I've just finished my 50 book challenge and the year's not yet out ... so this is a good time for me to set a new and higher goal for myself.

Apart from trying to complete 75 books in the year, I'm going to explore authors I have not yet been introduced to.

I will begin listing my first completed book in 2009 ... can't wait for Jan 1

Message edited by its author, Jan 6, 2009, 9:52pm.

Welcome! We are glad to have you and your books here.

Congrats on the new goals. :) Goals of any kind are important in our lives, I reckon! Can't think of a better, personal goal than one to do with reading hehe.

Welcome to the group!

Thanks .. it's nice to be in a supportive group. I can't wait to see what else others are reading in their 75 book challenge.

Another goal is to try and write more reviews of the books I've finished reading.

Message edited by its author, Dec 23, 2008, 10:23pm.

I'm starting off 2009 and my challenge for the year with Mishima's Sword: Travels in search of a Samurai sword by Christopher Ross and I'm going to try and finish up The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve, although it's been pretty hard going so far, and I'm not very captured by her writing. It will be sad if I have to abandon a book so early on in the year.

Well, here goes. I've finished my first book for the 2009 challenge.

1. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum continues to entertain as a well-meaning but somewhat klutzy bond enforcement agent. Her ever entertaining Grandma Mazur, the ex-ho Lula and of course tension between Ranger and Morelli provide her with a supporting cast that keeps her on her toes. The usual search for someone who's been murdering in the Burg is coupled with trying to find a distant cousin of Morelli's who's been kidnapped by the murderer. Add to that, an aging but fiesty 61 year old singer and the possibility that Zook is Morelli's son by the kidnapped cousin and you have a story that keeps you turning the pages chuckling all the way.

#6 cameling: I read the Evanovich books any more just to find out what Grandma Mazur is going to do next! I want to be Grandma Mazur when I grow up.

I'll second that! Grandma Mazur is so funny!

I love the Stephanie Plum series , although if I remember correctly Fearless Fourteen did not have enough Ranger for me.

I wanna be Grandma Mazur when I grow up too.. haha... she's one mega woman. I love that she's so high spirited and drives her daughter to eye the liquor cabinet on a regular basis. Not much Ranger, but way too funny with Lula and her wedding plans.

2. Mishima's Sword by Christopher Ross. Rather gruesome read but well researched and if you want to learn more about samurai legends, sword making techniques, the legendary masters of these techniques, and the history behind one particular sword that was used in the suicide of a famous Japanese writer, this is an amazing book.

I used to read the Stephanie Plum novels as soon as they came out, but I misplaced the 13 one and still haven't read it or the newest one. I need to go find that book. I love Grandma Mazur!

I also enjoyed Grandma Mazur and the Plum series. But for me, I found that number 14 was lacking in some way. I began to feel with that particular book that Evanovich had run out of material and was just reusing the same story lines.

#11: Mishima's Sword sounds like something my oldest daughter (who is fascinated with all things Japanese) would enjoy. Maybe for her birthday . . .

13. If it wasn't for Grandma I would have stopped reading that series a long time ago. I loved them at first but enough is enough. I thought 14 was a step up from 13. It didn't seem so 'blah'.

alcottacre, I enjoy reading about different cultures and the Japanese have always fascinated me for the multiple layers that crisscross their complex social tapestry. Your daughter may also enjoy reading Japanland: A Year in search of Wa by Karen Muller.

On Evanovich, I find only the Steph Plum books fun to read. I read 2 of her non-Plum books and found them really boring.

Thanks for the mention of Japanland. I will keep that in mind for her, too. I already ordered Mishima's Sword for her birthday in June. Maybe Japanland for Christmas . . .

3. I started reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer last year, but put it aside because I started reading something else that was more interesting. I forgot about it for a spell as well, and picked it up again earlier in the week because I had to read it for my book club meet yesterday.

I enjoyed the book although not as much as I thought I would have. I guess I had expected to enjoy it more because it had received alot of glowing reviews. I thought the ending was a little too predictable and pat. I would have liked to have the letters written by the islanders to have different voices - after all, they were written by different people .. but what despite the different stories, the 'voice' of the letters was the same.
But it was a quick read, and I'd consider this a lazy-morning-in-bed book.

4. I've finished Why Mermaids Sing by Candice Proctor. I really liked this book. The murder of sons of a select group of people seemed random at first, but Sebastian St Cyr finds the reason being one of vengeance for a horrible past deed. It made for a very thrilling read, I thought, and the twists to the story kept me engaged. It's also a quick read and I was able to finish this within a day. I think I'm a new Candice Proctor fan now. If her other books are anything like this, I shall enjoy reading them ... now to search for the other books in this series.

5. I had to re-read The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey because I left it behind at my in-laws after reading it half way. I think it counts towards this challenge because I started it right from the beginning.

Interesting look into the personality of Gustav Klimt, the woman whom he loved but not enough to be the man that she needed him to be, and the woman who loved him deeply and faithfully.

It's not a bad book, sometimes a little disjointed, but nothing to stay up all night for.

6. When Gods Die by C.S. Harris is definitely a page turner. I'm now a firm Sebastian St Cyr fan. This is the 2nd in the series and the roles that Kat, Paul, Tom and Jarvis play in Sebastian's life are more fleshed out, as is background information on Sebastian's relationship with his father and sister.

The plot and sub-plot in this book are gripping and Ms Harris keeps one enthralled right till the very end. I'm a fan of this series now.

Ooh, thank you for the review of When Gods Die -- I think I'm going to pick up What Angels Fear when I get a chance.

#21: My local library has the last 2 in the series, but not the first two - I really hate that! Thanks for the review, though, because it looks like a series I am really going to enjoy.

alynnk, it's a shame but I had sent my copy of What Angels Fear to a moocher a few weeks ago. I hope you find a copy because I think the series makes more sense to start from the beginning, and there are some subtleties and nuances in the way some of the characters behave towards each other in the later books that makes more sense if you learn the background of these feelings in the first book.

alcottacre: Perhaps you can ask your local library if another library in the network has copies of the first 2 that they could get for you on an interlibrary loan? That's worked for me with my library in MA.

#24: Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I will just buy the entire series. It looks as though I would really like it, and although I know that the series is written by a husband and wife writing team, I have read several of her romances and enjoyed them, so I would probably like the mysteries as well.

7. I picked up Bitter Lemons by Lawrence Durrell on a whim during a library sale because I like travelogues and this was the first one I'd seen on Cyprus. And not just anything about Cyprus, but Cyprus in the 50s when she was still under Colonial rule. If this book had cost me $10 it would still have been a fantastic buy. I loved it!

The writing is crisp where it needs to be, softly meandering at points to create the ambiance of leisurely days and somnolent evenings, and given to sudden unexpected bursts of humor at various points. Through this book, I've developed a yearning to visit Cyprus and meet the irascible characters that he became friends with, taught and worked with.

The lessons to be gleaned from this book are also not lost in the telling of his stay there. Everyone has the right to choose and the right to vote for what they want, and sometimes to deny people this basic right, can lead to violence, bloodshed and a wrenching and unnecessary end to a relationship.

This was the most enjoyable history lesson I've ever read.

Message edited by its author, Jan 24, 2009, 3:42am.

#26: Looks like another good read! Another of the members of the group, TadAD, thinks highly of Durrell's travel writing. I am definitely going to have to give him a try.

8. I dragged myself through it, only because I wanted to finish it, but Counterpoint: Murder in Massachusetts Bay by Margaret Press is seriously boring. I like true crime, and this had all the hallmarks of a good read, but it was just poorly written and I was glad to be done with it.

9. The Cigar Roller by Pablo Medina, on the other hand, was a quick and interesting read. Interesting because i've always wondered what goes on in the minds of people who lose almost all muscular function as a result of a severe stroke. In this book, the author I think, does a good job in bringing us into the mind of a man who suffered a stroke and is now living in a home, strapped to a bed, and having to rely on the nurses and orderlies to feed, change, bathe and dress him. His sons do not come and visit and he is left with only memories to occupy his time. The memories in and of themselves aren't too exciting, but they did make me stop periodically to wonder what memories would I have that I would care to relive if it were me in that bed. This book brings out the agony of not being able to communicate with people.

I had read it before, but I decided to re-read Suite Francaise again this year. I'm not going to count it towards my book challenge since I'd already read this book 2 years ago. It's such a wonderful book - and despite it being an unfinished work, it's still a very satisfying read

#29: I read it last year and really liked it. I have her David Golder home from the library now to read. Have you read that one?

alcottacre,I have David Golder on my TBR but I haven't read it yet. Are you reading it now? What did you think of it? My cousin read it and recommended it to me. She said that she was loathed to put the book down and called out for pizza for the family dinner. ;-)

It's been a really long break between reads and I had to read 2 books for work, which I'm not listing here because I was forced to read them, as opposed to having read them for my own pleasure.

So that out of the way, I managed to get in a book off my TBR pile : Plats Du Jour by William Black, which unfortunately, wasn't as delightful as I was expecting it to be. Some interesting history behind some traditional French fare, but on the whole a rather bland read.

#31: I have not gotten to David Golder yet, but will be reading it in the next couple of weeks. I will let you know how I find it.

11. I finished reading People of the book by Geraldine Brooks this evening. I enjoyed it, but thought The Year of Wonders a much better written book. I liked the stories behind the journey made by an ancient Jewish book that was saved from German destruction by a Muslim museum curator, but I didn't particularly like the way she time jumped between the stories. It made things feel a little disjointed to me. But I've always been curious about how old things come to be owned by individuals over time.

#33 I also enjoyed The Year of Wonders but I thought the ending was a little far-fetched. March was also good. People of the Book is in my TBR pile and I plan on getting to it sometime soon.

12. I've just finished Recipes for Cherubs by Babs Horton. I really like this book. Had enough mystery in it to keep me guessing till the very end. Despite the title, there weren't any recipes in the book at all, although there were sufficient descriptions of gelato, rosemary focaccia and other Italian delights to keep my stomach growling. A delightful read for a wintry day.

13. The Garhole Bar by A. Hardy Roper was rather slow, and I couldn't like the 'hero' of the story, Parker McLeod. I've never been fond of people who keep wallowing in self-pity and who keep playing the 'woe is me' card. It wasn't all bad, and there was enough suspense in the story to keep me reading, but I wish it was a little faster paced. A neo-nazi organization who sends someone out in search of buried 'treasure' without a controlling handler seemed rather far-fetched.

I just love Anthony Bidulka. He has a wonderful way of telling a story and his private detective, Russell Quant, is someone I would love to meet in person. Just finished my 14th book, Flight of Aquavit and it is as delightful as the other Quant mysteries I've read.

Message edited by its author, Feb 19, 2009, 10:13pm.

15. Never Change by Elizabeth Berg turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It was ok, but I didn't think it was as good as some of her other books.

Message edited by its author, Mar 5, 2009, 11:21pm.

16. I enjoyed reading Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner. There were alot of hints that people were not quite what they appeared, and as the stories slowly unfolded, so did the mysteries surrounding some of these people came to light. I was disappointed though that the main character could not seem to pull herself out of insipidity ... but then I suppose in real life, there will always be individuals like this. But for the story, I really do like it when my heroines show a bit more of a backbone, even if it is late in growing.

adds Hotel du Lac to wishlist * grumble*

I am grumbling right along with Kath . . .

Now now .... is that nice? the wind could change and your face could get stuck in grumble mode .. that's what my grandmother used to say to me. ;-)

Well you won't have to worry about adding this next one to your wishlist.

Snobs by Julian Fellowes turned out to be a great book for someone with a headache since it had no plot to follow, no clever dialogue to admire and no deep characters to analyze. What it was, was a book about an outsider's view of the English aristocracy and the idiosyncracies and unwritten codes of society that keep them in a separate realm and almost out of reach of those not to the manor born, so to speak.

My husband gave me Dog On It by Spencer Quinn because he knows I like animals and thought I'd enjoy the book. It's a cute book but not fantastic. It's about a private detective and his dog. It gave me the giggles reading the thoughts of Chet the dog as he helped Bernie (the detective) solve the mystery of a missing girl.

Cameling, you are seriously dangerous to our TBR piles. I've never heard of C.S. Harris before, but it looks like there is yet another mystery series on my horizon! What Angels Fear is officially on the dock for this year--it's a mystery author new to me! Bitter Lemons sounds really good--I like Durrell and haven't read this one. Actually I like both Durrells. :-)

MusicMom41 - come to me, my pretty..... hee hee. If you like What Angels Fear after you read it, you will be helplessly drawn to her other books in the series Why Mermaids Sing and When Gods Die. Her latest book in the series Where Serpents Sleep is on my TBR pile.

