-Eva-'s 2+0+1+4 Challenge - Part 1

This year I'll be going for (2+0+1+4=) 7 basic categories with at least 12 books in each.

1. Original Language Fiction (languages in which I read - it's really only Swedish and English that's completely effortless)
2. Translated Fiction (languages in which I do not read, at least not easily)
3. Comic Books
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks
5. Group Reads and CATs
6. Read and Give Away
7. Overflow (for the extra books in whichever category becomes my 2014 favorite)

Original Language Fiction

1. Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö Finished January 30th
2. The Ice House by Minette Walters Finished February 18th ♫
3. Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin Finished March 30th
4. Mannen som gick upp i rök/The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö Finished April 14th (MysteryCAT)
5. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie Finished June 2nd
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Translated Fiction

1. Blindness (Portuguese original: Ensaio sobre a cegueira) by José Saramago Finished February 27th
2. The Maias (Portuguese original: Os Maias) by José Maria de Eça de Queirós Finished March 11th
3. The Property (Hebrew original: הנכס) by Rutu Modan Finished April 6th (GeoCAT)
4. Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City (French original: Chroniques de Jérusalem) by Guy Delisle Finished April 8th
5. Frälsaren (Norwegian original: Frelseren) by Jo Nesbø Finished April 27th (MysteryCAT)
6. Evas öga (Norwegian original: Evas øye by Karin Fossum Finished May 23rd
7. The Book of Disquiet (Portuguese original: Livro do Desassossego) by Fernando Pessoa
8. Lucio's Confession (Portuguese original: A Confissão de Lúcio) by Mário de Sá-Carneiro
9. The Implacable Order of Things (Portuguese original: Nenhum Olhar) by José Luis Peixoto
10.
11.
12.

Comic Books

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 by Stieg Larsson, adapted by Denise Mina Finished April 9th (MysteryCAT)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 2 by Stieg Larsson, adapted by Denise Mina Finished April 9th (MysteryCAT)
3. Habibi by Craig Thompson Finished April 10th
4. Lucifer Book One by Mike Carey Finished May 9th
5. Hetero i Hägersten by Sofia Olsson Finished May 14th
6. Nattbarn by Hanna Gustavsson Finished May 15th
7. Kiki från Montparnasse by Catel Muller Finished May 16th
8. Nemi 7 by Lise Myhre Finished May 24th
9. Nemi 8 by Lise Myhre Finished May 24th
10.
11.
12.

Audiobooks and Ebooks

1. Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard Finished January 28th (N)
2. Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange by China Miéville Finished February 11th (K)
3. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher Finished March 22nd ♫
4. Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby Finished April 3rd ♫
5. Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá Finished April 14th
6. White Night by Jim Butcher Finished April 25th ♫
7. Small Favor by Jim Butcher
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Group Reads and CATs

1. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith Finished January 21st (MysteryCAT)
2. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher Finished January 22nd ♫ (MysteryCAT)
3. Final Account by Peter Robinson Finished February 5th ♫ (MysteryCAT)
4. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Finished February 17th (RandomCAT)
5. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley Finished March 23rd (MysteryCAT)
6. Marcoeffekten by Jussi Adler-Olsen Finished April 5th (MysteryCAT)
7. The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy And Other Stories by Tim Burton Finished April 14th (RandomCAT)
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Read and Give Away

1. Speed of Life by Mikael Jansson Finished January 23rd
2. The Samaritan's Secret by Matt Beynon Rees Finished February 22nd (MysteryCAT and GeoCAT)
3. The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea Finished March 21st (RandomCAT and GeoCAT)
4. Cal by Bernard MacLaverty Finished May 17th
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Overflow

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

I think I've made my categories wide enough this year to avoid changing any of them. We'll see, though.

Love the picture for overflow.

Great categories, Eva, I see you've set aside one for non-fiction reading. I'll be looking forward to adding to my wishlist!

Hee hee, Grumpy Cat! And the volcano picture is cool too. Good idea to have broad categories!

Seven open categories sounds much more sensible than scrambling for 14 specialised ones. Love grumpy cat, he flashes past from time to time on FB. Maybe you could have had Henri le chat noir for your translated fiction!

2014???? Already?? Eeek!

I am so jealous of people who can easily read more than 1 language.

I get a Swedish word a day, but that is as far as my Swedish goes. Yesterday's sentence was Ibland gillar jag att bara satta mig med en bra bok. (Sometimes I just like to sit down with a good book.) Which makes me wonder if there is a spelling error. . .since the 'word' of the day was att satta sig.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Thanks all! Yes, I need a non-fiction category - I went without one last year and I may have read two books so far this year. Not good. I did laugh when I did an image search for "group" and "cat" for that category and Grumpy showed up - I just had to have that pic.

->14 bruce_krafft:
"satta sig" is right, other than it has an "a" instead of an "ä" in "sätta." The "mig" instead of "sig" is the difference between "sit myself down" and "sit oneself down."

Colour me impressed that you're already starting that early with your categories. Kudos!!!

Is a group of cats really called a glaring? It totally should be. That picture made me laugh so hard!

Also, such a good idea to reserve a category for group reads and CATs, instead of having to squeeze them in elsewhere!

Look at you! All ready for next year! :D

Shiny! ;) Good luck!

Great categories: broaden the choices, love the dual flag.

Excellent categories this year, as ever, Eva! I may have to steal a couple of them myself. ;)

Love Grumpy Cat!

