flight paths discussion

The power of the positive
The love of reading
Good news
For good friends

Magdelanye, that's a lovely poem. It's a wonderful start to this new month.

I am reading one of the slowest, most boring True Life crime books ever: The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Terror.
It's a good enough story and would have been quite good if edited to at least half the length. Such a situation is always sad when it happens but there isn't much here to keep talking about.
This book is slowing my reading down but I'll get through it. I'm close to the end now and am powering through.

I hope you are all reading more exciting and thrilling books than this one.

Thanks Petra. Its what I'm wishing for everyone.

Sorry that you seem to feel obligated to finish a slow and boring book. I get that way sometimes but Ive gotten discerning enough when I admit whats happening, to chuck the book already. Is this another group read?
And how did the Dickens short story discussion go?

Feel a bit discombobulated in my reading, finishing up with the clutch of books Ive been reading for the last while.
Ellie glad to hear you've read Stamped from the Beginning. Amazing book.

I miss The Parisian like he was a good friend who has abruptly left town. This book is masterpiece, for the writing and the character development but most of all for the detailed back story of the Palestinians.

I should be writing this on my laptop.
So I'll do my update tomorrow

Magdelanye, I don't feel obligated to finish it. I just tend to push through the true crime books because whatever is happening in the pages is someone's life and I want to see how it turns out. Despite the tragedy of a person being killed, this just doesn't seem to be much of a story. There is either a lot of details that cannot be confirmed or a lot of details that cannot be published. Either way, it makes this story seem rather lame and slow. The author also puts in way too much mundane detail, which makes the story drag even more.

The Dickens discussion is still ongoing. It should wrap up early next week. Turns out that the "short" story I chose by name only, is a collection of 6 stories: the main one written by Dickens and Wilkie Collins and 5 stories added by 4 other authors. The discussion is going well. The stories are being enjoyed and people are jumping in with good comments. I'm relieved. I had visions of no one reading it or participating. LOL.
We have one last story to discuss.

The Parisian sounds interesting. I'll check it out.

On a sidebar, I only have 1 library book at the moment! Since Covid, I've had a bag of books from the library at all times. I've slowly been returning them and not getting new ones out. Is that a sign that the pandemic is coming to an end? LOL.

Congratulations Petra on getting your library books down to one. You will either laugh or scorn when I say that I was right pleased to get down to 28 with the same plan. Trouble is, I still have 23 books on request, and they usually come in clumps. somehow I.m back up to 33 because I also grabbed and read
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh from New Arrivals. The title almost put me off but I am rather in awe of OM and so of course I found it a relief that I was engrossed by it and glad I did jump on it. I've already done my review. Remember Eileen?

Less engrossing and even a bit disappointing was a book of short stories by Doctorow, E. L. I thought Radicalized was brilliant but these were heavyhanded for the most part and a bit meanspirited I found.

I feel the same way about Downtown Owl bChuck Klostermany though I'm finally warming up to the sardonic humor and a few really funny bits.

I've also warmed up to The Grateful Jar Project by Krystin Clark Its a challenge, this one and I AM grateful for it but if I am to be honest for the first bit I did feel somewhat OBLIGED to keep up with this in spite of some irritation with a whiff of pretentious cuteness.

And so I picked up again The Orange Eats Creeps This is a book Ive put down 3 times already but I got hooked back in on the bus ride to the library last weekend so did not return but renewed. It's certainly not cute in any way and pretentious in another kind of rank way.

Glad your Dickens et al is turning out well.
Will be interesting to see what an array you will come up with next. Do you have enough good choices around you?

I can't wait to get reading from my own library and finish with the sorting already. It's too nice to be indoors.

Stay rested, nourished and hydrated, everyone

No scorn here. It's how I usually roll with library books. I just can't take out as many as you do. If the stack of library books grows too large and I can't keep up with reading them, I start to feel stressed. Better to return them, then get them out again later, when I've got time to read them.
I have an incredibly long "for later" shelf at the library, too. It gives me lots of choices for taking out.

A nice selection of books, Magdelanye.
I have added OM's book to my "for later" shelf. It sounds totally intriguing, so I will take it out soon.

My at-home library is overflowing, too. I really should sort through them all but every time I start doing that, I end up falling in love with the books again and never seem to throw any away (throw = find them a new home; not toss in garbage)

The sorting of your library will wait for the Fall or a rainy Summer day, Magdelanye. It really is too nice outdoors to stay indoors.

