well.

The mother of one of my daughter's school chums had horses, well, ponies. She said they sometimes acted as if they saw dragons lurking around.

She taught me to drive, which was fun.

Happy thread! Love the moose story! Glad it ended well.

Happy new thread, and good reading year, Janet.
Loved your moose story. A happy ending.

Happy 2024, Janet!

Your book club list is really wide-ranging, and I'll be interested in hearing what you (and they) think of the choices.

And what a moose story! I'm glad moose mom found her calf.

>47 fuzzi: Hi Lor! Yup, horses see dragons and ghosts and all sorts of beasties. It's one of the reasons I don't feel quite so blind when I am out at night without a dog as the horses will let me know if something is out there. Unfortunately, they are likely to run over me trying to hide behind me which is a definite downside.

I would love to learn how to drive a horse and cart!

>48 witchyrichy: >49 EllaTim: >50 bell7: Glad you all liked my moose encounter. I think of how my college creative writing teacher would just call in an incident - no plot and nothing really happened. So I hesitated to write it up here, but knowing that not everyone gets lost mooselets in their back yard, I though I'd share.

It's only the second moose and calf I've seen in the more than thirty years I've lived here.

>50 bell7: Mary, I do like my two In person book clubs for the exposure to other books. Some work out for me, some don't. I must say that my favorite authors have all come from suggestions here on LT, though. Still, the meeting get me out of my hermit-living-by-myself-out-of-town mode and I enjoy the conversations (and going out for lunch!)

>37 streamsong: What a great story, Janet. I am so glad that mama found her baby.

>26 streamsong: It's good that you started off the year with a good read. I have this one on my shelves. I picked it up in a small bookstore in Palmer, Alaska. They recommended it to me when I asked about local authors. :) I should read it soon.

Happy new year of reading Janet!

>37 streamsong: Moose/Mousse where I'm from is made of chocolate and placed in the cooler! All the more interesting then to read of your visitors. I'll bet your heart was thumping a little when you thought it may have been a bear?!

Have a lovely weekend, Janet.

>53 BLBera: Hi Beth! Two Old Women is a very quick read and I bet you'll enjoy it. I do that too, - visit local books shops for a recommendation, purchase it and squirrel it away.

I'm very glad the mama moose found her baby. I'm also glad that I didn't have to call the wildlife people. I don't know if they would have done anything, or said just 'nature will take its course' which is what they told me the last time I called them about a deer with a badly broken leg.

>54 WhiteRaven.17: Thank you, sir! I haven't made it around to all the threads yet, but yours is one I will visit!

>55 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Yes, a bear would have been very scary, even though 99% of the bears in this area aren't grizzly bears, but the less aggressive black bears. I have never been chased by a bear but I have been chased twice by a moose. The first time was by a very aggressive bull moose when the ex and I were paddling an inflatable canoe in a lake in the Idaho wilderness. The second time was walking along the river park here in town with my SIL and two very young nephews. Both incidents were terrifying. The internet assures me that more people are injured by moose than bears each year.

A nice chocolate mousse sounds good!

Well darn. I really, truly meant to get all my 2023 reviews done before January 1st, but hey, life happens. I've debated how to do this and decided to put last year's reviews on last year's thread with a mention and link on this thread each time I complete one . (16 more to go!!!!) Here's the first:

This is the second of Ruta Sepetys' books that I have read. After reading and really enjoying I Must Betray You earlier in 2023, several people mentioned that this was a favorite of theirs. So when it came up on the ‘Bodies of Water’ category for the Book Girls’ World tour, I plunged in. 😊



❤️2023 Book#106. Salt to the Sea – Ruta Sepetys – 2016
- Book Girls: Bodies of Water -
- Global Reading: Poland (Prussia) -
- library

Review here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/353013#8347830

Moose. Good story. But you know what they say: "If there are no photos, it didn't happen."

Just kidding.

Hi Janet! May 2024 yield many a good book!

Hi Janet!

>37 streamsong: Great moose story. I saw a moose and her calf when visiting Karen in Montana in 1987 and have this pic to prove at least the mama moose part. The road went by a very nice swampy area. Karen and I did get out of the car but stayed behind it because of the above-mentioned meanness and short-temper. The calf was just off to the left. Other folks were trying to get close to them for pics, but Karen said if mama came anywhere near the road to get back in the car STAT.

>59 weird_O: Hi Bill! Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

Yup, no photos. Ah well. I'm happy that the little moose is with his mom and that my fences and I all emerged unscathed. I need to be better about carrying my phone when I'm outside and thinking about photos.

In the meantime, there is a FaceBook group called Tourons of Yellowstone that you might find amusing.

>60 The_Hibernator: Thank you, Rachel! I'll wish you the same - Happy New Year and wonderful books!

>61 karenmarie: Great photo, Karen. They are so huge and so odd looking. It's amazing how fast they can move. At least you had the swampy area between you and the cow. Karen's advice was spot on.

I just finished House of Doors. What a wonderful book! I'll have to ruminate a bit before doing my review. Have you seen those questions asking which authors' you wouldl buy their latest book without even looking at it? Tan Twan Eng is on that list for me.

Hi, Janet! Finally found your thread and am dropping a star. Love the moose story and so glad it turned out well for all. Yes, some of those tourons are just TSTL. When we visited Rocky Mountain State Park a few years ago, we had to stop in traffic for an elk. I thought those guys were huge! People who get close to wildlife are just crazy!

>63 streamsong: I really liked it too Janet. Tan Twan Eng would be on my list as well. I must read his other books! I look forward to reading your review.

>64 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Happy New Year! I'm glad you enjoyed the moose story even though it was pretty tame. Just having a moose hang around for a few days is drama enough for me!

>65 mdoris: Hi Mary Yes! I've really enjoyed all three of TTE's books, and I think you will, too. My review may still be a few days off.

We are being hit by a storm this week, although so far it is only a skiff of snow. They are calling it a Polar Express, with more snow, high winds and temperatures plunging to -20 F by the end of the week.

This morning I am starting a senior's exercise class. It's my first attempt at one for many years. It's alarming to think that some of the 'seniors' will be 17 years younger than I am. I hope to increase my endurance a bit.

This afternoon is my bi-monthly blood donation.

And this evening I am doing an Afghan curry cooking class by zoom. It looks like a pretty standard curry, but I always learn a new technique - in this case the sweet rice that goes with it has a different spin. I like supporting the chefs at the immigrant/refugee center in Missoula.

And horses and horse chores wedged in between...

So - yesterday I took my first exercise class. Apparently it's based on the Silver Sneakers type workout although not aligned with them. I had expected it to be held somewhere in the high school that was offering the adult winter classes.

But no.

It was taught in the exercise room of a local prepper store - the sort that preps people for anything they might encounter in the coming apocalypse or other survival situation: guns, martial arts, emergency food, classes and tools to get you through any situation.

After the exercise class, my car once again wouldn't start. I have been waiting for a new battery since last Wednesday which was the first time it wouldn't start. As it's a hybrid, even the small 12 volt starter battery is different than gas vehicles. No one in town had such a battery, although the local battery place did show me how to jump a hybrid (don't follow the owner's manual). I called the dealership in Missoula - they also had to order the battery in. It would be there Saturday morning (it wasn't). I've been waiting for the battery to arrive since then - it's critical because there is a storm coming at the end of this week with -20 F temperature forecast.

Anyhoo, no matter how you feel about preppers, they were extremely well prepared to get me out of my bad situation and couldn't have been nicer about learning how to jump a hybrid car. And they were also nice people with lots of hugs from the woman owner and who even offered to give me her phone number in case I needed help again on the way home. Cults can have very nice people!

I'm mildly stiff from the class this morning and my knee is just a bit sore so I will continue the class. And right now I'm charging the small portable charger that I bought as a present for myself on Amazon Prime pre-Christmas sales, but hadn't learned how to use.

Montana.

>67 streamsong: I like to think of it as being prepared.

Glad you had a good experience. One of the first things I learned when I moved to NC is that those red-neck good ol' boys are almost without exception very polite, well-mannered, and love helping a woman in need. Chivalry is not dead.

Yay for Mama Moose showing up and for all the nice people at the Exercise Class!! Hope the car battery arrives soon.

Happy New Year, Janet! That's a great story about the moose calf.

I look forward to your comments about The House of Doors. I'm surprised, but pleased, that so many have been reading it over the past month or two; Tan Twan Eng is certainly worthy of this attention.

>68 fuzzi: Being prepared is good. The difference between being prepared and preppers, I think, is that preppers expect the current society to totally fail within the next few years and I think many believe it will be a good thing. The funny thing is that I've read two books on ultra-rich preppers this past year Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton and The Future by Naomi Alderman.

Chivalry exists. But in this case, it was women helping me. :)

>69 Berly: Thanks for stopping by, Kim! Glad you enjoyed the moose story. And yes, the battery came in yesterday and was replaced. It even cost less than I expected - I had a coupon from the dealership and a little warranty discount since the battery failed a bit early.

>70 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm working on my comments for House of Doors. I should have it up later today. I really enjoyed it. Even if I didn't only have two books completed for the year, I would say it's a favorite. It would take amazing-ness for it to get knocked off my best of

We're expecting our first winter storm over the next few days. Some parts of Montana are expecting -50/-60F windchill. Not here I hope!

The snow is just starting to fall and is beautiful. Later this afternoon, we're expecting wind, and when it clears double digit below 0F temps.

>72 streamsong: I did pay attention to the national weather forecast and thought you might get a bit chilly. When I was in Pocatello last month, we had a two hour snowstorm and a couple of chilly days, but nothing like the current forecast. My friend was out driving in the whiteout (grandchildren override weather), but was home the last time we spoke, watching the snow. Hope you and the horses stay warm and safe.

Stay safe and warm, Janet! And send us a picture if you can.
Good story, the helpful people at the prepper store. It happens that scary looking people are actually sweet!

Hi Janet.

>67 streamsong: Love your spoiler...

Good luck with the coming weather. Karen decided to work from home today since with wind chill it's supposed to be -35F.

I bought The Future in Portland when I saw Alderman speak. She was hilarious. I loved The Power so look forward to this one. I haven't read Birnam Wood yet either.

We're getting a lot of snow today as well.

Woke up at 4:30 am and the temperature is -29F which is the coldest I've ever seen. By 5am it was back up to -26. I checked the water inside the house which I had left running in the kitchen and two bathrooms to ensure that the water and sewer lines don't freeze.

