Charlotte's (charl08) reading light(houses) 5

I'm Charlotte, I'm based in north west England and I like to read. I started in the category challenge last year.

In January I was trying to think of a theme linked to something positive and uplifting (for me) and decided I'd go with lighthouses. I'm a fan. The most recent ones I've seen are from my recent holiday.


Part of a coastal tour in Oregon.
There's a lighthouse here, honest.


Cabrillo Point, San Diego

As my mum died in January so I've found this year pretty tough: less reading, more sadmin, trying not to get frustrated with my dad, trying not to let everything slip at work.

The categories from last year continue, with a couple of tweaks. I really need to pick up on a couple of them though - lets see how that goes for the last quarter of the year...

New to me (authors)

Souter Lighthouse


January

1. Murder After Christmas (New to me)
2. The Crane Wife (New to me / Essays)
3. West (New to me)

February

1. Flèche (Poetry / new to me)
2.Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (New to me)
3. A Conspiracy of Tall Men (New to me)
4. Euphoria (fiction / new to me)
5. The Year of Magical Thinking (Memoir/ new tomme)
6.There's Been a Little Incident (New to me)

March

1. All of You Every Single One (fiction)
2. Children of Paradise (fiction/ prize longlist)
3. Wandering Souls (fiction / prize longlist)

April
1. Fire Rush (Women's Prize longlist)
2. Ayesha at Last (fiction, new to me)
3. Trespasses (Women's Prize Longlist)
4. Bandit Queens (Women's Prize Longlist)
5. Scorched Grace (crime fiction)
6. Memphis (Women's Prize longlist)
7. Black Butterflies (ditto)

May
1.Strange Sally Diamond
2. Shutter of Snow (fiction, new to me)
3.This Wild Wild Country (crime, New to me)
4. The Pachinko Parlour (Novel, in translation)
5. The Ruin of All Witches (history, early US - my own book!)
6. The Lives and Deaths of K. Penza (Women in translation/ Malta)
7. Murder Under a Red Moon

June
1. Stolen (fiction in translation)
2. Tokyo Express (Reading my own books)
3. Ladies' Lunch and other stories (Reading my own books)
4. Sisters of the Lost Nation (fiction / new to me)
5 Time Shelter (in translation)
6. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (GN)
7. Lost & Found (Reading my books / memoir)

July

1. Blood Sugar (fiction)
2. For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain (fiction)
3. Early Morning Riser (fiction)

August
1. A History of Burning (Historical fiction)
2. Knockout: the true story of Emile Griffith (GN/ history)
3. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet Vol. 1 2, 3 (manga)
4. A Treatise on Shelling Beans (in translation / reading my own books)
5. The Man in the McIntosh Suit (GN)
6. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died (memoir)
7. How to Build a Boat (fiction, booker longlist)
8. Western Lane (Booker longlist)
9. Geiger (fiction / crime / in translation)
10. This Other Eden (Booker)

September
1. Everyone in this room will someday be dead (fiction/ my own books)
2. The Cake Tree in the Ruins (short stories)
3. Red Paint: (Memoir)
4. Indelicacy (fiction / reading my own books)
5. My Monticello (short stories)
6. The Gangster we are all Looking for (fiction)
7. Echo on the Bay
8. Metamorphosis BL Vol 1
9. The Boyfriend Candidate (romance fiction)
10. Three Card Murder (crime fiction, new to me)
11. Night of the Living Rez (short stories, new to me)
12. The Sleeping Car Porter
13. The Bodyguard
14. Prophet Song Booker shortlist

African writers (loosely defined)
This has not been going so well.


Harbour & lighthouse Kalk Bay, South Africa

Paradise (Tanzania)

Prize winners (and nominees!)



