Irene's (atozgrl) Reading 2024 - Thread 3

^Indian Creek Falls (With the hot summer, I was feeling the need of a cool picture)

Hello everyone! Welcome to my third thread of 2024.

In case you missed my introduction on the previous thread, I'm Irene, retired librarian, and I've been on LT since 2008, but I joined to catalog my book collection. Unfortunately, RL intervened, and I still haven't finished cataloging my books, but continue to work on it sporadically. I did not get involved in the social aspects of LT until last year, when I returned to the site after a long absence to track the books I've been reading since I retired. I found the 75ers at that time, and have really enjoyed meeting folks here.

I'm married, living in central NC. No cats, unfortunately, because my DH is allergic. But we enjoy feeding the birds in our backyard. I hope to make a big dent in the clutter around the house this year. I've got lots of paper to sort, and stuff inherited from my parents that I need to go through and organize or donate. I also love baseball, especially the Cubs.

My work in the library was mostly with systems and websites, not so much directly with books. I also worked for a government library, not a public library, so I don't know as much about current fiction as the public librarians do. I didn't actually have much time to read books while I was working, so I have a lot of recent fiction to catch up on. I've got a large collection of nonfiction, mostly history, that I've collected over the years, and I'm trying to concentrate on reading much of that. I enjoy a wide range of genres but especially enjoy historical fiction. Growing up, I loved reading classics, some for school, but most for my own enjoyment. I also read a lot of science fiction and fantasy when I was young, but haven't kept up with it over the years, so I've got a lot of catching up to do in that genre as well. I have also realized there are some classic children's books that I somehow missed while growing up, and I need to read them too. Last year I joined a RL book club mid-year, and this year I'm starting with a second one which reads challenged books, which means I may not get as many books read off my own shelves as I hope to this year.

Looking forward to a good year of reading!

Also participating in:

1. The ROOT challenge
Link to my thread there: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356718

2. 2024 Nonfiction Challenge (75 Books Challenge) 75NF
    - December 2023: As You Like It
    - January 2024 - Prize Winners (prizes that are off the beaten tracks; including shortlisted works)
    - February - Women's Work (what women do or did)
    - March - Forensic Sciences
    - April - Globalization
    - May - The Wild, Wild West
    - June - Middle Europe - did not read anything
    - July - Insects
    - August - Being Jewish - did not read anything
    - September - Essays - more info: https://www.librarything.com/topic/354851#8276266
    - October - Music, More Music

3. Reading Through Time
     Quarterly Challenges (RTTQ)
        - January-March 2024: Prehistoric
        - April-June 2024: Ancient/Biblical Times
        - July-September 2024: Arthurian Britain
        - October-December 2024: Medieval Ages Plus the Vikings
     Monthly Challenges (RTTM)
        - January: Janus
        - February: Aquarius & Amethyst
        - March: Medicine, Epidemics, and Plagues
        - April: Characters with disabilities - did not read anything
        - May: International Labour Day
        - June: Wonders of the World! - ran out of time to read my intended book
        - July: Vive la France!
        - August: The Joy of Reading
        - September: Royal to the Bone
        - October: Adultery

4. The War Room (75 Books Challenge) 75WR
    - January: Ancient Wars
    - February: The American War of Independence
    - March: The War of the Roses
    - April: Wars of Religion
    - May: The Napoleonic Wars
    - June: The English Civil War - did not read anything
    - July: Colonial Wars - more info: https://www.librarything.com/topic/361168#8551734 - did not read anything
    - August: World War II
    - September: The American Civil War
    - October: American Follies (Korea, Vietnam, Gulf-War, Afghanistan)

5. 2024 Historical Fiction Challenge (Category Challenge) HF

6. 2024 HistoryCAT (Category Challenge) HCAT
    - March: Science and Medicine
    - April: Riots, Revolution, and Mayhem
    - May: Middle Ages
    - June: Historians
    - July: Spies
    - August: Byzantine Empire - did not read anything
    - September: WWI/WWII
    - October: Disasters!

7. 2024 RandomKIT (RKIT)
     Monthly Challenges
        - July 2024: Favorites
        - September 2024: It’s Raining Men! (Weather)

8. Memorial for Rosalita (MFR)

9. Memoriam Read for Anita (MFA)

Note: hat-tip to kac522 for most of the challenge codes.

RL Book Clubs:

ASC Book Club (ASCBC)
✔ January - Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
✔ February - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
✔ March - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
✔ April - Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
✔ May - Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
✔ June - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and other lessons from the crematory by Caitlin Doughty
✔ July - Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
✔ August - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
✔ September - Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
✔ October - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
November - The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Challenged Books Club (CBC)
✔ January - Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
✔ February - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
✔ March - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
✔ April - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
summer break
✔ September - A Separate Peace by John Knowles
October - Looking for Alaska by John Green
November - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
December - Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

ROOTs Counter

Top Reads of 2024 (in order read)

5 stars
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

4.5 stars
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden
1776 by David McCullough
Year of wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff
Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
The Black Count : glory, revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
Band of brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose

Books read in 2024 (1st quarter)

January
1. The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch - ROOT; 75NF (Dec 2023)
2. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel - ASCBC; RTTM; HF
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - CBC; reread
4. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff - 75WR (Jan); HF

February
5. Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden - ROOT; 75NF (Jan)
6. 1776 by David McCullough - ROOT; 75WR (Feb)
7. Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume - CBC
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - ASCBC; ROOT
9. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke - MFR; reread

March
10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - CBC; reread
11. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - ASCBC
12. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan - RTTQ; 75NF (Mar); ROOT
13. Year of wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks - RTTM (Mar); HF; HCAT (Mar)
14. Wild child by Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch
15. Summer's Vacation by Lynn Plourde and Greg Couch
16. The clown of God by Tomie De Paola

Books read in 2024 (2nd quarter)

April
17. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis ROOT
18. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle CBC; ROOT; reread
19. The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See ASCBC; RTTM (Feb); HF
20. The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir 75WR (Mar); HCAT
21. Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris 75NF; ROOT

May
22. The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff - RTTQ; HF; 75WR (Jan)
23. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester - 75WR (May); RTTM (Feb); HF; ROOT
24. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan - ASCBC; HF; ROOT
25. The three-cornered war : the Union, the Confederacy, and Native peoples in the fight for the West by Megan Kate Nelson - 75NF

June
26. The Black Arrow: a Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson - HCAT (May); HF; 75WR (March); ROOT
27. Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis - HCAT (June); ROOT
28. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty - ASCBC; RTTM (May)
29. Alexander the Great by Frank Lipsius - RTTQ; 75WR (Jan); ROOT

Books read in 2024 (3rd quarter)

July
30. The Black Count : glory, revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss - RTTM; 75WR (May)
31. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - RKIT; ROOT; reread
32. Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby - ASCBC
33. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré - HCAT; ROOT
34. What the Bees See photographs by Craig P. Burrows - 75NF; ROOT
35. Leonard : my fifty-year friendship with a remarkable man by William Shatner - RKIT

August
36. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - RTTM; ROOT
37. Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson - ROOT; ASCBC
38. Band of brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose - 75WR; ROOT

September
39. The Once and Future King by T.H. White - RTTQ; RTTM (Oct); MFA; HF; ROOT
40. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - 4.25* - ASCBC
41. Between two kingdoms : a memoir of a life interrupted by Suleika Jaouad - - ASCBC
42. Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach - HCAT; 75WR (Aug); HF; ROOT

Coding for stars, for my reference.























Instructions at https://www.librarything.com/topic/129158#6620607

My ratings
= Outstanding; exceptional; I loved it
= Excellent; absolutely worth reading
= Very Good; for nonfiction: has an interesting viewpoint, or I learned something
= Good
= Average; for nonfiction: there are some issues with it
= Written well or a classic but I didn't enjoy it
= Writing is hard. I appreciate the work the author did. (borrowed from humouress)
= Bad
= Very Bad
= Terrible; for nonfiction: lots of problems

I decided to try the BingoDog card this year, and am surprised how many squares I've been able to check off so far. A lot of my reads fit more than one square.



2024 BingoDog card:
1. Something themed around food or cooking
2. A book with an ugly cover - Brave New World
3. A book with nothing on the cover but the title and author - The three-cornered war : the Union, the Confederacy, and Native peoples in the fight for the West; Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge; The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
4. A book featuring twins - The Vanishing Half
5. A book about a topic about which you have specific knowledge or expertise - Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge
6. First published in a year ending in 24 - What the Bees See
7. Epistolary or diary format - 84, Charing Cross Road
8. The words "Big" or "Little" in the title - The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book
9. A book from one of the libraries listed under the "Similar libraries" featured on your LT profile page - 1776 (weird_O); Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins (weird_O)
10. A book about Friendship - Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret; The Island of Sea Women; The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book
11. A three-word title - Mr. Midshipman Hornblower; The Silver Branch; Brave New World; Alexander the Great
12. Features a paper based item in the plot - The Book of Lost Names
13. Read a CAT - Year of Wonders (March HistoryCAT); Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation (June HistoryCAT)
14. A short story collection / Anthology (Def)
15. Title contains a person's name - Alexander the Great; Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret; Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
16. Set in the city - The Catcher in the Rye
17. A book with fewer than 100 copies on LT - 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence; What the Bees See; Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins; Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley; Alexander the Great
18. Something written by a person of colour - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; The Vanishing Half; The Kitchen God's Wife; Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents
19. Written by an author 65 or older - Leonard : my fifty-year friendship with a remarkable man
20. A book featuring water - Run Silent, Run Deep; Mr. Midshipman Hornblower; The Island of Sea Women
21. Involves warriors or mercenaries - The Silver Branch; The Eagle of the Ninth; Alexander the Great; 1776
22. Reread a favorite book - The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe
23. A book written in another cultural tradition - The Island of Sea Women; The Kitchen God's Wife; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
24. Something that takes place in multiple countries - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold; Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley; The Kitchen God's Wife; Alexander the Great
25. Read a current/recent bestseller - Demon Copperhead

Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_BingoDOG

Welcome everyone!