I'm a ball of nerves about horses but they should be fine with lots of extra hay and heated water. Took me about an hour to get sleepy again - Wordle in 3; total strike out on Connections. i will try to get another hour's sleep.

>67 streamsong: >68 fuzzi: >71 streamsong: When my paternal grandmother died, her basement was filled with canned goods she had put up over the years. Meanwhile, my maternal grandparents who had been grocers, kept a small grocery store in their basement long after they retired. I think that was more about living through the Depression but they did understand being prepared. As for those good ol' boys, I once slid on ice and ended up in the ditch close to my house. Within moments, it seemed, my neighbors arrived to check it out, determine the best solution, contact the guy with the hemi, and almost before my husband could get there, I was on my way.

>26 streamsong: I was gifted this book from a friend and enjoyed it.

>58 streamsong: Another good read. I have her book Between Shades of Gray on the sooner rather than later pile.

Good luck this weekend, Janet. Yikes. Our arctic blast arrives later today. Not quite those negative numbers but still pretty damn cold and it will stick around for awhile. Keep us posted.

>77 streamsong: -29F
Yikes. Not a temperature I've ever encountered.

>13 streamsong: Solving the Climate Crisis
I'll be interested in your review.

>73 ffortsa: Hi Judy! We've had very little snow here this winter, but I have never experienced temperatures this low. There was a quick dip down to -30 at the two Wunderground stations near me and I took a screenshot.

I'm in after the first round of chores and warming up and eating lunch. I will have to go back out again soon. I have one an outdoor faucet frozen.

>74 EllaTim: Thank you, Ella. The prepper story reminds me of a story I'd forgotten. It was the late 60's and my uncle, a bachelor farmer on the original family homestead out in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota, told us that he had picked up a hippie that was hitchhiking. He was astounded that the hippie was 'a real nice guy' and my teenage self thought it was pretty funny that he might think someone was not a good guy because they had long hair and beads. Guess I'm doing my own pre-judging here.

>75 karenmarie: Hi Karen. I'm still hanging in the weather, although I have one outdoor faucet frozen which will make getting the last three horses watered a bit complicated.

The Bozeman airport reported a windchill of -68 F there this morning.

>76 BLBera: Hi Beth! Oh, I heard Naomi Alderman speak on zoom for a library program recently. She was very good! I hope you enjoy both books when you get to them.

>78 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Yes, I remember that type of stocking up. Mom and Dad had a huge garden and Mom would fill the freezer (she didn't like to can). I also remember a childhood friend whose family was a member of the LDS church and the church mandated they have a years' supply of food - it was all carefully labeled and rotated. I have no idea if that's still an LDS thing.

Hi, Janet. Hope you’re keeping warm and the storm isn’t too bad. .

My uncle was a doomsday survivalist (among other weird and unsavory things) back in the 50s. He believed with his entire being that the world was going to implode within the decade. When he died in the 1990s, his cupboards and closets were packed with freeze-dried food, ammo, propane, etc. I loved him, and he was always kind to me, but he was a real kook.

>79 msf59: Thanks for stopping by, Mark! I have never experienced weather quite this cold either. I read a conspiracy theory that the Dems are using a weather-changing super secret device to mess with the Iowa caucus. Ha! Please leave Montana alone.

>80 qebo: Hi Katherine! I'm really enjoying Solving the Climate Crises - learning a lot about all the different programs proposed by various politicians. It's just a bit of a challenge for me to read a book on computer.

At the end of last year (so not yet reviewed) I read We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer. My son recommended it to me as a way to take small personal steps to help the planet.

I'm currently reading Fire Weather which won a National Book Award last year. It's about the Fort McMurray fire in Canada but since Fort McMurray is the hub of the Alberta Oil Sands mining and refining, the first fifty pages have been about that operation. Very disturbing reading.

One of the things I've learned is that petcoke, one of the last and dirties fractions of bitumenous extraction, is shipped to the coal power plants in India and China - the emissions are too bad to be allowed to be burned anywhere else. North America is the greatest exporter of this byproduct - mostly under the auspices of Koch Carbon.

I read Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton last year about her social experiences working there, so this is fascinating follow up.

>83 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! We're now up to -10 which may be our high for the day. On the advice of a friend, I just thawed out an outside faucet with a hair dryer. Now I can finish watering the last of the horses once I warm up a bit.

Yes, that's the sort of survivalist this store has as clientele. I don't know for sure, but I suspect they are linked to the local gun toting militia groups which are quite active in this county. :(

2 . The House of Doors – Tan Twan Eng – 2023
- Library

It’s 1921 and Lesley and Robert Hamlyn are respected inhabitants of the Straits Settlement of Penang.

Somerset Maugham, known as Willie, visits his old friend and college roommate Robert. Robert is suffering badly from being gassed in WWI. Willie’s purported secretary and travel companion , Gerald, is with him. It soon becomes clear that Gerald and Maugham are lovers, hiding their love from an intolerant world; they refer several times to Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment for “gross indecency with men”.

Maugham is desperate to complete another book. He discovers that in 1911 Lesley helped Sun Yat Sen who, while living lived in Penang, prepared his revolution against the Chinese emperors. Maugham engages Lesley and gradually she reveals the events of 1911 to him.

But there are more secrets than one man preparing a revolution. Lesley and Robert’s marriage also has secrets and Maugham’s visit and Leslie’s revelations to him may expose them to the world.

And then there is the matter of Lesley’s friend Ethel who murdered a man she said was attempting to rape her. It was a scandalous thing as Ethel had to endure a public trial and was sentenced to be hung. Its resolution was a humiliation for the white community.

Secrets everywhere as the British colonial ruling community kept up British decorum lest they lose their face and influence with the non-whites.

I very much enjoyed Tan Twan Eng’s rich descriptions of the country, his characters, including the historical personages he included, and his deft description of human nature.

The last section of the book occurs after Robert and Lesley have emigrated to South Africa, hoping that the dry climate will help Robert’s lungs. It seems to be a nice summing up – until there is one last, startling twist.

I have enjoyed all three of Tan Twan Eng’s books. He is an author whose future books I look forward to – may he write many more!

P 84”You know what money really is? Money’s the sixth sense. If you don’t have it, you can’t make the most of the other five.” (Maugham)

>77 streamsong: I recall it being -20F for a week in Connecticut, winter of 1987-88. That was extremely unusual. I had to be to work by 5am. We had a 1968 Buick that had belonged to my grandmother. The hinges screeched as I opened the driver's door, the vinyl seat cracked as I sat down, but it cranked and started every morning!

It's a little warmer this morning: -22 when I got up about 7:30. The forecast for today was that it should make it up above zero. I hope they are right!

The horses and I are warm enough and the water inside the house is good, although one of the outside spigots froze.

78 >87 fuzzi: Thanks for stopping by, Lor! Great story! I haven't even tried starting my car yet. The outside chores are keeping me busy and worn out.

Hi Janet!

>82 streamsong: The Bozeman Airport is actually in Belgrade, which is where Karen lives, of course. I know she’s not going to church today, so will call her in a while.

>86 streamsong: Nice review, Janet, and glad to see you enjoyed The House of Doors too. It's the first book I've read by Tan Twan Eng, and I'll definitely have to read his others.

Ouch. That is cold! The other day I came across a post on FB in which the author explained that the arctic temperatures are caused by a weakening of the jet stream, which in turn is caused by global warming. So if anyone points to the current freeze as a refutation of our current crisis, that's the answer. The jet stream is our thermal blanket, and it's pretty frayed.

>82 streamsong: I had not heard that about the LDS but considering some of their history, it would make sense. I mostly freeze as I don't like to can anything except jam.

Stay warm and safe. Our temperatures were warm then plunged and then are going to back to being seasonable. I feel very sorry for my perennials who are trying to figure out what to do.

We've warmed up to being in the single digits - maybe we'll even reach the double digits - above zero today. After a week of below zero temperatures I am exhausted. Since I feed the horses double in these temps, it's like taking care of an insane 20 horses instead of 10 which is only mildly insane.

I did go to my second exercise class yesterday. I'm less stiff this morning than after the first class last week. But I was so tired last night, I went to bed at 9 and slept through until 9 this morning. I'm skipping my book club with lunch today and have spent the morning lounging in my pajamas. I'm sorry to have missed the book club which is discussing the book Jimmy Bluefeather which I really enjoyed when I read it in 2016. I am rereading it, but slowly. When one thinks of being storm and weather bound, I imagine curling up inside and reading. This ain't it.

I'll be back later for more LT. Now I have to get dressed :( and go feed the monsters.

>86 streamsong: Excellent review!

Stay warm :)

Oh, that is cold weather , Mary. I hope it warms up soon for you. Just read further on your thread and I'm glad to see it did warm up.

Janet, I laughed out loud when I saw your opening images. I've almost always had dogs in my life. Since Lilly died last year, I simply don't know if I could experience the difficulty of transitioning a dog. But, my grand daughter moved in with a cat, and I am quite fond of the rather devil. She isn't a cat that will sit on my lap, but she brushes past my legs on her way to her food dish.

>96 Whisper1: five years ago we lost our Tirzah. I immediately went to rescue sites and set up an appointment to meet an available older dog. She was so loving towards us that we brought her home "on trial" and she never went back.

That is Cleo. What a joy she's been.

Sweet Thursday, Janet. It sounds like you need a break from the weather. I am so impressed how well you take care of your animals, especially in these conditions and all by yourself. We may get into the 20s today, for the first time in a week. Good review of The House of Doors. It was a fine read.

Nice review of The House of Doors, Janet. I'm glad that you also enjoyed it.

Stay warm up there!

Years ago, I had an acquaintance in Wisconsin who kept horses and one winter had to dig a tunnel in the snow to get from her house to the barn. Hope your barn is more accessible! Ten horses is indeed a lot, but loving them and caring for them must be profoundly satisfying, if exhausting.

I've been thinking of you in this cold weather, Janet. It is so hard to have to do outdoor chores when it is so cold. Fingers crossed that it will warm up soon.

>89 karenmarie: I'm interested to hear what Karen says about the cold.

>91 ffortsa: Hi Judy! I've seen that post too, about the weakening of the jet stream, combined with EL Nino, causing these temperatures. I've also seen some non-science refutations of it, arguing something about the south pole. Guess they don't think the glaciers in Anarctica.

>92 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! I used to enjoy canning peaches using a hot water bath to process them. Nothing tastes like home-canned peaches. They aren't grown much in this area, so I'd buy a case or two to can.