1. Demon Copperhead (Women's Prize longlist)
2. The Unseen (several prizes! / in translation)
3. Children of Paradise (Women's Prize longlist)
4. Wandering Souls (Women's Prize longlist)

Quarter 2

1. Fire Rush (Women's Prize longlist)
2. Trespasses (Women's Prize Longlist)
3. The Dog of the North (Women's Prize longlist
4. Bandit Queens (Women's Prize Longlist)
5. Memphis (Women's Prize longlist)
6. Black Butterflies (ditto)
7. The Ruin of All Witches (history, early US - my own book!) (Wolfson History Prize)
8.Time Shelter (International Booker)
9. Em (Giller nominee)

Quarter 3

Paradise (Nobel winners)
A treatise on Shelling Beans (Polish Nike prize)
Old God's Time (fiction, Booker longlist)
How to Build a Boat (fiction, Booker longlist) Western Lane (Booker longlist)
My Monticello (NPR book of the year and several others)
The Sleeping Car Porter (Giller prize)
Prophet Song Booker shortlist

Women in translation

Picture from visit to Lighthouse Books (Edinburgh)


February
1. Siblings Germany
2. Cocoon China (in translation/ my book)
3. Diary of a Void Japan (Reading my own books / Women in translation)

March
1. Summer Fires Italy

April
See Manga list

May
1. A Side Character's Love Story 15 (manga)
2. The Pachinko Parlour
3. The True Deceiver (novel, Sweden)
4. The Lives and Deaths of K. Penza (Women in translation/ Malta)

June
1. Je Ne Sais Quoi: adventures of a French woman in London (GN)
2. Stolen (fiction in translation) Swedish
3. Flying Witch Vol 1 & 2 / Ima Koi Vol 1/ Wolf Girl and Black Prince Vol 1 (Japanese)
4. Em (Canada / French)
5. Ima Koi 3 (Japanese)

July
1. Things Remembered and Things Forgotten (short stories, Japanese)

August

1. Miss Kim Knows (Korea)

September
1. The Naked Tree (GN/ Korea)

Reading my own books

Bass Rock Lighthouse


January

1. Ex Libris books about books
2. Follow Me In (GN)
3. Eileen Mayo (art)
4. The Madness of Grief (memoir)

February

1. On Connection (Reading my own books)
2. Cocoon (in translation/ my books)
3. Diary of a Void (Reading my own books / Women in translation)

April
1. A Fortunate Woman (NF, biography / social science)
2. The Joy of Quitting (GN/ memoir)

May
1. Strange Sally Diamond (Reading my own books)
2. A Side Character's Love Story 15 (manga)
3. The True Deceiver (novel, in translation/ book club)
4. The Ruin of All Witches (history, early US - my own book!)
5. Insomniacs After School (manga)
6. 52 Factory Lane (in translation / Book club)
7. The Lives and Deaths of K. Penza (Women in translation/ Malta)
8. Continent (my books/ fiction)

June
1. Tokyo Express (Reading my own books)
2. Ladies' Lunch and other stories (Reading my own books)
3. Lost & Found (Reading my books / memoir)
4. Em (in translation)

July
1. The Talk (GN)
2. Foster (fiction)
3. Things Remembered and Things Forgotten (short stories, in translation)

August
1. Paradise (African writers)
2. A Treatise on Shelling Beans (in translation)
3. Geiger (fiction / crime / in translation)

September
1. Everyone in this room will someday be dead (fiction/ my own books)
2. Inspector Imanishi Investigates (fiction)
3. The Cake Tree in the Ruins (short stories)
4. Red Paint: (Memoir)
5. Indelicacy (fiction / reading my own books)
6. Ghosts of Spain (history)
7. A Feather on the Breath of God (autofiction)
8. The Naked Tree (GN)
9. My Monticello (short stories)
10. The Gangster we are all Looking for (fiction)

11. Codename Charming (romance/ familiar faces)
12. Between the World and Me Memoir
13. Echo on the Bay
14. Metamorphosis BL Vol 1
15. The Boyfriend Candidate (romance fiction)
16. Day's End (crime fiction, familiar faces)
17. Night of the Living Rez (short stories, new to me)
18. A Side Character's Love Story 16
19. Business or Pleasure (romance fiction/ familiar faces)
20. The Bodyguard
21. Prophet Song Booker shortlist

Graphic Novels & Memoirs



Hello Lighthouse

January:
1. I want to be a wall (Manga)
2. Asadora vol 2
3. Asadora vol 4
4. Days on Fes (Manga)
5. Follow Me In
6. The Maid at my House (1-11)
7. Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san (1)(GN)
8. A Side Character's Love Story 13
9. Seventh Time Loop (Vol 1)
10. Asadora Vol 5
11. Mamo

