April StoryGraph Stats

 

More on rediscovering

I have gone back to things, I loved long ago, in a big way. See my last post.

DOGS

Dogs is probably the biggest one. I loved pets as a child. 

When the kids were quite young I was diagnosed with asthma. The asthma was not new, I have likely had it since birth. It had never been diagnosed or treated. I had really suffered. Untreated asthma impacted my life in a big negative way. 

I then developed what I now think of as asthma PTSD. I was terrified of something triggering an asthma flare, which, for me, can last for weeks/months. I avoided animals. I was nearly hysterical about perfumes, cigarette smoke, incense, etc. 

The neighbor’s dogs changed this for me. As I interacted with them, and my respiratory system did not crash, I grew less afraid.  I loved spending my days with them. Eventually I realized the dogs could be in my house and not crash me. 

With my neighbor’s dogs full time 2017 - 2020, intermittently 2022 - 2023, and now middle’s dogs (turning 4) full time, I have gone back to dogs in a big way. 

Middle’s dogs are here, with me, a lot. She drops them off each morning on her way to work. They stay here when she is out of town or has an event.

Middle and I are now (very) active with our local dog club. I am in the dog club building, surrounded by dogs, with no fear and no respiratory problems. 

Why is this? I went through two rounds of allergy shots. I am on daily allergy and asthma meds. We have huge filters at our house. I have my sleep machine which has improved my respiratory system. 

Dogs is a big, positive back in my life.

BOOK GROUPS

I loved book groups starting in 2011 and continuing for several years. I am not sure why I stopped. I have gone back to book groups in a big way too, I participate in four locally, my husband I both read Youngest’s book group selections also. Reading her book selection each month and giving her feedback for her group, is good for all three of us. It gives us positive/energetic talking points. It expands everyone’s reading lists. 

CROSSWORD PUZZLES

During my four high school years, maybe my two junior high years too, I did cross word puzzles out of a printed Chicago newspaper. 

I loved cross word puzzles at that time. When I went to college, I think I got the Chicago paper for a bit. 

Then things got busy, it was expensive to get the paper long distance, and I fell off the crossword habit. I forgot all about my love of crosswords.

I started doing online Wordle a year or two ago. This is via the Wordle app.

Two weeks ago I started doing all the other NYTimes online games too, except for Sudoku which I do not like. 

The kids and DIL all play some of the New York Times Games, including Wordle and Connections. 

Youngest and I are the only two who do the full Crossword puzzle each day. We both pay the premium so we have access to the full NYT crossword. 

On the harder days, primarily Sunday, youngest and I do the puzzle together, talking on the phone. 

QUILTING 

I have to limit/pace myself carefully, but I am able to quilt now. I have rejoined the local quilt guild. Middle attends the monthly meetings with me.  I went to a guild weekend retreat in March. I have started going to a once a month Saturday guild quilt bee.

Rediscovering

Gretchen Rubin and Liz have talked about going back to things you once loved on their podcast. 

They specifically mentioned that activities loved as a kid, might be worth rediscovering. 

This is not something I would have noticed/realized if they had not mentioned it. 

I looked for the podcast that talks about this in detail. I did not find it, but I found others I really enjoyed -

https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/a-little-happier-when-do-i-feel-the-joyous-childhood-feeling-of-expectancy/

https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/little-happier-children-arent-wasting-their-time/

PS - is the inverse of this also true? Avoid things hated as a child? Or do we change and grow into them? 

Murder 101

 Sarah Fain mentioned this podcast, Murder 101, in a recent episode of Happier in Hollywood. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happier-in-hollywood/id1236845161?i=1000704757737

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang was an assigned book. I had never heard of it nor the author, but that is not unusual. Often the assigned books are new to me.

I read it this past week. The group met this past week also. 

I try to finish the books just before the meeting so they are fresh in my mind to discuss. I finished this book the day before the meeting.

I have no complaints about the character development or the writing or the pace or the editing. All of that was fine. I loved the cover design and the title. The audio book reader was excellent.

The plot had problems. It needed to build more. More incidents needed to be added, evenly throughout the plot, to support the ending.

But I was able to finish it. And I am glad I read it, it was a unique story. We had great discussion.

The other members of my group liked the book more than I did, but agreed there were plot problems. 

Not going on to read any other books by this author unless they are assigned at some point in the future. 

I maintain accounts on GoodReads and StoryGraph, thanks to youngest getting me organized. 

Here’s what people on StoryGraph had to say - 

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/r-f-kuang/

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

This book, The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman, is from my master book list. This book was on Youngest’s group’s list of previously read books. Youngest had started it, but had not finished due to time restraints.

The Home for Unwanted Girls is historical fiction. There are two story lines, one following the mother and the other following the daughter.  Both the mother and the daughter are fictional. This is the correct way, in my opinion, fictional characters set in historical reality. 

I listened to it, from start to finish in one day. It was compelling, I wanted to see how it ended. But it was not a favorite. 

