Lavinia (PlatinumWarlock) loves reading in 2023 (4)

Hi! I'm Lavinia. Welcome to chapter four of my very first reading thread and my very first challenge! (I have another thread over in Needlearts - it's not going to see nearly as much action as this will, but I'd be happy for you to visit both, if you're interested!)

Short-form profile: I live in the Seattle area with my partner of nearly 10 years and our three dogs. I'm a "retired" stay-at-home mom (the kid is in college), a non-retired volunteer, a fledgling gardener, a reader (obviously!), a crafter (mostly stitching of various forms), and a few other "-ers".

I joined LT way back in 2008, promptly dropped off the site for 14 years, came back last fall, and started over from scratch since I'd forgotten what email I originally used to log in. My reading interests lean heavily towards fiction of most sorts, with the occasional non-fiction title thrown in.

Long-form profile here, if you want to know a little more.

I expect I'll chatter on a bit in this thread about what I'm doing besides reading, and I'd love to have you follow along if you wish. In the meantime, thanks for visiting!

Also (sometimes) participating in:

Take It or Leave It Challenges

- June: Completed 1-12, 15, 16, & 17
- July: Completed 1, 2, 4, 5, 11, 14
- August: Completed 1, 6
- September
- October:

SFFKIT

- July - Series: The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card - Mither Mages, #2 Completed
- August - Space - Stars/Comets/Meteors: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - Completed
- September - SFF written in language other than English: Japan Sinks by Sanyo Komatsu (DNF - got bored)
- October - Award Winners:
- November - Graphic novels, novellas, short story collections:
- December - Wrap Up - Read something you didn't get to earlier in the year:

MysteryKIT

- July - Police Procedurals & Private Detectives: Secrets in Death by J. D. Robb - In Death, #45 - Completed
- August - Past and Future: Dark in Death by J. D. Robb - Completed
- September - College/University Setting: The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh (DNF - liked the first third and then got bored)
- October - Locked Room:
- November - Senior Sleuths/Kid Sleuths:
- December - Cozy Mystery:

SeriesCAT

- September - A series more than 50 years old: When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer (1932) - Completed
- October - Asian setting:

Favorite 12 Books of 2022

The Water Keeper - Charles Martin
Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson
Island in the Sea of Time - S.M. Stirling
Apprentice in Death - J.D. Robb
Dies the Fire - S.M. Stirling
I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream - Richard Antoine White
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater - Frank Bruni
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage - Ann Patchett
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
The Wise Man’s Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

Books Read in 2023

January
Really Cross Stitch: For When You Just Want to Stab Something A Lot - Rayna Fahey
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) - Becky Chambers
Vox - Christina Dalcher
This Place of Wonder - Barbara O’Neal

February
Echoes in Death - J.D. Robb
The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America - Elizabeth Letts
Wanderers (Wanderers #1) - Chuck Wendig (Audiobook)
The Forge of God (Forge of God #1) - Greg Bear
The Second Sleep - Robert Harris

March
Broken Horses - Brandi Carlile
A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1) - Ursula K. Le Guin

April
Lost in Time - A.G. Riddle
Honor - Thirty Umrigar
Unsouled (Cradle #1) - Will Wight
Mary Jane - Jessica Anya Blau
Portals - Douglas E. Richards

May
Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’ - Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
Infinity Born - Douglas E. Richards
Wild Scottish Knight (Enchanted Highlands #1) - Tricia O’Malley
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of Life Interrupted - Suleika Jaouad
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots - Deborah Feldman
Wake Me After The Apocalypse (Bunker Books #1) - Jordan Rivet
Wayward (Wanderers #2) - Chuck Wendig (audiobook)
The Cure - Douglas E. Richards
Kiss and Don’t Tell (Vancouver Agitators #1) - Meghan Quinn

