Marissa's Boks for 2013

I so enjoyed keeping a reading journal last year that I'm back again. The new reading year is already underway with The Killings at Badger's Drift, which I'm about 2/3 of the way through and enjoying immensely; the writing is excellently unobtrusive and laced with wry humor and evocative description.

I read all Caroline Graham's Barnaby books years ago, and loved them. I believe there are 7 titles in the series. Definitely worth a re-read.

I read The Killings at Badger's Drift several years ago. I know I enjoyed it, but remember very little that happened, as I also read several other British procedurals around the same time. I do recall that I really liked the fact that Barnaby had a refreshingly happy home life, in contrast to most of the angst-ridden detectives I was reading about.

Glad you're back! I'll be here, Marissa.

Looking forward to hearing what you're reading and your reactions!

That's good to know, donnao. I finished the Graham and will definitely pick up the others in the series as I happen on them. I rather wish they were available as e-books, though. Felony & Mayhem hasn't jumped on the e-book bandwagon yet.

I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year, and no doubt adding more books to my wishlist!

About four chapters into The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean, and finding it much more readable than his prior book on chemistry. I also found (and downloaded) a novelization of Bleak Expectations, which is started out as a marvelously silly BBC audio series that my family adores--it's billed as "Charles Dickens after too much gin". We'll see if it works--sort of a Douglas Adams/Hitchhiker's Guide situation (which also started out as a radio program).

I've been thinking about gifting my husband with one of the Barnaby/Midsumer books - he loves the TV series. Are the books and the screen version similar in tone?

I'm afraid I don't know, Busifer--I haven't seen any of the TV series. We killed our TV a dozen years ago and only watch DVDs, so while I have lots of Poirot and Campion and Jonathan Creek and Miss Marple, no Midsomer. :(

The series is kind of cosy, homey, sharply contrasted against the goriness of each murder case. Very much a small town feel to it, and the murders mainly hate/revenge based.

The Violinist's Thumb looks good. Let us know your thoughts when you are done, please. I really need to fit in more non-fiction this year!

The Barnaby books look like something my MIL would like. She likes mysteries but she's in her 80s and says she has no time left for graphically violent or depressing books or ones with angst-ridden detectives. So I'm always on the lookout for lighter mysteries and cozies. I'll have to see if the library has any on audio (she's losing her vision; thank goodness for audiobooks!).

*searches library site*
Well, nuts, they don't.

sandragon, has she read Carola Dunn books? They are on audio, have a wonderful narrator and sound right up her alley, set in the 1920s England, the main "detective" is Daisy Dahlrymple (sp?).

seconding the Carola dunn books as fun listens that your MIL will hopefully enjoy. and they're period mysteries.

What Busifer said. :) I liked Badger's Drift especially because Barnaby was a genuinely nice person who wasn't carrying around too much angst, but wasn't living a perfect life, either. I think I'll have to pick up some of the TV series, based on your description.

I'm enjoying The Violinist's Thumb, though I got slightly sidetracked by a NYT Sunday Crossword App on my Nook and binged on crossword puzzles for a few days. The author's not always crystal clear on some of the more esoteric technical bits, but his writing is engaging and the personalities fascinating. Just read a chapter including how there seems to be a biological basis for the creation of crazy cat ladies--they aren't crazy, they just have toxoplasmosis infections of the brain, which has worked out a fiendishly elegant way to perpetuate itself. Wow. But I want to finish it up because I have Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and The Murrow Boys on tap.

Ooh, this first book (Badger's Drift) looks like fun, and my library actually has it! Added it to my list. The Dickens parody sounds wonderful.

Thanks, MrsLee. Majkia. Unfortunately the library doesn't have those on audio either (they have some on talking books CD/tape, which is a program for the physically impaired/blind, but my MIL hasn't actually signed up for that yet. So no access to them.) I'll have to suggest them to the library, but the last time I tried to suggest some audiobooks, the library said they weren't able to accept suggestions at that time. Maybe I'll have better luck this time.

Finally finished The Violinist's Thumb--it took a bit longer than expected because the subject matter is fairly dense (DNA and genetics) even though the style is light and amusing. Definitely recommended if you have an interest in the subject; what I liked best was learning about recent discoveries and where the science is going (DNA-based computing?) as well as some of the colorful personalities involved.

On next to The Murrow Boys--as everything else I've read by Lynne Olson has been excellent, I'm anticipating a good read.

Lynne Olson is another writer you've mentioned before and liked, so I've added her to my totally-unmanageable-and-exorbitantly-costly-TBR-wish-list!

Well, The Murrow Boys turned out not to be as good as the author's other (and later) books. She co-wrote it with her husband, so maybe he's the culprit. :) Or maybe it just wasn't as engaging a topic, though all the personalities involved were certainly larger than life. I learned a fair bit about the history of reporting through it, though I would have liked a little more about Murrow's own broadcasts during the Blitz. Still definitely worth a read, if you have any interest in the topic.

I snuck in a re-read of The Rook while recovering from some oral surgery--love that book!--and also read John Julius Norwich's memoir, Trying to Please. As the only child of two famous parents (Lady Diana Manners and Duff Cooper), he was in a position to grow up knowing just about everyone who was anyone from the 1930s onward in not only the upper echelons of British society but also in politics and art. I liked the first half of the book better than the second, which came across as rather "phoned in"--or it just could be that after his retirement from the British Foreign Service to be a full time writer, his life just wasn't quite as interesting. Still, I greatly enjoyed his writing style and will probably pick up one of his histories to read at some point.

Up next: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China--non-fiction history, but also a sort of whodunit. I've not read much about China in this period (apart from the fictional Peking Picnic, so it should be educational.

Finished Midnight in Peking. It was odd--it read more like a 266-page newspaper article than anything else, and the story is tells of the coverup of a girl's murder in order to "save face" before the Chinese is very sad.

My goodness, you went through that one quickly! I have been intrigued by Midnight in Peking since Amazon keeps popping it into my recommendations. Is the story not particularly engaging? You say it reads like a lengthy newspaper article; was the story-telling method off-putting? Or is it just without much depth?

jillmwo, the story is engaging--an unsolved, brutal murder that was majorly covered up, and only the perseverence of the murdered girl's father eventually (probably) uncovering who killed her and why. But the style is very bare-bones, even while it goes overboard at times in describing not very important details. I think that in the hands of a different author it might have been more engaging.