Happy new thread! Ha ha! I’m first!

Karen O

Happy new one, Irene.

Happy new thread, dear Irene.

Happy new thread, Irene!

Ooooo! You have set yourself up very nicely here. Happy New Thread, Irene! I look forward to it!

>12 klobrien2: Good to see you, Karen! Unfortunately I don't have a nice crown to hand out like Richard. You'll have to content yourself with my congratulations.

>13 RebaRelishesReading: >14 PaulCranswick: >15 bell7: >16 LizzieD: Thank you Reba, Paul, Mary, and Peggy. Welcome in! It's so nice of you to stop by for a visit.

Happy New 🧵, Irene!

Happy new thread, Irene!

Sweet Thursday, Irene. Happy New Thread. Boo to our Cubs! I thought they would come out strong, in the second half but they are back to their lackluster ways. Sooooo...frustrating.

Hi Irene, and happy new thread to you.

From your last one: I really like C.S. Lewis' writing. I don't know how much you would appreciate him since you are not a Christian, but you might appreciate his nonfiction and apologetics better. It's too bad you didn't enjoy the Narnia books, but to each his/her own as they say. I toyed with the idea of Christianity while in my freshman year of college, but alas, it just never stuck. I’ve read Lewis's Space Trilogy and several of his other books. Not being Christian doesn’t mean not reading about Christianity. I also read about other religions.

What the Bees See is a BB. It’s arriving on Saturday.

And, I have Caste on my shelves, just waiting for the right time.

>1 atozgrl: Always love your intro. You reminded me that you don’t have kitties because of your husband being allergic, but my niece has a specific breed of kitty that allows them to have her because one of their boys is allergic to allergen-infused kitties. She’s a Russian Blue named Yuna and, as Heather wrote just now “… is wonderful for allergies. She hardly sheds too and is quiet and makes a great companion. Very loving!” Just saying…

We need to make plans to visit again now that I’m mobile. I'm 12 weeks out from surgery. My turn to come your way...

>19 vancouverdeb: >20 alcottacre: Thanks Deborah and Stasia!

>21 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Yes, the Cubs are just very disappointing and frustrating this year. No reason for them to buy at the trade deadline this time. Maybe they can frustrate some other teams trying to make the playoffs; preferably the Cardinals.

>22 karenmarie: Hello and thanks, Karen. Yes, I realize that you read a lot about Christianity (and other religions), which is why I thought Lewis' apologetics might suit you better.

I'm glad you thought What the Bees See looks interesting. I really did like it and the photos are gorgeous.

Hmmm, I'll have to think about the Russian Blue. I'm not sure I can convince my DH. His first wife brought home a stray without really consulting him, and it wasn't the best match. That cat was always getting into trouble.

Yes, we'll definitely have to make plans. I'm glad you are finally mobile enough to think about it. Now if we could just find a way to meet up with Peggy too!

HAppy new one!

>26 figsfromthistle: Thanks Anita!

Happy new thread, Irene.

>28 ArlieS: Thank you, Arlie!

We've had a busy day for a Saturday. I tried to get up really early this morning (5:50) to see the gymnastics on the Olympics, but slept through the alarm, so I missed the first 1/2 hour. (I don't know why they scheduled the US and Canada in the first group, so that they are performing at such an ungodly hour for even the East Coast over here. Seems like they could have done a better job of that.) I hope they cover most of what I missed during the prime time coverage tonight.

We got our new mattress delivery today. It took a while for us to decide, but we finally went with the adjustable, split king. We had to strip the bed and make sure everything was out of the way in the bedroom before they came. They brought the new mattresses and set everything up for us. Now we have to learn how to adjust them to our preferences.

I also got a salad dressing delivery. I have not been able to find my favorite salad dressing for a few weeks, and it's only available at Food Lion in my area, as far as I can tell. I wound up ordering a pack from Amazon, and that also came today. I hope this isn't another case of the manufacturer stopping production of a favorite product.

I've had the Olympics on all day, watching some events more closely than others. I will probably be watching a lot for the next couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how much reading I will get in. Some events are better than others for reading while the event is taking place.

Hope you like your new bed(s). We've had a split king for years and love it. Among other things, Hubby used to be a rather noisy night partner and since he sleeps tipped up a bit he doesn't make a peep! That alone has helped my sleep but the ability to adjust to make my back happy and my nose breathe more easily is great too.

Happy new thread!

>31 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! I'm glad to hear your good report. It's just one night so far, so still getting used to it. But I'm loving the ability to raise the head of the bed and not have to rely on stacks of pillows to sit and read, or watch TV, or work on my laptop like I am now. It may take me a bit to figure out what positions I like best, but I'll get there. One of the things that was appealing to us was the idea that if we get a cold and have trouble breathing, being able to raise the head would help a lot. Fortunately, my hubby doesn't snore very often, so that hasn't been a big problem, but it should help on nights when one or the other of us do start snoring.

The disadvantage is having to buy new fitted sheets. I've ordered a few packs, and one came in today. Of course, most of them won't match the sheet sets we already have.

>32 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>33 atozgrl: A down-side to tipped-up beds is that the "fitted sheets" don't fit as snuggly so it's hard to get them taut . I've learned to just sleep on wrinkles and I don't notice anymore but ... No "bouncing quarters" off of our beds.

Happy new thread!

Enjoy the new bed! I have found myself coming to rely on Amazon for certain brands. They often come in multi-packs so I get enough salad dressing for six months!

>35 RebaRelishesReading: I guess that's true! :-) I've never been one to try to get the sheets tight, so it shouldn't bother me too much. All our fitted sheets fit our previous mattress pretty well, so that wasn't an issue, but I don't go for tight top sheets. I'm always getting hot feet and want to stick my feet out from under the covers during the night. If I'm in a hotel with a tightly tucked bed, I have to work at it to loosen the sheets enough for my comfort.

>36 witchyrichy: Thanks, Karen, for both the new thread wishes and new bed wishes. I may have to get used to ordering more things online. I get so frustrated with Target because they're always out of stock--or they quit carrying--things we frequently buy there. The salad dressing from Amazon wasn't cheap, but it does keep us stocked up for a while.

35. Leonard : my fifty-year friendship with a remarkable man by William Shatner

As a lifelong fan of Star Trek, I was interested to read this book when I found out about it. William Shatner shares his memories of Leonard Nimoy and their friendship. He gives a surprisingly detailed biographical summary of Nimoy's life, a good deal of it before and outside of Star Trek. He goes on to talk about their relationship, from a somewhat rough beginning to a deeper relationship when they got to know each other better after the series ended. Their backgrounds were remarkably similar, even though one grew up in Montreal and the other in Boston. Shatner also tells us about the many creative ventures that Nimoy got involved in later in his life.

Even though I've been a fan of Star Trek for so long, I did learn some things that I had not known about Nimoy. For one thing, I was not aware that he had had problems with alcohol for many years before overcoming them. I also didn't know that he had gotten so involved in photography later in his life.

I found the book very interesting, though that is likely due to my longtime fanship, so I gave it 4 stars. YMMV.

>37 atozgrl: When sleeping in a hotel we always untuck the sheets :). We use duvets with covers made of sheeting at home and they're never tucked.

>40 RebaRelishesReading: It sounds like we're a lot alike there, Reba. We do use a flat top sheet though, plus a comforter, though this time of year I don't usually want the comforter on me when I sleep.

I am really enjoying the Olympics right now. The men's gymnastics competition yesterday in particular was fabulous. I am so glad that I'm retired so that I could watch the competition live. The prime time recap never shows all of the competition, especially for the men, and it was so much fun to watch the build-up to the US men finally getting a medal after so many years. I enjoyed the women today as well, but since it was likely they were going to get the gold medal, it wasn't as exciting as yesterday's competition.

Between the Olympics and spending a little bit of time trying to pay attention to the baseball trade deadline, I haven't got a whole lot of reading done. We'll see if that gets any better the rest of the week.

I haven't watched any Olympics live, Irene. I have watched a few replay via Canada's main broadcaster, CBC, mainly Simon Biles in gymnastics , Summer McItosh in swimming and some synchronized diving. Enjoy watching the Olympics live , the books will wait.

Hi there! Thanks for keeping my thread warm. RL is certainly busy lately. Glad to see you are enjoying retirement and the Olympics. I am watching a bit here and there. : ) Happy August!

>39 atozgrl: I am going to have to read that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Irene!

>43 vancouverdeb: If you have a chance, watching the Olympics live is a lot of fun. The prime time recaps cut out too much for me in sports like gymnastics. But I'm glad you've been able to see some of it. Summer McIntosh is amazing! She'll probably be even better in 4 years.

>44 Berly: Your life certainly is busy, Kim! I'm glad to be living at a slower pace right now. I hope you get to watch more of the Olympics, as you can. Happy August to you too!

>45 alcottacre: I hope you will like it, Stasia. It's certainly most of interest to fans of Star Trek, especially the original series. I enjoyed the personal look into their lives, and I did learn things that I had not known.

I agree, Summer McIntosh is amazing! I think she is just 17 if memory serves. I think the only time I watched some of the Olympics live was when it was here in Vancouver, as it was in my time zone.

>49 vancouverdeb: I guess it must be harder to watch things live this time if you're all the way on the Pacific Coast. Most of it has worked well for me this year, except for a couple of extremely early starts for gymnastics, which is the sport I really love to watch. Unfortunately, it looks like there's one more of those tomorrow morning.

I hope you'll be able to see at least a little of it live this year. It's been a lot of fun to watch.

36. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

What an utterly delightful little book. This is one I've been wanting to read for a while, ever since I saw part of the movie based on it, but had never gotten around to it. I finally picked up a copy earlier this year, and was determined to get to it, but with my book club reads and all the challenges here on LT, I hadn't managed to squeeze it in yet. Then the monthly Reading Through Time challenge for August was updated to The Joy of Reading, which gave me the push I needed to finally pick it up. And it turned out to be the perfect format to read while I'm so absorbed in the Olympics, because the short epistolary format makes it easy to read for a bit and then set down when there's something I want to watch in the competition.

I'm sure everyone here is already familiar with this one, so I won't summarize other than to say it is made up of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a struggling writer in New York, who is writing to a bookstore in London to try to get books she cannot find in America. The correspondence covers 20 years from the postwar period in 1949 to 1969. Helene's commentary about books is witty, and sometimes hilariously funny. I feel like she would fit in perfectly in the 75ers here on LT. The writing is gentle, and the people are kind. I wish there was more of this to be found in our world today. My loss that it took me so long to read it.

>51 atozgrl: I love that little book! It's so short and yet so full of love for books and people and people who love books. The last few years I've been making it my very first read on January 1 of each year, to start my new year of reading off in a positive way. One of the few New Year's resolutions that's easy to keep!

>52 kac522: That's a great way to start each new year! I love that idea! I'm sure I'll be reading it again myself. It will be great to pick up any time I need a comfort read.

Here's a huge whammy for y'all to stay safe during Debby.

Well, tropical storm Debby is already making herself felt here. We've started to get bands of rain passing through, although nothing heavy yet. The latest forecast I saw estimated 8-12 inches here. I was planning to hunker down after my weekly Wednesday grocery trip and not move until Saturday at least, but then I remembered that my DH had previously scheduled his regular car maintenance appointment for Thursday. We were planning to drive up to Durham, leave the car at the dealer, and then go back later in the day to pick it up when it was ready. They're so busy, he has to make car appointments a long time in advance; this one was scheduled several weeks ago, back in July. Of course, now Thursday is supposed to be the worst day for possible flooding. I don't know if it's even going to happen now, and if so, how safe will it be to drive? But he doesn't want to reschedule since it's so hard to get an appointment.

As I said elsewhere, the last time we got a big rain-from-tropical-storm event was Matthew, and it knocked out the cable for 3 full days, interrupting my ability to watch the Cubs in the playoffs in 2016. I don't want that to happen again in the middle of the Olympics. Really hope it won't be that bad this time. Right now it looks like the worst of it may be east of I95, and I hope that's so, though I don't want the folks in the eastern part of the state to be flooded out either.

Wordle 1,144 4/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, LAUGH, VIRAL, ANVIL

We actually had some sunshine for a little while this morning. It was dry when I went to the store, but was drizzling lightly when I came out. The drizzle has stopped, but the heavy rain is supposed to move in later this afternoon. However, the local news was saying we are now supposed to get about 4-6 inches in this area for the rest of the storm, so not as bad as they predicted yesterday. I didn't hear what the humidity was, but it feels like 100%.

Hope the storm isn't too bad and that you stay dry and your property undamaged! (time to snuggle up with a good book, right?)

>51 atozgrl: One of my all-time favorite books! I am thrilled to see that you enjoyed it too, Irene! I actually discovered the book through the movie, which is a rarity for me.

I hope that the storm is not too bad for you, Irene. Batten down the hatches and stay safe!

>57 RebaRelishesReading: So far, so good. When I checked around mid-day, we had only gotten 1/2 inch here, so not bad. This afternoon has still mostly been occasional drizzle. The latest from the local weather is that they've lowered the expected amount of rain, so that's good. The bad news is that the center of Debby is going further west, which raises the chance of getting tornadoes. The heavy rain is expected overnight and tomorrow, and there's still a good threat of flash flooding, but the big flooding threat has gone down.

I do want to snuggle down with a good book, but we've still got to run hubby's car to the dealer for its regular checkup. Hoping the roads won't be too bad in the morning. If it gets bad later in the day, we can always wait until Friday to go pick it up.

>58 alcottacre: I also discovered this one because of the movie. I just ran across the movie one day, and liked what I saw, even though I didn't see the entire thing. I'd like to watch the whole thing now, but it's not on a service I have. I'll have to decide if I want to pay to watch.

See my reply above for the latest on the storm. Overall it's looking better, and I hope we avoid any tornadoes around here.

I'm glad so far so good with tropical storm Debby. The nerve of them, almost using my name , Deborah, for a storm. But I have always been Deborah and never Debby.

>61 vancouverdeb: We're still holding, so it's staying OK so far. Yes, indeed, the nerve of them! ;-) Of course, my name is already retired as a hurricane name, because it swamped Vermont the year it came through.

We made it safely to the car dealer, which is a good 25-30 minutes away on a good day. I checked Google Maps before we left, and the usual back road we take was showing a lane closure, so we went the long way around on the toll road/interstate. It rained the entire time, sometimes not too bad, sometimes pretty heavy. But we got there, dropped off the SUV, and came back home in my car. We may not go pick it up until tomorrow.

We've been getting rain most of the morning, steady but not too heavy for most of it, but it's stopped right now. Unfortunately, there have been some tornadoes in the eastern part of the state. And they are still seeing signs of potential tornadoes on the radar, in around the same areas.

Praying we all stay safe.

Today is my Thingaversary. I didn't know that was a thing until I joined the 75ers last year. As I have already added more than 16 books to my collection so far this year, I am not currently looking to add more.

And now the sun is peeking out a little bit. I hope that doesn't destabilize the conditions any more than they already are.

>51 atozgrl: I adored Charing Cross Road and read at least one other by Hanff that was good. Just sweet and so nostalgic to think of them sending mail back and forth to buy books.

We have gotten a few bands of rain, but I think the worst is yet to come later today into tomorrow. Stay safe!

>63 atozgrl: Just saw this...congratulations!

>64 witchyrichy: It is such a good book, isn't it? Nostalgic, and those book prices! Hard to imagine just a few dollars being a high price for a book.

I hope you don't get too much from Debby. You stay safe too!

>65 witchyrichy: Thank you!

Happy Thingaversary, Irene. You have been a fine addition around here. I can't believe you have only been on the 75 for a year. I am getting a lot of activity at my feeders again. Blue jays, grackles and a flicker have been seen recently. The sparrows and finch have been decimating my hopper feeder.

Have you seen any damage from these storms? Lots of rain?

Lets see if our Cubbies can sweep the very lowly White Sox.

>67 msf59: Thanks, Mark! 16 years on LT, but only a year and a half with the 75ers. I wasn't interested in the social stuff while I was working, but I am so glad I caught on last year. I was really missing out.

We definitely had quite a bit of rain yesterday. It was still coming down this morning, but it's finally stopped. I'll have to go out and check the rain gauge to see how much we got. No damage in the immediate vicinity, but we did see some yesterday. As I mentioned, we had to take my husband's car in for its maintenance appointment, and it's a drive to the dealer from here. We normally take a back road, but when I checked Google Maps yesterday, it was showing that route was blocked. It was clear by the time we had to go back out to pick up the car, so we took that route back up, and we saw why the road had been blocked. A tree had obviously come down, with some debris still in the road, and a lot of branches still on top of downed power lines on the side of the road. I'll add that when we left to pick up the car, it was dry, but we encountered a shower on the way to the dealer. Coming back we hit the hardest rain we drove through yesterday. It was coming down so hard it was difficult to see, and at one place I drove through an extremely large puddle. But we were fortunate. There were a lot of folks in the eastern part of the state that saw a lot of damage from tornadoes.

I certainly hope the Cubs can win these games. On the other hand, I'll be rooting for the White Sox to win more after this weekend. I don't want to see them break the Mets record for futility.

>68 atozgrl: Thingaversary salutations, dear lady! It feels to me like you've always been here...I don't recall our first interaction but now I depend on our next one daily(ish, no one's counting).

>69 richardderus: Thank you very kindly, RD! That means a lot, coming from you. It's probably been no more than a year since we first spoke--I was rather intimidated by how fast your threads flew by, so it took me a while to venture over there. It's wonderful to have you visit here, no matter how often!

When I checked our rain gauge yesterday, it was completely full, which meant we got at least 5 inches of rain out of Debby. It's very humid, but at least we're getting a day to dry out.

Happy Thingavesary, Irene. I realized my Thingaversay was August 9th. I've been here for 14 years, but I don't buy books to celebrate. I think 14 books would be to many all at once, or , my husband certainly would. I'm glad you have joined the 75's. I think I started in the 75's within a year or two after joining. I stuck in the Canadian Readers for a while until I found the right group for me.

>72 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah! I am certainly glad to have found the 75ers. I made a serendipitous decision when I picked this group out of all the options last year.

I missed your Thingaversary, but I'm another voice in the chorus who are grateful that you found the 75 and like spending time with us. We certainly love spending time with you, Irene!!!!!

>74 LizzieD: Thank you so much, Peggy! That means a lot. I am so glad to have met you here too.

Wordle 1,154 3/6

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🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, BRAVE, BRACE

Connections
Puzzle #432
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Finally! Got one in 2.

Wordle 1,155 2/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, STORM

Connections
Puzzle #433
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪

Hi, Wordle Sister! Me too! Me too! We used essentially the same word in #1, and there it was!

I haven't tried Connections in some time. I'm either perfect or lousy.

Happy Sunday, Irene. My feeders have been busy. Seeing blue jays, robins, grackles, chickadees, downys, hummers, doves and the usual finches and sparrows.

And speaking of Blue Jays, I am glad to see our Cubbies take the first 2 games of the series. Now, lets go for the sweep. Are you also a Chicago Bears fan? The city is getting pretty excited about this new QB.

Happy Monday, Irene! Happy to report my descent into death by nose-dripping was arrested, and I am recovering some limited ability to think.

>78 LizzieD: Hello to you too, Wordle sister! We have had a lot of similar Wordles lately. I decided to post because the Wordles-in-2 have gotten rare lately.