June
Those Three Little Words (Vancouver Agitators #2) - Meghan Quinn
Right Man, Right Time (Vancouver Agitators #3) - Meghan Quinn
Quantum Radio - A.G. Riddle
Zero Day Code (End of Days #1) - John Birmingham (audiobook)
Fail State (End of Days #2) - John Birmingham (audiobook)
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories - Jamil Jan Kochai
Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair - Anne Lamott
Crazy Horse's Girlfriend - Erika T. Wurth
The Lost Gate - Orson Scott Card (audiobook)
Oxford Wild - Laura Bradbury
Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story - Jacob Tobia

July
Awakening Anne - Kalynn Applewhite (Early Reviewer copy)
Tomorrow, When the War Began - John Marsden
Secrets in Death - J. D. Robb
The Gate Thief - Orson Scott Card (audiobook)
The Cobra Event - Richard Preston
Vacation Wars - Meghan Quinn
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (audiobook)
Consent - Annabel Lyon
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap - Wendy Welch

August
Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline (audiobook)
No Small Change - Annie Cook
An Unexpected Twist - Andy Borowitz
His Mistress By Morning - Elizabeth Boyle
When the Bough Breaks - Jonathan Kellerman
The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin (audiobook)
Dark in Death - J. D. Robb
The Quick and the Thread - Amanda Lee
How It Unfolds - James S. A. Corey
Dark of the Moon - John Sandford

September
Blood Test - Jonathan Kellerman
Omnitopia Dawn - Diane Duane (audiobook)
Milk and Honey - Faye Kellerman
Void - Veronica Roth
The Cutting Edge - Jeffery Deaver
Body of Evidence - Patricia Cornwell
When Worlds Collide - Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer (audiobook)
Final Jeopardy - Linda Fairstein
48 Hours - William R. Forstchen (audiobook)
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
One Second After - William R. Forstchen (audiobook)
The Manor House Governess - C. A. Castle (ERC)

October
Bittersweet Breadcrumbs - Aster Rye (ERC)
Swap - Mariah Montoya (ERC)
Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neural

Total so far: 70

Currently reading:
- Broken (in the best possible way) - Jenny Lawson
- Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity - Devon Price

Welcome! Thanks for visiting. 😀

Quick update: my bout with Covid is long gone, and was followed closely by several lovely days in Southern California with our son and his fiancee. Great weather and shopping for furniture for the new house, plus some excessively good meals, but little time for reading or visiting LT. Looking forward to getting back to it!

In the meantime, please enjoy this ridiculously gorgeous photo of a Laguna Beach sunset, with no filters or editing whatsoever. Mother Nature is amazing!

>4 PlatinumWarlock: Ooh, The Manor House Governess sounds super interesting.

Happy new thread, Lavinia! What a gorgeous sunset.

Hi Lavinia my dear, Happy New Thread dear friend.

Happy new thread, Lavinia. x

Happy New Thread, Lavinia! Glad to hear that covid is in the rear-view. I am sure SoCal was beautiful.

Good start, Lavinia. May we all contribute to making this one extra special.

Happy new thread, Lavinia!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread Lavinia!

Happy new thread, Lavinia!

Happy new thread, Lavinia!

>6 PlatinumWarlock: Indeed a wonderful sunset, thanks for sharing.

Happy new thread, Lavinia.

>6 PlatinumWarlock: Happy new thread. Isn't Laguna Beach delightful? I lived in OC for a bunch of years, never in Laguna, but I did love visiting there.

Happy New Thread, Lavinia! Wishing you many good reads ahead this month.

Happy new thread, Lavinia!

>6 PlatinumWarlock: Wow, what a great photo.

Happy new thread, Lavinia.

Happy new thread, Lavinia.
>6 PlatinumWarlock: You are right - this is amazing!
I am glad to hear that you are well again.

Welcome back, Lavinia. Gorgeous photo!

Happy new thread!

>6 PlatinumWarlock: Excellent sunset photo! Mine never look as vibrant and I'm told it's my 'phone camera that overemphasizes (distorts?) some colours.
Looks like you're off to a good start with the autumn reading. How are you enjoying the ERC wins?

