Storeetllr Reads & Reviews Part 2

Wow, I lost track and all of a sudden my first thread was over 200 posts! Anyway, welcome to my second thread for 2012.

Books Read in 2012:

January

1. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. 4 stars.
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry. 4.5 stars.
4. A Study in Scarlet by A. Conan Doyle, adapted by Ian Edginton. 3.5 stars.
5. The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle, adapted by Ian Edginton. 3.5 stars.
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald, adapted by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir. 3.5 stars
7. Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry. 4 stars.
8. Angelfall by Susan Ee. 4 stars.
9. All Roads Lead to Murder by Albert A. Bell Jr. 4 stars.
10. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. 5 stars.
11. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. 5 stars.
12. The Stand: Hardcases by Aguirre-Sacasa based on novel by Stephen King. 4 stars.
13. The Stand: American Nightmares by Aguirre-Sacasa based on novel by Stephen King. 4 stars.
14. Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway by Mike Carey. 4 stars.
15. Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer. 4 stars.
16. Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle. 3.5 stars.
17. Blood of Caesar by Albert A. Bell Jr. 3.75 stars.

February

18. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. 5 stars.
19. The Corpus Conundrum by Albert A. Bell, Jr. 3.5 stars.
20. A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz. 5 stars.
21. The Chalk Girl by Carol O'Connell. 4 stars.
22. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. 5 stars.
23. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. 4.5 stars.
24. In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz. 4.5 stars.
25. Horns by Joe Hill. 4 stars.
26. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. 4.5 stars.
27. The Sixth Gun #1 by Cullen Bunn. 4 stars.

March

28. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich. 4 stars.
29. Cold Vengeance by Preston and Child. 3.75 stars.
30. The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch. 3 stars.
31. SPQR II: The Catiline Conspiracy by John Maddox Roberts. 4.5 stars.
31. SPQR II: The Catiline Conspiracy by John Maddox Roberts. 4.5 stars.
32. SPQR I: The King's Gambit by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars.
33. SPQR V: Saturnalia by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars.
34. SPQR VI: Nobody Loves a Centurion by John Maddox Roberts. 3.75 stars.
35. Petty Treason by Madieline E. Robins. 4 stars
36. Taken by Robert Crais. 4.5 stars.
37. SPQR VII: The Tribunes Curse by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars
38. Murder Most Strange by Dell Shannon. 3.5 stars
39. The Sleeping Partner by Madeleine Robins. 4.75 stars
40. SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars
41. The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn. 4.5 stars

April

42. SPQR IV: The Temple of the Muses by John Maddox Roberts. 4.5 stars
43. SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars
44. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. 5 stars
45. Sacred by Dennis Lehane. 4.5 stars
46. SPQR X: A Point of Law by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars
47. The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence. 4 stars
48. A Good and Useful Hurt by Aric Davis. 4.5 stars
49. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill 4.5 stars
50. The Drop by Michael Connelly. 5 stars
51. SPQR XI: Under Vesuvius by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars
52. Chaos in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars
53. Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill. 4 stars

May

54. Bodies Politic by David Wishart. 4 stars
55. Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars
56. Tapping the Vein by Clive Barker. (graphic) 3 stars
57. When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris 4 stars
58. Disco for the Dead by Colin Cotterill 4.5 stars
59. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach 5 stars
60. The Long Fall by Walter Mosley 3 stars
61. The Ravens of Falkenau by Jo Graham 3.5 stars
62. Fire by Kristin Cashore 5 stars
63. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 4 stars
64. Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill 4 stars (audio)
65. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. 3.75 stars
66. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)
67. The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)
68. Gone, Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane. 4.5 stars
69. Love songs from a Shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)

June
70. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. 3.75 stars (3 for my enjoyment; .75 bonus for exquisite writing)
71. Locke and Key: Head Games by Joe Hill. 3.5 stars.
72. Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz 4 stars
73. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 5 stars. Audio. (hated the reader but liked the story & it made me cry toward the end)
74. Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick. 4 stars.
75. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris 4.5 stars.
76. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 3.5 stars (graphic)
77. Cypress Grove by James Sallis 4 stars
78. Death's Excellent Vacation edited by Charlaine Harris 4 stars (individual stories from 3-4.5 stars, so a 4 altogether) (audio) (esp. loved the one about the kid who was haunted by the old man who kept saying, "Stop" in a raspy breathless voice)
79. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell. 4 stars. Audio by Jim Hill. (Would have gotten 4.5 except there was just too much middle-aged male angst, the story got just a tad bit over the top, and I didn't like the reader.)
80. The Last Policeman by Ben Winters. 5 stars. ER book
81. The Glass Castle by Janette Walls. 5 stars. Audio. What a roller coaster ride! I think it hit every emotion there is, including a lot of anger, but there were parts where I laughed out loud, and at the end I cried.
82. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. 4 stars. Kindle.

July
83. Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill. 4 stars. Miss Dr. Siri, but this mystery
with new protag newspaper reporter Jimm and her family & friends grew on me, and I'm looking forward to the next which I won in the June batch of ERs.
84. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. 3.5 stars. Some unwieldy plot holes & every plot device but the kitchen sink, but an interesting storyline and some interesting possibilities for future novels in the series. Favorite character is the house.
85. The Naming : The First Book of Pellinor by Alison Croggon. 4 stars. I liked this fantasy, though it was strongly reminiscent of Lord of the Rings to the point where when the Hulls appeared, I immediately thought "Nazgul," and when they were at the hidden city in the forest (forgot what it's called), I thought "Lothlorien." And so on.
86. No Cause for Concern by David Wishart. 3.75 stars.
87. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Graham-Smith. 4.5 stars. Audio. Reread.
88. Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane. 4 stars. Solid Kenzie & Gennaro mystery/thriller.
89. Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill. 3.5 stars. Audio. ER. This one just didn't grab me, and I am not exactly sure why. Perhaps because there was a bit of preachiness in it? Perhaps because there wasn't as many descriptions of the personality quirkiness of the characters. Perhaps because it was a bit all-over-the-place and there wasn't really much mystery to it. Anyway, it fell flat for me and I'm glad I'm finished with it and probably won't want to listen to it again.
90. Master and God by Lindsey Davis. 3.5 stars. Erk, another near dud, and by another of my favorite authors too. This historical novel read more like a history, the characters were flat, it jumped from Domitian's head to Lucilla's to Clodianus's to a fly's (I kid you not) and didn't make me care much for any of the characters, though I did like Clodianus most.
91. King City by Lee Goldberg. 4.5 stars. eBook. This blurb says exactly what I wanted to say: "King City is Walking Tall, Die Hard, and Dirty Harry all rolled into one. Hard-driving action and all the satisfaction of a well-told story about a righteous man of courage facing seemingly insurmountable odds. You'll love it."-Jan Burke, bestselling author of Disturbance and Liar. Plus, the characters were pretty well-drawn, the writing was, in parts, cleverly humorous, and I couldn't help love the creativity of the protagonist in the use of weapons. VERY satisfying. I liked King City far more than I expected to and can't wait for the next in the series.
92. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane. 3.5 stars. This one for some reason just didn't do it for me, not like the earlier Kenzie and Gennaro novels in the series.

