A Life of Reading Words
DATE: 1/6/26
Challenge Titles Finished (Totals To Date):
Titles Finished: Totals for 2025:
All titles left to go for Challenge: 3,540
Next count: 1/1/27
Card, Orson Scott. Xenocide. Macmillan Audio, 2004.
Reason read: to continue the series started in October in honor of Science Fiction month.
As Orson Scott Card moves away from the childlike narrative of Ender’s Game the series becomes more deeply philosophical. In each subsequent Ender novel, Card questions the argument surrounding free will. Xenocide expands on these ideas as it examines cultural differences, religious ideology and the ethics of destroying a race because of its potential danger. Card takes his readers to the planet Lusitania where humans (including Andrew Wiggin and his family), the Pequeninos (Piggies), and the Hive Queen are all under threat by the Starways Congress. The Congress is hellbent on blowing up the planet because they fear the Descolada virus which is essential to the Pequeninos but deadly to humans. Card keeps Ender and his family mostly in the background as he explores these heavier concepts. I found it to be heavy mucking.
Book Audio trivia: there is a whole cast of narrators for Xenocide: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, Amanda Karr, John Rubinstein, and Stefan Rudnicki.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213).
Dawkins, Louise. Natives and Strangers. Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
Reason read: Kenya gained independence in December. Read in recognition of that event.
Natives and Strangers examines the human heart through the lens of culture and status in an African landscape. Natives and strangers, whites and blacks, rich and entitled. British colonists and native Africans. Young Marietta Hamilton hasn’t been brought up to be colorblind, but despite her English heritage her friendships are without barriers. Her best friend is the daughter of her mother’s servant. Natives and Strangers tracks Marietta’s coming of age as she navigates her identity through childhood, college, marriage and motherhood. This was a struggle for me to read because I didn’t really care for the characters.
Detractors – Dawkins gets a little didactic by addressing religious differences like Christianity versus Paganism.
Another negative: I have read reviews complaining about how unnaturally the characters speak. Dawkins tells the story of Natives and Strangers mostly through the classic vehicle of monologue and dialogue. For example, Virginia needs to explain to Marietta why she is sending her daughter away to a boarding school. The monologue is mostly historical context and more for the benefit of the reader than for Marietta. Because all characters do this (even the children) Dawkins loses believability and authenticity. All of her characters appear long-winded and unwieldy in their manner of speech and their conversations.
Author fact: Louisa Dawkins is a pen name.
Book trivia: I was warned that the dialogue between characters in Natives and Strangers is not natural.
Music: the Rolling Stones.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Africa: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 2).
Roth, Joseph. Radetzky March. Translated by Joachim Neuroschel. Overlook Press, 1995.
Reason read: Hanukkah is in December.
The premise of Radetzky March is deceptively simple. At the start it follows the three generations of the Trotta family at the end of the Hapsburg Empire. Grandfather, Captain Trotta, saved the life of Emperor Franz Joseph and was forever known as the Hero of Solferino. All in all, the characters of Radetzky March are incredibly dismissive. One character has a relationship where after twenty years he still cannot remember if his friend has sons or daughters. He only knows Herr Nechwas has now adult children. Herr von Trotta und Sipolje can never remember the personal details of another human’s life. A father decides his son’s profession by simply saying “I’ve decided that you’re going to be a lawyer” (p 15). Never mind what the son wants. You have to feel sorry for Carl as he is always under the thumb of his father; insecure around other men of military standing. Radetzky March follows Carl’s life as he makes his way under the shadow of a hero grandfather and a unsympathetic father. He can never live up to their grandeur and his life descends into a world of debt, adultery, alcoholism, and a lost sense of self. Joseph Roth has written a beautiful tragedy.
Confessional: something always gets lost in translation when I read a book originally not written in English. For example, how do sofa cushions slide slyly and cautiously toward someone? I could see cushions losing the battle against gravity and slowly toppling over when someone sits down next to them. And this – Trotta dropped a blade and it made a jingly whimper when it landed. The jingle, I understand. the whimper? Not so much.
Author fact: Roth wrote a sequel to Radetzky March called Emperor’s Tomb but I am not reading it for the Challenge. Instead, I am reading What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920 -1933.
Book trivia: my copy of Radetzky March has an introduction by Nadine Gordimer.