Thanks all for coming by! It'll be fun to break this in for real - I'll be starting on January 1st.

->17 christina_reads:
Not sure Grumpy Cat can do anything but glare. :) It is a great name, though, isn't it!

Stopping in to say hi and fix a star on your thread.

collective nouns for cats is actually Glaring (as well as clowder, cluster, clutter, pounce and my favourite (for wild cats only) destruction) :-D

Dropping a star & looking forward to what you'll choose next year

A destruction of cougars...yeah, that makes sense!

->24 psutto:
That is nothing short of brilliant! Most collective nouns seem arbitrary, but whoever came up with those must have actually studied felines!

cool :) open categories rock.. mine this year are so open I actually sat in stunned silence when one didn't fit in anyway!

->27 clfisha:
Haha! The only year that didn't happen was 2012 when I went with the months - whatever was read in each month fit. :)

Thanks for setting up the challenge, Eva. So many 2013s were chomping at the bit to get their next challenge set up. We are all so ambitious!

One of my secrets for success in the category challenges has been to keep my categories fairly open. Who knows what topics will grab my attention next week, let alone 6 months from now?!

Good job on remembering to capture things like Group Reads and CATs for your categories!

A group of cats is called a glaring. Cat lover that I am, I never knew that, although I do admit to not understanding most of the collective nouns animals have been given. I do love "a murder of crows", as somehow, that seems.... fitting. ;-)

A glaring? Really? How appropriate! Good luck with your challenge!

my favourite collective noun is an Extinction of Dodos :-) and am admitting to a bit of a collective noun fetish (as they have featured in 3 of my stories so far)

"Extinction of Dodos"
That's just being mean to those poor dodos. :)

I know!

you should have a collective nouns category in 15 - hubby and I were watching a show last night and there was a wake of buzzards - somehow appropriate.

I saw that same show! Was it the series about wildlife in Russia?

No - it was one of the shows in the Longmire show. We were watching Netflixs so I think maybe the second show? There were buzzards flying in the sky and they were looking for a dead body and the main character made a comment about a wake of buzzrds.

This thread has led me to look at some collective nouns and for the first time I came across "a superfluity of nuns".

Haha - seriously, some of those are just so mad!

ETA: Collective nouns, that is, I wasn't referring to nuns! :)

40> Having gone to parochial school and a Catholic college, I can attest to the fact that there are some mad nuns. My brothers always warned me about Sister Mary Hair-Puller.

At one college not too far from the Twin Cities they tell you to watch out for 'NOBS' - Nuns on Bikes. So a group of NOBS it would be a superfluity of NOBS?

Collective nouns are fun . . . escargatoire of snails. . . . a pandemonium of parrots. . . ostentation of peacocks. . . parliament of owls. . .

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

There's a brand new book out called A Compendium of Collective Nouns. It doesn't even have an LT listing yet but here is its cover from Amazon:



pulled over by the apostrophe posse and corrected

I'm thinking my theme for the 2015 might have to be collective nouns... :)

>43 mamzel: this book is SO going on my wish list! Paper of course so I can bring it to school and use it. It can be a fun activity. Really, how can it not make people talk and compare?

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

Would love to add that to our library at work!

We have very little of this in Swedish, just four or five words, I guess. But picking the wrong one will sound wrong to me (using a fish-word to describe a group of birds, for instance). Is it the same in English? Are these all well estsblished? Does, say, a flock of Crows sound wrong to you?

>47 GingerbreadMan: a 'flock of crows' won't sound wrong, because technically crows are birds, and flock is the general noun for a group of one kind of birds.

A school of crows would sound a bit weird, but doable because of the other definitions of school, and you could probably get away with herd of crows if you were trying to imply that they were displaying 'herd behavior' but a flock of fish would seem totally wrong.

For the most part I don't think that the majority of English speakers know that there are collective nouns beyond flock, school, or herd except for gaggle of geese and a pride of lions and maybe for crows & ravens.

Anyone who knows more collective nouns is probably a nerd of some sort. . . and those who know that they are called 'collective nouns' are nerds for sure. . . :-)

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

->48 bruce_krafft:
I don't know what you're talking about - surely there are no nerds here. :)

I'm a rather big fan of "unkindness of ravens". I read a novel last month about an ornithologist (Laws of Migration) with a glossary of collective bird nouns at the back of the book. Some of them were really random.

I wonder what the collective noun for nerds might be. Any ideas, anyone?

A revenge of nerds, perhaps. :) Or a herd of nerds would be good!

Surely it would be an intelligence of nerds.

A trek of nerds? A server of nerds?

I was trying to think of which collective nouns that most people would commonly used for animals and came up with

School (fish) , pod (whales, dolphins) , herd (various mammals) flock (birds) gaggle (geese), swarm (bees) pride (lions) army (ants) pack (dogs, wolves) troop (baboons, monkeys) shoal (fish) and, at least if you're Australian, mob (kangaroos).

I think that thanks to Meerkat Manor 'gang' is becoming the standard collective name for a group of meerkats.

Surely an arguement of nerds :-)

An enthusiasm of Nerds (or maybe that would be geeks?) I am so getting the collective noun book in 43!

The Urban Dictionary says that the collective noun for nerd is - posse. . .

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

I think a theme of collective nouns would be very interesting. I might look into this book too.

An enthusiasm of geeks and a trek of nerds. lol. Awesome!