Working on The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars which is rather slow going, but I want to see why it was such a huge phenomenon when it was first published in the twenties.

Finished Madonna of the Sleeping Cars. Er...maybe it was huge bestseller in the late twenties, but it hasn't weathered the subsequent decades very well. There's a great deal about Communism, and pages and pages of philosophical dialogue; the action comes across as overly melodramatic, and at times characters suffer from Too Stupid To Live syndrome. At least it was short. :)

On to Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties, which is so far delightful--a compendium of short, memoir-ish essays with recipes.

How did you even stumble upon Madonna of the Sleeping Cars? I love the name, even if it wasn't up to snuff.

Edited to add: I see it is pretty highly rated here on LT.

I found it via the Bas Bleu catalogue, which is pretty good (though not as wonderful as the Common Reader catalogue was)--www.basbleu.com

I think it was just too much of a period piece for me, but not in a good way. I can take stylized sometimes (like Georgette Heyer), but not always.

That is one very cool book website... I'm afraid to look too closely at it!

Yes, they have some good books there--I've found some goodies over the years.

Finished Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties which was a delightful diversion. If you're one of those people like me who reads cookbooks for pleasure, you'll love the interspersing of essays and recipes (one of which, a puree of cauliflower with curry, I made for dinner last night and thought was delicious.) Very enjoyable.

On to Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, about the assassination of President Garfield. On page 17 and happy with the author's style, which bodes well. I really struggle with books where the writing grates on me.

Hostess Gowns. That conjures up so many images of the 70's TV shows like Columbo and McCloud and such. :)

I just checked out a sample of Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties and between your endorsement and the sample chapter (which discussed the appeal of gelatin), I am tempted. One more on the wish list.

Finished Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President and enjoyed it...except that maybe enjoyed isn't the right word for such a sad, horrible historical event.

President Garfield was shot just months after his inauguration at close range by a madman with criminal tendencies, Charles Guitard, who was upset that he hadn't been given the consulship in Paris. The poor president (who seems to have been a genuinely Good-with-a-capital-G person) would probably have survived the shooting if it hadn't been for the medical care he received; American medicine had not yet embrace Lister's antisepsis procedures, and so Garfield's doctors were constantly probing his wound with unwashed hands and instruments, looking for the bullet. He lingered for 79 days, his enormously strong constitution finally worn down by overwhelming septiscemia throughout his body. An interesting look also at the politics of the day (especially the corrupt patronage and spoils system of government appointments) and how his death affected them, and Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the metal detector in an attempt to help find the bullet (which in a post-mortem examination was revealed to be in a totally different area than Garfield's doctor thought it would be). Recommended for anyone with an interest in American or medical history.

I seem to be sharing the malaise around the GD with this year's books--most of them so far are turning out to be meh, which is disappointing on multiple levels.

The latest in my meh lineup was Molly Birnbaum's Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way, a memoir of a young aspiring chef's loss of her sense of smell after being hit by a car. I really wanted to like this book-it's right up my street--and while there are things to admire about it, I ultimately didn't care for it. Birnbaum is a fine writer, but the picture she paints of herself is not an attractive one, and ultimately it took me forever to read this because I simply didn't want to spend time in this rather whiny young woman's head. The best parts were the several digressions into the science around the sense of smell, and the portraits of chefs, perfumers, and scent chemists.

On to Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries, about the epidemic encephalitis epidemic that happened concurrently with the Great Flu of 1918-1919. Very good so far. And even though it's a lot more expensive than I'm usually willing to countenance, I may download the recent biography of Eisenhower to read on vacation next week.

I read Asleep recently, and enjoyed it. While the author had a tendency to digress, I still found that she provided some interesting information on a subject about which very little has been been written for the general reader.

It does jump around, Sylvia--I think the author is as much interested in painting a picture of the era as she is about the epidemic. I'm hoping it gets a little more into the disease itself.

It amazes me that there was such a widespread epidemic, with so many severely affected survivors, and then the memory of it all just disappeared from the collective memory in a very short time. If it hadn't been for Oliver Sacks with Awakenings, I doubt if there would be any public awareness of encephalitis lethargica at all now. It makes me wonder what other significant events have just vanished from history.

I was thinking this morning that I like the title of this book, Asleep, because it forms a sort of bookend with Awakenings.

This has actually surprised me; I don't think -- with all of the reading about World War I that I did last year -- that I had been aware of this outbreak or that there was thought that the encephalitis might be tied into the Spanish Flu. Very intriguing! You two are great!

Finished Asleep...alas, the digressions Sylvia mentioned got overwhelming. I appreciate that the author was trying to provide social context for the disease and events and people around it, but really, how many times was it necessary to describe the streets of New York? I would have liked a little more science and a little less sociology, but I tend to get geekish about epidemiology, so it may just be me.

Not sure what's up next--lots of choices!

I suspect the author of Asleep couldn't find enough information to fill a whole book, so added lots of filler. I would like to have seen more about the patients and less about the doctors, and I could have used a lot fewer descriptions of the leaves and the weather. More facts and less interpretation of what the author thinks people were seeing and thinking. It was enjoyable though, when she stuck to writing about the disease, and some social context was certainly required. I'll be keeping my copy of the book, since there really seems to be very little else available on the subject.

Sounds like something I'd rather read a good in-depth article about instead of an entire book.

I would have liked a whole book on the topic...but this wasn't it. :(

Another meh read--Dinner with Churchill: Policy-making at the Dinner Table which sounded like a fun idea--a look at Churchill's diplomacy and politicking via his entertaining. In the right hands, it could have a lot of fun--but these weren't the right hands, alas. It read more like a high school research paper, with plodding prose, repetition, and a total lack of spark. Ah well. I just don't seem to be picking good ones this year.

On to The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things

My meh book slump is over! Thank you to everyone who recommended Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day in their book threads--it was such a delight! And partway through The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things I'm delighted with that as well. Fascinating for Jane Austen fans or anyone with an interest in late 18th century/early 19th century life in England. It's painting a much more vivid picture of Jane and the Austen family than any other biography I've ever read.

I'm glad you're over your slump! I'm quite disappointed about Dinner with Churchill - the premise sounds like it would make for a fascinating study.

#42 - Oh, an Austen biography. I will keep an eye out for it. I loved Claire Tomlin's Jane Austen: A Life so much that I literally cried at the end.

I too am glad you're out of your slump. That happens to me sometimes, as well.