>94 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita! I'm glad you enjoyed the review and the book. Temperatures are warming up. It was snowing just a bit this morning - I think it's actually supposed to get above freezing today or tomorrow.

>95 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb - I had never experienced the -30 temperatures below. The local small airport reported our official temp of -38. I'm just glad both are mitigating. I hope these very low temps are not the new normal.

>96 Whisper1: Hi Linda! It's nice to see you. I've always loved cats from the time I was very little. So mischievous and that purr just melts me.

>97 fuzzi: Lor and Linda, I've also been considering adopting a dog since I lost my golden several years ago. They are very special, too. But I think right now with 10 horses and a diabetic cat, I'll wait a bit until the numbers go down.

Sometimes I consider volunteering at the local Humane Society - they are always looking for more people to play, cuddle and keep their dogs socialized.

>98 msf59: Hi Mark - good to see you! It's funny with the horses. There are always people that think I do a lot and other people that think I should do more. The horses all seem to be thriving so I will just keep on what I am doing.

I'm glad you liked my review of House of Doors. He's such an excellent writer. Were you one of the people thinking about reading some more Somerset Maugham?

>99 kidzdoc: Thank you, Darryl. It was a great book. I hope it's not nearly another ten years for another to come out.

>100 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Your story reminds me of hearing stories of blizzards where ranchers would tie a rope from the house to the barn so the wind wouldn't drive them off course and leave them lost.

Staying warm, animals fed.

>101 BLBera: Thanks, Beth!. I think it is supposed to get up above freezing today or tomorrow.

In an incredibly weird weather story, two nights ago, at +18 F, it started to rain. How is that even possible???? It turned into a sheet of ice - on my FB feed I have a video of a man ice skating in the downtown area - the roads were as smooth and glassy as a skating rink.

The forecast had been for an inch or two of snow - rain at 18F - Bizzarro.

I think Cindy and Benita recommended this short novella.



3. Emergent Properties – Aimee Ogden - 2023 – library 3.7 stars

Scorn is an advanced form of artificial intelligence. It’s not fair to call zim a robot as the intelligence can move from one chassis to another easily. If one chassis is destroyed – he can move quickly elsewhere to his spare chassis or another safe haven. Ze can duplicate zis intelligence and stash copies of it in places where it will be safe if someone is out to destroy zim; or perhaps save transportation costs to the moon and just have a new chassis printed when one arrives if one has money enough.

Ze has been fashioned as an independent investigator by zis two female creators whom ze calls Maman and Mum.

Unfortunately, ze awakes with the last ten days stripped from zis memory and no idea what ze was tracking down. Ze is able to decipher that whatever it was, happened while ze was tracking down some sort of nefarious-ness on the moon, so of course, back ze goes.

This time they are out to kill zim for good.

This was a short novella, of a wise cracking, cynical AI and a new sort of detective work. Being an elder(ly) reader, I had a bit of trouble sorting out the zim and ze pronouns. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Scorn and would be interested in further adventures in his detective career.

3.7 stars

This was one of my favorite books that I read in 2016. (I can hardly believe it was that long ago). My RL book club read it in January - and although I didn't attend the meeting, I enjoyed rereading the book.

This review was written in 2016.



4. Jimmy Bluefeather - Kim Heacox 2016 - Reread - Root #1 - purchased 2023.

I found this book through the list of National Outdoor Book Award (Outdoor Literature (Fiction), 2015). I saw that very few fiction books had won awards, so I decided to give this a try.

Wow- outstanding.

Old Keb, the Tlingit elder, sees death beginning to wait for him, as well as seeing a mystical raven alerting him something is up.

When Keb's grandson James loses his prospects at professional basketball due to a logging accident, James falls deep into depression. Keb decides to carve one last traditional canoe with his grandson and take one last journey, to a glacial bay where Keb grew up, and which is now part of a National Marine Refuge. Keb, James, two of James’ friends and a dog who thinks he might be a lizard – or a dinosaur- slip quietly away in the canoe.

It soon seems like all of Alaska is looking for Keb, his companions and his canoe.

They immediately become the subject of an all-out government search due to the fear that the trip will bring unwanted publicity for Tlingit issues surrounding the Marine reserve. The government does this under the guise of bringing Keb back for his own safety.

Others want to find him to wish him well and to speed him on this final voyage.

There is also an evil element hunting him due to things James said about the logging accident.

But Keb has lived on these waters for almost ninety years and this wise old man isn’t as easy to catch as might be guessed.

This book is both humorous and touching – with a lot of knowledge of Alaska’s world and wildlife (oh the whales!) and the Tlingit way of life – which in many ways is both similar and different to small town life everywhere.

This will be one of my favorite books of the year. If you don’t see me for a while, perhaps I’ve headed off to Alaska. That’s just how good this book is.

I have been reading but not commenting on your thread, Janet. My bad. Your temps have been in the ridiculous category. It must be incredibly challenging to care for 10 (!) horses in those conditions. I'm glad things are finally warming up for you, although the icy conditions are also bizarre. We may have the same on Monday. I'm hoping for snow rather than rain.

Good comments on The House of Doors. I am another big fan of Tan's three books and look forward to more.

I read Jimmy Bluefeather in 2017. I gave it 4.5 stars. I love books about Alaska. I bought a copy of Two Old Women when we traveled there in 2008. Maybe it's time that I read it?

Jimmy Bluefeather sounds like one I would love, Janet. It definitely goes on my WL.

Me too!

Me three!

Karen O

P.s. Hi, Janet! Have a great weekend!

>108 Donna828: Hi Donna! Yes the temps are ridiculous - great word! It's warmed up to about +20, but each day's temps says "today will be much warmer than yesterday" and then it stays at 20 throughout the day. I'm reading a couple books with a climate change theme, and can't help wonder if this will become normal for this part of the world.

Yay for TTE! I should go back and read his previous two books again. Rereading Jimmy Bluefeather seven years later was eye-opening. I knew that I had really liked the book, but couldn't say exactly why until I reread it again. While reading it for the book club I had remarked to a friend that it was a favorite of mine - and my friend was surprised. I guess I loved it because the ending was so perfect - but at that point I hadn't reread the ending and was a bit puzzled by why I thought it was so amazing.

>109 BLBera: >100 ffortsa: >102 streamsong: Hi Beth, Mary and Karen! Thank you all for stopping by! I'll be interested to see what the three of you think of it.

I wish I had been able to go to the book club discussion. I was just sooooooo tired that day - maybe a bit depressed and couldn't make myself go.

I hope your weather warms up soon, Janet. Its a lot to be looking after other creatures when it's so cold although I am surprised that you haven't experienced such cold before as I thought Montana's winter weather wouldn't be much warmer than that in Calgary, Alberta. I can remember being in -40 weather in Calgary. (-40 is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales meet).

>113 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! Our weather is finally warming up - we reached just above freezing yesterday and the forecast is more of the same today. Hooray!

Yes, I guess Calgary does have quite a bit colder weather than I do - the Bitterroot Valley is sometimes called 'The Banana Belt' of the state.

Here is a list of records that were broken last Saturday:

Billings: -26° (-22° in 1972 & 1997)
Bozeman: -45° (-32° in 1997)
Butte: -45° (-34° in 1997)
Cut Bank: -41° (-36° in 1972)
Dillon: -41° (-17° in 2007)
Glasgow: -35° (-33° in 1916)
Great Falls: -37° (-30° in 1911, 1971, & 1972)
Hamilton: -38° (-17° in 1993)
Havre: -42° (-35° in 1916, 1979, & 1997)
Helena: -36° (-34° in 1888)
Kalispell: -33° (-24° in 1972)
Lewistown: -43° (-34° in 1972)
Missoula: -22° (-17° in 1993)

The official records don't always match the thermometer readings in a specific place. The coldest I saw my thermometer sink was -30 and I know I've experienced mid -20's in both Hamilton and Missoula.

I finished both Tom Lake and Fire Weather this weekend. Now that the worst of the weather is over, I am *exhausted* and curled up with reading that I couldn't do during the midst of it.

I've started Crooked: The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal by Nathan Masters for the Glacier Conservancy Book Club this week.

I'll probably also start Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone for my January read for the Book Girls World Voyage. (Arctic and Antarctica). I have a friend who has just landed in Antarctica on a tour ..... so my mere reading about Arctic areas is being decidedly overshadowed.

>107 streamsong: You got me. Onto the list it goes.

>115 streamsong: I have heard mixed reviews of Tom Lake so looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Hi Karen! Always good to have you stop by!

The book club discussion of Tom Lake is Thursday so I will try to get the review done before then. In the meantime, I think I'll try to watch Our Town. I've seen it several times, but not for quite a few years.

Hmm, I might try to read Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, too at some point. I vaguely remember reading it in high school but the details are gone.

Here's a non-spoiler for Tom Lake. At one point, the family is out harvesting their sweet cherries, but it's raining so they have to wait for the lightning to stop before they can pick under the trees. They say a little rain won't stop the picking.

The region north of here around Flathead Lake is known for its sweet cherry orchards. Years ago, we had a friend and co-worker who owned a small orchard. Now the thing is, if ripe sweet cherries get rained on, they split open which ruins their marketability. So when rain fell during harvest season, it was not just an inconvenience, but a huge disaster. The orchard owners would get together and hire a helicopter to fly low over their trees to blow the rain off the cherries so they wouldn't split.

So I was expecting a helicopter ..... but, sigh, it didn't happen.

>117 streamsong: That is a GREAT story! Human beings do take interesting approaches to thwart Mother Nature, don't they? And a reminder that it doesn't take much to ruin a whole season.

Hi Karen! Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you enjoyed the story. At the book club we talked about how the protagonist drifted into her idyllic life of family and farm. One woman said farming was *not* idyllic as too many things go wrong after months of very hard and often dirty work.

My computer is down with a virus and won't even be looked at until Monday. I hope it is something easily fixed! In the meantime hard to post on talk with my phone.

I am reading a novel from Ecuador called Fruit of the Drunken Tree in the time of Pablo Escobar.

>120 streamsong: sorry to hear about your computer.

I do most of my LT on my iPad, which apparently is five years old already? Argh.

Hi Janet! How's your computer?

Hopefully will get it back today.

Hi Janet: I think Fruit of the Drunken Tree is by Colombian writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras. I really liked it. I think there are parts of it that are autobiographical. I really liked her memoir as well The Man Who Could Move Clouds.

