What Are We Reading, Page 10

Readers of books by women, what do you recommend?

Due to discussions on this site, I've just started The Binding by Bridget Collins. So far so good, but I'm barely into it.

>2 Citizenjoyce:. Let us know what you think. I've got that one tentatively on my wishlist as well.

i just finished parable of the talents. whew. glad i've got a book group to debrief this with!

>4 overlycriticalelisa: Such a good book, and scarily prescient. You ought to have a good discussion!

I finished The Binding and would have given it 4 stars because it was an interesting premise and kept me very interested throughout, but there is one instance of animal abuse that just didn't have to be there. So .5 star deduction from me. If you can get through that one part, you'll probably really like it.

I just started My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. Liking it very much so far.

>7 krazy4katz: I liked that too. Thank heavens she’s on the court.

Yes!!

I just finished The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, one of my favorites, and the books doesn't disappoint. It's a tale of mortals and fairies, strong women, nasty men, angry men, angry women, strategy and making the best of a bad situation. It's one of the few books that made me glad it was the first of a series. I'm sure I'll read the whole thing.

>10 Citizenjoyce:. I haven't ever read anything by her. I remember The Coldest Girl in ColdTown getting a lot of buzz a few years back. I should keep my eye out for her books.

>11She is classified as YA, but I think you'll like her.

>12 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks.

> 6 Citizenjoyce: i'm glad you liked The Binding ^_^ it was pretty tough read at times (and i can still remember that scene you're talking about)...but in the end was well worth the effort, for me anyway

i justfnished Maestra (Lisa Hilton)...feels like 'the talented mr. ripley' meets '50 shades of grey'. fast paced, intelligent, delicious! ^_^

>15 riida: I just read some of the reviews. Everything sounds interesting to me except the rough sex part. I doubt I'll check it out because of that.
>14 riida: The Binding was fascinating. I liked the premise and the characters and seeing scenes from different perspectives at different times. Well worth reading, I just hope she stays away from dogs in her next books.

About to start Red Ellen by Laura Beers, a biography of fiery socialist, feminist and all-round "working-class hero" of the early 20th century Ellen Wilkinson.

Also beginning a re-read of Ursula le Guin's The Dispossessed for my SF&F book group. Haven't read it in years so looking forward to seeing how it stands up.

i just finished Circe (by Madeline Miller). i've never encountered the greek gods, godesses, and heroes so grounded and human before. it was a bit disorienting, but nice. and to me circe's story, as unreal as it is, is a raw and epic experience of how it is to be a woman.

> 16 Citizenjoyce: i dont think ive read others' reaction to Maestra yet, but i think i get what you mean. i definitely see how it can be divisive. makes me wonder if i would like it as much as i did i were in a different kind of mood or stage of life. i have to confess though that i'm looking forward a little to the 2nd instalment in the series..

ditto on The Binding

For the first time since Harry Potter, I'm reading a series all the way through, kind of. About a year ago I read Planetfall by Emma Newman and liked it, but didn't feel any need to continue with the series. Now, this month, in a response to a challenge to read a book about AI I decided to read the next in the series, After Atlas then I had to read the next, Before Mars and now I'm on to Atlas Alone. It is rather delightful reading a series when you don't have to try to remember who everyone is. AI is taken as just a normal part of the character's lives, as are QUILTBAG relationships. She uses gender-neutral pronouns for those who are gender-neutral, hir and ze, and they feel very natural. Slavery exists, but we're not supposed to talk about it, gaming plays a big part, one of the books is a murder mystery and now the last one is going to include the dangers of religious fundamentalism. So far, there's no real romance, though that might change in this last one, but it might not. I'm hooked. I'm supposed to read Dune this month, but it's going to have to wait a little longer.

>20 Citizenjoyce: I love this series! Still have Atlas alone on the tbr pile, waiting for the right moment to pick it up.

I'm nearing the end of Washington Black which was on my TBR pile. I haven't read much about the book yet, and don't remember why I got it. It sort of has a Huck Finn sensibility, although on a world stage. I will be interested to see what reviewers wrote about it.

>22 vwinsloe: Slavery and hot air balloons. It's a pretty good story.

just finished A Perfect Cornish Summer (by Phillipa Ashley). not my usual cup of tea, but now i definitely see the attraction to these types of stories. lives at stake, but the world is not ending. slice of life drama. and fun to read ^_^

>23 Citizenjoyce:. I think that the author intended the hot air balloons to be a metaphor for freedom, but they crashed because of guilt and emotional baggage. I'm not sure what all else Esi Edugyan was getting at, but I enjoyed the read.

I've moved on to a reread of Parable of the Sower. I had Parable of the Talents in my TBR pile, and I don't think that I read it before. So best to start with the first one.

>25 vwinsloe: You gotta wear your big girl panties to read Octavia Butler. Good luck.
I just finished The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal. I so loved Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows that I was sure I'd love this one too, but it irritated me so much, I almost stopped reading it. These days with all the controversy about mask-wearing and the question of just what we're willing to do to keep our community safe, this book about relationships in and duty to family is very timely. Just how much do you owe your family when it conflicts with your own personal desires? This part borders on infuriating. Then there's the trip to India. After seeing Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems I was sure I never wanted to see the "real" side of New York City. I've never wanted to visit India just because of the descriptions I've read of the heat and odors, and this book brings that home. I do like what the author has to say about men loving the freedom of biking through India and the wonderful hospitality they feel as they eat in the homes of strangers, and how this differs from a woman alone trying to navigate her way through the country. So, if you read it, soldier on. It does have something to say.
Now I'm starting on my second book by the author of The German Midwife, The Secret Messenger also set during WWII but this time in Italy. Her resistance fighter women are captivating.

>25 vwinsloe: >26 Citizenjoyce: I read Kindred by Octavia Butler. Exquisite writing that improves as you get further into the book. I looked back at my review and I seem to have thought some of the characters were not very real and there were some issues that were not really wrapped up at the end. I gave it 3.5 stars. On the other hand, her description of slavery was a masterpiece. I wonder which novel is considered her best.

>27 krazy4katz: I loved the Xenogenesis series. I read it 20 years ago and it was some of my favorite science fiction. Since then I felt like everything thing else she wrote made me feeling trapped, like there was nowhere to turn. Just thinking about Butler gives me anxiety.

>27 krazy4katz: & >28 Citizenjoyce:. I do think that I liked Kindred the best. It certainly was the easiest because the morality was black and white (pun intended). Xenogenesis and Fledgling I thought dealt more with miscegenation, which is a much more complicated and divisive subject.

Parable of the Sower did not make as much of an impression on me. Of course, I read it very long ago. We'll see how I feel about it this go round, in addition to Parable of the Talents which I think that I will be reading for the first time.

>25 vwinsloe: and following: I found the Parable duo extremely powerful, plausible and terrifying. Brilliant books. I've also read the Xenogenesis trilogy and found that to be another excellent read. Kindred is on my TBR shelves, along with the Wild Seed series. I recently read the novella Bloodchild in an anthology of Weird stories, and thought that was another excellent, disturbing and thought-provoking read. It's free for kindle on amazon uk at the moment, possibly on other amazon sites too. I agree with >28 Citizenjoyce:; Butler is not a comforting or easy to read author, but she is essential, IMO.

>25 vwinsloe: i read both of octavia butler's parable books back to back about a month ago and find myself still thinking about them (although last week i reread the poisonwood bible and that's started to overtake my constant circling thoughts.) i felt like it was a really good time to read them. i also needed a debrief after reading, so let me know if you want someone to discuss them with!

>31 overlycriticalelisa:. Will do, thanks!

just finished Dirty Little Secrets (by Jo Spain). nice premise and has that cozy thriller kind of feel. characters were well developed and complex. their lives were complex. but i think it took away from the mystery element of the story. still was a nice read (listen). but then i didnt feel satisfied with the ending, so minus points there. lots of other people seem to like it enough though.