Hi!

Magdelanye, I love your poem. I shall keep it close to me.

My library is overflowing. I thought the Kindle would solve that but now I simply have two areas that are bursting at the seams!

I just finished Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. Light reading but fun and a distraction, About a lawyer (with a hunchback) working for Thomas Cromwell (I wasn't ready to leave the world of Wolf Hall just yet!). I liked it so much I immediately started Dark Fire, also by Sansom, which I am enjoying.

I'm afraid my reading isn't very enlightening right now. No Dickens level type work. But I'm grateful I can concentrate at all. I am also reading Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser because, well, you know: appropriate. I just finished Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself because I need it and am now working in The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive (also written by Neff, along with Christopher Germer). I am also reading Germer's book, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions. So I, between my current anxiety attacks, I am keeping busy with my reading!

I could relate to the CJ Sansom series, a later book in the series, Tombland takes place around where my daughter lives.
I am now on 3 concurrent books, one crime, one fantasy and one other (books for my wife). Locations are Sweden, Otherworld and Edinburgh.

I finished reading The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I recommend highly for its pure entertainment value. Every page of this book was fun to read.

I then read two graphic novels:
Fables, Volume 1, which was well done and interesting, in its way, but I like my graphic novels more reality based. I won't continue the series, although this was well done.

Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg. I hadn't heard of Rosa Luxemburg before. Her story is fascinating.

I'm currently reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which I'm finding truly interesting, and listening to Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road, which isn't as interesting.

Petra, what a mix of books--sounds like you're having a good time!

I have always been interested in Rosa Luxemburg. I definitely have to read that--a graphic novel, no less! And I've been interested in both Sapiens & Silk Road so I guess I'll look toward Sapiens and skip Silk Roads!

I've also always wanted to read The Scarlet Pimpernel: good to hear you found it such fun! I will definitely put it on my list.

I just finished Suite for Barbara Loden, a wonderful book about the actress who produced, directed, and starred in the independent film (and apparently cult classic) Wanda. I loved the book--short and a kind of meditation on Loden's life, the film, and the author's own experience in writing the book. Very satisfying.

I am half-way through Tony Hoagland's volume of poems, Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God: Poems
which I'm also finding excellent--enjoyment may not be the word for poems which often center on his illness (this is his last volume of poetry; he was dying while writing them). It was recommended by my poetry teacher who is working with me around the poems I am writing at the moment dealing with my current experience. Luckily, in my case, I am not in danger of dying! but the writing is helping me make sense of and get through what's happening.

I am continuing to reread my favorite Agatha Christie's. Sparkling Cyanide which I did enjoy, very much. I also reread her Sad Cypress which I enjoyed despite having such a vivid recollection that I could recall most of the scenes & even dialogue by heart.

I just started The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump by Michiko Kakutani, the New York Times cultural critic which is just what it sounds like and which I was completely caught up in from the sentence.

And I'm continuing with Dark fire.

I bought Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration which was on a one day sale for $1.99. I've been wanting to read this for a while so it's next on my TBR.

Ice wrote: "I could relate to the CJ Sansom series, a later book in the series, Tombland takes place around where my daughter lives.
I am now on 3 concurrent books, one crime, one fantasy and o..."

Glad to hear you know the Sansom series--I'll now be especially interested in Tombland!

Ellie wrote: "I am half-way through Tony Hoagland's volume of poems, Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God: Poems.."

I loved this book. Almost every poem contained a line that resonated in some way. These poems have a lot to say.
I'm glad you are enjoying this, too, Ellie, and that it's helping you find your way.

what a lot of reading is going on, so great to catch up. I wonder why I rarely see notifications and if I want to read one of your reviews I have to specifically look it up.

Are there two authors with the name Sansom?
I did notice when I was unpacking a copy of Winter in Madrid which is high on my tbr. But I remember adoring a book by-well I thought it was him but it seems not.

As for Rosa Luxemberg, as well as Emma Goldman in particular, I spent a year and more reading biographies and autobiographies of fabled feminists. What magnificent, prescient women.

Now Petra, you will really have a good reason to come up, to borrow from my library. Now that the restrictions are down, and I am living just past Gibsons it wont be long before such a trip will be easily doable. I believe you have a book for me as well.