August
93. The Unseen by Heather Graham. 3.75 stars. I enjoyed this enough while I was reading it, but after I finished and thought about it I realized it had some problems, not least of which was a rushed ending.
94. The Witness by Nora Roberts. 4.5 stars. Audio. Roberts writes some of the best romances! She is the Georgette Heyer of today. This was on audio, and the reader was exceptionally good. I think I liked Abigail, the protagonist in this one, better than any of her others, except maybe for the one in Chasing Fire.
95. Miss Lacey's Last Fling by Candice Hern. 4 stars. Kindle. Sweet and funny Regency romance.
96. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard. 4.5 stars. Audio
97. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Claire. 3.75 stars. Audio
98. Snake Skin, a Lucy Guardino mystery by CJ Lyons. 4 stars. Kindle. First in series. Not the last I'll be reading. Didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
99. The Book of Night Women by Marlon James. 5 stars. Audio. Dark, painfully brutal, often graphic & violent, but an amazing work about the horrors of slavery. A powerful work that I thought spoke to the capacity of human beings for extreme cruelty, as well as for endurance, courage, and transcendance.
100. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. 3.75 stars. Okay, but I like the film better. (!)
101. Imhotep by Jerry Dubs. 4.5 Kindle Surprisingly good by a new-to-me author. Time travel, which usually turns me off, and ancient Egypt in the time before the pyramids, during the reign of King Djoser.
102. The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. 4 stars. Pretty good first book in the series of Hugh de Singleton medieval mysteries, I think better than the 2nd, which I read last year.
103. Sandman by Morgan Hannah MacDonald. 3.75 stars. Kindle. Pretty good thriller but there were a few too many things that a good editor should have caught, and some of it was awkwardly written, and the ending was a bit of a letdown, so .25 was taken off for that.

September
104. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. 3.75 stars.
105. The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell. 4 stars.
106. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. 3.75 stars.
107. Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan. 5 stars. Audio
108. The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross. 3 stars. YA
109. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.
110. Medieval Underpants by Susanne Alleyn. 4.5 stars. Kindle
111. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.
112. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.
113. Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens. 3.75 stars. Kindle.
114. Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars.
115. Habibi by Craig Thompson. 4 stars. Graphic.
116. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audio
117. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault. 5 stars. First in the Alexander Trilogy. Even better the second time around.

October
118. Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas. 3.75 stars. Audio.
119. Under the Dome by Stephen King. 4 stars. Audio.
120. One Step Behind by Henning Mandell. 3.5 stars. Audio
121. Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn. 3.75 stars.

November
122. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. 4 stars. Audio
123. Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audio
124. The Glass Butterfly by Louise Marley. 4 stars. LTER
135. Motivate to Create by Nate Hendley. 3.5 stars. LTER
136. Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. 4.5 stars.
137. Shifting by Bethany Wiggins. 3.5 stars.
138. Downside Girls by Jaine Fenn. 3.5 stars. LTER
139. New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear. 4 stars.
140. Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce. 5 stars. eBook
132. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. 4 stars.
133. Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. 4 stars. Audio.
134. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore. 4.5 stars. Audio
135. Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer. 3.75 stars.
136. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars. Audio

December
137. Venetia by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars.
138. Flora Dares by Ysabeau S. Wilce. 5 stars
139. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich. 4 stars
140. Mercury Begins by Robert Kroese. 3.5 stars
141. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente. 4 stars. Audio
142. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness. 3.5 stars. Audio
143. The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr. 3.5 stars. Audio

Series I Read in 2012

Dr. Siri Paiboun mysteries ~ FINISHED! Although I rated the individual books that make up the series at 4 or 4.5 stars, the series taken as a whole rates much higher. I give it 6 out of 5 and pray Cotterill continues to write more about the remarkable doctor, his delightful posse, and Laos of the late 70s ~ itself an extraordinary character.
1 The Coroner's lunch
2 Thirty-three teeth
3 Disco for the departed
4 Anarchy and old dogs
5 Curse of the pogo stick
6 The Merry misogynist
7 Love songs from a shallow grave

Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro mystery
1 A Drink before the war
2 Darkness, take my hand
3 Sacred
4 Gone, baby, gone
5 Prayers for rain
6 Moonlight Mile

50. The Drop by Michael Connelly. 5 stars. Vintage Harry Bosch. I loved it! Harry's nearing mandatory retirement age when he gets tagged to investigate two troubling cases: one is a cold case involving a young woman who had been raped and strangled 20 years earlier where newly found evidence suddenly points to an almost impossible suspect; and the second is the apparent suicide of the son of one of Harry's strongest and oldest enemies. I read it in two goes, long into the night because I couldn't put it down.

Book marking you :D

Thanks, Sara! Hope to see you here a lot! :)

I LOVE Michael Connelly but did not read your review as I am behind you in the series. I am ready for Lost Light and intend to get to it next month.

Hi Mary- Nice new thread! I am ridiculously behind on reading Connelly I think I've read 2 or 3 of his books. That's it. Even with M & M coming up, I don't think I could squeeze him in. Are you joining us n that? I'm going to try getting up the Thread today.

Hi, Mamie ~ I agree it's smart not to read reviews (even though I was VERY careful not to give away any spoilers in mine) until you've read a book. Sometimes just hearing someone rave about a book makes me want to avoid it, and sometimes an innocent phrase will be a huge giveaway (or so it may seem).

Hi, Mark ~ Thanks, and welcome! Yes, I will definitely be doing M&M with you (in fact I seem to read more mysteries than any other genre anyway). I'll look for the new thread. I hope you can fit in a Connelly ~ Bosch is my favorite, but I also can highly recommend Lincoln Lawyer which is a relatively new series featuring Mickey Haller.

So...2/3 of the way to 75!

Mary- Funny, Lincoln Lawyer was one I have read. It was terrific. The movie was good too! The M & M thread is up and running.

I need to catch up on my Harry Bosch novels. I'll get there. :)

Hi, Jim ~ Yep, moving right along, and this year I'm so lucky that the majority of what I've read is 4 stars or higher.

Okay, then, Mark ~ and The Brass Verdict and The Reversal just continue the tradition!

Hi, Julie ~ Connelly is so prolific, it is hard to keep up. I just saw he's got a new Bosch coming out in November, The Black Box, so better get going on the series! ;D

Hi, Mary :)

I went to the LA festival of books! I'm sooooo glad I did.

I went to church this morning and then I went food shopping and then I came home and made my mom lunch and I was just....what the hell? I don't want to wait till next year. So, I went. By myself, not really knowing where I was going or what was going to be there.

I'm soooo glad I did! It is overwhelming...there is so much going on. Next year I'll do research and buy tickets and go both days.......but, I got to meet Betty White!! Yay! That was awesome! I love her, and I loved her book (I was able to read it while I was waiting in line) and it was super cool to look in her eyes and have her speak to me. Super cool.

I'm so glad I went and thank you thank you for giving me a nudge! xoxo

OH, YAYAYAY! I'm so jealous ~ Betty White is my hero! So glad you got to meet her.