>33 riida: A woman coroner sounds interesting.

just finishing a reread of the secret history and while somehow i have no interest in reading the goldfinch, i feel like donna tartt 's writing here is just amazing.

(edited to fix touchstone)

>35 overlycriticalelisa: I read them in the opposite order, so that might color my opinion, but it seemed to me that The Secret History was a preparation for The Goldfinch which I think is the far better book, though from LT ratings, it looks like I have that backward.

>35 overlycriticalelisa:, >36 Citizenjoyce:. I also thought that The Goldfinch was the better of the two. Actually, when I read The Secret History, I thought that it was just okay, and not all that memorable. (I read it long before I read The Goldfinch but years after it was published.) It felt somehow dated to me when I read it, and, of course, by the time I read it, it had a lot of hype to live up to.

Have either of you read The Little Friend? I have not, but have wondered about it.

>36 Citizenjoyce:, >37 vwinsloe:
i have to say that i waffled for years about whether or not i should read the goldfinch and finally decided that i probably wouldn't like it, or how long it'd take me to get through it when i didn't like it, but both of your notes here makes me think maybe i actually should. better than the secret history ???? far better, even? i might have to try it after all.

(and i haven't yet read the little friend but i do plan to.)

>37 vwinsloe: I haven't read The Little Friend. Maybe it's time.

>38 overlycriticalelisa:. Yes, The Goldfinch is significantly better. We had a long thread about it here

https://www.librarything.com/topic/168395

But beware spoilers!

>39 Citizenjoyce:. Yes, considering it takes Donna Tartt 10 years to write a book, I should read it, too. I think that it is the only one of her books with a female protagonist, if I am not mistaken.

>40 vwinsloe:
thanks for that link! i'll tread through it carefully...

am now just starting ines of my soul by isabel allende, who i haven't read in a while. she'd started to lose her luster for me, so i'm interested to see if i'll like this one or not.

I just finished Find Me by Laura Van den Berg. Written 5 years ago it gives an eerily accurate portrayal of life during a pandemic. The epidemic this time is one that causes a kind of Alzheimer's on steroids. Mixed in is a description of relationships and mother-child rejection. It hasn't been rated well, but I would think with recent events people might want to revise their number of stars.

I finished Parable of the Talents in one big gulp yesterday afternoon. For me, it was definitely the more engaging of the two parable novels, and it is right up there with Kindred as my favorite Butler novels. There was a lot to unpack there, and it was an uncannily timely read with the launch of the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon juxtaposed with the riots and marches in protest of the murder by Minneapolis police. Although published in the mid-nineties, it was prescient in so many ways, but particularly regarding the privatization of public schools and local government. While reading, I came to the conclusion that really the USA is becoming one big "company town" in that people are paid wages by companies less than what it costs to purchase gods and services from them and, thus, they are kept perpetually in debt like indentured servants. Wow.

This morning, serendipitously, I ran across an organization that puts books with diverse characters into the hands of school children. After reading Butler, I was moved to donate https://diversebooks.org/

>44 vwinsloe: Not to mention Andrew Steele Jarret's 2032 campaign slogan of "Make America Great Again". The parallels between current events and the Parable books is uncanny. In that regard, I found this New Yorker piece that ends with...

In her lifetime, Butler insisted that the Parable series was not intended as an augur. “This was not a book about prophecy,” she said, of “Talents,” in remarks she delivered at M.I.T. “This was a cautionary tale, although people have told me it was prophecy. All I have to say to that is: I certainly hope not.”

>45 ScoLgo:. Thanks for sharing that article. You know, it's strange though, but I think that Parable of the Talents had to be the book with the happiest ending of all of her books.

>45 ScoLgo: great quote. We all hope not, then we turn on the tv or read the newspaper.
I had two great reads recently. Since I read it years ago I've thought of Snowflower and the Secret Fan as one of my all-time favorite books. I haven't wanted to reread it fearing I would be disappointed, but I gave in and read it again last week. What a great book. Not only did I learn so much about the history of rural China in the mid 19 century - including everything I would want to know about the experience of foot binding, the characterization exposes the human condition perfectly, at least the characterization of the women.
And speaking of characterization, You Look Like A Thing and I Love You shows some very interesting character traits of AI by a woman who programs them. They love novelty and they come up with solutions that humans would never consider, and they're very risk-averse. If you tell the AI to go down this aisle but that it will be penalized for each time it touches the wall, it likely won't move at all, guaranteeing a 100% no-touch rate. If you manage to get it to move it might speed down the hall on one leg or bent over perpendicular to the floor, or it might jump all the way. If you dump in lots of data about Star Wars and ask it to come up with story themes then later ask it to come up with ice cream flavors you might get death star cheese ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. When you ask it to come up with pet names, the word Twinkles is prominent, and for some reason, it is very fond of spotting giraffes. It appears we now have the 21st century version of a Genie, you can ask it for anything, but you have to be very, very specific.

I've just finished To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers and it is an absolutely sublime novella - a love-letter to the big ideas of human space exploration, how humans can be chosen and adapted for the rigours and hazards, the scrupulous technical requirements of examining the flora and fauna on a new planet, and the sheer joy of discovery. I love this to pieces!

>48 SChant: I've loved her other stuff, I'll have to check this one out.

>47 Citizenjoyce:, >48 SChant: and so grows my wish list! Thanks for both of those recommendations.

And >47 Citizenjoyce:, I think that I have read just about everything that Lisa See has written, including the history of her family On Gold Mountain. See has an incredible way of teaching by showing, and I love how much I learn about Chinese and Chinese-American culture and history from her books.

I have started reading Unsheltered which I know has gotten very mixed reviews but the completist in me just couldn't let it go. It did end quite high up on the LibraryThing Best Books read in 2019 list though, so someone must have liked it.

>50 vwinsloe: Like you I read Unsheltered for a sense of completion, Barbara Kingsolver wrote it, I had to read it. It's not her best, but it is hers, so definitely worth reading.
I hope everyone is staying safe. In spite of the terror emanating from the White House (or rather, the church across the street from it), I'm getting a little sense of hope. Could it be possible that we might be able to get some of the racism out of police departments?

>51 Citizenjoyce:. Hope indeed. If you have a twitter account, watch this

https://twitter.com/GadiNBC/status/1267945648705298433?s=20

Reading The Killing Moon by N K Jemisin. I've enjoyed her Broken Earth trilogy, but this fantasy is a bit of a slog. Decent writing and world-building but the story and characters so far (I'm about half-way through) are predictable and unengaging.

>52 vwinsloe: Was that the national guard or the army that he called in? I saw a flag on the man's arm. Simple, elegant speech by the woman. My grandson is in the Air Force. I thought he'd be safe from this debacle, then I saw that the 81st Airborn division had been called in. He called in the Air Force against the people of the United States! But I hope the sentiment of the servicemen keep being in agreement with the reasonable protestors so the war trump so hopes for will not come to pass.

>54 Citizenjoyce:. I think that the military men in the video were national guard, but I don't know if you follow Boston College history Professor Heather Cox Richardson's blog, called "Letters from an American." She stated that the unidentifiable military people that have now been called in are actually prison guards from the bureau of federal prisons. She is reporting today that military leaders are pushing back against being deployed against American civilians. Here's a link https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-3-2020?r=1g00o&utm_campaign...

She's amazing by the way.

But I certainly hope and pray that there will not be more military involvement and no more blood shed. Although, if the election is stolen in November, anything is possible.

>55 vwinsloe: I heard about the prison guards, I think on Rachel Maddow, last night. That's a great article.