I think it should be "herd of nerds," but that's mostly because of the rhyme. A Klingon of nerds?

Hi Eva, just dropping by to add my star. I'm only very tentatively starting to think about next year. Love the conversation over here, some collective nouns are just so appropriate :-)

Wow! An amazing, for me, goal you have Eva! I'm not intimidated at all, no, not me, uh uh. I'll be checking back to drool at your accomplishments :0)

51> That was my first thought as well. My suggestion would be a "convention of nerds. " Of course, I had to research it, and found this website:
http://all-sorts.org/nouns/nerds Apparently, the website is dedicated to collective nouns (real and imagined). They list the most popular ones: http://all-sorts.org/popular

I'm going to have to look into A Compendium of Collective Nouns. It might make a good holiday present.

I'm excited about you having an entire category for translations. Just stick to ones I wouldn't like, please. Your 2013 thread was hard enough on my wish list.

If I could have one challenge where everyone else only read books I had already read, that'd be great! :)

>65 -Eva-:
Lol! That would be awesome.

65> You have enough books in your library - almost 3,000 - so in theory we should be able to do a challenge in 2015 using only books you've read. But, alas! I compared books using the "What should I borrow?" feature, and LT only came up with 80 books I should borrow from you, and many of them are books I already read BLT (Before LibraryThing).

I tried one year to do a Mt. TBR challenge, but realized I'd have to fit a few newbies or I'd get bored. If I remember correctly, I got to 70% TBR-books and was quite proud of that.

I got to 70% TBR-books and was quite proud of that.

That is impressive! I am trying to read my TBR books this year and so far my TBR to non-TBR reading is 25/89 = 28%. I blame all the shiny books that I don't already own...... ;-(

I'm currently at 95% (79/83) from my TBR pile for this year. I even ignored the ER books this year. And this would be awesome except I've added 109 to the TBR - 89 of which are actual paper. Oh well - there's always next year.

Just imagine how terrible it would be to finish a book one evening and discover that you have no unread books in your entire house. I think I need to go buy a few books just to make sure that never happens to me.

#71 lol!

>71 RidgewayGirl: I don't think I've been less than three hundred books away from that horrible thought for as long as I've been literate... IF it were to ever happen, I'm sure there would be a re-read or two I could go for ;)

>71 RidgewayGirl:-73
LOL.

Though I also thought of some of the great books I could reread. In fact, I keep staring at Lord of the Rings, sitting on my shelf, just waiting to be reread. ;) But I have other books I should probably read first. Maybe.

I'm re-reading LOTR next year! I totally set aside a category just for that. :)

I have actually experienced that several times, though it was a long time ago. I just pick up an old book and re-read. I tend to forget most of the storyline fairly quickly anyway so often it's almost like reading a new-to-me book.

->70 dudes22:
Well, there is that little issue with reading off Mt. TBR without having a ban on adding more to it as you go along. :)

->71 RidgewayGirl:
“The horror! The horror!” :)

I love rereading old favorites - I try to do a few comfort reads over the holidays, but now that Mt. TBR is so HUGE, it makes me feel slightly guilty.

I do like to reread books I love -- it's why I keep some books after I've read them -- but not having a choice would drive me nuts. I love having a wide variety to choose from.

A murder of crows. That one would be fun for murder/thriller category.

I love how you managed to keep this challenge manageable by creatively working with the number within the year! I dove in straight aways with fourteen categories and am already thinking I may have bitten more than I can chew; but we'll see! It is a *challenge* after all! :-)

Starring your thread :-)

Nice categories! Starred :D.

Happy New Year Eva!

Found and starred you! Good luck for 2014!

Eva how are you?

I'm alive - thanks so much for checking, Roberta!! Real life has been pure lunacy for a while, but I hope it's settling down soon. I got a few TV-shows on DVD from my family in Sweden for Xmas, so I'm not really reading much right now, but rather binging on Scandicrime movie-style. :) Coming over to read all your threads soon!

Good to see you back here Eva. You've missed the January madness!

How fun that you are catching up on Swedish cinema. Let me know if anything is amazing. There is always hope it ends up on Netflix or Prime.

Thanks! I've had enough madness... LOL!

I'm currently watching "Bron" ("The Bridge"), which I think has been shown in the UK, so there's a subtitled version out there - hopefully it'll make it over here. Also started "Brottet" (which has been remade here in the US as "The Killing," but the original is obviously better), which I'm also recommending.

I really ought to watch Bron and Brottet. Bron was HUGE in the UK and I have friends who did nothing but talk about that show for what felt like years (but was probably a few weeks). And I never got around to watching it. I'm terrible att keeping up with shows, even missing out on my favourites because I had no idea that a never series (season) had started.

Happy belated New Years, Eva and here is hoping the RL lunacy ends for you soon.... or normalizes!

Making a note of the Bridge (seen the killing, its was rather popular in the UK as Maria says!) May everything calm down soon, happy new year.

->88 PawsforThought: & 90
The Bridge has some fantastic characters - well worth the watch! I rarely watch series "live," but rather wait until they're done so I can binge - I keep forgetting that a new episode comes out.

->89 lkernagh:
Thank you - appreciated!

I'm guessing RL hasn't calmed for you too much, but I see you have a few books finished in your categories. Hang in there!