Music: Straus’s Radetzky March, Tannhauser Overture, Wandering Tinker, “The Internationale,” and “God Save.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the simple chapter called “Berlin” (p 36).
Simko, Lukas. Something Else: Words that Remember, Stories that Awaken. Independent Publicist, 2025.
Reason read: as part of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read books that sometimes move me. This is one of those books.
The fastest review I could write about Something Else is to say it is a memoir about an individual wanting to find true love. Lukas Simko’s story begins when he is a thirty-two year old graduate looking for work. He meets a girl who over time showed all the classic signs of an abuser. She was controlling and manipulative and I found myself wishing he would have seen the signs earlier. Right away I felt Simko is someone who has the potential to fall hard and fast for a romantic relationship. He believes in taking chances and embracing adventure wherever it may take him.
Then there was Macy. She was clear she did not an emotional relationship, but Lukas started to like her more and more “without permission.” Interesting choice of words. This time around Simko noticed the signs of a relationship dying as Macy started to distance herself from him.
Next came Jaya. Lukas felt an instant connection with her for they had a great deal in common and almost seemed to be soul mates. She even took him in as a roommate without really knowing him. Once again Lukas became involved with a woman who did not want to be tied down with anything emotional. To say Jaya was complicated is an understatement. She often sent mixed signals and seemed to be confused about what she really wanted from Simko. One minute she was communicating as if she cared deeply; the next she felt it necessary to block Simko on social media (twice).
In the end, Simko emerged a stronger person. He was able to see the beauty in each failed relationship. As an aside, I think of it as the particle theory. You get what you need from each relationship whether that relationship withstands the test of time or not.
Confessional: I did not understand Ireland’s employment situation. Lukas requested three weeks off under the guise of taking care of a grandmother. Instead, he was rewarded with 3 1/2 months off, but the kicker was he had to go on leave when they told him to. I thought he was working in a remote IT position.
A more personal confessional: Simko went four months without talking to Jaya. Try five years! That’s how long I went without speaking to someone who meant the world to me.
As an aside, I learned a new word, “craic.”
Music: “Misty Mountains” by Leyna Robinson-Stone.
Kumin, Maxine. The Long Marriage. W.W. Norton and Company, 2002.
Reason read: I read somewhere that January 26th is Marriage Day.
In The Long Marriage Maxine Kumin is keen to describe what she sees in the viewfinder of life. She stares down uncomfortable topics like suicide and crime with unflinching clarity. From the community of Grays Point to gardening to the struggle of rehabilitation after an accident. She even reflects on her own injuries from being thrown from a horse: punctured lung, eleven broken ribs, and a bruised liver…just to name a few. Her poems are life jumping off the page and, dare I say, into your heart.
Poems I enjoyed the most:
Author fact: Maxine Kumin was friends with Anne Sexton.
Book trivia: there is a beautiful picture of the author and her husband and their dogs. Kumin’s dedication to Victor, “on the dark lake” is beautiful, too.
Natalie connections: In Miss Merchant’s song, “Sister Tilly” she talks about the kind of woman who reads Rilke poems. Kumin has a poem about Rilke.
Natalie was the first person to introduce me to the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Kumin quotes him in The Long Marriage.
Confessional: Peter Gabriel celebrated the album So by doing an anniversary tour. I could not think of the poet to whom he dedicated “—.” All I could remember was the line, “Anne with her father is out in the boat.” Kumin mentions Anne Sexton by name. Mystery solved…although I could have just looked at the liner notes.
Music: Pee Wee Russell, Jack Teagarden, Erroll Garner, and Glenn Miller.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Prose by Poets” (p 194).
Morris, Arthur Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Read by Mark Deakins.
