CBL reads 75 in 2013, part 2

Welcome to my second thread where I'll continue to track my 2013 reading. You'll find my first thread here.

Top fiction reads reviewed on my first thread:
The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Top non-fiction reviewed on my first thread:
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman

17. Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson
TIOLI #10 - Author shares a country of origin with a friend of mine (Canada)

After reading this collection of brief reflections on and reminiscences of life, literature, family, and community, bibliophiles everywhere will want to pack their bags and head for rural Canada and the Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast. If they can find it. For most guests, their first visit to the B & B happens by chance since the proprietors, middle-aged fraternal twins, have never advertized their accommodations. The guests that do find their way there share a love of reading, and many return again and again. Letters from satisfied customers are interspersed with stories written by each twin, recommended reading lists, poetry, and more. Virgil, the more melancholy twin, provides a list of books to read when you're feeling low. His brother, Hector, shares his list of favorite authors for the bath. There's a glaring omission in both lists. To Virgil's list I would add Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, and to Hector's list I would add Bill Richardson.

4 stars

Next up (fiction): Georges by Alexandre Dumas

Happy New Thread!

Checking out the new digs. :)

Thanks Leah! You get the virtual door prize for being the first visitor:

Hi Micky! Happy reading!

#5 by @cbl_tn> WAHOO!! ;)

Hi Carrie! Happy new thread. :)

Thanks Pat!

The 'Bed & Breakfast' book sounds interesting! Where in Canada is it located (the actual B&B, not the book, I mean)?

Happy new thread, Carrie!

Julia, the book is vague about the B&B location. From what others have said in reviews, etc., it seems to be on one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia. Unfortunately it's a fictional B&B, and the community has some similarity to Lake Wobegon.

Thanks Susan!

Well, doggone it, I thought that was nonfiction! Now I'm totally bummed out that I can't go stay there. :-)

18. Harriet, the Moses of Her People by Sarah H. Bradford
TIOLI #2 - Book about American history

This biography of Harriet Tubman was written during her lifetime as a fundraiser, the first edition to pay off the mortgage on Harriet's home to keep it from being sold, and the second edition to finance a hospital for African Americans. Harriet Tubman's exploits as a guide on the Underground Railroad are legendary, and the author is sensitive to potential criticism from skeptics. As a result, she included only those events that she could corroborate from other testimony. I was particularly moved by Harriet's faith in God's providence. She prayed about her needs as they arose, and soon afterward she would receive exactly what was needed - no more or no less. The book suffers from poor organization and repetitiveness. Readers who can overlook these faults will be inspired by the life, faith, and legacy of this remarkable woman.

3 stars

Next up (non-fiction): The Slaves' Gamble by Gene Allen Smith

Thanks for the heads-up on Harriet, the Moses of Her People. Harriet Tubman has been a hero of mine ever since I was a child. I've got this book on my TBR, but my library doesn't have it. Might have to ILL it!

Karen O.

Karen, I downloaded it free from Project Gutenberg.

I didn't mention it in my review, but one thing that really excited me in Harriet, the Moses of Her People was a pass, reproduced in the appendix, giving Harriet permission to enter Fortress Monroe to care for African Americans in their hospital. My gg-grandfather served in the 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery in the Civil War and he was at Fortress Monroe when Harriet Tubman would have been there. It's exciting to think that he might have seen her.

Speaking of my gg-grandfather, his Civil War pension file includes a document where he claimed that he was deaf in one ear and could hardly hear out of the other. You might think that his service in the Heavy Artillery would have something to do with his hearing loss. However, he claimed it was due to contracting measles during the war.

19. King Peggy by Peggielene Bartels
TIOLI #4 - Title includes a common SFF word (King)

How did a female American secretary from Silver Spring, Maryland, become the king of a Ghanian village? Peggielene Bartels tells her story, beginning with a call she received in 2008 informing her that her uncle the king had died and that the ancestors had chosen her as the next king. Over the next several years, Peggy continued to work as a secretary at the Ghanian embassy in Washington, D.C. while making annual trips to Ghana to take care of her village's business.

Peggy quickly discovered that the king had many financial obligations and that the village treasury was empty. Peggy would have to find a way to pay for her enstoolment ceremony and for a funeral for her uncle, the “late king who was in the fridge” in Accra awaiting burial. The palace was practically uninhabitable and needed extensive repairs and renovations.

The challenges facing her weren't just financial. It gradually became clear to Peggy that she could not trust the village elders. The elders who weren't corrupt were weak. The elders expected business to continue as usual and resisted Peggy's attempts to exercise her authority as king. As soon as Peggy resolved one problem, another one arose. Peggy's confidence in her ability grew as she successfully dealt with challenge after challenge.

For me, the most interesting aspect of Peggy's story is her religious syncretism. She mixes a Christian faith with ancestor worship. She prays to God and she prays to her ancestors, pouring out libations and performing other rituals to keep the ancestors happy. This would be worthwhile reading for students of anthropology, religion, and missions.

4 stars

Next up in audio: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

16: Yay! Project Gutenberg! Thanks.

Karen O.

Happy People-in-Love-Are-Annoying Day. I went a bit crazy with the great nerdy valentines this year and just made a whole pinboard for them. Check it out here, pick your favorite, and know it came straight from my shriveled heart!

Thanks Leah! You have so many good choices that it's hard to pick a favorite!

I'm still sorting through my father's things and came across a CD of old photos he had digitized a few years ago. I found this picture of my grandmother's living room, probably taken sometime in the 1960s. I loved that room. You can see the built in bookcases on the back wall. Not showing on the right is a pair of freestanding bookcases and the footstool I used to sit on to read. I headed for the bookshelves almost as soon as I set foot in the house.

>22 cbl_tn: Looks very cozy, Carrie. :)

20. Georges by Alexandre Dumas
TIOLI #12 - author's name is tied to Greek classical civilization (Alexandre)

Georges is the youngest son of a wealthy mulatto plantation owner on île de France (now Mauritius). Georges admires his father for his strength and character, but hates his father's sense of inferiority to white society. Georges' father, Pierre Munier, is clearly their equal, if not their better. Georges is small for his age and prefers intellectual pursuits to physical activity. When Georges and his older brother are forced leave the island for their safety, Georges determines to return one day to confront and defeat the island's racial prejudice. To that end, he methodically strengthens his mind, body, and character in preparation for his return home. Although he earns respect and admiration from all segments of society upon his return, his goal of revenge leads to inevitable conflict and great danger.

The first part of the story reminds me of the old Charles Atlas ads where the 90-pound weakling transforms himself into a muscular man able to defend himself. The rest of the story is bit like The Last of the Mohicans if it had been written by Dickens. The action is well-paced and the uncertainty of Georges' fate kept me turning the pages. Some of the characterizations feel weak, though. Georges keeps a mental distance from everyone, including the reader. When he does eventually fall in love, the object of his devotion is a 16-year-old girl who reminds me a little of Lydia Bennet. If she hadn't been a teenager, though, I think she might have acted differently and thus changed the outcome of the novel.

The treatment of race and prejudice is problematic in the novel. Georges despises the inferior treatment he is subjected to by the island's white society. However, Georges' family owns hundreds of slaves, and Georges and his family seem to view the African slaves as inferior in intellect and will. I'd like to find out more about Dumas to see how closely this mirrored his own attitude toward racial issues.

3.5

Next up in fiction: A Dish Taken Cold by Anne Perry

#22 What a comfortable looking room. Every house should have one like that.

>23 MickyFine:, 25 Thanks! I miss that house. My grandmother sold it after my step-grandfather died. I was in 7th or 8th grade when she moved. She had designed the house herself. It had lots of space for bookshelves!

I enjoyed a rare Vols victory over the Kentucky Wildcats this afternoon. One of the Kentucky players is named Archie Goodwin. It made me smile every time he made a play since I couldn't help thinking of the Nero Wolfe books!

Carrie, I didn't know Kentucky had a player named Archie Goodwin. That's great! I'm trying to picture Nero's Archie playing basketball. I'm sure he would have been good, very smooth shooter, tough defender.

Archie also got a technical foul today. I can picture Rex Stout's Archie doing the same thing!

Ha ha ha. Definitely. That man had a bit of a temper sometimes.

Only one acquisition to report this week:

A Wild Goose Chase Christmas by Jennifer AlLee. It was a free Kindle download. I'll save it for this year's Holiday reading.

21. A Dish Taken Cold by Anne Perry
TIOLI #5 - Missing vowel in title (U)

Anne Perry is best known for her detective novels set in Victorian England. This novella is a departure from her usual time and location. While the French Revolution is heating up in Paris in August of 1792, young widow Celie is consumed by grief over the death of her young son. Because Celie is in service with Madame de Staël, wife of the Swedish ambassador, she had left her infant son in the care of her friend Amandine. The baby died in his sleep at Amandine's house. From her fellow servant, Thérèse, Celie learns that Amandine had been with her lover, Georges, when the baby died. As Celie's anger grows, she discovers a way to make Amandine and Georges pay for the baby's death.

The novella has all the drama one would expect in a Revolutionary Paris setting. However, what I think was meant to be an unexpected twist in the plot was obvious to me from the beginning and this greatly lessened the plot's tension. I love both of Perry's Victorian series as well as the Christmas novellas featuring minor characters from both series. I haven't enjoyed her non-Victorian books nearly as much. Perry's die-hard fans will want to read this at some point, but this isn't the place to start with her works.

3 stars

Next up (fiction): The Unexpected Miss Bennet by Patrice Sarath

Edited to correct author. What was I thinking?!

Hi Carrie - Nice reviews of the Dumas and Perry books. I love Perry's Victorian series, which reminds me it's been a while since I've read one. I'm probably about 15 behind by now. She does such a great job of putting the reader in the time and place -- each detail contributes to the authenticity.

Thanks Beth! There's a year-long Anne Perry group read if you're interested. The discussion thread is here.

