A New Challenge: Mount TBR

 I have decided to participate in the Mount TBR challenge -- I'll commit to reading a certain number of books from my TBR or my TBRR (To Be Re-Read) piles.  The challenge is hosted by Bev Hankins at  My Reader's Block.  As I am new to this, and am doing other challenges as well, I'm going to sign up for the lowest level, Pike's Peak, to read 12 books off my TBR or TBRR lists.  If I feel I can do 12 more, I can switch to the next level, Mont Blanc.

I'm going to read

From my TBR pile: 

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen.

The Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War by Nathaniel Philbrick.

All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes by Sue Black.

A Feminist's Guide to ADHD: How Women Can Thrive and Find Focus in a World Built for Men by Dr. Janina Maschke.

Being Mortal:  Medicine and What Counts in the End by Atul Gawande.

The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano that Darkened the World and Changed History by William K. Klingaman and Nicholas P. Klingaman. 

The Lost Family:  How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are, by Libby Copeland.

The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman.

 Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell.

 From my TBRR pile:

The Green-Sky Trilogy (separately published), by Zilpha Keatley Snyder:

    Below the Root (1975)

    And All Between (1976)

    Until the Celebration (1977)

 

Sunday Salon: My Favorite Little-known Series, the Green-Sky Trilogy

                                 

In the mid-1980s, when our daughters were in middle school, we came upon an enchanting computer game called "Below the Root."  Little did we know at the time that it was based on a children's trilogy known collectively as The Green-Sky Trilogy.  We loved the game, all four of us.  Take two children and two adults who could be child-like, add a charming game, and there's a sale for someone!

Learning about the game's basis in a three-book series, I sought that series out and finally found all three in paperback.  We all read it, and I still have it, as I treasure the books I enjoy most.  I read to my grandson from this series when he was a wee one, as a way of getting him used to the rhythm of stories and as a way of letting him bond with me through my voice.  He became an avid reader.

The story involves the Kindar, an ethereal people who live in the high boughs of a forest, a place called Green-Sky.  The key to the story is their relationship to the Erdlings, underground dwellers who live below the root of a holy tree that has great spiritual significance to the Kindar.  It was the Kindar who imprisoned the Erdlings.  Difficulties begin when the Kindar discover that their Holy Root is withering, threatening their existence.  Then an Erdling child who flees when she is told her pet rabbit must be sacrificed to feed her people finds her way onto the surface, and then into Green-Sky.  She develops a friendship with a Kindar child, and the Erdlings are released.  However, there exists a high level of distrust between the Kindar and the Erdlings.  

The author, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, was a schoolteacher.  During her writing career, spanning from 1964 to 2011, she wrote some 46 books, three of which were Newbery Honors books, meaning that they fell short of being awarded a Newbery Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature, but qualified for the recognition of Newbery Honors.

 The first pages of the first book in the series, Below the Root, introduce Raamo, the young male protagonist of the series.  He has, to his great surprise, been appointed to the temple of the Ol-Zhaan, the spiritual leaders of Green-Sky.  And thus, the reader is drawn into the story.  Beyond that, I found it hard to put down, and read it through in a short time.  It is time for me to re-read this trilogy.  I just wish we still had the game and a computer that would play it.

Recommended for middle-school-age children, and for adults who haven't totally forgotten how good children's literature can be. 

#Sunday Salon 

 

2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Hillbilly Highway -- a 20th century migration

 Number one among my posts in the  the 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge.  My category is that of a Nonfiction Grazer, the description of which is: "Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share the nonfiction you read through the year." This best fits my nonconformist style.

A new cousin with whom I share eastern Tennesee/western Virginia roots recommended Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and the Making of a White Working Class by Max Fraser (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2023) when I told her that my great-grandfather and great-grandmother Nave moved from eastern Tennessee to South Bend, Indiana.  I didn't give any details; I just mentioned in passing one of the links between her family and mine.

The "Hillbilly Highway" is a series of routes from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia to cities in the upper midwest: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana figure largely in the destinations of this migration.  The author, Max Fraser, attributes this migration to the changing economic conditions in the upper south, including the shrinking of family farmland, which was being bought up by mining, transportation, and government interests (the latter being mainly the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority for the purposes of rural electrification).  The migrants looked for factory work and mining in the upper midwest, where they could make a great deal more money than on hardscrabble farming. 