Janet, Your Salt To the Sea review is stellar. I have this book, and now will find it and read it. Many thanks for your excellent comments and writing. I'm vey inerested in this mission to escape Nazi Germany.

I think their brutality will follow that country in history.

I hope your day is a good one. I long for sunshine. We've had two weeks of gray, sunless days. It is dreary, with little, or no rain.
But, the good think about it is that days like this call for reading!

All good wishes to you!

I'm back, although I have a cold which has turned into a sinus infection. I'll see the doctor this afternoon since they won't prescribe an antibiotic without seeing me.

My computer also had a really truly virus - not sure where I picked it up - it launched as I was contemplating the list of Wordle words on that website which I have used many times before. As promised, anything I tried to do (turned off the computer) instead of calling the number on my screen made it worse and my Windows platform (not sure if that's the right word) was broken so the computer had to be wiped and all of it reinstalled. They were able to save all my data. :)

Oh noooo, last time i had a sinus infection it felt like my brain was trying to break my head open

Thanks for stopping in Lor, Rachel, Beth and Linda!

>124 BLBera:, Beth I really enjoyed Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. Ill definitely look for The Man Who Could Move Clouds - thanks for mentioning it. I love memoirs by writers and if the FotDT was somewhat autobiographical, heer memoir should be good.

>125 Whisper1: Hi Linda! I'm glad you enjoyed my review of Salt to the Sea. I was fascinated by the story. I'll be interested to see what you think. I have another Sepetys chosen to read this month for the Book Girls World Tour for Western Europe, The Fountains of Silence set in Francisco Franco's Spain.

>127 Owltherian: Hi and welcome! Unfortunately, whenever I get a cold, it usually turns into a sinus infection. Thanks for the sympathy!

>129 streamsong: Your welcome, i hope it gets better soon

5. Tom Lake – Ann Patchett - 2023
- Library Brown Bag Book Club
– library book
3.7 stars



Lara and her husband run a fruit farm. Harvest season is a frenzy of activity as the cherries must be picked in a very short time. This year, though, is the summer of 2020 and the pandemic has shut down the farm’s usual influx of migratory pickers. Instead, the couple’s three daughters return home to help with the harvest. To while away the time, Lara agrees to tell her story of her brief stint as an actor and her youthful summer affair with the recently deceased charismatic actor Peter Duke.

Lara had fallen into acting. While in high school, she had agreed to help with the auditions for the school play of Our Town. Deciding that she could do better than what she was seeing, she impulsively tried out for the role of Emily and was awarded the part. She does a spectacular job – so much so that she is given a part in a movie and then, while waiting for its release, moves on to summer stock play in Tom’s Lake reprising her role of Emily. There she falls for the wonderfully charismatic but not yet famous actor Peter Duke. Their romance is steamy, but as the summer moves on, each also moves on.

This is a story of relationships – of young love, and more mature love and how choices determine one’s future. It’s also a view of grown children’s vision of their parents’ early lives, and how such can be romanticized and embellished. I enjoyed the references to current controversies such as abortion.

I was a bit disappointed in Lara; she really had no plan or dream for her life and instead was happy to drift in and out of situations. When something didn’t work out, she merely drifted onward instead of doubling down as she might have done if, for instance, acting had been her passion. Although she ended up in a very happy life, it seemed to me to be more formed by others than by her own wishes.

6. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World – John Valliant - 2023
– library


This is not your standard disaster story, although the story of the disastrous forest fire in and around Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada certainly fulfills that requirement.

The book begins with the history of the he Athabasca oil sands, which are large deposits of bitumen, a very dirty form of petroleum. Although the processing of these sands is complex and environmentally costly, they contribute significantly to Canada’s position of a major exporter of oil, especially to the US. Excavation of this oil is only financially feasible when oil prices are very high. But during such times, the industrial infrastructure and the town of Fort McMurry boomed and became what it is today.

The second section of the book recounts the fire itself which began as a small fire May 1, 2016 and exploded quickly into an unstoppable monster that decimated Fort McMurray two days later and was not fully extinguished until July 5th of the next year. Close to 100, 000 people evacuated in an area that had only one road into it – 2500 homes were burned. Miraculously, no lives were lost.

At the height of the story of the fire itself, when I was at the edge of my seat, the third section of the book began. This backtracks, leaves the story of this particular fire and recounts the decades of the earth’s increasing temperature and the effects on wildfires, including creating monster fire tornados, seen not only in this Alberta fire, but also in Australia, California and Greece among other regions. These occur when the temperatures are record breakingly high and the relative humidity is low creating forest fuels dried to the moisture content of kiln-dried lumber.

An interesting point is that the Fort McMurry fire started in May during record high temperature days, when patches of snow were actually still melting. Small fires are not uncommon in the spring, but they rarely explode until later in the summer.

Of course, the book’s third section eventually continued with the fire stories of heroism and desperation along with the environmental lessons.

It's a cautionary tale of future fire behavior as our climate continues to change. I learned a lot about not just this one particular fire but the increased fire behavior in our warming world and also about Canada’s petroleum industry, (especially interesting to me after reading Ducks last year).

4.5 stars. I had to remove a bit because of the pacing – when the author shifted the story during the burning of Fort McMurray to the history of environmental temperature increases, I was ready to toss the book across the room. I’m glad I didn’t.

>132 streamsong: Hi Janet! Sounds good. Interesting choice to talk about this oil sands fire, and go on about other fires. It sounds really scary.

I hope your cold and sinus infection will pass soon!

>133 EllaTim: Hi Ella - Thanks for stopping by. I'm feeling much better, although when I move my head quickly I feel a bit dizzy. So I opted out of my exercise class this morning, but hopefully will make it to Thursday's Snail Trail hike.

Fire Weather was pretty amazing, especially in light of the disastrous fires in Chile this week. It was also written before the fires in Hawaii, and although there are many questions about that fire, I can't help wonder if the warming conditions contributed to a fire storm there, too.

We're very warm here, with very little snow this year. I need to think about whether taking down some trees might help make my place more defensible if the worst happens. I have a lot of water on my place, so I've always felt very safe ; but on the other hand it means there are many water-loving cottonwood trees close to my house.

Hallo Janet, how art thou today?

Fire Weather sounds great, Janet. I'll add it to my WL.

This poem was on Linda's (whisper1)'s thread. I loved it so much I copied it over here.

To live in this world
By Mary Oliver

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;

to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

>137 streamsong: That Mary Oliver poem is a good one, isn’t it?!

Karen O

>135 Owltherian: Hi Owl - I'm doing fine, finally feeling that I've out lived the sinus infection.

>136 BLBera: I hope you enjoy Fire Weather, Beth. I think I first came across this book when you posted the National Book Awards list on your thread last year. So there's a bit of a circle going on here. :)

>138 klobrien2: Hi Karen - Yes, I love that poem. It takes so much courage to love, especially the four footed beings whose life spans are so much shorter than ours.

>139 streamsong: Thats good! At least its getting better, i hate sinus infections.

Fire Weather was on my list of best NF reads last year. The parts about the firefighters as they were so close to the fires (houses away) was so intense. And it was very interesting to read about the things we humans are doing (on an individual basis) to make these types of fires worse.

>140 Owltherian: Thank you, Owl!

>141 arubabookwoman: I'm glad you also thought highly of Fire Weather, Deborah! I really liked the way it was not the story of a single fire, but also pointed out global consequences and individual actions.

>142 streamsong: Your so welcome, and excuse me while i deal with someone who is getting on my nerves because i reported them for putting explicit lyrics on this site.

I remember this was received fairly well by several of my LT co-readers. It was one of the options for the January Book Girls Arctic/Antarctic Region, even though it is not quite Arctic. I am interested in the survivalist/prepper/milita culture that is in this valley and decided to go with a lighter read than some of the other options.



7. The Great Alone – Kristin Hannah - 2018
- Book Girls Global Tour: Arctic
– library

Ernt Allbright left his young wife to fight in Viet Nam. Unfortunately, he spent seven years as a POW and returned a bitter, angry man. Unable to hold a job very long due to his PTSD, when he found himself having inherited some land in Alaska, he packed up his wife and 13 year old daughter, Leni, to make a new start.

He had long admired the survivalist life style, and while he didn’t have the skills to pull it off, his neighbors helped him out and taught him what he needed to know about hunting, building, raising livestock and gardens in the brutal Alaskan conditions, especially the dark and frigid winters.

But while for some, demons are left behind in the wilderness, for others, the demons are empowered. Leni’s friendship with the son of a more prosperous and successful family burned Ernt like fire. His wife had more and more bruises from falls. Eventually Ernt decided that the only way to control his family and keep them safe was to build a literal fortress around their property with himself having the only key.

Although the story is told from Leni’s viewpoint, to me it was the story of her father; his illness twisting and destroying what he loved. Until finally, Leni and her mother had to take their destinies into their own hands.

I found it a fast read. Some of the turns, such as love-interest’s Matthew’s outcome seemed overly optimistic. And while I would love to see neighbors come together to help and shield the most vulnerable newcomers in their midst, I recognize that it takes very special sort of people to do that.

And yet, I was entertained and engrossed by the story which shed light on why people are drawn into this lifestyle and how some become stuck and some move on when the deepest trauma strikes. 3.8 stars

Well drat - the sinus infection continues onward. Most concerning is that I seem to be very mixed up and muddled in my thinking this past week - I can't keep dates straight and hope I haven't messed up any bills due. I'm sleeping a lot during the days and then often wakeful at night and I know that contributes to it as does the extra meds and even not talking to people as much since I am mostly holed up here at home.

Trying to at least cook somewhat healthy - doing soups and curries in the crock pot which I can pull out and eat whenever. Of course the antibiotic is messing with my stomach. And I am not exercising, although I am managing to keep up with the horses being fed and watered.

This is from Mary Doria Russell's FB page. This offer includes two of Ms Russell's original watercolor paintings at no extra charge if you order a copy of Epitaph from the link below.

"Personal favor to ask. If you liked Doc (or any of my novels), please give Epitaph a try. I'm afraid it's going to go out of print if the sales don't pick up. I got seriously ill during the book tour and had to cancel about half the events. I recovered, but the book never really got going. I'll ask Suzanne to put TWO paintings in each book. Link in comments."

https://www.macsbacks.com/book/9780062198778?fbclid=IwAR3fQtxyX-h2iH8IG8rHZHaqiR...