Reason read: in honor of Roosevelt, the first American statesman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
When one thinks of Theodore Roosevelt, it is the big teeth, the massive mustache, the burly figure, and maybe the fact Roosevelt lost his wife and mother on the same day [Alice, of Bright’s disease and Mittie of typhoid fever, respectively]. In The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt Morris covers Theodore Roosevelt’s complicated and robust life up until the presidency. He skillfully reminds his reader about Roosevelt the author who wrote over a dozen histories and biographies to supplement his salary as an Assemblyman; Roosevelt the candidate who lost the bid to be mayor of New York; Roosevelt the complicated man who adored the west and had his heart set on becoming a rancher in the Badlands; Roosevelt the Harvard graduate; Roosevelt the police commissioner; Roosevelt the Assistant Secretary of the Navy; Roosevelt the naturalist; Roosevelt the family man. While Alice was the love of his life he managed to remarry (Edith Carow) and go on to have a happy family of six children. Morris also painted Roosevelt as a contradiction in health. Doctors deemed the future president a sickly asthmatic who somehow was able to perform great feats of athleticism like climbing mountains, hunting for days and hiking long distances.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is thoroughly researched and highly entertaining. As an aside, I adored the ending.
As an aside, I would love to visit the Roosevelt mansion at 6 West 57th Street in Manhattan.
Author fact: Morris was born in Nairobi.
Book trivia: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt has a great collection of black and white photographs.
Music: “America,” Gilbert and Sullivan, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, “Marching Through Georgia,” “Star Spangled Banner,” “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,” “The Union Forever,” “My Country Tis of Thee,” “The White Plume,” and “Hail to the Chief.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Presidential Biographies” (p 192).
Stout, Rex. Second Confession. G.K. Hall and Co., 1992.
Reason read: to continue the series started in November of 2024. I am now a year into the Nero Wolfe series.
It all starts when a father wants to hire Nero Wolfe to confirm or deny his daughter’s fiancé is not a Communist. James Sperling believes his daughter’s suitor needs to be investigated before they marry. At first Nero is reluctant to take the case for he knows Sperling has connections to the mafia. That is the least of his troubles when the man in question is found murdered and all evidence points to Nero. [Stout likes vehicular homicide and it is Wolfe’s vehicle with the blood evidence.]
It is rare that Nero Wolfe leaves his brownstone in New York City as the country makes him nervous, yet, in Second Confession Wolfe finds himself in Chappaqua, just above White Plains, New York. Another variance of this Nero Wolfe mystery is a different set of law enforcement running interference. Despite these differences, fear not! Archie is his old sarcastic witty self.
As an aside, I truly enjoy learning more about the highly entertaining Archie Goodwin. This time we learn he has gone to high school in Ohio.
Lines I liked, “I wouldn’t go to the extreme of calling him a cheap filthy little worm, but he is in fact a shabby creature” (p 93) and “There are numerous layers of honesty, and the deepest should not have a monopoly” (p 276).
Author fact: Rex Stout served as chairman of the war writer’s board.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 209).
Lawhead, Stephen R. Avalon: the Return of King Arthur. Avon, 1999.
Reason read: King Arthur was born in December…supposedly.
The is a classic tale of the struggle between good and evil. Cast as the power hungry antagonist is Prime Minister Thomas Waring. When the last King of England committed suicide Waring was under the impression he would lead England from his seat in government. Out of nowhere along comes James Stuart, an apparent nobody with all the credentials to prove it is he who is actually next in line for the throne. All of the characters you expect from King Arthur’s time are represented in modern day Britain. Ancient enemies are present with a modern day twist.
My favorite parts were when James experiences fiosachd, a kind of mental time travel where he can see his surroundings in a medieval light. Sights and sounds shimmer into his mind like a memory but appear before him as real as his own skin. Modern day dissolves to reveal a time before time.
My least favorite part was the relationship with Jenny. She rebuffs James and seems to fancy another until she does a surprising 180.
Confessional: I went back and forth about whether or not Avalon was part of the Pendragon series. In the end I decided it wasn’t because I couldn’t care enough if it was or wasn’t.
Book trivia: Avalon is the LAST book in the Pendragon Cycle series (according to Lawhead’s website). Once again, I have read these books out of order.
Author fact: several of Lawhead’s books have been made into television series for 2025.
Music: “Auld Lang Syne,” “Bowl of Punch Reel,” Gerry Rafferty, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” “Amazing Grace,” “We Rest on Thee,” “Wedding March,” “O Worship the King,” “Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” “Scotland the Brave,” and “Be Thou My Vision.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “King Arthur” (p 136). What Pearl does not tell you is that at the time of the publication of Book Lust, Avalon was the last book in the Pendragon Cycle series.
Bremicker, Christopher G. Breakdown, Recovery and the Outdoors. Running Wild Press, 2025.
