Howling Frog Books

 My semester is over and I'm on summer break!  And the weather has been absolutely fantastic, not too hot, so I've been trying to spend a lot of time outside and hiking.  My goal is to do plenty of that this summer.  I've also read quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, and here is some of it, but it doesn't include the Louise Penny binge I went on of three novels in a row; they were good too! #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate, by Samantha A. Vinokor-Meinrath : A survey and analysis of GenZ Jewish kids and how they feel about their Judaism and the rising incidence of antisemitism.  Most of these kids have GenX parents (like me) who grew up with very little antisemitism in the US, and I was shocked at how it's just common now for GenZ kids to have experienced, at the very least, comments from friends and schoolmates.                  A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order, by Judith Flanders: It was the cover tha

 ...to read lots of books?  That doesn't rhyme.  I have to do it right. ...to be a robin lightly dressed, concocting soup inside my nest! Mix it once, mix it twice, mix that chicken soup with rice! No, actually, I'm not making soup, I'm reading books.  Quite a few books, so here at the halfway point I'm doing a post.  The Marquis' Secret, by George MacDonald:   I'm a bit of a sucker for these sort-of translated 1980s Bethany House versions of George MacDonald's very Victorian Scottish romances.  This one was originally The Marquis of Lossie , a sequel to Malcolm.  Malcolm, a poor fisher-boy, is the true heir to the estate of Lossie, but his half-sister Florimel (a definite Faerie Queene reference!) thinks she is, and so he becomes her groom in hopes of finding a way to break the news to her without ruining her life.  Confusion and hijinks ensue; Malcolm despairs of influencing his sister for good; and also he falls in love.  Can this tangle ever be straig

 It's that time of year again, when we start to plan for 20 Books of Summer !  The rules are as simple as can be; pick your goal number, and try to read them between June 1 - September 1.  Cathy at 746Books is the host.  And here's my list: 20 books plus two alternates since I am a weirdo.   England Speaks:  Being Talks with All Manner of Folk, of Humble and Exalted Rank, with a Panorama of English Scenes, by Philip Gibbs Kraken, by China Mieville Codependent Discipleship: Not a How-To Guide, by Nick Galieti and Jennifer Roach My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier Tomorrow's Crimes, by Donald Westlake The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, by Virginia Postrel Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North To the Diamond Mountains: A Hundred-Year Journey through China and Korea, by Tessa Morris-Suzuki    Arresting God in Kathmandu, by Samrat Upadhyay The Pushcart War, by Jean Merrill Pageants of Despair, by Dennis Hamley The Way to the Sea, by Caroline Cramp