“This continuation of the story begun in Doc is equally engaging. From a shroud of American West mythic bombast and misrepresentation, Russell creates compelling, realistic characters with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday shown to be both heroic and heatbreakingly human. Epitaph focuses on Josie Marcus, the love of Wyatt's life. Theirs is a grand romantic tale told in hardscrabble detail, and Russell even makes what could have been cardboard villains into fully realized characters, both flawed and sympathetic. A rip-roaring good yarn!”

Since she has changed her occupation from author to artist, she has been offering these water color paintings for a while now when you order any book. But here is a chance to get TWO of them - so I've ordered. I may order more for gifts once my copy of Epitaph arrives.

Janet that sounds like a very difficult infection to shake and not great to feel brain muddled and have your sleep patterns interrupted. Hope you are feeling better very soon. P has just had a round of antibiotics post surgery and swears by St. Agur cheese a soft very yummy blue cheese from France to settle his stomach. I guess it has a mix of good live bacteria to settle things down. We have tried it several times and it does seem to work.

>145 streamsong: That infection sounds nasty, and the drugs a contributing misery. Yogurt? Prilosec? My pcp is a very insistent fan of the latter.

I hope you feel better soon.

>146 streamsong: I gave Epitaph four stars.

Just don't read the last chapter.

Sorry you're not well. I've had sinusitis in the past, it used to be a three or four times a year thing.

This collection was recommended by Mark, and , as usual, he was spot on with this poetry.



8. Almost An Elegy - Linda Pastan - 2022
- library

From Wikipedia: “Linda Pastan She was known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, as well as the fragility of life and relationships. Her final collection of poetry was Almost an Elegy, published in 2022.”

I found Ms Patan’s poems beautiful and accessible.

My brother attended his 50th high school reunion last year (mine is this year) and this poem perfectly sums up his experiences.

Class Notes

"My high school class of 1950
is disappearing over the edge
of the world– a snowless avalanche.
Rosalie of the pancake makeup;
Alex who outran us even towards death;
three Susans, two Davids, and a Roger.

When I see our class representative’s
name on an incoming email,
I think of how families must have felt
during World War II when they saw
the Western Union bicycle approaching.

And I remember all of us lining up
in gym class as captains chose their teams.
The line would dwindle until, on one leg
then the other, I was standing almost alone.
Maybe whoever is doing the choosing now
thinks I would be no good at dying."
-------

Happy Sunday, Janet. Wow! Lots of good books being read over here. Funny, I looked up Jimmy Bluefeather after your glowing review and realized I read and loved it back in 2016. Duh! I have Fire Weather on my audio list and I completely agree with you on Almost an Elegy. It was a wonderful collection.

>146 streamsong: Could you share that on my thread?

>146 streamsong: Those water colors look lovely, Janet.

>150 streamsong: Great poem. I have a collection by Pastan waiting when I finish my current poetry collection.

I hope you are feeling better.

>147 mdoris: Hi Mary - I think I harbor a few of the bacteria deep in my sinuses. They don't cause problems, except if a cold or allergy strikes and then the infection blows up always requiring the same harsh antibiotic. I have not heard of St Auger cheese. There is one shop in town that may have it, so I'll check tomorrow. Yummy cheese to help antibiotic symptoms sounds almost too good to be true! I'm currently drinking kombucha which I like, as well as taking probiotics and eating yogurt.

>148 ffortsa: Hi Judy and thanks for the thoughts. I'm currently eating yogurt but not sure if Prilosec addresses the right set of symptoms.

>149 fuzzi: Hi Lor - I think I can guess how Epitaph ends. Perhaps it's one of the reasons I didn't read it after enjoying Doc. While I was growing up, we lived for two years in Glenwood Springs CO. My dad was a history buff so we visited his grave and were familiar with the story.

>151 msf59: Hi Mark - Do you want the whole Mary Doria Russell post on your thread?

Fire Weather was very eye-opening for me. I hope you get to it sooner rather than later! I'll be interested to see what you think.

>151 msf59: >152 BLBera: I remember thinking it a shame when MDR announced a few years back that she was done writing books and was turning to water colors. What a talented lady!

>152 BLBera: I'll have to read more by Linda Pastan. It looks like our library system has a few more titles, so I'll be interested in which book you are reading.

My sinus infection continues to get better, but it's still lingering. I hope to do my exercise class tomorrow, even though I get a bit dizzy with moving my head quickly. I also hope to go with my short hike group on Thursday (The Snail Trails).

I'm currently working on my last review for January - Fruit of the Drunken Tree which several people commented on when I said I was reading it a few weeks ago.

I'm currently whipping through almost-due library books: Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M Schultz ( I know this one was of Mark's rec's) and The Civilian Conservation Corp in Glacier National Park which was a several-months-ago read for the Glacier Conservancy Book Group.

Hugely non-fiction right now, I have also started The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy by Judith Pearson for my RL book group, as well as Pema Chodron's Start Where You Are for my personal random ROOT challenge (it's been on MT TBR since 2007).

And here it is - the last of my January reviews!



9. Fruit of the Drunken Tree – Ingrid Rojas Contreras - 2018
- Global Reading/Book Girls Global Tour South America - Colombia
– library


This is the story of two girls in the chaotic world of Bogota, Colombia during the early 90’s when the drug lord Pablo Escobar ruled Columbia with an ungodly fist.

The first and younger of the two is Chula. She lives in a relatively safe area of Bogota while her father works for an oil company. Although her home and family seem safe, the stories surrounding her such as a girl ripped apart by a bomb, or a candidate shot down by the opposition bullets in front of herself and her mother belie the safety of their bubble.

When Chula’s mother decides to hire a maid from the lines of people standing on the street seeking work, she picks Petrona, five years older than Chula. She rejoices how cheaply she can hire someone – giving them the equivalent of daily rice and vegetables. Little does she know that Petrona’s family is almost entirely dependent on Petrona’s meager daily wage for support.

Petrona had lived on a moderately prosperous farm with her family, until it was raided by guerillas, her father and oldest brothers killed or kidnapped. Now Petrona and her family live in a shack constructed of what they can find and surrounded by people who support Pablo Escobar and the guerillas in their quest to find more justice for the working poor.

The two opposing economic and political views lead to impossible choices forced on Petrona when Chula’s family become their _target.

While the girls’ lives have a short time of intersection, ultimately it is their class and circumstances which separate them and determine their fates.

Some of the incidents in the novel reflect Ms. Contreras's childhood experiences in Bogota. I'm sure that contributed to the immediacy and intensity of the novel.

>156 streamsong: Great comments, Janet. I loved this book. I can't wait to see what she writes next. She did write a memoir that I really liked as well.

>121 fuzzi: I want to experiment with using my Ipad more as well so I can leave the laptop behind.

>131 streamsong: Tom Lake has been sitting on my Kindle and I think I may dive in.

>137 streamsong: Thank you! You are the second person to share poetry on their thread. I am going to do the same. A little sanity and peace.

>156 streamsong: >157 BLBera: Added to my TBR.

Glad to hear you are. better.

>157 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. I will also look for her memoir. I feel I have read the fewest South American authors compared to other regions of the world, so I am happy for suggestions.

>158 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! The iPad definitely sounds interesting; I think it would be much easier to read ebooks on a tablet than a laptop.

I wish I was the sort of person who read poetry daily. :) I believe Beth and Mark usually have a poetry book going and I often take their suggestions. I've tried the poem a day emails, but they are hit and miss for me.

I hope you enjoy Fruit of the Drunken Tree,

>159 streamsong: I posted on another thread that I am going to try to "piggyback" poetry with my other well-established routines of writing and meditating. I get the poems in my email but also don't always read them.

Hi Streamsong! How are you?

>160 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! I really like your idea of "piggybacking" poetry onto the morning routine. I think I read about this technique in a 'get-er-done' book that I read - perhaps Atomic Habits by James Clear.

My morning routine is getting longer and longer and often stretching out to lunchtime. ;) It started with Wordle and coffee, and now it's elongated to several daily readings as well as taking care of the diabetic cat and all my own medicines, along with a bit of writing for LT.

>161 Owltherian: Good morning, Owl! I'm doing fine! Hope you are, too!

>162 streamsong: I'm not doing real well, i feel a cold coming on and those usually become sinus infections and i feel like i may throw up.

So sorry to hear that Owl. I had the same thing last week. I tried to fend it off with Zinc and Vitamin C, but no go. Have you had the Covid vaccines?

Yeah i have, but i didnt get the boosters yet

This is another I found on the National Book Awards 2023 list which Beth posted on her thread. This one was longlisted, but didn't make further cuts.



10. A Council of Dolls – Mona Susan Power - 2023
– library

This is the story of three generations of a family of Lakhota and Dakhota women and the dolls they loved. Like the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, each doll has been so loved that they have become real, with opinions and wisdom to share with their girls.

Each of the three generations of woman is the victim of trauma – imposed by whites physically exterminating Natives through massacres and culturally exterminating them through Reservations and Indian boarding schools. In turn, the children of those victimized are often traumatized by family members who have survived these disasters, but are changed so that they can no longer nurture their families as they turn to alcohol and anger to survive.

We first meet Sissy and her doll Ethel, a black Thumbelina doll. Sissy’s father has chosen the black doll for her as she is closer in hair and complexion to Sissy than the blonde haired white Thumbelinas and no native version exists. Sissy’s mother is an activist, but her anger terrifies her daughter. Sissy's mother was torn from her family and sent to an Indian boarding school. Her mother’s mother saw massacres. There is a fourth woman who doesn’t identify herself, merely a voiceless ghost covered by the horrific marks of her death

I’ve read novels and non-fiction accounts of the forced submissions and massacres of the Indians wars, as the whites contorted the natives into smaller and smaller boxes. But when I’ve read of an incident like the Wounded Knee Massacre, while I am totally saddened, I had never considered the inter-generational trauma caused by such events – and then the cumulative trauma endured by the next generation as the assimilation/annihilation continues. The incidents are never over, but continue on and on to this day as sacred places and respect are removed from these people.

Telling these stories through the cross-cultural little girls’ love for their dolls has opened my eyes. 4 stars

We had about 7 inches of snow this week and it dipped down below 0F last night. As a friend said on FB "How rude!". We desperately need the snow this year, and I hope we get more of it, but I'm not a fan of the below zero temps.

I have half a dozen books going right now, which usually means none quite spark my interest, so I pick up another one. "Main" books are The Civilian Conservation Corps in Glacier National Park (past due at the library) and a novel I just started The Queen of Water by Ecuadorean author Laura Resau. This latter book has promise.

Then there is the book for the Wednesday's book club, The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy about a WWII spy.

