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Posts from the ‘Messages’ Category

25
Jan

#Book Bingo 2022

I learned about this challenge from Tracy’s blog  Bitter Tea and Mystery! I too am joining in on Book Bingo at Unruly Reader. This bingo card can work perfectly with my MountTBR2022 challenge. I’m sure I can find some book on my 1300+ books TBR on Kindle.

It is a basic bingo card where you try to get a bingo or go for blackout.   There are some explanations of the topics but you can interpret as you see fit.

 

 

My Selections:    4/25

Timely Title – book relevant in its own era

 

NYT Best Seller:

  1. John Adams – David McCullough – READ

23. John Adams by David McCullough by David McCullough David McCullough

Finish date: 01 February 2022
Genre: Biography
Rating: A++++++++++++

 

NEWS – book that affects a region (North East South West)

 

Fleeting fancy – picked up on a whim

 

Seasonal – book that evokes a season

 

Native American Author

 

Positive Psychology – book that explores building a life worth living

 

Subculture – (profession/obsession/pursuit/belief system/set of customs)

 

Afrofuturism – SG/fantasy/tech to explore the African diaspora experience

 

Librarian recommended – Unruly Reader?

 

I-syllable Author Surname:

  1. The Art of Racing in the Rain – G. Stein – READ
JANUARY

15. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein by Garth Stein Garth Stein

Finish date: 22 January 2022
Genre: Fiction
 

Coming of Age – growth of MC from naivety to maturity

 

Play:

  1. Separate Tables – Terence Rattigan – READ

JANUARY

17. Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan by Terence Rattigan Terence Rattigan

Finish date: 28 January 2022
Genre: Play

 

Period Piece – book that could only take place in that time

  1. Dawn of the Belle Epoque – M. McAuliffe
JANUARY

14 Dawn of the Belle Epoque The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends by Mary McAuliffe by Mary McAuliffe Mary McAuliffe  – READ

Finish date: 17 January 2022
Genre: Non-fiction

 

1980s Classic – published in 1980s and still widely read

 

Time Capsule – about another era….time travel or perspective about current-day on an earlier time

 

Fast – short book or fast paced

 

Slow – book you want to savor, don’t want it to end….of that just won’t end!

 

Wanderlust – character’s journey to another place or your yearning to travel

 

Free Time – smth you can read in 5 min!! (article – poem – blogpost)

 

Ability diverse – character with a physical of cognitive disability

 

One Hit Wonder – author who published one notable book

 

Immersion – book you can’t stop thinking about –

 

Vintage – Vintage Classics  published by Penguin Random House

  1. Abelard and Heloise – Helen Waddell

MARCH

33. Peter Abelard by Helen Waddell by Helen Waddell Helen Waddell

Finish date: March 02 2022
Genre: Novel (210 pg…almost a novella)
Rating: D-

 

Biography:

  1. Thomas Becket – John Guy – READ
JANUARY
3. Thomas Becket Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim A 900-Year-Old Story Retold by John Guy by John Guy John Guy
Finish date: 05 January 2022
Genre: biography

31
Dec

New Year’s Eve 2021

 

  1. Time to start the New Year’s pre-show with the cats…Ben & Jerry!
  2. Let’s pop that bottle of champagne that has my name on it!
  3. #GelukkigNieuwJaar
  4. #HappyNewYear2022

20
Dec

#Merry Xmas 2021

  1. Xmas in lockdown will be tense this year with 2 new kittens.
  2. I need eyes behind my head to stay one jump ahead of them!
  3. Loved this foto (see below) which sums up any household
  4. …that is trying to combine Peace on Earth with Xmas tree with ornaments!

 

 

One last message especially for Jinger @intrepidarkansawyer

  1. Fitting humans with technology to enhance their biological capabilities.
  2. This cyborg is finally @home with:
  3. 1 new hip and 2 new eyes!
  4. Thank you Santa for all these gifts! Merry Xmas!
  5. This is my best portrait with
  6. BFF (best feline friend) Mork (RIP 22.02.2021).