Hi Carrie, I really like the sound of King Peggy and I'm adding it my wishlist.

Judy, I think you'll enjoy King Peggy!

Love grandma's living room! Is that knotty pine? It's so sad when a piece of your personal history has to change hands. I'm glad you have the picture of it.

Yes, it is knotty pine! The bedroom I slept in when I visited was also knotty pine. It was a beautiful room. I still miss it.

We did get to go through the house again a few years ago. My dad's cousin knew the current owners and they were gracious enough to give us a tour when we were visiting in the area.

Hey Carrie!

I may join you in King Peggy this month - it sounds rather fascinating, and I'm always up for a little religious syncretism.

As a kid, I was always fascinated by Harriet Tubman - I'm pretty sure I read Harriet: Moses of Her People years ago. I think I'll look around for a more modern biography of her. Thanks for the reminder!

I'm hoping to read The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo a biography for the father and grandfather (respectively) of Alexandre Dumas pere and fils. He was the bastard, part African son of a slaveholder in the Caribbean. It should be fascinating.

If you do audiobooks, the audio of King Peggy is very well done. When she was speaking in her own voice, the reader sounded a lot like Oprah Winfrey!

The Black Count is high on my wish list. The public library has it available as a downloadable ebook. I may try to work it in later this year.

I've added Harriet, The Moses of Her People to the tbr pile.

I love the photo of the room in your grandmother's house. How I wish I had a photo of my favorite room in my grandmother's Victorian house.

I remember the pocket doors separating the living room from "the parlor."

To save heating costs, the parlor was closed during the winter months. It was opened during the holidays, and in the corner was a large Christmas tree with wonderful ornaments.

Sadly, I don't know where those ornaments are. How I wish I had some of them.

Thanks Linda! I didn't know that my father had taken these photographs of his mother's home so I was very pleased when I discovered them last weekend. Your grandmother's home sounds lovely. I love pocket doors!

I hope you enjoy reading about Harriet Tubman!

22. The Unexpected Miss Bennet by Patrice Sarath
TIOLI #8 - Washington's birthday rolling challenge

Spinsterish middle sister Mary Bennet is the unexpected heroine of this Pride and Prejudice inspired novel. Lydia, Jane, and Elizabeth’s marriages have disrupted life at Longbourn and Mary no longer finds pleasure in playing the piano and reading edifying sermon collections. An unlikely suitor has Mary’s thoughts turning in a new direction.

Although Patrice Sarath doesn’t capture Jane Austen’s style and wit, neither does she sprinkle Mary’s story with glaring anachronisms. Mary’s character transformation is believable, and readers will root for her as well as for Miss Anne de Burgh, who undergoes her own transformation in the novel. The sub-plot involving the Wickhams, Kitty, and the Bingleys doesn’t tie in well with the main plot. It seems like the author couldn’t bear to leave out any of the characters from Pride and Prejudice. I would probably have the same difficulty if I tried to write a P&P sequel so it’s a fault I can overlook.

3.5 stars

Next up in fiction: ZenZele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire

I just can't get into P&P sequels - I've tried. The only one I finished was P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberly, which did little for me. It's nice to think of Mary happily wed, though.

Dejah, they're definitely not for everyone!

I can handle riffing on P&P for the most part like Bridget Jones's Diary or The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but sequels I can't do. No one can do Jane Austen's tone and that's a must for me if I'm to accept they're the same characters.

Micky, I know you're not alone! I can tolerate books with Austen's characters as long as the authors don't try to modernize them. If it reads like a 21st century romance it's definitely not for me!

So no Lizzie Bennet Diaries for you, I guess. :(

Actually, I'm fine with the contemporary setting. What I have a problem with is a contemporary romance set in the Regency era. It bothers me when characters' thoughts and behavior are inappropriate for the book's time setting.

I'm enjoying the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. :) I've watched through episode 30. I'll eventually catch up!

>48 cbl_tn: Fair enough. I'm mercurial when it comes to what feels like contemporary romance set during the Regency. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't.

Glad you like Lizzie B. :)

23. The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 by Gene Allen Smith
TIOLI #2 - Book about U.S. history

The impressment of American sailors into British naval service was one of the grievances that led the United States to enter into the War of 1812 against Great Britain. What I didn't know until reading Gene Allen Smith's book is that quite a few of these American sailors were black. Smith focuses on an aspect of the War of 1812 that I knew little about – the participation of slaves and free blacks in the war. The promise of freedom enticed many slaves to fight with the British against the United States. Others chose to fight for the United States against the British. This gamble worked out for some but not for others.

Smith takes a regional approach to the topic, with chapters allocated to the northern/Canadian front, Florida, the Chesapeake, and the southern Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas. This approach results in some repetition since the same time periods are addressed in multiple chapters. The title is a little misleading since the book looks at the choices made by both free blacks and slaves in the War. The parts of the book that stood out for me deal with the West Indian regiments, the problem that Spanish Florida presented for both sides in the war, the conditions in Dartmoor Prison where many American prisoners of war were held, the British interpretation of the Treaty of Ghent regarding the return/non-return of former slaves to their American masters, and the resettlement of former American slaves in Canada and Trinidad. Readers with an interest in African American history during the War of 1812 will want to read this book. While it probably isn't essential reading for readers looking for a general history of the war, the book does cover aspects of the war that are overlooked in other histories.

ETA: This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

3.5 stars

Next up (non-fiction): Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford

24. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
TIOLI #17 - Dilys award winner

Literary detective Thursday Next is back again. She's become a minor celebrity after the successful conclusion of The Eyre Affair. However, not everyone is a fan. She made some enemies in the course of her work, including the powerful Goliath Corporation. Thursday is troubled by a series of coincidences. Then her husband, Landon, is eradicated by the chronoguard. To get Landon back, Thursday must find a way into a copy of Poe's Raven, but without the help of her Uncle Mycroft's prose portal. Fortunately, Thursday is introduced to the world of Jurisfiction, where she is mentored by Miss Havisham to become a Prose Resource Operative. Most importantly, she learns to book jump without the aid of the prose portal.

I didn't have quite the same sense of delight on my second visit to Thursday Next's alternate England. I guess you get used to pet dodos, Crimean War veterans, airship travel, and time travel. The real treat this time was Elizabeth Sastre's reading, which didn't seem like reading at all since Thursday tells her own story. Sastre completely buys into Thursday's world, making it easy for the listener to do the same. The Thursday Next books are playful and imaginative, full of puns and literary allusions. Start at the beginning with The Eyre Affair since each book builds on the events of the previous book in the series.

4 stars

Next up in audio: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

I couldn't even finish 'Lost in a Good Book', Carrie, so kudos to you for making it through. It sounds from your description that it picked up quite a bit after the point at which I abandoned ship.

ZenZele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire was a four star read for me. It is a very good book.

It really picked up somewhere around the middle where the connections started becoming evident between what had seemed to be isolated plot threads.

>50 cbl_tn: I've always been fond of the War of 1812 as a subject (as are most Canadians because, you know, we burned down the White House and stuff) so I may peek at that one in the future.

As for the Fforde review, I'm skipping it as I still have a few books in the series before I get to that one. :)

Micky, I don't think I'm much ahead of you in the series. This was book 2.

>56 cbl_tn: Ha! I have read that one (this is why I shouldn't post things on the internet after 8 pm, my brain has turned off). I think I enjoyed the book more than you did but I wonder if the audio experience had something to do with it?

I think I liked it better in audio than I would have if I had read the paper copy. It's a fun world to visit, but it didn't seem as new and different this time since I had visited there once before.

Hi Carrie - I read the first two Fforde books a while ago. I enjoyed the literary allusions and thought they were fun, but I wonder if I have to start over again? It seems like this series would be a hard one to go back to...

I think you're right Beth. I read the first book about a year ago and that was almost too long ago. I had forgotten some of the details about the events in the first book that came up again in the second one.

Sounds like a summer project.

25. Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
TIOLI #5 - Missing vowel challenge (no "i")

As Zenzele leaves Zimbabwe for four years at Harvard, her mother writes her a letter reminding her of her roots, a “curious distillation of traditional African teaching, social commentary, and maternal concern”. Zenzele's mother's generation lived through the civil war that culminated in Zimbabwe's independence and the end of minority white rule. Zenzele's family history is interwoven with Zimbabwe's history.

At the same time, this is a novel about universal themes – the bond between mother and daughter, between sisters, between women; the sacrifices one generation makes so that the next generation can have better standards of living; predestination versus free will. In a way, this is a mother-daughter version of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. It's a beautiful expression of maternal love. It's not what most people would classify as women's fiction, though. It can be enjoyed equally by both sexes. Recommended.

4 stars

Next up (fiction): 2666 by Roberto Bolano

I liked Lost in a Good Book too, but also felt that it didn't have quite the flair of the first book. At the time, I figured I just couldn't deal with that type of humor for more than one book in a row. It's the sort of humor that needs to be spread out for me. :) I took a year off and plan on reading another couple books in the series this year.

Rachel, I may listen to The Well of Lost Plots later this year - maybe in the summer. A year's gap between books was a little too long.

I'm reading Prince Among Slaves and the Bisland family has been mentioned several times. They were Natchez neighbors of the man who owned the African prince/slave who is the subject of the biography. These Bislands would be related to Elizabeth Bisland whose around-the-world trip I just read about in Eighty Days. Since Prince Among Slaves describes Natchez in the late 18th/early 19th centuries, these Bislands were probably Elizabeth's grandparents or great-grandparents. Elizabeth wasn't born until 1861. I hadn't heard of the Bislands before reading Eighty Days and now they're turning up in the most unexpected places!

26. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie
TIOLI #9 - Author shares a last name with a movie star/entertainer (Julie Christie)

Like many people, Hercule Poirot dreaded his appointment with his dentist. “There was in his heart a ridiculous hope that Mr. Morley might have been called away, might be indisposed, might not be seeing patients to-day...All in vain.” Poirot's dentist kept his appointment – one of his last, as it turned out. His body was discovered later that afternoon with the pistol with which it was presumed he took his own life. Poirot wasn't satisfied with the coroner's verdict of suicide, especially when the bodies of first one, then another of the dentist's last patients are discovered. Why was the dentist murdered, and who wanted him dead? Is there another intended victim?

The dental office setting is a fun twist on the English country house murder. The suspects are patients, colleagues, and employees rather than the usual family members, guests, and servants. The counting rhyme of the title is a plot device. Each line of the rhyme is connected in some way to the action in that chapter. Christie doesn't often refer to Poirot's earlier cases so it was fun when a couple of them popped up in this book. Finally, there was a surprise twist at the end of the story that not even Poirot foresaw!

4 stars

Next up in audio: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

Isn't it fun when connections between books surprise you? The Bisland connection is quite remarkable!

The Slaves' Gamble sounds fascinating. I'll look forward to reading it, but I think I'll wait 'til the library gets it!

I'm further along in the Thursday Next series than you are - I've read through #5. I agree, though, that none of the books are quite as amazing as the first. That said, I've enjoyed them all - thanks for the reminder to pick up #6 (the name escapes me....).

Waiting for a library copy of The Slaves' Gamble is a good plan. It has such a specialized focus that a lot of readers without a research interest in that aspect of the war will want to borrow it rather than own it.

27. Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford
TIOLI #5 - Missing vowel challenge (no "u")

The next time I criticize a novelist for relying too much on coincidence I’ll remind myself of Ibrahima’s story, recounted by Terry Alford in Prince Among Slaves. Ibrahima, born in the mid-18th century, was a son of the ruler of Futa Jalon in West Africa. He was literate in Arabic and educated in the Islamic faith. When Ibrahima was in his twenties, he was captured and sold into slavery, finally ending up as a slave on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi.

Years later, Ibrahima met a familiar man in the street. Dr. John Cox had been a ship’s surgeon and had been stranded for a time in Timbo, Ibrahima’s African hometown. Dr. Cox got to know Ibrahima and his family well during the months he spent in Timbo. This chance meeting lent credibility to Ibrahima’s claims about his origins and brought him to the attention of men of influence. Eventually Ibrahima won his release from slavery and made his way back to Africa.

The acknowledgements, preface (labeled “why” in this book), afterward, and notes are all important reading. They explain how Alford developed a research interest in Ibrahima, describe sources and repositories he consulted during his research, explain the rationale for his interpretation of the facts of Ibrahima’s life, and, in the 30th anniversary edition I read, describe primary sources that have surfaced since the book’s original publication that reaffirm his conclusions about Ibrahima. Some of the index entries in this edition point to the wrong page numbers, suggesting that the updating of the index to match the new edition wasn’t as thorough as it should have been. Although Alford provides extensive end notes, readers with a scholarly interest in Ibrahima may be irritated by the absence of numbering within the text. Alford was targeting both a popular and a scholarly audience and the decision to omit numbering of end notes was probably a compromise for popular appeal. Highly recommended for a general audience. Academic readers should take note of the omissions in the scholarly apparatus.

4.5 stars

Next up (non-fiction): The Queen's Agent by John Cooper

Carrie, you just got me back with Prince Among Slaves! It sounds fascinating, and I've wishlisted a copy on my library list. That doesn't break my "no reserving stuff during March" rule but sets me up nicely for April :-)

Just a couple of acquisitions to report for the last week:

The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch (thanks Betty!)
The 2 Hour Guide to Mastering Evernote by Brandon Collins - free Kindle download

My reading plans for March include a few chunksters. I've managed to fit all but one book in the TIOLI challenges.

Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope - TIOLI #2 (group read)
The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith - TIOLI #4
2666 by Roberto Bolano - TIOLI #9
The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames - TIOLI #11
Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji - TIOLI #13 (audiobook)
The Black Tower by Louis Bayard - TIOLI #15
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - TIOLI #18 (group read; audiobook)
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler - TIOLI #21
A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - TIOLI #22

Still looking for a home for The Queen's Agent by John Cooper

I made good progress yesterday on the the three books I'm reading - a couple of chapters of Doctor Thorne (so far 2 chapters a day = about 25 pages a day), another chapter of The Queen's Agent, and over 100 pages of 2666. Since I worked Saturday, today is the other half of my weekend. I'm hoping to do the same today. I've got an appointment to get some maintenance work done on my car. Maybe that will be good for some uninterrupted reading time. I still have almost 400 pages left of 2666 and I'd love to finish it by the end of next weekend.

I don't remember why, but I wasn't able to watch Call the Midwife when it aired on PBS last year. I want to catch up with season 1 so I can watch season 2 when it starts at the end of the month. I had season 1 in my Netflix queue but there's a very long wait for disc 1. I ended up purchasing the first episode from Amazon Instant Video and watching it last night. I'll probably do the same thing for the rest of season 1. I'm already hooked. The music is great, too!

Oh, I didn't know Call the Midwife was coming back already! So glad I didn't miss it. It's a really great show.

If my memory is correct, the new season of Call the Midwife starts March 31.

Yeah, I think that's what it said when I went and stalked it after your post.

Oh I'm a big fan of Call the Midwife too.

Carrie, I'd be watching for your comments on Child of Dandelions as I haven't got a book for Uganda yet.

Judy, I hope it's good! I checked to see what is available in audio from the public library for the Commonwealth countries and this is one of them.

#73: Carrie, they've just released a soundtrack CD for Call the Midwife here in the UK, so you might get it in the US at some point. We are about six episodes in to series 2, and the plots are just starting to diverge from the books, which is a shame in some ways, although I think they plan to keep it running for a while and there are only three books.

I'll have to look for the soundtrack CD, and also for the books. I've watched two episodes now and I liked the second one even more than the first.

Carrie, the books are Call the Midwife, Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End, and here they published them all in one volume at one stage. The second one is different in format, following the very sad lives of some East End people rather than the midwifery, but they were all fascinating. Sitting in my office I think I'm very close to where the worst of the slum buildings used to be, but they're long gone now and the location filming was done at Chatham Dockyard in Kent.

The public library only seems to have Call the Midwife. Since it's available for download in audio format I'll probably check it out that way. I usually manage to get through 2 or 3 audiobooks a month. I'll either order the other two books via ILL or maybe try to find a used copy from Amazon.

>82 cbl_tn: The second one just came out here in the US in January and the third one comes out on March 12, so maybe there is still hope that your library will get them.

>83 KarenElissa: Thanks! I'm not going to get to any of the books right away so I can wait and see if they show up at the library.

28. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
TIOLI #18 - World Book Night book

When a “modern” 19th-century New Englander gets hit on the head and finds himself in King Arthur's England, it's obvious that there will be a clash of cultures. Hank Morgan doesn't think much of the average medieval person (or even the above average ones). From his “advantage” as a beneficiary of industrial age inventions, he sees the people of Camelot as simple-minded and superstitious. He does find one person with promise, a young man he calls Clarence. With Clarence's help, Hank surreptitiously embarks on an improvement plan to introduce the wonders of 19th-century technology into Arthurian Britain.

Even though 19-century technology is no longer what anyone would consider modern, it's fun to see the anachronistic blending of distinct historical eras, such as knights wearing sandwich board ads or competing against each other in baseball. Twain lived at the right time to tell this story. He couldn't have written the same book today. It's just believable that a 19th century man could train enough laborers to replicate 19th century technology as long as the raw materials were available. It would be much harder for a single 21st century man (or woman) to train medieval laborers to build a computer, a cell phone, a television, or an airplane, and connect them all with the Internet.

I thought I had read this book years ago, but only the first few chapters seemed familiar to me. Maybe I started the book but didn't finish it. I listened to an unabridged audio version this time. It took a while for me to warm up to the narrator. Or maybe it took him a while to become fully invested in the story. I also discovered that some parts of the book don't work well in audio format. Twain uses archaic language and speech patterns when the medieval characters tell stories. These parts of the book are difficult to follow in audio format. I would encourage most readers to start with the book and save the audio version for a re-read.

4 stars

Next up in audio: Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji

That does sound like a fun read, Carrie!

>86 susanj67: It is fun, Susan! It's easy to find, too, since it's in the public domain and there are lots of free versions available from Project Gutenberg, etc.

Only one acquisition to report this week: Strawberry Yellow by Naomi Hirahara, my February ER book. I'll start it as soon as I finish one of the two books I'm currently reading.

29. The Queen's Agent by John Cooper

When the Elizabethan era is mentioned, I immediately think of Shakespeare and the Spanish Armada. Religion doesn't immediately come to mind. Yet religious matters occupied much of the public career of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's principal secretary for nearly two decades. Walsingham, a dedicated Protestant, was vigilant to protect queen and country from Catholic invasion. He developed a network of informers, some of whom were double agents, to stay a step ahead of Catholic plots to kill Elizabeth and put a Catholic monarch in her place.

I was interested in the descriptions of the multitude of documents that Walsingham produced – correspondence, position papers, and reports. Walsingham couldn't have succeeded in his role without the ability to process a great deal of information and organize it in a useful system.

I had never given much thought to the cost of government in Elizabethan England. Financing the nation's defense was a problem. Public figures like Walsingham were expected to fund their own work, and the demands of Walsingham's office often exceeded his income.

Although Walsingham wasn't a particularly likeable man, his life makes for interesting reading. He either influenced or was influenced by many historic events, including the Reformation communities in Switzerland, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France, the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, the settling of the Roanoke Colony, and the defense against the Spanish Armada. While there are lots of names, dates, and places mentioned in the book, the big picture of Walshingham's life doesn't get lost in the details. Recommended for readers with an interest in the Elizabethan era.