The daughter’s historical setting/story is pretty distressing. That storyline became very sad.

The mother’s story was soap opera-ish (to me) at points. 

The Home for Unwanted Girls was easy to understand, with well defined characters. The plot was easy to follow. But overall there was an immaturity to the writing that I have seen in other historical fiction books. Historical fiction is definitely not my thing.

When I read The Home for Unwanted Girls, I thought it was a standalone book. 

Completing my Goodreads entry for this book, I discovered there is a sequel. 

It was not listed as a sequel on my favorite books in order website (bottom of this post).

But it is definitely a sequel on Goodreads. 

I decided not to read the sequel. 

The (sad but true) topic makes The Home for Unwanted Girls a good read for book groups, there are many good questions for discussion. 

Here is an author interview about the book - 

https://leslielindsay.com/2018/05/18/joanna-goodman-on-her-new-novel-home-for-unwanted-girls-repeating-family-history-more/

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/joanna-goodman/

Finally, contractors

I have been waiting for a full year to have several things done at our house. 

I tracked down one of the two original trim guys who did all the finishing woodwork at our house in 2002. He came out to look at the work and then ghosted me. 

The firm that redid the house across the street put me on their list. They came one morning in April to do the simpler three jobs. They will do more later this spring. 

In this first trip in April, they rehung the medicine cabinet in the garage. It was taken down when the new sink was installed.

They added a shelf to disguise the fact that a big box TV was originally in our bedroom, using wood from the shelf over the refrigerator/kitchen, that my husband carefully dismantled last year.

They replaced the window trim that was chewed by the puppies. It will be stained and finished later.

I read two books by Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings

The end of March 2025, reviewing my assigned books for April 2025, I saw The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd, on my list.

Looking that title up, anywhere, The Secret Life of Bees, by the same author Sue Monk Kidd, immediately pops up too. 

I looked and The Secret Life of Bees was already on my To Read list. 

Youngest’s book group read it several years ago, as a back up book. Their past read lists are the building blocks of my current To Read list.

I listened to The Secret Life of Bees, on Audible, and absolutely loved it. Great story, fabulous characters, well written, really loved it. The audio reader was perfect. I suggested it for next year’s reading list.

Next, I tried The Mermaid Chair listening to the first part, reading a summary, and then 100% abandoned it. 

Then, I listened to my assigned book, The Invention of Wings this past week and loved it also. Fabulous characters, well written, well narrated.  

It is set in a part of the country I have visited (Charleston, SC). It takes place at the beginning of the 1800’s.  

The rest of my group loved it too, in spite of the hard to read slave treatment. Lots of discussion about this book.

Both The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings would be good book group reads for February/Black History Awareness.  Both books lend themselves for lots of discussion.

The rest of the books on Sue Monk Kidd’s list (below) did not interest me. But the two I read were winners, in my opinion.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/sue-monk-kidd/

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.

Board books project

Board books are toddler books with cardboard pages. They are sturdy. Little hands can turn the pages more easily. 

When middle taught preschool for two years, she owned a classroom library of board books. The preschool board books have been in bins at my house since 2018. 

We also had family board books. 

I have sent a few board books to granddaughter over the last six months. 

February/March 2025, I realized I needed to sort the board books and communicate with oldest/DIL so they did not purchase board books we already have. (I did this same thing with the Dr Seuss books last summer/2024. Sorted and shipped Dr Seuss books to them so they did not buy duplicates and to get them out of my house).

Middle hauled board books out of her old closet and our living room shelves and helped me sort. 

There were duplicates. The duplicates immediately went to middle’s clinic. 

I photographed all the remaining board books and texted the pictures to oldest/DIL. They already had a few of the board books, but not many. 

DIL marked duplicates or books that did not interest them, with an X on my photos, and texted them back to me (examples below). Those rejected books also went to middle’s autism clinic.

Middle saved a couple board books at her house. I saved a couple at my house also. As granddaughter out grows board books, they will pass them on to other families. None of these books are coming back to our houses. 

I started mailing books, I mail one box each month -

The first March 2025 box was 100% books. I included the titles that DIL was very excited to get (Richard Scarry). I got a lot of board books in a medium flat rate box. 

(A second March 2025 box was also 100% books. These were all YA books that youngest saved for granddaughter when she cleaned out her books a year or two ago. The pile was sitting in my garage. I mailed them book rate.)

I mailed the April box last week. I got a lot of board books in a recycled Amazon box and shipped it book rate.

The May box will be a flat rate box with board books and a variety of other things for granddaughter’s birthday month. 

I have sorted boxes for the rest of the summer and fall. They are taped/labeled and ready to go. I wrote the month, each is to be mailed in pencil, on the outside of each box. 

Here are part of them -

 

Adding games

I have played Candy Crush for many years. I play three versions. 

I play Wordle every day. I have played for a couple years. 

Sitting at breakfast with middle and youngest two Sundays ago, they were talking about the Wordle answer from that day. 

Their letters were different than my letters. 