February
1. Ducks: Two years in the oil sands (GN)
2. The Savior's Book Cafe in Another World 1 (GN)
3. The Savior's Book Cafe in Another)World 2 (GN)
4. The Quest for the Missing Girl (GN)
5. A Side Character's Love Story 14 (Manga)

March
1. Summer Fires (GN / in translation Italy)
2. House of the Sun (manga)
3. The Way of the Househusband 1 (manga)
4. Komi Can't Communicate 1 (manga)
5. LDK 1-10 (manga)
6. Acting Class (GN)

April
1. Kiss Him Not Me 1-8 (Manga)
2. The Joy of Quitting
May
1. Kiss Him Not Me 9-10 (Manga)
2. Crumbs (GN)
3. A Side Character's Love Story 15 (manga)
4. Doughnuts and Doom (GN)
5. Alte Zachen: old things (GN/ fiction)
6. Insomniacs After School (manga)

June
1. Je Ne Sais Quoi: adventures of a French woman in London (GN)
2. Flying Witch Vol 1 & 2 /
3. Ima Koi Vol 1/ 2/3
4. Wolf Girl and Black Prince Vol 1
5. Armed with Madness: the surreal Leonora Carrington (GN)
6. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (GN)
7. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (GN)

July
1. The Talk (GN/ memoir)
2. Wolf Girl and Black Prince vol 2 (manga)
3. Bauhaus: a graphic novel NF

August
1. Knockout: the true story of Emile Griffith (GN/ history)
2. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet Vol. 1 2, 3 (manga)
3. The Man in the McIntosh Suit (GN)
4. The Boxer (GN)

September
1. The Naked Tree (GN)
2. Metamorphosis BL Vol 1 (manga)
3. A Side Character's Love Story 16 (manga)

History and Memoir


The Cabrillo lighthouse had an exhibit about lighthouse history in California.

January
1. The Madness of Grief (memoir/ my own books)
2. Did She Kill Him? (History)
3. Eileen Mayo (Art / Reading my own books)

March
1. Old Rage (Memoir)
2. Notes On Grief (familiar faces)
3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Essays)

April
1. A Fortunate Woman (biography/ medicine)

May
1. The Ruin of All Witches (history, early US - my own book!)

September
1. Red Paint: (Memoir)
2. Ghosts of Spain (history)
3. Between the World and Me Memoir

Previous Quarter
April 18 (82)

1. Fire Rush (Women's Prize longlist)
2. Ayesha at Last (fiction, new to me)
3. Lucy by the Sea (fiction, familiar faces)
4. The Cheat Sheet (fiction)
5. Kiss Him Not Me 1-3 (Manga)
6. Trespasses (Women's Prize Longlist)
7. The Dog of the North (Women's Prize longlist
8. If Only You (Bergman)
9. Bandit Queens (Women's Prize Longlist)
10. Kiss Him Not Me 4-5
11. Scorched Grace (New to me, crime fiction)
12. Two Wrongs Make a Right (Romance / familiar faces)
13. Memphis (Women's Prize longlist)
14. Black Butterflies (ditto)
15. Kiss Him Not Me 6-8 (Manga)
16. FInn Rhodes Forever (Romance, fiction)
17. A Fortunate Woman (NF, biography / social science)
18. The Joy of Quitting (GN/ memoir, reading my own books)

Library books read in April: 5

May 26 (108)
1. Strange Sally Diamond (Reading my own books)
2. The Wrong Mr Right (familiar
faces)
3. Kiss Him Not Me 9-10 (Manga)
4. Shutter of Snow (fiction, new to me)
5. In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes (fiction, familiar faces)
6. Olga (in translation, fiction)
7. Crumbs (GN)
8. A Side Character's Love Story 15 (manga)
9. This Wild Wild Country (crime, New to me)
10. Doughnuts and Doom (GN)
11. Black Paradox (Manga)
12. The Pachinko Parlour (Novel, in translation)
13. The True Deceiver (novel, in translation)
14. Alte Zachen: old things (GN/ fiction)
15. Chick Magnet (fiction)
16. Forever Your Rogue (fiction)
17. The Ruin of All Witches (history, early US - my own book!)
18. Insomniacs After School (manga)
19. 52 Factory Lane (in translation / Book club)
20. Letter Late than Never
21. The Lives and Deaths of K. Penza (Women in translation/ Malta)
22. Continent (my books/ fiction)
23. Murder Under a Red Moon (fiction)
24. It Isn't Over
25. Quiet (poetry)
26. The Takeaway (fiction)