ETA maybe next year we can plan to go on the same day and meet up?

I would have freaked out over Judy Blume yesterday and I missed Anne Rice by like 15 min (if I could have got a ticket) today.

But, YAYAYAY!! is right! Betty White is awesome. What a perfect hero to have. I love her!! and I can't believe I got to meet her. thank you, Mary!! You did inspire me to check it out....and I was just wandering around when I heard her voice

For sure I will be there next year and I'd love to meet up...I'm surprised LT'ers aren't all over it.

Do you mind telling me again who you got to see yesterday?

Ooh, shiny fresh new thread! And such good reading, too.

One thing about the tickets ~ they usually sell out about 15 minutes after they go on sale online, but a lot of people who get them (they're actually free, with a nominal fee for Ticketmaster) don't show up, so there is usually a good chance you can get in without advance tix if you get there 15-30 mins. early and wait in the stand-by line. Last time I went, I was able to see Robert Crais and Michael Connelly without tickets, and they are pretty big names (though not as big as Judy Blume). :)

Okay, I heard and met Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children), Jack Gantos (Dead End in Norvelt, Thane Rosenbaum (The Stranger Within Sarah Stein), and Deborah Harkness (A Discovery of Witches).

Hey, Roni! Glad you stopped by!

That festival sounds great. I usually don't go to book stuff here (Netherlands) when it is just one writer speaking (Stephen Fry and Redmond O'Hanlon) are the only ones I ever saw, and those men are so much more than writers. But if they had a festival like that here (with those writers) I would go both days, and spend a ton of money! ;)

The festival does sound wonderful! A bit jealous, really.

Sara: I am *definitely* jealous that you've met Stephen Fry. Sigh. I love him.

Met... Saw him in a small theater.... The line for autographs was sooooo long. But he was wonderful, just as great as on TV/Radio/Movies. That man can talk, and his language is fantastic!

I know. I'm like 2 or 3 Connelly's behind. I get caught up and then get behind. It's the same with David Baldacci. At least I know there will always be something to look forward to with them. :)

Mary- I think I have the Brass Verdict around here somewhere! Lemme look.

Okay, I guess I need to add Stephen Fry to my list (my loooooong list) of TBRs. What should I start with, Sara and Stasia?

Julie ~ Good point! I love discovering a series after there are a lot of books in it so I don't have to wait too long for the next!

Mark ~ I work in a law firm and never want to read about lawyers, I get too much of them irl and ~ good or bad ~ fictional lawyers are never realistic to me, but I do like Mickey Haller.

He has fiction and non-fiction. If you like his documentaries (Last Chance to See, Stephen Fry in America) his non-fiction is recommended (there are books of those series, plus his biographies Moab is my washpot and The Fry Chronicles. Those are fun because of the strange life he has led, the insight into upperclass England of the twentieth century, and all the famous British actors and comedians he has know forever, like Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson etc.
I have only read Making History of his fiction works, about changing history, and I loved it so much, he is a word-wizard and his English is delightful. I think he also has written poetry, but I am no fan of poetry so I am not sure.

Paperweight, which is a collection of his essays, is wonderful too. Whatever of his that you read, you'll be wowed by his mastery of language. He's a treasure.

Okay, I'm going to check the library to see if they have Making History and Paperweight. Thanks, Sara and Stasia!

Okay, so I had to look up who Stephen Fry was and imagine my surprise to find out that an actor that I love also writes!! Who knew? Um, so okay, apparently EVERYBODY but me knew, but still, what a great discovery. I just keep learning new things here at LT. Now I will have to read one of his books.

Oh, he's an actor? I had no idea. I guess it was you and me both, Mamie.

51. SPQR XI: Under Vesuvius by John Maddox Roberts. 4 stars. Okay, so this story took place about 100 years before Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum and damaging Baiae ~ which is a beautiful town on the Bay of Naples not far from the vineyard-covered slopes of the volcano and is where the majority of the story takes place. Decius has been elected Praetor Peregrinus, which means he gets to travel around Italy for his year in office, judging cases that have to do with non-citizens. He starts out in Baiae, staying with Julia and a couple of her friends at a lovely villa owned by the old lawyer Hortalus, and is enjoying the wealthy, sybaritic lifestyle immensely, when the beautiful daughter of the local priest of Apollo is murdered and the handsome and likeable son of the local slave trader is accused. Since all the parties are foreigners, it puts Decius square in the middle of the case.

One of the things I've really enjoyed about this series is the growth of Decius's character. In the first book, he's a comfort-loving, street-fighting, wine-guzzling rake with a penchant for sussing out mysteries and a family that dismisses him as relatively useless and eccentric. In Under Vesuvius, he still loves to solve mysteries, still likes his comforts and his wine, but he's got gravitas now and commands a lot more respect, though his outlook on life is only slightly less unconventional than when he was young. Another thing I like is the descriptions on what life was like back then and, in this particular offering, what life was like outside Rome.

I'm nearing the end of the series, which makes me sad, but I have a feeling I'll be rereading them again in the future. I just need to let enough years go by between readings so I forget most of the details and only the lovely feeling of spending time with old friends remains.

Haha, for those who only knew him as an actor, check out his documentaries. Planet Word is a great one for LT'ers, about the power of the spoken/written word. And vice versa, Mary, he was great in Sherlock Holmes (the Guy Ritchie version, 2nd movie) as Mycroft, and will be in the Hobbit (as the Master of Laketown).

Mary: I would suggest that you seek out the BBC Jeeves and Wooster series from a few years back. Fry plays Jeeves just brilliantly, and Hugh Laurie is great at Bertie Wooster.

I second the suggestion to seek out the BBC Jeeves and Wooster series - brilliantly cast and highly entertaining!

I bought the entire series for my sister a few years ago as a Christmas present, and she still says that it is the best gift that she ever received!

Huh. I think I watched one or two episodes of Jeeves & Wooster awhile back and think maybe I remember the actor who played Jeeves. Okay, you've all convinced me. I'm going to have to look for the series on DVD tomorrow at the library and also look for that documentary and the Sherlock Holmes movie.

And if I don't find any of those before The Hobbit comes out, I guess I'll know who he is when I see that film! (Looking forward to seeing it. I liked the book when I read it but could never reread it, though I reread LoTR about a gazillion times over the years since the 60s.)

Oh the Hobbit movie will be so great, I might actually break my ban on movie theaters and go see it there. All those fantastic actors (most from LotR + Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch (whooo), Billy Connolly)...

Mary, I saw Christopher Moore will be in your neck of the woods this weekend at Vromans. Do you like him?

I might check it out after the ren fair. LOL!! That'll be a wacky day.

Oooh! *hopping up and down in excitement over Martin Freeman, Billy Connolly and Christopher Moore*

Oh! I cannot wait! *hopping right along with you, Amber!*

I didn't know that, Ellen. I'm definitely going to have to get there to see him. I do like him and have read a lot of his stuff. I saw him at the LATFoB one year while it was still at UCLA. He was on a panel with a couple of other writers of, I think, humor. He was great ~ so funny.