Thank you, friends, for stopping by to say hello. I've been absent this week - distracted by the horrible news from Israel. My partner Jeff is Jewish, my beloved cousin is married to a wonderful Palestinian (they live in Jordan), and it's just so hard to wrap my head around what's going on. I'll post here what I shared on social media, which sums up my feelings as best I can.

As most of you know, I was not born or raised Jewish, nor have I converted. However, my partner is Jewish, so I have a Jewish family and am part of a close and active Jewish community. This week has been terrible, and as a non-Jew who lives partly in a Jewish space, I want to share a couple of the things I've been thinking about this week.

A number of my Jewish friends have (both publicly and privately) expressed sadness and dismay at the relative silence from their non-Jewish friends - even a simple "how're you doing?" would have gone a long way. I thought a lot about that and realized that, having not grown up Jewish, I didn't understand the strength of the thread that binds many (most? all?) Jews to Israel and how strong their feelings might be about what happens there, regardless of how close or far away they might be geographically, or even what their politics might be. That's not an excuse or a justification... just a possible explanation. For my part, I regret my lack of understanding and any failings that might have resulted from it, and I will try to do better.

For my friends who are struggling with the current situation, regardless of your cultural background, your ethnicity, your religious or political beliefs... my heart aches for you. I hope you and your family are safe wherever you are. My heart aches for the lives lost, for those in danger, for their families and loved ones, for the destruction, for the centuries of hurt and oppression and conflict. I yearn for peace, for kindness, for cooperation, and for humane treatment of all people. I will try to do my part by valuing and supporting those who work towards those goals.

>27 PlatinumWarlock: Beautifully expressed Lavinia. It's indeed a lot to take in and deal with. Many difficult feelings to be dealt with.

>28 RebaRelishesReading: Very well said, Lavinia.

>27 PlatinumWarlock: Thank you for this wonderful words, Lavinia!

Thank you for those words, Lavinia. For the first week, I couldn't stop watching CNN. Now, I am trying hard not to but it isn't working. I yearn for what you yearn for and my heart aches on many levels, but in my gut, I doubt there will ever be peace in that region of the world. As long as there are barbarians and political psychos in charge (not just on the 2 sides currently engaged), I just can't see anything changing.

>27 PlatinumWarlock: Thank you for your words of support, Lavinia.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I'm glad to know that I'm expressing myself in a way that resonates for at least some people.

On a happier note, I had the delightful opportunity to see Barbara Kingsolver last night, talking about Demon Copperhead and numerous other things. She was interviewed very well by Ruth Dickey, the Executive Director of the National Book Foundation and the former Executive Director of Seattle Arts and Letters, which put on the event. Kingsolver filled up our 2500-seat symphony hall, and there were another 1000 households watching online. Quite the draw! She was engaging and funny and warm - such a fun evening.

In addition, a copy of the book came with my ticket, and I already owned a copy, so I would be happy to regift it to anyone who lives in the US and would like me to send it to them... just send me a message!

>33 PlatinumWarlock: Wow! I'm most impressed that Barbara Kingsolver drew that much of a crowd. I have enjoyed everything of her's that I have read (which includes Demon Copperhead) but that's a LOT of people!!

>27 PlatinumWarlock: I'm sorry for what you have got to be going through, with family likely to identify with both sides of this, and particularly with the relatively blameless civilian victims.

For myself, I was somehow blindsided by so many Americans getting so much more upset about this war than they had about the Ukraine.

It took until I found myself talking about it with a person from Nicaragua before I thought about the number of Jews in America, and the net effect that most Americans grew up with Jewish neighbours, classmates, etc.. Israel is *almost* part of the US in some minds - at least when attacked by a 3rd party. (The rest of the time, the US will bully them as readily as they bully any of their other allies.)

Meanwhile, the emotional impact on me is much the same as if the Ukraine war had spread into a larger area, with more victims and potential victims. The Ukrainians and the Russians are as much my people as the Israelis and the Palestinians. None of them deserve what's happened and continues to happen, except perhaps for certain leaders - who deserve that it happen to them personally.