Library books read in May: 10

June 21 (129)

1. Angel of Rome (short stories)
2. Je Ne Sais Quoi: adventures of a French woman in London (GN)
3. Stolen (fiction in translation)
4. Soft and Low
5. Tokyo Express (Reading my own books)
6. Yours Truly
7. Ladies' Lunch and other stories (Reading my own books)
8. Flying Witch Vol 1 & 2 / Ima Koi Vol 1/ Wolf Girl and Black Prince Vol 1
9. Sisters of the Lost Nation (fiction / new to me)
10. Love Theoretically
11. Practice makes Perfect
12. Armed with Madness: the surreal Leonora Carrington (GN)
13. Time Shelter (in translation)
14. The House of Doors (familiar faces)
15. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (GN)
16. Friends Without Benefits
17. Lost & Found (Reading my books / memoir)
18. Em (in translation)
19. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (GN)
20. Ima Koi 3
21. A Light Still Burns (Book group/ in translation)

Library books read in June: 9

Last Quarter

July 20 (149)

All this could be yours fiction
Anger Bang romance
Newcomer crime fiction / translated fiction
The Talk (GN/ memoir/ my own books)
Wolf Girl and Black Prince vol 2 (manga)
Marple (short stories)
Exhalation (short stories)
Behind the Net (fiction)
Blood Sugar (fiction / new to me)
For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain (fiction/ new to me)

Her Big City Neighbor (Romance/ fiction)
Early Morning Riser (fiction, new to me)
Bauhaus: a graphic novel
Foster (fiction / my own books)
Malice (crime/ in translation)
The Girl By the Bridge (crime/ in translation)
Stuck with you (romance)
Not the girl you marry (romance)
The Heart Principle (romance)
Things Remembered and Things Forgotten (short stories, in translation)

Library books read in July 10

August 20 (169)

1. A History of Burning (Historical fiction)
2. Knockout: the true story of Emile Griffith (GN/ history)
3. Paradise (African writers/ my own books)
4. A Death in Tokyo (crime / in translation)
5. Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet Vol. 1 2, 3, 4 (manga)
6. A Treatise on Shelling Beans (in translation / reading my own books)
7. The Man in the McIntosh Suit (GN)
8. Kairos (fiction, in translation)
9. This is Happiness (fiction)
10. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died (memoir)

11. The Boxer (GN)
12. Old God's Time (fiction, booker longlist)
13. How to Build a Boat (fiction, booker longlist)
14. In Your Dreams (fiction, familiar faces)
15. I am Homeless if this is not my Home (fiction)
16. Western Lane (Booker longlist)
17. August Blue (familiar faces)
18. Miss Kim Knows (in translation)
19. Geiger (fiction / crime / in translation)
20. This Other Eden (Booker)

Library books read in August 15

September 23 (192)

1. Everyone in this room will someday be dead (fiction/ my own books)
2. Inspector Imanishi Investigates (fiction)
3. The Cake Tree in the Ruins (short stories)
4. Red Paint: (Memoir)
5. Indelicacy (fiction / reading my own books)
6. Ghosts of Spain (history)
7. A Feather on the Breath of God (autofiction)
8. The Naked Tree (GN)
9. My Monticello (short stories)
10. The Gangster we are all Looking for (fiction)

11. Codename Charming (romance/ familiar faces)
12. Between the World and Me Memoir
13. Echo on the Bay
14. Metamorphosis BL Vol 1
15. The Boyfriend Candidate (romance fiction)
16. Day's End (crime fiction, familiar faces)
17. Three Card Murder (crime fiction, new to me)
18. Night of the Living Rez (short stories, new to me)
19. The Sleeping Car Porter
20. A Side Character's Love Story 16

21. Business or Pleasure (romance fiction/ familiar faces)
22. The Bodyguard
23. Prophet Song Booker shortlist

Library books read in September: 3

Final Quarter

September 4 (196)

1. Love's Work (Memoir/ philosophy)
2. Goodbye, Eri (manga)
3. Look Back manga
4. The Censor's Notebook translated fiction.