52. Chaos in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars. Novelette on Audio. I took a quick break from my regular reading to enjoy this weird little story from the world of Eve Dallas and Roarke. Someone has murdered three recovering drug addicts in a particularly gruesome ~ even grotesque ~ way, and Eve focuses on the doctors at the clinic where they were receiving treatment. Then the doctor she liked most for the crime is himself killed in the same grotesque way, and Eve has to change the direction of the investigation. I liked this one, maybe partly because it reminded me of the weird science of Preston and Child's Relic and Reliquary. In chronology, this comes after New York to Dallas.

I read many of Nora Roberts' books in my younger days - perfect for picking up and putting back down again when RL interrupts, as it often does with small children. But I have never read any of the books she has written under the J. D. Robb name, not sure why as I love mysteries. Hmmm... may have to remedy that. Hope you are having a good weekend, Mary!

Hi, Mamie ~ I've been reading her "In Death" series since the beginning (Naked in Death is first; not exactly sure what number it's up to now, but I think it's around 35), and have found most titles highly enjoyable, though a few are less appealing. The ones I recall enjoying most focus more strongly on the mystery, though they are, at their heart, romances. They all include the relationships between Eve and Roarke and their friends in the plot, which makes reading them like visiting with old friends. There is usually a lot of humorous bits, as well as a sex scene or two (only between Eve and Roarke as far as I can recall), but I (who am less and less interested these days in reading page after page of excruciatingly detailed scenes of lovemaking) don't find them boring or offensive in the least. Yet, there is violence in them, and sordid crimes, and depravity, and the development of the characters as they grapple with their pasts and the problems inherent in marriage, especially when marriage is between two strong-willed, independent people, enrich them so they aren't, in my opionion, too romancy for a reader who isn't a lover of the genre (though they are probably too romancy for those who hate the genre).

53. Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill. 4 stars. Okay, this series is turning out to be addictive. I couldn't even wait until May 1 to start this mystery (May Mystery & Mayhem) and read it in a day, neglecting some chores I really should have done so I could finish it. In this one, people are being mauled to death by a wild animal ~ or is it?

Strangely enough, this one too reminds me of the weirdness of the Special Agent Pendergast series.

Dr. Siri is addictive! Next up is Disco for the Departed. Now I'm off to investigate Special Agent Pendergast because I cannot resist weirdness.

Ah, that explains why you keep coming back to visit me. ;)

Have fun with SA Pendergast!

I already have Disco for the Departed on the top of the pile to start first thing tomorrow.

54. Bodies Politic by David Wishart. 4 stars. The latest Marcus Corvinus mystery finds the intrepid Sam Spade of ancient Rome reluctantly investigating the death of one of his enemies, Macro, who killed himself upon the order of the Emperor Caligula. Corvinus is well aware that his snooping around the imperial dirty laundry could get him in a passel of trouble should the Emperor find out what he's up to, but he just can't seem to stop. When Corvinus stumbles on a dastardly plot to assassinate the Emperor, a plot that reaches far (south to Alexandria and north to the Rhine) and high (imperial family high), things really start getting dangerous. A pretty good story, some of it historically accurate, even if not actually correctly placed in time (as discussed in the end notes).

I like Corvinus and I like his irreverence and slang. I doubt if Romans of that time period actually talked like that, but then we don't really know how they spoke. All we have to go on is what we can glean from the writings that survive, and I'm pretty sure that written Latin is much more formal than spoken Latin, especially when they were speaking amongst friends and family. Still, I acknowledge that it can be jarring for those who are used to the more sober writers of ancient Roman fiction (Saylor, for example, and McCullough).

55. Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars. I saw that someone on LT didn't like this one, and not sure why, because I enjoyed it. In this one, a vid is being made of Nadine's book about the Icove affair, and at a dinner for the cast and the irl people they play someone murders the actress who is playing Peabody.

"the intrepid Sam Spade of ancient Rome..."

I'm In!

Mary: Plautus is the closest we can get to informal, spoken Latin, and he's a hoot! Oh, and the graffiti in Pompeii. So we know a little about how the Romans actually talked. Otherwise, you're right - written Latin is more formal than the spoken Latin would have been.
I need to pick up some Sam Spade one of these days - I'm certain I would love it.

Mamie ~ ;)

Amber ~ I had forgotten about the graffiti! Yes, judging from that, the ancient Romans could get a bit salty. Not to mention vulgar & bawdy. I'll have to get a translation of something Plautus wrote.

56. Tapping the Vein by Clive Barker. (graphic) 3 stars
57. When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris 4 stars
58. Disco for the Dead by Colin Cotterill 4.5 stars
59. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. Audio. 5 stars

Oh Boy! Thought I lost you! Hope you are doing well and enjoying the holiday weekend!!!

Hi Mary, it's been awhile, I hope everything is ok with you.

The rest of the May books read:
60. The Long Fall by Walter Mosley 3 stars
61. The Ravens of Falkenau by Jo Graham 3.5 stars
62. Fire by Kristin Cashore 5 stars
63. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 4 stars
64. Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill 4 stars (audio)
65. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. 3.75 stars
66. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)
67. The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)
68. Gone, Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane. 4.5 stars
69. Love songs from a Shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill. 4.5 stars (audio)

June books read:
70. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. 3.75 stars (3 for my enjoyment; .75 bonus for exquisite writing)
71. Locke and Key: Head Games by Joe Hill. 3.5 stars.
72. Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz 4 stars
73. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 5 stars. Audio. (hated the reader but liked the story & it made me cry toward the end)
74. Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick. 4 stars.
75. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris 4.5 stars.
76. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 3.5 stars (graphic)
77. Cypress Grove by James Sallis 4 stars
78. Death's Excellent Vacation edited by Charlaine Harris 4 stars (individual stories from 3-4.5 stars, so a 4 altogether) (audio) (esp. loved the one about the kid who was haunted by the old man who kept saying, "Stop" in a raspy breathless voice)
79. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell. 4 stars. Audio by Jim Hill. (Would have gotten 4.5 except there was just too much middle-aged male angst, the story got just a tad bit over the top, and I didn't like the reader.)
80. The Last Policeman by Ben Winters. 5 stars. ER book
81. The Glass Castle by Janette Walls. 5 stars. Audio. What a roller coaster ride! I think it hit every emotion there is, including a lot of anger, but there were parts where I laughed out loud, and at the end I cried.
82. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. 4 stars. Kindle.

