Hello reader…

Happy almost-spring, friends!

Before I get to the round-up from our most recent gathering, I’d like to alert you to a Book Lovers Coffee Hour survey that will be posted in the FB group, through the inworld group, and shared directly with regulars who aren’t subscribed to either.

The purpose of this survey is to re-evaluate the timeslot for our monthly gatherings and to solicit feedback and ideas for our community.

Responses are anonymous, so feel free to offer honest suggestions. The survey will close on March 31st and timeslot changes, if any, won’t take effect until May.

And now, on to our round-up!

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

An engaging passage from this young adult novel opened our gathering. Our reader described it as “swashbuckling, gentle, and LGBTQ”. In it, the Sea depends on mermaids to remember everything that the Sea cannot possibly keep in her memories. Pirates are the most common consumer of mermaids’ blood but, ironically, it makes them forget. This tale of high seas adventure revolves around an orphaned brother and sister who find that their only chance at life is aboard a pirate ship with a Nameless Captain who can’t even remember his own name and their wild plans for escape.

As an aside, one of our members is an avid mermaid in SL and recommends the Safe Waters Foundation for those interested in learning more about SL mer-life. They hold meetings every Saturday at 10am SLT for helping new merfolk get started, talk about events of interest to sea-dwellers, etc.

Fearless Girls, Wise Women, & Beloved Sisters by Kathleen Ragan

This is an anthology of folktales and fairy tales from all over the world, featuring female protagonists. It’s organized by region, making it a fun and easy way to dip in for a bit of literary armchair travel.

Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman

Readers of A Man Called Ove will recognize this author. Our reader found the plot of Anxious People hard to understand, which made unscrambling it enjoyable. There are many good lines and the characters’ flaws are interesting. A recent film adaptation is available on Netflix and has received positive reviews. If you’re new to Bachman’s work, our reader mentioned My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry as a favorite.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

This is a fictional story about Mexican migrants riding atop trains to reach safety. They got cheated by some people who promised to help but they also made some close friends with strangers. Regardless of one’s stance on immigration issues, the story itself is a touching testament to the difficulties of making such a journey.

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

This is a YA novel that was recently translated in English from the original Japanese, which was published in 2009. It’s about a friendship between two teenagers who are both silent victims of bullying. Our reader found the broader themes of good vs evil, the absence of hope, and the meaning of suffering to be very thought-provoking…the book stayed with her for days. But she also found the scenes of bullying to be deeply disturbing – so, definitely take this as a trigger warning. It was unputdownable and highly recommended.

Seeing Gender: An Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression by Iris Gottleib

This adult graphic novel, bordered on coffee table book, in our readers opinion. Part of it talks about gender in general terms – e.g. the various facets of gender definition and expression, as well as how modern gender issues intersect other other identities and affect different parts of life. The last third is a personal reflection on the author’s gender transition. Our reader found the book interesting and useful, if a bit meandering at times.

Iggie’s House and Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume

We chatted a bit about Blume books that we’ve read and thought that these two titles have held up well. Easy to read and appealing to teens and anyone who has ever been a teen.

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Our next gathering will be on Sunday, April 10th at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!

Hello reader…

I’ll admit – I wasn’t sure anyone would show up for this month’s gathering, what with the Super Bowl and all…but I was happily surprised that friends still came to chat about books!

So, without further ado…

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

Our hour opened with a lengthy quote from this novel set in World War II about a young woman who discovers a sense of community and a love of reading at her local bookshop.

Charles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography by Edzard Ernst

A short and sweet quote was shared from this soon-to-be-published work on Prince Charles and his obsession with alternative therapies. The author scrutinizes the evidence and holds Charles’ views to the light.

Ma’am Jones of the Pecos by Eve Ball

A reader picked this up at a local book sale. It’s an oral-history-ish non-fiction about settling the eastern part of New Mexico in the mid-to-late 1800s.

Billy the Kid was involved but the story is more about Ma’am Jones, a strong pioneer woman who had 9 sons and 1 daughter, and nursed, doctored, and fed everyone who came to their door.

The Jones family originally hailed from Virginia. Our reader explained that Virginia split because of the War between the States. Heiskell (Mr. Jones) couldn’t take up arms against the South and couldn’t stay in their county if he refused to go into the Union Army – he had promised his wife he could never fight.

So they migrated to Arizona for a while before settling in New Mexico. Our reader really enjoyed this book.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The “Ma’am Jones” reader also read this Gaiman novel and said that it was “most excellent!”.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

This is Erdrich’s newest publication and “fascinating” according to our reader…touching on the pandemic, BLM, etc. Erdrich won a Pulitzer Prize for an earlier publication, The Night Watchman.

Station Eleven by Emiuly St. John Mandel

The Sentence reminded another one of our readers of Station Eleven, a novel about the impact of a fictional deadly pandemic on a troupe of actors and a violent cult that they encounter.

The Binding by Bridget Collins

Although well-written and intriguing, this was a DNF for our reader, who felt they needed a lighter, happier read.

It’s about bookbinders who extract specific memories from people, bind them in books and lock the books away in vaults. Naturally, some folks use this to their advantage for nefarious purposes.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

Recommended by a reader who said this is a book for those who want an unreliable narrator…hmmm! The same reader also read Lethem’s Chronic City and loved it…and was thus disappointed in Motherless Brooklyn.

Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose

A first book for this author and essay-ish, but in a stream-of-consciousness way. Very autobiographical. The author grew up in Montreal…lived in New York…is apparently back in Montreal. In the book she talks about a lot of things and goes in a number of directions.