This phenomenon of forced migration due to economics took place in the years encompassing World War II, according to Fraser, and lasted into the 1960s.  In that, this theory covers a time period fifty years too late to include my family.  My great-grandparents Nave were in South Bend, Indiana, by 1892, which is when my grandmother was born in that city.  Fraser sees the people affected by the changing economy of the southern areas as farmers, suffering the loss of farmlands to the interests mentioned above.  My great-grandfather and many men in the Nave family were merchants.  Great-grandpa was a grocer.  He was one in Tennessee and in Indiana.

Fraser sees a pattern in that the people, mostly men, who made this change from the south to the upper midwest did not stay permanently there.  Many returned to their southern homes for planting season or harvest, or for family celebrations.  I have found no indication that my great-grandfather and great-grandmother ever made any return trips to Tennessee.  That raises a question of whether their hegira to Indiana might have been motivated by personal reasons, some sort of difficulty within the family.  Once in Indiana, they stayed there, first in South Bend and then in Logansport.

 While this particular theory does not appear to apply to my family, it is an interesting look at the middle of the 20th century.  The Dust Bowl was not, apparently, the only motivation that put people on the road from one section of the country to another.  Fraser's research supports his theory.  He includes some individual histories of some who found themselves in this migration.  Some of the people involved, either as migrants or as entrepreneurs who provided the transportation for these migrants along the "Hillbilly Highway" routes delineated by Fraser, were indeed colorful characters.  That gives an engaging leavening to the statistics and dates and facts that makes the book readable.  It is an excellent example of the trend away from the Great Man sort of history to history of ordinary people who really build the United States.

The author is a former journalist and currently is an assistant professor of history at the University of Miami. 

Recommended to readers with an interest in History and fans of the 20th Century.

 

 

My Life in Books 2025

 

 

This is a fun little exercise devised by Shellyrae at Book'd Out

Here are the instructions:  

Complete the prompts using titles from the books you have read in 2025 to complete the sentence to describe your life in the past year.   NB Some of these statements aren’t true. The prompts are bold; my responses in plain text.  It isn't as easy as it seems . . .  We're asked to tag others.  Nah.  Participate if you wish to.  

2025 was the year of  Straight Shooting by Robert Stack.

In 2025 I wanted to be What's Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy, by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack.

In 2025 I was Making It So: A Memoir, by Sir Patrick Stewart.

In 2025 I gained Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent from Hell, by Jim Fisher.

In 2025 I lost Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, by Sheri Fink.

In 2025 I loved my Puritan Pedigrees: the Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England, by Robert Charles Anderson. 

In 2025 I hated Jack Ruby: the Many Faces of Oswald's Assassin, by Danny Fingeroth. (Actually, I liked the book; I can't say I have any positive feelings for the subject person.)

In 2025 I learned We Carry Their Bones: the Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys, by Erin Kimmerle.

In 2025 I was surprised by What Really Happened to the Class of '65, by Michael Medved and David Wallechinsky.

 In 2025 I went to Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, by Bill Delaney.

In 2025 I missed out on It All Makes Sense Now: Embrace Your ADHD Brain to Live a Creative and Colorful Life, by Meredith Carder.

In 2025, my family were Wild Things Are Happening: the Art of Maurice Sendak, edited by Jonathan Weinberg. 

In 2026, I hope it will be The Honeycomb, by Adela Rogers St. Johns.

We are what we read!

 

 

2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge: I'm Gonna Do It!

 

 Shellyrae at Book'd Out is hosting  the 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge.  Since I so enjoyed Nonfiction November, I'm signing up for this one, in the form of a Nonfiction Grazer, the description of which is: "Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share the nonfiction you read through the year."  The other forms of participation require choice each month of a book from 12 different specific categories, something I find too restrictive.  I'd rather be at liberty to read whatever attracts my attention.  I'm a maverick, an opinionated old lady, and a nonconformist.  The Nonfiction Grazer describes me well.  I'll read darn near anything!  Just let me be the one to choose what I'll read.