Connections is funny. Sometimes I get the categories pretty quick, and sometimes I have trouble with all of them. NYT has recently started to post a basic hint if you get stuck. I've also googled if I have an idea what the category should be but can't figure out the fourth word. And if I really get stuck, I'll look at the Connections hints on Mashable. Sometimes Connections is frustrating enough that I don't know if I'll keep doing them, but I do, and then they'll have a run of puzzles that I get fairly easily. I just never know with that one.

I have been a bit offline the last few days. I was wanting to finish Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents. We had a bit of a problem Saturday. My DH had done some yard work in the morning, and the battery for his Ego weed whacker was acting odd, so he was researching that. I cleaned up the kitchen after lunch, then went out to get the mail, planning to go read as soon as I came in. But when I came in, the door wouldn't close. It's the door from our kitchen into the garage. The latching piece wouldn't retract, and I was unable to turn the knob, so I had to call my DH to look at it. He couldn't get it to turn either, so he tried to take it apart and get it out of the door. That didn't work either. Normally you can just get the knob off, then slide the spindle part out, and it's free. But the spindle was stuck, and nothing he tried worked. Not lube, not a hammer or screwdriver, nothing. He finally tried cutting the spindle with a hacksaw, and a small hand-held power saw (but he didn't really have the right blade for the power saw). Still no good. We wound up calling a locksmith who came out and used a small circular saw to cut through the spindle and get it out. That threw a lot of sparks everywhere. He could have installed a new knob for us, but he only had a silver one with him, and ours are brass. So we paid him for what he had done, and we could at least close the door. Needless to say, with all that going on, I didn't get any reading done Saturday afternoon.

Then my DH went to Home Depot to get a new knob. They had a brass one, but not a "smart lock"--which you can apparently rekey for yourself at home. Unfortunately, the guy who does the rekeying was not there that late on Saturday afternoon, so my DH left the knob with a house key at Home Depot. The lady there Saturday thought he would be in Sunday to rekey it for us, but no one called. We had a hole in the door where the knob should be for the rest of the weekend, but we shoved a rag towel in it to block the hole. Fortunately, since it was the door to the garage, we could just keep the garage door down, and we still had the deadbolt. The guy at HD finally got in this morning and called around noon to say it was ready to pick up. Since my DH had a dentist appointment, he went to pick it up on the way home, and he was able to install it this afternoon. So that's one problem resolved! I never thought it would be so difficult to get a doorknob off a door.

Wordle 1,157 3/6

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SLATE, TENOR, METER

>79 msf59: Hello, Mark! I finally put my feeders back up at the end of last week. The cowbirds and others who were eating up all the seed seem to have gone, but it took awhile for the regulars to return. I finally saw a downy on the suet today, and the cardinals and mourning doves are back. I had a busy day today, so I don't know what other birds might have visited, I wasn't looking closely.

It was nice to see the Cubs win the first two games of the series with the Blue Jays. I didn't get to see either of those games. I did see most of Sunday's game, which they lost. And I did see the home run that was the only run of the game. I don't know how the hitter managed to hit a home run on a ball that was so high and inside.

I grew up as a Bears fan. It was fun to watch the '85 Bears and see them win the Super Bowl. But I kind of lost interest in football in the 90's and haven't watched a whole lot since then. I keep up with where the Bears are a little bit, but they haven't done much lately. I do hope the new QB helps them to be a lot better this year. I don't have a whole lot of hope for the Carolina Panthers though. The Panthers last year were as bad, or maybe worse, than the '69 Bears!

>80 richardderus: Hello RD, I'm glad to see you hear, and even more glad to hear that you are feeling so much better! I hope all your faculties will return to full strength this week and you will be back to your normal sharp self.

37. Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Yesterday I finished reading Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. It has been on my wishlist for a while now, having been included in some reading lists, as well as being praised here on LT. It is this month's book for my RL book club.

I have certainly been aware that racism exists in this country all my life, but I thought things were getting a lot better. Segregation had been outlawed and I've seen many of those formerly discriminated against getting good jobs. Unfortunately, it took Trump's decision to run for president to unleash all the vitriol that had been hidden from my view. I was shocked in 2015 and '16 to see the ugliness that came out. As a member of the privileged class, I was blind to how bad things really still were. And working in a government library, where the administration actively worked to create an equitable workplace, I was not seeing it where I was. My eyes were opened.

However, I still had problems understanding how the same people who went after Bill Clinton with the torches and pitchforks could just blow off Trump's immorality, grabbing of women's privates, calling people names, and so on. We also had quite a bit of DEI training at work, which helped to see how we all have unconscious bias. And it's obvious that systemic racism exists. But it wasn't until I read this book that I understood how all those things fit together, and why we are where we are in this country.

It's more than systemic racism, and many people don't see themselves as racist these days. But the issue is really that there's a caste system that exists here. And probably most of us who are part of the white privileged class at the top are not aware of it. I certainly wasn't. Once the caste system is threatened, whether it be by a black person becoming president or that the country will no longer be majority white by 2040, then people resist the change. They are uncomfortable and want to put everything back in its place. This finally explains why a con-man, criminal, immoral, impeached ex-president is still gathering so many followers that he's a threat to be voted back into office.

Wilkerson's explanation of the system as it exists in the US, as well as the descriptions of caste in India and under the Nazis in Germany, is very eye-opening. A caste system based on race, more than racism itself, is causing great harm in this country. She also gives many examples of how it manifests itself and impacts people's lives. She shares personal stories and stories other people have shared with her. We see how the system harms those in the higher castes as well as those at the bottom.

For those who care, the book is very well-researched. There are lots of notes at the back of the book, and an extensive bibliography.

Caste is absolutely brilliant. It really ought to be read by every American.

>85 atozgrl: Great review, Irene. This has been on my radar for a long time; I just need to get around and read it. I did very much enjoy The Warmth of Other Suns, which was also eye-opening and very well-researched.

>86 kac522: Thank you, Kathy, very kind of you to say. I highly recommend it. I have not read The Warmth of Other Suns but it's definitely going on my TBR list.

>87 atozgrl: I hope you were able to hear the speeches of the Obamas tonight. I'm sure they will be the highlights of the convention for me. There is something about the way Barack Obama speaks that takes me to a higher plane of thinking and feeling. I hope I live long enough to experience the Obama Presidential library when it finally opens in Chicago.

Happy Wednesday, Irene. Sorry you had to deal with the doorknob/lock issues. What a hassle. Great review of Caste. I also thought the book was excellent and also highly recommend The Warmth of Other Suns.

Glad you got the feeders back up. Mine are still very busy.

That is some DOORKNOB SAGA! I'm glad it is finally done. Incidentally, our new washer arrives tomorrow if they are on schedule.

Thank you for the fine review of Caste. I haven't checked to see whether you put it on the book page, but it should be there. I can't say enough good about *Warmth*, so I know I'll get to it when I can concentrate just one little bit better.

I'm sure you're watching the convention. It has been riveting -even without Hulk Hogan! It's hard to see how the first two nights could have been better.

>88 kac522: I did not get to hear most of Michelle's speech, but I've seen quite a few clips. I did hear the former president though, while I was working on other things. We miss his oratory. I was very fortunate to be able to see him in his first campaign when he came to speak in Raleigh. I certainly hope you will be able to visit his library!

>89 msf59: It was a hassle. Of course it happened on a weekend. Doesn't it seem like things break at the most inconvenient time? And my DH has determined he needed to order a new battery for his Ego. Those things are expensive!

My feeders are getting busy again. I was seeing the goldfinches again today, as well as a nuthatch, and my DH saw a red-bellied woodpecker and a blue jay. I refilled the hummingbird feeder and set it out today.

Thank you re my review, and I do intend to get The Warmth of Other Suns.

>90 LizzieD: Thanks Peggy, it was quite the saga. I never knew a doorknob could get stuck where you actually had to saw through the metal to extract it. I hope that never happens again! And I hope your new washer arrives as scheduled, and that it's exactly what you like.

Thank you so much for the compliment on my review! You are too kind. I was putting my reviews on the book page when I first started back on LT, but recently I've just been adding them on my thread here in the 75ers. I guess I should think about putting it up on this one.

I have seen parts of the convention this week. As I told Kathy, I did hear Obama last night, although I wasn't paying super close attention as I was also going through threads and so forth here on LT. He is such a pleasure to listen to! But I can't watch the whole thing. It's just too much politics all at once. Current politics is so stressful overall that I can't take a lot of it at one time.

By the way, how are you doing with The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory? I bought a copy and my DH has been reading it -- he says I need to.

Another good Wordling day. It's a nice change after being stuck on 4's with the occasional 5 for an extended time.

Wordle 1,159 3/6

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🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, MINOR, MULCH

Sorry about your doorknob hassles, Irene. Dave installed a new lock for us a few months back. It's one where you punch in the code , rather than use a key. Dave thinks they work better , and after losing my keys in taxi earlier this spring, it is nice (I did get the keys back later that day ) . Like you, I don't watch much politics. I do like Obama and much prefer Kamala Harris to Trump, which kind of goes without saying.

>82 atozgrl: Wow! I, also, never thought it could be so difficult to get a knob off a door.

>85 atozgrl: Caste has been in my "really ought to read it" list since sometime before Covid.

Hi, Irene. I know that I need to get on with *Kingdom, Power, Glory*, but I just keep picking up other things. It's hard reading for me, but I'll do it, and I do recommend it already. Like Arlie, I'm "oughting" with *Caste*. it's another I'll get to.

The washer is here. It will be OK, I think. It has some features I'm not crazy about, but it's basic so there's not a lot that can go wrong until it wears out.

>95 vancouverdeb: Hello Deborah, good to see you. We've got one of those locks with the code on our front door--it goes with our security system. But not on the garage door.

Yes, it seems like most folks around here prefer Harris to Trump. I would give almost anything not to ever have to see or hear that blowhard again, as long as I live.

>96 ArlieS: Hi Arlie, thanks for stopping by! I hope you never have to deal with a door knob problem like that.