This review is based on an electronic advanced reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

4 stars

30. Strawberry Yellow by Naomi Hirahara
TIOLI #4 - Book in a series I've already started

His cousin's funeral provides an occasion for Japanese American gardener Mas Arai to return to his hometown. Watsonville, California. Mas's cousin, Shug, was a strawberry farmer. Mas had lived on the farm for a couple of years in his late teens, but he hadn't been back to visit very often in the last 50 years. Mas generally minds his own business, so he's surprised to find himself involved in a murder investigation when a dead woman is discovered near Stem House after his late-night visit with Shug's son, Billy. Then Shug's widow, Minnie, tells Mas of her suspicion that Shug might have been poisoned. He's unable to turn down her request to stay a few days and see what he can learn about Shug's death.

I developed a fondness for Mas when I read the first book in the series a few years ago. The mystery plot is better developed in this book. Mas has a logical reason for poking around in the murders, and it doesn't seem like he's interfering with a police investigation. He's not particularly cooperative with the police, but his attitude is consistent with his character. The agricultural and cultural settings are integral to the plot, and the book has a strong sense of place. This book reads more like a cozy than the first book in the series does. It should appeal to cozy readers who like mysteries with unusual settings. It will work as a stand-alone. Readers who start here may, like me, find themselves wanting to go back and pick up the books they've missed.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

4 stars

I'm all caught up with Season 1 of Call the Midwife. Episode 2 was my favorite. I love Chummy! I still have the Christmas special to watch and then I'll be ready for the start of Series 2 at the end of the month.

We watched Call The Midwife Season 1 episodes 5 and 6 this evening - even my other half was intrigued by the legal drama bit - and Chummy is my favorite character in this series. It is a nice change of pace from a lot of other shows out there right now and it is nice to watch a show that hits on some good moral issues/dilemmas.

Chummy always seems to get the difficult births and she handles them very well. I hope we get to see a lot more of her in Season 2.

Spring is coming! This morning I noticed that the willow tree by the pond near my office is budding. Part of me is elated and part is depressed. I had a horrible time last year with allergies and the effects lingered until early this year. I'm finally feeling normal - just in time for the spring allergy season.

Allergies are terrible, Carrie, but I just want the snow to GO AWAY! Sorry for shouting.

I haven't adjusted to the time change yet and had trouble sleeping last night. I read several chapters in The Long Quiche Goodbye, the first book in a series set in a cheese shop. When I finally did get to sleep, I dreamed about cheese!

I haven't been able to sleep either. I normally love the switch to daylight savings so I can get some actual sunlight time after work, but this one has been rough.

I did OK on Sunday and mistakenly thought all was well.

Having moved here from Arizona, I am remembering how much I HATE daylight savings time. The whole messing with time just annoys me and I don't really see a need for light until 9 at night.

Funny though, I was trying to explain it to a young friend (12 years old) who has lived in AZ her whole life and the whole thing made no sense to her. :)

AZ totally confused me on a cross country drive. My best friend and I were trying to make it to Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park in Chambers, AZ, from Santa Fe, NM, before they closed the gates. It was bad enough trying to remember which time zone we were in on which day, but then we didn't realize that AZ doesn't observe DST. We got to the entrance at what we thought was 6:55PM, when they should have been closing. They waved us on in and we were thinking how weird it was that they would let us in at close. We didn't realize until we got to the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook that we were an hour off all around. So confusing.

Growing up I had one set of grandparents in Indiana and the other in Illinois. Indiana only recently started observing DST. Part of the year they were in the Eastern time zone and part of the year they were in the Central time zone. Sometimes it was confusing to figure out what time it was in Indiana to make a phone call.

The grandparents in Illinois were just across the state line from Indiana. The closest town of any size was in Indiana. If you had doctors appointments, etc., in Indiana you had to remember to go an hour earlier in the winter.

When I lived in New Zealand, my parents could NEVER figure out what time it was. It was generally a 16 hr time difference except that DST is reversed, so sometimes it's 17 hrs and sometimes it's 18 hrs.

Where in New Zealand did you live? My aunt, uncle, & cousins lived in Nelson for several years. My parents spent several months there when I was in college. I chose not to go with them because I would have had to delay college for a year. My brother was still in high school and didn't go, either.

I lived in Dunedin, almost at the bottom of the South Island. I spent a day in Nelson while traveling but not really any quality time.

Too bad you and your brother didn't get to go. I studied abroad there and only wish I'd stayed longer.

I know my mother visited Dunedin at least once. I'm not sure which trip it was so I don't know if my father was with her or not. Also, my 6th grade teacher moved to New Zealand halfway through the school year. I think Dunedin is the city she moved to. Her daughter was in my class so I lost a friend as well as a teacher.

Dunedin is lovely. I really enjoyed it there. If I was to move back (and a farm wasn't in the cards) it'd be a pretty hard decision between Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Gisborne. I would probably need to just rotate through them all! I love New Zealand.

ETA: Interesting note your mom might or might not have known: Dunedin was settled by Scottish settlers who based the layout of the city on Edinburgh (to varying success given the very different geographies). The word Dunedin is actually from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh. It is also home to a Royal Albatrosse nesting area, the only mainland place in the world to view Northern Royal Albatrosse in their natural habitat. And penguins, can't forget the penguins. ;)

Hey Carrie -- What great books you've been reading! Of course, I'm usually interested in the books you read, so it's no real surprise that I have added to my TBR list.

Thanks for the reviews!

Thanks Dejah!

31. The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames
TIOLI #11 - I like the title

Charlotte Bessette and her cousin, Matthew, have just taken over the family cheese shop from their grandparents. They've expanded and redecorated the store, adding a connected wine shop since Matthew has experience as a sommelier. The relaunch party is spoiled when their obnoxious landlord is stabbed outside the store. Even worse, Charlotte and Matthew's grandmother is discovered standing over the body, covered in blood. With circumstantial evidence weighing so heavily against her grandmother, Charlotte feels compelled to launch her own investigation into the murder to find the real killer. The victim's equally obnoxious widow, Kristine, is at the top of Charlotte's list of suspects. Kristine is challenging the incumbent mayor, who happens to be Charlotte's grandmother, in the upcoming election. Would Kristine go so far as to implicate her rival in murder in order to win the election?

I like the characters, the small town Ohio setting, and the food aspect introduced in this book. However, the mystery and Charlotte's investigative organization leave much to be desired. Charlotte is too suggestible. Her friends keep feeding her ideas, and Charlotte usually dashes off to follow through on whatever has just been suggested to her without much thought about the potential consequences. She keeps forgetting that most of these friends are also suspects in the murder, since they were all at the reopening party and had access to the murder weapon. The cast of locals is quite multicultural, probably more so than the typical small town in a rural Ohio county. I'll likely make a return visit to Charlotte's shop when I'm in the mood for cheese. I hope she has a new set of door chimes by then. The “grape-leaf-shaped chimes” were wearing old by the time I got to the tenth mention! (Yes, I counted.)

A generous 3 stars

Next up in fiction: A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

You were generous than I was. I gave it only 2.

I was in the mood for a cozy and hadn't read one for a while. If I'd read several cozies recently I probably would have rated it lower.

I plan to overdose on cozies next week although I'm taking along some non-cozy reads too. I've got to figure out which audiobooks are available to download. All the ones I initially wanted were gone, so those are the cozies I'm overloading on!

32. Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji
TIOLI #13 - "Lion" in the title

In 1972 when Ugandan president Idi Amin gave all foreign national Indians 90 days to leave Uganda, Sabine and her family mistakenly think the order doesn't apply to them. They are Ugandan citizens after all. At first things aren't much different. Sabine continues to spend time with her African best friend, Zena. However, their friendship soon shows signs of strain as the ethnic division becomes sharper. By the time Sabine and her family realize they need to leave Uganda, it may be too late.

This YA novel is based on a real historical event. Sabine compares what is happening to the Indians in Uganda to what happened to the Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. Idi Amin's government keeps stripping rights and possessions from the Indian population. After witnessing soldiers' attacks on helpless people, Sabine fears for her own and her family's safety. Sabine's eyes are also opened to things she hasn't noticed before, particularly the racism practiced in the Indian community and in her own family.

As in many children's and YA novels, the reader is immediately plunged into danger. It's there from the beginning of the novel, which opens on the first day of the 90-day countdown. The book will appeal most strongly to teen girls. Educators might want to use it for supplemental reading in social science courses (world history, sociology, etc.) Recommended.

4 stars

Next up in audio: The Sunday Hangman by James McClure

Edited to correct numbering. For some reason I started counting backwards!

Child of Dandelions sounds pretty good, but I don't know how much more YA I can handle this month than I've already got planned. Maybe next month....

I hope you enjoy it whenever you get to it.

33. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
TIOLI #2 - Part of a plant in the title

Although romance is at the center of Doctor Thorne, the male protagonist, Doctor Thorne, is not the romantic lead. He's the uncle of Mary Thorne, who comes to live with him in her early adolescence. Unknown to almost everyone except Doctor Thorne and the reader, Mary is the illegitimate daughter of Thorne's brother and a working class girl. Mary is allowed to continue her education with the Gresham children, whose father, the squire, is the leading figure in local society. Inevitably, the squire's only son and heir, Frank, falls in love with Mary. However, Frank isn't free to marry whomever he chooses. Because of the squire's financial problems, the family insists that Frank must marry money, leaving Frank with an impossible choice. Why won't Doctor Thorne intervene? He and the reader know something that the other characters don't, something that might change everything...

There are similarities between Mary Thorne's situation and Harriet Smith's situation in Emma. Emma ignored Harriet's lack of family connection and wealth and encouraged Harriet to aspire to marry above her station, almost ensuring that Harriet wouldn't marry at all. Doctor Thorne was less impulsive than Emma, but no less at fault. Harriet was of marriageable age when Emma took her on as a matchmaking project. Mary was still a child when she came to live with her uncle. He failed to think about what would happen when Mary reached adulthood.