>56 Citizenjoyce:, I've become a huge fan of an historian. Whodathunk? I have Heather Cox Richardson's latest book How the South Won the Civil War but I haven't read it yet, because I pre-ordered it in MP-3 format, and the only MP-3 player that I have is in my car. Due to the pandemic, I haven't been driving much, so there it sits. I have been tuning in to her Facebook Live courses on History & Politics and what she calls The American Paradox (equality for all, as long as some are better than others). I don't know how long the courses "live" on FB, but they are worth a listen.

>57 vwinsloe: I'll check her out.
I found her Facebook live. Thanks.

>58 Citizenjoyce:. I hope that you find it as fascinating as I do!

>59 vwinsloe: I don't see how a person can know so much and still have hope.

>60 Citizenjoyce:. I know. And that's what gives me hope!

I just finished This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel which was recommended for Reese Witherspoon's book club. It's about a non-binary child and the issues faced by the family. In a way it's like a Jodi Picoult novel with characters devised to promote discussion of current events, and it covers everything. The family is mighty doggone perfect, well educated, loving and financially secure - so not really representative. But still, it's a good exploration and probably very helpful for parents in the same situation.

just finished Third Girl (by Agatha Christie). Not my fave, but still gave it 4 stars. I find that to me a Christie is a very good way of breaking out of a reading rut. Short, sophisticated, moody. I'm rarely disappointed.

I finished Unsheltered and although I enjoyed Kingsolver's perennially wry humor, I agree that it was not her best.

I took a road trip last week and also finally started the audio book of How the South Won the Civil War. It treads familiar ground for me as a long time reader of Heather Cox Richardson's blog, but at last I understand what she terms "The American Paradox." It really was a new thing in the American colonies that any white man, including indentured servants, could become an equal or peer of the aristocracy, which was a huge departure from the English hereditary class system. The laws of the American colonies made that possible, however, in order to maintain the aristocracy as something that white men aspired to, a large amount of free labor was required, in the form of enslaved black and Native American people as well as women who were also chattel in this period. There are more details about this, but I am happy finally to understand the distinction that she draws between the English class system and the relative freedom of the American colonies.

I am also reading Life List. I had read infamous birder Phoebe Snetsinger's memoir some years ago, and this is her biography. I hope that the contrast in perspective will bring further insight.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. So far I find it painful, because it is so vague and generalized — not that it necessarily makes it untrue. And I a bit defensive? Perhaps. I just started a chapter with more specific discussions, so I am hopeful.

>65 krazy4katz: I just went to see if there was a copy on Overdrive and was able to rent it right away. They bought 35 copies. I'm not sure I'll be able to read it. I know racism exists, but I am very tired of being attacked just because I'm white. I don't know if that makes me fragile or just human. Why should anyone have to bear the guilt of their entire race or sex or religion? I don't see how that helps in the long run.

>66 Citizenjoyce:
it's not about guilt (although personally i do believe we, as white people, should feel guilty, as long as that doesn't hold us back from action). it's about knowing better so we can then do better. if we can excavate through the emotions and defenses that keep us from knowing that we're hurting people, then we can understand more, and be less hurtful in our actions. If our defensiveness or our fragility is standing in the way of not harming people, shouldn't we investigate that? Isn't that helping in the long run?

I think that trying to make me feel guilty for something my sister or mother or cousin or grandfather did will not make me your ally. Emphasizing our similarities will. Maybe I'm too fragile.

>66 Citizenjoyce:
I am not sure the author's intent is to make us feel guilty, although it is easy to take it that way. I think she wants us to wake up and see that we may have to be the vehicles for change. After all she is white so she does understand.

I think she wants to tell us the harsh truths about our environment and our "white privilege" to let us know that many black people and other POC do not have these advantages. I find it painful and can only read a few pages at one time, but now that the book is moving on to concrete action, it's easier. It is also easier because we are having more conferences in my community and where I work (a university) on what we should be doing.

Remember that some of this violence of police against black men has taken place in cities with black mayors, so it is not so clear cut. This country has a racist pattern in the way it deals with its citizens who are POC. This is a great time to recognize how that happens and how we can stop it. At least this is what keeps me reading the book.

Ever since George Floyd was murdered, I have been having flashbacks to racist events I have witnessed or been part of in the sense of being there and not saying something or not saying enough. I have started to make a list of them to help me calm down and to give me an opportunity to determine whether I did everything I could or not at that time. Some of those events took place when I was too young, some when I had no authority, but there are a couple that I plan to bring up at work, where I might have done more to mitigate the effects.

>68 Citizenjoyce: & >69 krazy4katz: I had to get past defensiveness a while ago because of the governmental programs in which I work (public housing.) I think that the point is that all white people have always benefited from systemic racism to the present day. You may have gotten your job because some other applicant was discriminated against. Same with education, housing, etc. across the board. So even if we personally didn't do something racist, we benefited from it, even though we didn't know and there was probably nothing that we could do about it.

What we can control is not calling the police on black people who "look suspicious." Not engaging in "microagressions" like changing our seat or grabbing our purses on public transportation when a black person sits next to us. And above all, speak up when you see or hear someone doing something racist. A couple of years back my stepson's father-in-law (who is from Louisiana) made a very racist statement in front of me, and I was so shocked that I didn't say anything. I have felt terrible ever since and so I have become extremely vocal. It won't happen again.

This is where I usually plug my friend Bernestine Singley's book, When Race Becomes Real. It's old now, but I think that the viewpoints that are expressed are current.

>70 vwinsloe: Thank you. I agree that is what White Fragility is trying to convey. I was feeling very depressed at the overwhelming nature of the problem last night. Yeah, I know — poor me, right?!

Your advice is very helpful.

k4k

For anyone here that might be interested, just ran across this Octavia Butler pre-order.

>72 ScoLgo: Thanks.

>71 krazy4katz: & >68 Citizenjoyce: I had forgotten about this video that my step-daughter sent me a while ago. It is a short talk by the author of White Fragility that addresses the issue of defensiveness toward the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54

>72 ScoLgo:. I don't think that I have read any of Octavia Butler's short stories, so maybe I should check it out. Thanks.

>74 vwinsloe:
Thank you so much! Do you mind if I put it on FB? If so, should I attribute it to anyone? I'm not sure the people I want to read it will do so, but it's worth a try.

k4k

>75 krazy4katz:. You may certainly put it on Facebook without attribution. In my view, we all have to keep on trying although it seems hopeless sometimes. Think how long black people have been trying, and how exhausted they must be.

>76 vwinsloe: So true!
I hope there is some fundamental improvement in the lives of black people and that a clear goal of equity will come out of this. I am still looking for my way to help. We have a zoom conference where I work (a university) on Friday. I am also making a list of racist moments I have observed or been involved in — in the sense of: could I have done more than I did to stop it? They just keep popping into my head a few at a time. Some of these events have happened where I work, so I look forward to the discussion of racism in the classroom.

I won't buy the book, I won't encourage my library to buy the book, but look what I found on Facebook about The Room Where It Happened https://data.ddosecrets.com/file/The%20Room%20Where%20It%20Happened%20-%20John%2...

Alas, if you didn't download John Bolton's book when I posted, the free site is gone now.
But Tor is offering The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal for free today through 12:00pm EST, June 26th.

"On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her."

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>79 Citizenjoyce:. I enjoyed The Calculating Stars. It had this Mad Men sort of authenticity about it, despite the fact that it is alternate history.

I'm almost done with Life List. I'm finding it really interesting after reading Phoebe Snetsinger's memoir a few years back. The almost unassailable positive attitude and breezy way that she put her cancer and her gang rape behind her in her autobiography, when examined by her biographer suggests a strong front that Snetsinger put up while she escaped into obsessive travel and birding all over the world.

>80 vwinsloe: Wow, looks good.

>81 Citizenjoyce:. I finished Life List and it was fascinating. The biography answered SO many factual questions that I had after reading Snetsinger's memoir Birding on Borrowed Time. It also raised a philosophical question to think about which is: if single minded obsession, at the expense of neglecting family and friends and putting oneself in risky situations, is what it takes to become the world's greatest anything, is it worth having that aspiration?