I definitely do recommend Caste, it was such a good book.

>97 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, I can understand why *Kingdom, Power, Glory* would be hard reading. It may be for me as well. Caste was eye-opening for me, so I hope you do get to it. And I really hope you like the new washer.

Likewise,I'd be happy not to see Trump again too, Irene. Ugh!

unfortunately even if god willing we have harris as president, dont think we will have heard the last of him (unless hes locked up of course) and btw the last picture of him shows that white patch on his ear. How long ago was this?

>98 atozgrl: boy do I second that!!

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Irene.

>101 vancouverdeb: Amen to that, Deborah!

>102 cindydavid4: I'm afraid you're probably right, Cindy. Unfortunately, that man craves the spotlight, so he probably will never go away, until he's either locked up or he dies.

>103 RebaRelishesReading: Agreed!

>104 richardderus: Sorry I missed you, RD. I've had a couple of things to go do outside the house over the last few days, and I've also been doing a lot of reading, so I didn't get over to LT much this weekend. I did have a good weekend of reading, and I wish you the same for the coming week!

Hi, Irene. I hope those books are treating you fine. Our Cubbies scored 18 runs yesterday, over the lowly Pirates. I hope they saved some runs for the next 2 games.

>107 msf59: Hi Mark, I hope they did too. It won't be easy, since the Pirates have such good starting pitching, and the Cubs are going to have to face Skenes *again*. I guess we'll just have to see.

The books are treating me very well. I seem to be reading a lot of classics this year, and for the most part they've been really good. It looks like you're reading a lot of good ones too.

38. Band of brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose

I read Band of Brothers for the War Room challenge. It tells the story of E Company of the 101st Airborne in WWII, from their training in the US to their participation in D-Day, through battles in Europe including at Bastogne, to their taking Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat. It reads like fiction, but it's the true stories of the experiences of the men of E Company. I was fascinated to read about their adventures in the war, although much of what they experienced was horrific and terrifying. On the other hand, it also shows how men fighting together become close to each other in ways that they can't in normal life. The book shows what war is really like.

The one thing I wish the book had included was a glossary listing all the military acronyms and what they meant. There are a lot of them used in the book, and not having any military experience, I did not know what many of them stood for. A glossary would have been extremely helpful.

I have seen most of the "Band of Brothers" television adaptation, and as I recall, it is pretty faithful to the book. It's also worth watching.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in finding out what it is really like to go to war.

Today the heat has returned in force, after a surprisingly pleasant (for August) week last week. As of now, it looks like the worst of the heat won't last too long.

It's also a good Wordle day. Very surprised that the first thing I thought to guess for my second word was actually right.
Wordle 1,166 2/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, LITHE

Connections
Puzzle #444
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪

We've gotten a few storms this afternoon, which were very welcome after the big heat of the last couple of days was wilting the plants outside.

I made a fortunate guess in Wordle today for my second word. It gave me an N, which was the key to my figuring out the answer. My third guess was the only thing I could think of.

Wordle 1,168 3/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, CRANE, KNAVE

>111 atozgrl: The Wordle Three is a darn good result with that weird, but apt, word.

Have a lovely slide into fall, and a good few reading days, Irene.

>112 richardderus: Hello, Richard! Thank you, and I hope you also have many good reading days! It won't be fall here for at least a few weeks yet. But at least it looks like next week will have reasonable temperatures.

I managed to get Wordle in two today, but that was partly luck, of course.

>114 vancouverdeb: Good for you, Deborah! I'll take luck wherever I can get it. It took me 4 yesterday and today.

Wordle 1,170 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
SLATE, MINOR, MUSKY, MUSHY

After a pretty dry August, we got a lot of rain this weekend. There was an inch in the rain gauge after the rain we got Friday, and over 2.75 more inches after the rain yesterday. That helps. And the temperature is going to be around 80F (plus or minus a couple of degrees) for the foreseeable future. One weatherman yesterday suggested we might be done with the 90's for this year, but I don't believe him.

>109 atozgrl: I ran across AMC running a Band of Brothers marathon today, while it was in progress, so I've watched some of it, having just finished the book. It seems to be sticking pretty close to the book.

As I expected, August was a slower reading month, since I spent a lot of time watching the Olympics at the beginning of the month. I only managed to finish three books.

My RL book club is scheduled to discuss Demon Copperhead in October. I don't want to buy my own copy, and the wait list at the library was really long, so I went ahead and put a hold on the book in the middle of last month, hoping that it might come in by October. I actually went ahead and placed holds on both the regular book and the large print, thinking that at least one of them might come in in time. When I checked last week, I was in 11th place on the large print, and was so far down the other that I didn't note the exact spot--it must have been over 40. Imagine my surprise that both holds came in, *on the same day*! I'm not sure how that happened. Maybe a lot of people had suspended their holds? And maybe it depends on which branch owns the copies? My branch does have a large number of the regular print copies. So I cancelled the hold on the large print. I guess I'll go ahead and pick up the other copy, which will force me to read the book this month, a month ahead of when I wanted to read it. I've also got a lot of books I want to read this month for various LT challenges; some of them may just hang over into next month, as I may not be able to finish them all. I've got a pretty busy month already, what with exercise classes picking up again, etc.

>116 atozgrl: You know, I had that happen to me. The hold list was very long and yet somehow I jumped the queue. What I noticed when I picked up the book was that the book was from my branch, so I'm thinking I was first in line from my branch, so I got the copy! Like you, I was actually planning on it coming in later, but it worked out anyway. (Wish I could remember which book--it was a couple of months ago!)

Hi Irene!

>25 atozgrl: Most cats are always getting into trouble, IMO, although the two gingers I have now seem less hell-bent than others we’ve had. Zoe, our huntress, did bring in a small skink yesterday, which I actually caught in my hands. I had Bill open the door so I could escort it outside because I just knew if I tried to just cup it in one hand it would escape inside the house again.

>30 atozgrl: and etc. Congrats on the now-not-quite-so-new bed. I hope it’s working out well. I sleep year-round on warm, super-soft microfleece sheets, which would never in a million years pass the quarter-bounce test. I need a new mattress/box springs and might go to Original Mattress Factory in Apex. Is that where you got yours?

>38 atozgrl: We had to re-source quite a few things during the worst of the Covid pandemic because Food Lion simply stopped carrying them for whatever reason. I buy more things from Amazon now.

>51 atozgrl: I’m only a few years ahead of you, reading it in October of 2020. I didn’t realize it was nonfiction until I actually opened it up and started reading. I gave it 4*.

>63 atozgrl: Congrats on your Thingaversary last month. Here’s a good place to let you know that our book sale is September 26 (9-5), September 27 (9-5), and September 28 (9-2). *smile*

>85 atozgrl: Excellent review. It’s on my shelves waiting for the right time.

>116 atozgrl: Lots of rain for us here, too, west of you, the other night. Lightning and thunder, too, quite a bit of it within a mile or so of us.

>118 karenmarie: Hello, Karen, I'm delighted to see you here! Yes, the Original Mattress Factory in Apex is indeed where we bought the new mattresses. The lady (whose name escapes me at the moment) who helped us at the store was a bit of a character, but she was quite helpful. We're getting used to the adjustable-ness and having two fitted sheets to put on every week, but they are working out well for us.

I highly recommend Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents. I hope you will find a "right time" to read it.

I've got the bookmark/flyer from the last sale with the reminder of the upcoming Friends sale, so I am well aware. It's so close to my birthday as well that it would be hard to forget. I hope I'll have a chance to say hello to you when that rolls around again.

Wordle 1,173 2/6

🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
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SLATE, STERN I thought of my second word and thought it was a good one because it used both of the letters I like to include in my second guess if I can, and Surprise! It turned out to be the solution today.

I hope you enjoy Demon Copperhead, Irene. I did when I read it last year. My library is has a book club that is reading it this September, but I didn't want to re read it. It's very rare that I would re- read a book.

>121 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah, I hope so too. As long as it is, I wouldn't want to re-read it so soon either. I wish it hadn't come in until the end of September; that would have worked better for my reading schedule.

One of my book clubs is reading A Separate Peace this month. Since I read it exactly a year ago, I won't be re-reading it either, but I do plan to go to the discussion.

>118 karenmarie: Oops, I realize I forgot to reply to your comment on 84, Charing Cross Road. I have to admit that I too was originally expecting fiction. When I was looking for it in the bookstore, I was looking in the fiction sections, and could not locate it. I had to ask for help. It was in Biography.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Irene.

>124 richardderus: Thank you Richard. I hope you have a good reading weekend as well.

39. The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I have a copy of The Once and Future King on my shelf, so I pulled it to read for both the Reading Through Time quarterly challenge, and for the Memoriam Read for Anita. The book is a mass market paperback that my parents apparently bought and that ended up with me. It started falling apart while I read it. This printing was 1960, so it's not all that much younger than I am.

This one is obviously a classic, so it was time for me to get to it. And although I know the Arthur story in general terms, there are lots of parts to it that I did not know, and I'm glad to finally get an understanding of the complete story. I have a much better idea now of how it all unfolded.

I was honestly surprised to discover that the book is actually a compilation of four separate books, which were originally published from 1938-1940 and compiled into this more well known work in 1958. The first "book" is "The Sword in the Stone," which I remember as an animated Disney movie--the very first movie that I ever saw in a movie theater. I was quite young then, so I certainly don't remember all the details or how close the movie kept to the book, but reading the book felt like watching a Disney movie, what with Merlyn changing "Wart" into various animals. It certainly suited the Disney oeuvre. Then the last two "books" formed the basis of the musical "Camelot," which was one of the musicals my high school put on, and I was actually in the chorus for that one. Even with all of that, there were parts of the Arthurian saga that were not clear to me, and I'm glad to have read the book to understand the full story. I now see where the search for the Holy Grail comes in, and this clarified the relationship between Arthur and Mordred, among other things.

