Lyda Phillips's Blog

Reading List 2015:33-34: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante
32. After Alice, Gregory Maguire (thanks Jeff)
31. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
30. A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, Suzanne Joinson 
29. The Library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins
28. Rising Fury, Jen Rasmussen
27. JRR Tolkien: A Biography, Humphrey Carpenter
26. The Novel Habits of Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
25. Crook of the Dead, Jen Rasmussen
24. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Valente, Catherynne M.,
23. Night of the Gun, David Carr
22. Memphis Noir, story collection
21. (currently reading) Journney to the West, translated, edited by Anthony C. Yu
20. Did You Ever Have a Family, Bill Clegg
19. Grace of Kings, Ken Lui
18. Mark of the Dragonfly, Jaleigh Johnson
17. Honey from the Lion, Matthew Neill Null
16. French Concession, Xaio Bai (in translation)
15. Halting State, Charles Stross
14. The Wool Omnibus, Hugh Howey
13. The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester
12. The Tyrant’s Daughter, J.C. Carlson
11. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Emily M. Danforth
10. The Arctic Code, Matthew J. Kirby
9. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
7-8. Tropic of Serpents, The Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan
6. The Three Clerks, Anthony Trollope
5. Out of Oz, Gregory Maguire
4. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters
1-3. A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life, Deborah HarknessRe-read:4-6 The Lord of the Rings: all three volumes, JRR Tolkien3. Dept. of Speculation, Jenny Offill
1-2. Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Anthony Trollope

Since I retired in July 2015, I have been kind of at a loss to say what it is I'm doing.  I am a freelance writer and a novelist, but neither of those provide me with any concrete justification for my existence, especially the latter. My reviews for Chapter 16 are the sole exception. People can click on a link and see my name at the top of something, and then they can read that and muse to themselves, "so, Lyda wrote that. She actually does exist."

But since Trump's election my life has taken on more substance, more structure, at least in my own mind. People ask me what I've been up to and I can say, "I've been protesting a lot." They nod, they smile, they get it. I could say just as truly, "I've been curled up in bed re-reading OZ books."

But protesting is not just a way to vent the existential fear this administration has awakened in me, it gets me out of the house. Out with people, basking in the sun and wind, exercising my lungs, with other people but not in a way that is any real pressure socially. We are all just together, feeling the same outrage and fear, and we yell about it together, sometimes in unison. I see dear friends who I wouldn't otherwise see so often. I have reconnected with freinds I haven't seen in decades. I have met people whom I should have known years ago. I have met people I never have dreamed of knowing.

I can protest at a moment's notice. I have a collection of signs in the back of Junior, my little Kia Soul. I can choose from among No Climate Deniers in the Cabinet (so much for that), Save our Healthcare (eeekkk), or an all-purpose Dissent is Patriotic sign from the ACLU. I huddle online with other activists; I am doing some media outreach; I am addicted to social media.

I have blown out my knee somehow with all this stomping around, but yet I persist.

This is what Democracy looks like.

And I have concluded that Democracy does not have orange hair and no clue about history or governing or diplomacy or intelligence gathering or good taste in home decorating or how to secure a tie or grace under pressure or protecting the vulnerable or ...

2017 Reading List:

18. Our Dark Duet, Victoria Schwab
17. Commonwealth, Ann Patchett
16. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
15. The Gloaming, Melanie Finn
13-14. The Last Billable Hour, Escape Velocity, Susan Wolfe
12. Dark Money, Jane Mayer
11. The Girl in the Metropol Hotel, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
8-10. Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree, Mississippi Blood, Greg Iles
7. Pistaco, Lynn Monahan
6. To the Bright Edge of the World, Eowyn Ivey
5. A Conjuring of Light, V.E. Schwab
2-4.. Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree, Mississippi Blood, Greg Iles
1. All the Things I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
ReRead:
1- 15.The Wizard of Oz, The Land of Oz, The Road to Oz, Ozma of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, The Sea Fairies, Sky Island, The Scarecrow of Oz, Rinkitink in Oz, The Lost Princess of Oz, The Tin Woodman of Oz, Glinda of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Pistaco: A Tale of Love in the Andes by Lynn F Monahan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pistaco is a tale of a conflicted young American priest called to the high Andes, where he finds both love and death in the height of the Maoist Shining Path uprising. Pistaco is billed as a thriller, and it is, both a political thriller and a supernatural horror story. It reads more like literary fiction, however, and the deliberate pace with its wealth of detail is lovely. Excellent fiction debut from a writer I expect we'll hear more from.