 

19
Dec

#Total Lockdown….first in Europe against Omicron

 

  1. The Netherlands is…
  2. …last to start booster program
  3. first in…FULL LOCKDOWN in Europe
  4. 19 Dec – 14 Jan 2022…and probably longer.!
  5. Omicron infections are to double every 1,5-2 days.
  6. Will …Santa be able to visit us?
  7. That is still in doubt…after another year
  8. still NO herd immunity.

 

News conference last night and our PM Mark Rutte was visibly shaken by the tsunami Omicron that is on the horizon. He said this is The MOST serious moment in the pandemic crisis for us. Health care workers are stretched to the limit and are ready to snap!
Total lockdown started 2 hours ago…here in The Netherlands. Everything…and I mean everything is cancelled.
 
Let this sink in— worldwide cumulative #Omicron spiked up Upwards arrow 31% in just **one day**. You can try to delude yourself that a slightly “milder” virus won’t kill many people — but only if you lie to yourself about how exponential math works.
PLEASE …anyone not protected…, please get the vaccine!!
 
I’m cancelling my Xmas dinner with friends (…I had all food ready in freezer and my wine cave was filled to the brim). My vaccine jabs are waning…and my booster ( one of the lucky …to get one!) will kick in as of two weeks after jab on 12 December. The #Omicron wave will hit hospitals hard—pray for doctors, nurses & respiratory therapists over the holidays. #MaskUp #VaxUp #GetBoosted and Stay safe …stay @home.
22
Mar

Spring?…it doesn’t feel like it!

Nothing was going to stop me from biking this morning…not even a spot of rain! I covered the camera in plastic, pulled my cap on and connected the IPOD to my audio book. Yes I got wet but the feeling of my leg muscles burning off the pandemic pounds was worth it! Update: 5 week no sugar, coffee, alcohol, buttered toast and jam…
I had a difficult day yesterday…urge for sweets….so grabbed a grapefruit…sweetest thing in the house! Wind mild 8kts (11kph, 7 mph) temp 6 C (42 F). Sun was doing its best…but lost the fight with the clouds!
If you look closely at the previous photo you can see a single bird.…drifting in the water. It is a common merganser (North American) or goosander (Europe)… a large seaduck. It is the first one I’ve seen. I loved the contrast of his beak and ‘crazy hairdo’ with the diagonal lines in the water. You can even see the pearls of water rolling of his back! This has to be my “lucky shot” of the day!
May be art of tree
Covid: 2020…2021 so many things have been cancelled. But one thing is sure: “Spring Cannot Be Cancelled” by David Hockney. Happy First Day of Spring! I could look at this painting for hours!
On turning eighty, David Hockney sought out rustic tranquility for the first time: a place to watch the sunset and the change of the seasons; a place to keep the madness of the world at bay. So when Covid-19 and lockdown struck, it made little difference to life at La Grande Cour, the centuries-old Normandy farmhouse where Hockney set up a studio a year earlier, in time to paint the arrival of spring. In fact, he relished the enforced isolation as an opportunity for even greater devotion to his art.
David Hockney’s new book “Spring Cannot Be Cancelled”  will be published on 27 April 2020 with 142 color illustrations
Decided to take my chances and climb this lookout post. Steps were slippery… but  I got some great photos from this vantage point!
I think this a my “lucky shot” of the day...beautiful duck surrounded by a golden pond. The illusion is …..it seems the duck is swimming in the reeds not water! Stunning!
This is my “lucky shot” today…the lines of the trees, the perspective... the emerald green grass…and the sun slipped behind some clouds to give the photo a diffused light. The church tower in the distance draws the viewer’s eye, just beautiful! I’ll take this photo again when the trees are in their summer glory. Time now for tea…. I have survived 4 weeks without coffee, sugar and chocolate. That means…just 20 more days….then Lent is over and I can celebrate with a cup of JAVA on Easter!
Celebrated #ReadingIrelandMonth21 hosted by @cathy746books:
#DiversityInIreland

March 2021

  1. Poem:  “Still”  – Felicia Olusanya (aka FeliSpeaks)  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  2. Anseo – Úna-Mingh Kavanaugh  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  3. Why the Moon Travels– Oein DeBhairduin  REVIEW#ReadingIrelandMonth21
  4. Ulster American – David Ireland  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  5. Irish Short Stories – J. McGahern, W. Trevor, C. Keegan   REVIEW #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  6. Don’t Touch My Hair – Emma Dabiri    #ReadingIrelandMonth21

 

And of course….I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in lockdown!