I'm almost done with my audiobook I listen to in the car - Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication - I am on the very last section of this but haven't been driving much with my cold last week and the storm this week.

I'm also working on two ROOTS Pema Chodron's Start Where You Are and Love is Eternal by Irving Stone whose books I enjoyed very much in the '70's.

What a mix!

I believe this was recommended by Mary (bell7)



11. The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher – E. M. Anderson - 2023
– library

This is a story for all those who are still waiting for their letter from Hogwarts to arrive!

Eighty three year old Edna Fisher is living in a retirement home. She’s active and alert but not particularly happy there as her friends slip slowly away, and the activities (other than her pranking newly hired aids) are not stimulating. But since the death of her beloved son, she has no family, so her living options are limited.

And then one day in the middle of a particularly irritating Bingo game, a member of the Council of Wizards arrives and tells her she is the new Chosen One and will be leading the fight against the evil Redway who has been using his dragons and dragon riders to kill Knights and annihilate the cities where they live.

It’s much more usual that a teenager is the Chosen One. In fact, everyone was expecting a sixteen year girl named Clem to be chosen.

Clem muddles things up by telling everyone she is actually the Chosen One.

Eventually Clem joins the unlikely band of questers which include Edna’s favorite aide from the retirement home and a mysterious guide who says he is familiar with the land around Redway’s home. Add in a slightly sentient flying carpet that helps Edna overcome obstacles like stairs create by her sore hip.

I enjoyed this light-hearted fantasy. Hooray for Edna who needs work-arounds for her aging body and mind and her complete lack of knowledge of all things magical and questing.

This is not just a satire playfully poking fun the Chosen One trope, but Romance abounds (romantasy?) including two separate LGBTQ crushes.

Fun popcorn read to offset some of the more serious things I’ve been reading lately.

>168 streamsong: That sounds like a fun read!

Hi Janet. I think you liked A Council of Dolls more than I did. I didn't think the order worked. I would have liked chronological order, maybe? It seemed like there were too many spoilers in the later parts. Or maybe my expectations were too high. I have really loved Power's work in the past, especially The Grass Dancer.

>153 streamsong: when I mentioned I was going to read Epitaph someone told me to not read the last chapter. I should have listened. It's not needed for the completion of the story.

>164 streamsong: next time take Quecertin with the zinc, they complement each other.

Another vitamin that works better is taking K with D. I have personal experience with it working but don't want to clutter up your thread any more. :)

>169 elorin: Hi Elorin! Welcome! It was a fun read. But in a way, the author stuffed a few too many 'modern' elements into the book. I, of course, identified with Edna battling ageism as well as her elderly body. I wonder if the romantasy and especially the LGBTQ romantasy were included to make it more relevant to younger readers.

Glad to see you found The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher mostly enjoyable, Janet. It wasn't a perfect read, but refreshing and funny to see certain plot elements turned on their heads a bit.

>170 BLBera: Hi Beth! I knew that you had wanted to read A Council of Dolls, but I didn't realize that you had done so and reviewed it. You must have read it in 2023 since I didn't find it on your 2024 thread - I'll go back to the earlier group and see if I can find it. I agree that the final chapter especially seemed a bit out of place. But something about the novel just made the intergenerational pain click for me. This lightbulb empathy moment made the novel for me, rather than the smoothness of the storytelling.

Interesting enough, last night the PBS series Independent Lens reran a segment on the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. If I hadn't just read this book, the impact of that show would have been much less.

I haven't read anything else by Powers - I shall do so. Thanks for the rec of The Grass Dancer

>171 fuzzi: >172 fuzzi: Hi Lor - I haven't yet received my copy of Epitaph yet. I'm hoping it will arrive this week. Not that I don't already have 500 books in the good old TBR piles but I'm so excited to see the small watercolors. I'll share them when they come.

I have not heard of Quecertin. I'll see if it's available here locally. I usually take Cold Eze and Airborne to head things off.

Don't worry about cluttering up my thread -it's usually pretty quiet over here.

>174 bell7: Hi Mary! Refreshing and funny is absolutely necessary sometimes! Thanks for recommending it.

>176 streamsong: Amazon has it!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=quercetin+with+bromelain&crid=KI1FYQQ3RLZQ&sp...

>175 streamsong: Janet, I know I read it toward the end of the year, so I may not have commented since most people were already on this year's threads. I will look to see.

Hi Janet.

Good reviews, interesting books. I dodged them all...

>178 fuzzi: Thank you, Lor. I've added it to my Amazon shopping list so I don't forget the name of it.

>179 BLBera: Hi Beth - Boy do I understand that! In >12 streamsong: I have the books I didn't get reviewed at the end of last year. I reviewed one in January and have 16 more to do. I'm keeping up better this year, but not getting the 2023 unreviewed list done. There are some on there like Yellowface that I would like to add a few thoughts to.

>180 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I hope the fact that you are out visiting threads means that you are feeling better!

12. Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education - Stephanie Land - 2023 -
- library

This is the continuation of author Stephanie Land’s book Maid. In her previous book she and her daughter escaped an abusive marriage and step-by-step worked low paying jobs and organized her life so that she could move to Missoula and attend the University of Montana’s English program. Her goal was to earn an English degree and ultimately, a MFA. She planned to become a writer.

In this sequel Stephanie continues her money struggles, continuing to do housecleaning jobs and caring for her child while juggling the commitments that taking University classes bring. She also deals with her unreliable and manipulative ex-husband, who over and over again, breaks her daughter’s heart. At the same time she is starting to date again.

She begins writing essays and small pieces for local publications and has some small successes, although the overwhelming number of people feel that her English degree is frivolous and won’t lead to a job. One of her instructors, author Debra Magpie Earling recognizes that her essays on single motherhood could be fleshed out into a book – and even a movie.

While disclosing her largest struggle seems like it would be too spoiler-ish, ultimately she believes that it is the major reason that she was turned down to continue in U of M’ s master’s program – that and her arm tatoo sleeves which the department admissions chair feels are unprofessional.

Without an MFA, she could not teach at the University level.

But she perseveres and triumphs when soon after being denied entrance in the MFA program, her book is accepted for publication, becomes a best seller, and is filmed. (Whadya think of me now!)

At times it was hard for me not to become judgmental of some of the author’s choices. And yet she demonstrated time and time again, that no matter the judgement of others she continued on the path that she felt was right for her. Friends, family, government institutions may all throw up roadblocks and let one down – but due to Land’s tenacity, her life became more than she had dreamed.

Still I was not as invested in this book as in her first one. I’ll give it 3.6 stars.

>182 streamsong: That looks interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Well, I am 150+ posts behind and not even going to try and catch up, Janet, but I did want to return the favor of visiting your thread since you visited mine :)

>168 streamsong: That one sounds like one I need to get to soon. I am not getting any younger and Hogwarts is paying no attention to me whatsoever. . .

Janet: I found my written notes on A Council of Dolls:

I liked each section of the novel: Sissy's story, Lillian's, and Cora's. Then, the last section Jesse's story seems tacked on and way too explanatory. It seemed to be working too hard to tie everything together. Could this have worked better in chronological order? The trouble with going backward in time is that we already have a pretty good idea what happened...It takes away from the tension in the story.

I sound really critical, but overall, I did really like this novel. And I loved The Grass Dancer so much that I always have high expectations for Power, so that may be part of the problem as well.

>184 alcottacre: I feel better now for not catching up on your thread... :)

>183 The_Hibernator: - Hi Rachel and thanks for stopping by! I know how busy you are; I honestly don't know how you do it.

I hope you like Class if you read it. Did you read Maid?

>184 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I am well over a hundred threads behind on almost all the threads I follow. Having my computer in the computer hospital for a week and then being ill myself for ten days did nasty things to my 2024 resolution of keeping up better. I'm glad you found one to try - it got a thumbs up from Mary/bell7 too.

>185 BLBera: Thank you Beth for finding your notes on A Council of Dolls for me. I totally agree that the last chapter felt made of different cloth. I wonder if it was included at the request or in spite of her editor. :)

The entirety of the story is what touched me - generation after generation of wrong. That 's not the right word because it was more than wrong - evil. I believe that Canada has settled with their First Nations for some reparations - I wonder if the US will ever do that

I will absolutely look for The Grass Dancer.

>186 fuzzi: :)

Canada has certainly settled a lot of things with our First Nations People, but it seems we have a long way to go.

Hi Deborah and thanks for stopping by!

I'm not sure that the US is even **trying** to sort things out with their Native American people. The Carlisle Indian School documentary addressed three boys from the Arapaho nation who died there one winter from causes unknown. The elders wanted to bring them home - at first they were told that the graves were part of a national monument and as such, the bodies couldn't be moved. The Arapahoes eventually prevailed, only to find that one grave had the body of a much older child buried in it.

>186 fuzzi: Anything I can do to help you feel better, fuzzi!

>187 streamsong: Yeah, traveling to Florida and points east for 10 days put me behind and I will never catch up!

There are many books on how we have failed our indigenous people, Mary. A few come to mind quite readily, that I have read. Five Little Indians by Michelle Good, From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way by Jesse Thistle and The Break by Katherena Vermette. I can see that my library has A Council of Dolls, so I'll keep that one in mind.

>171 fuzzi: I read her sparrow which I loved through to the last part of the book. I read Doc too which was interesting, but again, bad ending. Not a fan of westerns but gosh now you have me curious about that last chapter in the story......

>162 streamsong: My morning routine has also seemed to grow exponentially, maybe it’s all that piggybacking. It happens to all of us, I think. When I visited old friends in Pennsylvania, we sometimes got up from breakfast about 11 AM and they let me know this was not unusual for them.

>193 vancouverdeb: try Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It will break your heart.

Also, I recall reading fictionalized accounts of failed government policies in The Education of Little Tree and When the Legends Die by Hal Borland (Touchstone not working). And there's always the classics The Light in the Forest and A Country of Strangers about forcing people to conform.

>192 alcottacre: So true, Stasia! I say it's not about keeping perfectly caught up, but having fun and acquiring an amazing list of books to read sometimeorother.

>193 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah. I've read Five Little Indians and thought it was well cone. I've also read a non-fiction by a Canadian author Thomas King, titled The Inconvenient Indian which I would recommend. I may have read a few more - my tagging isn't always terribly consistent.

My kids have a smidgin of Native blood, and living here very close to several reservations, it is a subject I'm interested in.