I don't think that this book, or the memoir, is on audiobook, but they are both worth readng.

I've started Ninth House and am quite intrigued only 25 pages in.

Alas, I checked, Phoebe Snetsingeris not on audiobook. Pity. More and more we notice that people who achieve great things are bad husbands, wives, children and parents. People often try to denigrate their work because of their personal failings, but their lives just aren't about personal interaction. Just as artists see with different eyes from us mere mortals, goal-driven people don't have "normal" personal investment. Steve Jobs was a pretty horrible person, but I do love Apple products.

>83 Citizenjoyce:. I agree. And one of the interesting personal stories about Snetsinger was that her husband wanted a divorce when she wouldn't slow down from her globe circling birding trips (about 11 months of the year). They went to counseling instead, and she did ever so slightly slow down a bit after she checked off her 8,000 bird. The interesting part is that her husband didn't know how resentful and depressed she was after giving up a chance at a career to stay home and raise their 4 children. He found out when, after her death, he discovered some bleak and angry poetry that she had written during that time. While she was raising the kids, he was working his way up the executive ladder at Purina. But, even more fascinating, is the fact that Snetsinger was the daughter of Leo Burnett (that's where all her money came from) who was the founder of the eponymous international advertising company. As a child, Burnett was basically never home, and his children hardly knew him. So nature, nurture,... something else?

Along these lines, I have added a book to my wish list that is entitled Blue Ticket. It is a novel about a dystopian society where every girl of a certain age is given a blue card or a white card. A white ticket means marriage and family; a blue ticket means career and freedom. I don't know if the book is any good, but I think that the premise is really interesting!

>84 vwinsloe: I'll join you on that one, but not for 3 months or so. There's quite a waiting list.

>85 Citizenjoyce:. Have you read her previous book The Water Cure? I have that one on my list as well. People seem to either love or hate Sophie Mackintosh.

>86 vwinsloe: No, I requested that too.

>87 Citizenjoyce:. You will undoubtedly get to them before I do, so please report back!

I bit the bullet and read White Fragility and found it to be both intuitively simple and mind-opening. I am a touchy woman. I don't take criticism easily - from anyone. So I can see the advice of the book working equally with confronting one's own racism and with dealing with any interpersonal relationship. The idea is that the white race is a distinction created by people needing to separate themselves from the slaves that they owned. We in the US have grown up steeped in racism, which we might not even know exists, if we're white. She describes white privilege, which I pretty much understood already. I don't know if I related here the story of how I was stopped by a couple of police cars while I was out working at night, wearing a hoodie, and how easily the situation was resolved, in spite of some fumbling moves of my own that might have got me killed if I were a black man, when they gave me the benefit of the doubt, seeing that I'm a helpless old white woman. So, that part was made very clear to me. What I have always had a hard time with is that I might unintentionally give offense in my everyday actions. I always assume people know who I am and realize that I'm a kind of prickly person but mean no offense. The book gently brings home the idea that I have no right to expect such assumptions from others. I am an intelligent person and have the obligation to examine situations and control my own actions. It's a very interesting book.

>89 Citizenjoyce:. "What I have always had a hard time with is that I might unintentionally give offense in my everyday actions. I always assume people know who I am and realize that I'm a kind of prickly person but mean no offense." Yes!

I'm with you. I am still getting used to the fact that because my intentions are good, it's still not okay, and I should listen and apologize rather than getting defensive. I realized that if I really care about not offending someone, that's what I need to do. And now I am trying to go even further and learn WHY something might possibly give offense. For example, I was once trying to get across a crowded food court and there was a group of young people blocking the aisle. I said, "excuse me" a couple of times, but it was loud in there. So I put my hand out and gently pushed the side of a tall, young black man who had his back to me directly blocking my path. He turned in indignation and angrily said, "lady, don't ever touch a brother." I was stung. After all, I am a 4' 11" woman of a certain age, and I certainly did not intend to give offense (or want to pick a fight!!)

It wasn't until I read Between the World and Me that I understood that I should not presume to touch an African-American person. What did Maya Angelou say? Do the best that you can until you know better, and when you know better do better?

I'm trying.

>90 vwinsloe: I love that quote.

I finished Ninth House and enjoyed it very much.

I've started Transcription, and am getting on with it better than I did A God in Ruins.

So 4 months into this pandemic, and I haven't made too much of a dent in my TBR stacks. Before it's all over, I fear that what I have left will be a bunch of tomes written by men. If I do happen to disappear for a while, it will be because I've finally decided to read one of them.

I just finished reading Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. I usually love her books, but wasn't at all keen on this one. The villains are evil and sadistic for no reason, and there is a lot of very unpleasant emotional and physical violence towards the main characters and those around them. If you like books where vulnerable young people are treated as pawns then go ahead and give it a try. If I haven't put you off I'd love to see some other opinions of the book!

Now I'm reading Gods of jade and shadow. I've loved everything else I've read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and so far this one is not disappointing. It's set in Mexico in the 1920s and features the mythology of the Popol Vuh.

>93 Sakerfalcon:. I'd seen Gods of Jade and Shadow mentioned here and there, but haven't known a reader. So thanks, I'm putting it on my list.

I am reading The Last Pilgrim written by my friend, Noelle Granger. She usually writes humorous mystery murders, but this time she has tried out some historical fiction.

I finished an interesting history book recently. It's history but in novel form, The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. Rubenhold's argument is that probably only one of the women killed was a prostitute, but they were all poor so all available to be killed as they slept outside. Again only one of them was killed inside but also as she slept. She gives a very good picture of poverty in Victorian England. When you see movies about servants doing anything so they won't be dismissed without a reference, this book lets you know why. It's a ghastly book; however, the horror isn't in the murders but in the lives they lead.

I'm about half-way through a book of Sara Paretsky short crime fiction, Love & Other Crimes. The stories are fine but I think she's better in long-form to give time for the plot and characters to develop more organically - these shorts seem to have too much crammed in too quickly.

So did I get to any of those tomes written by men in my TBR stacks? Nope.

I finished Transcription although I think that I did not read it closely enough to do it justice. Right book, wrong time.

I was craving some straight up engaging fantasy, and I don't have any on my shelves, but I picked up what might be the nearest thing that I have: The Stolen Child. I don't think that this book has been widely read, but I found it at my library's book sale some time ago recognizing the connection with the LT founder. So I'm giving it a whirl.

Wow - it's been quiet on here!
Just started The Mercury Thirteen prior to a re-read of The Calculating Stars for my SF&F book group. it should be an interesting contrast

>99 SChant:. I had not heard of The Mercury Thirteen. I you recommend it, I will put it on my list.

I was in the mood for a comfort read, so I am rereading Code Name Verity myself. I listened to the audiobook the first time around, and I'm not sure, but the reader was so terrific, that it may be better in that format.

>100 vwinsloe: Finished The Mercury Thirteen, and while it is an interesting look at the male prejudice of NASA, the American government, and the military in the early years of the "space-race" I did come away from it feeling rather disspirited at the disservice done to these enthusiastic and skilled women, whose hopes were raised just to be battered down. Glad I read it, but also glad that I can move on to the more cheering but totally fictional space-race of The Calculating Stars.

>101 SChant:. Gotcha. I enjoyed The Calculating Stars as well.

it's not usually my thing at all, but i just read (listened to) an arc of a superhero book coming out in sept: hench and i highly recommend it. i think you'd appreciate it even more if you're into the superhero genre, because (i suspect) she has subverted a lot of tropes, but probably also used some to her advantage. super fun. major theme: how much difference is there really between heroes and villains?

