Hi Marcie, Yes I’m definitely looking forward to the second Adamson novel! I’m behind on that. Sleeping Car Porter really made me imagine the character on the train. It was well done visually. I thought the love story between the two gladiator women in Chain Gang All Stars was good & tragic. Not sure I’ll read more Baldwin this year — but for classics I’m reading Twain a bit so that I can compare a bit to the upcoming Percival Everett novel (March) called James that reimagines The Adventures of Huck Finn from Jim’s point of view. Hmm.
I’m glad we have some of these in common. I’m always trying to do more Canadian reading, so I will continue on. I’m hoping to read Crummey’s The Adversary this year. And of course Ridgerunner … and others. Thx for stopping by!

Wow Grass Valley – seems idyllic & beautiful. It seems like you made a great choice. I have only been to Yosemite once but haven’t been too near where you are. I can imagine how different it is from SoCal, away from traffic, yay!!
We too got tired of living in a busy growing city here (Calgary) with cars everywhere and housing on top of each other. We wanted more outdoor space & quiet. We are now more in a farming community with ten acres and just love the space & solitude and the nature. It suits us well at this stage of our lives.

I was glad to have it all over, too! It was quite an undertaking. Moving and transferring my job (my husband works from home). We lived in the northern end of Southern California, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, so our drive to where we moved was about six hours. We moved to a little town called Grass Valley, which is an old historic mining town back in the day. We live out in the country part, but the downtown is really cute. I’m so happy to be out of Southern California, though! Too much traffic! It’s definitely prettier up here, and we get actual seasons!

What prompted your move?

Thanks Iliana. I’m a bit all over the place in my reading too. Most of my books I get from the library and I have a lot on hold & they sort of come in whenever and then I get them. I’m hoping 2024 will be a better reading year for me. And for you as well. It’s a bit about time management, LoL. Happy 2024.

Thanks Stargazer. The move was worth its weight in gold, lol, but it sure took a ton of work to do. Less stress now. So I hope 2024 will be a good reading year. It sounds you are working tons so that is hard to do both. Giovanni’s Room was a bit different Baldwin than I was expecting but I still was able to follow the audio story quite easily. Baldwin’s writing has some power to it. The Maggie Smith memoir I thought at first was from the British actress but No it’s from a poet in Ohio, Lol. Her divorce really threw her for a Loop. See what you think. Cheers!

Hi Harvee, wow yes the audio reader does a great job with Yellowface. It was so fun to listen to last summer. I was glued to it. Check it out if you have a chance.
I’m glad you liked the book.

Hi Helen thanks. The post is sort of fun to put together.
The Personal Librarian amazed me with its story — of Belle, a real life person in the early 1900s. I hope you like it. She must have had some fortitude to do what she did in life. Cheers & happy reading.

Yes Kay, let’s have a good 2024 year in reading! Thx for stopping by. We can put 2023’s disruptions into the rearview mirror. It’s nice to start over again with books. I’m looking forward to more of Yamashita with her 2nd book. Happy reading.