Folks, I finished it last week but I find myself thinking about Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price as I notice every day how what she calls the Laziness Lie plays out in my life to the extent that often I cannot achieve the deep relaxation I need.

This is a well laid out and researched book and DP is an informed and accessible witness. What seems at first a simple statement- however controversial-is in fact a strong indictment of our operating system. oops, I thought I was writing a review for a moment. If you have ever felt guilty for taking a break or a treat or for saying no or setting boundaries;, or shame over whatever didnt get done that day, this book will give you reasons to live.

Actually when I went to do an update, GR grabbed and slotted in my read books. I have yet to write a proper review.

Thats because I was also reading The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne I believe I mentioned last month how disappointed I was with the last book of his I read A History of Loneliness comparing it inevitably with the mindbending brilliant A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom
Ok who else know JB? Im just so impressed by his flexibility with time. I have written reviews on the 3 I have read. Actually, I may have read his shortest and most acclaimed one,The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas but so long ago and blotted out by the movie.

Its so good Ellie that you have some of the best books at hand that you can apply to your current situation. Plus all the work you have done I am sure will contribute to a best outcome.

Have any of you discovered Pearl Cleage? I loved her first book enough to put an interlibrary loan on the sequel. I Wish I Had A Red Dress Pearl Cleage which is a lighter approach to the tortuous problems of the world than Boyne. Just what I need

I have not yet been able to get my hands on the Hoagland.

Its a bit cooler here this afternoon and may that be so for the rest of the province.
enduring grace

Magdelanye, I was absolutely fascinated by & adoring of Emma Goldman when I was a teenager (I still find her an amazing woman!). All the books you're reading sound wonderful. I wish I could read books simultaneously!

I haven't heard of Cleage but I'm intrigued.

It's cooler here as well--only in the 80s.

Yes Ellie Emma was a real inspiration.
I understand that there are new biographies and hope I shall live long enough to revisit her life from a modern feminist perspective.

The thing about reading more than one book at a time is to make sure they are different enough to appeal to different moods and not get them conflated. Not always possible but I read nf in the morning and often in the evening and generally afternoons are for fiction. Im still reading one book at a time, but not really simultaneously.

Im loving Pearl Cleage.

oops. the phone is so grabby.
best to enter books on the laptop anyway fo be able to give link.
wanting to go online after dinner which smells like its almost ready. Squash from my garden!

Petra hows the backyard coming along?

Have you a little sanctuary amidst the settling chaos?
Im am actually back on the laptop and not sure if an apology is in order because after dinner I could not push myself to go online. I am editing out some of the glitches now and in a way Im scaring myself because I see how easy it is to alter reality.

I do want to add this provocative book to our list
Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

It's easy to see why I am getting this book conflated with the Pearl Cleage and even earlier I had to pause on it while reading Devon Price because they too are professional troublemakers. Very inspiring.

Im just free lance

Winter in Madrid was also CJ Sansom, but not within the Shardlake series

isnt there a book called Annabel or maybe Prauge? A mysterious woman, trains.....??

Magdelanye wrote: "isnt there a book called Annabel or maybe Prauge? A mysterious woman, trains.....??"

Hi Magdelanye. Just browsing and think the book you're looking for might be Midnight Train to Prague by Carol Windley who is a Canadian author from B.C. Haven't read it but it sounded like your clues.

Mj wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "isnt there a book called Annabel or maybe Prauge? A mysterious woman, trains.....??"

Hi Magdelanye. Just browsing and think the book you're looking for might be [book:Midnight T..."

thanks MJ, I'll have to investigate that one
Its not the one which was the only Sebald I have read and why I made a note to find more.

Magdelanye wrote: "Mj wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "isnt there a book called Annabel or maybe Prauge? A mysterious woman, trains.....??"

Hi Magdelanye. Just browsing and think the book you're looking for might be [book..."
[book:Austerlitz|88442]
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald translated by Anthea Bell is one you've read and rated 5 stars. Looks interesting but unfortunately right now it seems too depressing for me to give it a go. Take care.

yes! Austerlitz! thats the one! Sebald not Sansom and the process of this discovery is actually a bit eerie as my reply to your suggestion contained the right name.
For something written in a lighter vein but still with guts try Pearl Cleage