>194 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy - I loved Sparrow, too. Did you read the sequel Children of God? I didn't like it quite as well, but it explained more of what happened.

>195 witchyrichy: Hi Karen - ah that piggybacking! My morning started out for me with coffee and Wordle, and now it's grown to making phone calls, riding the exercise bike, answering emails and texts etc. I think I will move some of it to the evening. Evening stuff has to be fairly simple-minded though, as I am often tired and not at my sharpest at the end of the day.

>196 fuzzi: Hey Lor - Oh those heartbreaking books. I know that one of the tasks of literature is to break away your world view, but while there are sad books that I have reread like The Yearling there are also books like The Great Believers which I don't think I could ever read again.

There are several you mention that I haven't read. I may have to steel myself and give them a try.

I was unaware until I read mdoris's thread that the Women's Prize has added a non-fiction award category this year. The long list is below, the short list will be announced March 27th and the winner June 13th.

https://www.womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-non-fiction/

My library has a few of them. I've added All That She Carried, Thunderclap and Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World to my library hold list.

Well darn it - I had all three touchstones wrong. Fixed now.

>199 streamsong: I heard enough about The Yearling to decide to not read it.

I will never read Old Yeller again, but I love Where the Red Fern Grows and have reread it several times. And I cry every time.

hi streamsong

>201 fuzzi: Old Yeller is soooo saddddd

Hi Janet! I really can’t keep up with the threads. So I’m very haphazard in visiting. I hope people don’t mind too much.
Lots of interesting books here, my TBR has grown again.
I hope you are doing a bit better, that sinus infection sounds awful.

>200 streamsong: Hi Janet - It looks as thought the Women's Prize for Nonfiction will be as good as the one for fiction! We will never read all the books from our shelves!

I really liked The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, which I read a few years ago.

>198 streamsong: yes and like you didnt care for it as well

Janet, I hope you are feeling better, and that your computer problems are solved. I also want to say you are an incredible writer. Your reviews are excellently phrased and writing with just the right way of expressing what you did and/or didn't like about a book. I like visitng here.

I'm glad you liked the poem written my Mary Oliver!

Fuzzi...Thanks for encouraging me to adopt a rescue dog. I'm seriously considering this. My neighbors recently brought home a puppy (Austrialian shephard.) They are having one heck of a time with a puppy in the house. When I recently talked to my vet , he recommended adopting a rescue dog.

>166 streamsong: I've added A Council of Dolls to my TBR list. This looks fascinating.

I previously collected dolls since receiving a Chatty Cathy doll for Christmas when I was little. My loft has a huge cabinet filled with dolls.

I stopped collecting for two reasons ...a) Since Will's passing there is only my income, and b) I have no more room.

But, I do visit ebay, and way surprised to learn that a collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that I own was listed for $300.00

>131 streamsong: I very much like the books written by Ann Patchett, but could not continue to read Tom Lake. After starting it, I put it down as it seemed to be rambling to nowhere.

>206 Whisper1: we adopted an older dog, already housebroken, calmer than a puppy. Puppies are adorable but a lot of work for the first year or so.

>201 fuzzi: I have cried at so many the-animal-dies-at-the-end stories, Lor.

>202 Owltherian: Hi Owl. I hope you're doing well. Ole Yeller is one that I'll avoid reading or watching again.

>203 EllaTim: Hi Ella! I'm not making it very far around the threads, either. I'm glad you stopped by - I'm always happy to see you.

I hope the sinus infection is gone, too, but I'm a bit worried because apparently the new treatment recs are only 7-10 days of antibiotics for sinus infections for 90% of people. I know after doing this for 50 years, that it takes 3-4 weeks of antibiotics to clear mine up. I'm an outlier, but will have to get sick again to prove it to them. Grr.

>209 streamsong: Im goodish, the person who keep harassing me is back & basically told me to hang myself this time so i reported & flagged them

>209 streamsong: So sorry you have to prove it that way, Janet.
The health care system is so wrong these days. Are there no records of previous times to prove?

>204 BLBera: Hi Beth! Yes, the Women's Prize for Nonfiction looks like it will have some very interesting titles. I like non-fiction, so it's one to keep an eye on. The TBR pile just keeps growing and growing. Ain't it wonderful! Thanks for the rec for The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee. I will put it on the list for later in the year. Some people dive right in and read several on a subject - I need some breathing room between intense books, even if it is a subject that I am really interested in.

>205 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy - Looks like we're in agreement with that one.

I had passed along Mary Doria's offer in >146 streamsong: Here's the latest update from her : "Two weeks ago, I asked you to consider buying Epitaph to keep the book in print and offered two paintings for each book. I expected a couple of dozen orders. Today, Mac’s Backs Books dropped off 160 to be signed! I've been painting like crazy and I still need 72 more, just to include one in each book. So I have to reneg (is that word a variant of renegotiate, I wonder...) on the 2 paintings offer, but that means Suzanne can get the books sent out sooner. Many Many Many thanks for your support - both for me and for Mac's Backs independent bookstore!"

Well, drat. I was looking forward to having TWO of MDR's paintings - but one is still a generous offer (I tell myself somewhat sadly). Imagine having to complete 72 more paintings just to give one to all the orderers.

>206 Whisper1: Thanks Linda for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoy my reviews. I love yours, too.

Mary Oliver is a favorite of mine.

>207 Whisper1: >208 fuzzi: Linda and Lor, I've also thought of adopting an older dog. Puppies are a bundle of energy, especially the herding breeds like your friends' Australian Shepherd.

Golden Retrievers are my favorite cuddle and companion dog but they are so mellow. I would like to have one that would let me know if something was outside in the area.

Which brings me to say that the mama moose and last year's calf are back. So far they are staying on the other side of the creek on the neighbor's property. It's a bit far for photos, but if they cross the creek I'll try to get some. The horses are terrified of the moose - or maybe it's just fun to pretend to be terrified. Two mares popped through a fence this morning - luckily neither was hurt and they were both more than happy to return to their rightful pen for breakfast.

I'm worried about meeting up with the moose after dark - their color makes them almost impossible to see once the sun is down.

>207 Whisper1: Linda, I love your stories of your doll collection. I have a few dolls that belonged to my Mom, including a Shirley Temple doll. I need to send her to a doll hospital - something has gone wrong with one of the internal strings (?) that hold her head to her neck.

>210 Owltherian: I'm really sorry to hear that, Owl. I'm a Christian, but I enjoy reading Buddhist philosophy. I'm currently reading a book called Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron. You might find it interesting and helpful.

I follow a FB group for easy vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, but my son and DIL are and I am enjoying making some vegan meals. You wouldn't believe the amount of hate-filled anti-vegan trolls on that group. Some people have some sort of twist in their psyches. Ignore, ignore, ignore

>211 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita. My regular doctor wasn't available for me to see and my tried and true doctor retired a few years ago. So frustrating - I know what needs to be done, but the doc I saw wasn't listening. She did look up my records to see what antibiotic works for me, but other than that brushed my concerns aside. What a mess.

>216 streamsong: Yeah, i wish they would just leave me alone & it seems like they are obsessed with me or something honestly. I think my dad was a vegan or a vegetarian...not sure of the difference.

Adding onto the person i ended up flagging, i was already in a downward-facing hole with my mental health so they made it a LOT worse but i try to not to take it to heart. Although I kind of did due to a person in my family hanging themselves when i was a kid.

13. Unlikely Animals - Annie Hartnett - 2023
- library
(3.5 stars)



At the time Emma Starling was born, the midwife noted that she had a natural gift of healing. And while it wasn’t strong when she was a child, her family forbade her to use it until she was of age. Emma, bright, beautiful at the top of her high school class, determined to go to med school and was accepted, but never attended.

Instead she returned home, feeling foolish and also without her healing power.

She found her father Clive was in the throes of a brain ailment. He had been fired from his professorship after making a scene about invisible cats in his classroom. He’s slowly been ousted from the band he loves and common tasks are becoming problematic. He spends his days in the company of the ghost of local naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes. Baynes, during his lifetime established a huge local wildlife preserve, filled with all manners of exotic beasts and extant to this day,. Clive also spends his days papering and repapering the town with missing posters for Emma’s vanished high school best friend.

Emma’s brother had a high school sports injury and is now a recovering addict. Drugs are a major problem in the town. The police believe that Emma’s missing friend is one more victim of the epidemic.

Emma takes over the guardianship of her father, and also assumes a job as the semipermanent substitute teacher for a class of problematic kids whose former teacher is also mixed up with the town’s drug problem.

In the background there is a chorus of ghosts, sitting on their tombstones, much like the graveyard in Our Town and commenting on the happenings of the town.

There is a lot going on in this novel – family expectations, ghosts, ghost animals, miraculous healings (this thread just frittered out - why?), the drug epidemic, caring for loved ones with dementia and young women going missing. Perhaps there were too many elements for me as I just never quite became invested in the many threads of the story, although I did like the upbeat ending.

One sentence review: Demon Copperhead meets Our Town along with historical photographs of the real naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes.

>218 Owltherian: It sounds like you're dealing with a lot, Owl.

I left two groups soon after I joined LT - Christianity and a group called Pro and Con. Both had trolls absolutely set on attack mode. Although both were interesting and full of interesting people, my mental health was worth more than either group. I landed here on the 75 and am delighted by the civil discourse.

Did you know that you can block a member? It's not a full block because you see that they've posted and you can decide to read what they wrote - and silly me I would always peak at it.

>220 streamsong: Yeah, i did. I am always too curious to what they said so i always peek at it

>220 streamsong: I joined pro and con just for the covid thread and it was very helpful (a few trolls but seemed like not as many as expected) also when to the Israel thread till it just to much for me. Not trolls, but the daily slog of posts about the horrific things happened their. broke my heart, still does

>219 streamsong: That sounds like a complicated plot, Janet. I like your one-sentence description. :) I will think about it.

>187 streamsong: I own Maid. I was thinking of starting it or another book after finishing Dopesick.

I used to check out Pro and Con and once even posted there. But it's not for me. I try not to be political here on LT - at all. You are right about it being not good for one's mental health. I avoid political post on Facebook. Unlikely Animals sounds like a good read. I'll see if my library has it.

>222 cindydavid4: I have visited the covid thread from the beginning of the pandemic. A real source of scientific knowledge, so very useful! I was really grateful to Marge, who keeps this all up, as it meant I knew what to think of all the misinformation that we heard.

Hi Janet!

same here, she did an amazing job and I appreciated her work very much. Cant imagine the amount of time she spent doing that. I am glad that LT has a place for politics and very little of it eslethread.