Christopher Bremicker tells a believable story about Mike Reynolds, a Vietnam veteran struggling with schizo-affective disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in equal measure. [As an aside, I met a veteran who refused to call PSTD a “disorder.” He said he was living with posttraumatic stress. Period. It was not a disorder. I have never forgotten his plea for normalcy.] Mike Reynold’s days are filled with self-medicating with alcohol and the outdoors. Alcohol numbed his feelings while homelessness staved off his claustrophobia. Hunting and fishing kept his demons at bay and his days normal. The emotions Mike experienced are so raw and believable that I was grateful for Bremicker’s disclaimer that he did not serve in Vietnam although I suspect there are elements of autobiography in Breakdown to make it so realistic: the relapse after five years of sobriety, for example. In Bremicker’s acknowledgements he mentions alcoholism and mental illness.
Short chapters move Mike’s story along at a fast pace even though it is a relatively simple story: hunting, recovery, relationships. You find yourself rooting for Mike, even if you don’t know him very well.
I noticed Breakdown was a little repetitious here and there (he mentions being proud to be a veteran but hated his appearance a few times).
Only annoyance: Andy, Alan, Anne, Bill Gillette, Bunk Knudson, Cinder, Corky Fowler, Dave, Dick “Smithy” Smith, Dick Anderson, Emma, Grace, Gunderson, Geiger, Gary Nicholson, Hagman, Jake, Jason, Jack, Jim, Jonas, Joanne, Jeff Huchinson, Lewis, Lou Johnson, Lucas, Muhammed, Myron Nelson, Nancy, Penny, Powers, Rob, Ryan, Sam, Santiago, Sheila, Steve, Sasha, Teller, Tim, Vicky, Weaver, Wetzel, Whitman, Willy, and Wade. Did I really need to know all these names? It was like a science fiction novel with a bunch of characters who mean nothing to the plot. Yet, at the same time who knew Mike had a brother named Tim? He didn’t factor into Mike’s recovery at all.
Author fact: the very first words of Breakdown, Recovery and the Outdoors are “I did not serve in Vietnam” (unpaged).
Book trivia: Loose pages make for difficult reading. They kept falling out so I ended up throwing them away after I read them.
Natalie connection: every time Mike or Vicky had a drink I thought of the 10,000 Maniacs song, “Don’t Talk,” a song about being in a relationship with an alcoholic.
Holm, Bill. Windows of Brimnes: an American in Iceland. Milkweed Editions, 2008.
Reason read: Iceland won its independence in the month of December.
Author fact: Holm is known as a poet, musician, Minnesotan, and all-around curmudgeon.
I wanted Windows of Brimnes to be all about Iceland. The culture. The food. The people. The flora and fauna. The traditions. The weather. Holm does not keep his focus strictly on Brimnes. Instead he rails against America, television, and modern technologies like cell phones and computers. He has his two cents about September 11th, 2001 and the subject of Communism. He traces his early years in Minneota and life during the war. Every once in awhile he comes back to his beloved Brimnes. Admittedly, these parts are so beautiful Holm makes me want to visit.
Confessional: I was forewarned about Holm’s rants about America. I was even urged to skip those parts. Because I can be a b!tch I decided to make note of every disparaging thing Holm said about the country from which he tried to distance himself. Here are some of the things he said: the United States is too much. It has too much religion, too much news, too many weapons of mass destruction, too much entertainment, too much electricity, too vast an area. America has broken connections to its past. America is indifferent to nature if money is to be made and greed always wins. America is obsessed with security and loves war of any kind. America’s sense of civility has fallen into disrepair. “Americans are a nation of mentally drugged cattle” (p 133). Holm was tired of apologizing for being American. I wonder what he would think of the state of our country now.
Three degrees of Natalie Merchant: there is a YouTube (PBS) video that is nearly thirty minutes long about Bill Holm and his windows of Brimnes. In that video he mentions Walt Whitman who is a hero of Natalie’s. She wrote a song about Mr. Whitman called “Song of Himself.”
Lines I liked, “Introverts never deceive you just to cheer you up” (p 57) and “I’ve had sixty-three years’ experience at being spoiled, and I’m almost getting good at it” (p 110).
Here is an example of Holm’s snarkiness, “The shenanigans of Bill and Monica were the subject of several of my favorites” (p 195). No need to explain. Everyone knows to whom you are referring.