View all my reviews

2017 List:

7. Pistaco, Lynn Monahan
6. To the Bright Edge of the World, Eowyn Ivey
5. A Conjuring of Light, V.E. Schwab
2-4.. Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree, Mississippi Blood, Greg Iles
1. All the Things I Never Told You, Celeste Ng

Dibby Hill Book Awards


General Fiction:
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

Young-Adult:This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab
Sci-Fi/Fantasy:The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss


Non-Fiction:H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald

2017 List:

5, A Conjuring of Light, V.E. Schwab
2-4.. Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree, Mississippi Blood, Greg Iles
1. All the Things I Never Told You, Celeste Ng

Terrible year (see these photos from 2016). Hope we have another year, but it's too much to hope that it won't be terrible.This is an image from 2016 I will cherish.  Next time I am in Colorado it will probably be a strip mine.

I surpassed my goal of reading 50 books in 2016 and hit 69, including re-reads. I achieved that by striking the rich vein of Susan Wittig Albert's delightful mysteries set in a town very much like San Marcos, Texas, near where my brother now lives, and where we grew up in San Antonio. I was completely bereft when I reached the last one. And one a year is not going to be at all satisfying. Thank you Wim and Carla for getting me hooked.

Also it was a great year for my two critique partners, Jen Rasmussen, who published four kick-ass dark fantasy/horror novels (or as she calls them "dark snark") and for Katherine Marsh, whose fourth novel from Hyperion published this year, The Door Beside the Staircase, a middle-grade novel of witches and strong women no matter their age.

Now I'm weighing the nominees for the annual -- 



Dibby Hill Book Awards


General Fiction:
The Atomic Weight of Love, Elizabeth J. Church
The Nest, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
The Rules of Civility, Amor Towles
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante
The New Neighbor, Leah Stewart
Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Ed Tarkington
Chasing the North Star, Robert Morgan
Young-Adult:The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi
The Shadow Queen, M.J. Redwine
Into White, Randi Pink
This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab
Sci-Fi/Fantasy:Wall of Storms, Ken Liu
The Tale of Skikanoko: Emperor of the Eight Islands, The Dragon Child and the Autumn Princess, Lord of the Darkwood, The Tengu's Game of Go, Lian Hearn
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E.Schwab
A Gathering of Darkness, V.E.Schwab
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss
The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss
In the Labyrinth of Drakes, Marie Brennan


Non-Fiction:Good Birders Don't Wear White, Lisa White, ed.The Inklings, Humphrey CarpenterKingbird Highway, Ken KaufmannFlicka's Friend, Mary O'Hara
H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald
The Road to Middle Earth, T.A. Shipley
A Cup of Water Under My Bed, Daisy Hernandez
Nominees are books I read in 2016, regardless of publication date.

If anyone cares to vote, or critique, or otherwise weigh in, please comment below.
Results Announced in January 2017

2016 Reading List: 
67.  The Door by the Staircase, Katherine Marsh
63-66. Gathering Black, Grim Haven, Peak of the Devil, Rising Fury, Jen Rasmussen
61. The Atomic Weight of Love, Elizabeth J. Church
60. Kingbird Highway, Kenn Kaufmann
59. Wall of Storms, Ken Liu
58. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, JKR et al57. The Nest, Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
56. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
54-55. The Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
53. Good Birders Don't Wear White, Lisa White, ed.
52. The Inklings, Humphrey Carpenter
48-51. Emperor of the Eight Islands, The Dragon Child and the Autumn Princess, Lord of the Darkwood, The Tengu's Game of Go, Lian Hearn
46-47. Bittersweet, Blood Orange, Susan Witting Albert
45. The Star-Touched Queen, Rouhani Chokshi
44. The Shadow Queen, M.J. Redline
43. Into White, Randi Pink
40-42 Cat's Claw, Widow's Tears, Death Come Quickly, Susan Witting Albert
39. Flicka's Friend, Mary O'Hara
33-38 Bleeding Hearts, Spanish Dagger, Nightshade, Wormwood, Holly Blues, Mourning Gloria, Susan Witting Albert
32, This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab

25-31 Lavender Lies, Mistletoe Man, Bloodroot, Indigo Dying, An Untimely Death, A Dilly of a Death, Dead Man's Bones, Susan Witting Albert
22-24 The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss
21. Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
14-20 Thyme of Death, Witches' Bane, Hangman's Root, Rosemary Remembered, Rueful Death, Love Lies Bleeding, Chile Death, Susan Witting Albert
13. A Cup of Water under My Bed, Daisy Hernandez
12. In the Labyrinth of Drakes, Marie Brennan
11. The New Neighbor, Leah Stewart
10. The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
9. Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Ed Tarkington
8. Chasing the North Star, Robert Morgan
7. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
6. H Is for Hawk, Helen McDonald
5. Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
4. The Road to Middle Earth, T.A. Shipley
2-3. A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Darkness, V.E. Schwab1. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante
Re-Read:4. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum1-3. My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, Green Grass of Wyoming, Mary O'Hara

I wrote this in July. And already, the catastrophe is playing out. Our democracy, this precious freedom we've enjoyed and defended for 240 years, is in danger. 