@91 well I missed the start of the bridge here so will have to wait for the whole thing to be able to glut :)

#1



The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (AKA J.K. Rowling)

Down on his luck private investigator Cormoran Strike is hired to find evidence that an apparent suicide is in fact a murder with the help of a temp assistant who wishes to be much more than that. I probably wouldn't have picked this up had I not known it was by Rowling, mainly due to the mundane cover (the UK cover is much better), but I am very happy I did - this is a very solid murder mystery, even if the denouement is somewhat overlong. Strike is an excellent character and manages to be quite individual even if he is a classic noir type. Robin starts off a little beige, but once it's clear how her character functions with Strike, she becomes almost as engaging. We've been promised a series from Rowling, and I for one will happily follow along.

#2



Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden battles necromancers together with his vampire half-brother, a cowardly medical examiner, a zombie T-Rex, and of course Harry's faithful Foo Dog. All the books in this series are reasonably similar, but the characters are fun enough to carry the story-lines. Butters gets a little annoying at times, but he is somewhat redeemed at the end. Mouse is a great addition to the cast too - he may not have a speaking role, but he still manages to be engaging, especially in his hero-roles. The audio-version is highly recommended - James Marsters is an excellent reader.

#3



Speed of Life by Mikael Jansson

Fashion photographer Mikael Jansson photographs all facets of F1 racing. When viewed from a distance, the photography is quite striking, but for some reason the decision was made to make this book over-sized and the images lose their impact when you can't take in the entire thing in one look. Jansson's musings on photography's place in the modern art world, Formula 1's place in sports, and the other essays that accompany the images are quite astute and thought-provoking, so well worth the read for anyone interested in the subject matter.

->92 aliciamay:
Yes, things are still a bit mad over on my end, but I have managed to get some reading done. I'll be going for short and sweet when it comes to reviews for now.

->93 clfisha:
I'm all for the binging! :) Can't wait to get my hands on season 2!

I'm glad you liked The Cuckoo's Calling. I'm on the wait list for it at the library (and have been for some time - there's only one ebook copy) and should get it soon. I'm hoping to have time to read it for the MysteryCAT.

Straight crime isn't my thing, motor sports don't interest me, and the Dresden series os already on my list. For once I stay clear of bullets!

I have The cuckoos Calling coming up in a category fight, so way out of my comfort zone. Still lad to hear its not a duff one! Still can J K Rowling stop with the masculine author names now.sigh.

I may have to try The Cuckoo's Calling. I'm not normally into mysteries, and like you said, the U.S. cover doesn't really grab me, but I'm continually impressed with Rowling's writing abilities (I actually really liked The Casual Vacancy). Your review makes it sound like a good read, so I'll probably like Cuckoo's Calling, too.

>95 -Eva-: I love The Dresden Files on audio! I listened to Dead Beat last summer and just had fun with it! I know what you mean though about the books being "reasonably similar." I've been known to read the detailed plot synopses online to catch up before I start another one in the series! I just finished #10, White Night and am going to queue up Turn Coat in a couple of weeks. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the audio narrated by John Glover (Ghost Story I think) though. I heard that Gvover's not bad; but he's not Marsters ergo not Harry Dresden!

Dodge!

No BBs for me this visit for once

I lost interest in Dresden at about book 7 but soldiered on for a couple as I've been told it does get better after a bit of a poor middle of the series.... We reached White Night looking at the shelf...

Congrats to all the BB-dodgers! Please be as kind when I come visit your threads.... :)

Cuckoo's was solid and very enjoyable - if I hadn't known it was Rowling, I probably would have been in awe, but as it is, I'm just admiring of her skills.

Dresden is right for my reading-mood right now - I know pretty much where the story will go, but not quite how we'll get there. And, the audio version is really great, so I'm enjoying that.

>102 Tanya-dogearedcopy: The Dresden Files is terribly uneven in quality and; even at its best is rife with cliches in both speech and action! But they are such fun!

I loved the first in the series, Storm Front and on the strength of that, unapologetically indulged in the next two, Fool Moon and Grave Peril :-)

Starting with the fourth book in the series, Summer Knight however, the flaws in the writing start to get noticeable; and by Blood Rites (#6), you start to get stabby with disappointment: continuity errors, characters acting uncharacteristically, the aforementioned cliches, etc.

Things start to get back on track though with Dead Beat (#7) and the last one that I read, Small Favor (#10) though rather subdued by comparison with the rest of the series so far, is more focused and tighter in plot.

I will be honest though and admit that I would have probably have given up (and nearly did at #6) except for the fact that a friend of mine did tell me that they did get better and because I already had purchased the audios for an incredibly low price at the now defunct weread4you.com! So I will pay it forward and tell you that "They do get better!" :-)

I think Cuckoo's Calling will have to go on my wishlist. I love mysteries and am eager to see how Rowling does with this genre. I'm glad you gave it a positive review.

Hi Eva, I have recently been seeing some very favorable reviews of The Cuckoo's Calling and I have added it to my wishlist.

>94 -Eva-: is that the only one that Rowling has written under that pen-name? I remember hearing about it on the radio when she was outed.....one of the reviewers (from before she was outed) said they thought the writer was very developed considering it was their first novel. I wondered if it could really be that obvious.

I for one am keen to try both Rowling's post-HP books. Just need to find time for them.

I have managed to dodge your first spray of BBs, Eva but I don't think I will be able to keep that up for ever..... maybe I will make through to the end of January. ;-)

Hi Eva!

