Mauve Binchey and Rosemund Pilcher

Still working on my GoodReads and StoryGraph accounts. 

One day, Mauve Binchey popped in my mind. She has a lot of books. I read through all the titles, Tara Road was the only one I remembered. I added it. I am going to have to start reading to fill in the other titles.

As I fill in my past read books on Goodreads and StoryGraph, authors pop into my conscious memory from the deep files of my long ago memory. Think full file drawers.

Ditto Rosamund Pilcher. Her name suddenly popped in my head and I looked at her publication list. 

The only one that jumped out at me was The Shell Seekers. 

Is it likely that I only read one book by each author? No, not likely at all. I have always been an immersion reader. Pre-internet, it is likely I read most of the titles on the library shelf. 

The list of books under Pilcher is quite long. Like Mauve Binchey I am just going to have to dig in and read to know. On a day I have a lot of time, I will start through the earlier books, seeing which ones are familiar. I think I read a lot of them. 

Mauve Binchey -

Rosamund Pilcher - 

Using the “In Order” website that I love, revealed Rosamund originally wrote under Jane Fraser. That name, nor any of the titles, are not familiar to me. 

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 Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is another title from Youngest’s group’s past read/discussed books. I am working my way steadily through that list. 

StoryGraph describes The Midnight Library by Matt Haig as science fiction. I wonder if it might actually be magical realism. 

I found this AI description which I think is very accurate - "The Midnight Library" is a contemporary fantasy novel that blends elements of science fiction, philosophical fiction, and a touch of realism. 

I really liked this book, even though a whole bunch of those (above) genres are normally not my thing. 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is well written, unique, and a great read, in my opinion.

There would be much to discuss in a group setting.

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

StoryGraph - 

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.

Four books I remembered I tread in the 1970’s or 1980’s

Listening to The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents both by Octavia E. Butler, I remembered a book I read long ago. 

I had to really hunt to find it, Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. I would classify it as Dystopian more than science fiction.

That discovery reminded me of three other books I read long ago. I had to guess at all my read dates. 

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

Working on my StoryGraph account, I discovered an assigned book, The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young, I somehow had not read last year. I suspect I was out of town when the group met and maybe deep in another author’s archives.

I read The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young. 

I am not big on magical realism, but this one was pretty creative. I enjoyed it. 

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

StoryGraph - 

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.

Octavia E. Butler - Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents

Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), who authored Parable of the Sower (published 1993), is one of Youngest’s favorite authors. 

This is for good reason, Octavia E. Butler is an excellent author.  

Butler’s books are listed near the bottom of this list. 

Parable of the Sower was supposed to be a discussion book for Youngest’s group earlier this year. At the last minute there were not enough hard copies available. So they switched to their back up book. 

They designate one back up book for each year. My own groups, with audio and ebooks readily available, no longer worries about having a large quantity of physical books available for checkout. 

I loved Parable of the Sower, even though dystopian is not a favorite genre for me, and the subject matter in this book can be a tough read. 

And then I read the sequel, Parable of the Talents, also excellent, also a tough read in parts.

Middle did not read Parable of the Sower, even though dystopian is her favorite, because there are sad packs of feral dogs.

Youngest has also not yet read Parable of the Sower. She has read and loved Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction. 

These two, Parable of the Sower (published 1993) and the sequel Parable of the Talents (published 1998), are dystopian themed fiction books.

These are unusual books, and most modern readers will be surprised they were written in the 1990’s. They might be a tough read for some, in view of world circumstances today, but if one can handle the very close to home dystopian themes, they are excellent. 

Lynn Thigpen, of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, narrates the first book, Parable of the Sower.  She did an excellent job, she really brought the story to life. She died in 2003. 

The second book, Parable of the Talents, has three readers (Patricia R. Floyd, Peter Jay Fernandez, Sisi Aisha Johnson) who are also excellent.

These would be a good series for a February/African American read for a group that likes quality reads. There would be much discussion in both these books for a reading group. Yes, they should both be read, in order.

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

StoryGraph - 

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 Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was another book from Youngest’s book group’s previously read books. I am cranking through this/my To Read list in May. 

The audio speech pace was quite slow, but as it was Jeremy Irons, I left the speed alone. 

This is a very short book, only 4 hours in audio format.

It was enjoyable and easy to follow, but unusual. 

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

StoryGraph - 

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 Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a book from my To Read list. 

It is one of the books from Youngest’s book group’s previously read books. Youngest has not read it, it predates her membership in the group. 

I believe The Lost Apothecary is classified as historical and fiction. Still not my favorite genre. But I believe the characters were fictional, so that is good, in my opinion. 

The Lost Apothecary reminded me so much of The Lost Bookshop that I stopped to see if they were written by the same author. Nope, The Lost Bookshop is Eve Woods. 

One of my current book groups read The Lost Apothecary before I joined their group. They all liked it. They like historical fiction in general. 

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

StoryGraph - 

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.

John Marrs series and John Marrs stand alone books

John Marrs’ series -

I read John Marr’s One Universe series (5 books) in late February/early March and loved all but one of the books. 