I just ordered The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things! That's thinking so much alike that it's really scary.

I'm really enjoying it. It's written as a sort of series of essays, using an object from her life as the launching point to talk about an aspect of her life and work. It's really brought home that she was very much a product of the more frank and free-wheeling 18th century, and not the more prudish 19th. Especially when in a letter (I think) she makes a thinly-veiled joke about sodomy in the British Navy! She was by no means a prude, as her later biographers (her brothers and nephews in particular) tried to paint her long after her death.

Clam, the Claire Tomalin book was excellent--but I'm liking this one at least as much.

>46 Marissa_Doyle:
Agh! I'm thoroughly steeped in the early twentieth century, and now you're dragging me back a century! I've added The Real Jane Austen to my list.

Finished The Real Jane Austen, and have two words--perfectly splendid. It actually took me a little extra time because midway through, one of the chapters inspired me to go back and read Mansfield Park, my least favorite Austen, with the result that I have a much better appreciation of it (though sorry, Edmund will never be considered "hero material" in my view!) A wonderful book!

Started on Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-making Race Around the World which I think I will enjoy.

I want to read the The Real Jane Austen but I am cheap. Maybe I'll try to get it through inter-library loan. Ya know, Mansfield Park is the only 'major' Austen work that I haven't read yet.

We should set up a list somewhere in the Green Dragon for Nook and Kindle owners who are willling to share their ebooks. You don't have a Nook, do you?

The Real Jane Austen is going on my wishlist. Sounds good! What was it about the chapter that made you reread Mansfield Park? I read it a few years ago and so far it's my least favourite Austen.

I also have the Claire Tomalin biography, but I haven't read it yet.

#50 - I have a Kindle. It's okay, I will find a way to get my hands on it eventually. :oD I should probably read Mansfield Park before that, anyway!

OMG, folks! Mansfield Park is a Great Novel (with all that those initial caps may indicate). It's tied with Sense and Sensibility for top spot in my ranking of Austen's work. Lady Susan is right behind 'em. Austen actually created an unsympathetic character in Fanny; she's thin, she's quiet, she is lacking in liveliness. She has none of the more socially acceptable qualities of character that Mary Crawford displays. But she's actually got more depth of character than any of the rest of that misbegotten crew.

Oh, I haven't gotten to Lady Susan yet, either. Should I hide now? :oD

ETA: I just added it to my Kindle.

>53 jillmwo: Oh, I agree now, jill. I had a hard time appreciating it before--maybe I've finally matured (says the woman looking at her first colonoscopy this year) ;). I agree that Fanny does have a greater depth of character than other Austen heroines(though not more than Eleanor in S&S, who I think displays more positive strength and depth than Fanny's rather passive depth); all of the characters are more nuanced (apart from the totally horrid Mrs. Norris--but even her horridness is nuanced because she comes to an epiphany about what she's brought about.) The romantic in me wishes that Fanny had "saved" Henry Crawford--I think he was salvageable--but the symmetry of what does happen is also attractive. (trying not to insert too much spoilerish commentary here!)

Sandragon, the chapter was on what Austen drew on as she wrote MP--her family and extended family's involvement with the West Indies and the slave trade and the navy.

clam, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, you can get books on loan from their library, too.

Side query (don't let me interrupt): do you consider it likely that Filch's cat in the HP books is named for that Mrs. Norris? I haven't read Mansfield Park, but I know that Rowling's choice of names isn't random or meaningless.

#56 - Yup, I am a member and I plan to be a borrowing fool. I have found a ton of stuff which I have I added to my wishlist to borrow in the future. Not to mention all the freebies they have. It is very hard to show restraint. (Not a quality I am well known for when it comes to books anyway!)

Sorry, Marissa!

Regarding #54 -- Clam, Lady Susan has three major virtues: (1) it's short (2) it's an epistolary novel and (3) it has a female Willoughby. If you're familiar with Sense and Sensibility, you know what kind of a human being Willoughby is. Now imagine how much mischief is created when you put that personality into a female brain and body. I tripped over Lady Susan totally by accident a few years back and was flabbergasted. No one ever told me that Austen was capable of writing really wicked women. Aunt Norris in MP and Mrs Bennett in P&P have always struck me as being primarily present for purposes of humor and contrast. But Lady Susan is a villainess of the first water.

Regarding #55 -- Marissa, I really do agree with you about Elinor. In fact, it would have been interesting to consider whether Elinor could ever be a stand-in for Fanny. Both have sense but Elinor has more strength. And as to MP, it might have been cool to see more of Fanny and Henry interacting, but...

*sigh* I wish I could write fiction.

#59 - Worse than Lucy Steele and Fanny Dashwood? Oooooh, this could be very interesting!

#60 Definitely worse. Oh, *so* much worse.

I might have to read it next!

I really liked Mansfield Park as well.

I'm sorry to hear you didn't like Asleep. It was on my TBR list as well. I might still give it a go.

Def. give it a try, cmbohn. It wasn't so much that I didn't like it as that it felt thin and padded out and was therefore disappointing.

Finished Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World and enjoyed it. The actual recounting of the "race" was suspenseful, and its aftermath for both young women very different; in a way it ruined Bly's life even while ensuring her name would live on. A good peek into the world of journalism in the 1880s and 1890s, and women's place in it.

I would second that you give Asleep a try, @cmbohn. There is interesting information there--you just have to filter out the noise.

First Light by Rebecca Stead was a little out of my usual path (it's middle grade/tween science fiction), and reminded me of why I don't read a lot of MG; while the story idea was engaging and interesting (a "lost colony" under the Greenland icecap), I think it was too big a story to compress into a ~200 page book; corners got chopped, plot lines got truncated, backstory wasn't supplied, all with the result of making it a rather choppy, disconnected read (the pacing was problematic, too). That being said, a real-live MG reader of the appropriate age might enjoy it a lot.

On to Stand Facing the Stove, about the mother/daughter duo behind The Joy of Cooking.

I found myself bogging down on Stand Facing the Stove and set it aside for a while, not due to any defect in the book, but because I was just in a fiction mood. I do intend to go back and finish it when I'm in the right frame of mind for it.