This was a tiny bit of a letdown after Barchester Towers. I missed the church politics and all of the wonderfully flawed characters in the ranks of the clergy. The de Courcy women, including Lady Arabella Gresham, could learn a thing or two from Mrs. Proudie. Still, it's Trollope so it's entertaining and at times laugh-out-loud funny. Even the names of the characters can bring a smile to your face – Miss Gushing, Dr. Fillgrave, Mr. Reddypalm, Mr. Nearthewinde. Readers who enjoy Victorian historical fiction should give Trollope a try.

4 stars

Well shoot - maybe I will have to read Dr. Thorne....

It's good! I don't think it's necessary to read The Warden or Barchester Towers first.

34. A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
TIOLI 22 - Historical novel by a new-to-me author

Although this is the reader's first introduction to amateur crime solver Charles Lenox, it's not his first case. He has prior experience as well as an uneasy and unofficial relationship with Scotland Yard's Inspector Exeter. Lenox is asked by his neighbor and dear friend, Lady Jane Grey, to look into the death of a young woman who had formerly been in service with her. Charles is assisted by his butler/valet, Graham, his older brother Edmund (a member of Parliament), Lady Jane's cousin's physician husband, Thomas McConnell, as well as a few minor characters. Although the master of the house is eager to have the death ruled a suicide, it's clear to Charles and McConnell that the girl was murdered. Charles must work carefully since the suspects include men at the heart of government.

I liked a lot about this first series mystery. Charles Lenox is a likeable man. He's a reader whose tastes run to novels like Tom Brown's Schooldays and The Small House at Allington as well as daily newspapers and scholarly journals. He also loves to plan trips to faraway places like Persia, although he usually ends up canceling his travel plans because of a case. He's a good friend to his brother, to his friend the doctor, to his valet/butler, and to Lady Jane. He's not as colorful as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, but he's still a decent sleuth. This series would be a good fit for readers who enjoy Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series or Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton series.

4 stars

Edited a sentence to make it more coherent. I really shouldn't multitask when I'm writing a review!

Next up in fiction: The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler

I watched the Christmas episode of Call the Midwife this evening. Now I'm completely caught up and waiting impatiently for Season 2 to begin in two weeks. I've enjoyed the music, and this episode may have one of the best soundtracks in the series.

Carrie - I'm trying to ignore your enticing review of A Beautiful Blue Death -- I don't need to start any more series...

Beth, I had the same problem. I kept seeing wonderful reviews on other people's threads but I'm already following so many other series that I had a problem working it in. This one sat on my shelf for quite a while before I finally managed to work it in this month. Now that I've started I want to read the rest.

Only one acquisition to report this week: Detective Kubu Investigates by Michael Stanley, a collection of short stories featuring Detective Kubu. It was a free download from the authors' newsletter.

Carrie, I like the sound of the Charles Finch series, but my library system appears to have none of them at all, which is startling. And the paperback is £10.80 so I think that's one series I won't be starting :-)

I liked your review of Doctor Thorne. The next three in the series have various of those characters recurring, and the Proudies and Grantlys feature in the last one, so it's worth continuing :-)

Susan, I'm looking forward to continuing Trollope's Barsetshire novels. After I finish them I'll start on the Palliser novels. I've read Can You Forgive Her? but it was so long ago that I'll be ready for a reread.

I'm sorry your library doesn't have the Charles Finch series. They're mostly set in Victorian London, I think, but the author is American.

The Charles Finch series is one of my favorites. Glad to hear that you liked it.

Linda, I'm already trying to figure out how soon I can fit in book 2!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Carrie. I've had A Beautiful Blue Death on my wishlist for quite some time and since I have a category for Historical Mysteries this year I sure hope to get to it soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too! I'm glad I finally got around to reading A Beautiful Blue Death. Now I just have to figure out how to squeeze in the rest of the books in the series!

Just checking to see if I can post to this thread. I'm having trouble posting to my new thread in the 2013 Category Challenge.

It seems to have worked fine here, Carrie.

For some reason it wouldn't let me mark posts as reserved on my other thread. I finally got the idea to start numbering them so that the posts wouldn't be identical and then I was able to post them.

Is there a special way to mark posts as reserved? Other than just typing 'reserved' in the message box, I mean. That would be a handy trick to know if there is.

If there is a special way I don't know it. I wasn't able to type "reserved" in successive message boxes, though. I don't know if LT wasn't letting me repeat the message or if my computer wasn't letting me. Something recognized that it was identical to the message I had just posted and stopped me from repeating the same message. I finally figured out that if I entered "Reserved 1", "Reserved 2", etc. it would work.

It's LT. It's trying to stop accidental double posting. I ran into that on one of my threads too.

>135 leahbird: Good to know. I'll try to remember that the next time I set up a new thread.

35. The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler
TIOLI #21 - Book by an author who has written in more than one genre

Berekiah Zarco, a young man of about 20, is one of Lisbon's New Christians – Jews forced by the Portuguese to become Christians in 1497. At great risk, Berekiah's family continues to produce Hebrew manuscripts in secret. In addition to training him as an illustrator, Berekiah's Uncle Abraham is also training him in kabbalah. During Passover in 1506, Berekiah's uncle sends him on an errand. Berekiah returns home to find that Lisbon's Old Christians are massacring the “New Christians” (i.e., Jews). He is grieved to find his uncle's slain body in the secret cellar where the manuscripts are hidden. After he examines the body, Berekiah realizes that his uncle was not a victim of the massacre. He was murdered by a fellow Jew, one of the handful of people who knew about the hidden cellar and its secrets. Berekiah resolves to hunt down his uncle's killer, but he'll have to escape the massacre in order to have his vengeance on the murderer.

I knew little about kabbalah before reading this book, and I hadn't heard at all of the massacre of the Jews/New Christians in Lisbon. The setting provides plenty of tension. The “New Christians” are in a precarious situation. Berekiah's family as well as other families continue to practice Judaism in secret. Some of the “New Christians” have completely converted to Christianity, while others keep one foot in each camp. It's risky to trust anyone. Berekiah questions his faith during the events of that Passover week, but what he questions seems to be something other than kabbalah. His faith seems to be in himself and in his uncle/mentor rather than in God. Some parts of the book touch on occult matters, and there is one scene describing demon possession. Although I generally books with a strong supernatural/occult element, this one stayed just within my comfort zone.

This would be a good fit for readers who enjoy historical mysteries/thrillers. It has a similar feel to S. J. Parris's Heresy and Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost. Readers who liked either of those books might want to give this one a try.

4 stars

Next up in fiction: The Black Tower by Louis Bayard

That same thing happens to me, Carrie, when I try to reserve the first 13 or so for my category challenge.

I can't type "reserve" again and again, but I can type "reserve 1" "reserve 2" etc.

Thanks for the knowledge, Leah and Carrie. I'll have to remember that if I need a new thread.

>139 rosalita: Always glad to help!

Abandoned book: The Sunday Hangman by James McClure. I listened to the first couple of segments of this police procedural set in South Africa and it just wasn't working for me. I listen to enough audiobooks that I don't think the format is the problem. The reader seemed talented enough. I think I just didn't like the book.

I'm all in favor of letting them go when they're no holding your interest - there are plenty of books out there to read!

I've started the audio of Agatha Christie's N or M? and I'm enjoying it much more than the one I abandoned!

Pretty hard to beat the enjoyment of a good Agatha Christie! :)

36. The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
TIOLI #25 - First letters of title words spell a word including "O" (oath)

This collection of mostly color illustrations was published as a companion to a British Museum exhibition. Photographs on high quality paper illustrate various aspects of Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by millions of Muslims each year. Objects illustrated include maps of Mecca, tools for calculating the direction of Mecca and times of prayer, pages from illustrated manuscripts, souvenir/keepsake items like certificates and decorative tiles, textiles, Egyptian wall paintings, and photographs. The book also includes a few illustrations of the sites and relics of Medina, a stopping-point for many pilgrims on their way to or from Mecca. Readers like me who know little about the Hajj beyond its name will learn basic details of the dates and rituals of the annual pilgrimage.

The book is small, and while the quality of the illustrations doesn’t seem to be compromised by the page size, the accompanying text does. Readers whose eyes aren’t as young as they used to be will need reading glasses or a magnifying glass to read the small print. The “further reading” list of about two dozen works would be more useful if the citations included publisher names. Maybe this information was omitted so that the bibliography would fit into the allotted space. If that’s the case, I would have included the publisher’s name and omitted the location.

3.5 stars

143 > N or M? is my favorite Agatha Christie! I hope you enjoy it.

I think it may be my favorite Christie too! It was the first Tommy & Tuppence book I read. It's interesting that she brought them back during wartime.

I loved the way Tuppence dealt with getting "shoved aside" in the beginning of the book :D.

Hello Carrie - just popping in to see what interesting things you have on your thread (a dangerous place for me...!) I've abandoned a couple of things today, and I agree that it's not worth slogging through things that don't hold your interest when there are so many other things out there!

>148 Samantha_kathy: It never pays to underestimate Tuppence!

>149 susanj67: Hi Susan! I hope you're enjoying your Saturday!

37. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard
TIOLI #15 - Book about a person born in March (Louis XVII of France)

I'm a man of a certain age—old enough to have been every kind of fool—and I find to my surprise that the only counsel I have to pass on is this: Never let your name be found in a dead man's trousers.

So begins the adventure of a lifetime for Hector Carpentier. Why was his name on the dead stranger's person? That's what the great Vidocq of the Sûreté would like to know. Vidocq's suspicions of Carpentier gradually becomes trust. Together the men begin to unravel a mystery with ties to the Revolution that its survivors in Restoration era Paris have tried hard to forget. Could it be possible that the dauphin, Louis XVII, survived his imprisonment in the Temple? Someone certainly thinks he's alive, and they're doing their best to make sure he doesn't stay that way.