I just finished a great Nebula Award winner, A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker published just before the pandemic, but perfectly reflecting it. Set in the new future the world has suffered a pox pandemic plus terrorism resulting in congregation laws and curfews. Megacorporations run the economy, people (who can afford it) practice extreme social distancing interacting mostly, using hoodies, as avatars in virtual reality. Rosemary Laws is a very efficient Vendor Service provider for SuperWally, which one reviewer described as a merger between Wallmart and Amazon. She provides her usual efficient services for a musician and manages to get a virtual pass to a live concert, her first. That's the first part of the equation, the one I can understand because I'm a law-abiding work a day kind of gal. The other half of the equation is Luce, musician and artist extraordinaire, and the book does a great job of describing the life of a musician and the need to play new music in real-time for live audiences. Rosemary gradually wends her way into Luce's life of music when she takes a job with StageHoloLive, the giant corporation built to deliver music to the masses, but their music is finely choreographed and its musicians are all beautiful. The goal of SHL is both to deliver virtual performances but also to ensure that all venues for live performances, even the ones that have evaded the congregation laws, are shut down. There's so much here pertinent to the current time of social distancing and mega-corporations, and it's a great story to boot.

>104 Citizenjoyce:. Ooooo, sounds good. Putting it on my wish list. Thanks!

The benefits to children, and all of us I think, of reading science fiction/fantasy.
https://theconversation.com/amp/science-fiction-builds-mental-resiliency-in-youn...

Just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Probably one of my all-time favorite books. So captivating.

>107 krazy4katz: I loved the book. There's so much controversy about it on Facebook, but I wonder if people say they didn't like it just to be contrary. I read it just after Educated and thought the two went together perfectly.

I agree about Educated and Where the Crawdads Sing. They do go together! I didn't realize it was controversial on FB. I will have to check. Perhaps the ending just was too much.

>104 Citizenjoyce: I've seen several good reviews for this book, but yours is the first that makes me want to read it.

At present I'm reading Chaos vector, which is the sequel to Velocity Weapon. It's an SF adventure with plenty of politics and a few military elements. I'm really enjoying it

Also reading Amberlough, which is fantasy (although no magic) set in a world something like 1930s Germany, with a liberal political and social culture under threat from rising fascism. The characters are grey and complex and the world building is pretty good.

And I'm also reading some of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books, for comfort reading.

Finished The Fated Sky, Mary Robinette Kowal's second Lady Astronaut book, and enjoyed it so much I've just bought The Relentless Moon!

>110 Sakerfalcon: Thanks.
Wow so many good books to consider. I'm not much for militaristic fiction of any type, but I can't resist politics and social culture.
I just finished The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley, it checks big boxes for militarism and "who gets to be king of the kingdom." Those topics, along with romance are at the bottom of interest in a book. It also checks a huge box for disgusting, smelly, oozy world-building. Having been a nurse for 20 years, I made it through, but it is definitely not for the squeamish. On the positive side is discovering the whole mystery of "what's going on here?" The characterization is also appealing. Casimir is the eternal optimist. Oh, adventure - fun; strange characters don't really want to hurt us, they're just misguided or frightened; of course, we're going to get where we want to go; science solves everything. I really love her because she's the exact opposite of myself. Well, maybe not the exact opposite. I was pretty optimistic in previous days but, like Casimir does as the adventure continues, discovered that maybe some of those creatures really do want to hurt us. It is also very QUILTBAG (LGBT) friendly by necessity as all the characters are female.

>112 Citizenjoyce: I read The Stars Are Legion last year and it was a very good book for me. This year, I enjoyed The Light Brigade even more. The "what's going on here?" factor is even more pronounced as, once things go weird, they also get very complicated and difficult to keep track of what happened to who and when was it and where? All is explained by the end though so the journey was well worth the effort. I would describe The Light Brigade as a mashup of Haldeman's The Forever War and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, with a dash of Murderbot, thrown in - a mild , (for the gender obfuscation - we do learn the gender of the protagonist by the end but for most of the novel, it's not mentioned or even intimated, which I found to be a nice touch).

Anyway, since you liked TSAL, I thought it might be worth mentioning TLB.

>113 ScoLgo: Thanks. I don't know if I could take even more confusion, but I'll check it out.

>112 Citizenjoyce: The military elements in Velocity weapon are pretty minor. I wouldn't let that stand in your way if the other elements interest you.

>112 Citizenjoyce:, >113 ScoLgo: I didn't enjoy The stars are legion for various reasons, but mainly because I just didn't care about the characters. I much preferred The light brigade, even though I usually don't like military SF.

>115 Sakerfalcon: I'll be on the lookout for both. So many books, so little time.

Has anyone read The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch? It's another feminist science fiction, post apocalyptic novel. I thought I'd give it a try this month because it's supposed to have a good post-menopausal female character, though it has only 3.1 stars.

>117 Citizenjoyce: I've been tempted by this, but have managed to resist so far as my TBR piles are already tottering. It does have some positive reviews on amazon. I will be curious if you go ahead and read it.

Started Death in Ten Minutes: The forgotten life of radical suffragette Kitty Marion by Fern Riddell. So far very interesting - we often hear about the leaders of the suffragette movement, but there have recently been a number of books detailing the lives and actions of the "ordinary" women who took part in the fight for the vote. This is one of them - actress and activist Kitty Marion.

>119 SChant: I just finished Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote by Ellen Carol DuBois. It doesn't focus on "ordinary" women but on the extraordinary women who worked for decades to accomplish their goal. I appreciated the fact that there was a focus on both Black and White women and men and how they worked together and against each other. The book makes it clear that the age-old tactic of getting your enemy to fight against each other was at work getting Blacks and Whites to fight against each other as if there were only one vote and they had to see which would get it. Wouldn't you think humans could figure out this tactic so that it would stop working?

>120 Citizenjoyce: Sounds interesting. I'll keep a look out for that one

Just received a brilliant gift, to make up for the exhibition being cancelled in April, the exhibition catalogue Artemisia by Letizia Treves. Can't wait to get started!

I just finished Everything Here is Beautiful. It was the most honest depiction of major mental illness that I have read, and more especially, the difficulty that family and friends of the afflicted person have in maintaining the relationship. I have had, and do have, people in my life with major mental illness, and at a certain point, it becomes impossible to see the person apart from the disease. "How ARE you?" becomes a loaded question. Although in some ways, such as in depicting the immigrant experience, the book tries to do too much, Mira T. Lee captures the difficulty of coping with mental illness with precision.

>106 Citizenjoyce:. Thanks for that article. It took me a minute to read it because I thought it was the same as similar articles that I have read about how reading fiction expands one's empathy and understanding. But, as this article suggests, science fiction seems to do more to help readers make sense of the world. I heartily agree with that opinion, and am looking through my TBR stacks for a science fiction book as my next read.

>122 SChant: I do love her work
>123 vwinsloe: I guess I'm a complete wuss, because I just can't. I started watching I know This Much Is True, the series because I knew I couldn't put myself through reading another one of Wally Lamb's interminable books . I'm not sure if I made it through the first episode, but I know I didn't do more than that. Mark Ruffalo just won an emmy for his portrayal of the brothers, so I imagine it was good, but I feel so completely helpless when confronted with mental illness that I don't want to deal with it in any way. I don't know how to relate to someone who lives in a different reality from mine, I guess. Though, I imagine if you had your druthers, you wouldn't be enmeshed in dealing with such difficult circumstances either. I loved being a labor and delivery nurse, but I never understood how anyone could specialize in psych nursing. I think it's partially because I'm too easily manipulated.

>124 Citizenjoyce:. I seem to be attracted (not romantically) to people with mental illness, perhaps because their world views are different but often provide startlingly valid insight. Usually I have not known of their illness before beginning the friendship, and sometimes they have not known either. What I have learned is that with anyone who has mental illness, you have to have very strong boundaries and stick to them. This works with friends, although you have to be prepared to lose the friendship. I can only imagine the impossibility of setting boundaries within a nuclear family, and the damage to all of the lives involved.