Stopped by to follow your challenge.

->108 LovingLit:
It feels quite accomplished and I think I would have been extremely impressed with the characterization and pacing had it really been a debut novel. Now, I'm mainly impressed that it doesn't reek of Rowling, but works as a straight-up mystery.

#4



Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard

After escaping his execution, Cabal ends up on an airship where, after being attacked, he is determined to find the mysterious killer who is offing people left and right. Cabal is such a great character and so remote from any normal reactions that he is almost always unintentionally funny and highly inappropriate whenever he opens his mouth. I enjoyed the previous book a little bit more, mainly because of Horst, but this one has to its advantage that the storyline is much straighter and it's easier to follow. Loving all the over-the-top action and am absolutely picking up the next in the series as soon as possible.

#5



Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

A young woman is found murdered in Göta Canal and Police Inspector Martin Beck works tirelessly month after month to find her killer. I have no idea why I haven't read this one before this, being Swedish and all, but the time has finally come and not a moment too soon - this is excellent. I absolutely loved how Sjöwall and Wahlöö take their time to make sure that the police procedure part is as close to reality as possible - no solving a complicated case in a few days here. All the police officers, witnesses, and bystanders are perfectly believable. Hard graft solves this case, no uber-clever or magically inspired detective. Loving it and will continue the series as soon as possible.

I didn't get a lot of reading done this month, partially due to real life messing with me big time styley, and, when that finally settled down, I managed to get bronchitis. Yey. Anyways, here's to the following months being a tad more productive. :)

January Summary:

Number of books: 5
Pages: 1,882
CATs: 2

Category Progress:
1. Original Language Fiction: 1/12
2. Translated Fiction: 0/12
3. Non-Fiction: 1/12
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks: 3/12
5. Group Reads and CATs: 0/12
6. Read and Give Away: 0/12
7. Overflow: 0/12

Best read of the month: Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard ()
Least good read of the month: Speed of Life by Mikael Jansson ()

I recently read Roseanna and agree that it was a solid mystery. I've ordered the second as part of my Thingaversary haul (but can't open the shipping envelope for three weeks, because that would be cheating).

Yeay more Jonathan L. Howard love.

One of these days I'll get around to the Martin Beck series. Maybe for one of the MysteryCATs. I'm glad you enjoyed the first one!

Sorry to hear you had bronchitis! Hope you are feeling better and that February is sickness-free!

Feel better!

It's been a bad winter for illnesses. I hope everyone will be better soon!

Eva I'm thrilled you started Martin Beck! I have read the first three and will get to The Laughing Policeman in April for MysteryCAT and AlphaCAT.

My copy with Roseanna also contains The Man Who Went Up in Smoke and I'm looking forward to getting to it. I think my library in Sweden has the rest in ebook format, so I'm set. :)

It's true, pretty much everyone I know has come down with something nasty this winter - I'm actually lucky I "only" got bronchitis, the other options seemed to be flu or Noro-virus judging by my friends and coworkers... We're having a drought in California and apparently this is contributing to all the illness. Anyways, I seem to be almost back to normal, so no complaints from me!!

I'm slightly to the north of you, in the "high desert" area of Southern Oregon and we're feeling the effects of drought as well. Though I hadn't made the correlation between the lack of water and the flus and other viruses making the rounds! I've been sick three times since Thanksgiving and while I wouldn't consider any of the instances severe, they did drag on with low-grade fevers that exhausted me! Usually when I'm sick, I hunker down with my books, but this past winter, I didn't even have the energy to read :-(

Hopefully we'll all see some rain soon!

I just read something about humidity slowing down airborn nasties. Good news is we got a pretty good shower today, but we need much, much more than that! Hope we get more and that you guys get some too!

Nooooo.... you cannot hit me with BB for the next book in series when I haven't gotten around to reading the first Johannes Cabal book! That's just not cricket! *whimpers*

I guess I need to move the first book further up my reading list. *sighs*

Whoa.... you had bronchitis, too?! Take care of yourself and get those antibiotics into you.... that is the only thing that dealt with my bronchitis. I will remain pessimistic that humidity slows down airborne nasties and stick to my tried and true believe that only a really deep cold snap kills the viruses and bacteria causing all these problems. 'Nuff said.

... of course, if the research on humidity is correct, I will happily accept any humidity that comes our way. ;-)

I've been lucky so far when it comes to sickness this winter. I've only had a few colds so I'm good.
The incredibly late arrival of winter seems to have caused the flu to pretty much not bother popping up and the winter vomiting disease hasn't been that bad so far.

Some day, Eva, you're going to have to walk me through all those varieties of cold in the english language. I have no idea what separates a head cold from a chest cold from a sinus infection from a bronchitis. Nevertheless: krya på dig!

I need to read Johannes Cabal, no question about it. My ignorance when it comes to the Beck series is well documented. I might have to remedy that someday - but not now ;-P

Hope you're now feeling better? bronchitis is horrible

Glad you enjoyed the 2nd Cabal, I have the 3rd just looking at me, it's entirely possible I'll get to it next :-) There is a 4th coming in October too I think (US that is, not sure of UK dates)

He's also written a YA series that gets good reviews, I'm not a YA fan so am hesitant of seeking it out Katya's world

128. Förkylning som förkylning! ;)

But I suppose the difference between colds is what part of your body is suffering the most. Chest cold being mostly coughing, head cold being that brain-made-of-jelly-feeling, etc.
Sinusitis and bronchitis are infections of the sinuses and bronchi (not surprising anyone) and are more serious (and much more painful) than a cold. They can also be caused by other things than viruses (colds are always viruses).