I had no idea where Bayard was headed with this historical thriller. The story was perfectly paced. I never rushed ahead of the narrative to speculate about what would come next. Bayard found the right balance between suspense and humor and continually surprised me with both. This kind of historical mystery has long been popular with novelists. (Think of all the novels based on the premise that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the execution of the Russian Tsar's family.) Bayard's novel has to be among the best of this niche of literature.

4 stars

Next up in fiction: The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

The Black Tower sounds like the kind of historical mystery I like. Thanks for the great review, Carrie.

Beth, it was good enough that I'm sorry I let it sit so long on the shelf before I finally read it. The characters are memorable, too. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of Bayard's books.

This week's acquisitions are all ebooks:

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope - I finished Doctor Thorne and I wanted to have the next Barsetshire book ready for whenever I can get to it
Rescue in the Wild by Mary Faith Enyart
Back on Murder by J. Mark Bertrand

The Black Tower sounds really good, Carrie - I'll have to get my hands on it!

>155 Dejah_Thoris: It's a great read and reads quickly for its size. I hope you can find a copy somewhere!

38. N or M? by Agatha Christie
TIOLI #4 - Book in a series I've already started

With World War II underway, it's only natural that Tommy and Tuppence Beresford would recall their experiences during the previous war. They approached their dangerous assignments then with a sense of adventure. Their early venture into private detecting ended with the birth of their children. Now that the children are grown, Tommy and Tuppence wonder if there isn't some way that they can use their experience to serve their country. Tommy is pleasantly surprised to receive an assignment to pose as a guest at a seaside hotel in Leahampton. The intelligence service knows that an enemy agent – either N or M - is operating from the hotel. Is it one of the guests? Or possibly the mysterious proprietor? Imagine Tommy's surprise when he arrives to find that he's already very well acquainted with one of his fellow guests. Can Tommy and his partner spot the enemy agent before the agent spots them?

I'm among the minority of Christie fans who count Tommy and Tuppence as their favorite detectives. They're a perfect team. I think it's the extra sense of danger and the espionage angle to the stories that appeals so much to me. Poirot and Miss Marple are rarely, if ever, in physical danger from the murderers they unmask. Danger is all in a day's work for Tommy and Tuppence. Although we've missed the Beresford children's youth between the last Tommy and Tuppence novel and this one, there's an adorable toddler staying with her mother at the hotel and she manages to charm both the Beresfords and the reader. She's just one more reason to love this book.

World War II is currently popular as a setting for historical mysteries, and many of the recently written books bear strong similarities to this Christie adventure. However, today's novelists have an advantage that Christie didn't have. They know how the war ended, and they know about operations that were secret during the war years. N or M? was published in 1941, long before the war ended. It's interesting that one of the characters in the novel is a Major Bletchley. I wonder if this caused a stir in intelligence circles when the novel was published? It's common knowledge now that Bletchley Park was the British headquarters for cryptographers during World War II, but it wasn't public knowledge at the time Christie wrote this novel.

5 stars

Next up in audio: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Sometime during the night the rain changed over to snow. We just got a dusting where I am. It's the kind of day that makes you long to stay home and read. The good news is that I get to stay home today. The bad news is it's because I was up all night with a tummy bug. I'm too tired to do much but curl up with some Sprite in front of old I Love Lucy reruns.

Oh no! Sorry to hear that, Carrie. I hope you start to feel better soon. Meanwhile, enjoy Lucy :-)

I drove my car to work this morning because the snow was pathetic out at my house. Now I sit here at work watching it come down more in earnest and I'm getting concerned. My heater isn't great and I probably need new tires. Hope I make it home.

Feel better and enjoy your day off.

Thanks Susan!

Leah I hope you can get home without too much trouble. The snow is still coming down pretty heavy here.

It's coming down a lot here (over off 275) but it's not sticking so far, so that's good.

I think we have an inch or maybe a bit more here in Morristown. Huge flakes. I have to go in this afternoon and work until 9 tonight. I hope the roads are clear.

I'm so sorry, Carrie! I hope you feel much better soon.

I managed to finish The Miracle at Speedy Motors this evening but the review will have to wait. I'm getting ready to start Death of a Cozy Writer.

Hi Carrie, I enjoyed your review of Dr. Thorne. I am quickly becoming a Trollope fan. It doesn't look like I'll get to it this month, darn it. I'll read it soon, though, to get caught up with the group.

Thanks for the heads up about Call the Midwife. I can't wait for the new season to start. I love Chummy too.

I hope you feel better soon!

Hi Donna! Thanks for the good wishes. I'm finding that I'm not bouncing back as quickly from these "24 hour" viruses as I did when I was younger. I'm feeling a bit better today and the bland diet seems to be working.

I hope you enjoy Doctor Thorne when you get to it.

It's good to see you back, Carrie - I hope you're fully recovered soon.

Thanks Dejah!

39. The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith
TIOLI #4 - Book in a series I've already started

It's always a pleasure to visit Botswana's only female private detective agency. These books aren't about crime. They're about life. Precious herself puts it this way:

...I am a lady first and then I am a detective. So I just do the things which we ladies know how to do—I talk to people and find out what has happened. Then I try to solve the problems in people's lives. That is all I do.

In this series installment, a client who believes she was adopted asks the agency for help in finding her real family. Precious also tries to find out who is behind a series of nasty anonymous letters. She solves the case with help from an unexpected source. Mma Makutsi has a problem with a piece of furniture her fiance has purchased in anticipation of their marriage. Precious's husband, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, goes to great lengths to acquire a second opinion on their wheelchair-bound foster daughter's disability.

This is the first book in the series that I've read since my father's death. Precious's love for her late Daddy struck me in a fresh way this time. I loved this passage:

That Obed Ramotswe should be remembered, that people should still speak of him; that touched her. One did not have to be famous to be remembered in Botswana; there was room in history for all of us.

“He was a very good man,” she said. “He loved his cattle. He loved his country.”

She had not intended to utter an epitaph, but that, she realised, was what she had done.

This series probably won't win many literary awards. However, it's among my favorites because I always feel better about the world and the people in it after absorbing Precious's outlook on life. Warmly recommended.

4 stars

Next up: Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet

Carrie, I completely agree with your view of the books. They're some of my favourites. But I am getting behind! I must catch up.

Glad you're starting to feel better.

Thanks Susan! I used to read the books as soon as they were released in paperback but I've fallen several books beind. I'll have a good talk with myself about waiting too long between books.

40. Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M.Malliet

Best-selling cozy mystery author Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk might be loved by his readers, but his family? That's a different story. His four children are continually at odds with him and with each other. Sir Adrian loves nothing better than to stir the pot, and his favorite “spoon” is changing the beneficiaries in his will. An invitation to Sir Adrian's upcoming wedding draws the family to his estate in Cambridgeshire. Not everyone who arrived will be leaving...

Mysteries about mystery writers can be fun, and this is no exception. Sir Adrian is described as superstitious regarding his writing. One of his superstitions is that all of his novels have exactly 26 chapters, “regardless of whether or not this served the needs of the narrative”. After reading this sentence, I naturally turned to the table of contents to see how many chapters this book has. Exactly 26. The book can be read as a straightforward cozy, or as a spoof of the country house party murder mystery. It works either way.

Other aspects of the book didn't work as well for me. The first murder doesn't take place until a third of the way through the book. St. Just doesn't appear until the police are notified. This is a “St. Just Mystery”, yet St. Just doesn't appear until page 116 of 286 pages. His character is bland in contrast with the colorful cast of suspects. Some of the clues that led St. Just to the murderer's identity weren't shared with the reader until he presented his summation of the case. One of the things I enjoy about mysteries is trying to spot the clues among the insignificant details. I want authors to try to misdirect my attention, not withhold information from me.

I've read the first book in Malliet's Max Tudor series. I liked this one better. The series has potential, and it's one I'll likely continue to read.

3.5 stars

Planned reads for April:

TIOLI #3 - Embedded word within a single word
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Daughter of the Air by Rob Simbeck
Free Fire by C.J. Box
Malinche's Conquest by Anna Lanyon
Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

TIOLI #4 - Book with 2 or more people on the cover
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

TIOLI #9 - 4-syllable word on p. 13
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett

TIOLI #10 - Both title and author's name contain double letters
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (audio)

Hi Carrie - I hope you feel better soon. You have some great reads planned for April. The Sound and the Fury is one of my all-time favorites. I just read Alias Grace, and it is one of my year's favorites, so far. I'll be waiting to see what you think of your April books.

Take care and feel better soon.

Alias Grace was my first Atwood, which I read during my undergrad and I absolutely loved it. Hope you have as good an experience. :)

Thanks Beth! I think I've got a good variety of books on my April list. I'm glad I'm finally getting Alias Grace of my TBR shelf. I've wanted to read it for quite some time but other books kept getting in the way. Have you ever noticed how pushy some books can be?!

Micky, I hope I like it as well as you did! Although I haven't read any of Atwood's books, I've been exposed to her poetry through Louise Penny's books. I'm predisposed to like her, I think.

Happy Easter everyone! I've already been to sunrise service and breakfast and I'll be heading back to church soon for our regular Sunday service. Usually we have our sunrise service at the river, but it rained last night so we had to move the service to church. It was a nice service but I think we all missed the beauty and peace of the riverside.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you, too.

Thanks Samantha_kathy and Beth!

41. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
TIOLI # 9 - Book with a plant on the cover

I spent almost a year reading this and now that I've finished I'm not exactly sure what I've read. I'm positive a lot of it went over my head, especially part 2. Each part is quite different from the other parts, yet there are characters and themes that span the entire work. In some ways, part 4 (The Part About the Crimes) was the most difficult to read because of the graphic nature of the crimes, yet it was the easiest to understand. Dreams are a consistent theme in the book. If I wanted to make an effort to understand the novel, I'd start by analyzing the dreams. But I think I'll leave that to someone else. I'm ready to move on.

3 stars

Next up: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

I'm happy that my Lady Vols moved on to the Elite Eight this afternoon and I'm even happier that they won't be playing Baylor. Go Lady Vols!