Library books read this month 2

Happy new thread, Charlotte. The photos from the Oregon coast are lovely.

Thanks Katie! Oregon is beautiful. The wine was nice too!

I love your lighthouses, Charlotte! Happy new thread. You have read SO MANY BOOKS this year!

Happy new thread, Charlotte

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

Love the lighthouses, and the dog :-)

Happy new thread! I am at North Berwick for the weekend, and saw Bass Rock and its lighthouse (see >6 charl08: ). I have to say, the sky is not that colour today! :D

Happy new thread. Hope the last quarter reading brings pleasure.

Happy New Thread, Charlotte! Many good reads ahead!

>13 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

I have a photo montage from Powells with all the books I wished I could buy (but knew I couldn't carry home). Too many books...

>14 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley. I have good intentions for return visits, apologies.

>15 FAMeulstee: Isn't he lovely? I think (if memory isn't playing tricks on me) that the previous owners also had a lovely dog, but it was fun to see the tradition had continued the last time I visited.

>16 Jackie_K: Ooh, I love North Berwick. Although I have to say that I have also been there on days when it did not look like this!

>17 Helenliz: Thanks Helen.
A comment about enjoying the journey might fit here?

>18 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I can't quite believe we're nearly in October already (I say this every year, of course).

Happy new thread, Charlotte. Love the lighthouses!

>21 MissWatson: Thanks Birgit. Hoping to get to one much closer to home recently, I realised I hadn't been to the Mersey ones.

Here is my sister's dog eyeing up a sandwich. This photo makes me laugh every time I see it.

I have lots of reviews to catch up with, so going to be brief!

11. Codename Charming (romance/ familiar faces)
I like Lucy Parker's writing style, which is fun - there's a wide cast of characters in each novel and it's British-set without being twee. I enjoyed her previous books set in London's 'glittering West End' (not Parker's term, but one that seems stuck in my head). This one is also a setting involving celebrity, but royal rather than theatrical. I'm not usually a fan of this setting (I can't really say this makes much sense given my enthusiasm for regency-set romance). Unsurprisingly then: not my favourite of her books, but an enjoyable read.

Well, her boss was Johnny. Adorable, enthusiastic Johnny with his heart of gold and his two enormous left feet, one of which was usually lodged squarely in his mouth. E.g., when they'd arrived at the museum this evening and been introduced to the current Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, Mr. Simon Winger. Johnny had cast a quick glance at the "S. Winger" on the man's name tag and said cheerfully, "I know the House of Commons is l-legendarily full of f-fuckers, but I didn't realize things were quite that exciting."

12. Between the World and Me

This memoir has been read by just about everyone I know, and I think if you had asked me, I would have said I had read it already. (I'd read his other bestseller instead). It was on sale in a small bookshop I passed on my coastal tour, and well, you have to support independent bookshops, don't you?!!

13. Echo on the Bay
A very odd book I picked up in the SD library shop. Billed as a crime novel, for me it was more a novel about deeply rooted community conflict in a small Japanese village by the sea. Metaphorical bombs are dropped and then abandoned in the narrative, including pregnancy, abusive relationships in families with both people and animals. Short enough to finish even though I didn't really understand the author's approach.

...we'd follow his foot steps. They always disappeared into the water. They headed for the sea, like a turtle after laying its eggs. Besides his footsteps, there was never anything else there. We never saw a body.

We did see something, though. It wasn't a body-more like a living person. I can't say definitely that it was a living person. It could have been a ghost. Mr. Yoshida didn't seem certain that he'd seen it at all.