Don't forget man-flu, a not all sexist addition in germ terminilogy used when someone complains they have flu but no one believes its more than a slight runny nose.

#131 Ha! Ha!

I just love that there is something called the winter vomiting disease. Glad it doesn't seem to be a thing in Germany.

133. Winter vomiting disease (vinterkräksjuka) is a very, very nasty form of stomach flu and you should indeed be glad if it's not something that you have to deal with in your part of the world. I'm not usually one to have bad reactions to stomach flu but when I had wvd I could barely move. Spent three days lying on the floor outside the bathroom. Didn't eat more than two bananas and some blåbärssoppa (bilberry soup) for a week.

->126 lkernagh:
@lkernagh: Yep, wonderful bronchitis. I had only that, nothing else, so no need for antibiotics, luckily (they aren't nice to my stomach). Getting back to normal, slowly but surely, though.

->127 PawsforThought:
@PawsforThought: From what I've heard from my famiglia, you're having a very nice winter indeed.

->128 GingerbreadMan:
@GingerbreadMan: You'll like Cabal, I think, but I'm not sure you're fond enough of mysteries to need Beck, provided you've seen him on telly, of course. So many lovely ways to feel like crap in English... Not surprisingly, head colds mostly sits in your head (ear, nose, throat) and chest colds in the chest (throat, lungs) - of course, few are one or the other. Bronchitis is equivalent to luftrörskatarr and sinus infection is a bihåleinflammation, I think. Thank you for the well-wishes, I am doing a lot better!

->129 psutto:
@psutto: Thank you, yes, I am. Yes, I think the next book-purchse I do will include the third Cabal. Am very happy to hear a fourth one is already on the way! I do read YA, so I'll absolutely give Katya's World a try.

->130 PawsforThought:
@PawsforThought: "brain-made-of-jelly" Hmm, sounds quite familiar, that. :)

->131 clfisha:
@clfisha: Oh, yes, often life-threatening too, don't forget.

->133 RidgewayGirl:&134
@RidgewayGirl and @PawsforThought: Ah, this is something I've luckily only heard of from my Swedish peeps - it seems absolutely horrific. If I'm not entirely mistaken, I think @GingerbreadMan and his family were hit quite a few times last year. Yikes!!

135. Once winter finally arrived it was quite nice. Mind you, that happened about a month ago. Normally, it'd be winter in the middle of Novemeber AT THE VERY LATEST.

And yeah, vinterkräksjukan is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy (well, maybe my worst...) It's horrible.

#6



Final Account by Peter Robinson

When a mild-mannered accountant is executed gangster-style, it's up to Inspector Banks to sort out why, and the path to the solution reveals drug-dealers, secret identities, and a virtual onion of mysterious clues, none of which seem to be pointing in the same direction. The mystery in this one has high stakes and is tricky to figure out, but the best part about it is that Banks' character is allowed to develop more than in the other ones and his background enhances the story, even if it's not directly related to the mystery - it's always much easier to be invested in a story when you are allowed to care about its players, even when it's a seemingly standard cozy mystery. Looking forward to continuing the series, not only because the mysteries as solid, and they are, but because I'm interested to see how Banks' life develops now that the children have flown the nest and Mrs. Banks is busy with her own life.

#7



Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange by China Miéville

Nelson and Roxie continue their search for the secret of the mysterious H-dial, but they have a powerful enemy in the Centipede and an unexpected group of characters needs to come to their aid before it's too late. This series had a fantastic potential, especially with someone like Miéville at its helm, but unfortunately it became so convoluted and scattered that it lost its readership and was canceled long before it could come to fruition. This installment has great art like the first one, but it suffers even more from the same confusing storyline, and the result is quite a disappointment. Miéville's hero-ideas are absolutely amazing and extremely funny, but at the end, it seems the creators has just thrown as many ideas as they had into the mix, just to get them on paper before the series ended. All in all, this was a fun experiment that could have reached greatness, but ended up a bit of a muddle, unfortunately. Very disappointing, but I hope that Miéville gets back on the proverbial horse and comes up with something that lives up to his boundless mind.

Hmm Pete put me off Dial H and I think you just cemented it. Writing comics takes a different skill after all.

shame that it didn't improve & was cancelled

Too bad that Dial H. turned out to be a disappointment. I'm a big fan of Miéville's novels and had been considering trying this series, but maybe it will go a bit lower on the priority list.

Sounds like the Dial H series didn't get very far before it was cancelled. Sad when that happens to something with the potential to be pretty good.

It did indeed have a lot of potential and some very novel ideas, but, like Claire says, it takes a very special skill to write comics and, as accomplished a novelist as Miéville is, I do think his writing is just too convoluted for this format.

If you're not planning on reading the Dial H books, you can always take a look at the Wiki list of Nelson Jent's superheroes here - some of those could only have been thought up by Miéville. :)

Hmm. I haven't read Miéville yet (I know, I know), but from everything I hear, he's fantastic. Sounds like he couldn't quite work his style into the comic format, which is too bad. Hopefully, he'll keep practicing though and will try again with a new storyline.