Based on recommendations (and I'm ashamed I can't remember whose) I read The Shooting Party. It was a short read, and I definitely liked it better at the end than I did at the beginning. I found her writing stilted and painfully over-done in the first chapter, but she eventually loosened up and it all flowed much more felicitously. It's a "slice of life", set in the last afterglow of the Edwardian age a year before the start of the Great War; some of the characters are conscious of the changes already stirring beneath the surface of their lives. I felt that Colegate started a bigger novel than she intended, and tried to bring it off with a chapter of "what happened to everyone afterward" paragraphs which just did not satisfy. Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and would pair it with Juliet Nicolson's The Perfect Summer, though that is non-fiction.

Onto The Aviator's Wife, which started out awkwardly also but which I'm warming to as it progresses.

Finished The Aviator's Wife and am feeling deeply ambivalent about it. Writing a novel (which is, by definition, fiction) about such a recent figure (Anne Morrow Lindbergh died in 2001) who left such a wealth of her own writings and other documentary evidence behind her, seems a tad...I don't know...impertinent? It was reasonably well-written, but in an afterword the author explains how she conflated historical events and facts and made others up entirely, and that bothers me...especially because I don't think she got at any deeper "truths" by doing so. So, yeah...just not sure what to feel about this one.

I have to thank the "What Should I Borrow" feature and SylviaC's library for the delightful book I just finished, Thus Was Adonis Murdered, an extremely witty and wonderful read...think cozy mystery written by a cross between Stephen Fry and Alistair Cooke, and you'll get the flavor. I'm about to dive into author Sarah Caudwell's next one, The Shortest Way to Hades...alas, she died at age sixty after completing only four. Very highly recommended--I'm already thinking about who I should give this to for Christmas.

69: Oooh! That sounds like one for me.

Wow, LibraryThing is good! I haven't even catalogued that one yet! I did, in fact, read it several years ago, but I forgot all about it. Maybe I should revisit it sometime.

edit: Just added it to "Read but unowned" now.

So LT is psychic? Neat. I wish it would get around to cataloguing all the books I haven't entered yet... :)

Sarah Caudwell is a wonderfully intriguing storyteller! But now you must tell me what you thought about Hilary Tamar. What is the narrator's gender?

Ha! I don't know! In the first book, I thought Hilary was a she...in the second book, I'm less sure, though I'm only on about page 40.

I know. I kept going back and forth as well, but I was blown away when someone shared with me the question. I went back through all four titles trying to work it out.

Completed The Shortest Way to Hades, with time out for a re-read of the complete Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder which I like to do every few years. The second Sarah Caudwell was perhaps not as satisfactory as the first, as the plot ended up relying on some too-convenient coincidences and was a little more bogged down in legal issues that I don't have the background to appreciate. But there were still laugh-out-loud lines and a cast of characters I've grown very fond of, after just two books. And a note for Jill--Hilary read as more masculine in this book. We'll see how s/he fares in the next two.

Rereading the Little House books is always an interesting experience, the more so this time because I'd read more background on LIW and her daughter and editor, Rose Wilder Lane, since my last rereading. I adored these books as an eight- and nine-year-old so they bear the aura of a comfort read...but it's fun as well to ponder now, with the perceptions of an adult, what LIW chose to write about from her life and how she chose to depict it, and how her daughter may have shaped and changed them.

Interesting. I guess I never realized her daughter was her editor. I didn't read them until I was an adult, but I enjoyed them thoroughly. (Especially Farmer Boy.)

She wrote them, then sent them to Rose, who commented and made editorial suggestions and did some reworking of her own. It's illuminating to read The First Four Years, which Laura had written but Rose didn't edit--it was published after Rose's death.

Ahhh, I think that was my least favorite of them because of all the rough edges. It makes sense now!

Huh, learn something every day. Thanks Marissa.

Life interrupted, as it has a habit of doing. I have an awful lot of catching up to do on reading everyone's threads, and on posting here.

Finished a couple of doorstop books:
And Ladies of the Club - a reread, but always an enjoyable one. Knowing more about the politics of the late 1800s than I did last time I read it, I enjoyed that aspect even more.

American Elsewhere Sort of a cross between H.P. Lovecraft and Peter Straub. A good pastime sort of read, but certainly nothing memorable. I found the present tense usage annoying at times, while at others I didn't notice it.

The Sirens Sang of Murder Not a doorstop, but another delightful Sarah Caudwell legal whodunnit.

At present: The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. Another looong book, but one I'm rather enjoying. I don't think it will be to everyone's taste (a sort of horror/historical fiction/social commentary combination), but I am enjoying the sly writing style very much.

Lovely to be back!

Wow, a reread of ...And Ladies of the Club is pretty daunting. I read and enjoyed it several years ago, but haven't yet been tempted to reread. I've kept the book, though, because it was one of those stories that really stays with you. Even years later, I find myself recalling scenes from it.

And my first reaction to a reference to ..And Ladies of the Club was to sit there and think how long ago that one came out. It was back in the '90's, wasn't it? (I remember it was a big seller at the time.)

Eighties, actually! But it's such a lovely book to fall in to. :)

Finished The Accursed, and liked it, though I'll repeat it probably isn't for everyone. I rather think it could have been a tad shorter and lost a scene or two without suffering, but that seems to be a common problem with books by well-known authors--they're edited much more lightly.

On next to The Gentry by Adam Nicolson--smooth sailing a chapter and a half in. It's a social history of the non-noble landed class in England--a unique phenomenon, really, that has more or less died out but played a very important role in England's social and political development.

I still have my copy of Ladies sitting here unread. I am going to read it. I really am.

I have mixed feelings about Oates, Marissa. Been a long time since I've read one of hers, but I will often pick them up at book sales.

Life got busy again with graduating offspring and etc., and my attention span went sproing...this is what I've been reading:

Pride and Prejudice (re-read)
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (re-read)
Sylvester by Georgette Heyer (re-read)
The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (re-read)
The Green Man by Michael Bedard--wanted to be a YA but read like a middle-grade

There might be another one or two in there but I can't remember--will have to check the Nook.

Looks like a good selection for busy times!

More light reading:

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (re-read after a long time)
Faro's Daughter, another Heyer that I somehow never got around to reading before. I was somewhat disappointed--I don't think the romantic development was well handled, and the kidnapping scenes could have been hilarious but fell rather flat. Guess I'll just have to go re-read The Unknown Ajax if I want a good hard laugh. :)

Have started on The Spiritualist based on a rec by Majkia...but only on about page 12.