****

If Trump is elected, here is how I think it would go down.

He wins by a small margin, maybe 46-44, less than a majority because of the Libertarian and Green vote swelled by BernieForever-ites.

UPDATE: He actually loses the popular vote by a small majority, but wins the electoral college. If the third/fourth party candidates had not been on the ticket Hillary would have won.

He and his family redecorate the White House.

UPDATE: Melania was there yesterday, doubtless thinking how old-fashioned and dowdy the White House is. More gold, must have new desk in Oval Office, that six-foot portrait of Trump paid for by his foundation would look good in here.





With his slim mandate and the support of his Supreme Court nominees, the process of disenfranchisement of minorities accelerates. Gerrymandering accelerates. Anti-immigrant laws are stiffened. Deportations accelerate.

UPDATE: Before he even takes office, right-wing violence has spiked. Shaun King has a running tally on his twitter account.

The social safety nets are dismantled or turned over to Wall Street, where the oligarchs derive the ultimate benefits. The process of privatizing public education accelerates, so that the wealthy skim even more revenue away from public institutions in favor of elite "public" schools in wealthy enclaves. The poor languish in starving schools.



The disenfranchisement of anyone not of European stock continues.

The concentration of wealth accelerates.


This is met by protests, which are ruthlessly suppressed by increasingly militarized local police forces. This prompts ever more desperate protests until "reluctantly" the administration imposes martial law.

UPDATE: This has begun even before the dust settles. On Thursday, just two days after the election, police call protests riots and step up suppression.

Meanwhile, the United States withdraws from NATO and other multilateral treaties. The joint chiefs of staff object and are replaced. The administration purges the military of dissenters.

Bingo! We are Russia. We are Turkey. Or any other bogus "democracy" that is in reality an oligarchy headed by an autocrat.

And we, the people, like the dismayed horse in the picture, wait for our masters to get on our backs and dig their spurs into our ribs.






WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN! WE MUST BEAR WITNESS. 
However we can, we must carry the torch--through the law, through the way we operate our businesses, through unruly and uncomfortable art, through simply standing up to thugs and bullies in schools, playgrounds, shopping malls, coffee shops across America. 

We cannot let our country down.

 
The Journey of the Fur Trapper

Now available for a limited time: the iconic travels of the fur trapper and his companions.
A photographic romp through the American West narrated by a faux fur trapper. A month and a day on the road with a 15-year-old dog. Seven national parks, diverse flora and fauna. Running commentary by snarky friends (you know who you are).




2016 Reading List: 

52. Good Birders Don't Wear White, ed.
51. The Inklings, Humphrey Carpenter
48-50. Emperor of the Eight Islands, The Dragon Child and the Autumn Princess, Lord of the Darkwood, Lian Hearn
46-47. Bittersweet, Blood Orange, Susan Witting Albert
45. The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi
44. The Shadow Queen, M.J. Redline
43. Into White, Randi Pink
40-42 Cat's Claw, Widow's Tears, Death Come Quickly, Susan Witting Albert
39. Flicka's Friend, Mary O'Hara
33-38 Bleeding Hearts, Spanish Dagger, Nightshade, Wormwood, Holly Blues, Mourning Gloria, Susan Witting Albert
32 This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab
25-31 Lavender Lies, Mistletoe Man, Bloodroot, Indigo Dying, An Untimely Death, A Dilly of a Death, Dead Man's Bones, Susan Witting Albert
22-24 The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss
21. Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
14-20 Thyme of Death, Witches' Bane, Hangman's Root, Rosemary Remembered, Rueful Death, Love Lies Bleeding, Chile Death, Susan Witting Albert
13. A Cup of Water under My Bed, Daisy Hernandez
12. In the Labyrinth of Drakes, Marie Brennan
11. The New Neighbor, Leah Stewart
10. The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
9. Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Ed Tarkington
8. Chasing the North Star, Robert Morgan
7. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
6. H Is for Hawk, Helen McDonald
5. Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
4. The Road to Middle Earth, T.A. Shipley
2-3. A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Darkness, V.E. Schwa1. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante
Re-Read:1-2. My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, Mary O'Hara

Is this the end of civil society, of progressive values, our dreams of a more inclusive, sustainable, just future?