>222 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy - The Pro and Con group as it stands now is actually the second iteration of the group. The first was started by an LT'er named Arctic Stranger but it got so contentious he ended the group and all of its content disappeared. I haven't checked out the new version of the group, although I do follow a few of the Covid threads on various groups.

I don't know where I stand on the Israel/Gaza fight. Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong. As you say, atrocity after atrocity. I'm currently donating to World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders which I hope help civilians and children on both sides.

I recently acquired a book that kidzdoc recommended called The Hundred Years War on Palestine.

>223 BLBera: Hi Beth - it was a many-threaded plot. I'll be interested to see what you think if you decide to read it.

>224 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! There were several aspects of Maid that I thought were very interesting, including the criticism she received for using government programs to give her a leg up. I'll be interested to see what you think if you read it. Dopestick sounds intense.

>225 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah - the political posts are so divided and no one listens to anyone else. :( We had to take a debate class in high school in the early 70's - I suspect that has dropped out of most curricula. The most discouraging now is that each side has it own set of facts -

I'll be interested to see what you think of Unlikely Animals. It didn't hit me quite right, but the average star-rating here on LT is above what I gave it.

ETA: I try to avoid political posts on LT, but with the US elections this year, I imagine it will be hard to do. And then of course, I do read political books which also muddies the political-free pot.

>226 EllaTim: & >227 cindydavid4: Yes, I too believe she has done an outstanding job on the Covid thread. Yay for science and research that goes beyond looking up a few things on the net and calling it research.

This one was definitely recommended by Mark and like many of his recommendations was spot on for me.



14. Funny things : a comic strip biography of Charles M. Schulz - Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi - 2023
– library
-

I remember eagerly awaiting each new paperback of the Peanuts collections in the 60’ and 70’s. Together my brother and I had most of them, and most were read to pieces.

But it was hard for me to imagine a biography done in this manner: 440 pages of comic strips done by the biographers to illustrate Charles Schulz’s life. Each page has two sets of black and white strips with the final panel giving a most Charlie Brown-ish gentle jab or twist. After each six day black and white daily cycle, there is full color Sunday style cartoon.

It’s a wonderful biography. I learned much about how Schulz and the Peanuts script revolutionized comics with their readily identifiable day to day events instead of the clownish adventures of earlier comics. I saw how the Peanuts characters were literally drawn from Schulz’s life. I enjoyed learning about Schulz’s faith and personal life. (I know I have a copy of The Gospel According to Peanuts tucked away unread – now I want to explore this).

When I first read a review of this, I couldn’t imagine how it could be done. Now I can’t imagine how his biography could be done any other way. Five stars for the astonishing creativity of this book.

As the Amazon description says: “Filled with affection, charm, and poignant insight, Funny Things imagines Schulz through the lens of the very world he created, inviting us all to meet the man behind the blanket.”

>220 streamsong: unfortunately trolls love to attack, and there's not much that can be done except block. I've done it in the past, and the person stays blocked, totally, until you decide (if) to unblock.

Love reading about your horses and moose (meese?), and hope to hear about a new canine friend.

It's too bad people won't listen to opposing opinions anymore.

>231 streamsong: oh I must get that for my husband he has all of the volumes recently reprinted. Think he would enjoy this

>215 streamsong: the stringing of older dolls really becomes a problem as the dolls age. Even high end dolls like a previous German artist, Annette Himstedt, produced, are devoloping internal stringing problems. Her dolls are beautiful, and very costly. I own three of what she called "Play dolls." these were much more affordable and are adorable.

Sadly, she stopped producing dolls a few years ago. Her dolls were most likely very expensive to make, and the market simply couldn't bear the cost she had to pass along to the potential buyer. Every year she produced a collection -- one year the theme was dolls of the world . She focused on one specific doll in that collection. I have a print out of the dolls I would love to obtain, knowing they are out of my financial reach, I can dream about this.

https://www.dollpeddlar.com/product/annette-himstedt-mia-yin-1999-ultra-le/

>232 fuzzi: Hi Lor and thanks for all your thoughts. I may have mentioned this before, but my son with his newly-minted psychology PhD really likes a group called Braver Angels where people can learn to really listen to the concerns of the other side of debates.

The moose had moved on by the next morning. I was relieved. The cottonwood-y swampy places along my creek are great moose habitat, but I don't want to have to chase down scared horses that have popped through a fence in the middle of the night.

>233 cindydavid4: Hi Cindy! I'm thinking of buying this one for my brother's March birthday. I hope your husband enjoys it!

>234 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda. Now at least I know what to call the problem, and I googled several doll hospitals online. It sounds like the repairs would be more than the doll is financially worth, but my mother loved this doll and I was only allowed to play with it on very special occasions. Her family were immigrant homesteaders and I imagine she received this doll during the depression years of the 30's so I know it was a big sacrifice for her parents. I'll probably have it done.

Fun link! Thanks for sharing. I'd love to see some photos of your collection.

>236 streamsong: a number of years ago there was a lady on eBay who would restring dolls. I sent her a couple Madame Alexander dolls and she did a lovely job.

There's got to be someone out there who could restring your doll for you.

I was way behind on your thread, Janet, but I read all the posts and am all caught up now. Too much to comment on (I should have taken notes!) but you did pique my interest with Unlikely Animals.

Speaking of animals, I second your vet's idea of you adopting a shelter dog. We love our Penny. We've had her for over three years now. She was estimated to be 3 when we got her from The Humane Society in August of 2020. She would definitely let us know if there was a moose on our property, as unlikely as that is. We do have foxes, deer, skunks, and so many Canadian geese that she simply ignores them.

>231 streamsong: Added! I also remember loving Peanuts!

I guess I was lucky to land in the 75ers group and haven't ventured any further into LT. Sad to hear there are trolls out there.

>237 fuzzi: Thanks, Lor! I'll look around and see what I can find.

>238 Donna828: Hi Donna - it's nice to see you. I'll be interested to see what you think of Unlikely Animals.

I'd love to take in an older dog, especially one whose owner has passed or can no longer keep it. I'm looking for ways that would make it a bit safer for me to stay on out here in the country, living by myself and working with horses which can be unpredictable. An extra pair of eyes (ears and nose) would be helpful. Not to mention the cuddles. :)

Hiya Janet

>239 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! I think the whole conceptualization of Funny Things is amazing. I can't imagine drawing 800 or 900 strips in the style of Charles Schulz while telling the story of his life.

Yeah, there are some groups that can become quite heated. It's been quite a few years since I've interacted on them, but can't imagine they are any more polite with the general rudeness and hostility that seems to mark this era.

Hi Lily - How is it going today?

Having to deal with a pep rally and dead headphones but i can easily fix both

I'm glad you are coping. There are always bumps in the road, but you seem to get around them.

Since i did bring my headphone charger i can use them during lunch and advisory

>242 streamsong: Ive been mainly in Club Read since I started here and never had a problem. but maybe Im just in the safe threads!

I enjoy apocalypse and post apocalyptic novels. Not sure where I got this suggestion, but it looks like both Mark and Beth have read this one.



15. The Memory of Animals - Claire Fuller - 2023
– library


There’s a new virus decimating the world. It’s commonly called the dropsy virus as it causes swelling throughout the body It appears to be incredibly deadly.

But there’s hope – a biotech company has devised a promising vaccine. The only downside is that it hasn’t been tried on humans yet – and with the testing including infection with the virus after vaccination, not many people are volunteering. The reward is huge; the company will pay volunteers an almost unimaginable amount of money.

Neffy, a former marine biologistmwith a special interest in octopuses is disgraced and deeply in debt, so she volunteers. The vaccine makes her sick; the virus challenge makes her even sicker. But when she slowly comes back to consciousness, a person provides her with food and drink. She is not alone in the world.

When she has fully recovered, Neffy is told that the vaccine trial was stopped due to the bad reaction she had. She is the only one of the volunteers that completed the trial and now probably immune to the virus. But while she was ill, the virus mutated again to an even more horrific version affecting the brain. Earth’s population seems to have succumbed. Besides Neffy, there are four other people confined within the research center who didn’t receive the vaccine. All the staff fled when the virus became really bad. There is a limited amount of food and a generator within the center that continues to work.

One of the volunteers is there because he needed money to rework his spectacular invention that can take people back inside their memories. It’s not time travel - but it is a way to revisit people and events in your memory. It only works for certain individuals and it is not reliable as to exactly what memory you will revisit. It works for Neffy and the machine’s inventor; the downside is that is highly addictive to spend time with those one has lost.

In the beginning of the end, gangs robbed, raped and pillaged and packs of roaming dogs attacked victims and tore up bodies. The four non-vaccinated volunteers witnessed these events from the windows of the secure center and are terrified to go out although now it seems deadly quiet on the street. As food runs low, they pressure Neffy to go outside to forage. The generator fails. Although there is viral protective gear within the center, no one volunteers to accompany Neffy.

Even as secrets within the center are revealed it’s clear they can no longer stay.

Apparently the author started writing this before Covid struck. Many of the scenarios such as passengers not being allowed to disembark from a airplane will bring up memories of our own pandemic.

>219 streamsong: I think I will give that one a pass. It sounds like the author may have been overambitious.

>231 streamsong: I really need to read that one. I was a huge Peanuts fan back in the day. I put it in the BlackHole when Mark recommended it, but my local library still does not have it.

>248 streamsong: I put that one in the BlackHole when Beth recommended it, but once again my local library still does not have it.

Have a wonderful weekend, Janet!

We often talk with a neighbour on our dog walks and she over time has had many dogs via her vet as these dogs need a good home and she is happy to care for them. Right now she has two adorable ones, a brother and sister (Lhasa Apso). Perhaps a talk with your local vet would bring you that wonderful companion.

Hi again Janet...i'm not having a good day anymore- i got some bad news.

>249 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! Always good to have you stop by. Yes, of the three I felt Unlikely Animals was the weakest. The other two, especially Funny Things were more enjoyable. Yay for rec's from Beth and Mark! Two of my favorite recommenders here on the 75.

>250 mdoris: That's a good idea, Mary. I have never thought to talk to my vet about whether they know of dogs that need a new home. I need to take Cree the diabetic cat in this week for his blood work. I can ask them then. I have thought about volunteering at the local Humane Society - that also seems like it would be a good way to get to know a dog first before bringing it home.

>251 Owltherian: I'm sorry about your news, Owl. I hope things have smoothed out.