I prefer reading nonfiction, though I will also read fiction.  In fact, I'd be happy to also sign up for a fiction reading challenge.  As long as I can pick what I will be reading.  In the fiction category, please don't ask me to read romance!  Definitely not my cup of tea.

Onward!

Sunday Salon: The Last Few Days Before Christmas

 These last few days before Christmas my husband and I have been:

Wrapping Christmas presents and getting some in the mail.  The mail-out presents don't have far to go, just from here in north Florida to our friends Tom and Amanda in central Florida, and should arrive Wednesday.  Others are local.  Some have already been given, to our nephew Paul who visited us from Australia, where he lives.

Watching NFL football, particularly games in the AFC South conference.  Our team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, have been tearin' up the pea patch and finally getting some recognition.  We watched them beat the Denver Broncos yesterday, 34-20, after almost every prognosticator had predicted they'd lose.  Not the first time the Jaguars have been underrated against the Broncos.  The first time was 4 January 1997, when the Jaguars were dissed as "jagwads" by Denver sports writer Woody Paige.  That fired up the team enough that they won, 30-27.  The effect on the fans was electrifying, and we were among the throng who flocked to the stadium in the dark of night to welcome the team home.  Their airplane received permission to divert to a circle path over the stadium before landing at Jacksonville International Airport.  And when they arrived, and quarterback Mark Brunell said into the microphone, "Jacksonville, do you believe in miracles?" -- Pandemonium!

Reading.  I'm into a book titled Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and the Making of a White Working Class, by Max Fraser.  It was suggested by a newly-found distant cousin when I mentioned to her that my maternal ancestors had gone from eastern Tennessee, one location of our mutual roots, to Indiana.  Cousin Nancy suggested they may have been part of this migration.  I'm also reading, via Kindle, You Went to Emergency for WHAT?, a hilarious yet somewhat acerbic account by Australian paramedic Tom Booth of the ridiculous demands often made on hospital emergency departments.  

 Doing genealogy.  One way I'm hoping to preserve my family history and that of my husband is to contribute to the collaborative family tree at WikiTree, which is for genealogists by genealogists.  It strictly requires that members provide source citations to reliable sources, an aspect that I am 100% behind.  I've just ordered a book on how to see to it that one's family history is preserved after one has shuffled off this mortal coil.

Celebrating.  Our grandson Victor just turned 21, and we had a small family celebration.  He's in college now, and is planning on moving to North Carolina next year.

Next week, I think we'll spend most of our time recovering!

Happy Holidays to all!

#Sunday Salon 

 

Three Book Journals for Recording Your Reading

 As I grow older, and as I have ADHD, my memory is not so good these days.  For that reason, I look for ways to record my reading, so I can see what I've read in the last couple decades, and some from before that.  I like to go back and look at what I've already read.  I also use these book journals to be sure I don't buy a book I've already read years before!

I have, since the late 1990s, found three book journals for recording my reading.  Here are my reviews of them.

The first one I found is Bookography: The Journal and Journey of my Well-Read Life, from Levenger, a website for readers and writers, with all sorts of gadgets, paper, pens, and other items related to reading and writing (www.levenger.com).  This record is letter-sized (8.5 x 11).  It is bound with Levenger's clever disk binding, with a special hole-punch and disk arrangement, making the record ultimately flexible in the way you can arrange the pages.  That is a key to the use of this particular format.

There is an introduction, instructing the user on how to use this journal.  This format is divided into several sections: List of Candidates (books you want to read), Library of Candidates (your TBR or TRQ), Now Reading (what you're reading at the moment), Apres Reading (first reactions to having read the book), Living Library (those you've read, and liked, and wish to keep, perhaps to re-read), and Castaways (the ones you simply could not finish).  Each page, which is the record of the individual book, reflects these divisions.  As the user progresses through these stages with each book, he or she fills in the page, section by section.

 As the user fills in the page, he or she migrates the page through the divisions of the journal, which are marked by dividers.  Each page will find its final place in either the Living Library section, or among the Castaways.  Information recorded includes title, author, date acquired/read, why you want to read the book, how it fits into each of the divisions of the record, and any other aspect the user cares to mention.