Of course the one book, that was not my favorite, The Marriage Act, was the assigned title for my early April book group. 

That group met several weeks ago. 

I was very interested to hear what everyone else thought of the book. 

I could not imagine reading The Marriage Act stand alone (it was #4 of 5 books in the One Universe series). But that is exactly how most people read The Marriage Act, by itself. 

A few people had read The One. 

The opinions? 

One person hates all John Marrs books. She think he is a poor writer in general, apparently because he writes short chapters. (My opinion is when you have a lot of characters, it is very kind to have short chapters and rotate between all characters regularly.)

A couple people plan to read the rest of the One Universe series, all the books, in order. They loved it.

A few people, including the librarian, felt The Marriage Act was a little too close to current life, even though it is science fiction and dystopian.

John Marrs’ standalone titles -

Late March 2025 and all of April 2025, in between book group assignments, and with a break to catch up on my podcasts, I started interspersing John Marr’s stand alone novels in between my book club assignments and books on my To Read list and podcasts.

All these John Marr stand alone books are labeled as mystery thrillers. I think there needs to be one more word added to that description, like “twisted” or “dark”. People who like Dexter or Criminal Minds would probably like these books. 

Some of the dates (below) are quite close, but I read at least one other book in between every Marrs’ title. 

That is my strong recommendation, layer other things between the Marr’s standalone books.

I was not under any time constraints. I just kept plugging away, working my way through the list. 

Most of these books were not available in audio through the library. I purchased on Audible.

When You Disappeared was disturbing, but creative, and quite good in a very twisted way. (Listened from start to finish on 3/28/25).

The Vacation had a lot of characters and story lines, it was well written, and I could follow everything easily, but it was a lot, in my opinion. I stuck with it, I knew the story would come together. It did. I liked it, very much, by the end. (3/29 - 3/31).

The Good Samaritan also has a uniquely twisted storyline, two main characters, well written, unpredictable. (4/2 - 4/3).

Her Last Move, well written, police department character list, dark, really liked it  (4/7 - 4/8).

What Lies Between Us, two main characters, well written, quite twisted (4/8 - 4/9).

Keep It In The Family, it was okay, but dragged, not my favorite (4/17 - 4/18).

The Stranger in Her House, it was okay, but not my favorite (4/18 - 4/19).

You Killed Me First, it was okay, but also not my favorite, (4/28 - 4/29).

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 Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu

Note -

I have done quite a bit of work on my StoryGraph account. I retroactively added month end summary posts to the last day of each month for 2025. This is quite fun! 

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/search/label/Books%20storygraph%20stats

Two books I read in January 2025 did not have an audio edition listed. So the pie charts reflects an incorrect hard copy read. I listened to 100% of the books on Libby, Audible, or Hoopla.

The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu, a non fiction memoir, was an assigned book. 

This story follows a family who immigrated to the USA from Vietnam. They are genetically Chinese, but culturally Vietnamese.

Middle and I listened this week and attended the evening group meeting. (I had two groups meet this week, it makes it tricky to remember both books properly for discussion.)

Middle liked The Manicurist's Daughter quite a bit. I was more neutral on it.

Three people at the discussion meeting did not finish the book and did not seem to understand people from other cultures have different viewpoints. Everybody else finished the book and had a lot to say, pro and con,  there was lots of discussion. 

Middle and I read a similar book in 2024, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. We both liked that book. I liked it more than she did. (Middle happened to be off work and attended the Crying in H Mart morning group discussion with me last year. She is fairly well versed in Asian culture and food, she added a lot to the discussion.)

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

StoryGraph - 

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.

Flag quilt #3

I made 9-patches using up the dark blue fabric leftover from flag quilt #2 and the light blue fabric leftover from flag quilt #1.

The 9-patches are one light blue fabric, the solid squares are a second light blue fabric (below).

I loved the blue on blue design. It makes a lovely blue pieced background. 

Middle and I agreed, the nine patch background was too plain. It needed something more. It needed something to balance the flag. 

At first I thought about substituting bold blocks for a few of the 9-patch blocks. These were my inspiration photos -

At middle’s suggestion, “applique”, I ended up going an entirely different direction -

Flag Quilt #2

I started right in on flag quilt #2 rolling on with the momentum of having a free long arm quilter and using up masses of fabric from my studio. 

Here was my starting point flag quilt #2  - 

Here are my inspiration photos -

There was a lot of math, the three sets of blocks (large friendship star, small friendship star, fancy star) and the flag were all different sizes. 

The background fabric is a consistent light blue print. I had a limited amount of that blue fabric and could not get more. It was a measure twice, cut once project.

I completed this quilt top between 4/7 - 4/16. I remembered to take a photo.

The stars are scattered, but in a systematic way. I like how the scattered stars form a background.  I like how the three fancy stars are string and balance the flag. 

I like the scale of the whole thing. 

Flag quilt #2 (above) is ready to go to the new-to-me long arm quilter. 

When she texts to say flag quilt #1 is finished, flag quilt #2 is ready to go to her in the same trip. Bonus, she lives the next town north of me, a close distance.