I loved Bitter Lemons and you won't regret reading it. He has such a great voice, don't you think?

Just finished Dewey and I thought it was a lovely memoir of a very lucky little cat. I wished the author could have included more pictures of Dewey in the book rather than just the one at the start of each chapter, and I thought this book was as much her personal memoir as it was that of Dewey. I liked it, but I wasn't bowled over by it either.

cameling

I went ahead and picked up What Angels Fear when we stopped at B&N last night. I wanted it on hand when i get a chance to just grab a mystery to read and it sounded like a series I'm going to enjoy. I'll have to get Bitter Lemons from the library I guess. It seems to be but of print. I'll wait til summer when I have more time to read. By then I will have figured out where I can put it. :-)

I started Possession but after 2 pages, put it down and picked up Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett ... and that was the end of my day for me. All planned activities went out the window and I was glued to this book right through lunch and managed to finish it just before my husband keeled over from hunger as I kept delaying starting dinner.

Anyone interested in understanding how the Thais can appear to be so accepting of certain seediness in life while at the same time being so religious, and have a healthy love of police mysteries will love this book.

This has everything that makes up a great story, with the addition of the supernatural. Burdett does a fantastic job of drawing the readers in and then locking them into a web of intrigue while exposing the complexities of the human psyche, that one is held in its grip and powerless to put it down.

A DVD is sent to a Thai police detective containing a snuff video of a woman he once loved. He engages an old friend from the FBI in the US to help him uncover the syndicate behind the investment and the ultimate murder of his previous lover.

Thrown into the web of intrigue are a corrupt Colonel of the police to which our hero reports, his assistant who's in the midst of a gender transformation, an English teacher with a criminal record, an English lawyer, a Chinese banker, a monk, a few prostitutes, a good dose of Thai cultural lessons and Buddhist teachings.

The insights into Thai culture, and Thai words and phrases littered throughout the book rather than detract from the story, adds an interesting dimension to the book.

I'm in search of others in the series now.

Waltzing the Cat by Pam Houston is interesting, but not one I'd recommend to those who like reading only happy books. A series of short gritty stories, some of which made me wince, but all of which showed her understanding of the tough choices some people make in life.

cameling...Bangkok Haunts sounds delicious, and Dog On It which you recommended to me in another thread, was delightful!!

And I am NOT a fan of animal sleuth mysteries. I don't like Rita Mae Brown's animal mysteries, and you can imagine how I feel about the "The Cat Who..." series. This book is an exception.

Perhaps it's new-puppy syndrome. I am still reeling from the estimated cost of a seven-foot fence around our teensy little yard, all half-acre of it, and the Divine Miss is still laughing at me for imagining it would be feasible...you were so right to snicker at that.

Planning any LI trips soon? The garden is approaching its garish bloomiest time, and the patio and sunroom are about to be opened for business...you and the hubster are invited!

richard ... ooh... I can't wait to see your garden in full bloom. I guess I'm going to have to persuade Edd to make a trip out to LI asap.

It's been so crazy at work that I haven't had time to do as much reading as I would have liked... don't you all just hate it when the mundane gets in the way of your reading time?!!

I did manage to finish The Most of P.G.Wodehouse and the delightful little short stories kept me chuckling on the long flight back to Boston from Hong Kong. Anyone who enjoys the silly and mapcap adventures of the luckless and at times, witless will enjoy this omnibus.

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry was a thrilling romp through Russia ... I can see this written into a screenplay for a Denzel Washington movie.

Suffered through Possession by A.S. Byatt ... and suffering may be an understatement. It felt like I was wading through clay, so thick and dreary was this book. I think I'm going to keep a wide berth from Byatt for a while.

Byatt, my dear madam, is the nekkidest emperor among the distaff scribes. Not one thing she's written has left me at anything other than sixes and sevens. I say it's spinach, and I say to hell with it!
(Ancient New Yorker cartoon of a kid at the dinner table, arms crossed, defiant look on face.)

Berry books gooood!

Lasso Edd and get him down during early May!

We'll probably be down for Mother's Day weekend. Before that I'm heighing off to Sydney for a week and a half. Some greenery is starting to appear in my backyard .... time for some springcleaning, methinks.

Am reading, of all things, a mushroom encyclopedia ...some really odd mushrooms out there. I'm not counting it towards my challenge of course, since it's really me looking at pictures and not much else.

Several years ago--before we moved to California--I tried 3 times to get into Possession and couldn't get past the first 50 pages. Somehow it still made the trip to CA (and several of my favorites didn't! go figure) and I decided to read it this year for my 999 challenge. Should I assume that both of you, whose opinions I respect, would suggest I just send it off to the book sale unread and forget about it? It was so popular when I bought it, I couldn't resist--I liked the cover to.

>52 Sydney will be fun...spring to autumn to spring, the perfect way to live life! No hot wretched summer, no frostbite winters. *aaahhh*

>53 Linda...straight into the charity shop bin, nno hesitations no remorse and no "firm purpose of amendment" (how Catholicism recrudesces on this day!) to attempt it again.

I have noticed that the Book Fairy (no, contrary to popular opinion, I am not the Book Fairy!) taketh away the good ones to set them on the path to other, needier hands. I accidentally left my umpteenth copy of "The Emperor of Ocean Park" on the train recently, as I was bringing it back from the Strand, and have since learned that it made its way into the hands of Frank the Fireman, a friend of mine here.

Someone else needed them more than you did, I guess, like Frank needed "The Emperor of Ocean Park." (Not that I wouldn't have given it to him had he asked!)

MusicMom41 - I too thought that I should make the effort to read Possession because it received such great reviews (I now know better than to believe every review I read from strangers) and I know there are some LTers who claim to have enjoyed the book. All I can say is ... to each his own, and I'm sure there are also LTers who enjoy technical books on dissecting slugs but I am not one of them.

So since i know you must have many more books on your TBR pile just aching for you to reach out and pick them for a good read, my 2cents is to drop it off at your book sale with nary a wave goodbye.

richard - i'm looking forward to Sydney. I haven't been there in a few months, and this is indeed, as you say, a wonderful time to visit. I can't wait to visit my favorite chocolate store, and I have to make time to have dinner at least some of the restaurants that I used to enjoy ... now to bully up some friends and perhaps my cousin to meet me in the city so I don't have to eat alone in the evenings.

Richard and Caroline--

Thanks for the nudge to pass Possession off my shelf and out of my life. I need the space for things I love!

Carolyn

>57 ooopsblush That's what I get for typing without engaging my brain, CAROLYN...not Linda...and you were quite delicate and un-grouchy about correcting me! I appreciate your kindness.

Caroline, back to the mushroom encyclopedia...why ever? Are there some mutant fungi out in the garden?

Speaking of mutant fungi...hunt up a copy of Blight by DH Melhem some day. I edited this weird and lovely little gem of a book with her in 1993 and 1994. It features sentient hominid fungi. I shall say no more.

richard, I get Carolyn and Linda's names mixed up sometimes too. I haven't messed it up yet but I've come close. Shhh...don't tell them.

richard - i like mushrooms ... after the rain last Saturday, some gloriously weird specimens have popped up beneath the trees. Alas, they're not the sort that I can turn in at restaurants for mucho moola, but they make interesting subjects for the fledgling photographer that I am.

Have been very scattered of late thanks to a horrendous work week, so no real reading was done ... the brain was just too numb at the end of the day. Thank goodness for delightful flighty books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. This is a must for all who just need a chortle or 5. I'm not counting this though because I consider this a graphic novel and not an 'ahem' adult book.

>60 So true, the shroom is an endlessly fascinating photo study. Some of them have such lovely, subtle coloration, and some are so startlingly WEIRD, and in all cases they're interesting to look at.

Too bad about the moola, though.

After more than a week of not having a time to read, it was wonderful to get on a plane for long flight from Boston to Sydney. I managed to finally finish A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

This was a delightful coming-of-age book about a girl growing up in the poor section of Brooklyn. The sights, smells and colorful characters in the neighborhood were vividly brought to life through the eyes of Francie Nolan. Francie found escape in the books she devoured, and although she encountered disappointments in the course of growing up, she had an inner strength that allowed her to look beyond her disappointments and search for paths that could lead her to her dreams.

One passage in the book that struck me was at a point when Francie, attending a charity event for poor children, went up to collect a beautiful doll that was being donated by a rich girl named, Mary. As she went up to the stage to collect the doll from the girl, one of the church ladies who was presiding over the event, announced, "You have all seen an example of the true Christian spirit. Little Mary is a very rich little girl and received many beautiful dolls for Christmas. But she was not selfish. She wanted to make some poor little Mary, who is not as fortunate as herself happy. So she gave the doll to that poor little girl who is named Mary too".
Francie's eyes smarted with hot tears. 'Why can't they," she thought bitterly, "just give the doll away without saying I am poor and she is rich? Why couldn't they just give it away without all the talking about it?"

Another book I read while on the plane was The River Knows by Amanda Quick. This was yet another Victorian romantic mystery that had all the elements that make for a satisfying read - humor, suspense (done very well, I might add), mystery and some light romance.

Isn't it just grand how a spot of uninterrupted reading of good books can put one feeling that all is right in the world again? ;-)

cameling,

Just dropping in to let you know that I share your love for the Sebastian St Cyr series. C. S. Harris was my favorite author discovery from 2008 and this year I've made it my mission to get as many of my friends addicted to the series as possible.

Have you read any of Kate Ross's books? There are definite similarities between Ross's Julian Kestrel and Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr - strong characterizations, excellent writing and intelligent mysteries being just a few.

hi cameling...how's fall in sydney?

tree grows is one of the few books my mother asked me to read. i was reluctant, in the end though i was so glad i did. but i got a ration of sh*t from my classmates for reading a girle-book. the fact that i as reading it in biology where i had a perfect gpa was the source of their loathing, i think.

Just a quick note to recommend the film version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which starred Peggy Ann Garner as Francie, Dorothy McGuire as her mother, and James Dunn as her father--it is a beautiful adaptation of the story.

mjs1228 - thanks for the tip - I'll be on the look out for Kate Ross's books. I discovered Amanda Quick this year, and some of her books are enjoyable, but not all.

Prop2gether - I did hear of the movie and I've got it in my Netflix queue now that I've finished reading the book. I usually don't like watching movies from books, but my aunt highly recommended the movie.

So, back from my flight from Sydney and I've gone through a murderous reading week. managed to finish reading the following:

The Third Circle by Amanda Quick - which turned out to be as enjoyable as The River Knows, with strong female characters and no shortage of witty intelligent writing. This book is part of the Arcane Society series and involves yet more paranormal talents, murder most foul, and a dose of romance with humor to lighten the mood.

I managed to pick up another book by one of my favorite Australian authors, Kerry Greenwood. Death Before Wicket. Interestingly, this book turned out to be a murder mystery involving a tarot card reader, a hypnotist and a college with hidden secrets. Fast paced with alot of intriguing twists in the plot. Ms Greenwood's usual cast of characters are sadly missing in this book because Phryne and Dot head over to Sydney. The characters in this book are so varied that I almost didn't miss Mr Butler, Lin Chung, Ruth and Jane, not to mention Ember the cat.

Murder on a Midsummer Night is another Kerry Greenwood book that I just had to pick up while I was there. It's so hard to find her books in the US, so I took advantage of being in Ms Greenwood's homeland to buy the titles I've missed. A murder which initially appears to be a suicide, unsavory characters and a hunt for pirate treasure... how could anyone not love this book?

Slightly Shady by Amanda Quick .. ok, so I eschewed other authors this week for another light romantic mystery and I paid the price. This was not one of Ms Quick's better books. I found it lacked her main characters lacked the sharp wit I had come to expect, and this book dragged a little and couldn't keep my interest.

Kerry Greenwood looks very worth checking out. I found two of my all time favorite books roaming the bookstores of Sydney and Melbourne ... I think I need to go back. :-)

I love Australia. Definitely the place for a more laid back lifestyle, and I always find some interesting authors in the bookstores there. It's a shame that they're not as well known here in the US. I'm fortunate in that for the last 8 years, I've had to go to Sydney and Melbourne at least once a year for work.

I've just finished reading Bangkok 8 bu John Burdett. Another great book by Mr Burdett.
The main character is Sonchai Jitpleecheap, a Thai cop who's half Caucasian half Thai, speaks English, French, German and Thai thanks to a very interesting past as the son of a successful Thai prostitute. After having escaped from some rather disgruntled drug lords to a monastery, he and his soul brother, Pichai, join the Royal Thai Police Force and are probably the other 2 policemen in the entire force who don't accept bribes. It is interesting to watch how Sonchai adapts his Buddhist teachings to the world of vice and corruption that he lives in. The revelations about how the Buddhists view reincarnation, was for me, particularly interesting.