Author fact: I am sure Holm was going for this look when he chose the author photograph, but he is one grumpy looking dude.
Book trivia: there are no photographs whatsoever in this little book.
Music: Anna Sigga Halgadottir, Bach’s Fugue in B Minor, Prelude from Well-Tempered Clavier I and Christmas Oratori, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Britten, Chopin’s Nocturn, Couperin, Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” Dixie Chicks (twice), Dvorak, Faure, Franz Joseph Haydn’s Sonata no. 52 in E Flat Major, Hindemith, Fur Elise, Hall Bjorn Hjartason, Hindemith’s First Sonata, Leonard Bernstein, Mahler, Liszt, Loch Lomond, Mozart’s Turkish Rondo, Prokofiev’s Sonata #9 in C Major, Ravel’s “Pavane,” Rachmaninoff Prelude, Scarlatti, Scriabin, Schubert, Schumann, Swan Lake, Turkey in the Straw, Verdi, William Tell Overture, Wagner, “Waltzing Matilda,” and Wolf.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Iceland” (p 99).
Shimshon-Santo, Amy. Piecework: Ethnographies of Place. Unsolicited Press, 2025
Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review Program I get to read really interesting books. This is one such book.
There are four themes to Piecework: the classroom, community, migrations, and conversations. In the beginning, Piecework is comprised of essays that encourage collective action as an extension of social justice, but by the end you have an intimate portrait of the author and her ancestry. For the first part of Piecework Shimshon-Santo provides a clear blueprint for how to bring key people together to form a productive interdisciplinary team to tackle common social problems. For example, the first she addresses is transportation. [As an aside, if anyone has seen Natalie Merchant’s storytellers show you will know that she called Los Angeles a “car culture” because of its massive highway systems. Walking around is out of the question for some parts of the metropolis.] Shimshon-Santo approaches a dilemma with creative innovation by viewing it through multiple lenses. She believes in compassionate leadership and the value of listening to children. By the end of Piecework the reader has a clear understanding of Shimshon-Santo thanks to a revealing essay about her grandmother and a couple of interviews in the conversation section.
It goes without saying that Piecework is thought provoking, but what I wasn’t expecting was the plethora of gorgeous photography. The entire book was exquisite to read.
Author fact: Shimshon-Santo has a background in dance. She also wrote Catastrophic Molting. I think she win a prize for the most interesting titles.
Music: Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Book trivia: the bonus to Piecework is the photography and poetry.
Bloch, Donald and Iman Bijeveld. Seduced by the Beauty of the World. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2003.
Reason read: India
Masti (Sanscrit) meaning (loosely): “the quiet, ecstatic surrender to the beauty around us.”
A dawn full of fishing boats bring a sense of community among the early risers. People, old and young, come to bathe in the Ganges and give thanks for the purification the healing waters bring. Citizens go about their bustling and hustling business, tending to their young and elderly alike. A culture of selfcare radiates from everywhere. People practicing yoga, getting massages, weight lifting and wrestling. The industries of bakers, barbers, potters, fishermen, stone cutters, teachers, marigold flowers sellers, cotton and tanning industries abound. The entertainment of camel racing is explored. The broad Ganges brings bathers of clothes and body and mind. The wilderness of Yakama, the once capital of Sikkim, with its misty mountains filled with butterflies and singing birds is in fully glory. Nature hides in plain sight. Readers will become intimate with the gods and goddesses: Allah, Kalijai, Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, Parvati, Hanuman, Sarasvati, Surya, Jagannathan, Buddha, Yellamma, Menakshee, and Bahuchara. Bloch describes it all with stunning clarity and Bijeveld’s photography only adds to the beauty.
Edited to add: I forgot to make this comment. The last picture in the book tells a complicated story of struggle, defiance, and surrender. Heartbreaking and stunning in its complexity.
Lines I loved, “India is a land of ceremonies, rituals, processions, of bodies combining into crowds, crowds into masses” (p 13) and “This landscape needs no witness to exist” (p 103).
Author fact: the authors made four trips in ten years to India.
Book trivia: There are 152 color photographs that grace the pages of Seduced By the Beauty…
Music: one reference to Gershwin and another to Kishori Amonkar.
BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “India: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 125).