This lady's comments on a friend's post last night seem to sum up what has been unleashed upon us, enabled by craven "establishment" Republicans.

I am sorry I am a Christian and I voted for him just like our family did. Yes I do not agree with everything he does but I will not let a lady become president that will kill innocent children. She is corrupt and needs Jesus. Wendy I love you and I want you to know that God is coming soon. This is God's plan not ours. America needs to turn back to God and I am sorry what Hillary stood for will not turn us back to God. I have been quiet too long it is time for Christians to rise up and vote for the party that stands with the Bible. I pray that you will see that what your family believes in is TRUTH. American people are tired of lies, deceit and corruption. Trump is not prefect but he at least deserves the chance to help America. She has had her chance. Love ya!


I had two people to vote for. Democrat party who stands for abortion, homosexuality, destroying our constitution, open borders, free trade, depleting our military, and many more things. Republican Party stands for Christian values so I am sorry you are wrong. The end of story.


This blows my mind. How in God's name can someone look or listen to Donald J. Trump billionaire and see anything but a crass, vulgar opportunist who'll stick a shiv in anyone who gets in his way. Someone who doesn't even know what the Constitution says, or care. That he is a man of God is laughable, delusional.

I laid it out before, how I think this could go down.

I stand by this prediction, unless Americans can, will, rise to the challenge of a far right demagogue in the White House, surrounded by advisers like Steve Bannon, supported by the Klan and other right-wing fringe groups.

I am afraid for my gay and lesbian friends, I am afraid for my black and Jewish friends, I am afraid for the environment and the protesters at Standing Rock. I am afraid for Aleppo, since Trump will align with Putin to finish it off. I am afraid for the downy woodpecker on my suet this morning, for the sea otters in California. I am afraid for all my friends, especially those who have already had enough grief this year to sink a ship. I am afraid for my own courage. I am afraid I will give up. I am afraid I will stop writing. I am afraid I won't get out of bed.

This is like 911. This is how my mother must have felt when she had a nervous breakdown after we bombed Hiroshima, though that was more immediate terror. But I am afraid Trump will start or enable a nuclear war.

I am waiting for the grief to end, the fear to fade. I am waiting to get mad.

Camp Miramichee Photo Book Now Available
 
   

 
The Girls of Spring River
 
Lyda Phillips editor

This photo book on the history of Camp Miramichee, a YWCA in Hardy, Arkansas, is now available in hard and soft cover in time for the venerable camp's 100th anniversary. Miramichee opened in 1916 and closed forever in 1989. But since 2005 alumna of the camp they loved as girls have been meeting every September for reunions. And this year, by strange coincidence, is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scout camp a half a mile upriver, Kia Kima. AND the centennial of the founding of Cherokee Village, a vacation community about a mile upriver from Kia Kima.

Hardy was a retreat for families from Memphis and the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas for generations. The camps in the little town in the foothills of the Ozarks also included a Girl Scout camp, Kiwanee, and another Boy Scout camp, Cedar Valley.

It was an amazing place, an environment where girls could be as tough and fearless as they wanted to be. And now, to a woman, we credit much of what we have  accomplished to those days on the Spring River, shooting white water in our 17-foot aluminum canoes or diving into the chilly river on foggy mornings before we were really awake.

So here's a tribute to Camp Miramichee and all the camps like it across the United States that turned timid little girls into fierce and competent women.

Camp Miramichee Photo Book Now Available
 
   

 
The Girls of Spring River
 
Lyda Phillips editor

This photo book on the history of Camp Miramichee, a YWCA in Hardy, Arkansas, is now available in hard and soft cover in time for the venerable camp's 100th anniversary. Miramichee opened in 1916 and closed forever in 1989. But since 2005 alumna of the camp they loved as girls have been meeting every September for reunions. And this year, by strange coincidence, is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scout camp a half a mile upriver, Kia Kima. AND the centennial of the founding of Cherokee Village, a vacation community about a mile upriver from Kia Kima.

Hardy was a retreat for families from Memphis and the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas for generations. The camps in the little town in the foothills of the Ozarks also included a Girl Scout camp, Kiwanee, and another Boy Scout camp, Cedar Valley.

It was an amazing place, an environment where girls could be as tough and fearless as they wanted to be. And now, to a woman, we credit much of what we have  accomplished to those days on the Spring River, shooting white water in our 17-foot aluminum canoes or diving into the chilly river on foggy mornings before we were really awake.

So here's a tribute to Camp Miramichee and all the camps like it across the United States that turned timid little girls into fierce and competent women.