Am putting The Spiritualist down after page 42. It bugs the ever-living hell out of me when someone doesn't do their historical research, and this author did not--she tries to shoehorn 1880s Gilded Age New York into 1857, which was pre-Gilded. I'd also guessed whodunnit and the main character's husband's big secret already. To borrow an adjective from Regency England, this book was totally cow-handed.

Ah well. Off to find something else to read.

Knew I'd forgotten something...

The Broken Teaglass was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it greatly, especially the narrator's voice and the way the story unfolded in its rather haphazard way, like a crumpled page being unfolded and smoothed out.

And just finished The Greatcoat which was delightfully eerie and pitch-perfect in mood and setting, if brief (only 125 pages).

I really enjoyed The Broken Teaglass as well although it wasn't a hit with the township bookgroup. The bits about publishing of dictionaries were absolutely on the mark.

But I must now go look up The Greatcoat.

The Astronaut Wives Club was a disappointing treatment of an interesting topic (at least to me, who tends to be a bit of a space nut). The writing was terrible--on about a third grade level and poorly organized. I speculate that the author just didn't know what to do with the wealth of material she had at hand. One amusing reflection: for so many years women were barred from the astronaut corps because everyone was sure that they were fickle creatures, controlled by their hormones...but if anyone was controlled by their hormones, it had to be the astronauts themselves, who definitely had issues with keeping their pants zipped.

Life has been hectic--I miss hanging around here!

Those Angry Days is another WWII goody by Lynne Olson, though perhaps not as engaging a read as her similar book about Britain's entry into the war, Troublesome Young Men. Interesting character sketches of the parties involved; Roosevelt does not come out well, as he dragged his feet over helping Britain; nor does Lindbergh, who honestly at times does not seem human. I've enjoyed all of Olson's books.

On next to A Natural History of Dragons which looks like a lot of fun...I'm off to a conference, so this will be pleasant plane/airport reading.

Back again...it's been a very busy summer work-wise. I am looking forward to September, when life calms down a little, the kids are off to college, and I can visit here more frequently. I miss the Dragon!

Read in the last month:

A Natural History of Dragons got laid aside after about page 70; the concept was wonderful but the plotting was predictable and the narrator's voice simply annoying.

Unbound was a piece of fluffy romance somewhat marred by historical inaccuracies, but good airport reading nonetheless.

A Little Folly was quite fun, a Jane Austenesque novel that actually read a great deal like Jane Austen--sly humor and language and all. A very pleasant diversion.

A Duty to the Dead, first book in the Bess Crawford series, about a WWI nurse with a gift for sleuthing. Much, much better than Maisie Dobbs, which I found wooden and unsatisfying. I'll definitely be returning to this series.

Wings Over Cape Cod, about a Naval air station on Cape Cod during WWI, which was established to guard the approaches to Boston harbor and keep an eye out for u-boats attempting to land infiltrators on US soil. Read it as research for a project, but enjoyed it greatly as I'm intimately familiar with the locale. Hard to picture dirigibles floating through this sky.

And, I'm sixty pages into Crocodile on the Sandbank and loving it, despite a glaring error in English inheritance law at the heart of the plot. The amazing voice makes up for a lot of sins. ;) I'm not sure why I haven't read these yet--my mom loves 'em. I actually was already acquainted with this author's work from college, when her Red Land, Black Land and Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs were on the syllabus for an Egyptian archaeology course I took (both of them are marvelously readable, btw.)

You know, of course, that Elizabeth Peters is a pseudonym for Barbara Mertz, who also wrote under the name of Barbara Michaels? Very active writer. Sadly, she died just this month.

Yep. Her obit reminded me to go check out the Amelia Peabody books, and since Crocodile was 2.99 on my Nook, well...

I read Crocodile a couple of years ago with my library book club and liked it pretty well. She managed to use a good bit of humor without being too silly.

Finished Crocodile on the Sandbank and The Curse of the Pharoahs, and I think that's enough Amelia Peabody for me. Though she writes evocatively of Egypt, the characters are coming across as two-dimensional and the writing, while perfectly serviceable, is on the pedestrian side. I was hoping for another Laurie R. King experience like last summer's, but alas, no.

Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen is a compendium of prints from Ackermann's Repository of the Arts, which I collect (I have an extensive collection of pre-1840 19th century fashion plates). Unfortunately the production values are pretty poor and the plates are all blurry, but I appreciate having the original accompanying texts. This book covers 1809-1820.

That was as far as I made it with Amelia Peabody, too. I did check out some others, but I found the characters quickly became irritating.

98 & 99 - I'll third that opinion. I wanted to like them so much, but couldn't.

That makes me feel better. Has anyone read any of Peters' other series? Do they suffer the same inadequacies?

I didn't like Vicky Bliss right from the start, but the Jacqueline Kirby books are good. I liked the first three, anyway--I wasn't thrilled with the last one. I liked several of her non-series books, like Devil-May-Care, The Jackal's Head, and The Copenhagen Connection. The books she wrote as Barbara Michaels that I liked best were The Walker in Shadows (favourite), Into the Darkness, and Ammie, Come Home. That said, I haven't read any of them in years, and even then they were showing their age.

I do not like her non-Peabody historicals at all. They're dismal, humourless gothics. I've read a lot more of her books than I have catalogued, because eventually they all run together.

Touchstones aren't working now, but I'll check back later to see if they've been fixed.

I have a fond memory of reading Ammie, Come Home. I read it as a teenager. Good ghost story.

Finished Among the Janeites and thought it fun...and concur with jillmwo's assessment. More thoughts to come.

And 50 pages into The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic and loving it...I wish I could remember whose thread I found it on so I could thank them. :)

I saw The thinking woman's guide ... at the bookshop the other day and picked it up because of the lovely cover. But the blurb made it sound too romancy for my tastes, so I put it back. I look forward to seeing what you think of it when you finish. I see on amazon that people compare it to A discovery of witches, which I hated, so the opinion of someone whose taste I trust will be welcome!

I'm about 350 pages in now, and am not finding it too romancy at all thus far. I never picked up A Discovery of Witches for the same reason (well, that and I dislike vampires.) And I'm liking it even more than I did yesterday; it's not often that books grab me this way. The world-building is splendid, the plot-building also excellent, and the protagonist, who starts out a little meh (intentionally, I'm sure) is showing nice growth.

Marissa, in response to your post # 92 above, where you said:

The Astronaut Wives Club .... One amusing reflection: for so many years women were barred from the astronaut corps because everyone was sure that they were fickle creatures, controlled by their hormones...but if anyone was controlled by their hormones, it had to be the astronauts themselves, who definitely had issues with keeping their pants zipped.