For the way I operate, this format is confusing and cumbersome.  It is not easy to use, and therefore, I did not use it effectively.  It just doesn't fit my personal style.  One thing offputting to me is that, while the back of each page has ample note space for recording my reactions to a book, the format requires flipping back and forth from the front of the page, the starting place for notes on specific aspects of the book, to the back of the page for more space in which to continue to record these reactions.  It's a great idea, and may work for some people.  It just doesn't work for me.

The second format I encountered is one I picked up at a local independent bookseller.  It is Book Lover's Journal, produced by Cachet Products, Inc., of Fairfield, New Jersey.  They may not be in business any more.  This record is small, 5 inches by 8 inches.  There is little room to record a reaction to a book, and the front of the page is one individual record, and the back of the page is another record.  This forces each review to be too brief for my taste.

Information asked for on each record page is title, author, publisher, date, where bought or borrowed from, recommended by, date read, recommended to, subject, and comments.  My chief complaint, again, is the lack of enough space to write what I consider to be a good, informative, full review.

The third and last journal format is one more suited to my style.  It is the Premium Reading Journal, by Clever Fox.  I found this one on Amazon.com.  It is also smaller than the Levenger journal, this one being 5x8.  The accompanying material says this journal is of European manufacture.  The whole package is elegance itself: the journal is in book form, with a traditional binding.  It comes in a lovely little box that closes magnetically.  There is a brochure which describes in detail how to use this journal.  In the box is a ribbon, to be placed under the journal, for ease in lifting the journal out of the box!  That is elegance.  

For all that elegance, I found the price quite reasonable, and I'm a direct descendant of Massachusetts Puritans, with a strong streak of that penny-pinching New England thrift in my bones.  

The journal begins with an index.  The user writes the journal page number and the title of the book reviewed on that page.  The user can rate the book from one to five stars in the third column of the index.  Next is the To Be Read (TBR) list, where the user writes the title of the book in the first column, and, in the next three, records whether the book is a "want" or a "have," and whether the user finally got around to reading it.   Next is a section "to help you track your daily reading habit and ensure you regularly read all year long."  You get the sense that They're Watching You!  The user simply places a check mark in the box under each month and day.  

In the next section, the user records his or her favorite authors, with name, the user's favorite book or series by that author, other books in the series (if it is in a series), and what the user likes about the author's books.  The next two-page spread presents a reading challenge, where the user enters their selection under a variety of criteria, for example, a book by an author from a marginalized community, or a graphic novel.  Next, under Literary Highlights, the user can comment on such aspects of reading as the Most Unexpected Gem they found in their reading, or the Most Immersive Worldbuilding.  After that comes My Favorite Quotes, where the user can record bon mots from their reading, with the quotation, the book, the author, and the page number on which the quotation appears.

Then comes the list of books the user just could not force themselves to finish, giving the book, the author, the last page read, and the reason they stopped reading it.  Here's the place where the user can -- in a sentence or two -- let the author of dreck have it with both barrels.  One must have one's standards.

The comes the meat of the journal: the area where the user records each book they have read.  This section consists of two-page spreads for the user's reviews.  At the top of the left-hand page is a section for recording the basic information: author, title, genre, year published, number of pages, whether fiction or non-fiction, and format (book, audiobook, or e-book).  The user may also enter the date begun and the date finished, and may fill in a pie chart for rating the writing, characters, plot, readability, setting, and enjoyment, and can also indicate how many stars they give each book.  The pie chart is skewed toward fiction, but may also be used for non-fiction.  The segments of the pie chart are graduated, so the user can indicate how good or how bad each aspect on the pie chart seemed to them.  On the rest of the left-hand page, the user may record their first impressions of the book, how the book may have challenged their beliefs or ideas, and the key takeaway they'll remember about the book.  On the right-hand page is ample space for "Thoughts and Notes."  The layout of the two-page spread in this section means the user does not have to keep flipping the page back and forth to fill in everything.   This journal is definitely more suited to my style.

There certainly are other book journals out there, in a variety of formats.  I don't think I'll be looking anymore, unless it comes to pass that I can't get the Clever Fox journal anymore.  I'm probably going to have to buy one each year!

Happy reading!