A surprising thing about the book was that White used the story to make some commentary on human nature and the politics of the day, following World War II and reacting to the Cold War era. Some of the comments are still relevant today:

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn ... "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails."

"I never could stomach these nationalists," [Merlyn] exclaimed. "The destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees."

It was the old school, the Norman baronial attitude, which provided the adventures [for the Round Table] at this period--for few people can hate so bitterly and so self-righteously as the members of a ruling caste whch is being dispossessed.

"You will find," [Arthur] explained, "that when the kings are bullies who believe in force, the people are bullies too. If I don't stand for law, I won't have law among my people."

That third quote in particular stands out to me, especially after just having read Caste.

I didn't enjoy the story as much as I had hoped, unfortunately. Parts of the book dragged, and there was more violence and bloodshed than I would have liked, although I guess I should have expected that. And the overall story is rather depressing. I wish I had read this when I was younger because I think I would have liked it more then. I think the romanticism would have appealed more then.

the last book that wasnt printed with the rest is the book of merlyn the wizard gathers up Arthur and all the animals before the war to talk about this trait of man. Its a lovely book, with much hope in the end,till there wasnt. I liked it but most of my book group didnt, so YMMV

>127 cindydavid4: I had read a review from someone who read a version of "Once and Future King" that included "The Book of Merlyn." He said if you had a copy with it to skip that part. He *really* did not like it and thought it was a waste of time, so I'm surprised to see you liked it. I don't know if I'll bother to seek it out.

>128 atozgrl: Hanging out on LT you see this time and again—readers are not all the same, they don’t like the same things, they have different favorites. God bless ‘em, everyone!

Karen O

>129 klobrien2: That is certainly very true, Karen! And it makes for interesting discussions here on LT as well. As my father always liked to say, "chacun à son goût." To each his own.

>128 atozgrl: why are you surprised I like it? Ive noticed lately people not liking my books, esp in my book group Ive been part of for two decades. I cant help it, I know what I like, not expecting anyone to agree with me. Ive read these reviews, I understand them, but I saw the book as a hopeful as Artur relearns some lessons but as always, YMMV

>129 klobrien2: thank you

>126 atozgrl: "You will find," Arthur explained, "that when the kings are bullies who believe in force, the people are bullies too. If I don't stand for law, I won't have law among my people."

That one has meaning for current US politics.

I took off a bit in August so missed wishing you a happy thingaversary!

I read T.H. White a very long time ago as part of an Arthurian literature course in college. It was great fun: we read the ancient and contemporary works and even gathered one evening to watch Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, which is silly but has some historical accuracy in its titles at least. I remember liking it but I was young and romantic.

Checking in on you, Irene! Did you catch the Cubs no-hitter the other day? I watched the game after I got home.

Have a wonderful weekend!

>131 cindydavid4: I was just surprised to see an opinion that was exactly the opposite of the one I had recently read, that's all. You are certainly entitled to your own opinion, and lots of books will appeal to one person and not another. I'm glad to hear your opinion about it.

>133 ArlieS: Exactly! That's why that line really stuck out to me. Amazingly relevant today, so long after it was written (and meant for a different time).

>134 witchyrichy: Oh, how fun! That would have been a good way to learn the Arthurian literature and all the parts to that story, a chunk of which I had missed before reading Once and Future King.

>135 alcottacre: I had seen parts of the two games they lost to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, I completely missed the no hitter. I didn't find out about that one until the next day. It was fun to see Rizzo come back to Chicago over the weekend. And I was surprised to see them beat the Dodgers in LA last night. I hope that continues.

I did have a good weekend, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Things are busy again, what with exercise classes starting up again, as well as various appointments coming up. I'm currently reading Demon Copperhead, trying to get it finished since I know I can't renew it. There are now 54 people on the wait list. I still don't see how my hold came in so early. And I still have this month's book club book to read. So I may not be on LT a whole lot for the next week or two, just when I can squeeze it in, or while having something on the TV.

>140 atozgrl: Have a wonderful new week, Irene!

>141 richardderus: Thank you, RD, and I wish the same for you!

Wow! That is a lot of hold's on Demon Copperhead for a now kind of older book, Irene. I don't think there are any holds on it at my library,but I'd have to check. I'm finding September a bit busier that usual and my reading pace has slowed a bit. I'm walking more, for a longer time, and family get togethers.

Hi Irene!

>119 atozgrl: Another thing to add to the list – going to The Original Mattress Factory in Apex.

>126 atozgrl: Excellent review. I have the first and fifth books. I loved the Disney movie and would watch it again.

>140 atozgrl: Good luck finishing Demon Copperhead. If you don’t finish it, I can loan my copy to you.

And I hope to see you at the book sale.

Good puzzling day today.

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ETA: I posted this yesterday. When I returned today, it was still here, but unposted, so these are yesterday's Wordle and Connections results. Not sure what happened.

>143 vancouverdeb: Well, the number of holds is system-wide, and we are a populous county, so I'm sure that accounts for it, Deborah. But I'm still surprised that my hold came in so soon.

Looks like you are busier this month, as I am. It sounds like a good kind of busy, with family and long walks, so you must be enjoying that.

>144 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! It's been so long, I guess I need to see the Disney "Sword in the Stone" again.

I've got about 150 pages to go in Demon Copperhead, so it looks like I'll finish it. But I appreciate the offer!

I hope to get to the book sale, and see you there too.

Surprisingly, today was another Wordle in 2.
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SLATE, BRASSI was trying to think of something with an R in it, and that was the first thing I thought of, so I used it. I really didn't expect it to be right.

Connections wasn't as good today.
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40. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

As I have already mentioned, this is my RL book club's book for October, but my hold came in much earlier than expected, so I had to read it this month before it's due back at the library.

I'm sure everyone here is already aware of the basic story of this one, that it is an updated retelling of David Copperfield, set in the current day. It tells the story of a boy, Damon (called Demon), born to a poor single mother in Appalachia, and the experiences he has growing up: poverty, foster care, child labor, addiction. There are many similarities to the characters in David Copperfield, through character names and behavior, and I am sure other ways that I missed. It has been a long time since I read David Copperfield, so a lot I have forgotten. I did wind up checking some things in the Wikipedia entry on David Copperfield. If I have time, I'll try to reread it before the end of the year.

There were parts of this book that were difficult to read. Especially for me, the scene where Demon is running away to find his relatives and the prostitute at the truck stop steals all his money. And it's an eye-opening look at the people who live in Appalachia, and are mostly the butt of jokes from people who come from other parts of the country. The book gives them some dignity for a change. It also has a lot to say about the state of foster care in this country, as well as the bad faith on the part of a lot of people that led to addiction to Oxycontin. I really got pulled into the story in about the last third of the book. It was hard to put down.

Oddly, this read also had echoes of other books I've read this year. Most of the book is set in western Virginia, and it even mentioned Big Stone Gap. The first book I finished this year was set there, The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap. Then there was this:

"Wouldn't you think," [Mr. Armstrong] asked us, "the miners wanted a different life for their kids? After all the stories you've heard? Don't you think the mine companies knew that?"

What the companies did, he told us, was put the shuthole on any choice other than going into the mines. Not just here, also in Buchanan, Tazewell, all of eastern Kentucky, these counties got bought up whole: land, hospitals, courthouses, schools, company owned. Nobody needed to get all that educated for being a miner, so they let the schools go to rot. And they made sure no mills or factories got in the door. Coal only. To this day, you have to cross a lot of ground to find other work.

This echoes the NPR story I heard just after my book club discussed Brave New World. Here's what I had to say at that time:

I had an unexpected confirmation yesterday of how relevant Brave New World is today. I was listening to NPR while running a couple of errands and caught a segment where they were talking about Moms for Liberty. It started with the book banning, and how this was actually a very unpopular thing with both liberals and conservatives, and also how Moms for Liberty candidates had been losing elections. But they went on to say that Moms for Liberty is not deterred, and that the media are missing the real story, that Moms for Liberty is part of a bigger movement that is opposed to public education. There was a lot of discussion about a long-running movement that has wanted to get rid of public education, and that COVID gave them an opening to push their ideas. What caught my ear was the mention of industry leaders, etc. who believe that inequality is the natural state of affairs, and public education mucks it up. Their belief being that some people are meant to work in factories and mines. Which struck me as being just like Brave New World with their conditioning of babies and children to fall into different classes, so they would be happy with performing mind-numbing work as adults.

And two more quotes from Demon Copperhead:

[Pharmacy sales rep] And his vampire associates, quote unquote. Coming here prospecting. She said Purdue looked at data and everything with their computers, and hand-picked targets like Lee County that were gold mines. They actually looked up which doctors had the most pain patients on disability, and sent out their drug reps for the full offensive.

She said there used to be laws against the Black and white type of marriage, up till the 1960s. So, before any of us were born ..., but attitudes hang on. "Certain pitiful souls around here see whiteness as their last asset that hasn't been totaled or repossessed."

I wondered if the laws pertained to my people making their Melungeon babies way back when, or if we were too far backwoods for the higher-ups to give a shit. Age-old story, who gets to look down on who, for what reason.

This last quote, along with some other parts of the book, really echoed what we read in Caste. So I found many echoes of things I have been reading throughout this year.

Overall, I liked Demon Copperhead a lot. I've been struggling in my decision of how to rate the book, whether 4 or 4.5 stars, so I finally decided to split the difference and give it 4.25 stars. (I wish there was a way to do that in LT's rating system.) Definitely recommended.

I've already started reading this month's book for my book club, Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad. This one is reading a lot faster, and I'm already 90 pages in. So I should be good to finish it well before our meeting later this month.

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>150 atozgrl: That is a great choice for book club. I read it when it first came out and enjoyed it. Happy week ahead!

>151 figsfromthistle: Oh, I'm glad to hear you liked it! It's definitely moving along for me, but I'm still in the middle of her health struggles. I'll be glad to see how it turns out.