May be an image of one or more people, drink and text that says 'Put some whisky in my coffee because it's Ireland somewhere. som ee cards user card'

 

1
Mar

Meteorological Spring…

Meteorological Spring today…but it didn’t feel like it! Cold east wind (…damn Russians) that stings my face. The fog has lifted but still it’s 50 shades of grey.

 

My feet are still frozen from a long bike ride…b/c it was brutal in the winter fog! Temp 0 C wind was clam WNW but still….very cold. Initially I wasn’t going to bike today…but I made a commitment in Lent…daily bike rides with the exception for rain/wind, no need to catch pneumonia!
But here are the REAL die-hards….sitting on the shore with a fishing pole! I was glad I was moving on a bike to keep warm!
This is a typical Frisian Farmhouse…. it looks so gothic, so isolated …in the mistl It is a “Head-Neck-Body farmhouse”: residence (the head) and a kitchen (the neck) placed in line in front of a big shed (the body).
Earlier this week ….I rode by a typical farm raising the famous Holstein Friesians cows…best milk in the world! They are known as the world’s highest-production dairy animals. USA and Holstein Friesians: were introduced into the US from 1621 to 1664. The eastern part of New Netherland (modern day New York and Connecticut), where many Dutch farmers settled along the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys.
No farm in Friesland is without the famous “Stabyhoun” gatekeeper! Boy, this guy had me in his sights the minute I got off the bike to take a picture. #NoNonsenseDog
I promised this would be the year of dogs…so I mustered up the courage to see if the stabyhoun (…I call him Leroy) would agree to some portraits. He’s a tough negotiator! He still stays near the farm…not sure if I know the ‘secret password’ that would allow me to approach.
Just look at that face! This guy means business!
Now the tension is over….Leroy settles down in his ‘waakhond’ (watchdog) mode. He sees I’m not a threat…just an amateur photographer…biking…chasing off the blues, so Leroy let’s me live!
  1. I feel better today after putting yesterday in my memory box.
  2. Met a neighborhood cat in front of the house,
  3. stopped to pet her and got to feel her fur…so soothing.
  4. Yes….It has been a sad couple of days
  5. ….luckily I took this last beautiful picture of Mork on Valentine’s Day.
  1. RIP Mork (2010-2021)
  2. …you have left me so suddenly.
  3. I could not help you anymore.
You were such a great companion
Loyal and true
My heart will always wear
The pawprints left by you.
2
Feb

Well…I’m still here.

 

I thought the Election in November 2020 would do me in
…then came the Georgia Senate races (2 democratic candidates in a Red state!)
…then came the insurrection on The Capitol 06 January 2021 (….now we learn it was a planned attack)
…then came the decision to BAN Trump from Twitter
…then the  Deutsche Bank cut all ties with Trump and Co. Trump owes them 400 million dollars!
…you have to be really shady if DB doesn’t want you as a client.
…Deutsche Bank makes deals with the devil!
…then came the impeachment.

I am a confessed news junkie and must admit scrolling the twitter page
until  0200 AM has taken its toll.
( …the USA news kicks in….just when I should turn off the lights and go to sleep!
I just could not face another  ‘fake’  video message from Trump  before he leaves The White House and turned off the TV.

 

Good news?  all the above have kick started SPRING CLEANING…and the house is
starting to sparkle.  I must admit I’ve been very lax with household chores.

 

I was just getting back to some serious reading after the US  Presidential Election tension
…..then 06 January happened. The Insurrection  in Washington D.C. shook me to my core…and felt like the  moments in history that  will leave haunted:  JFK, MLK, Robert Kennedy assassinations and 9/11 attack.
I could not open a book.