We discovered they play the NYT version and I play a stand alone version.

I added the NYT games app to my collection.

I now play all the free NYT games (except Sudoku) daily too.

Camino Island series by John Graham

In the process of logging John Grisham’s books on Goodreads, utilizing the “Book Series In Order” website which I love, I discovered I had missed one Grisham book, Camino Ghosts. 

I listened to it this week, via Libby.

It was most excellent. Read by Whoopi Goldberg which was great, this is a black history/family story. In the audio version, John Grisham himself introduces Whoopi and says she was perfect, she was, her voice/personality adds so much to the story. 

The Camino Island books (below) are a series and most definitely need to all be read and read in order. They are a little unique in the Grisham collection. They are still legal based, but are more character/novel/story oriented, in my opinion.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/john-grisham/

Foot pedal fix

My one problem at the quilt retreat in March was the foot pedal on my extra sewing machine. It is awkward. I had to sort of hold my foot up in the air to use it. The foot pedal also slid all over the floor.

My husband built me a wooden stand.

My heel rests comfortably on the 2x4 in the back. 

Middle glued a non skid rug pad on the bottom.

I now attend a guild sewing bee group one Saturday each month. 

I went the first time last weekend. 

My wooden, foot rest, bracket worked great.

Story Graph and Goodreads

My ultimate goal was to load books Goodreads and then upload my list to Story Graph. Story Graph does wonderful analysis of books read. Goodreads is widely used. Youngest uses both apps. That was my goal too. I started with Goodreads. We then uploaded my Goodreads list to Story Graph.

Last weekend, at my local beauty shop for several hours because it was a cut and highlight appointment, I worked on my Goodreads account (on my phone while my color set). I was updating past read books. 

I started logging books on Goodreads in the fall of 2023 at Youngest’s direction. She set up my account and showed me how to use it. 

So a recent book list has been maintained. A list of past books was the problem.

I have wanted to add books (read long ago) for ages, but it was a daunting task. I had not kept a list. I have read hundreds of books. 

To get started, I searched key phrases for book posts on my blog and I looked for old group book lists in my email archives. Both those sources gave me titles/authors and approximate read dates. 

When it was an author with a lot of books, published over decades, and I had no idea of my read date, I used publication date plus one year and logged the books in December of that year. I read a lot in December’s, when school breaks left more free time. Sue Grafton and John Graham are a good examples of this. I read their new books within a year or so of publication for decades. A book published anytime in 1992 was logged in December of 1993 on my Goodreads account. Having a method helped.

Sometimes I could remember where I lived (new house vs old house) when I read the book, and that helped fix the date. 

I continued to work that night and the next morning and the day after that. Authors or individual titles would pop in my head. 

One fact to my advantage is if I like an author, I read most/all of their publications. I also read a lot of series in my younger days. So remembering one title or author often led to many others. 

The next day, I talked to youngest, who could remember lots of other authors. These were books I read out loud to the kids, or books we read at the same time, or books on CD that we listened to on trips. We figured out the approximate years. We both plugged these books in to our separate, Goodreads accounts. 

With a couple days of solid thinking/effort, I got to over 500 books listed on my Goodreads account. This is a very good start. It makes me feel like I am getting somewhere. 

Will I remember every book? No. I am probably missing dozens/hundreds of stand alone books that I am not likely to remember.  

For example, I read the biography/auto biography section of the school library when I was in 6th grade. When I was pregnant with middle (in bed for nearly the whole pregnancy), a librarian sent me boxes of books for months. I cannot remember any of those books. 

But I have remembered a lot. 

Sunday, middle and I met youngest half way for breakfast. Youngest backed up my 500+ Goodreads list to Story Graph. 

I will maintain/update books on both sites as I continue to remember previous books and read new books. 

Story Graph was my original goal, because it does wonderful analysis of books read. But Goodreads is widely used and handy too. 

Youngest had me log everything to Goodreads first. Story Graph takes uploads from Goodreads (but not the other way around). So I could load once and have data in both places.

Eddie Winston is looking for Love by Marianne Cronin

I reread one of my favorites, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin, for a recent book group. 

One group read this book last fall/2024, the other group read it recently. I reread it so I could discuss it intelligently. I loved this book just as much the second time. 

I am not sure why I did not read this author’s second book, Eddie Winston is looking for Love by Marianne Cronin, last fall/2024.

I had to get on a waiting list, via Libby. 

My turn rolled around with great timing. 

By the end of March, when it became available, I was ready. 

It was a quick audio read at just under 8 hours. There are multiple readers, which I liked. 

It was very good. The writing and voice were strong and well crafted. The format was similar to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, but the stories were different. 

This would be a good book to read after a complex or difficult book. It is a straight forward story. It is charming. I liked the characters.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/marianne-cronin/

In each book post, I utilize https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

This is a wonderful website that helps clarify the publication order of books and verifies book series. I use this website because there are no spoilers. But if I need a description, I can click over using the links, easily. There are also author bios.