>125 vwinsloe: Setting strong boundaries and sticking to them - not my strong suit.

>126 Citizenjoyce:. Lol. Good that you recognize that!

Reading Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, an examination of what we now know of our cousins the Neanderthals and their lives and culture. It's beautifully written with clear explanations of the more technical areas and delightful short evocations of neanderthal life at the beginning of each chapter.

>128Isn't it funny how neanderthal's reputation has changed? Once upon a time, they were very animalistic humans, now we see them as artistic and spiritual.
I read Emma Donoghue's newest The Pull of the Stars. She finished it just before the pandemic struck, and it's about the 1918 pandemic as seen through the eyes of a young midwife in Dublin. Of course, there is commentary on the horrors of Catholic church-run organizations - work homes and orphanages, but that's not as detailed and overwhelming as her description of violence against women in Slammerkin. A few times she mentions a saying at the time,"you can't show you love him unless you give him 12" to show women bred into exhaustion and disease. The characters are all fictitious except for the woman rebel doctor Dr. Kathleen Lynn. I love her medical details, she packs a bundle of procedures into three days of work. I can't say there's really a plot, just action to emphasize the reality of the times, poverty, misogyny, hypercritical judgements of those in power against those without. I fell in love with Julia, the midwife, her brother Tim and the hardworking runner Birdie. Dr Lynn is shown to be brave, competent, supremely community-oriented and forward-thinking. Emma Donoghue never disappoints.

I had a plan for my Halloween read this year, but the plan failed. While perusing my TBR shelves, I spied The Monsters of Templeton which has been sitting there since who knows when. I read the first page, and it intrigued me enough to keep on with it. There is a monster on that first page, and it has kept me interested so far, but I don't know whether it will be sufficiently Halloweeny.

>130 vwinsloe: I was going to read Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb because I loved Dragon Keeper so much, but I'll join you in The Monsters of Templeton. I like historical fiction, and I won't be participating in Halloween this year, damned virus.

>131 Citizenjoyce: Yay! A ghost just showed up, and anyway Lauren Goff is just such a good writer.

>130 vwinsloe: >131 Citizenjoyce: I think The monsters of Templeton is my favourite of Groff's books. Arcadia was pretty good too, but I loathed Fates and furies. I have to admire her for the variety of her novels and not getting stuck into a groove.

>11 vwinsloe: Coldest Girl in Coldtown was pretty great!

About to start Christa Wolf's re-telling of Medea, which has been on my wish-list for ages. She's a very evocative writer - her Cassandra is a hypnotic re-imagining of the Trojan War through the eyes of the ill-fated prophetess - so I'm really looking forward to it.

A colleague and I have been swapping books recently, as we both enjoy Japanese and Korean fiction by women writers. So far I've read Territory of light, Ms Ice Sandwich, and Kim Jiyoung born 1982. All three show different takes on the lives of everyday women. Territory of light is a frequently dreamlike portrayal of a year in the life of a young mother who is recently separated from her husband. Friends, colleagues and family all keep telling her that she should try to save her marriage, and her husband keeps wanting to meet up with her and advise her on how she should live her life - all this even though he is now with another woman! The author really nails the relationship between the mother and her toddler daughter - the mix of love, frustration, tenderness and irritation. Ms Ice Sandwich is narrated by an elementary school-age boy who becomes fascinated by a young woman who works at the local convenience store. He thinks she is beautiful with her stern, efficient manner and her unusual eyes, but from overhearing conversations he realises that other people find her looks and attitude repellent and something to be mocked. The boy himself is something of a loner, but through a growing friendship with a female classmate he starts to find his place in the world, and in the end it seems like both he and Ms Ice Sandwich are heading for hopeful futures. Kim Jiyoung narrates the life of the titular protagonist from childhood to young motherhood as a succession of sexist microaggressions and downright discrimination. The narrative is rather flat and contains footnoted statistics about gender disparities in Korea, the reason for which is revealed in the final section of the book. Jiyoung is the middle child, but the youngest sibling and only boy is the favoured child. This starts a lifelong pattern of being second best to males - at school, university, in the job market and the home. There are moments of triumph where women overcome an obstacle, but usually they face repercussions in the end. Virtually all of the examples which Jiyoung experiences are easy to relate to; most of us will know someone or have suffered ourselves through many of them.
All three of these short novels are very worth reading.

Reading Set the World On Fire by Keisha N. Blain, and exploration of the work of African-American women in the milieu of nationalist and internationalist movements in the US between the 2 World Wars. It's something I have no knowledge of and so far is quite eye-opening.

Also reading Faraday's Orphans by N. Lee Wood - a work of dystopian fiction from the 1990s that I read when it first came out but can't remember a thing about.

I finished The Monsters of Templeton and it was a fun ride. Such fabulous characters, and a captivating writing style. This was my second of Lauren Groff, the first being Fates and Furies which I didn't particularly like >133 Sakerfalcon:, but I admired the hell out of it.

Interestingly, I am usually turned off by "magical realism." But for some reason, it didn't bother me at all in this book.

>136 Sakerfalcon: Ms Ice Sandwich reminds me of the Japanese novel Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. This woman is also different. She knows she is different from others, she works to mimic the conversation and attitude of others so she can fit it. She seems autistic in her inability to feel what "normal" people do. I loved the book and gave it 5 stars.
>134 DesertMoon: Coldest Girl in Coldtown was my introduction to Holly Black. I fell in love. Recently I read the first two books of her Folk of the Air trilogy, The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. I'm not fond of succession stories, so these are not my favorite of hers, but still pretty good.
>138 vwinsloe: The Monsters of Templeton is up next. I think I need a fun ride to help through the election.
Right now I'm almost finished with N K Jemisin's The City We Became. What a bizarre concept as avatars of a city search for each other in order to become the one main representative of the city, this time NYC. I'm a well-behaved white woman from the West, so some of these women are pretty far from my personality; however, the one major white woman character is also pretty far from myself. The book covers all the modern problems, BLM, urbanization, art as it relates to the world, the impact of diversity in a novel that keeps pulling me in regardless of my differences. If she doesn't win some major awards for this I'll be amazed.

>139 Citizenjoyce: I have yet to read a Holly Black novel, but I found out recently that she lives quite close to me, so I really should. I have also not yet read The City We Became, but I read an interview with N.K. Jemison a while back in which she said that the concepts behind her new novel included colonization/gentrification tropes. That sounded pretty interesting to me, and I love the way that she comes into things from a completely different POV and experience. Author diversity has opened up some new perspectives and new stories for which I am very grateful. Her The Broken Earth trilogy blew me away.

I decided that there was enough time before Halloween to read another creepy book, so I started The Keep. I can't remember who suggested or mentioned it, but I think that it was somewhere in this group. I like Jennifer Egan anyway.

>139 Citizenjoyce: I too loved Convenience store woman, and there are themes in common with Ms Ice Sandwich, although the latter is seen through the eyes of a young boy.

Carrying on with the Japan Lit, I'm currently reading Breasts and eggs.

I finished The Keep, a book in which I could see Jennifer Egan honing her skills. I liked it.

I moved on to Sunshine because I figure there is nothing like a YA Vampire novel to get me through the next week in the USA.

I finished The Monsters of Templeton and figure I need to read a little about Cooperstown and James Fennimore Cooper. Maybe I need to reread The Last of the Mohicans since I remember nothing about it. So I thought the references to Cooper were the best part of the book. I have to say, I was not fond of the mother. I was also very put off by the misogyny, but well do I remember the way people talked about the wives of male teachers, so I think it was realistic. Of course I never could have guessed "who done it" because I never can.
Then I read Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld because all I knew of it was that it was a novel about Hillary if she had not married Bill. That sounded great to me. Obviously Sittenfeld is not fond of Bill. There's lots of political detail, that might put some people off. Even worse she shows Hillary to be competent, intelligent, organized and considered to be sexless and cold, while Bill is pretty much sex on a stick so not so fictional after all.
Now I'm reading the second Realm of the Elderlings book, Dragon Haven featuring a very pompous dragon who thinks she is queen of the world.