 

So life goes on…Washington DC  looks like the Green Zone in Baghdad  Iraq
…more troops there than in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
…Inauguration  Joe Biden happened without any more violence in DC.
…will the Senate convict Donald Trump for insurrection and citing mob violence?
…of course not.
…January was the deadliest month in USA with 90.000 covid deaths. Let that sink in!!                Sometimes I just cannot bear to turn on the news….but I must.
The nation will get through this but the scars are visible.

 

Here in The Netherlands... the pandemic continues
The FULL lockdown has been extended for another 3 weeks.
The British variant of the virus is in the country….and people are
afraid it will spread exponentially…as it has done in the UK.
Remember…we get have intense ‘lorry traffic’ between UK and NL  as a port of
entry to the EU for goods and foods.

 

The NL cabinet has placed us in  a curfew (9 pm – 0430 am) 24 Jan – 09 Feb in an effort to
further cut down on contacts between people and so reduce the spread of the virus.
This is the first time this draconian rule has been implemented since WW II  1945!                                We will hear tomorrow if the curfew will be extended beyond 10 February.                                            Our health guru Jaap van Dissel wants to limit social contacts
given that half the infections with a known source
happen within a household and 36% derive from visits.

 

So that is just  life in a nutshell. I did manage to   read 5 books in January:

  1. Girl, Woman, Other –  Bernardine Evaristo  – REVIEW
  2. Heads of Colored People – Nafissa Thompson-Spires  (12 short stories)  REVIEW
  3. A Black Women’s  History of the United States – Daina Ramey Berry  REVIEW
  4. AI  Superpowers – Kai-Fu Lee – Excellent!  5 star
  5. Society 4.0 – B. de Wit – Review

 

...but I hope to  get back to regular postings….soon.

1
Jan

#NeedCoffee

  1. It’s time for me to have a break from this ol’ book blog.
  2. … it’s doing my head in and
  3. I need more time to just read and relax.
  4. 2020 was an exhausting year!
  5. I will be updating my Challenges 2021 
  6. …list with my reading progress.
  7. If you want to  reach….I’m still on twitter @nl_burns.
  8. I’ll return in the Spring
  9. …with my books, walks and foto’s!
  10. It’s time to hibernate and #NeedCoffee
  11. Live well, be safe, wear a mask
  12. for the love of all that’s holy
  13. …it’s not too much to ask.

 

Finished: 

  1. Girl, Woman, Other –  Bernardine Evaristo  – REVIEW
  2. Heads of Colored People – Nafissa Thompson-Spires  (12 short stories)  REVIEW
  3. A Black Women’s  History of the United States – Daina Ramey Berry  REVIEW
  4. AI  Superpowers – Kai-Fu Lee – Excellent!  5 star
  5. Society 4.0 – B. de Wit – Review

1
Jan

#2020 Good Riddance!!

  1. Even by dismal standards, it has been a shocker of a year.
  2. Pandemic, lockdowns, economic slump, apocalyptic wildfires
  3. …in Australia and USA and the most divisive
  4. …bitter US election in living memory

 

But it is time to think  of 2021…

  1. You can always stay connected via:
  2. Twitter: @nl_burns
  3. Goodreads.com

 

Challenges:

  1. Brona @Bronasbooks for #AusReadingMonth21 (November)
  2. Karen @Books and Chocolate #BackToTheClassics 2021
  3. #BlackHistoryMonth (February)
  4. Cathy @746Books  #ReadingIrelandMonth21 (March)
  5. #NationalBookAward 2019 -2020 (winners and finalists) @NationalBook.org
  6. #PoetryMonth (April)
  7. #DutchLiterature (8 NF books I hope will be translated soon…)
  8. #AWW2021  @AustralianWomen WritersChallenge
  9. #TheEdithReadalong2021 @BronasBooks  (November)
  10. #NonFicNov  (non-fiction weeks) (November)
  11. #NovNov @746Books (novella) (November)

 

  1. So it is time to hit the reset button
  2. …and finally enjoy the long-awaited  2021.
  3. Here is my challenge 2021 reading list .
  4. Here is my monthly planning 2021
  5. Happy New Year 2021!