July books read
83. Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill. 4 stars. Miss Dr. Siri, but this mystery
with new protag newspaper reporter Jimm and her family & friends grew on me, and I'm looking forward to the next which I won in the June batch of ERs.
84. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. 3.5 stars. Some unwieldy plot holes & every plot device but the kitchen sink, but an interesting storyline and some interesting possibilities for future novels in the series. Favorite character is the house.
85. The Naming : The First Book of Pellinor by Alison Croggon. 4 stars. I liked this fantasy, though it was strongly reminiscent of Lord of the Rings to the point where when the Hulls appeared, I immediately thought "Nazgul," and when they were at the hidden city in the forest (forgot what it's called), I thought "Lothlorien." And so on.
86. No Cause for Concern by David Wishart. 3.75 stars.
87. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Graham-Smith. 4.5 stars. Audio. Reread.
88. Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane. 4 stars. Solid Kenzie & Gennaro mystery/thriller.
89. Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill. 3.5 stars. Audio. ER. This one just didn't grab me, and I am not exactly sure why. Perhaps because there was a bit of preachiness in it? Perhaps because there wasn't as many descriptions of the personality quirkiness of the characters. Perhaps because it was a bit all-over-the-place and there wasn't really much mystery to it. Anyway, it fell flat for me and I'm glad I'm finished with it and probably won't want to listen to it again.
90. Master and God by Lindsey Davis. 3.5 stars. Erk, another near dud, and by another of my favorite authors too. This historical novel read more like a history, the characters were flat, it jumped from Domitian's head to Lucilla's to Clodianus's to a fly's (I kid you not) and didn't make me care much for any of the characters, though I did like Clodianus most.
91. King City by Lee Goldberg. 4.5 stars. eBook. This blurb says exactly what I wanted to say: "King City is Walking Tall, Die Hard, and Dirty Harry all rolled into one. Hard-driving action and all the satisfaction of a well-told story about a righteous man of courage facing seemingly insurmountable odds. You'll love it."-Jan Burke, bestselling author of Disturbance and Liar. Plus, the characters were pretty well-drawn, the writing was, in parts, cleverly humorous, and I couldn't help love the creativity of the protagonist in the use of weapons. VERY satisfying. I liked King City far more than I expected to and can't wait for the next in the series.
92. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane. 3.5 stars. This one for some reason just didn't do it for me, not like the earlier Kenzie and Gennaro novels in the series.

August books read
93. The Unseen by Heather Graham. 3.75 stars. I enjoyed this enough while I was reading it, but after I finished and thought about it I realized it had some problems, not least of which was a rushed ending.
94. The Witness by Nora Roberts. 4.5 stars. Audio. Roberts writes some of the best romances! She is the Georgette Heyer of today. This was on audio, and the reader was exceptionally good. I think I liked Abigail, the protagonist in this one, better than any of her others, except maybe for the one in Chasing Fire.
95. Miss Lacey's Last Fling by Candice Hern. 4 stars. Kindle. Sweet and funny Regency romance.
96. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard. 4.5 stars. Audio
97. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Claire. 3.75 stars. Audio
98. Snake Skin, a Lucy Guardino mystery by CJ Lyons. 4 stars. Kindle. First in series. Not the last I'll be reading. Didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
99. The Book of Night Women by Marlon James. 5 stars. Audio. Dark, painfully brutal, often graphic & violent, but an amazing novel about Jamaica in the late 1700s/early 1800s that depicted the horrors of slavery. A powerful work that I thought spoke to the capacity of people for evil, as well as about the endurance, courage, and transcendance of the human spirit.
100. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. 3.75 stars. Okay, but I like the film better. (!)
101. Imhotep by Jerry Dubs. 4.5 Kindle Surprisingly good by a new-to-me author. Time travel, which usually turns me off, and ancient Egypt in the time before the pyramids, during the reign of King Djoser.
102. The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. 4 stars. Pretty good first book in the series of Hugh de Singleton medieval mysteries, I think better than the 2nd, which I read last year.

Sorry for the info dump, but it's been a long time since I posted here and I thought it was time to start keeping track here again. Hope everyone is enjoying summer and getting a lot of good summer reading in. I know I am! Well, some good and some meh, but a few really good.

Welcome back, good to see you and the long list of books again :D

Lovely to see you here again, Mary! Oh, and I felt the same way about The Princess Bride...

Some great books you've been reading! Good to see you back.

Hey, thanks, you guys, for the nice welcome back! I've missed LT and you, though I haven't really been away. Just not a lot of time to surf the threads and leave messages. Also been dealing with a bit of depression and anxiety (odd that the two can coexist so happily). It is a long list of books, Sara, and I am sorry not to have done more reviewing but at least I managed to set down the ones I read. Funny that we had the same reaction to The Princess Bride, Amber. Morphy, I seem to have missed a lot, and I see congratulations are in order.

103. Sandman by Morgan Hannah MacDonald. 3.75 stars. Kindle. Okay thriller but there were a few typos that a good editor should have caught, parts of the story were awkwardly written, I found the plot a bit unlikely, the main characters were a bit unreal, and the ending was a bit of a letdown. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, though, so only .25 was taken off for the problems.

Welcome back! Glad to see you've been keeping up the reading.

I'm not around for a few days and you sneak. Glad to see you posting again and you left a long list for me to go over. :-)

Hi, Roni and Tammy! Oh, yes, as long as I live, I will read! Just the internet that I stopped doing for awhile. Thanks for the welcome back! It's going to take me awhile to get all caught up!

ETA that Touchstones for all the books in posts 52-55 can be found in the second post at the top of the thread. I've been keeping a running list up there.

Let me know what you think of Anna Dressed in Blood I started it and wasn't that interested in the premise. I'll be curious to see what your opinion is.

Hi, Ellen! Glad to hear from you! I need to get over to your thread to see what is going on in your life. Anna is getting better, though it's not my favorite read right now. (That honor goes to Talulla Rising, which I'm listening to as an audiobook.)

ETA the ending parenthesis.

104. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. 3.75 stars. Parts of this were a bit too teen-angsty for me, a little too Buffy & Co., and it was never quite as scary as some reviewers said they found it, but it was scary enough for me to be glad I read it and look forward to the next in what I think might be a series.

Mary - So good to see you back here! And you have been busy reading! Congrats on reaching and surpassing 75 and 100!! You have left me in your dust - guess I could find some great reads in the lists above to help me work on catching up.

Glad to see you back posting, Mary.

Hi, Mamie! Judy! Nice to be back! Though, as you note, Mamie, I have not stopped reading.

I'm taking a month off work to deal with some health issues, so I should have more time, at least for awhile, to be on LT and, of course, to read. I hope to get caught up (or at least to get started again) reading everyone's threads. Some of you have so many posts on multiple threads, I know I probably won't be able to catch up, no matter how much time I have, but it will be fun to try.

105. The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell. 4 stars. Kindle. It was good except for Wallender's usual angst, and the ending seemed a bit, I don't know, unfinished. Maybe it's a Scandanavian thing, as I think I've experienced that sort of ending before with Nordic mysteries.

Good to see you, Mary. Sorry to hear about the health issues, but at least there IS a silver lining!

Thanks, Roni. Not serious health issues, just something that needs taking care ofm, and the silver lining is definitely a plus!

106. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. 3.75 stars. YA. This is the first in the Twisted History YA steampunk series starring Finley Jayne, and, though it was pretty fun and I enjoyed it while I was reading it, it was ultimately a bit disappointing when it could have been exceptional, if only... It started out great, dropping you in the middle of the action in Victorian London of this alternate history ~ Finley is accosted by the ne'er-do-well son of her employer, and to protect herself, she is "taken over" by the "Hyde" part of her split personality and creams the jerk, then runs away only to be run over by a "velocycle" in the park at night, which is how she meets Griffith, Emily and Sam ~ and only slowly introducing you to this world where the main characters have super and paranormal powers and there are automatons and other strange, steam-powered inventions galore. Unfortunately, the story isn't quite as cohesive as it could be and contains a bit too much teenage drama and too many love triangles for comfort. Also, the plot was kind of predictable. I liked most of the characters and thought they showed promise, especially Finley and Emily (my favorits, though a bit unfinished), but most were all just a little two-dimensional. Still, as I said, it was enjoyable enough for a quick, lazy summer read, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series, which I happen to have sitting on the bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up.

107. Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan. 5 stars. Audio. Wow. This guy can write. And the reader was amazing! This sequel to The Last Werewolf was as good (maybe even better), and I cannot wait for the third in what I hope turns out to be a series.

108. The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross. 3 stars. YA

109. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.

110. Medieval Underpants by Susanne Alleyn. 4.5 stars. Kindle. Not linked to a touchstone yet. Here's the link to the book on her website: http://www.susannealleyn.com/works.htm. Being an historical fiction aficionado (both as a reader and as a writer), I enjoyed this short and easy-to-read how-to book on avoiding anachronisms in your historical fiction novels. I recognized some of the bloopers she discussed (like the incorrect uses of fireplaces, which weren't in use until the 12th century), but others were a complete surprise (no sugar OR HONEY in pre-Columbian America), and some made me laugh out loud (well, the underpants section, for one). Worth reading even if you only read HF.

111. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.
112. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson. 5 stars. Audio. Re-listen.

113. Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens. 3.75 stars. Kindle. Regency Romance, first of a series.

114. Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars.
115. Habibi by Craig Thompson. 4 stars. Graphic.

116. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audio. Regency romance. At first I didn't like the reader, but after awhile I found her voice perfect.
117. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault. 5 stars. First book of the Alexander Trilogy. Even better the second time around.

118. Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas. 3.75 stars. Audio. Easy listening feel-good Regency romance.

119. Under the Dome by Stephen King. 4 stars. Audio, supplemented by print copy. FINALLY finished this doorstopper of a book after perhaps 6 months. What took so long was that the intensity of the story drove me to sometimes stop reading it and wait to pick it back up until I was calm and able to remember that it was just a novel. Once that took 3 or 4 months. Another time it took a week. Anyway, it was good, as Stephen King's novels always are, but halfway through it occured to me that, if the ending was as I suspected it would be, it was very much like an Original Star Trek episode I'd once seen ~ the crew held captive on an uncharted planet by a strange being with immense powers who forced them to do odd things to amuse him, and then it turned out that this being was just the child of some even more extremely powerful beings ("The Squire of Gothos," if you're interested.) Anyway, I am glad I read Dome, it's King at his most prolific, with stunning characterization (a la King at his best), lots of horrific action, blood and gore and evil and explosions and the like, but I'm really glad to have finished it so I can move on ~ to 11/22/63, which is next on my list (not really, just kidding, though it IS on the list).

Because of the intensity I just could not finish this doorstopper. Too much violence and nasty people. I struggled for a long time, until I decided life's too short, and moved on.

That was it exactly, Nanny! Horrible people, especially that Big Jim Rennie. Reminded me of someone in real life, too, who absolutely disgusts me. It was only with the encouragement of my sister who adores all that Stephen King writes that I was able to go back to it after that 3-4 month hiatus. Actually, after that, I found it wasn't quite as difficult to get through. It helped to remember that, though King often kills off a lot of likeable main characters, he always (well, mostly always) writes an ending where the bad guys get their payback in spades. Didn't fail in this one, though a lot of good people bit the dust in the meantime. It's going to take me awhile to get to 11/22/63, I'm afraid.

Okay, I identified with this so much and think a lot of LTers will too.

Check it out here and let me know if you don't "get" this too.

Edited to try to get the image itself on the post, but it didn't work, and I'm too tired (lazy?) to try again a different way.

Loved it, but loved your comment even more! You rock!

Thanks, Roni. Sadly, it's completely true too. lol

ETA I forgot to include this audiobook I finished around 10/15:

120. One Step Behind by Henning Mankell. 3.5 stars. Audiobook. More middle-age angst. More gloom & doom. Kind of slow. Okay mystery, but the detectives made too many stupid mistakes, and the ending, again, just petered out. I think this is my last Mankell.

121. Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn. 3.75 stars. I love the Chet & Bernie mystery series, as much for the way the novels are written from the viewpoint of Chet, the police-trained dog with a bit of an attention-deficit disorder, as for the mysteries themselves. Which is just as well when it came to this one, where the mystery was not all that great. In fact, I figured it out (more or less) early in the book, and I am one of the WORST when it comes to figuring out "whodunnit" than probably most mystery novel aficionados. Also, something seemed a bit off ~ like it was not as well-fleshed-out as the prior novels in the series. Not to say it wasn't good, it just wasn't quite as good as the ones I've read before. I should mention here that I listened to the prior mysteries as audiobooks, which may be the difference in my enjoyment-factor. The narrator of the audiobooks is tres extraordinare, really bringing to life the way Chet thinks.

I haven't listened to any of the Chet & Bernie books on audio, but it's good to hear they are able to give Chet a good voice.

I love the whole premise and I've heard a few times that this book is the weakest link so far. I picked up the print version from the library yesterday.....I'll let you know what I think

I'll be interested in hearing what you think, Ellen. And glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks it was a bit weak.

As far as the audiobooks go, the narrator gets Chet's voice down exactly right! I'm probably going to re-listen to this one on audio (as well as all of them, really) someday when I am "between" books (can't find anything I feel like reading or in a reading slump) or when I need a pick-me-up.

I get almost all of my books (audio and print) from the library. So, I don't get that big of a selection when it comes to audio.

I wish I could figure out how to download an audio book to my phone. I even bought a MP3 player...but, I didn't have much luck with that.

Right now I'm listening to Intensity by Dean Koontz

I haven't enjoyed any of Koontz books recently and this was recommended as something spooky for Halloween. But, I like paranormal type spooky things and not the serial killer type....so this is already giving me nightmares!!

I'm so lucky to have TWO huge library systems to get books from! The L.A. City and the Pasadena systems. So I can borrow a lot of audiobooks, though not all that I want. Some that I'd think should be carried aren't, and others that I doubt very many people listen to are. But I'm not complaining (much) because there is a large selection to choose from.

I've never read Koontz. Just never got around to it, I guess. I prefer paranormal ghosty type spooky things too. Sometimes, when I'm reading a thriller of the serial killer type, I have to lay the book aside for awhile because it gets just too intense for me, but I don't usually have bad dreams about what I read. Thank goodness, because I read some pretty disturbing books sometimes. :)

The iPod is really simple for loading audiobooks from the library using iTunes. I've had the iPod for about 5 years (maybe longer, can't recall) and so far (knock wood) no problems. Except the screen has a dark line through the middle of it from when I dropped it once, so I can't look at photos on it, but that's okay because it's really just for listening to audiobooks. I can also listen through my Kindle, but I don't care for the Kindle for that purpose. I tried it once and found it a bit cumbersome, so I'm back to carrying both an iPod and a Kindle around with me.

On the Kindle can you get an actual audio book?

I've recommended audio books to my father and he tried it on his Kindle but it was an automated voice "reading" the story and he didn't enjoy it.