Last month at a convention I heard William Shatner speak. He was asked by a young woman in the audience whether she'd understood him correctly when she thought she'd heard him imply that women shouldn't occupy leadership positions. He hemmed and hawed and said "women are hormonal" and said "so do you want them with their finger on the button" but skillfully refrained from quotable quotes. At the end of his "answer", he said "So.... the question is, should a woman really be President? What do you think?"

The young woman said, "Well, considering the news coming out of New York right now (she was referring to Weiner and another political scandal), I think the question is, are men suited to be President?"

The entire room cheered for her. Shatner took it with good grace, but I still wanted to say to him that women don't usually sell state secrets for sex, and women also generally don't walk onto college campuses with machine guns and shoot up crowds of people. So I'm thinking that women aren't the ones who have problem with impulse control.

Good for her--and I completely agree with you. I wonder if Shatner's read The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight, about a group of women pilots who went through the same training program as the Mercury astronauts did...and outperformed them. Fascinating, if slightly depressing, reading.

^ I can understand why that would be depressing. A generation of short-changed women who will never get that opportunity back. On a happier note, I was pleased that the new 8-member class of astronauts that was just selected this year includes 4 women.

>109 amysisson: That's good--now if only we could actually have a space program again...

Finished The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic and am very sad because I'm sure it will be at least a year before I can look for a sequel. It was wonderful--not flawless, but wonderful anyway. It's very hard to silence my internal editor, so when a book doesn't make that editor whip out her metaphorical red pencil, I'm thrilled. And no, it wasn't too romancy--there's a love story in it, but it doesn't ever get smushy as the characters don't figure out their feelings till the book's end. Highly recommended.

>110 Marissa_Doyle:: Onto my wishlist it goes! *sigh*

Embarking on a bit of a Diana Wynne Jones binge--re-read Archer's Goon, which remains a delight, and now into Dark Lord of Derkholm, which is almost as delightful. God, but that woman could plot!

Also read Among Others by Jo Walton, a rather odd YA semi-contemporary fantasy (set in 1979-1980) that had an engaging voice but didn't particularly set me on fire. I enjoyed all the references to classic SF novels, though.

Completed Year of the Griffon (follow-up to Dark Lord of Derkholm--for some reason the touchstone isn't working) and Charmed Life as a continuation of my Diana Wynne Jones binge.

Downloaded Three Parts Dead, which looked interesting--anyone read it?

112, 113: I've never read the work of Diana Wynne Jones, but I'm interested.

I note that LT has two lists for her titles: publication order and chronological order (presumably referring to the narrative sequence). I strongly prefer to read series in order and follow the development. In this case, which order do you recommend to a first-time reader?

I adore Year of the griffin! It was published while my friends and I were enrolled on a very dull and expensive MA course, so many of the references and situations resonated with us.

Meredy, I've been reading DWJ since I was a child, so I read the books in publication order. It all made sense to me. There isn't a strong through-running storyline the way there is with, say, the Harry Potter books; it's more that Jones decided later in her career that she wanted to fill in the back story of a character, or to explore something that had only been mentioned in passing before. Also, some of her best books are stand-alones or duologies.

I agree, Sakerfalcon. She didn't really write serially a la Harry Potter, but many of her books take place in the same universe and share events, if that makes sense. And while I enjoy her hugely, I find that her weak point is character development; nevertheless, her plots are such fun that they beguile me into not caring and just going along for the ride.

FInished Charmed life, which definitely read more middle-grade style-wise. I think I prefer the somewhat more sophisticated Archer's Goon and Dark Lord of Derkhelm. I'll have to consult with child #1, off at college, who is the resident DWJ expert as to what I should read next.

Howl's moving castle is my all-time favourite. I love the movie too, but it did change a lot, so I prefer to pretend that they are unrelated.

I've been meaning to read Howl and compare it to the Miyazaki, so I'll add it to the list. I downloaded Fire and Hemlock and The Merlin Conspiracy in the meanwhile, and intend to investigate some of her adult works.

Also snuck in an adorable YA, Anna and the French Kiss, which was very sweet and romantic and not overly dripping in teen angst. The voice got a little too "voicy" at times, but it was still a charming read.

Fire and Hemlock was amazing. Why isn't this book better known in the fantasy world? It's an exploration of the Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer stories, but in a so much more interesting and twisty and emotionally complex a way than, say, Pamela Dean's Tam Lin. The style is unlike her more light-hearted stories--very little humor, but absolutely absorbing. Very highly recommended.

The resident DWJ expert suggested I also try Hexwood since I liked this one so much, so I will probably try it next then move onto the Howl stories.

>119 Marissa_Doyle:: I agree with you about Fire and hemlock, but I think a lot of people find the ending confusing. As you enjoyed it though, I think Hexwood should be right up your alley! Deep secret is probably my favourite of her adult works. One of the main characters in The Merlin conspiracy first appears in DS, though the stories are not related to each other.

Hexwood may have been the twistiest DWJ yet! I described it to my DH (who's decided to follow me in my DWJ binge) as resembling a four-dimensional pretzel. I also think I especially enjoyed this one because there was more character development than in some of her other stories. Because she doesn't write in a very close point of view, some of her characters can feel distant.

On to Merlin Conspiracy next, I think. Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having reading these books? :)

If Hexwood was DWJ's twistiest story yet, The Merlin Conspiracy wins the most pyrotechnics award. It's a complex, sprawling story with lots of characters; at times, I half-wondered if the plot wasn't something of a runaway train, but she had it well in hand and pulled all the strings together in a very satisfying way. "Shiny" is a good description, because there's so much going on in this story--so many magical systems and figures and bits drawn from folklore that it's like staring into a gorgeous shop window display at Christmas. Like Hexwood, there was better character development than in some of her work intended for younger readers; writing in alternating first person points of view may have contributed to that. Very wonderful.

Onto Deep Secret next, I think.

More DWJ...

Deep Secret was lots of fun--like The Merlin Conspiracy, her character development was much better, and I enjoyed her sly depiction of the con.