He is pretty fantastic, but you have to allot enough time for his books - they're are on the verbose side and his vocabulary is huge so have a dictionary handy! He's done one other comic before and I wasn't completely convinced by that - I hope he writes another Perdito Street Station or The City & The City instead. :)

I think I need to start the Inspector Banks series.

I had that stomach flu my freshmen year of college. It was horrible! I lost so much weight and it took forever to feel better.

145. I hope he writes another Perdito Street Station or The City & The City instead.

Hear! Hear! Not that I've read Dial H, but another The City & The City would always, always be a source for joy to me.

->147 PawsforThought:
I wouldn't mind a prequel with an earlier case of Borlú's - his voice is so pitch-perfect!

148. Yes! Definitely.

Just another reminder to read China Mieville... the guy is so varied! He and Murakami are two authors I really want to try but am also a little scared to try.

Hi Eva! Hope you're having a good Monday!

It strikes me that when it comes to Miéville, everyone seems to have a different favorite. Usually, there seems to be some consensus regarding an author's best work, but here the favorites are really all over the place. Are there more writers like that?

The only thing every Miévillain seems to agree on is the failure of this series. Still, that a disappointment still warrants a 3,5 rating from you is saying something :)

150. I know how you feel. I was scared of Miéville before finally picking up one of his books but luckily I ended up really liking it. I do still feel a bit scared of him, though. His works are intimidating. I feel the same way about Murakami, though I am yet to actually read him. I did buy parts one and two of 1Q84 a couple of weeks ago so I guess I'll have to pluck up the courage one of these days.

I received a copy of The City & the City from SantaThing a few years back, but never got around to reading it. May have to dig it out later this year.

Hope you're feeling better this week.

I nearly read The City and the City but ended up returning it to the library. Someday I'll give it another shot. I also like the sound of the plot of Embassytown.

#8



The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The story about Nobody “Bod” Owens who, after having escaped the man who killed Bod’s family, is raised by a family of ghosts and grows up as a ward of the cemetery. This is quite a fun read since it has so many different aspects to it - adventure, ghosts, mystery, and a general creepiness. It's also a great read-aloud book, even though the kids I read it to were maybe a bit too young to really get what was going on in parts and sometimes got a little too creeped out because of it. As a chapter-book it works, but if you read the whole thing in one sitting, it may be a little disjointed since it's episodic in nature. My only problem with it is that you have to wait a long while for the reason for the premise and, when it comes, it's a little anti-climactic; I would have liked a more substantial explanation for the mythology and a less abrupt ending. Gaiman's playful imagination is here in abundance, though, so I did enjoy it for that and for its fun characters.

#9



The Ice House by Minette Walters

A man is found dead in an estate's ice house and the women who live there - members of a lesbian witch coven, according to village gossip - are the main suspects, until DS McLoughlin figures out that something is seriously awry, not only with the suspects, but with the victim and, indeed, with everyone else in the village. I did enjoy the mystery a lot, the characters are quite interesting and original, and the locale feels authentic. My problem was that I had a hard time rooting for any of the characters - McLoughlin did grow on me a little, but not enough. It's very good for a debut, though, so I wouldn't be opposed to trying Walters again, but I won't go looking. I do have to say that the audio version is read brilliantly by Simon Prebble, if you can ignore an iffy Scottish dialect.

->150 LauraBrook:
Needless to say, I think you should try Miéville - I think The City & The City is one of his "easier" ones, so that'd be a good one to start with. I've only read one Murakami and enjoyed it a lot, even though I sometimes wasn't sure what it was about. :)

->151 GingerbreadMan:
Gaiman I think may qualify - everyone seems to have a different favorite. Could it be a genre-thing? Both of them tend to write in different genres. I couldn't rate Dial H lower, but it was mainly because of the signs of that great imagination of Miéville's, rather than the actual story.

->152 PawsforThought:
Murakami is a lot of fun to read, although a bit perplexing at times. :)

->153 BookLizard:
Thanks, yes, feeling a whole lot better! I can breathe!!! :)

->154 rabbitprincess:
I think The City & The City may be a little easier to start with, but I can't not recommend Embassytown as it's pretty spectacular in its own way.

As an introduction to Mieville you could always try looking for jake his collection of shorts if you want to dip you toe?

I have a love/hate with Murakami, really loved some of his books and hated others kafka on the shore or the wind up bird chronicle is the ones I've enjoyed most I think

156. I've only read one book by Minette Walters but it's one of the books I've read that has scared me the most. I was SO frightened - the method of killing (with torture devices) scared the shit out of me. It was The Scold's Bridle.

Ooh, The Scold's Bridle was good. I liked all of hers except The Shape of Snakes.

I'd forgotten I'd read The Ice House until you posted your review! My mum had a lot of her books when I was in high school, but she tried to dissuade me from reading them as she thought they'd creep me out too much. So of course I had to sneak-read them! I read The Ice House, The Breaker, and Disordered Minds, but haven't read any others since.

Ah yes, The Ice House! (Remember the TV movie? That was my first encounter with Daniel Craig.) I think The sculptress is by far the creepiest of her novels.

I definitely remember the TV movie of The Ice House and it was because that was the first time I saw Daniel Craig and he really caught my eye! I am a big fan of Minette Walters, altough it's been awhile since I've read anything by her. I agree that The Sculptress is probably her creepiest book.