I just got a library card for Newport Beach.....I'll have to check out their audio book selection.

When I first got my Kindle and still had an Audible account, I had an audiobook downloaded to my Kindle and listened to it when I was traveling. It was just like any audiobook, not automated. THAT feature is for the eBook, if you have to put the Kindle down to do something but don't want to stop reading at that point, you can have it "read" to you. The Kindle voice reading eBooks is annoyingly robotic.

Hope the Newport Beach library system has more audiobooks. It's possible they are hooked in with another city or two, like Pasadena is hooked in with Glendale and one or two other San Gabriel cities.

Hi Mary, I love the cartoon that you posted and being in my early sixties, I suspect I will be experiencing "the joy of reading a book the first time" on a reread soon!

Thanks, Judy! It's a fun cartoon, isn't it!

122. Well, I've been crazy busy at work the past week, coming home too tired to go online much. But I did manage to finish a book I started months ago, Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. 4 stars. Audiobook. It's a collection of four short stories, all of them gruesome and filled with unpleasant people doing nasty things to nice "ordinary" people. Two were read by a woman, and two by a man. I wasn't thrilled with the voices of either of them, but I got used to them eventually. I had to stop a few times because of the darkness and horror factor, but I kept going because, well, Stephen King! I'm glad I did, all but one of the stories ended up being very satisfying, after all the gruesomeness and horror. Anyway, I think that may be my Halloween read for this year.

123. Almost forgot another audiobook I finished just before I finished the King book: Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audiobook. A light and lovely romance starring Amelia Hathaway, an older sister (if you are an older sister, you will know what I mean by that) trying to take care of a brood of eccentric sisters and one drunken brother, and Cam Rohan, a wealthy gypsy who has forsaken his life as a Romany due to circumstances beyond his control who works as the manager of a gambling club in London.

SO far behind! Reviews to follow, probably not until December as I am doing NaNoWriMo again this November.

124. The Glass Butterfly by Louise Marley. 4 stars. LTER.
125. Motivate to Create by Nate Hendley. 3.5 stars. LTER

126. Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. 4.5 stars. YA fantasy, second in the series. I liked this one even more than the first (The Girl of Fire and Thorns). Elisa is growing into her own in this one, and things in her kingdom are changing fast. She learns a lot about the history of the planet, her Godstone, and herself. Anyone who likes YA fantasy and strong heroines, definitely try this one.

127. Shifting by Bethany Wiggans. 3.5 stars. YA fantasy. It was okay, but there was a bit too much teenage angst and unrealistic (within its world) behavior. Also there were things that happened that didn't quite make sense. I did like the premise and the mileu (American Southwest).

128. Downside Girls by Jaine Fenn. 3.5 stars. LTER. Steampunk Angel Fantasy. Four short stories set on this weird world where angels are assassins. It sort of made sense, and I did enjoy the first two stories a lot, the third was okay, and the last was meh and without much of an ending.

129. New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear. 4 stars. Steampunk fantasy murder mystery linked short stories. Pretty good stuff. London during the Edwardian age, starring a wampyric private detective and a middle-aged Crown Detective Inspector sorceress in an America that never broke away from England and is still an English colony. Tesla's in it (bit part in the last story); he's been in quite a few steampunk novels I've read lately. I liked it enough to look for more of Bear's books.

Happy Thanksgiving Mary!!! Hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends!!!

130. Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce. 5 stars. eBook. Fantastic imagery, exciting story and wonderful characters. I loved this YA (young YA) story about the 2nd Flora of the family Fyrdraaca, who is reluctantly getting ready to celebrate her Catorcena, lives in Crackpot Hall (which used to be a showplace but is now a dump) with a crazy drunken father named Hotspur (but called Poppy), an absent martinet of a mother named Buck who is also a war hero and the Commanding General of the Army of Califa, a banished magical butler (a praterhuman entity known as a denizen or egregore of the fifth order) named Valefor. Her best friend is a guy named Udo who is a fashionista and wants to follow in the footsteps of the Dainty Pirate though he is destined to become a lawyer, as Flora herself is destined to become a soldier though she wants to be A Ranger. I want to reread it, but I think I'll settle for reading Flora's Dare, the second in the series.

Hi Mary, just dropping by to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the holiday.

Mary, I had to come hunting for your thread, which was somehow lost to me. Now you are back safe and sound! Wanted to drop in and wish you a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. Hope it's all that is wonderful and full of delight!

Happy Thanksgiving, Mary! I finished Crown of Embers yesterday and agree totally with you that I liked it even better than the first. Wish I didn't have to wait for the next one, though.

I enjoyed New Amsterdam last month--the stories remind me of Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy stories on the one hand (sorcery + detective work) and Barbara Hambly's excellent Victorian vampire books on the other hand (Those Who Hunt By Night and Traveling with the Dead).

The Flora Segunda books are quite fun--the third just came out earlier this year.

Hi, Roni! Thank you for your T'giving wishes! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Oh, thank you for the tips on the books reminiscent of New Amsterdam! I only recently started reading steampunk (spurred by the Soulless Series) and absolutely love it, and the addition of the super/supranatural/paranormal elements make it just that much more fun. I'll have to look for them at the library. Glad there are two more Flora Segunda books to look forward to. Like you say, it's so hard to have to wait for the next book in a good series!

132. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. 4 stars. This steampunk novel, starring the explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton and the poet Algernon Charles Swinburn, is framed as an alternate history. Set in the mid-1800s in London and environs, it centers around actual historical events: the Spring-Heeled Jack case, the assassination attempt on Queen Victoria in 1840, the search for the Source of the Nile, and the dawn of Darwin's theory of evolution.

History has been altered due to the interference of a time traveler from the distant future which gives rise to unrestrained scientific, techological and genetic advances, often resulting in some pretty horrible excesses. In his attempts to restore history to what it should be, the time traveler only makes things worse. Burton is recruited by the crown to investigate what is known as The Spring-Heeled Jack Affair" and other strange manifestations plaguing London's worse slum, and he in turn recruits Swinburn as his assistant.

I found parts of this novel to be a bit over-the-top, and other parts to be a little wearing, but all-in-all I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next in the series.

133. Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. 4 stars. Audio. I don't read Gregory for historical accuracy but for enjoyment. She certainly does make the historical characters interesting and, usually, even the ones who have been vilified by history, sympathetic. In this one, though, I just could not find much sympathy for Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII. She was self-righteous, small-minded, unfeeling, judgmental, vicious and treacherous. She was, for all that, a pretty interesting woman with an apparently limitless store of strength and determination. Plus, the reader was just wonderful to whom I could have listened with pleasure had she been reading a shopping list!

Hi Mary!! Can't sleep, so I passing the time here getting caught up.

How was your Thanksgiving? I had a wonderful lunch at work with my boss and my ladies. Then I had supper with my uncles and 1 sister & family. I ate way too much!!

After today I have 7 days off from work. I haven't taken a vacation in 4 years. It will be a stay at home vacation. I'll be happy to have time to read, bit I hope I don't go stir crazy.

Nice review of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack - I have that one in my TBR pile.