I think I love Sonchai's mother. What a fiesty character. This was a really interesting mystery shrouded in the mysticisms of Thai culture.

There's a richness of detail to this book, not only in the cultural and spiritualism that pervades Thailand, but also to the individual characters, that takes this book beyond a typical suspenseful mystery. I couldn't put it down and it kept me enthralled right to the very last page.

I just found your thread. Sorry, I'm a bit late to the party but I like what I've been reading, and will be back...

#66 - I'm ashamed to say I've been totally ignorant of Kerry Greenwood's books, until now. Thanks. I'll be picking up some of her books very soon. Out of interest, the title Death Before Wicket alludes to the cricket term "Leg Before Wicket" (one of the many ways a batsman can be called out in a game of cricket), and since cricket is not a popular sport in the US I'm wondering if Greenwood was able to bridge the cultural divide. I know if I read a book featuring baseball, it might pose a problem!

By-the-by, as a former Sydney-sider, one of my favourite haunts in Sydney was the independent bookseller Gleebooks. I hope you've managed to squeeze in a visit on one of your visits.

P.S. Bangkok 8 sounds intriguing as well! Another I've added to my list.

Message edited by its author, May 11, 2009, 6:59pm.

Yes, there is a cricket test match as well as a match between students and professors of a university in Death before Wicket ... and unless the reader understands the game, unfortunately, they're going to be a little befuddled over the cricket terms. I lived in London for almost 9 years where I developed an interest in watching the game, and now I have some business associates in India who are mad for the game and keep me updated on their superstars whenever we're on calls.

I don't know Gleebooks, but thanks for the tip. I will look for it the next time I'm in Sydney.

Oooohhh...arrrgghhh.....The Deadly Dance by M.C. Beaton is a very quick read, and thankfully so, because it's not terribly interesting and I found the main character, a Mrs Agatha Raisin, who has just established her fledgling detective agency, detestable. There was just no substance in this book, and I cannot have anything good to say about it. Ugh!

So...I should or shouldn't add this to my TBRs?

*snicker*

Actually, I'm sorry I didn't know you were about to encounter the dreadful Mrs. Raisin. I would sooner give Medusa a perm than read anything else featuring that horrible little geekette.

I also abominate the Aunt Dimity "mysteries" for similar reasons. I recommend avoiding them, too.

#72 - The only M.C. Beaton book I have is, "Death of a Gentle Lady". I hope it's better than "The Deadly Dance"!

Following up from my message at #70, I picked up some Kerry Greenwood Phryne Fisher books and look forward to reading them. Also, now have Bangkok Tattoo and Bangkok Haunts. Still looking for the first book in the series, Bangkok 8.

They all join the queue. Thanks for putting me on to these. Right now, I'm currently reading Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand - it's an OK read!

Message edited by its author, May 23, 2009, 8:46am.

>74: I've a read a couple of the Greenwood books in last year's group and enjoyed them. My only problem is that they are very slender books, but priced (at least in the U.S.) as if they were much weightier. I just don't feel the value for what is, in essence, just a light pleasure read. I'm hoping that they will eventually start to percolate into the second hand shops I use.

petermc : Oh dear ... the weight of recommending Greenwood and Burdett hangs heavy on my conscience ... i hope you enjoy your reads.

TadAD: I agree .. they are very slender reads indeed for their price here in the US, but they are oh so enjoyable, are they not? However, I do admit to, except when I'm in Australia, make my Greenwood purchases through Amazon and most of the volumes I've purchased on the website have been gently used by other readers, and therefore much cheaper.

Well, as much as I detested Eat, Love, Pray I absolutely LOVE Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach. Now here is a woman who, deciding to take a sabbatical from work to travel, manages not only to provide some thoughtful insight into taking life (and love) slowly and savoring the little moments, but also shares the delight she experienced, in meeting some people along the way, some for just a day, and some for a good portion of her stay in France, Italy, and England. I would consider it an honor if I were to chance upon Ms Steinbach at some point in my lifetime ... she is intelligent, kind, humorous, witty and yes, eventually wise. Without Reservations is a well-written travel memoir but it is it not ONLY a travel memoir, it is also a book that gently nudges the reader to pause and consider some of the very poignant and profound thoughts Ms Steinbach has been generous enough to share. This book is a definite keeper... to all moochers out there... you're not getting this one from me! ;-)

richard : I can't believe how many M.C. Beaton books I saw at Barnies yesterday! How is it possible that there are enough people reading this to convince this woman that she should continue writing!!! Aunt Dimity was shrugged off about 2 years ago with a nauseous shudder when I misguidedly took one of her books home from the library ... needless to say I returned it within the day, and suggested to the librarian at the desk that a warning label be put on the cover, cautioning all who approach that they could side effects caused from reading it could include violent hurling of the book, much cussing and general irritation.

Zipped through yet another Cynster series historical romance in The Taste of Innocence by Stephanie Laurens. Not as good of a suspenseful mystery as some of the other ones in this series. So I consider this rather ho-hum.

I liked the story concept for The Sacred Blood by Michael Byrnes but I didn't feel that it met with my expectations. It wasn't very fast paced, for a thriller of the sort it was slated to be. There was a bit of the Raiders of the Lost Ark in this book but without a hunk of a hero, and a gutsy heroine. Suspending belief that they managed to, through a 2,000 year old skeleton, develop a serum that contained the miraculous healing properties of Christ, and inject it into a geneticist dying of cancer is one thing .. but that it turned her into a modern day Messiah is another. I thought the plot was rather disjointed, and the ending incomplete.

On the other hand, I rather liked The Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. I hadn't watched the movie and so I had nothing to prevent me from enjoying the words as they unfolded before me. It's a story about a family, who start to disintegrate slowly without anyone really noticing this disintegration until it is too late. The father, having first focused on his son, Aaron who was to follow in his footsteps to become a leader in his temple, finds to his surprise, that his daughter, whom he had previously believed to be less intellectually capable than his son, has won the spelling bee. His focus switches completely over to her, and he tries to help her achieve a sort of spelling nirvana. In the meantime, the mother, gradually unravels a troubled mind which leads her to break into homes and steal specific things, a purpose for which is not made clear until the last eighth of the book. The forgotten son, disenchanted and jealous of the attention his sister now gets, finds himself drawn to another religion. As the family slowly destructs, you feel the father's bewildered state ... he's a good man, with good intentions and he cannot understand why his family is now splintered.

okay, cameling, i trust your taste...*why* do you like bee season exactly? the story is okay, i grant you, but the execution must have some quality that simply escapes me. i found it drearily plodding. what might i have missed?

>77 oh how i agree about those horrible aunt dimity carbuncles-in-book-form. but agatha raisin is still being published and purchased, despite the downturn in the economy. (i think aunt dimity's perpetratrix is dead, and if not, why not?) before we go to saskatoon, let's start a "stamp out agatha raisin" campaign, shall we?

richard dear, while I can see how it could be a bit of a drudge for some, I found an order in the chaos.. there's a certain flow to the words that left me feeling as if I was whitewater rafting. Her flow, while not always smooth, had the lulls, ripples and rush that set the tone for the confusion the daughter felt in the undercurrents flowing between her parents and in her brother's increasing number of lies, the despair, agitation, excitement and frustration felt by the mother in her housebreaking kleptomania (and I loved how they described the house that she 'built'), the soul-searching fear of the brother and then his calm certainty when he finds the religion he believes in, and then the bewildered shock, pride and delight of the father when he realizes that he stands at the cusp of his family's disintegration. I thought the ending was completely apropos in that it's this little girl who understands so much more than her father now, and deliberately takes her stand.

Or maybe it says something about the chaos that reigns in my mind, eh? ;-)

As for the deplorable agatha raisin, down with that wet rag, I say! perhaps we should storm the offices of Minotaur books and declare a boycott on their other authors unless they give up Agatha to the bonfire.

>81 AHA! Minotaur! I know an executive editor at St. Martin's, I shall apply pressure to Stop the Madness!

I fear Bee Season and I shall remain unfriendly.

I read and liked Bee Season several years ago, but I LOVE watching the actual National Spelling Bee on television. I ran across it years ago (on ESPN of all places) when my husband abandoned me for a business mtg. while we were in Atlanta. I got so hooked on it that I didn't even want to go out for dinner that evening! It is on ABC tomorrow (Thursday) evening. Those kids are soooo serious and those words are soooo obscure and difficult to spell.

There's a cheesecake with your name on it, richard if you can get them to stop printing the agatha raisin drivel. :-)

>83 : I get anxious when I watch spelling bees .... i get a knot in my stomach everytime a kid struggles over a word.

>84, well, THAT worked! Half-nelsoned executive editor comin' up!

I like good spy thriller with the best of them, but The Stars at Noon by Denis Johnson left me somewhat depressed and a little tired. Not a ponderous tome by any means, but the American journalist who prostitute herself to government officials and other journalists for hard currency does not make for much of a good read. Hooking up with an English businessman, she gets carried into a dangerous intrigue, complete with car chases, spies and guns. There was a possibility that this could have been a quick albeit exciting read, but the writing is rather tepid and one is relieved to have come to the end of the book.

Following on the heels of this, I read Silent on the Moor by Deanna Rayburn.While there was nary a gun, or car chase, this was a delightful mystery. Set on the howling dismal moors of Yorkshire, I was held enthralled as my mind sifted this way and the other, trying to figure out the various complexities of the plots introduced with such skill by Ms Rayburn. A sprinkling of romance provided a few lightened moments which added to instead of detracting from the mysteries behind the mummies, old vengenace, curses and ultimately, murder.

A very satisfying read indeed - one I was unable to put down once I had started it. So it was a good thing I started this in the early morning so that I was able to finish it come evening, just in time for a dinner engagement with friends.

Message edited by its author, May 31, 2009, 4:51pm.

#86: It sounds as if Johnson's Tree of Smoke is much better than the one you read. I think I will give The Stars at Noon a pass.

I recently received one of Rayburn's books. I will have to bump it up on the Continent!

To be perfectly Barbra (as opposed to Frank), I think Denis Johnson is pretty durned overrated. I do not get the fuss. Tree of Smoke hit the donate pile before p50 (pace Pearl Rule), and there was a relieved sigh echoing the clang of the bin.

Can someone tell me wherein his greatness lies?

#88: No idea. Tree of Smoke was an OK read for me, but nothing special, so I am not sure what that big fuss was about either. I have no interest at all in reading anything more of his.

My cousin read Tree of Smoke and told me to save it for a day when I was feeling crabby (who me?!) and in no mood to read anything scintillating

Stasia, cameling, *whew*

I thought it was just me. As for the cuz's advice, cameling, when has being crabby (you? nay, nay! I voice my denunciation of such heretical silliness!) been a reason NOT to read something scintillating?!

I've put up some reviews in my "75-Books Challenge" thread over here. Tapas on the Ramblas, Stain of the Berry, and Sundowner Ubuntu...I went on a Bidulka tear. I'm a little worried, see review #37....

I'd taken a hiatus from vampire books for about a year, so getting into Kiss of Darkness by Heather Graham was a nice reintroduction to the world of shadow and sharp teeth. I wasn't expecting much from this book when I started it but after the first 2 chapters, it started to get really gripping. Through the years, a warrior's been out hunting for the Master, who killed a woman he loved, and who has been building an army of vampires. Enter a little sleepy town in New Orleans where occult and wild parties reside side by side, teenagers who had recently been in a vampire party in Romania return home, one hospitalized after being bitten and the other 2 terrified that they're going to be hunted down for having escaped. Who's human and who's not? Who's on the side of the protectors and who are the predators? Nothing is totally clear until the very end.

If you're squeamish, there's not that much graphic flesh ripping and throat tearing, so don't let that idea keep you away from this book. It's a good read and well worth a day ... keep the lights on and a string of garlic handy. ;-)

The Divide by Elizabeth Kay is a wonderful youthful book about 2 alternate realities that a boy with a heart condition accidentally crosses over into as he collapses on the Continental Divide in Costa Rica.

In this land, he finds creatures he knows to be mythical in his world, while he is the mythical creature to them in the world he has landed in. Their world works in magic, while he brings the concept of science to them. His goal is to try and find not just his way back home, but also a cure for his heart ailment. Along with him on his adventurous journey is a little tangle-child (known to us in this world as an elf), a reluctant herbalist who,also finds herself and her true calling in this journey. There is evil also in this world, and subtly woven into the story are the truths of drug testing, unethical marketing and necessary symbiotic relationships.

Brazzles, snistroms, japegrins, brittlehorns, and lickits ... these are just some of the creatures introduced in this book.