21
Dec

#Reading Challenges REFERENCE 2021

  1. A little too early to pop open the bubbly?
  2. I don’t think so.
  3. After a year we all want to forget
  4. …I am excited and eager to start afresh.
  5. Books will get me to a sunnier Summer 2021 where we all
  6. can enjoy all the things
  7. …we used to take for granted!

 

January – December 2021:

  1. 19th C Classic: Iola Leroy   REVIEW – F. E.W. Harper (1892)  – READ
  2. 20th C Classic: The Ways of White Folks: Stories  – Langston Hughes (1934) – READ
  3. Classic by woman: Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel – Z. N. Hurston (1937) READ
  4. Classic new Author: Palace Walk: The Cairo Trilogy –  Naguib Mahfouz (1956) – READ
  5. Children’s Classic: The House of Dies Drear – Virginia Hamilton (1968)- READ

Leftover….

  1. Humorous Classic: Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes (1930)
  2. Travel Classic: The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon (1956)
  3. Classic Play: Funnyhouse of a Negro  – Adrienne Kennedy (1964)
  4. Classic favourite Author: Notes of a Native Son – J.Baldwin (1955)
  5. Classic animal in title: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou(1969)
  6. Classic in translation: The River Between – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1965)
  7. Classic BIPOC Author: The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison (1970)

 

#AWW2021

  1. Tara June Winch   The Yield – REVIEW
  2. Miranda Tapsell – Top End Girl – READ
  3. Karen Wyld – Where the Fruit Falls – READ
  4. Nardi Simpson – Song of the Crocodile (ordered from AUS) READ

Leftover….

  1. Ali C. Eckermann – Too Afraid to Cry: Memoir of a Stolen Childhood
  2. Kirli Saunders – Kindred (ordered from AUS)

 

February: #BlackHistoryMonth

  1. The Dead Are Arising – Les Payne – REVIEW
  2. How to Make a Slave and Other Essays  – Jerald Walker   REVIEW
  3. A Black Women’s  History of the United States – Daina Ramey Berry  REVIEW
  4. Dying of Whiteness – Jonathan Metzl   REVIEW
  5. A Promised Land – Barack Obama  REVIEW
  6. The Awkward Black Man – Walter Mosley  REVIEW

Leftover….

  1. Another Country – James Baldwin

 

March:  #ReadingIreandMonth21

  1. Poem:  “Still”  – Felicia Olusanya (aka FeliSpeaks)  #ReadingIrelandMonth21 READ
  2. Anseo – Úna-Mingh Kavanaugh  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  3. Why the Moon Travels – Oein DeBhairduin  REVIEW   #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  4. Ulster American – David Ireland  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
  5. Irish Short Stories – J. McGahern, W. Trevor, C. Keegan   REVIEW #ReadingIrelandMonth21

 

April:  #Poetry Month

  1. Jay Bernard – Surge READ
  2. Jericho Brown –  The Tradition   REVIEW
  3. Shane McCrae – The Guilded Auction Block  READ
  4. Yusef Komunyakaa – Neon Vernacular  halfway READ…

 

Leftover….

  1. Danez Smith – Homie
  2. Danez Smith – Don’t Call Us Dead
  3. Fiona Benson – Vertigo and Ghost
  4. Borderland Apocrypha – Anthony Cody –
  5. The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks – G. Brooks

 

May: 

  1. Viet Thanh Nguyen – The Committed –  READ
  2. Daphne A. Brooks – Liner Notes for the Revolution  600 pp…too long, sorry.
  3. Hisham Matar – The Return  – American born British-Libyan writer  YES   #NonFicNov (biography)
  4. Robert Jones jr. – The Prophets – READ
  5. Zadie Smith – White Teeth  NO
  6. Cathy Park Hong    YES  – Minor Feelings (essays) Korean American poet, writer  #ReadDiversely  #NonFicNov (autobio)
  7. Teju Cole  – Open City NO
  8. Nafissa Thompson-Spires –Heads of Colored People – (12 short stories)  REVIEW
  9.  Wallace Terry   YES  – Bloods  #BlackHistoryMonth  (1984) READ
  10.  Walter Mosley  – The Long Fall (The First Leonid McGill Mystery)    READ