Levitov, Betty. Africa on Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari. University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Reason read: Even though Betty and her students did not venture into Chad I chose to read Africa on Six Wheels to recognize Chad’s independence gained in December.
Betty Levitov took thirteen college students from Nebraska on a three month trek around the southern portion of Africa. By her own calculations they covered seven countries: Nambia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa. She wanted to transform the classroom into a “place of possibility” (p x). That in itself is an interesting topic for a book. Unfortunately, I found the continuity of Levitov’s story to be chaotic and sometimes hard to follow. At one point she is reliving her childhood, college years, and life with her husband. Without warning she switches to traveling with her students. Because she had taken several, shorter, trips with students there were times when I wasn’t sure which trip she was describing. There was the trip in 1998 (a semester in Zimbabwe) that she often contrasted with the 2022 trip. Plenty of flat tires and wrong turns!
As someone in the education field I appreciate Levitov’s focus on the curriculum and the attention afford to the learning outcomes. I just wonder what assessments she had in place to ensure success of the program.
As an aside, I learned a few things about Africa. For example, I never considered there would be a German population in Nambia or that there are specific names for the patterns of sand created by the wind in the dunes.
As an aside, one reviewer was pretty harsh about Africa on Six Wheels and said that the trip around Africa was not going to make Betty’s students into better people. Their trip was not going to change the world or have a profound impact on anyone.
Line I liked, “They owned their learning and claimed their territory” (p 180).
Book trivia: there are no photographs to this little short book. Too bad. Levitov mentioned Lonely Planet so many times that I wondered if their trip had been sponsored by the publisher.
Music: Beatles, Bob Marley, “Buffalo Soldier,” “Day O,” “Frere Jacques,” “Jambo,” “Jingle Bells,” John Denver’s “Country Roads,” and “My bonny Lies Over the Ocean.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Africa: the Greenest Continent” (p 7).
Jackson, Shirley. Life Among the Savages. Narrated by Lesa Lockford. Dreamscape Media, 2015.
Jackson, Shirley. Life Among the Savages. Farrar, Straus and Young, 1953.
Reason read: December is Jackson’s birth month. Read in her honor.
This is a delightful series of essays about being a mother and wife in a large family. Jackson has four children in a very chaotic home. She attacks each subject whether it be education, childbirth, failings of the furnace and automobile or life with a cat with wit, sarcasm, humor, and humility. This was a great way to pass a rainy afternoon. I look forward to her other nonfictions as well as the fiction on my list.
Confessional: There were times I wanted to strangle her children but refrained from throwing the book across the room when I realized there potentially could be a fair amount of exaggeration in Jackson’s descriptions.
Author fact: Pearl misfiled Life Among the Savages under ghost stories because Jackson also wrote the very creepy short story “the Lottery.”
Book trivia: try to find the version with Lesa Lockford as narrator. It is fantastic.
Music: “Joy to the world,” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the odd chapter called “Ghost Stories” (p 100). I say odd because Life Among Savages is not a ghost story. It is just mentioned because Jackson did write a scary story or two.
Sunderland, John. The Last Shepherd’s Dog and Other Stories From a Rural Spanish Village High and Hidden in the Costa Blanca Mountains. Shilka Publishing, 2025.
Reason read: for LibraryThing’s Early Review Program.
There is this phenomenon where AI can take every essay, short story, blog, personal letter, Christmas card, and term paper and turn it into a mishmash of a novel. I am not saying this is what happened with The Last Shepherd’s Dog and Other Stories From a Rural Spanish Village High and Hidden in the Costa Blanca Mountains, but I bet if you look hard enough you will find a blog or newspaper column with much of the same content. I sense it by the number of times Sunderland explains why he moved with his wife from New York City to Spain and from the rambling commentary. I sense it in the brevity and random subject matter of each of the chapters. They are entertaining stories in and of themselves, but they don’t convey life in Spain specifically. Sunderland writes about painting a portrait of a man so lifelike the deceased’s loved ones are moved to strong emotion. He writes another story about a perpetually closed grocery store that has him baffled. All in all it was a fun read.
Author fact: John Sunderland has been a writer, graphic designer, filmmaker, animator, and a museum designer. No wonder he was looking to retire somewhere far away and remote as possible.
Music: “New York, New York.”
~*LunaSea*~ 