14. Metamorphosis BL Vol 1
I picked this up in Kinokunya in Portland. The idea and illustrations are charming, the story slight. A young shop clerk and an elderly woman bond over their enthusiasm for BL manga, a niche reading interest.

15. The Boyfriend Candidate (romance fiction)
Fake relationship in a gubernatorial race. A rather pleasing subplot about educational funding.

He sighed. "I didn't come out here to argue, or close the deal. I came to say I know we're giving you the full court press. But you don't have to do this."

This man was more confusing than an illustrated cover on a romance novel.

16. Day's End (crime fiction, familiar faces)
17. Three Card Murder (crime fiction, new to me)

Two crime novels to finish up my lightning speed reviews.

"And if you do see texts or pictures, you need to know it's not personal. Even if it feels like it at first." Hirsch nodded. "To a troll, it's just business, hurting someone.' "Okay,' Kate said, folding in on herself.
"Take away their power,' Hirsch said. "Block and mute and report. Don't respond - it's what they want. And keep us in the loop.'
'Be self-aware,' Wendy said. "Ask yourself, why am I dwelling on this? Is it helpful? What can I be doing instead?"
For a moment-swiftly there and gone again - Kate stuck out her mutinous, victimised bottom lip.
"Too much?' Hirsch said. Kate gave him a look and replied, with indolent charm,
'Kind of a bit preachy."
That was more like the Kate he knew.
They smiled faintly at each other and were a little better prepared to face the day.

The first one continues the series of novels set in the Australian outback, isolated and dusty. Our protagonist Hirsch continues to investigate small town, isolated farm, crime. His relationship with a local teacher with a teenager enables the author to dig deeper into the very modern, apparently 'urban' online experiences of young people. Shopping his former squad for corruption continues to affect him here, as does the consequences of dealing with violent crime. But there is the possibility of further change and redemption here. Three Card Murder by contrast, is set in off season Brighton. The seedy tourist traps by the sea, complete with fake mystics and card sharps are accompanied by apparently more modern problems, dead drug dealers. Two sisters, one working for the police, the other more accustomed to running the con, have to work together when they are both implicated in a series of dramatic deaths.

Wes looked like he was about to argue on the food front but thought better of it. 'Luminol picks up a couple of other things too. Blood is one, faeces ...' Sarah screwed up her nose.
'And horseradish.'
'Excuse me?'
He nodded enthusiastically. Yeah, weird, right? Horseradish peroxidase catalyses the oxidation in luminol.'
Sarah made him repeat the exact wording while she wrote it down in her notebook, marvelling about what a fountain of weird knowledge her family was.

NB I really hate how the publishers (? or Amazon?) pull through their little blurbs with the title now. 'Three gripping locked room mysteries in one book. Don't miss this clever, funny crime novel for 2023...' Seriously? That's not the title.
Grump grump. Off to press 'delete' in the edit my book section.

>23 charl08: Love it.

Happy New Thread! Nice to visit your lighthouses again.

>23 charl08: Your sister's dog looks cute, Charlotte.
The picture made me smile too :-)

Your sister's dog is so cute, Charlotte! Not unlike to my dog, Poppy, who is the topper on my thread. What breed/ mix is she/ he and what the name? We don't know Poppy's breed mix for certain, as her mom was a rescue, but via " DNA my dog " - took a swab from her cheek, she is 75 % or more poodle and further down the list ( much further down ) Great White Pyrenees and Brittany Spaniel.

>24 charl08: I felt similarly about Codename Charming -- I love Lucy Parker and enjoyed this book, but it's not my favorite of hers. I hope she goes back to her theater series soon, as I too am not as interested in the royals.

>30 Caroline_McElwee: She has her moments, but her expressions are so human it's hard not to laugh.

>31 dudes22: Thanks Betty. I am hoping to "add" (or at least see) a few more to my list on walks this year.

>32 FAMeulstee: She is cute: I'm not sure I'd like a dog like her, as lots of people feel the need to admire her whenever I've been out with my sister. It gets really boring!

>33 vancouverdeb: She's a bichon frise, although my sister got her in rather an unorthodox way so I don't think she's got any kind of pedigree or anything (her original owner had some family issues so gave her up).

>34 christina_reads: Glad I'm not the only one hoping that!