And Howl's Moving Castle...it was interesting to compare it to Miyazaki's film. Funny how Miyazaki could take so many of the plot elements from DWJ, and yet come up with what is more or less a completely different story. I like both, but for different reasons. In a Q&A in the book, DWJ talks about how so many young female readers are madly in love with Howl. Um, no--but he and Sophie are marvelous characters in their sheer strength of will. I also enjoyed DWJ's consciously playing with fairy tale tropes, twisting and turning them inside out and using them in different ways.

Off next to House of Many Ways.

House of Many Ways proved slightly disappointing, in that it felt like it was much too truncated. There was a lot of very rich material in it to work with, and I felt that a much longer book could have been the result. The lubbocks were truly awful--one of her scarier inventions--and Howl as adorable five-year-old was wonderfully ghastly.

I too felt that House of many ways didn't live up to its full potential. Lots of good ingredients that didn't quite come together.

I ran across this today while looking up a release date...one more DWJ!!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/articl...

Still madly reading Diana Wynne Jones...

The Lives of Christopher Chant and Conrad's Fate were both lots of fun and did an excellent job of filling in Christopher's character. The Related Worlds are so rich a concept to play with. And as a writer, I was transfixed by Reflections: On the Magic of Writing; I need to read it again more slowly, because I raced through it muttering, "yes! yes!" and want to be able absorb it more thoroughly. I also enjoyed Witch Week; the style reminded me of her more literary-ish books like Fire and Hemlock and felt more raw and real than the other Chrestomanci books. The Magicians of Caprona was enjoyable--especially Benvenuto. :) I liked the fairy tale feeling to it.

Also snuck in Night Calls, which I have mixed feelings about--interesting plot and world, but the writing/storytelling were uneven.

Now onto The Pinhoe Egg...

I love DWJ so much! Oh, and I had added your books to my TBR list. Then when we were at the library I saw that my daughter had picked them up on her own. She was very impressed to find out I knew you.

Cindy-- :) Thank you! I hope she likes them!

The Pinhoe Egg was another goodie. The picture of village life was amusing--I wonder how much of it she drew from the village where she grew up, which from all her descriptions was rather odd.

Finally succumbed to A Discovery of Witches because it was likened to The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic. Um, no. While the plot was interesting, the writing was not up to snuff--it drives me nuts when a character is forced to do and say things that make no sense for who they are, just because the plot needs them to at that point. I'm dipping into the second book Shadow of Night because I'm curious where the plot goes, but the same problems are there too. Sigh.

Also read Death of a Unicorn which I'm not sure how to categorize. It was billed as a mystery when I downloaded it from B&N, and while it contains a mystery, it's certainly not a whodunit. And while it was elegantly crafted, it was also rather bleak. I guess that's why I write YA--because most YA is hopeful.

Peter Dickinson's books are difficult to categorize. Even when they are billed as mysteries, they are not like any traditional mysteries. He doesn't write to any formula, and is totally unpredictable. I like to read one of his books every now and then, just to admire the workmanship, but I can't take very much of his messing with my head.

>130 Marissa_Doyle:: I'm glad I'm not alone in having disliked A discovery of witches, and relieved that you don't agree with the comparison to Thinking woman's guide, as that sounds like something I want to read.

I've only read Peter Dickinson's YA books, but they are very enjoyable and often very unusual in their subject matter. I don't really read mysteries but I'd be interested to try one of his.

Yes, Peter Dickinson wrote some very good children's books. The Gift and Annerton Pit were childhood favourites of mine, and his Changes Trilogy is good apocalyptic fiction, although it might be getting dated now. He also wrote quite a bit of historical fiction.

An interesting aside is that he is married to Robin McKinley.

I'll definitely dip into Peter Dickinson again--and go for the YA this time. Thank you for those titles.

Sakerfalcon, The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic has its flaws--chiefly in the main character, alas, who at times needs a good whack upside the head--but at least she's not an utter Mary Sue as Diana is in A Discovery of Witches. Shadow of Night is falling for the "cram in every historical figure possible" failing that time-travel books can have. And tons more of the forcing characters into uncharacteristic actions as well as continuity issues.

I just downloaded The Brides of Rollrock Island based on a recommendation in one of Morphy's threads.

I couldn't even contemplate trying Shadow of night, so you are a stronger woman than I! Thanks for the caveats re: Thinking woman's guide.

I remember liking Dickinson's Eva very much. Not too many YAs deal with evolution and entropy.

Thank you, MerryMary!

I'm 2/3 of the way through Cinnamon and Gunpowder, and it's wonderful--a literary pirate-foodie novel. :) A few anachronisms in word choice (the setting is 1819) have cropped up which I notice more because it's written in diary format, but the sumptuous writing and characterization totally make up for it. Wonderful book that's erasing the pedestrian writing of A Discovery of Witches from my palate.

Finished Cinnamon and Gunpowder and enjoyed it hugely. Both giggle-inducing and tear-inducing at different times, lovely writing, and an interesting group of characters. I'm a little surprised at some of the meh reviews it's received here on LT--it seems a lot of people just didn't get it, or were expecting something else.

On to Mythago Wood, which I've been meaning to get to for a while.

Mythago Wood was...interesting. The premise behind it was fascinating, but the execution left a lot to be desired--the characters were wooden and there wasn't much plot. The descriptions of the forest--its actual physical presence--were well done as well, but...I don't feel terribly inspired to read any further in the series.

>139 Marissa_Doyle: That was my feeling too, Ryhope Wood was a great place and loved the idea of those Mythago, but the characters and what happened to them left me cold.

>140 Jarandel: Yup!!

Finished another Diana Wynne Jones, Power of Three. This is probably my least favorite so far in my DWJ binge, though the Dorig and Lymen were well-realized. The ending felt rushed, and there were way too many times that important plot points could have been settled if Gair had just said something rather than brooding, which got irritating after the 6th or 7th time. Still, DWJ's meh still beats a lot of other people's best...

Life's been a little full, so I've switched over to some very lightweight reading--Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series, set in the 20s with an amateur sleuth who, in the way of amateur sleuths, just can't keep from falling over dead bodies wherever she goes. I like Daisy, and like Alec Fletcher even more, but these are indeed very light-weight cozies. Sometimes that's just what you need to read for a half-hour before bedtime. :) Have completed Death at Wentwater Court and The Winter Garden Mystery--I think I preferred the first so far.

I've been enjoying those recently, too. I like the way the relationship is handled, and that Alec is allowed to be an intelligent policeman.

I think I found them from your page, MrsLee--so thank you. :) Went on to read Requiem for a Mezzo and have a few others downloaded as well.