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

This is about a ‘toy’ that has a camera behind its eyes, which allows a person to see into the life of the owner of the toy. This becomes a problem when people try to take real life intervention into things they see through the toys.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This novel has been making the rounds through our group and most readers enjoyed it. It’s a series of short stories loosely tied together by the theme of a young woman exploring alternative lives that might have been. One reader mentioned that this book is particularly easy to listen to as an audio book, in short bursts. She very much enjoyed it!

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Our next gathering will be on Sunday, March 13th at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!

Hello reader…

Happy New Year! Thanks to all who joined us for our first book chat of the new year…and hugs to those who couldn’t make it – you were missed!

Here are the books mentioned during our January gathering…

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

The hour began with a quote that tickled us, “But you want murderous feelings? Hang around librarians,” confides Gamache. “All that silence. Gives them ideas.”

Cultish by Amanda Montell

This is a non-fiction book about the way cults and other groups with cult-like features use language to entice people in and keep them hooked. It talks about groups like Scientology and Heaven’s Gate, as well as things we don’t think of as cults, like multi-level marketing schemes and exercise cults like CrossFit and such. The reader felt it was quite eye-opening!

Arilla Sun Down by Virginia Hamilton

The Feathered Serpent by Scott O’Dell

Angelina by Patricia Lynn Spears

Her Own Way: The Story of Lottie Moon by Helen Albee Monsell

The Hamilton, O’Dell, Spears and Monsell are juvenile fiction that our reader bought at book sales over the years and enjoyed.

Beren and Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien

Edited by Christopher Tolkien and based on his father’s notes, this is the complete story of a tale mentioned in both The Silmarillion and The Fellowship of the Ring. Our reader found it interesting and felt she learned a great deal about J.R.R.’s realm in literature and life.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

This is fiction, originally written in Japanese. It’s about a housekeeper who is assigned by her agency to a client that, on record, seems difficult to please. As it turns out. the client is actually a mathematics professor who suffers from short term memory loss – his short term memory only holds 80 minutes worth of memories at a time. He also remembers everything that happened before he got into a car accident in the mid-70s…so he’s still able to research and publish. Despite this and other challenges, he and the housekeeper eventually form a kind of family, bonded by platonic love. A short read – but very sweet!

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

One of our readers read this over the holidays. It’s about an ice mining ship that diverts to catch up to a moon of Saturn, Janus, that turns out not to be a moon but an alien artifact that decided to jet on out of the solar system. The mining ship does reach the wayward ‘moon’ but then is forced to land on it and leave the solar system. There is a bit of a schism among the crew…the captain is exiled to a dome they set up away from their makeshift base. This turns into a long storyline…part survival, but also part mystery.

The reader mentioned liking Reynolds because she feels he is better at writing about people compared to number of science fiction authors – meaning they’re well-formed with good backstories and believable responses to events.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A young adult trilogy that was so incredible, the recommender might read them again!

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

This was a DNF for the reader – though many in our group enjoyed Towles’ previous novel, A Gentleman in Moscow. Not enough happened in the first 100 pages to keep the reader going and the characters were uninteresting.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

The reader received this novel as a gift – it was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

This is another novel received as a gift by a different reader….and another reader remembered reading it ages ago and enjoying it.

False Alarm by Bjorn Lomborg

A non-fiction title about climate change. The author – a professor in Copenhagen – purports that we’re doing it all wrong by focusing on limiting fossil fuels. He suggests that we focus on feeding the starving children, curing TB and encouraging trade with all.

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Our next gathering will be on Sunday, February 13th at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!

Where’s Momo?

If you’ve visited the Reading Room recently, you might have noticed that Momo is missing…

…but not to worry!

Momo is safe and sound – and has a new “home” at the Momo Mewseum!

The Momo Mewseum is a homage to feline friends in both real and virtual worlds. Opening in 2022, the Momo’s namesake mewseum will feature an eclectic collection of RL/SL art and personal objects arranged in a casual, cozy setting.

An official opening date will be announced soon – so stay tuned! Meanwhile, feel free to drop by the explore the area – there’s lots to do and see…shop and lunch at a nearby Welsh village and go for a ride on the charming Zany Zen railway!

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seonbawee/18/232/36

Book Lovers Coffee Hour

Let’s toast the new year with champagne and catch up! Join me at our usual spot on January 9th at 1pm SLT. See you then!

New Additions

A sculpture by Silas Merlin has been added to our collection. It’s called ‘Storybook 8 – The Hermit and the City’. Touching the sculpture will give you a copy of the story or you can zoom in to read it directly on the object itself.

Meet Piki!

Momo, our resident Reading Room KittyCat, seemed a little lonely so I adopted a friend for her – Piki!

Piki is a chocolate brown male kitty with butterscotch-ey, caramel-ly and cotton-ey spots on his plump little body and face.

Both KittyCats share essentially the same name – Momo is peach in Japanese and Piki is peach in Hawaiian.

Be sure to stop by and give our sweet “peaches” a few scratchies when you have time!

Book Lovers Coffee Hour for November

‘Tis the season for cozy get-togethers! Our final book lovers gathering for 2021 will be on November 14th, 1pm SLT.

We’ll have seasonal treats and celebratory cocktails, so come dressed in your favorite holiday attire – whether that means jammies or an evening gown is up to you.

Book Lovers Coffee Hour is open to anyone interested in chatting about books – no specific reading required – so feel free to bring a friend!

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Annelie/238/147/34