 

June:   #NationalBookAward

  1. The Yellow House – Sarah H. Broom  (memoir) – NO
  2. Wayward Lives – Saidiya Hartman (criticism) – READ
  3. 2022 – Magical Negro – Morgan Parker (poetry) – YES  #ReadDiversely #PoetryMonth
  4. 2022 – Know My Name – Chanel Miller (memoir) -YES #ReadDiversely  (American/Chinese) 30 yr
  5. Everything Inside: Stories – Edwidge Danticat (fiction)…not now
  6. LOT: Stories – Bryan Washington (finalist)..not now
  7. 2022 – The Secret Lives of Church Ladies – Deesha Philyaw (finalist) YES #ReadDiversely  (won 2021 PEN/Faulkner)

 

July:   

  1. Clint Smith – How the World is Passed (June 2021)  READ
  2. The Awkward Black Man – Walter Mosley (short stories) 
  3. Sweat – Lynn Nottage – 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama  Kindle #ReadDiversely
  4. Ruined – Lynn Nottage – 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama  #ReadDiversely
  5. Topdog/Underdog – Suzan-Lori Parks  #ReadDiversely
  6. Disgraced – Ayad Akhtar  American playwright of Pakistani heritage #ReadDiversely
  7. The Piano Lesson – August Wilson #ReadDiversely
  8. While Justice Sleeps – Stacey Abrams (May 2021) (CF) NO
  9. Sombody’s Daughter – Ashley C. Ford (June 2021) (memoir) #NonFicNov  #ReadDiversely
  10. There There – Tommy Orange (debut novel)   REVIEW

 

August:  

  1. Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion – Jia Tolentino (essays)
  2. Trust Exercise – Susan Choi (fiction)
  3. The Sixth Man – Andre Iguodala (memoir)
  4. Girl, Woman, Other –  Bernardine Evaristo  – REVIEW
  5. Solitary – Albert Woodfox
  6. Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli (fiction)
  7. Afropean: Notes from Black Europe – Johny Pitts –  Leipzig Book Award 2021
  8. Unworthy Republic – Claudio Saunt (Native American history)
  9. Memoiral – Bryan Washington (fiction)

 

September:  Dutch Literature   …No, not now

  1. Indo – Marion Bloem  (NL-Indonesian)
  2. Mijn ontelbare identiteiten – Sinan Çankaya (NL-Turkish)
  3. Wij slaven van Suriname – Anton de Kom (NL-Suriname)
  4. Reizigers van een nieuwe tijd – Abdelkader Benali (NL- Moroccan)
  5. Wie Was Ik – Alfred Schaffer (NL-Aruban) P.C. Hooft-prijs 2021 (poet)
  6. Wees Onzichtbaar – Murat Isik (NL-Turkish)  Libris Prize 2018
  7. De Tolk van Java – Alfred Birney (NL-Indonesian) Libris Prize 2017
  8. Revolusi – David van Reybrouck (Belgian historian) – READ

 

October:  #TheEdithReadalong21   Not sure…

  1. Grand Days
  2. Dark Place
  3. Cold Light

 

November: #AusReadingMonth2021…#Aus 2022?…not sure

  1. Stan Grant – Talking to my country  READ
  2. Archie Roach – Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music  READ/DNF
  3. Stan Yarramunua – A Man Called Yarra
  4. Tony Birch – White Girl
  5. Omar Sakr –The Lost Arabs – READ
  6. Omar Musa – Millefiori 
  7. M. M. Morsi – The Palace of Angels 
  8. Paul Collis – Dancing Home
  9. Kim Scott – Taboo
  10. Victor Steffensen – Fire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management

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