"'Brazzles, snistroms, and japegrins, oh my! Brazzles, snistroms, and japegrins, oh my!' said Wubbleyou to the Tin Lickit and the Cowardly Brittlehorn."--Ngerflplug Happlehorst, The Maximage of Costa Rica {Pfoofington: Random House, 3387}

richard - i'm wondering if i should read the other Divide books .. I have to admit I'm a little hesitant because I absolutely loved the first Cornelia Fluke book Inkheart (or was it Inkspell .. i keep getting the order of the titles confused) but I detested the 2nd and loathed the 3rd.

Message edited by its author, Jun 7, 2009, 6:54pm.

#95: I am going to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation!

This message has been flagged by multiple users and is no longer displayed.

>97 cameling, honest to goodness I'd give 2 & 3 a miss because the chances of being favorably impressed are so low.

Who is this "zire" person and what are they doing around a place like this?

I liked the first and second of the Ink books :)

Hmm... I've had The Divide sitting around for awhile, but never felt the pull to read it. It sounds much more interesting by your description than the one on the back cover...! LOL. Maybe I'll have to give it a try this year.

dk_phoenix : I didn't think the cover did any great justice to the book myself.

who is zire? There were so many flags on his post that it was deleted before I saw what he wrote. what the heck did he write? surely he could not have been offended by any of my posts here? :-(

Just finished reading The Creator's Map by Emilio Calderon. This started out a little slow, but it quickly picked up momentum about a quarter of the way through. A politically apathetic Spanish student living in Rome falls in love, finds himself inadvertently and unwillingly involved in spy networks around the late 1930s when Hitler starts to gain momentum in Europe.

The fictitious Creator's Map, supposedly written by God himself, identifying the location of a central source of power seemed rather incidental to the story. As were the side references to other 'holy' relics sought by the Nazis.

What drew me was the very clever twists in the plot and the nervous tension with which the author managed to grip the reader in. There were good historical references of the SS activities and atrocities in Italy and the part Mussolini played in the downfall of the country.

The final chapter was a surprise and threw out all the assumptions I had made about the characters and situation at the start of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Managed to finish it on the flight from Boston to Seoul.

Flight to Seoul! No wonder you finished the book! It lasted for weeks and weeks, right?

The Creator's Map sounds interesting. I shall look it up and add it to the new LT wishlist feature! Which I am *loving*, BTW.

The Creator's Map looks good. Thanks for the recommendation, Caroline.

If I had to make 3 attempts to finish a book, I think that indicates it's not quite the gripping read I had hoped it would be when I first started on the journey. The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra failed to deliver, in my opinion. Mr Sierra delved into the history behind the Cathars and how they split from Catholicism very neatly. But his writing seemed, to me to be rather disorganized.

A mystery introduced at the beginning of the story centered around a riddle posed to one Father Agostino of the Holy Office in Rome. The riddle was supposed to have been sent by an individual known as The Soothsayer, who was predicting the fall of the Roman Catholic Church. Sent to Milan to try and uncover the identity of this Soothsayer, Father Agostino finds shelter in the very monastery that Leonardo Da Vinci is painting a mural in the refectory. It is in this monastery that he meets a number of monks who not only share his talent and love for solving riddles, but who individually seem to have something to hide.

The part that Leonardo Da Vinci played in the story was somewhat of a distraction, and the symbolism behind his painting of the secret supper as opposed to the Last Supper that he had been commissioned to paint lost a fair bit of my interest in the rambling manner in which the characters in the painting were described.

The mystery takes a back seat to the religious history of the Cathars and I found the unraveling of the mystery to seem more of an afterthought.

If I had wanted to read about the history of the Cathars, I would suppose this to be an adequate book. But since I was expecting something else, I found this to be an unsatisfactory read.

Message edited by its author, Jun 11, 2009, 11:30pm.

Now really, Publishers of the World, can we just leave the poor Cathars and Crusaders and Templars to rot in peace?!

Poor cameling...three tries...don't they have English-language bookstores in Seoul? Can you palm this ungood-sounding tome on some unsuspecting Korean student of English so as not to have to transport it back to Boston?

I was also disappointed in The Secret Supper, and I agree with richard, enough's enough.

As luck would have it, someone actually wants to mooch The Secret Supper from me, so away it's going. Who knows.. maybe someone might actually like it. I sincerely hope they enjoy it more than I did ... but if they don't then I shall be guilty of spreading bad writing. I want to know how this book received the reviews proclaiming it to be written by a genius ... well, I'm paraphrasing, but I know I read somewhere that the author was to be praised for his depth of research (well, I can't contest that one) and for writing a thrilling historical mystery. So much for reviews, hey? can't trust every one you read I guess.

So the literary gods decided to reward me for my tenacity in finishing The Secret Supper because the next book I picked up was Tigana and oh, what a delight it was to read this. I absolutely love the book!

It's going to be one of my top 5 books of the year.

I was so captivated by the story that, not having been able to read the whole thing on the plane, I returned to Boston and despite feeling rather tired, I went to bed, couldn't sleep for thinking of the story, and ended up reading till 4am when I at last managed to give a large contented yawn, having come to the end.

You have the typical plot of good vs evil of course, throw in a few finger-missing wizards, a lost land (or lost from the memories of everyone but those from that province as a result of sorcery), conspiracy of valiant souls seeking justice, and tyrants and you have the making of a most scintillating read.

But far be it from being a generic fantasy story, this one drew depths beyond the surface of almost all the individuals introduced. A powerful lord was not simply a lord, but also a loving and grieving father who realized his arrogance too late. A tyrant was not simply a tyrant but also a man who came to realize a little humanity in the end - not a lot because he still was a tyrant, but there was a chink in his armor to allow us a little sympathy at time for his character. But lest we wallow in too much good mushy feelings, there still were sufficient detestable characters for us to loath and cheer against.

Our band of heros who forged themselves into a group along the way have different personal histories and tragedies. It is a journey of self-revelation as well as determination.

Did I already say that I loved this book? Well I did, I do and I know I'll love it again when I re-read it in the future. Oh this is a definite keeper. Can I say that I loved this book just once more?

#111: Tigana is on my list of memorable reads for the year, too. Glad to see it has found another fan!

Wow, cameling, that gush is so out of character from your usual laconic, informative style of review that I just ordered Tigana before I knew what I was doing!

I read Tigana earlier this year and loved it too. I want to read more by this author.

>114: Try The Last Light of the Sun. I think it's as good as Tigana.

ooh thanks for the recommendation, TadAD, it's on my wishlist.

richard - oh dear .. are you shocked into ordering yet another book?! well, for the number of books that i've had to order thanks to your reviews, I consider this pay back. ;-)

I've added The Last Light of the Sun to my wishlist (it's so easy to do with Collections!). Thanks TadAD.

ok, i've put off adding this book to my list because I'm still not sure if I like it or not. It is rather boring in parts, and the publisher laid this out so tightly that my lungs were constricted while reading the book.

What book is this, you may ask? The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears. Story is set in Rome, with a graduate art history student thinking he's about to uncover the biggest coup that will launch his career, when things go awry, the painting he is after is unwittingly sold by the church to a private dealer. The painting is auctioned off for

There's some nice bits about various art forgers through history and a rather lovable head of the art fraud division, but the writing just rambles sometimes with seemingly no real direction. The pace seemed to pick up in in the middle but then it seemed as if the author got tired and things lagged again to a rather dreary halt.

So I'd say this weighed more heavily towards a nay in my court

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting more from the book after all the reviews I had read about it.

It was entertaining and I liked the idea of Greek gods living in a house in London, all having to take on common jobs like ordinary people and hiding who they really were. But it really wasn't clear until about the last chapter why they were losing their powers.

But I really couldn't see Neil as a hero and Alice was just plain annoying. The gods were at least funny, and Aphrodite a real hoot. But their personalities could have been fleshed out a little bit more, I thought. Also how they all got their powers back was just plain silly.

I also read Golden Eggs and Other Deadly Things by Nancy Tesler, and the only deadly thing I found in the book was the book itself. This was a murder mystery with a terrible amateur PI who didn't so much as solve the puzzle but had the murderer come to her instead. There was a little too much about biofeedback therapy to keep my interest and I found myself 'dying' to come to the end. Not something I would recommend for any discerning murder mystery reader who likes more meat on the bone.

I hope your next read is better for you, Caroline!

Sorry to hear that about The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, as I have it on my future yummy reads shelf. drat!

rdear... I have read of the Cathars and Templars long before The Da Vinci Code.. and still find it interesting :P I do admit that I was expecting The Secret Supper to have something different though..

I will steadfastly refuse to even look at any of the others mentioned here, no matter how good they are. I need a book moratorium.

They're simple and in their simplicity, they are beautifully written - at least in my humble opinion. A Noble Radiance is yet another Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon which I have enjoyed.

This Viennese policeman, who loves his family deeply, has ambiguous feelings for his in-laws, who loves food and who truly is offended by crime, reopens a case because a body found is thought to belong to an aristocratic family, a son kidnapped a couple of years ago. He retrieves reports from the previous case and finds that it raises more questions. He quietly reopens the case, and with the help of the ever ingenious and well connected Signorina Elettra, he discovers that secrets that had been long buried.

Not one of her best books, but still a good afternoon's read.

The Big Bad City by Ed McBain is another in a large series of stories of murder, crime and the lives of police detectives Carella, Brown, Kling and Meyers. In this book, the man who murdered Carella's father is out of jail and set on killing him now to tidy up loose ends.

In the meantime, there's a dead nun's murder in the park to investigate and elsewhere in the city, someone keeps breaking into apartments and leaving chocolate chip cookies in his wake after he steals various objects.

I like McBain's books because he keeps the stories moving fluidly, and it's interesting to watch how the investigations unfold. His cast of characters are real in their flaws and their strengths. In this book, as in all the others that I have read in this series so far, he makes his policemen and homicide detectives people we know or are acquainted with, and this is part of what makes his books such compelling reads.

You're on quite the crime kick, eh what? I'm reading lots of murder mysteries just now, too, so that I won't be temtped to cause a certain sainted aunt to...shall we say disappear?...since they ALWAYS find the body.

I go through "trends" at times too. That isn't a bad thing at all :)

I really have to step awa from the computer and pick up my book. I need a refill of coffee too..... (blaming cat on chest for remaining immobile)

*waves*

#124: I thought they were still looking for Jimmy Hoffa . . .

yes, I almost picked up Salvation in Death after The Big Bad City but I thought maybe I ought to change up a little and give police stories a bit of a rest. Still on a murder mystery bent though and reading The Last Pope now.

but yes, richard, please don't do away with dear sainted aunt.... they mostly always (*nods to alcottacre*) find the body AND the murderer. i don't think you'll think much of the library at Sing Sing.

mckait : you are at the computer and your cat is on your chest?! Interesting... needs a photo please.

no pic, explanation.

laptop
reclined
cat
chest

ahhh.... got the picture. nice. And I bet you got some nice purring too as background music

The Last Pope by Luis Miguel Rocha is a fascinating read. It is a good blend of historical fact and fiction. In this book, the author speaks to the secret organization known as Propaganda Due or P2 for short. Although set in 2006, it flips back and forth to 1978 during the conspiracy behind the death of Pope John Paul I.

Priests and cardinals are suspiciously murdered, and a journalist receives a strange package containing a list of names and annotations she can't understand but recognizes one name. Her apartment is broken into, and she has to flee ... and is rescued (sort of) by a stranger, identifying himself only as Rafael.

In a series of loops and twists, secret agents and double agents abound in this story. I found it a thrilling read but also one that makes one ponder what the world might be like, or at least the Catholic Church might be like, if Pope John Paul I had lived to see his plans put in action. I thought the flipping back and forth,rather than detracting from the momentum of the book, actually enhanced it. It gave me a breather between the anxious moments. :-)

hmmm shenanigans at the vatican. I may have to read that one.

After The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, I was tentative going into The Last Pope but it is a far cry from the former and I really enjoyed this. I can see someone trying to write a movie script for this.

Whew! Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb is yet another masterpiece of futuristic police stories. I find it interesting how she has all these different voices. J.D. Robb is Nora Roberts of the romance genre. She's also written fantasy and I think vampire. But it's her J.D. Robb voice that I really love.

In the 'in Death' series, everything centers around Lieutenant Eve Dallas, butt-kicking cop in the 21st century who lives to see justice fulfilled and to solve seemingly impossible homicides in the process. If you've started from the beginning of the series, you see the team and cast of characters build over time. And as the network around Eve grows, so do these stories. They are definitely richer now in terms of content and complexity compared with the initial 4 or 5.

In Salvation in Death Eve is faced with 2 murders, initially appearing to be someone out to kill religious preachers but as she delves into the families, friends and background of the victims, interesting things emerge which add to the process by which she understands and solves the case.