Wishing you a great week as well!

>149 atozgrl: I am so glad to see that you enjoyed Demon Copperhead. It was a 5-star read for me.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Irene!

>153 alcottacre: It's definitely a really good book. I'm glad I read it.

I hope you are also having a good day!

Busy day today. Yoga in the morning, grocery shopping on the way home. Then we got our COVID shot this afternoon. The local, small pharmacy had finally gotten the vaccine, so we were able to go get it. No reaction so far, and my arm isn't even sore, but we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

My arm is sore today from the COVID shot. I'm also pretty tired, and I'm not sure if that is due to the vaccine or the busy week, with the return to regular exercise classes. Maybe both? But I'm not having as strong a reaction as I have with most of the previous shots.

We had some rain over the weekend, then a lot of rain starting during the day on Monday, due to the unnamed tropical disturbance that came ashore. We lost power for over an hour in the middle of the night, but everything was restored well before it was time to get up. Tuesday was supposed to be on and off showers, but it turned into a light rain lasting almost all day. We got into a band of rain that trained over the same spot all day, so it stayed wet. Light rain again overnight and this morning. It's been so busy this week that I didn't get out to check the rain gauge until today. It was full, so we had at least 5", maybe more. That's twice this summer that the rain gauge filled up, which is something it almost never does.

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41. Between two kingdoms : a memoir of a life interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

I read Between Two Kingdoms for this month's RL book club, so now I'm caught up to where I should be. It is a memoir of Suleika Jaouad's life, where she finishes college, goes to Paris for adventure and to work, and then becomes very ill. After many tests, she finds out that she has leukemia. The book tells the story of her diagnosis and treatment, as well as all the feelings she experienced, and the impact that the long illness had on her relationship with her boyfriend. Once treatment is finally over, she has to figure out how to re-enter the "normal" world again. She eventually decides to take a 100-day road trip with her dog. She tells us about the people that she meets and what she learns on the trip.

The title of the book comes from a Susan Sontag quote:

"Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick," Susan Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor. "Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place."

Jaouad also writes:

That night, I begin to think about how porous the border is between the sick and the well. It's not just people like Bret and me who exist in the wilderness of survivorship. As we live longer and longer, the vast majority of us will travel back and forth across these realms, spending much of our lives somewhere in between. These are the terms of our existence. The idea of striving for some beautiful, perfect state of wellness? It mires us in eternal dissatisfaction, a goal forever out of reach.

To be well now is to learn to accept whatever body and mind I currently have.

Jaouad's writing flows, and I found it easy to read a lot in one sitting. However, the content of the writing is often difficult. She makes herself vulnerable, sharing so much of her heart, and it's very raw in places. But it's realistic. It helps those of us who have not (yet) had to experience such a trial understand what it is like to go through it, and I am sure that those who have experienced something similar will see themselves, and perhaps find something that will help them.

To be well now is to learn to accept whatever body and mind I currently have.

thats a lesson Ive been painfully learning this last year I am getting better and seeing possibilities of health in the future. I think this book might be helpful to me

>158 cindydavid4: I definitely recommend it, Cindy. She confronts the hardship of a bad health diagnosis and the difficult treatments--as well as the relationship impacts with friends and family--with great honesty. I don't know your situation, but this book could be helpful. I'm sorry to hear that you are having health problems. I very much hope that your health improves!

I'm glad you enjoyed Demon Copperhead, Irene. I gave it 4. 5 stars. I was wrong when I said that there are no lineups for Demon Copperhead. I checked my public library and a couple of nearby libraries, and they all have huge waits. I was surprised, since the book has been a out for a while and is in paper back. I always have a sore arm, feel tired after a covid booster, so I suspect that it's just the vaccine . I hope you are feeling 100 % soon.

>159 atozgrl: thanks; I have chronic back pain that is keeping me from doing what I want and have been rather depressed by it. But the shot Im getting and the exercises Im doing seem to be helping. Ill have to check out that book

just saw this in a review " was halfway through American Symphony on Netflix, produced by Michelle and Barack Obama, before I realized that Baptiste's wife in the documentary was the author of the book I was reading!"

Oh Ive loved his music since first hearing it on Late Night, what a talented man and he has such love for his wife. Even more eager now to read this

>160 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, I did enjoy it. I guess there are still a lot of people out there who haven't read it yet, so they've still got wait lists to get it.

My arm is still a little sore today, but I'm definitely not as wiped out as I was yesterday.

>161 cindydavid4: I'm sorry to hear you have chronic back pain. That affects everything you do, so I see how it would be depressing to deal with. I am very glad that your treatment is helping--I hope it continues to help and that you can recover fully.

>162 cindydavid4: Yes, Jon Batiste is her husband. During the period of time that she covers in the book, they get together, but she only identifies him as Jon and does not talk in detail about who he is. At the time, she was dealing with a previous relationship that failed, which caused her to question/struggle with the new relationship. She had known Jon going back to a time when she was much younger, when they met at band camp.

Jon Batiste is such a positive person! I always loved to see him on the Late Show, and was sorry when he left the show. Very talented indeed!

Wordle 1,190 3/6

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>164 atozgrl: thanks. dont want to say this too loudly, but the shot I got on Thursday seems to work great. Im now walking without a grimace on my face and this morning went for a walk outside with just a cane, with minimal pain. Im hesitant to say I am healed by any means, but this might be the break Ive been looking for

>166 cindydavid4: I certainly hope so! Sending many wishes that it works for you!

>165 atozgrl: I got it in 3 yesterday too. A friend got yesterday's and today's in 2. I haven't done today's yet. I usually do that in the evenings.

Happy Monday, Irene. Hooray for Demon Copperhead. It was a 5 star read for me. I love it when a longtime favorite author keeps delivering gems. Kingsolver Rocks! Anything happening at your feeders?

>168 thornton37814: Three for me again today. I'm guessing the wrong second word. Yesterday I wanted to try something with an R in it, today I just guessed wrong. (And it looks like I never posted yesterday's Wordle.) That's now 3 threes in a row.

Wordle 1,192 3/6

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>169 msf59: Thanks, Mark, it's nice to see you here again! Feeders have been quiet because I got so busy last week that I got behind on keeping them filled. I did get them filled yesterday, finally, but I was busy again today, so I don't know how many birds visited. I did see a couple of mourning doves, but didn't have a chance to watch the feeders.

Demon Copperhead was definitely a good one. But it's only my first Kingsolver. Besides The Poisonwood Bible, is there anything in particular of hers that you would recommend?

I do need to get to Demon Copperhead soon, Irene.

>172 PaulCranswick: I hope you can, Paul. It's definitely worth the read.

42. Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach

I wanted to read both a nonfiction and a fiction book for the War Room Challenge on WWII. I already read a nonfiction work in August (>109 atozgrl: ), and I finally found a minute to fit in the fiction read, Run Silent, Run Deep.

The book follows the adventures of an American submarine captain from the start of America's entry into WWII to the end of the war. It begins with the outfitting of a sub and training at the naval base in Connecticut to the eventual transport of the sub to the Pacific and the ship's wartime experiences battling the Japanese. There are a number of battle scenes. Beach served on submarines in the US Navy during WWII, and the amount of detail about the operation of the subs in the book feels very realistic. His own experiences during the war inform the story in the book.

If you have ever seen the movie based on this book, be aware that the story in the book is quite a bit different from the movie. I thought the movie was very good, but it really only takes parts of the story from the book.

I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it if you enjoy a good adventure.

>174 atozgrl: Oh my heck! Not since junior high! One kid in my class was a fool for that book, and I swear he narrated it to us. I've never read it, but feel like I have.

Haven't thought of that since 1972. I'm not sure O ever knew there was a filmed version, either.

Happy slide into the weekend!

>175 richardderus: Oh, how interesting! I wouldn't have thought of anyone in junior high reading it, but maybe that's more of a commentary on today's kids than back when we were that age.

I'm not sure about this weekend. We're supposed to get remnants of Helene, and we got soaked last week from the unnamed tropical depression that came in from the Atlantic. Plus we got a lot of rain yesterday. So there's not much of anywhere for more rain to go. However, the mountains are really going to get socked this time. It looks pretty bad for them, unfortunately.

But if the weather tomorrow morning is decent, I'm going to try to run over to Karen's library to hit their book sale.

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>176 atozgrl: Did the weather cooperate for a library sale trawl, Irene? Horrible being in the hospital must make the whole team feel weird, she's such a reliable fixture there.

>178 richardderus: Yes it did. The rain here held off this morning, so I made the trek west and got myself a haul. I'll try to post the acquisitions later. I'm sure the folks at the library do miss Karen when she's not there to help. They were quite busy this morning, as it was the first day of the sale.

I checked the rain gauge at our house when I got back, and it had almost 2.5 inches from the latest round of rain. The poor folks in the mountains already got several inches of rain and are dealing with major flooding from a regular cold front. This before hurricane Helene comes up and dumps untold more inches on top of them overnight and tomorrow. It doesn't take a whole lot to cause problems in the mountains, and they're in for it with this one. Apparently the weather folks are more concerned with flash flooding and potential tornadoes here tomorrow morning.

>179 atozgrl: We'd had 5.9 inches by mid-morning and had about another 3 after that. We appear to have a slight break in rain, but the wind is picking up a bit. Helene is still to come and blow here too. They are predicting record flooding here--the second highest river crest ever for the French Broad and Holston Rivers that meet to form the Tennessee. They've issued warnings for people with docks on the lakes. This is one case where I'm glad I sit high and dry in my house.

>180 thornton37814: I'm glad to hear that you are high and dry! We had lots of local reports on the news today (one big band from Helene setting off tornado warnings all over), so not as much coverage of the mountains yet, but what I've seen so far looks pretty bad. Bad flooding in parts of Asheville, and I also saw a little bit about flooded streets in Boone. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a rock fall on I40. Heavy rain in the mountains is never good.