Night of the Living Rez
I found this collection of short stories set on a Penobscot reservation really dark reading. Narrated by David, and jumping around in time, they show a family struggling. David and his friends are into drugs and alcohol and petty crime, whilst his mum struggles to hold onto any money and his step-dad is an alcoholic. The pattern of the lives shown is so bleak that even the events of the final story where his sister's baby dies in his arms seems just part of the overall horror, and the shock is muted. A great title, reflects the story where David and his friends go to chase haunted children in the woods - and find his sister instead.

I thought this description of the end of a canoeing trip was beautifully written.

The pile of logs and thin branches ran out, and so too ran out our buzzes. We all pissed on the fire and then headed for the canoes. Each of us was settled in the quiet downer of drink, and so we said nothing as we got into the rocking canoes and stabbed our paddles into the earth to push off, and down the river we didn't have to exert any force, we simply let the river take us home, and during part of the float the river had spaced us out so Tyson was far to my left, and JP far to Tyson's left, and when we came to the bend of the river its meandering pull brought us together and it was then that we paddled four strokes to the shore and the canoes slid up on the soft dirt bank, a wall of vines dangling down like wet hair. We tied the canoes with rope to some trees, and with aching, lowered heads we walked the darkening woods to the street.

The Sleeping Car Porter
This was waiting for me when I got back from holiday at the library. I thought it was wonderful.

Baxter is the porter of the title, working on Canadian railways in the 1920s. He is haunted, figuratively by the loss of his lover, and literally by a strange figure who appears at the edges of his vision. The passengers are racist (perhaps even more cringingly, those who see the racism of their colleagues and do nothing). The company issues demerits for any passenger complaint against a porter, with a fixed total leading to termination. It's a terrible working life, with minimal sleep, but Baxter is highly motivated.

This book achieved the rare feat of making dentistry seem like an understandably desirable career.

"This book achieved the rare feat of making dentistry seem like an understandably desirable career."

That made me laugh.

The book sounds interesting. I'll have to check my library.

>37 charl08: This book achieved the rare feat of making dentistry seem like an understandably desirable career. Surely there ought to be a special award for that Charlotte.

>38 katiekrug: >39 Caroline_McElwee: Maybe I'll ask my dentist if she's read the book.

Annoying: I had plans for cleaning and the dyson went kaput. It's pretty old now, so new one ordered.

>36 charl08: & >37 charl08: Coincidentally, I have both these books on my shelf, having attended a reading at Tin House last year that included Talty and a session on researching historical fiction at a book festival this year that included Mayr.

I own Sleeping Car Porter but have yet to read it. I might join my library's November Book Club as they are reading The Sleeping Car Porter. It made dentistry seem like a desirable career? I may need to read it sooner than later. Sorry about the Dyson dying on you.

>36 charl08: I loved Night of the Living Rez and look forward to more by Talty.

>41 RidgewayGirl: I hope you have a chance to pick up both books.

>42 vancouverdeb: I think it would make a great bookclub book, Deborah. Hope you can join the group for the read if it suits you.

>43 BLBera: I am glad I read it, but I think you liked the book more than me. I found the non-linear structure disconcerting.

Prophet Song
I ended up staying up past my bedtime to read this. Such a powerful read.

The state is supposed to leave you alone, Michael, not enter your house like an ogre, take a father into its fist and gobble him, how can I even begin to explain this to the kids, that the state they live in has become a monster? All this will blow over, Eilish, the NAP will have to back down sooner or later, there is outrage all over Europe---Then why is the GNSB arresting more and more people each day, Michael, calling this a time of national emergency, the plain- clothesmen who came into our office on Tuesday and took a young fellow from his desk, Eamon Doyle, a statistical scientist, the last fellow on earth to be causing trouble, and do you know what he said when he fetched his coat, he asked that somebody call his mother...

>45 charl08: Waiting for it to land. I've heard good things about it, as well as its Booker shortlisting.

>46 Caroline_McElwee: I'm still moaning about Tan Twan Eng not getting shortlisted, but this would be a worthy winner.

The new hoover has arrived and works, little wins...