Not for the faint of heart, the 'in Death' series will bring at some point in each story, the drive behind Eve's determination to seek justice for those who can't stand for themselves, and that driving force stems from her abuse from her father as a young child. The described scenes are not graphic and not gratuitous, but they are definitely uncomfortable to read for most. I can't imagine what it would be like to have lived her past, but what emerged is a strong, witty and kind individual who not only survived her horrific past, but triumphed over it and the system she lived in.

J.D. Robb's skill at including the reader in the slow unraveling of the crime and the process by which the sting is set up, and case solved is what gripped me here. There are also some light-hearted moments along the way.

The only thing I will say about her futuristic setting is that now that we are in the 21st century, and encroaching upon the period in which these stories are set (2020s) is that she has built a more technologically interesting period that we are unlikely to experience for at least another 3 decades, in my opinion. it does not, however, detract from the story.

The Divide has gone onto the wishlist belatedly, and I agree whole heartedly about The Last Light of the Sun being very close in brilliance to Tigana.

#133: I am a huge fan of the In Death series - I buy them each as they come out and then tend to re-read the series completely through each time. I think you are incorrect about the time period, however - I believe the earliest book Naked in Death is set in 2048-49, somewhere in that area.

One of the reasons that I enjoy the series so much is that Robb has developed the characters and their relationships in believable fashion. I do not read the books for the mysteries, but rather to see what has changed with the characters. It is like visiting old friends. I hope you continue to enjoy the series.

Alcottacre - I'm the same, I love re-reading the In Death series and have come to know the characters like friends. This is the only series of hers that I like though. I've tried her writing as Nora Roberts and found that I don't enjoy them as much as when she writes as J.D. Robb.

And thanks for correcting me .. you are correct, I just checked my copy of Naked in Death and I'm off on my time period. I still can't see us having flying cars by then though .. I hope she continues to write more In Death books.

#136: I initially began as a fan of her in her incarnation as Nora Roberts, preferring her romantic suspense to her strict romance books, but once I discovered her JD Robb persona, there was no question as to my preference. As long as she continues to write the In Death series, I will be buying the books. I do not find that the series has petered out as so many series do. Robb has done a great job with her characters IMHO, and they keep the series fresh.

I agree with you about the flying cars, but you never can tell! Forty years is a good period of time for that type of technology to develop. I personally would love to have a flying car :)

If anyone's in the mood to read a poorly edited book, please rush out to your nearest library or used book store and check out The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl! You will not be disappointed.

If you are looking for a book where the main plot drags while a second plot jumps in periodically without any real purpose but to give the author time to pause and try to figure out what other diversions he can make his main plot go on, then this is the book for you.

A publisher who's in the process of printing Charles Dickens' last unfinished novel tries to unearth the mystery surrounding the book itself and what the possible ending of it might be. Traveling from the America to the UK, the publishing partner and his bookkeeper find themselves unwittingly falling into a bizarre set of circumstances, bizarre even to the reader because the unsavory characters they meet along the way who wish to harm the publisher aren't fully explained, thus leaving the reader as confused and befuddled as the victim himself.

And while the reader is pondering over some of these characters, we are dropped into scenes of Charles Dickens and his team coming to America, to meet none other than the said publisher and his partner, for a book tour. Very little ties these events together and the whole endeavor seems very disjointed.

There are occasional sparks in the book, but not enough for me to recommend this to any real Dickens fans.

Wow! That's too bad. I hope your next read is better for you.

>138 cameling, that sounds awful! Even for Dickens-inspired stuff, that just sounds so unpleasant. I shall rush right out and buy a lot of them, for later use as kindling.

#140

Shall we make it the Bible of the Creed?

>141 I rather fancied Great Expectations as the Bible of the Anti-Dickensians. What better evidence that his "writings" should be prevented from distribution under the US Constitutional provision against cruel and unusual punishments can one conjure?

#142

But surely Great Expectations as the Bible means that we are required to read it? Something which I am not sure I can bear!

What I was quite perturbed by was the poor proofing done on this book. I was surprised how many grammatical and spelling errors made their way through to the final print.

hmm...nobody here liked Great Expectations?

>143 lunacat, dunno 'bout YOUR church, but the Cat'lics are (or were, it's been years since I was there) discouraged from reading the Babble. I mean Bibble. Dear, dear, BIBLE. So G.E. works out well!

>144 cameling, that answer would be "not even a little teensy jot." And I get so irked when big publishing houses produce this kind of sloppiness, don't you? One can forgive the self-published far more readily than the soulless conglomerate's allegedly artsy department, no?

richard dear, my introduction to Dickens was through the classics published as comic books that my dad had when HE was a boy and kept for us kids. So I loved the stories ... until I was old enough to read the actual books! And what a crashing disappointment I found some of them to be. Had to read GE, David Copperfield and Bleakhouse for school and almost offed myself in the process.

I did enjoy The Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol though.

Oh, "A Sale of Two Titties" wasn't too bad. "'Tis a faaa, faaa bettaaa theeng thaht I dyew..." lives in my memory as one of the cheesiest Hollywood scenes ever committed to celluloid, but hey, it's in the text, what're they supposed to do?

I actually liked Susanne Alleyn's reconstruction of Carton's lost years. It's in my library, but I can't call up the title from cold storage just now. Dratted brain!

Bleak House gets my vote for "Most Aptly Named Book Ever" and offing yourself, while I am delighted that you didn't follow through, seems a logical option to explore while etching it into your brainstem with a hot, rusty wire. I mean, reading it.

From depressing Bleak House I thankfully chuckled my way through Hare Today Dead Tomorrow by Cynthia Baxter. A delightful romp through Long Island's vineyards with Dr Popper, a vet on wheels (what an interesting concept) finds her fellow vet friend with a penchant for jerkish men, a suspect in a murder of her ex-husband's girlfriend.

And while she's busy out there trying to clear her friend's name, fluffy cats, helpful cats, hostile cats, a chameleon, a risque macaw and a couple of highly energetic dogs keep our vet detective company.

Definitely nothing to strain your brain on, but it is an enjoyable light-hearted read. Perfect for relaxing after the long dog days of work. I must look for more of her books.

Have you ever thought of what you would do if you were told you only had 30 days to live? The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson is written almost as snippets of memories about a man, Zephyr Ambrose, who received the shocking news from his doctor that he was not, as he thought, in the peak of health, but that he had only 30 days to live. He wrote the alphabet on a piece of paper and listed against each letter, a place that he wanted to travel to. Very poignant .. it's not written in chronological or alphabetical order, but it really reads like a person sifting through their memories. The stories touch on the past when he met his wife, and to the present, as they travel from Paris to Istanbul, Corfu to Berlin until Zephyr starts to falter and they return to England.

A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander is rather tame in comparison with her first 2 books. In this continuing saga of amateur detective Lady Emily Ashton, our intrepid heroine finds herself thrown into yet another mystery. Detestable Lord Fortescue is found dead during his own house party, and circumstantial evidence points to her best friend, Ivy's husband, Robert, as the murderer. Armed with nothing but a list of potential 'interested' parties who may have had a hand in the murder,she goes to Vienna with the sole purpose of clearing her friend's husband of the murder charge and save him from hanging.

Thrown into the mix is her fiance's ex-girlfriend/mistress who may still be working with him in a network of spies trying to oust and foil plans of anarchy,and a roaming cold traitor, and you get a rather convoluted plot and subplot all vying for the reader's attention. As I said before, not the best of her efforts, but still an ok read.... I guess. ;-)

Sounds like a few good ones, the vet book sounds fun!

Oh cameling! CAAAmellliiinnnggg! Where AAARRREEE you?

whoof! I'm baaaaccckkkk! Been an interesting month ..and one I'd like not to repeat if possible.

Managed to read a measly 3 books in all this time away but given the situation, I guess it's not too bad.

Let's start with a bodice ripper which I had to read because I lost a bet to a friend. Not my usual preferred reading material, but a bet is a bet. And to that end, I read Mine till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas. The characters were a little bit interesting, at least the heroine (of sorts) was a nice strong female looking after her siblings after their parents died, and the drool-worthy stud of choice your typical dark, brooding, handsome, edgy, wealthy, smart, well-formed male. A little bit of a mystery and a haunting kept this from being altogether boring and predictable.

There are elements in this book which keep the reading guessing at the end, if there is to be a sequel with one of the sisters and an adopted Gypsy.

On to more interesting things, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson provided me with some moments of great hilarity. His accounts of buying his hiking equipment and some of his fellow hikers on the AT had me laughing out loud. But it was his descriptions of the beautiful woods and history of the Appalachian Trail that had me yearning to put a pack on my back, bid a fond farewell to my colleagues and husband, and strike out with my trusty hiking boots for Vermont to start my own thru-hike. How the AT was developed, and how it is currently managed through the system of volunteers is pretty amazing.
I'll probably never do a full hike through the entire AT, but I would like to hike parts of it, and after reading this book, I've jotted down a few areas that I would like hike through while I'm still mobile enough to do so.

Acqua Alta by Donna Leon is a nice light read. Another Commissario Guido Brunetti Venetian crime solver. This one takes place in the middle of the rising tides that sometimes hit Venice with a vengeance. In this book, a famed archeologist is severely beaten and warned against meeting with a museum director. While not a homicide, Brunetti knows the woman, and starts to investigate. We're soon engulfed in counterfeit ancient art pieces, theft, murder (yes, eventually there are dead bodies), greed (what else) and corruption. In the midst of this, Ms Leon never fails to show us the personal side of Brunetti - a family man who loves his wife and children. This book doesn't engage in the gastronomic delights of Venice as some of the others in the series and I miss that a little.

All in all, an enjoyable book.

welcome back!!

thank you ... i've missed you all so much! i was itching to get on LT but with all that was going on, work, computer, eye infection, i felt marooned on an island with nobody to talk to ...even if i wasn't reading much during this time, i still wanted to know what everyone else was up to and reading. An LT addict, that's what I am ... and proud of it. :-)

eye infection??? Horrible! Glad you are better.
Addict, well I have to admit to the same problem. :P

Eye infection *shudder*

I tried the Brunetti series and was amused by them, but lost steam about book 3 (maybe 4...which one is Dressed for Death?) for reasons I wot not.

I've just read Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, which I recommend most strenuously to you, cameling, and urge mckait to avoid like it's got cooties.

What I've discovered in reading the Brunetti series is that I can't read them all at once. I need a break after each one and I don't read them in sequence.

Thanks for the recommendation of Raven Black - it's now on my wishlist.

BTW...some time back, we mooted the idea of a trip to Saskatoon in the fall...turns out that, while I still want to do that, I can't until 2010 because I have to go back to Texas in September (blech) so I can see my 10-yrs rheumatologist. I have to file for permanent disability. I can't sit, stand, type, anything for more than two hours without oodles of pain meds, so I can't get a job (if there were any which there aren't here so it's kinda irrelevant).

Then October is Guest Month, with The Divine Miss's entire family spending the *entire* month here. In shifts.

Then November is National Novel Writing Month, Thanksgiving, and something else I'm forgetting.

So...back-burner idea? Don't forget, though, because I think it'd be a hoot!

PS--if you're in Long Island around Saturday, 9/12, birthday buffet will be served chez moi.

PPS--and that includes the Hubster!

Message edited by its author, Aug 17, 2009, 9:50pm.

Funny you should bring this up, I was just thinking of the Saskatoon trip this weekend and looking online for things to do etc. Looks like a really cool place to visit so definitely something I want to do, and 2010 is fine - it'll give me time to save up money for the trip too since I've had to take a pay cut this year thanks to the delightful economy.

Sounds like you've got your calendar all packed for the rest of the year with delightful activities.

Thanks for the invite .. wish I could attend but I'm traveling to Tokyo on 9/15 for a week.

I had great hopes for The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay because I so loved Tigana but this fell far short of my expectations. I do like sub-plots within plots but if this isn't planned out well, all that bouncing around with different characters popping up, sometimes at the most bizarre moments, leaves the reader (in this case, moi) feeling more like a lost gopher trying to escape an underground maze, and coming up different holes only to be bopped on the head with a rubber mallet.

Even having gotten to the halfway point of the book, I still couldn't make out who I was supposed to champion in this book. The delineation between the good and evil characters weren't all that clear until one got to the three quarter mark in the book. Needless to say, this didn't capture my full attention and I was well pleased to have finished it, only so that I can put it away now. I really recommend this to anyone save the most fervent of GGK fans .. and even then I'd suggest they read this under the influence of drugs or alcohol to make it more interesting.

a lost gopher trying to escape an underground maze, and coming up different holes only to be bopped on the head with a rubber mallet.

The dreaded "whack-a-mole" effect...oh dear, oh my, SO not what one expects from GGK.

