In the High Peaks
















Friday, October 16, 2020

ELEVEN WEEKS to New Year's Day!

I've read more than my usual number of books this year, but I must admit that many were not of high quality. Perhaps I was madly chomping on junk food in a bunker? Yes, most assuredly so!

By the way, I've made a very cozy bunker. It's in my bedroom and has a beautiful view of trees and sky. I feel safe from the outer world up there. Before 2 pm, I do all my housework and loads of dog walking, and then I traipse upstairs with Sandy and retreat...to the safety and calm of my comfy bedroom, where I read and read, followed by knitting to audiobooks.

After reading the Gothic HORROR novel Mexican Gothic (over  the top),  I've realized I'm dying for substantial meat and potatoes fare--high-quality fiction and nonfiction. And it's whetted my appetite for more.  Gosh--I didn't know Mexican Gothic was Gothic HORROR! Who knew? No review told me, thank you very much.

So what am I reading? I'm at the very end of a wondrous book by the noted Canadian author, Michael Christie, entitled Greenwood. I have truly enjoyed reading it, and because underlying all of its themes are trees and forests, and the history of trees and forests in Canada, which parallel those in the U.S., I've loved it especially. It's a sprawling epic, 500 pages, beginning in the year 2038 and reaching back in segments to the year 1908, then  catapulting forward again through the years to 2038. Different! Incredibly interesting. Highly original.

Listening while knitting: I happen to be knitting a very complex cable pattern to make a sweater vest that accentuates the shoulders, a style I selected especially because I have small shoulders. But while doing this complex craft, I decided I must listen to Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, published in 2007. I also managed to purchase the e-book as well, so I can go back and "re-read" sections that described court cases or incidents that are difficult to fully comprehend while listening to audio. This book explains so much of the background behind the Court today. I would like to learn more. Highly recommended.

Next Up: I'm definitely going to read Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld next. And, a mystery alongside it. Not sure which mystery I'll pick at this moment, but I'll keep you posted.

I TRULY REGRET that Blogger has made it IMPOSSIBLE to offer links. I do hope that if you're  you will follow via Google whatever name or link you'd like  to follow.

 

 

16 comments:

  1. I have heard of Greenwood by Michael Christie and I do plan to read it someday. I first read about it at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan, a blog by a Canadian lawyer.

    I am sorry you are continuing to have problems with Blogger. I haven't had any problems with adding links, and I have adjusted to the limitations of adding images. I can center one or add an image to the right or left of test, but not move images around. It seems to behave more consistently now, which is a relief.

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    1. Hi Tracy,
      I'm encouraged to know that you are getting "the hang" of the new Blogger. I'll keep trying!
      So interested to hear you've heard of Greenwood. A most memorable book for this year for me.

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  2. I do love the sound of your reading nook in your bedroom. I think we all need that at the moment. I have a comfy leather chair I sink into in the lounge and now we've started lighting the real fire it's a real pleasure to do that every afternoon. Like you I try to keep afternoons relatively free. Sometimes people call for a chat and that's a real pleasure too. An elderly cousin called yesterday who loves vintage crime books so we chatted away an hour on that subject. Today my daughter and her husband visited... more book chat. Simple pleasures.

    I love the sound of Greenwood, I shall look that up. I'm not much of a follower of links anyway so worry not. If I'm interested in a book I take myself off to Goodreads to look at it.

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    1. Hi Cath,
      How wonderful in these times to have a cousin call and discuss crime fiction with you--super! Can't imagine anything better in these sequestered times.
      I think you would be captivated by Greenwood, based on what I know about you, and your interest in North America (Canada and US).

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  3. Some times you need junk food and some times you need something more substantial. Same with books!

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    1. Hi Marg,
      Is that ever true! Loads of the junk food soothed me so that it can't have been a negative thing. Enjoying my literary meals of more substance now.

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  4. LOL, Judith... I LOVE the comparison of your books to junk food in the bunker! Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine was a favorite when I read it nearly a decade ago. I'm sure it will help readers make sense of what's happening today, too.

    Hope you enjoyed the fall colors. It must be past peak up there now. We were in NY until 10/5 and I was struck by the vibrant reds... seemed like there was more of it compared to the last few years.

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    1. Hi JoAnn,
      Oh, our peak colors went by so speedily, which was because we had a hard frost that set it all off. But I've enjoyed the cascading downward off the peak foliage. That's been a much longer trip.
      So interested to know you read Toobin's The Nine. Poor Toobin. He was just suspended from the New Yorker staff, pending an investigation. Check out the NYTimes story.
      As a personality, whom I've heard interviewed numerous times, and whose books I've read, there are things about him that drive me mad.
      Granted he's a "legal scholar," but I thought his judgements about Patty Hearst were SKEWED, wrongly, because he did not take into consideration any aspects of what happens when a woman experiences trauma in an abduction. Disregarded it completely. A huge failing. Still, he knows a lot about other things, and I'm glad I'm reading this book.

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    2. Judith - I saw that story about Toobin... what a stupid mistake! The Nine was one the first books I read about the Supreme Court and it inspired me to learn more. Over the years I've read several biographies about various justices... helpful in trying to see the bigger picture.

      I intended to read Toobin's book about Patty Hearst, but never got around to it. Now it seems like there are too many other subjects competing for my nonfiction reading time.

      I'll be interested to hear what you think of The Nine.

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    3. JoAnn,
      I've been so interested in The Nine. Just past halfway through now, but extremely interesting.
      And yes, how is it that someone can be that stupid, really? That's a mystery to me.

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  5. Judith, I looked at the description of Mexican Gothic several times as the buzz has been big but, I never requested it as I didn't think it was for me. Thanks for confirming that. I'm finding it tougher to concentrate with the political climate. BTW: Have you seen the Pete Souza documentary, OMG, it brought a tear to my eye and reminded me, yet again, how much I really miss decency in the Whit House. Such a beautiful portrait of what we once had.

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    1. Oh, gosh, Diane--I'll search online to find how to access the Pete Souza documentary. Looking forward!

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  6. I love the Toobin book (he is a college classmate) but the Woodward book on the Supreme Court is also excellent, The Brethren. The strength of both, unlike many books on the Court, is that you don't have to be a lawyer to enjoy them.

    I just voted! I was planning to wait dramatically until November but then I saw lines of people waiting outside Fenway Park where there was early voting yesterday and today. They all looked so happy that I drove over at 4:30. I found parking on the street just a few blocks away and there were no lines except to take selfies overlooking the infield after we voted.

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    1. I may read the Woodward book, but I know that history of the Court much more than the extremely complex period that Toobin covers in The Nine. Glad to hear you got to vote!
      We mailed our ballots on Monday. Sigh. I just want to crawl into a hole and disappear for a few months, frankly.

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  7. Toobin is now in disgrace! I was having a chilly outdoor dinner with six college classmates last night and I was surprised that some of them had heard sleazy stories about him prior to this most recent incident. Well, he's always been nice to me except calling me Connie, which I hate but he does not realize.

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    1. It's so interesting that your classmates had heard stories about him before. Despite his being a clear and knowledgeable writer, he comes across in interviews as being deeply arrogant.

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