Also read The River of No Return this past weekend, because it's by a professor from my alma mater. I enjoyed it--it's a different take on time travel--but being an early 19th century history geek, was rather distressed by some poor research on details of Regency-period life and rather surprised that the publisher didn't find a copyeditor versed in period detail who might have caught the errors. It's nothing that will bother anyone but geeks like me, but it did somewhat mar an otherwise enjoyable read.

I picked up The Demon Lover hoping for a smart contemporary fantasy a la The River of No Return and The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic...and this was not one. Sloppy, often clumsy writing with lots of continuity issues and cardboard characters frequently behaving out of character to serve the plot abounded. Feeling grumpy as a result. ;( Isn't it funny how a disappointing book will do that to you?

It's like being seated next to the the worst dinner conversationalist at a party you were looking forward to!

>145 Marissa_Doyle:: I have some of those issues with the author's non-supernatural mystery books. I do love the settings though, which is why I've read most of them. I'm just a sucker for slightly gothic academic backgrounds!

Ha! I like that, Jill. Sums it up perfectly.

I'm a sucker for those settings too, Sakerfalcon. Which makes the disappointment greater.

However, I just finished (devoured, actually) a totally delightful contemporary fantasy (and am a little embarrassed at not having run across it before)-- City of Dark Magic was smart, funny, and just loads of fun. I've now added Prague to my must-visit-some-day list, and am looking forward to the sequel's release in two weeks.

On the other hand, The Witch's Daughter was disappointing too--I ended up skimming after about page 75. None of the characters ever grabbed me, and I found the plotting predictable. Won't be picking up any more of this author's books.

On to a non-fiction for a change--Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt so far is an entertaining if not gripping read.

Fortune's Children turned out rather meh--there are other books out there about the excesses of the Gilded Age that are more comprehensive and much better written, in particular A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York.

On to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, which I think I'm going to enjoy. Twenty-five pages in and I like the author's voice and the quirky story with hints of mystery.

I might have to track down A season of splendor as I enjoy reading about that period. I liked Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt when I read it a couple of years ago.

I've read A Season of Splendor and thought it was excellent!

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore was a delight--quirky, charming, and left me smiling. The world needs books that leave us smiling. I enjoyed the plotting and how everything--Google, type faces, boob physics (yes, really), museums, bookstores, fantasy novels, programming, and even knitting interlaced so well. Definitely recommended when you're in the mood for something light-hearted.

On to The White Forest which is starting out rather slowly...we'll see how it goes.

Mr. Penumbra is one of those books that I keep thinking I should read. Someday...

#152 & #153 - I keep forgetting to add that one to my wishlist. Is that better read in paper form, do you think? I've realized some books just don't work well on the Kindle. (The Drunken Botanist for one.)

No, it was fine on my Nook...it's not like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with huge footnotes or like S. with its marginalia and additional materials.

I've set aside The White Forest after about 20 pages because I just couldn't muster an iota of interest in or sympathy for any of the characters...nor did the writing wow me. Ah well. So instead I picked up Post Mortem: Solving History's Great Medical Mysteries. It was interesting--based on exercises at a large medical conference in which participants are given the case history around the illness and/or death of a famous but anonymous historical person and asked to make a diagnosis--but I don't advise it for the squeamish...and toward the end I found myself skimming somewhat as it grew a tiny bit monotonous. I'll still probably pick up the author's second book sometime when I'm in the right mood, though.

On to Sorry!: The English and Their Manners, which is enjoyable so far. I'm just waiting till Tuesday when the sequel to City of Dark Magic releases. :)

Thanks. I REALY need to get to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Maybe I'll start that next. The print looks so small though. LOL

Oops, time to catch up here!

Sorry! The English and their Manners was a bit of a disappointment; while I found the historical aspects interesting, the commentary seemed rather...eh. I honestly can't remember much, if anything, about the author's conclusions.

DNF The Bookman's Tale...and the fact that I was into the denouement of the story--only about 40 pages from the end--when I yawned and put it down may say something. I think the chief problem was that the characters were all very two-dimensional; I never mustered any liking or sympathy for any of them (apart from actively disliking a few). Though the plot-line was somewhat interesting, I just. didn't. care.

Also completed City of Lost Dreams which I enjoyed, though not quite as much as City of Dark Magic which I loved for its over-the-top story and characters. Lost Dreams was a tad more subdued, and the villainess just wasn't as nasty (and therefore the stakes less high) as in Dark Magic. Still a terrific read, though--I definitely recommend these books for some fun, smart escapism.

And I just started Advent, a YA/crossover contemporary fantasy that is promising to be fabulous, though I do hope the main character gets over being a moody 15-year-old shortly. :)

I just finished Advent! He does get better, though never loses the adolescent awkwardness (which is preferable, IMO, to him suddenly transforming into A Hero). I liked the setting and the wintry descriptions especially.

I think I saw it on your thread, and the comparison to Susan Cooper and Alan Garner (very apt, by the way) is what drew me to it. And Gavin is already improving as he's being drawn out of himself--still very much a 15-year-old boy, but less self-absorbed.

Advent and its sequel, Anarchy, were both EXCELLENT. They remind me in a way of Pullman's His Dark Materials in that while they feature several teenaged characters, the books are probably better appreciated by older readers. I can't wait to read the third book...the elegant writing, use of folklore--everything! was top-notch.

After that, it was on to Tooth and Claw thanks to Sakerfalcon...and it was great fun. I felt the ending was rather rushed, but the whole idea was just so engaging--dragons by way of Anthony Trollope--that I was willing to overlook it.

Looking at others of Jo Walton's books, I was intrigued by Farthing, a classic British mystery story a la Christie or Sayers...sort of. It's set in an alternate England, where England and Nazi Germany called a truce in 1941...but fascism and anti-semitism seems to be tiptoeing in. So it goes from classic mystery to something much more horrifying. I've not yet decided if I'll read the others in the series; while it was excellent and demonstrated the author's versatility, it was also unsettling. I think you need to be in the right mood for it--very good, but not a "feel good" sort of book.

And from the "Your Favorite Non-fiction of 2013" thread I found Yokohama Yankee, which is proving to be enjoyable and thought-provoking. Being fairly solidly American despite my obsession with 19th century English culture, the author's feeling of lack of belonging to any culture (he's part Japanese, part Caucasian) struck me pretty hard. I'll be interested to keep reading.