Reading Ladies Can't Climb Ladders by Jane Robinson - essays on the lives of early women pioneers in the professions. I watched her talk on the Sheffield "Off the Shelf" event last week; she was very witty and a fluent speaker.

>143 Citizenjoyce: I really enjoyed the fictional historical characters in The Monsters of Templeton. The one who murdered her husbands whose sister was the madam was very entertaining!

On another note, I never made it through The Last of the Mohicans and I always think of it as "that book that does not have a single female character" in it.

>145 vwinsloe: Those sisters, wow. I was disappointed though that the main character didn't give the letters to the librarian. That seemed wrong.
The Last of the Mohicans is only men? Well that does fit into the fictional author in Templeton, but doesn't make me want to read it.

>146 Citizenjoyce:, apparently there are female characters in The Last of the Mohicans, but I never got that far. I think that reading it would probably have added a lot to my understanding of The Monsters of Templeton, but I doubt that I will ever suffer through it. There must be a movie version...

>145 vwinsloe:, >146 Citizenjoyce: I too never managed to finish The last of the Mohicans. I did enjoy The pioneers though, even though it was on a university reading list.

>147 vwinsloe:, >148 Sakerfalcon: The older I get, the less time I'm willing to give to a book I don't like. I think I'll skip Mohicans. I've checked out More Classic American Short Stories
by Ambrose Bierce . It looks like all the stories are by men, but one is about a woman. It contains a description of the eclipse from Mohicans. Maybe I'll leave my exploration at that.

Finished Ladies Can't Climb Ladders, an entertaining survey of the trials and triumphs of women entering the professions in the UK from the Victorian era onwards, concentrating on the years up to WW2. It's quite chatty and in some cases light-hearted, but with a serious point to make that some of the prejudice and discrimination of the early years has still not left us. Recommended.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Susan Straight's In the Country of Women a memoir of her Swiss ancestry and the ancestry of her African American ex-husband. These are mighty impressive people. I want her to write about my ancestry and make me feel the excitement of immigration, living through the depression and inhabiting the Western US which is feeling more and more to me like the only place I want to live.

>55 vwinsloe: Thanks so much for mentioning Heather Cox Richardson. She's keeping me sane right now. Today she posted this https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=731909434085051&ref=watch_permalink
as we're all worried whether or not there is a coup in the making. She finds the perspective to understand what seems to be wildly new political shenanigans. Apparently, the US has always been a pretty crazy place.
I've just finished Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: 1933-1938 by Blanche Wiesen Cook which is 736 pages of a humanitarian response to the world's problems being thwarted at every turn by politics. I really wanted to get on to something more fun, and shorter, but had to immediately jump into Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: 1939-1962 ( which is a mere 688 pages) to see how we managed to decide that genocide in Europe really wasn't a good idea even if we live way across the ocean. Some problems are worth discussing such as whether or not, once you've lived through one world war is anything worth putting your country through that again.

>152 Citizenjoyce:. You're welcome. I never thought that I would be a fan girl for an historian, but here I am. I like Heather Cox Richardson's calm demeanor and her careful recitation of past and current events, noting when when she is editorializing. I have become convinced that there really needs to be some form of Fairness Doctrine or universal fact checking to stop us from continuing down the path that 50% of people seem to be on.

I remember gifting the Eleanor Roosevelt biography to a friend for her birthday years ago. I know that she enjoyed them. Although critically acclaimed, the sheer volume of that biography has put me off. I am also looking for a biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower that isn't thousands of pages. Does anyone have suggestions?

Started Afterland by Lauren Beukes, a post-apocalyptic tale of a mother on the run with her young son in a world that has suffered the deaths of most boys & men. I admire pretty much everything she's written - to me it veers more towards horror within a science-fiction or fantasy framework - but it's always thought-provoking and beautifully written.

>154 SChant:, I've only read The Shining Girls by her, although I have the Broken Monsters sitting on my TBR pile. I enjoyed her writing style and want to like her, but I fear that you are right that her work is more in the horror genre which is not my favorite. Maybe next Halloween Broken Monsters will be on the top of the pile.

>154 SChant:, >155 vwinsloe: I too have read The Shining Girls and didn't like it much. I don't like immersing myself in books about violence against women.
I finished Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: 1939-1962, and it wasn't as good as part 2, but still fascinating. FDR again doesn't come off well. In order to be a consummate politician, it seems you have to set morality aside. The book is funny in that it follows her almost day to day until FDR's death, then zips through the next 20 years.
Now I'm reading Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse a YA fantasy written to follow Navajo myths. It's very good with a female protagonist who is a slightly goofy and everyday kind of girl monster killer.

>156 Citizenjoyce: I don't like immersing myself in books about violence against women.

I agree in a way but found The Shining Girls to be qualitatively different, in that it told the stories of these women rather than them just becoming a crime for someone to solve. I recommend her essay All The Pretty Corpses for an expansion on her ideas around this, if you’re interested.

>157 SChant:. Yes, qualitatively different. Thanks for posting her essay, and I respected what she did in The Shining Girls. Still horror though. Is a it a sign of advanced age that I no longer find horror to be "page turning" and instead just find it mildly distasteful?

>157 SChant: Well, that was frustrating. Try as I might, I couldn't access the whole essay. I liked what she had to say, I just didn't like the book. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold did a good job of describing the lives of women victims without wallowing in violence. I liked it very much. I don't remember much about The Shining Girls except I do think there was too much wallowing.

>157 SChant: I rated The Shining Girls at 3 stars, which is above average according to my personal rating system. While I liked the writing style, I had issues with both the violence and development of the bad guy's character - or lack thereof. He seemed to be evil simply for the sake of being evil. I prefer a bit of nuance in that regard. The violence: There was a discussion section at the end of the e-book, (borrowed via Overdrive), where Beukes explained why she wrote the violent parts the way she did. Perhaps that was the same essay as the broken link on her website? At any rate, reading her afterword really helped shift my perspective on that aspect of the story. I still didn't care for the violence but I at least ended up understanding the reasoning behind it.

On a separate note, I finished My Real Children yesterday. Really enjoyed it, (though it left me a blubbering mess in a few places). The central conceit was interesting but ultimately not fully explained. Luckily, the book was more about the journey than the destination. 4.5 stars.

>160 ScoLgo: My Real Children has been on my wishlist for some time.
One good thing about the trump administration is that it has changed my view of literature. I used to think that people who did evil just for the sake of doing evil were ridiculously unrealistic.

>158 vwinsloe:
Is a it a sign of advanced age that I no longer find horror to be "page turning" and instead just find it mildly distasteful?

That’s me with crime books. I can read any scientific work on forensics with interest, but I picked up one of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta books on recommendation, got past the first few pages of dragging a woman’s body out of a ditch, but when the forensic analysis of her torture started that was it!

>161 Citizenjoyce: Really enjoyed My Real Children - a bit confusing in places but the story just pulled me in.

>160 ScoLgo: and >161 Citizenjoyce:. My Real Children was excellent. An unusual yet evocative sort of read.

>162 SChant:, I don't read crime, mysteries or suspense novels anymore either. I feel jaded. Lol.

>161 Citizenjoyce: Well... at least you found one good thing... ;)

>162 SChant: "a bit confusing in places but the story just pulled me in."
Agree. I could be wrong about this but I figured Walton intentionally wrote confusion into the narrative due to Trish/Pat's mental deterioration...?

>164 ScoLgo: - Yes, that makes sense, though it does give the reader more work to do!

About a quarter of the way into Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson. It's her usual mix of African/Caribbean inspired gods and ghosts in the mundane world and so far I'm finding it a little flat.