As I mentioned to Lori, our weather this morning was pretty rough. Dark clouds, lots of rain, and one band of Helene moved through with multiple tornado warnings. Fortunately, I have not heard of any tornado touchdowns near us, but there was at least one further east in NC. And way too much rain in the mountains. We got more than 3.75" in the rain gauge. We need an extended period of dry weather at this point.

Given the weather right now, it's a little ironic that my current read is North Carolina's Hurricane History.

Just saw news about I40. I had thought there was a good chance of rock fall. But the news is worse. They are reporting that the Pigeon River has washed away part of the east bound lanes near the Tennessee border.

Checking in on you, Irene, as it has been a while.

>183 atozgrl: Oh, wow. Not sure how that affects you, but please take care!

>184 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia, we're OK here. We survived yesterday's tornado warnings and didn't have problems other than flash flooding on the roads. The poor folks in Rocky Mount east of us got the tornado, and the NC mountains are in bad shape, with record flooding. They're the ones that need our concern.

The I40 washout is near the Tennessee border, so it's way west of us, and won't likely affect me. We don't have plans to travel that direction any time soon. I used to go that way when driving back home to Illinois to visit my mom, but that has been years now.

Thanks for your concern, I do appreciate it!

>181 atozgrl: I-40 looks like some eastbound troubles are going to be long-term. Scary stuff...hoping y'all get your dry spell soonest! *smooch*

>186 richardderus: Thanks, Richard, I hope for the dry weather too. The ground is thoroughly soaked. It's definitely going to take quite a while for NC DOT to repair that highway. It will be a problem for folks who live in the area and for all the truck traffic.

*smooch*

Here's my haul from the Friends of the Library book sale Thursday:

Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara
The Whistler - John Grisham
Phineas Redux - Anthony Trollope
Inferno : the world at war, 1939-1945 - Max Hastings
Blood and ruins : the last imperial war, 1931-1945 - Richard Overy
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
No Cheering in the Press Box - Jerome Holtzman
Rage - Bob Woodward
Peril - Bob Woodward
Five Novels - Mark Twain

Five Novels includes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. I have read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn but not the other three, so I've got some good reading ahead.

Another Wordle in 3.
Wordle 1,197 3/6

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>188 atozgrl: Enviable haul, Irene! Really good reading there.

Sunday-ahead's *smooches*

>188 atozgrl: Glad you are safe and that you were able to get in a great haul before the storm!

The Wilkerson is a fantastic book. I just started re-reading (on audio) Phineas Finn; I'm working on re-reading all the Pallisers.

And Jerome Holtzman! There's a blast from the past! And coincidentally, today I went to an exhibition at the Newberry Library about Mike Royko, with lots of images of old Daily News papers, the last Daily News edition from 1978, some of Royko's columns, stuff from his office (a pack of Carltons!) and other types of Chicago newspaper stuff. And there was an even larger exhibit of Indigenous Chicago--a look at the history of native peoples in this area. Cool old maps and documents, etc. Topped off with a fantastic lunch where our son works near the Hancock building. A good day downtown.

>189 richardderus: Thanks, Richard, same to you!

>190 kac522: Thanks, Kathy! I just finished Caste a couple of months ago, and it's one of my top reads for this year. Then I've seen lots of praise here on LT for Warmth of Other Suns, so I couldn't pass it up when I saw it.

Yes, Jerome Holtzman is a blast from the past. I used to read his Tribune column religiously. And I also remember having heard about this book many times when I was younger, so when I spotted it, I thought I had to get it.

Speaking of a blast from the past, the old Daily News is it. When I was young, that was the Chicago paper that my parents subscribed to, so I remember it fondly. I also remember the letters to the sports page, and all the vitriol that White Sox fans spewed about the Cubs. I didn't understand why they felt that way. And those fans are the reason why I don't like the White Sox. If they hadn't been so nasty to the Cubs, I wouldn't have cared one way or the other about the Sox. And I might even have rooted for them to win the World Series in 2005, since I usually root for the team that hasn't won in a long time.

It sounds like you had a wonderful day going to those two exhibitions. They both sound very cool! I know I would enjoy seeing them.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

It's fall football Saturday, so no evening news tonight. We had to wait for the late news, and we're finally getting more reports out of the mountains. They are saying it's not just catastrophic damage, it's Biblical. They're calling it North Carolina's Katrina. Communications are down, most roads are out, flooding continues... Someone up there finally got out and got a signal, and rather than calling anywhere else, she called our local TV station in Raleigh to ask for help.

Nice haul from the library sale. I haven't read anything by John Grisham in a long time, but I still remember reading The Firm when it came out long ago. That was a great read for me.

sending wishes and hope to all of you affected by Helene and John. Be safe and well, and keep us posted

Morning, Irene. I am so sorry to hear about the catastrophic situation in NC. OMG! That is awful. I am hoping for the best for everyone there. My brother in Hendersonville had several trees fall down on their property but fortunately nothing hit the house but they couldn't get their vehicles out of their car port. Of course, they are also without power. What a nightmare.

On a much lighter note, it was a nice send-off for Kyle Hendricks yesterday. He pitched a great game. Possibly his last as a Cub.

>171 atozgrl: Another Kingsolver favorite is Flight Behavior.

Glad you're OK and hope NC can recover fairly quickly. Nice collection from Friends sale.

>194 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah! Since my DH is from Mississippi, we tend to pick up the Grisham books when we see them. But there are a lot we still don't have. I saw the movie, The Firm, but I haven't read the book. I'm actually on the lookout for it right now, since my SiL gave us the Grisham book that's a sequel to it for a Christmas present last December, but so far I haven't found a used copy. Maybe it's harder to find since it came out so long ago. I may just have to break down and buy a new one.

I thought the movie was one of the best thrillers I've seen.

>196 msf59: I didn't realize you have a brother in Hendersonville. I'm glad that he didn't have anything worse than trees down. The day *before* Helene came through, we saw video from Hendersonville where an apple orchard was flooded. The water looked really deep then, and there were a lot of apples floating in the water. I hate to think what happened to that orchard after Helene hit with more rain. I certainly hope it won't be too long before your brother gets his power back, but the infrastructure has been so badly torn up in the western part of the state that it will be a long wait for some folks.

I didn't see yesterday's Cubs game, but I did watch the video from when they pulled Hendricks and the tribute the fans gave him. He sure deserved it. One of my best Cubs memories is the brilliant game he pitched against the Dodgers in the 2016 NLCS. I was so worried about that game ahead of time, but they had nearly a perfect game. The few baserunners the Dodgers got were picked off or eliminated on double plays. It was just a spectacular pitching performance. I do have today's game on, since it's the last one for this year.

Thanks for the Kingsolver recommendation. I'll have to check that one out.

>195 cindydavid4: Thanks for the good wishes, Cindy! The middle of the state is mostly fine, it's just the poor folks in the mountains who are really suffering. I'll try to let you know what I hear.

>197 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! I did get a nice haul at the book sale. The recovery won't be bad for folks here, but there are parts of the mountains where it is going to take a long time. It is really bad out there, and since the communication infrastructure was so badly damaged, we don't really even know the extent of it in some places.

Well, the Cubs season is over. I think they played pretty well in the second half. If they could have had a stronger first half, I think they would have made the playoffs. So much talent on this team. I hope with a few tweaks, they can be contenders next year. I enjoyed your thoughts on Hendricks.

Hey, the Bears had a nice win yesterday. 😎

>201 msf59: Hi Mark! I agree, the Cubs played well overall in the second half. The bad May and June did them in. I think when Bellinger cracked his ribs banging into the outfield wall, that hurt. I'm sure he wasn't the same for a while, even though he came back to play quickly. But they really need a big bat in the middle of the lineup. I hope they can bring a few key guys in. And I really hope they don't trade Hoerner, he's just the kind of guy you need on a winning team.

I'm glad to hear the Bears won one. I understand they're playing Carolina next week. They'll probably be able to win that one too.

>188 atozgrl: Nice! I recently read The Warmth of Other Suns and thought it was excellent, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when you get to it.

Please stay safe!

>203 alcottacre: Thanks! I'm sure I will enjoy it whenever I have the chance to get to it.

We're fine here in central NC. Most of the problems are in the mountains, where it's going to be a hard road to recovery.

>204 atozgrl: I am glad to hear that you are OK.

>205 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia. I wish that were true in the mountains. They've made a lot of progress on restoring power, but so much infrastructure (roads, bridges, cell towers, water treatment plants and/or pipes) was washed away that it's going to take a long time to recover. And of course, in the mountains some of those roads are on a mountainside, and it may not just be the road that's gone but the land underneath may have collapsed, so there's no where left to put a road. We need to not forget the people there.

>206 atozgrl: I have made a contributin to World Central Kitchen but I would like to support a local charity. do you have any recommendation?

>207 cindydavid4: We just gave to the state's disaster relief fund. Information at https://pay.payitgov.com/ncdonations. I'm sure there are other local groups that are collecting, but I don't have any information about them. There's also the Red Cross, but we didn't give there because we couldn't specify that the aid go to North Carolina. But you can give there to help any of the victims of the storm anywhere in the country.

Thank you so much for thinking of us!

Stunned that the word I chose for my second guess was it.

Wordle 1,205 2/6

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Connections
Puzzle #483
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>208 atozgrl: after Katrina I stopped using red cross and decided to use local charities . Ill go for the state fund, which is with the united way, since it will be going to people in the whole state

>209 atozgrl: Wow! Love the Wordle-in-two!

Glad to see you playing Connections—and I love your first guess, where you have one pick from each category!

Karen O

>210 cindydavid4: Thanks, Cindy! All donations are so much appreciated.

>211 klobrien2: Hi, Karen, it's nice to see you here. That was funny today, how my first attempt had one from each of the categories in Connections today.

I hope you have a great week!

Continued prayers for all our North Carolinians. I hope you continue to be OK, Irene.