I'd suggest they read this under the influence of drugs or alcohol to make it more interesting.

Well, that set the seal on its coffin for *moi*!

Wow, I'm surprised at your reaction, because I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Light of the Sun, setting it only just below Tigana. Admittedly, it is not as good as Tigana, but personally I would think it hard to reproduce that level of brilliance again, although I wish he had!

I also wouldn't describe myself as a fervent GGK fan, but I found it a great relief to not have good and bad set out to me in stone. After all, life doesn't exist within those defined roles, so why should a novel?

Anyway, this is what I love about this group, the differing opinions :). I hope you enjoy your next book more.

I'm glad you found something to enjoy in TLLS, lunacat. In fantasy, I may not need for the author to set the good and bad out for me on the outset, but before I'm halfway through the book, I would like to start cheering for one side and grinding my teeth against another clearly ...in this, I was just not sure who I wanted to root for and it left me feeling most unsettled.

I will give him another shot though because I've got The Lion of Al-Rassan on my TBR, and I've heard that it's a good book.

Ann Cleeves fan here.

I'm being nosey, but why are you guys planning a trip to Saskatoon?!

Five words: My future husband, Russell Quant. See Amuse Bouche, Flight of Aquavit, et alii. He's a gay detective based in gay metropolitan Saskatoon, which next to the unpleasant scorpionish vinegaroon has the best name on the planet, and Bidulka (the author) makes the place sound just as fun as you'd ever want to enjoy. Cameling and I agree that these are fun books, so why not tour Saskatoon? Give the Chamber of Commerce somethin' to think about.

Apart from Bidulka's frolicsome description of the place, I just like the way Saskatoon trips off the tongue. A place with a name like Saskatoon must be fun to visit.

Some authors have the knack of bringing you the scents and atmosphere of a place, and Bidulka is one of them. It's like reading anything in the Brunetti series by Donna Leon always makes me yearn to visit Venice, as did Lawrence Sanders in his McNally series forced me to make a trip down to Palm Beach to see if the local denizens were anything like his descriptions and the ocean as wonderful to swim in.

>160: I'm sorry you didn't like The Last Light of the Sun. I thought it was his best after Tigana.

I didn't know that you were attracted to detectives rd...

>166...plus, saskatoons are berries! I can't wait to sample some.

>168 mckait, a few...but Russell*swoon* is the Prince of my Heart! He's so endearingly goofy...his wonderpants, his sweet insistence on not seeing how handsome he is, his tenacious quest to Make Things Right...*re-swoon*

He sounds irresistible indeed!

I'll send you the first one, Amuse Bouche. See if you like it.

cool! You're the bestest!

Message edited by its author, Aug 21, 2009, 5:28pm.

Am waiting on tenterhooks for my copy of Stain of the Berry to arrive in the mail ... any day now, I'm told .... which, come to think of it, isn't that great since I'm leave on Monday on a 2 week business trip to Seoul and Hong Kong. Boo.... won't get my hands on it until I get back.

>cameling- I 'm not sure if I've stopped by here before, but here goes! Big wave! I have just over a 100 pages left on Await Your Reply and it's been very good. I know others have complained somewhat about ER books and being a bit disappointed but I'm grateful because I would have not picked this up otherwise.

*waves back to msf59* - thanks for coming to sit with me a while.

I read You Remind Me of Me some time back and enjoyed that. I'll be interested to read your review of this one when you're done with it.

I have on occasion received some ER books that I didn't particularly enjoy, but I think i've lucked out because for the most part, I've received books I wouldn't have picked up given the choice and being surprised by how good a read they are.

I didn't know what to expect of A Secret Alchemy by Emma Darwin, but it turned out to be an interesting read. The history of the Woodvilles, primarily Anthony and Elisabeth was well researched I thought, and adding fiction to the historical facts made for a gripping read. The court intrigues of the 15th Century makes today's political wranglings seem almost like child's play. The reader feels the anguish in Anthony as he rides towards his final death, and his acceptance of his fate because of his strong faith. One feels the sad relief of Elisabeth when she finally learns the truth behind the fate of her 2 sons, Edward, Prince of Wales and Dickson, Duke of York who were imprisoned when they were mere boys by their uncle, Richard the Pretender.

Alternating between these historical narratives is a story about Una Pryor, visiting England to sell off her house and settle, with her cousins and uncle, a proposed sale of the Solmani Press and Chantry house, where she grew up after she was orphaned. Throw in some unrequited love interest in the form of Mark Fisher and her research of Anthony and Elisabeth Woodville, and you end up with a book that handles time travel quite well without losing the reader. A very nice blend of historical and present day fiction where, at the end ..everything makes sense.

I have to thank Richard for strongly recommending Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. I received my copy on Saturday, took it with me on the plane to read during my flight to Seoul, and by the time I arrived in San Francisco from Boston, I was almost done with the book. It was a thrilling page turner that left me guessing who the murderer would be. Without giving anything away, the author does, I think, a wonderful job of drawing out the complex facets in each of her characters. I couldn't find a character to hate, every character had elements in them which allowed you to identify and sympathize with. The romantic in me, was hoping for a different ending, but I'm glad Ms Cleeves didn't end it in a predictable fashion...her ending was much better.

... and now I'm on the search for White Nights....if this turns out to be as good as Raven Black,I think I can safely say that I'll be hooked on Ms Cleeves.

>176 cameling, I *was* going to complain about having to add A Secret Alchemy to my TBRs, but then realized it's only fair...you got Raven Black and now White Nights from me....

I am so glad you enjoyed the book! It's really powerful stuff, and so worth the occasional moment of difficulty with some subject matter.

Enjoy your trip, see you soon!

how generous of you not to scold me, richard. fair? I have to add 2 books to my TBR (and that's only counting in the last 2 weeks) that you've reviewed and recommended, and you add a little singleton from my list in the last 6 months. *mutters under breath*

Did you enjoy White Nights as much as you did Raven Black?

I think you may also enjoy The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. It's a true account of an author's move to Florence, Italy, where he becomes obsessed with a local crime story about an unmasked serial killer in Florence, who had buried one of his victims under the olive grove on the author's property. He joins forces with a local journalist to research and investigate this murderer, who was termed as the Monster. It reads like a thriller and is the more horrific because accounts were all true.

>178 what?! WHAT?!? Can't hear you, the static between here and...

camelingcamelingcameling!!! I just read the sample chapters of the new Russell Quant book, Aloha Candy Hearts, and it seems the last book was an aberration! Say hallelujah!

What a way to start the book, too...breaking my heart into itsy-teensy pieces...*snivel*
http://www.insomniacpress.com/title.php?...

No, that's not the sample, just the book's main page on their site. You decide how much you want to know. But I really, really can't wait for this one!

arrrggghhhh.....i'm hooked, i'm hooked! I need to get my hands on Bidulka's latest. that teaser was just not enough, I need to know what happens next and how Mr Magoo died .. I bet it was something in the bag, no? And when does Alex come back? who's moving where? He has to move to Saskatoon, right? Saskatoon will be ruined for me if Russell doesn't stay there. *hyperventilating*

*2 gulps of water and 3 potato chips later*.....

I tried to drag out the last chapter of When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris for as long as possible because I was loath to reach the last of his stories. I dare anyone to read this and not chuckle through most of his stories .... well, anyone with a healthy sense of humor anyway. Everytime I think I've just read my favorite story of one of his life's moments, I come to another further in the book, and later yet, another. I give up. Even after finishing this book, my mind goes back to snippets of stories and I smile ... at times disconcerting the person sitting across from me on the train.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton was a nice gentle book about the memories of a 98 year old of the secret she had kept since a tragedy at the house in which she had started working as a housemaid and then progressed to lady's maid. There is a nice blend of her history as well as that of the family she worked for, particularly Hannah, to whom she was eventually a personal lady's maid. It flowed along nicely and had way of uncovering yet another surprising secret around unexpected corners. Not a taxing book, but good for a nice rainy afternoon, or a long train ride.

I had The House at Riverton but had inadvertently purchased a large print edition. I kept putting off reading it because of that, then ended up giving it to a friend who is losing her vision. I guess I have to use the library for this one, it sounds like a nice read.

>181 I am stoically *not* adding to the wishlist Morton's opus. Not. NOT.

Oh, now cameling...no worries...Bidulka can't have Russell leave Saskatoon. That's why we have Ethan! And Kimo, mark my words, will end up with Alex because, well, y'know...globetrotting Russell? Nah. Jared and Ethan as business partners will see to it that my future husband will remain Canuckistani and single, until I can figure out how to bridge the fictional/actual chasm that is all that keeps us apart.

mckait : definitely see if your library has a copy .. i think you will like the book. I don't like reading large print books either, they seem to give me headaches

thank you for the assurance, richard .. anxiety attacks are never nice. Hmm... Kimo and Alex? I'm thinking a Kimo/Russell fling which will put Alex's nose out of joint? But you're right... I forgot about Ethan and Jared. They couldn't possible allow Russell to move. hmm...but maybe Alex will move up ... that'd be ok.

came down with a food allergy and have broken out in hives .... very pretty... NOT!

Message edited by its author, Aug 28, 2009, 8:10pm.

HIVES!! Oh no oh yuck! What have you got with you to bring the histaminic balance back to your skin?

I'm itching in sympathy, darn it, get better!

I HATE having hives - you have my complete sympathy. I hope they pass quickly!

ditto what stasia said!

what was the food, do you know?

I forgot that I'm allergic to shellfish from China - no escaping that source of shellfish here in Hong Kong, I'm afraid. I discovered this allergy about 4 years ago when I was living here for 2 and half years, and had kept well away from them after we found the cause of my allergy. But the other night, I was busy talking with friends at dinner and completely forgot about the allergy and ate some crab along with some other stuff.

Had to make my way to the ER for outpatient services and I was almost all better by the evening. Ended up sleeping the entire afternoon though so apart from antihistamines, I'm not sure what else they gave me, but at least I'm all better now. thanks for your sympathies.

I wouldn't have minded spending the day in bed if I could have read, but i zonked out after reading a few pages of my next book. What a waste!

ouch!

antihistamine sleep lacks something doesn't it?

yes, i woke up with gritty eyes, dry mouth and a headache .... but the rash was definitely better. So all in all, it's better than itching to death

I should think so! I am glad to hear that the hives are improving.

This week has been a challenge. I've been in the grips of a really good book and work keeps interrupting my read. I took a half day off yesterday afternoon, switched off my phone and logged off my computer, just to finish reading it and it was well worth my having to work like a dog today to catch up. :-) The book in question? The beautifully written Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey.

A young girl, Phedra, born with a red blemish in her eye, is delivered to one of the 13 Houses of night pleasures to be trained eventually, to serve patrons. Her red blemish catches the eye of Anafiel Delaunay, a poet and masterspy. He recognized her blemish for Kushiel's Dart,a spot that denotes her gift for pain and pleasure and he decides to accept her as one of his students and trains her along with another, in the art of being both a courtesan and a spy.

There are references to S&M in this book, but they are but references. There are no graphic scenes to detract from the real story, that of complex court intrigues, the mystery behind the real identify of Anafiel Delaunay, friendships and battles to wrest lands and the royal throne. So anyone hoping for erotic details need not pick up this book.

As Phedra grows into her own, she becomes more than the creature of night pleasures she had thought she was, and her intelligence, fearlessness and compassion helps her survive a betrayal, gain loyal friendships and ultimately become an integral key to saving the royal throne from usurpers.

Throw in some mysticism, master spies, political double crossing, a graceful and skilled fighting priest, mountain tribes and wandering nomads, a great battle and you have a gripping page turner, one that has left me desperate to get my hands on the sequel of the life journey of one Phedra no Delaunay Montreve.

Caroline- That book sounds very interesting. I wishlisted it. Will guys get into it to?

I think Kushiel's Dart will appeal to guys because there is enough of battle strategy and political intrigues to keep one guessing.... as long as they aren't averse to a female being the leading character in the book. :-)

Thinking to read something with a different pace, I broke open the English translation of The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard (the Danish original is Libri di Luca).

It wasn't what I was expecting after reading the jacket cover. I thought it'd be a simple murder mystery surrounding the owner of a bookstore, but it quickly turned out to be much more.

A hidden society of bibliographers with a difference. One where individuals with specific gifts for enhancing the reading experience, whether they be the ones reading out aloud, or the ones listening to something being read. Transmitters, the ones with the gift for accentuating certain words in the text they are reading and receivers, individuals who help focus a transmitter's mind to the images that he creates while he reads, all of which results in holding the audience in their grip, open to their suggestions or swallowed in the story unfolding before them.

What if these gifts were to be exploited by the nefarious? Are these gifts and harnessing them important enough to manipulate some and murder others? Will good triumph over the power hungry? Is it even possible that books can be charged with an energy after many readings?