Happy Easter, Carrie.

The sunrise service sounds lovely, even if you missed the river this years.

My congrats to you and the Lady Vols!

Thanks Dejah! Georgia is still in the women's tournament, too. They took out the no. 1 seed in their bracket.

182: I was a little mystified by 2666, too, Carrie. Okay, a lot mystified! There have been some group reads here on LT since I read it when it first came out that might shed some light on it. However, like you, I have moved on and haven't looked back!

Donna, I just skimmed through some of the conversations and didn't pick up much insight from them. I just don't understand what Bolaño was trying to do with the novel. I'm not sure Bolaño is an author I want to try again. There are plenty of other authors for me to explore.

Hi Carrie, I've just gotten caught up with your thread. I have to admit I haven't read 2666 mostly because I gave up on The Savage Detectives and thought it might be more of the same. And you've pretty much convinced me that I made the right decision haha.

Hi Bonnie! I've made a similar decision. If you didn't like The Savage Detectives any more than I liked 2666 It's probably not worth keeping it on my wishlist.

Hi Carrie - Sorry you didn't like Bolano. I might check him out at some point, but I'm not in a hurry after the comments I'm seeing.

Hi Beth! I'm certainly not going to try to convince you to move Bolaño higher on your TBR list!

Only one acquisition to report this week. My March Early Reviewer book arrived: The King's Jar by Susan C. Shea.

Oddly, the first choice the touchstone for this book suggests is Christ Stopped at Eboli. I wonder why?

42. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
TIOLI #16 - Atwood April

Grace Marks was a real person, an Irish immigrant to Canada in the first half of the 19th century. By the time she was 16, she had been tried and convicted of the murder of her employer and his housekeeper. Public opinion was mixed, and there were enough influential people who believed that Grace was wrongly convicted to keep her from being hanged. Margaret Atwood developed Grace's story into a historical novel that raises as many questions as it answers. Atwood probes the lines between fantasy and reality, memory and illusion, truth and falsehood, sanity and insanity. There isn't much black and white here – only shades of (often very dark gray. Grace doesn't reveal her secrets easily, and many readers will find themselves reading long past the point they intended to stop in the hope that Grace will reward them with some new detail that she's been keeping to herself.

4 stars

Next up in fiction: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

43. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
TIOLI #10 - Both the title and author's name contain double letters

In the spirit of 10-year-old India Opal Buloni, who likes to make lists, here are 10 things I like about Because of Winn-Dixie:
1. Winn-Dixie is a friendly dog who smiles.
2. Opal's daddy is a preacher, just like my daddy was.
3. Opal's friend Miss Franny Block is librarian who likes children and dogs.
4. Opal's shy friend Otis has a gift for music with the ability to charm both people and animals.
5. The story reminds me that the best cure for loneliness is to look for opportunities to do something good for someone else.
6. It reminds me not to “judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”
7. It reminds me that “There ain't no way you can hold on to something that wants to go... You can only love what you got while you got it.”
8. It illustrates the possibility of finding family within a community.
9. The characters and their voices are exactly right.
10. It's just as good as the movie, a favorite that I've watched several times.

5 stars

Next up: Daughter of the Air by Rob Simbeck

Wonderful review, Carrie! I think I''l have to read it. I've always loved the title.

Thanks, Dejah! It's a beautiful story that gives you the warm fuzzies, and it doesn't take long to read. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest watching it after the book. It sticks pretty closely to the book, plus it's got a great cast - Jeff Daniels, Eva Marie Saint, Cicely Tyson, Dave Matthews. The child who played Opal is very good, too.

Carrie, your last read sounds like a sweet one :-) And well done on finishing another TBR in Alias Grace.

>193 cbl_tn: Glad you liked the Atwood, Carrie. :)

Thanks Micky!

44. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
TIOLI #10 - Book with double letters in both the title and the author's name

Not long after the end of the Siege of Sarajevo, Australian book conservator Hanna Heath is brought to the city to analyze and stabilize the famous Sarajevo Haggadah. Sarah takes samples of items she finds within its binding for further analysis. As Hanna's samples are analyzed one by one, readers learn about the people and events that brought the artifact into contact with the Haggadah. In most cases, readers end up knowing more than Hanna about the Haggadah's journey. Hanna can only guess at possibilities.

The story is fictional, but Brooks sticks closely to the real history of the Haggadah. That explains the large gap in the historical sections of the book. There are no historical scenes from the 17th and 18th centuries, corresponding to a gap in the Haggadah's provenance.

The secondary plot line of Hanna's touchy relationship with her neurosurgeon mother seems like it would have been better as a separate novel. It raised some interesting questions but in the end it wasn't satisfactory as a subplot. I felt a sympathy with Hanna as she experienced crises in her relationships with several people over the course of the novel, and I was frustrated by the abrupt manner in which the fallout was explained at the end of the book. This could have been a 5-star read for me if Brooks hadn't focused so much on Hanna's personal life.

If you're an audiobook listener, this one is worth seeking out. Edwina Wren creates a wonderful variety of voices for characters of several different nationalities. I'll keep an eye out for more of her work.

4 stars

Next up: The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Wonderful review, Carrie! I loved loved loved 'People of the Book' and that was one I actually listened to on audio and thought the narrator did a fantastic job with all the voices. I'm glad to have her name finally. She was marvelous.

Thanks Julia! I can't imagine a better narrator for that book.

People of the Book has been on my TBR list for awhile. I think it's one of the lease books we actually kept here, but if it wasn't, I'm pretty sure that I can get a copy at the public library. I'll get to it eventually. Maybe I'll even look for the audiobook version.

I just checked R.E.A.D.S. and it's available in both ebook and audio formats. There's a waiting list for the ebook, but the audiobook says it's available now. The audio is very well done. You might want to give it a try.

Carrie - I loved People of the Book, too and The Daughter of Time is one of my all-time favorites. You are in for a treat. I'll be anxious to hear what you think of it.

Beth, The Daughter of Time is sort of a re-read for me. I've read the book, but this is my first time listening to the audio version. I've been itching to re-read it since all the news stories started appearing about the recent discovery of Richard III's remains. I'm already about halfway through the audio recording!

I will get to The Daughter of Time again at some point, but I've been wanting to read Shakespeare's play more so that's the one that's up this month for me!

For some reason the Shakespeare play doesn't appeal to me as much as the Tey book. Maybe I'll get around to it one of these days.

Shakespeare's version doesn't come off very well in The Daughter of Time. I haven't kept up too much with the news. After hearing they found the remains, I haven't really heard much more. Hmm. Must Google. :)

Yes, Shakespeare was definitely a Tudor writer! See if you can find a picture of the skull reconstruction. It's eerie, and it looks very much like his portrait.

Yes, Carrie - I spent some pleasurable time at work reading up on the find this afternoon. It sounds amazing. I wonder if it will prompt people to take a look at the history books?

I was curious so I just checked Amazon to see if there are any new books on Richard III. I found three that look interesting. Richard III by David Baldwin is a recent biography. I think the hardcover came out before the discovery of the remains but the paperback has been updated post-discovery. The Last Days of Richard III and the Fate of His DNA is about the analysis of Richard's DNA and its comparison with the DNA of a Canadian relative. Philippa Langley, the woman involved in the successful search for Richard's remains, has a book coming out in October. I've added all three to my wishlist.

45. Daughter of the Air: The Brief Soaring Life of Cornelia Fort by Rob Simbeck
TIOLI #3 - Embedded word in title (aught)

When you think of female pilots, Amelia Earhart immediately leaps to mind. Sadly, most people would probably have difficulty thinking of any others. Now I have another name on my list: Cornelia Fort. Fort was the daughter of a prominent Nashville family, a member of the Junior League and a debutante. Interestingly, Fort's father insisted that Cornelia spend a year at Ogontz School and Junior College, where the women participated in military drills. Amelia Earhart had attended the same school.

A brief flight with a friend's pilot boyfriend changed Cornelia's life. She found her passion in flying. She quickly devoted herself to getting her pilot's license and then to qualifying as an instructor. In the fall of 1941 she was working as a flight instructor in Hawaii. Cornelia and a student were in the air when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. She was able to safely land the plane and take cover until the bombing raid ended.

For a time, the war reduced Cornelia's opportunities to fly. Her presence at Pearl Harbor gave her a celebrity status, and she made several public appearances. Everything changed again in the fall of 1942, when Cornelia was invited to join the newly-formed WAFS – Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. By using women to transfer planes to where they were needed, male pilots could be freed for combat duty.

Cornelia and her fellow WAFS had the responsibilities of military pilots, yet they had few of the benefits. They paid rent for their barracks. They were required to wear uniforms, but had to pay for them out of their own pockets. They had to pay some of their travel expenses on return journeys to their base after their deliveries. Most of the women had more flying experience than many of the men who ferried planes, usually fresh out of flight school. The women knew that they would be judged differently than men and they strove for excellence. When weather conditions didn't permit them to fly, they spent time in additional training, further honing their skills.

Cornelia was delivering a plane to Dallas with several male pilots when she was killed in an accident. Another plane got too close to hers, and the mid-air collision that barely affected the other plane sent Cornelia's into a fatal crash. She became the first woman to die in active service in World War II. Since she was civilian rather than military, she did not receive military honors at her funeral and her family paid her funeral expenses.

The author had access to Cornelia's papers and letters, and he conducted extensive interviews with Cornelia's family, friends, and colleagues. The result is a very readable biography of a brave woman who died far too young. The book should appeal to readers with an interest in aviation history, women's history, World War II and women's service, and Nashville history.

4 stars

Next up: Free Fire by C.J. box

Hi Carrie - Nice review. I'll add those Richard III books to my WL, too. I'm way behind on the Box series. I think the next one for me is Trophy Hunt.

Beth, I liked Trophy Hunt. It has a really odd twist to it. I'll be curious to see what you think of it when you get around to reading it.