>166 SChant: Nalo Hopkinson is hit and miss for me, but I very much liked her collection of short stories, Falling in Love with Hominids.
I just finished A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcherand wavered back and forth about whether or not I liked it but ended up giving it a solid 4 stars. It's a post-apocalyptic adventure story with strong emphasis on self-reliance and ingenuity.
Now I'm reading Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I realized strong sexism was a byproduct of the evangelical religions, but for some reason, I hadn't realized it was the base. It's a little funny how over and over evangelicals are duped by politicians who pander to them instead of truly moral politicians. Funny if it weren't so dangerous.

>167 Citizenjoyce: I read my first Hopkinson this year; Brown Girl in the Ring. I liked but didn't love it. Falling in Love With Hominids is on my radar for 2021. We seem to have a fair number of books in common so I'm encouraged to hear that you liked it.

Jesus and John Wayne sounds like a book I should read.

Today, I began reading When We Were the Kennedys. A memoir by Monica Wood about her childhood in 1963; the year her father died unexpectedly a few months before JFK was assassinated. Only one chapter in but I'm already interested in her story.

>168 ScoLgo: Looks good.
I’ve just started The Huntress by Kate Quinn. For some reason I thought it would be an urban fantasy with vampires and things. It’s about a woman who killed people in World War II, not the great inspiring heroines that were used to but a Nazi.

Ah, now I know why I thought The Huntress was a paranormal novel, it's about The Night Witches, the Russian women pilots in WWII.

Reading Magnificent Women and their revolutionary Machines, the stories of pioneering women who created the Women's Engineering Society in 1919. Interesting stuff.
Also, Joan D. Vinge's World's End. A bit dated but not too bad.

I picked up Cantoras in a used book store without remembering where I got the recommendation, and I'm glad that I did. It follows the lives of 5 lesbian friends (and sometimes lovers) in Uruguay from just after the start of the military coup in 1973 to the legalization of same sex marriage in 2013. It is also the story of a place, Cabo Polonio, and how it grew from an isolated fishing peninsula to a bohemian and gay tourist haven. It was a fascinating slice of historical fiction with wonderful character development. Having grown up in a place much like Cabo Polonio, and being about the same age as the main characters at the end of the book, this book resonated with me and I was happy to have read it.

This book proves yet again that literature benefits greatly from diversity.

>172 vwinsloe: I can't remember why I read Cantoras but I found it enjoyable and eye-opening. Recently I read Gulliver's Travels, there's a section in which the two great divisions of civilization are between those who open eggs from the small end and those who open them from the large end. I guess that explains the antipathy to homosexuals all around the world. Someone has to be the other, so why not make it homosexuals (or Jews or Muslims or Protestants or Black people or...). Someone always has to be the other, and then we're allowed to be as cruel to them as we like. In spite of the curse of humanity, this was an uplifting book.

>173 Citizenjoyce: Yes, Cantoras made me want to go to Uruguay. What a unique place; so progressive despite being surrounded by oppressive governments in the rest of South America.

I've finished a few good books.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett about 2 light-skinned Black twins who grew up in a town populated by light-skinned Black people who are devoted to their skin tone. One woman decides to pass as white, the other marries a very dark-skinned man and has an extraordinarily dark-skinned daughter. There's lots of discussion of race and family.
Hissing Cousins: The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Marc Peyser. I knew there was bad blood between these cousins, but I didn't realize it was a competition between Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump except Alice was more universally loved and effective than Ivanka.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez tells us what we already knew, that man is considered to be the standard human and woman is the variation. She gives all kinds of examples and the dangerous consequences, and it's pretty overwhelming.
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz is a time travel novel set in a future where there was never a split between people fighting for women's suffrage vs those fighting for suffrage for freed slaves. Harriet Tubman becomes a Senator. Anthony Comstock's influence continues for centuries. This is intersectional feminism at its most fascinating.
And another book about intersectional feminism, I finally got to read Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo about British women of color. Some of these young women are pretty off-putting, but it covers everything from lesbian domestic violence to the changing occupation of teaching high school.

Just finished Pandora's Jar, an investigation of women in Greek mythology. For those of us who read Greek myths and wondered why all the women were duplicitous sluts, crazed murderers, or voiceless victims Natalie Haynes has the answer. They Weren’t! By piecing together versions of the stories created by many ancient writers and artists we discover that Helen, Pandora, Medea and others were more multifaceted than the standard images of them we experience today. With wit and humour she shows how these mythological figures have been used in more recent historic times to put women in their place, to titillate the male gaze, and even to express feminist wrath. This is an excellent book, highly recommended.

>175 Citizenjoyce:. I putting a couple of those on my wish list.

And I've FINALLY started Hyperbole and a Half. I picked it up off the TBR pile a couple of times before and just couldn't get into it. I read more than half of it yesterday and LOLing all the way.

Two completely contrasting books this week - Jane Austen's Lady Susan / The Watsons / Sanditon, and Sarah Parcak's Archaeology from Space. I heard Sarah Parcak on an episode of the BBC's Inside Science a few weeks ago, and she was so articulate and enthusiastic I immediately bought the book!

Hi all, I am going to start a new page since I got lost trying to find the bottom of this one. See you on page 11!

I started the new year with a great read, Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton which, if he were a reading man, would make trump green with envy. trump has done everything he could to be just like Putin, but he just doesn't have the brains or, fortunately, the ability to completely destroy the rule of law in his country. Putin is a clever man. He weaseled his way up the KGB and up the Soviet political system without people paying much attention. When he finally got to head leadership in Russia most people thought he was a black horse newcomer. As a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, he managed to intertwine organized crime and the KGB and so allow selected people to become extremely rich. I don't think he used Don Corleone's actual warning to new personnel acquisitions that he would help them, but someday in the future, he would want them to do him a favor, but that was his attitude. His chosen few became heads of business and industry then when he wanted to take their businesses for himself if they refused this little favor they were hit with billions of dollars in back taxes. Taxes and laws were both made retroactive. Surprise. Some billionaires ended up dead, some in jail, some just lost their businesses, then he came for the west financing politicians who could help break apart the European Union and laundering money. He was behind Brexit, he is behind the right-wing hatred of George Soros who has warned people about him. And he's played trump like a fiddle. I can see why trump has such respect for him, he's the godfather trump never will be. According to the NYT Putin's response to her description of his dealings in St. Petersberg, “This all happened,” he smugly acknowledged. “But this is absolutely normal trading operations. How can you explain this to a menopausal woman like that?” So, trump has the attitude of disdainful misogyny, he just doesn't have the ability.
Now, on to novels.

As is my new January custom, I'm reading books from lots of different best of 2020 lists. I kind of suspend my own judgement when picking these books, go out of my comfort zone and pick books just because they're on the lists. Putin's People was a great success, my first novel on the list, Luster by Raven Leilani is not, at least, not for me. Her writing is beautiful, sentences flow into each other all warm and gooey, I thought I could read her forever, unfortunately, her characters are very unpalatable. It's one of those books for which I am not the intended audience because it's very young New Yorky, and I'm not. The main character is struggling to pay her bills - ok, I got that, but she has sex with almost every man she meets. She doesn't worry about the consequences, she doesn't care how it could affect her employment or how it could affect the lives of other people. She has daddy issues and has to feed them. The book does have interesting things to say about race, so put that together with the writing, i guess that's how it ended up on the list.

>180 Citizenjoyce: Not written by a woman so apologies for mentioning it in this thread, but I recently read Shadow State by Luke Harding on a similar theme - Russian meddling in other states' political processes. His theory is more that Trump is Putin's glove-puppet, owned by him, than that Trump just wants to be like him. A fascinating and horrifying read.

>182 SChant: I would say that it’s difficult to understand how a narcissist could let himself be used so completely; however flattery and money do the trick.