The only negative criticisms I would levy against this book are that I wish the last chapter was a lot stronger and that the author did a better job at describing the conclusion of the final battle.

>194: "I think Kushiel's Dart will appeal to guys because there is enough of battle strategy and political intrigues to keep one guessing."

I thought it was wonderful and I'm a guy...and not just because of the battles or political intrigues. It's just a good story with good characters.

Message edited by its author, Sep 3, 2009, 7:39am.

Caroline- Sorry but I have a big problem with leading female characters... of course I'm kidding! Your description and praise are enough for me. Now I'm off to find a copy! Thanks!

I just saw your rating of the Conn Iggulden novel about Genghis, and I came to gloat...I already added it to my wishlist **before** you could make me! Ha ha, nana nana boo-bers!!

I'm in love with Conn Iggulden ... well, at least with the way he spins historical fiction. I've always been fascinated by Genghis Khan and the battles he waged to bring the various Mongol tribes together, to fight the Tartars and later, the Chinese.

Wolf of the Plains more than satisfied my craving for more details of his life before he became Genghis, the one who brought all the tribes together to fight common enemies.

Conn Iggulden does a wonderful job of weaving a believable story around the historical facts surrounding the rise of Genghis Khan. From his carefree childhood with his brothers, to the leadership he had to develop out of necessity in order that his family survive being cast out of their tribe after his father's untimely death, and later to building a strong alliance among wanderers and tribes alike to fight and defeat the Tartars, Temujin of the Wolves stands out for being intelligent, eager learn from others, kind and ruthless.

The richness in detail makes this a thrilling read. The battles read like well choreographed epic movie scenes while the daily rigors of life on the plains provoked images of hardship and yet pleasure and happiness surfaced every now and again.

This is not a book you'll want to read if you know you don't have time to devote to it, because you'll miss all your deadlines and get yourself fired from your job. Having said that, this is not a ponderous tome and the words flow like silk.

richard : so you succumbed to the telepathic waves I'd been sending you to add this book to your wishlist after all. It's good to have proof that eye of toad and tail of bat when mixed with water from the Red Sea and boiled in a copper pot under a full moon while baying like a wolf works. :-)

Temptress! Siren of the Bookstacks! Get the behind me, Satan Anne!

cameling;
Congrats on your Hot Review for Wolf of the Plains!~! Way to go there.
Thanx to you, I already have 3 of his Iggulden books on my TBR listing but I just may go ahead and order them.
OBTW; I must, please may I have your cornbread recipe with Richard's corn in it?
Please, please and I don't want to be hearing:
"It's an old family recipe" either. I will PM my email to you or you can just get it from Richard. Hee hee

BTW, Richard--thank you for the recipe. I appreciate it.

happy and later dayz,
love to all,
xoxo,
belva

cameling, congratulations on besting rdear. I do love him, but I also love seeing him bested :)

Belva : your request is my command .... cornbread recipe is in your email box. It's not an old family recipe - I managed to fish it out of a restaurant I went to in the Bahamas. I loved it so much I ate half the basket and went back the day after before heading to the airport just to cajole the chef into giving me the recipe and buying 2 boxes of cornbread to bring home.

Kath: LOL ... i think i'm a long long way from besting our dear richard. i think you, ficusfan and Stasia have that well in your courts. but i'll bring up the rear happily and bolster your efforts. hmm...can you hear the gnashing of teeth in the background there?

Taking a break from authors holding me enthralled as an armadillo facing brimming anthills as far as its eyes can see, Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn made for a non-taxing read. Having said that, I still ended up staying up all night until I finished reading it.

If you enjoy religious history and the hunt for religious treasures and relics, this is the book for you. An elderly antiques dealer dies, a salvager is released from a prison in the Bahamas, a granddaughter finds unanswered questions surrounding her grandfather, an unidentified little man flits in and out and everywhere he appears, death follows. Oh, and the FBI and Interpol worry our little band of players like dogs with a single bone.

The writing is a little choppy in the beginning and I felt the author was trying to hard to get the cop speak down, but thankfully he settles down after a while. His strength comes in his history lessons covering the time of Herod, the destruction and rebuilding of the Temple and the movement of religious relics out of Jerusalem following the Roman invasion.

There's a sufficient amount of tension in this book between the various players to keep things interesting.

My light read of yesterday was Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon. Another enjoyable read in the Commissario Brunetti series. Greed, pride, envy .... brought to focus in this book as 3 of the 7 Deadly Sins according to Catholic teachings, but which in today's society are considered no more than character flaws ...but are they sufficient flaws to lead one to murder?

There is no obvious villain in this book nor obvious clues pointing to the reason for the crime itself, and it appears initially as if Brunetti is spinning around in circles, but slow but surely the twists and turns of human nature start to unravel and all is made clear.

Reading The Sex Lives of Cannibals by Maarten Troost, reminded me of Bill Bryson. Leaving Washington DC to live on a tiny atoll in the Equatorial Pacific where one is bombarded day and night with La Macarena played by locals at full volume, where mangy dogs roam (at least the ones that aren't eaten), no tv, no newspapers, nothing but local Kiribati radio and swimming up against the odd shark or two, Maarten Troost and his girlfriend, Sylvia find that living on a 3rd world island is challenging, interesting and also fun. Maarten's adventures make for lively reading and not too few gut splitting laughs.

Recommended if one wants to take a break from reading tomes that insist on making one think.

On the other hand, Father Joe by Tony Hendra, turned out to be not so much an autobiography of the Benedictine monk who saved Tony Hendra's soul but a memoir of Tony Hendra's life. Despite the regular visits Tony makes to Father Joe, and the many heart-to-heart discussions they have .... this book centered solely on Tony, his thoughts, his feelings, and his life's journey. There was nothing about who Father Joe really was as a person, what his personal thoughts, challenges and demons were that he may or may not have conquered.

Father Joe had, one point advised Tony that he should be try to live unselfishly, treat his wife unselfishly and his children unselfishly .... but it seems to me that this lesson didn't really sink into Tony's consciousness because this whole book is really him selfishly thinking only of himself. The book really should have been titled 'Tony Hendra, a man's journey through life'.

Not impressed and more than irked by this self-centered man, but wishing I had had an opportunity to meet Father Joe, who did sound like an amazingly kind and wise soul.

>206: I loved Sex Lives of Cannibals. The sequel, Getting Stoned with Savages is almost as good...Fiji not being quite as appalling as Kiribati.

His third book, Lost on Planet China is a bit different. There's still humor, but it's got a bit more social message in it and, so, is a bit more serious.

Oh goody ... I've got Getting Stoned with Savages on one of my TBR shelves. Looking forward to seeing what he has to say about Fiji and Vanuatu. I have to say that after reading Sex Lives of Cannibals, I don't feel a compelling urge to visit Kiribati. I am really impressed with Maarten and Sylvia for being able to bear up to the conditions on that island .. I would have run screaming for the first plane out if I had festering sores and saw dead geckos at the bottom of my water barrel.

I'm so glad you loving The Shadow of the Wind! It's a lot of fun! Stop by my challenge, we're deciding a choice for our next group read!

Made a pitstop at your challenge, Mark ... glad I found you. I've put my bid in for a groupie book there.

A weekend by the beach with no internet access gave some good reading time.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon was mesmerizing. Zafon spins a tale in which books by deceased author Julian Carax appear to be disappearing around the world. A boy ensnared by a book he's read by this author, seeks to learn more about the author's life and if possible, to find more of his books to read. Into his young life enters a cast of characters who shape his life as he grows to adulthood along with a sinister policeman and a hooded man without facial features.

The author brings the characters to life and you're eager to share in their joys, their sorrows, their pain, their fear and their excitement. I would love to meet and count someone like Fermin as a close friend. He is one of the best developed characters in this book. I wasn't too fond of Daniel, our young boy in the book and I wished he had more of a backbone but he redeemed himself in the end, and I forgave him the instances of cowardice he displayed.

I had guessed who the hooded person was before I was halfway through the book, but that didn't spoil the way the story and intrigue unfolded. There was a sustained air of suspense throughout the story to keep one's heart thumping strongly....making one wish one had an eye that could run ahead of the other, to get a peek at what's around the proverbial corner.

Following on the heels of The Shadow of the Wind, I read Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and was blown away by this haunting story of a 10 year old French girl who, thinking to keep her younger brother safe, locks him in a cupboard when the French police arrive on evening in 1942 and demand that she and her mother take some of their belongings and leave with them. Believing that they would soon return, she takes the key to the cupboard and leaves with her mother. Her promise to her brother that she will return for him is her only goal as she strives to survive a roundup of Jews transported to concentration camps and their ultimate death.

An American journalist living in France, writing an article about the horror of the Velodrome de l'Hivers discovers an unexpected personal angle to one of the survivors. This is the story of this one brave little girl and how the journalist brings her story and her life to light.

A tough read as are many that deal with the horrors of the Holocaust, but at the same time, a beautiful compelling story.

After 2 books that wrung me emotionally dry, Snobbery with Violence by Marion Chesney was a light murder mystery set in Victorian England. It was fun, non-taxing, the murderer uncovered till the last, and 4 main characters whom I would be quite pleased to meet again in the next book in the series.

#211: I love Shadow of the Wind. Glad to see you liked it as well.

I have had Sarah's Key on Planet TBR for a while now, but my local library still does not have it. Grrrr.

I will have to look into Snobbery with Violence. It looks like one I would enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation, Caroline.

CarolineCarolineCaroline!! Have you been to avaland's new online journal/review about international women's writing yet?!? It's http://www.belletrista.com/

Tui, our very own Tui, that vile temptress, wrote this about The Housekeeper and the Professor:

"When the thunder roils, the rains lash down and a Shinto temple is blasted by lightning, Yoko Ogawa shows us that certain loves are dangerous wild forces capable of great destruction. She handles this with great delicacy, avoiding with skill what might otherwise have been a cliché."

And now, damn and blast it, I *have* to read this book!!! The NERVE of the woman!

Stasia, I promised Sarah's Key to my cousin or I would mail it to you. I'll let you know when she's done with the book and if your library still hasn't brought it in, I'll let you have it.

richard: I've already read The Housekeeper and the Professor and yes, you must indeed read this book. It's an amazing work and one that will have you stopping and re-reading passages just to savor the beauty of her words.

#214: Thanks for the offer, Caroline!

Gold of Kings sounds good... nice and entertaining...

Sarah's Key is a good one.. Housekeeper and the Professor is fantastic!

ok.. mosying along.. gotta get ready to go...

I love long plane flights only because I get uninterrupted reading time. :-) Now if only they could make the seats in economy more comfortable I would even be thrilled getting on a flying tube for 15 hours.

So in Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, you have Lionel Essrog, an orphan with Tourette's Syndrome, not understanding his affliction and being bullied in school. He meets, with 3 other orphans, Frank Minna, a man who takes them under his wing and has them move furniture and things for him.

Over time, they become a team and become known as Minna's Men and under the guise of a car rental service, they become a detective agency, or so they are led to believe by Frank, and learn how to conduct stake-outs, follow strangers and drive without asking questions.

Frank is murdered while Lionel and Gilbert are providing surveillance for him on a property. There are sufficient twists and turns following Lionel's attempt to uncover the murderer of his mentor and friend, Frank Minna, to make this a worthy read.

What I found more interesting was following the mind of a man with Tourette's Syndrome (he finally learns that he has a disability) and the verbal and physical compulsions that he's forced to express, try to harness and endure.

I also managed to finish reading The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. I didn't realize until that this was historical fiction until I got to the end and read the author's note. I did wonder though since the author's last name was the same as some characters in the book.

I thought it was a little long in some chapters, and I'm glad I have basic Spanish to understand some of the phrases that weren't translated, but I did enjoy it on the whole.

Although the book is centered around Teresa, who later became known as Santa Teresa of Cabora, and her development from a child under tutelage of Huila to a resurrected woman performing healing miracles, I really liked some of the other characters, her father, Aguirre the engineer, Secundo who became her protector, Beneventura her stepbrother and Cruz Chavez, all of whom added a great deal of color to the story.

In my opinion, her father, Don Tomas Urrea was one of the best characters in this book.

This review doesn't do the book a smidgeon of justice, but I'm finding it hard to review it without retelling the entire story. It's simple, and the richness of the character details are what really makes this story one that will sit with you for a while.

Message edited by its author, Sep 16, 2009, 9:06pm.

Caroline- I'm so glad you enjoyed Hummingbird and I liked your comments. I, too was surprised by the author notes. Swing by my challenge and check out my min-review. Hope you are having a good safe trip!