Hi, Tammy ~ Hope you managed to get some sleep! So, two Thanksgiving meals! Sounds good to me. I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. My daughter's boyfriend's family invited me to spend it with them, and even though Meg and Jonathan are not here (they live in Boston now and couldn't get home for the holiday), I had a great time with them. They are really good people, and they put on a huge feast! I also ate too much. Today I've been taking it way easy, though I did have some leftovers that they sent home with me. Four years without a vacation! That can't be healthy. Glad you have a week and hope you enjoy your staycation and get a lot of good reading done.

Thanks, Mamie! I hope you enjoy it when you get around to reading it.

134. Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore. 4.5 stars. Audiobook. It missed being 5 stars by a smidge of silliness that just didn't need to be there and because it was a tad, I don't know, hard to get into. Really funny in some parts, really intriguing in others, once I did get into it (about 2 CDs in), I really enjoyed this fantasy novel that combined murder, kinky sex, Impressionist painters, the color blue, a Muse and true love.

135. Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer. 3.5 stars. My first Heyer mystery. It was okay, but I think I'm going to stick to her Regency romances.

136. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars. Audio. Yeah, this was more like it, and I really really really liked the hero.

137. Venetia by Georgette Heyer. 4.5 stars. Another winner!

I've been reading a lot of light novels because I've been sick with a pretty nasty bug since Thursday evening, that was about all I could keep my attention on. Plus they took my attention off the yucky way I felt.

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that you're not feeling well - hope it goes away soon!

Ooh. Spring-Heeled Jack! I believe I bought that around this time last year, but haven't read it yet. In fact, I think it might still be on my bedside table... o_O

Yeah, I'm not much into Heyer's mysteries, but those are two excellent examples of her romances. Cotillion is one of my top, top, top favorites.

Oh, Roni ~ Wasn't Cotillion amazing, the way Heyer developed the characters? And the hero! As I neared the end, I was praying it wasn't going to be the one that I was afraid it was going to be. I should have trusted Heyer more than that. lol

Thanks, Amber. Bad flu and cold, combined. Yuck. I'm better now, but spent four days pretty much in bed drinking lots of fluids of various kinds and hardly able to eat. BUT, between sleeping sessions, I got to read a lot AND I think I lost a couple of pounds. So nice when there is actually a silver lining. ;)

Hi, Faith! Yes, I totally get what you mean. I've got a few (well, more than a few) books I bought ~ some years ago ~ that I haven't read yet. I'm saving them for the day I don't have anything left to read and no way to get to the bookstore/library. lol

138. Flora's Dare by Ysabeau C. Wilce. 5 stars. Yes, I liked this one as much as the first, though sans the wonder and excitement of discovering a new character, new world, and new author.

139. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich. 4 stars. Further adventures of Stephanie Plum, Morelli and Ranger. One of the better ones, I thought. Lots of explosions, and not all of them were of Stephanie's car, plus a kind of touching subplot about a guy and his tiki.

140. Mercury Begins by Robert Kroese. 3.75 stars. Novella. Sets up the world of Mercury, the renegade angel. Have begun Mercury Falls as my commute read on Kindle, and am enjoying the sly humor.

Glad you are feeling better! And, of course, that you enjoyed Flora's Dare. I actually think the third book is better than the second--and it is supposedly the final book.

Is Stephanie Plum any closer to a decision between the two men?

Hi, Roni ~ Thanks, a little better, but still fighting a nasty cough. :( I'll be sorry to see the last of Flora, but good to know the third one is even better!

Hey, Morph ~ How have you been? I don't think so, although words like "housewife" and "getting married" were used in convo between Stephanie and Morelli, but there's one scene with Ranger (a wedding rehearsal) that really made me wonder, also something someone told Stephanie about Ranger. Personally, I'd go for Ranger. Both men may be sexy and handsome, but Morelli takes her for granted too much, treats her almost like they've been married for years. It's comfortable, maybe, and probably in real life would be the best bet, but where's the grand passion? I think Ranger, on the other hand, has potential for that.

Hi Mary, I'm just getting over a bought of something and I have been left with a nasty cough as well. You've got me all excited as I haven't yet read the Georgette Heyer novels you mentioned. I have found that I also prefer her period romances to the mysteries. Cotillion and Venetia are being given slight push nearer to the top of wishlist.

Hope you are able to shake the cough soon.

Hi, Judy ~ Ugh! Isn't it horrible! I'm much better today, though still not quite back to normal. My sister (a nurse in NC) says it's going around and that she had it (or something suspiciously like it) a few weeks ago, and it also lasted a couple of weeks. ! I said, "But I'd gotten my flu shot!" She said, "There's lots of different strains of flu; you just happened to get one of the ones that wasn't protected against by the vaccine." Lucky me, huh?

Take care and feel better! And hope you enjoy the Heyers when you get around to reading them. You might want to give them a bit more of a shove. They were among the best I've read.

141. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente. 4 stars. Audio. I liked this but think I should have read it in book form. I kept spacing out, not because I was bored with the story but maybe because the language was so mesmerizing or maybe because I would get an image in my mind from the words and sort of go with it. Anyway, it's a lot easier to turn back a page or two to the place you were when you drifted off than it is to go back in an audiobook.

142. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness. 3.5 stars. Audio. This is the second installment of the trilogy that started with A Discovery of Witches. Diana and Matthew have arrived in Elizabethan England where Diana hopes to find the book and a witch who will teach her witchcraft. There she meets Matthews friends, including Walter Raleigh and Kit Marlowe, is introduced to to the leader of the London vampires and the head of the London witches' coven, discovers her talent, has a huge surprise followed by a huge loss, is summoned by Elizabeth to court, goes with Matthew who is sent by the queen to Bohemia to look for a wayward wizard. Rather rambling, and I didn't care for the reader, who read with jerks and starts and whose voice was often inexplicably funereal. I suppose I'll read the final book in the trilogy, simply because I invested this much time and effort into the story.

Merry Christmas, Mary!

I'm glad you are over your bug. No one likes to be sick for the holidays!

I've wanted to read A Discovery of Witches all year....I'm wondering if I should bother.

I will get to the girl who, though. I enjoyed the 1st one.

Take care and Merry Christmas!

Hi Merry, just stopping by to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Glitterfy.com - Christmas Glitter Graphics

I want to wish you a glorious celebration of that time of year when we all try to unite around a desire for Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward All. Merry Christmas, Mary!

Merry Christmas, and may the Magic of the Season stay with you throughout the New Year!

143. The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr. 3.5 stars. Audio. Not sure if it was the reader (Simon Prebble) or the story, but I only finished it because it was relatively short (7 CDs). It's a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson mystery set in Holyroodhouse, a castle in Scotland and the site of the gruesome murder of Queen Mary's "Italian secretary"/dancing master. Here's a website with pictures of Holyroodhouse.

Happy New Year Mary!! Hope 2013 is a great year, full of great books!!!!

Here's to a great new year ahead, Mary!

Happy New Year, Mary! Hope it is blessed with good things!

Last book of 2012!

144. Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas. 4 stars. Audio. Enjoyable romance ~ the last in the Hathaway series ~ and loved the reader (Rosalyn Landor), but this was not quite as good as the first in the series.