Well, I clicked on Trophy Hunt and then looked it up on the library's ebook site...and they seem to have most of the series! I'm intrigued, but I just have to not click until I've read the things I already have.

That's great Susan! I've only read a couple of Box's books, but I've really enjoyed the ones I've read.

46. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
TIOLI #3 - Embedded word in title (aught)

Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is getting stir-crazy. He's in hospital recuperating from an injury and he's bored. He misses his work, and he begs his friend, actress Marta Hallard, to bring him faces to study. She brings him a portfolio and one portrait in particular catches his interest. Richard III is known as the vile murderer of his nephews, the princes in the Tower, yet he doesn't look like a murderer. Soon Grant is begging for history books. Marta obliges again by introducing Grant to a young American researcher, a hanger-on at the theatre. With Carradine to do the leg work, Grant is soon hot on the trail of a historical puzzle that causes him to question everything he's been taught about history.

Josephine Tey's novel has possibly done more to rehabilitate Richard III's reputation than any number of non-fiction historical works. Perhaps if students were exposed to Tey's novel it would spark their interest in history. With minimal guidance, students could learn a lot about historical research from Grant and Carradine's investigation – the importance of primary sources, evaluation of bias, what questions to ask, and how to spot gaps in the historical record. Although Tey is known as a mystery writer, this novel doesn't fit neatly into that genre. It will appeal to a broader spectrum of readers, especially historical fiction enthusiasts. Although Grant appears in several other novels, this one works very well as a stand-alone. Highly recommended!

5 stars

Next up in audio: Serena by Ron Rash

Thanks for the heads-up on the new Richard III books. They all look interesting!

>218 cbl_tn: That may just be a BB, Carrie. I haven't quite decided yet.

It's a classic!

I'm abandoning another audiobook. I've listened to about a half hour of Serena and I've decided that the reader's voice doesn't suit the book. I'm starting A Fatal Winter instead for lindapanzo's TIOLI challenge to read a 2012 Agatha nominee.

47. Free Fire by C. J. Box
TIOLI #3 - Embedded word in title (ire)

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is at an interesting juncture in his career. The governor offers him a position, but it's off the record. Joe is to go to Yellowstone National Park to investigate the circumstances surrounding four murders in an area called the Zone of Death – a remote corner of the park where, because of loopholes in the law, it's almost impossible to convict anyone of a crime committed there. The body count continues to mount after Joe's arrival. As Joe pieces together the information he gathers, he realizes that the murders are connected to a conspiracy, and that there could be someone on the inside who is trying to make sure that Joe doesn't uncover it. As if that isn't enough, Joe also has to confront painful memories from his past connected to the park.

As usual for this series, this was a page-turner. Who knew that being a game warden could be this dangerous? I was most drawn to the Yellowstone setting. Joe is there during the off-season, and the lack of tourist traffic gives the park an ominous aura. The natural features of the park like its geysers and hot springs are used to good effect, as is the Old Faithful Inn. After reading Box's description of the inn, I'd love to go to Yellowstone just to see it. This is becoming one of my favorite series when I'm in the mood for adventure.

4 stars

Next up: Malinche's Conquest by Anna Lanyon

I was fortunate enough to stay at the inn once!

Now I'm jealous!

I'm heading to Denver for the weekend for a family event. I hope to get some reading done on the plane, but I don't think I'll have a lot of time to read while I'm there. I've got about a chapter left in Malinche's Conquest so I'll try to finish it before my friends pick me up and take me to the airport. If not, I'll finish it when I get back. The books coming with me are The Making of a Marchioness, The King's Jar, and Bel Canto (in case I finish the other two). I'll also have my iPod with me in case I feel like listening to A Fatal Winter.

Have a good time, Carrie!

Thanks Susan! I'm a little worried about the weather. It's already warm here and I've been able to leave the house in the morning with a light sweater, or even without needed a jacket or sweater at all. I had to pull out a winter jacket to take with me.

I made it here with no delays. The funny thing is that my cousin's husband arrived at about the same time I did. I had a direct flight and he didn't so he left earlier than I did, but from the same airport. I think his flight left while I was going through security. I didn't see him in the Denver airport, either. If we had known his travel plans, he could have ridden with us from the airport and saved my cousin a trip.

My cousin flew in on Wednesday and it turned out to be a long day for her. The weather in Denver was too bad for the plane to land so it went to Colorado Springs instead. They sat on the plane for 3 hours before they were cleared to go to Denver.

Carrie - Have a fun weekend; I hope it's not too cold. I'll be anxious to hear about your reading when you get back.

I wouldn't have thought it was too cold a couple of weeks ago. However, it's been in the 70s this week at home and there's still some snow on the ground here. Brrr!

I made it through half of a book on the plane and another decent chunk after we got to the hotel. We all had an early start this morning and decided we wanted to rest for a while before going to help set up for tomorrow's brunch.

48. The King's Jar by Susan C. Shea
TIOLI #14 - Book with a green cover

Dani O'Rourke, fund raiser for San Francisco's Devor Museum, has her hands full preparing for a New York dinner to celebrate the museum's newest acquisition – the King's Jar, a rare artifact from the African nation of Kenobia. Before the jar is transferred from a local university to the museum, the archaeologist who had custody of the jar for twenty years is murdered and the jar disappears. Although Dani has no desire to become involved in another murder investigation, this may be unavoidable as Dani pursues the missing jar on the museum's behalf. Many of the suspects in the theft and murder will attend the Manhattan gala, giving Dani an opportunity to observe their behavior. Several people are acting as if they have something to hide, including the wealthy donor and his socialite trophy wife, the handsome television explorer/archaeologist, the ambassador from Kenobia, the murdered professor's odd assistant, and even one of the museum's employees.

I always looked forward to the next Archaeological Mystery by Lyn Hamilton and I was sad to see the series come to an end with the author's death. This book reminded me quite a lot of that favorite series with the mystery surrounding an ancient artifact. Having three men in pursuit of Dani's affections is a bit much. I think it would be difficult for Dani's wealthy but annoying ex-husband to continue pursuing a reconciliation for too long without becoming either pathetic or stalker-ish. On the other hand, a romance with homicide cop Charlie Sugerman has a lot of potential, particularly if the relationship continues to be complicated by Dani's knack for getting entangled in his murder investigations. I'll look forward to future installments in the series, as well as the first book in the series that I haven't yet read.

4 stars

49. The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
TIOLI #9 - Book with a 4-syllable word on p. 13

Emily Fox-Seton is a poor but exceedingly goodnatured young gentlewoman. Her nature is too trusting to realize the selfish motives behind the kindnesses she receives from those more fortunate than her. She reminds me of an adult Sara Crewe, at least as portrayed by Shirley Temple in the movie adaptation of A Little Princess. (I haven't read the book.) The hero won't leave many readers jealous of Emily's good fortune. Readers don't have a chance to develop any romantic illusions about him when they're constantly reminded that he is self-centered an unimaginative. What I think about him isn't really important, as long as Emily is happy. I was disappointed by the story's abrupt ending. It seemed unfinished. Imagine my delight when I discovered that Emily's story continues in The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Of course, I had to start it immediately to find out how Emily's story plays out!

3 stars

50. Malinche's Conquest by Anna Lanyon
TIOLI #3 - Embedded word in title (quest)

Australian author Anna Lanyon looks behind the legend of Marina/Malinali/La Malinche, the young Indian woman who served as a translator for Cortés and who eventually bore him a son. Unlike Pocahontas, who inspired a Disney film, and Sacagawea, whose image is engraved on a dollar coin, Marina is remembered as a traitor rather than a heroine of legend.

I wondered how Lanyon could find enough material about Marina to fill a book. I discovered that the book is as much travelogue as history. Lanyon follows Marina's trail through the southern part of Mexico. She visits places where Marina lived or traveled according to history or legend. Although few physical traces remain from that era, her presence left its mark in the cultural memory.

Lanyon ends where I would have started – in archival repositories. I'm more interested in the historical person than the legend. More than once Lanyon mentions that she didn't begin her archival research until her trip was winding down, and she ran out of time before she had exhausted every potential resource. Who knows how much more she might have learned if she had started with the archives?

3.5 stars

Next up: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

#233 by @cbl_tn> Burnett is one of my favorite authors, The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy being exceptional examples. I find myself more drawn to the Alfonso Cuaron version of A Little Princess than the book itself.

Anyway, the point of this was that I've never gotten around to reading The Making of a Marchioness or The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Your review mirrors the reasons I've not been convince yet, but they are always on my Get to It Someday list.

Leah, The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. I think Mary is a much more interesting character than Sara Crewe or Emily Fox-Seton.

The Making of a Marchioness was kind of like reading Pride and Prejudice with Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley as the main characters rather than Elizabeth and Darcy. If you ever do get around to it, I would recommend reading an edition that includes The Methods of Lady Walderhurst.

*waving* at Carrie

Hi Stasia! It's good to see you back!

Carrie, I loved your review of Because of Winn-Dixie. Very creative. I've read and liked both the book and the movie.

Sorry you didn't escape the cold weather and snow on your week end trip to Denver. We were very lucky the week before and had pleasant weather.

I hope you enjoy Bel Canto.

Thanks Donna! Even though it was colder in Denver, it didn't feel as cold because of the low humidity. The weather was beautiful while we were there. Maybe just a few sprinkles on Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon. The snow-covered mountains were gorgeous. My cousin definitely got the worst of the weather by flying in the day of a snowstorm. She said she posted more on Facebook while she was stranded in Colorado Springs than she had the during the rest of the time she's had her account. (Apparently she reads what other people post but she doesn't post a lot herself.)

Seconding Donna's wish that you enjoy Bel Canto. I love that one!

I like it so far! I'm a little over 1/3 of the way through.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Bel Canto after you finish it, Carrie. I am one of the 'loved it' readers.

Thanks Lori! I've got about 100 pages to go in Bel Canto. Maybe I'll finish it this evening.

The welcome mat is out on my new thread here.