Thanks Mark, the trip's starting off good in terms of productive meetings, but I had the most 'interesting' dinner tonight ... and not one I'd voluntarily repeat.

I commented on your challenge thread on my take of The Hummingbird's Daughter.

I started "B"is for Burglar by Sue Grafton last night and finished it by lunch time today. This is the first Sue Grafton book I've read and it was definitely light. Passably enjoyable but not particularly gripping. We have Kinsey Millhone, ex-cop and current private investigator being hired to find a missing sister. Along the way, she finds another murder, coincidentally occurring around the time her missing person went .. err.. missing. Is it a coincidence, or are they connected in some way?

A rainy day or beach read ... definitely won't tax you and if you have a couple of hours to while away, it's not a bad way to fill them.

I seem to be immune to Kinsey. She's failed to grab me in any of the four books I tried, just to see what I was missing. *yawn* Russell is so much more my speed, I guess....

She does not grab me either, but it has been a while since I read any of the books - the only one I read was the first one, lol.

I've had Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald on my TBR for a while and I'm glad I took it with me on my trip. I was almost late for a meeting trying to finish the last chapter.

Reading this provided me with a different insight into the repressive lives of girls and women in Iran during the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini, but it also offered glimpses of the stolen moments of pleasure they manage to create for themselves, albeit few, whether it be dating via a taxi ride, or having your friends over for parties.

Tamila is given a taste of freedom when her parents manage to get her a passport so she can go to America, to visit her sister and her brother-in-law, and with the sole purpose of finding herself a husband so she can stay in America and never have to return to Iran.

One would think that, leaving a repressive society, that one would immediately embrace and enjoy the freedom that America provides, but Tami is unprepared mentally for the cultural change, and her instinctive responses to innocuous gestures such as a barrister giving her a free sample of tea at Starbucks, to passing policemen out for their cup of coffee and people of both genders just hanging out together having fun.

And all this time that she's learning the ropes of freedom, she's frantically, with the help of her sister, trying to find a Persian man to marry so she can stay in the country, accepting the fact willingly that once married, she will be trading one type of prison for another, because some of her liberties will be curbed once more, despite living in America. The irony of her enjoying her freedom while looking towards marriage wherein she is expecting to be submissive is not lost on the reader.

There is, however, a happy ending to this story, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. :-)

Message edited by its author, Sep 21, 2009, 9:30pm.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles is one of those books you read because it is so beautifully written. A simple story but that is but a facade and before long, you start to delve into the complexity of the hidden darkness behind some of the characters in the book.

An idyllic time in the life of boy, Gene Forrester, attending summer school in Devon in the early 40s. The war is but a rumor at that point. He meets Phineas, and is swept into a whirlwind of adventures and fun, but then there is an accident... or is it an accident? Does Gene secretly harbor resentment against Finny for being what he wants to be - charming, athletic, charismatic and a leader?

The war does encroach after all, but even then, the school appears to provide a safe haven for the teenagers, until one student, Leper, leaves to enlist after watching a video on snow troops, but ends up returning because he's deemed by the army to be psychotic. Does this bring up the old accident and will truth out? Will we ever learn what's behind Finny's carefree nonchalance?

Beautifully written, this is well worth reading

Message edited by its author, Sep 19, 2009, 2:56pm.

A Separate Peace is the title, maybe? Such a lovely book!

oops... yes, A Separate Peace ... it's 3am in Tokyo ... there should be more typos in my comments.

#224: That one was on my 'must read' list for the year before I ditched it, so I really need to get it read. Thanks for the reminder!

The Sword of Medina by Sherry Jones, an ARC I received earlier this year is about the struggle for power after Prophet Mohammad died. Among his 14 wives, A'isha also craved to be in the seat of power but knowing that the people would never accept a woman leader, she tries to align herself with the subsequent leaders that follow, first her father, and then upon her father's death, his successor.

Very skimpy on details of the battles that were fought by the Muslims against the Bedouins and other non-believers who would intended to invade Medina, and next to no details on the intricate planning that went on in secret between the men who would all sought to be the next khalifa of Medina. Mohammad's cousin, Ali and A'isha have a deep seated hatred for each other, seeing each as the viper who sought to destroy the other to gain power for him/herself. But even this wasn't explored too thoroughly.

A very frustrating read because of the lack of depth. Not a book I would recommend unless you are on a desert island with absolutely nothing at all to read.

I'll pass on that one. Good review, though.

Since you're in Tokyo, have you heard anything about Haruki Murakami's new novel, 1Q84? I've heard it's hugely popular there, and I'm eager to learn if anyone has started to translate it into English yet.

arrgghh...yes everyone I know here has heard or read about it but when I went to the bookstore, the manager there told me it hasn't yet been translated, but that it's very very good ... what a teaser.

Found and starred your thread... I've added numerous books to my giant wishlist based on your recommendations. Can't wait to see what you read next!

Just stopped in to make sure that you are on my starred topic list. You are now!

I will return to read your "year in reading" at a later time.

Glad to be here.

womansheart/Ruth

Caroline- Hope you had a nice weekend, whatever continent you happened to be on. I was a fan of Widow For One Year. It was a fun read. What was the thing about 57 times? Pretty funny stuff! I have his latest book, from a few years ago, sitting in my tbr. I think it had mixed reviews. He has a new book coming out too! I'm also a Murakami fan, I need to get back to him.

Caroline - I just found you! You've taken me nicely through about two hours on the shop counter this morning - and I've had to read your entire thread armed with pen and paper for all the books I liked the sound of... ;-)

Ooh, I'm all starred, I'm starred.....*does a little leap* ... thanks for starring my humble little thread, folks. It's not much, but I call it home. ;-) I'm going to improve it next year in terms of listing the books I've read at the top of the thread each month.

I was toying with the idea of doing it this year ... but if I did, then I'd be without a reasonable resolution for 2010.

thanks Mark, I had a very interesting weekend but I'm glad to be back on home soil now. A Widow for One Year stood the test of a long flight. I've just got another 30 pages to go, so I'm going to finish it this evening and I'll review this tomorrow. I've got mixed feelings about this book though.

I think I might do the 'list at the top of the thread' thing next year too. I've done it at the top of thread #2 (for all the books from #1) and at the top of my ABC challenge, but next year I think I'll do it from the start. Having read LOADS of other people's threads recently, people I've not come across here before, I've found that it's nice to have a quick reference point to see whether their book tastes tally with yours a bit before you start reading...

*hmpf*

Ellie never visits MY threads...waaah

I am unloved

*snivel*

Actually I do... I'm just so mysterious and quiet about the whole thing that you never see me!

That and the fact that I was already so behind by the time I found it that it's proving nigh on impossible to keep up! I'm looking forward to January and the start of a new reading year so I can catch all you guys from the beginning! :-D

hee...silent stealth ellie .... a good name for our next defense product.

I definitely like the quick reference point at the top of the thread and I'm filching some good ideas I've liked from some other people's threads. I'd like to do more, but that would mean I'd spend way too much time on my 'puter and less time actually reading and *gasp* working or sleeping.

Very nice... but I prefer 'stealth bomber' actually... it's what my auntie calls our little panther-esque half-Siamese black cat, and it kinda stuck as an all-round useful phrase in our house!

Here's my 75th book -- whoopee... i made my challenge.

Widow for One Year by John Irving. Stories within a story ... this is really what this book amounts to. It's like getting a little surprise treat every once in a while along the way.

There's a house on Long Island where every room is filled with framed photographs of 2 boys long dead. A little girl of 4 grows up in the house surrounded by photos of her dead brothers whom she knows only through stories told around each photograph. Ted, the father, is a writer of 3 not very successful novels and successful children's books. He also has a penchant for drinking, playing squash and seducing women, preferably unhappily married younger women. Marion, the mother, is vague and distant after the loss of her sons. Ruth is their 4 year old daughter, conceived as an intended replacement for the sons they had lost. Marion and Ted decide to separate amicably, live in 2 houses and take alternate days and nights with Ruth at the main house.

Eddie O'Hare, a 16 year old, enters into this family, ostensibly as an intern to Ted, who lose his license as a result of multiple DUI charges and needs someone to drive him. Eddie thinks he's there to learn how to be a writer. Eddie ends up having a love affair with Marion.

And that's the start where our 4 main characters are introduced. From that point on, their lives start to unravel before us, Marion leaves Ted and Ruth and disappears for most of the rest of the book. We leave Ruth at 4 on the day her mother disappears and pick her up again when she's now a successful writer in her 20s.

Sounds simple but it's not. There's almost every emotion brought forth in this book. Anger, sadness, elation and humor. There are a few really funny moments in this story, Mrs Vaughn and the gardener over the drawings, Ted and the squid ink ice cubes, Eddie and 'sixty times' and even Ruth in Amsterdam's red light district.

While the story unfolds around the lives of our 4 main characters, all of whom are or become writers themselves, there are little side stories that seamlessly emerge about some of the people they come in contact with. The seamlessness with which these side stories slide into the main characters lives done with great skill. And if you don't think that's hard enough to do, we're also treated to the actual children's stories that Ted wrote, chapters of the novels written by Ruth, bits of Eddie's novels and later parts of Marion's books.

This book reminded me of a kaleidoscope, you're dazzled by the patterns and colors when you look into the eye-piece, but a slight movement of the wrist, and a new and different brightly lit picture appears before you. More twists bring more new dazzling patterns and you can't get enough of them. This is what this book was like for me. Every few pages introduced me to new pictures and new stories. I couldn't get enough of them.

I especially wish Ted Cole's children's illustrated books were real so I could buy and keep them for myself....they sound a bit like Lemony Snicket stories.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Go you for hitting your 75, particularly on such a high point! :-D

Heads Up on your review of Widow for One Year...i gave you one little Flag on the Book page...love the book..and you are a gal after my own heart!
J

........and i STARRED your page here, you!!

Message edited by its author, Sep 22, 2009, 5:36pm.

Congrats on 75!

WOO HOOOOO! Conga-rats!!

(I love Sandra Boynton's cards...that one's a favorite, a conga line of rats inside the card.)

(Why, in the Age of Cable, has no one made a series out of the characters of Boynton's cards? Like the hippo who, when asked casually, "Want some chocolate?" falls to her knees and begs, "OH YES PLEASE!!!" I ask you.)

She's making too much money without selling away the licensing rights?

Could be, Tad, but TV always pays a lot for those rights in the end...residuals are forever.

But then, what happened to "Dilbert" on TV shouldn't have happened to a dog.

wow! I have been away too long..
there is a sequel to Humingbird's you know.. so...
I don't care what anyone says, I am a John Irving fan :)

Congrats!

Caroline- Excellent job reaching 75! Good review on "Widow" and you seemed like you enjoyed it! I was a fan too and you didn't mention the sex or the boob-fixation! Nice restraint! There is a film version, btw, with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. I think it was called "Door in the Floor". Why? I have no idea! It covered only a small portion of the book.
I like your idea of listing your books at the top of your thread. I think I will borrow that myself!

ooh, thanks for the thumbs up, Jude and for starring me.

thanks all for the congratulatory messages ... i wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish 75 in a year so i'm quite pleased. now i'm wondering if i should up my own challenge for next year to perhaps 90 or 100, but that may be pushing it perhaps.

richard : I absolutely adore Sarah Boynton books and cards.... all my friends' kids and godchildren have me to thank for their entire collection of Boynton books. My favorite is But Not the Hippopotamus.. cracks me up every single time.

Kath : I didn't know there was a sequel to Hummingbird's. What is the title?

Mark : The boob-fixation I found rather odd really, but then again, it was written by a man, no? ;-) Is there a film version? I can't stand Kim Basinger ... all she seems to do in any film she's in is scream alot. I haven't found a single John Irving book that's been made into a good movie as yet. The last one I watched was Cider House Rules and it completely annoyed me because of the number of inaccuracies in the movie.

I thought the film version of The World According to Garp was excellent but yes, overall most of the others fall short!
I'm pretty sure the sequel to Hummingbird won't be out until next spring!

Congratulations Caroline! And I gave you a thumbs up on your excellent book review.

Thanks, Darryl

woo on 75!

Hi and congratulations on your hot review listed on today's LT home page!

Hot Review-a-rincess! W00t!

Caroline- Congrats on the Hot Review!! You go girl!!

thanks, thanks.... *shuffle, blush*

how do reviews get voted up on the Hot Review list? Does it go by word count? Because I can't see how my review was anything but ordinary.

Message edited by its author, Sep 23, 2009, 10:30pm.

It's a beauty pageant. Thumbs-ups given in the last x hours.

Hot ! hooray!

It is to be called The Queen of America.. will be out in 2010

cameling petite ange, isn't it about time for thread the second?

on your command, richard mon coeur .... my 2nd thread can be found here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/73892