Some of August's reading.
In terms of the categories I did really well with reading my own books: but that's mostly as they were books I bought on my trip (!!) I did manage to leave some of them behind, including one in a LFL just down the road from my friend's place. I was so pleased to spot it. I just squeaked in another Booker listed book Prophet Song.

Favourites this month:
A feather on the breath of god. I'm regretting giving this one away! Loved how she created the pictures of her narrator's mother, father and a former boyfriend.

I like to try and read books about/ set in places I visit. Red Paint was on the local shelf at Powells. I found it an insightful memoir though not always a polished first book. I picked up The Gangster we are all Looking for without knowing that it was partly set in the community my friend and her partner now live in, home to many vietnamese refugees at one time.

There were two books that I didn't much enjoy reading. Everyone in this room will someday be dead. A novel about a woman with high anxiety: for me as a reader it seemed to bleed anxiety off the page. Not a comfortable read. I also didn't find it much fun reading Indelicacy, although the art / writing blurb made me think I would.

I read some global crime fiction, both authors I've read before, Japanese Inspector Imanishi Investigates and Australian Day's End. Both very atmospheric. Echo on the Bay, also translated from Japanese, which I picked up in SD's library shop, was billed as crime but felt more like lit fic.

Ghosts of Spain the first history book I've completed in a while was a fascinating look at a place I really should visit.

I visited a branch of Kinokuniya in Portland, so my reading benefitted from picking up some of their offerings. The Cake Tree in the Ruins - such sad short stories set after WW2 ended in Japan, and The Naked Tree a new GN by an author I have read before. I am not sure if this reflects her work or just the work that is translated, but this book also centres on Korea's painful wartime history. A much lighter purchase was Metamorphosis BL partly set in a Korean bookshop.

I bought the latest series of pamphlet translations from the Strangers Press / UEA publishing project.
The first story I've read is The Greatest Gamble on Earth. Kwak Jaesik's narrator parties with a rich girl he met at university, taking part in a strange scavenger hunt for the children of high Korean society.

https://www.strangers.press/iyagi

Love's Work
I can't remember where I came across reference to this book. The author was a philosopher and the books is described as a cross between a memoir and philosophy. It was a leap too far for me in terms of the philosophical discussion. She reflects on her terminal cancer diagnosis, her experiences studying philosophy, and her relationships with family, friends and lovers.

I liked this quote on memoir (Socrates)

Who is entitled to write his reminiscences?
Everyone
Because no one is obliged to read them.

In order to write one's reminiscences it is not at all necessary be a great man, nor a notorious criminal, nor a celebrated artist, nor a statesman—it is quite enough to be simply a human being, to have something to tell, and not merely the desire to tell it but at least have some little ability to do so.

Every life is interesting...

October is Black History Month in the UK, so I'm going to take advantage of the nudge to pick up some more of my own books I've been meaning to read. Choices include:

Jamica Kincaid I picked up several shiny new editions of her work and have not read them.
The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy.
Without Prejudice by Nicola Williams. ...
The Dancing Face by Mike Phillips. ...
Bernard and the Cloth Monkey by Judith Bryan
Black and British

And on my kindle
Lovers and Strangers
Black Spartacus
Chain Gang Allstars
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty
The Death of Vivek Oji
Black Tudors
Black, Listed
Afropean

How did I manage to do that twice?
I've ignored all the above and am dealing Margo Jefferson instead.

We’ve read the same three books from the Booker Shortlist , Charlotte . I have If I Survive You out from the library, but I don’t think I’ll read it now . I need to read some thing non - Booker right now . I do have The Bee Sting arriving Oct 6 or so , and Paul
and Stasia are planning a group read, so that’s one more from the Booker Short List .Like you , I am keen for the Prophet Song to win . I will check the date at the library for The Sleeping Car Porter . I am planning to go this October and the book is Chop Suey Nation . I just finished Gin , Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue that I absolutely loved . It’s available in the UK, and if you can get hold of , I think you would like it too. Another book that I think would be great for discussion. Speaking of dentists, I have to go get a cavity filled on Tuesday. 🦷🥲

Has anyone else noticed that half of the shortlist authors are named Paul?