I clearly have to check out the movie - Daniel Craig is a favorite of mine!

iffy Scottish dialect. ;) I've just been watching Monarch of the Glen by Scotland BBC so I think I'd notice that right now. I've been wanting to try Minette Walters, but maybe not that one. Although it's kind of okay to not like mystery characters, but you should at least like the sleuth a little bit.

iffy Scottish dialect..... so, I should read the book and let my own mind deal with the Scottish dialect. ;-)

I actually didn't hate Minetter Walters (a high praise, as I really don't really gel well with the genre). I think the The Sculptress was better that The Ice House for hazy memory :)

Oh and Embassytown is amaaaazing.

The reader is fantastic, but that dialect grated on me, so I'd say stick to the paper-version and listen to something read by Simon Prebble when he doesn't have to have to sound Scottish!

->167 clfisha:
That is high praise indeed! :)

#10



The Samaritan's Secret by Matt Beynon Rees

Omar Yussef travels to Nablus for a wedding and ends up trying to navigate Palestinian and international politics when a young man from a Samaritan community is found murdered. Although I wasn't as enamored with this installment as I was with the first two, I did, as always, enjoy Rees' insight into the Palestinian community and the fact that he lets them be the actors in their own drama (rather than involving any Israeli characters). His descriptions of the landscape, the city life, the people, the foods, and the smells are all highly evocative and makes me want to book a flight right now and go straight to the souk for a slice of kanafi. The story in this installment is what doesn't quite work for me - Omar Yussef's character is almost James Bond-like and, although I know the West Bank is not the most peaceful place in the world, I doubt it'd be possible to just walk around and kill people in the casbah without anyone batting an eye. Definitely still worth the read, for the locale and the insight into politics, but I do hope Rees lets Omar Yussef be more himself in the next installment.

Politically incorrect comment ahead: since this works for both MysteryCAT and GeoCAT, does that make it a Siamese...? :)

>It really is amazing!

#11



Blindness (Portuguese original: Ensaio sobre a cegueira) by José Saramago

A disturbing story of what happens to a country when its people become victims of a blindness epidemic. The story is obviously anti-authoritarian since anything and everything the Government (always capitalized) arranges or manages will inevitably cause suffering for regular people and they defend any decisions with stating that it's for the greater good of the Nation that those afflicted with the blindness have to suffer. Personally, I find the blindness idea more interesting than the political one, and, although it can be read from that angle, I don't feel it's a necessity - the human aspect is so much more interesting.

The most interesting thing for me was the realization of how fast society would actually unravel should we all wake up blind one day - nobody to grow food, put out fires, take away trash, heal the sick, or fix broken toilets. Of course, most of us have at one time or another closed our eyes and imagined being blind, but it isn't as frightening when you know that it's not a permanent state. I think it would be as bad for the blind who live in our seeing world now - they can ask someone for assistance if they need, but if nobody is there to assist, what then? I was impressed with how Saramago made this horrific world come to life.

It reminded me of books I've read about Jewish ghettos during WWII in that regular people, no matter their previous status or social class are forced to live together and you never know beforehand who will turn out to be evil or good or a coward or a hero. For something so inherently bleak, though, I was delighted to see that there was, in all the misery, a lot of love and affection. It's also quietly funny in places, which I had not expected and, yes, I did actually laugh out loud a few times. A very thought-provoking read that I know will stay with me a long time and which has placed Saramago high on my list of authors to seek out.

Accepting his Nobel prize, Saramago said that he "wrote Blindness to remind those who might read it that we pervert reason when we humiliate life, that human dignity is insulted every day by the powerful of our world, that the universal lie has replaced the plural truths, that man stopped respecting himself when he lost the respect due to his fellow-creatures." Something to think about, right?

Lovely review of Blindness and very insightful (no pun intended). Oddly enough I haven't read any more Saramago since then...must change that. That quote from Saramago is powerful.

I don't know how it happened, but apparently February is over and March starts tomorrow.

February Summary:

Number of books: 6
Pages: 1814
CATs: 4

Category Progress:
1. Original Language Fiction: 2/12
2. Translated Fiction: 1/12
3. Non-Fiction: 1/12
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks: 5/12
5. Group Reads and CATs: 1/12
6. Read and Give Away: 1/12
7. Overflow: 0/12

Best read of the month: Blindness by José Saramago ()
Least good read of the month: The Ice House by Minette Walters ()

>172 aliciamay:
Thanks! It was a remarkable read indeed and I've added all his other books to my wishlist. :)

>171 -Eva-: Good review, I had already taken a BB last year for this one but it's going up on the list :)

Thumb for the Blindness review! One of many books on my "someday..." list.

You read Blindness!!! YAY!!! That was my first Saramago read and it gripped me with its ability for me to connect with the story - even if the characters were presented as nameless - and somewhat faceless - characters. I know some readers have a problem with Saramago's approach to writing with the run-on paragraphs and all, but I found that it works with the way my mind interprets what I read on the written page.

Eva you make me want to go to the library and check out Blindness right now!

I read Red Rising which was a book bullet from you last year. It was a decent first effort and I hope he gets even better with the next installment.

Blindness was amazing (and I rather like the movie, too). Saramago does an incredible job making everyone so human and the lack of quote marks and (as I remember) names, made everything so universal.

I need to try some more of his work. Apparently, Blindness has a sequel called Seeing, a political satire that looks at life in the same city years after the blindness epidemic occurred. I keep meaning to read it, but haven't got around to it yet.

Thank you all!

>177 lkernagh:
I enjoyed his style very much, rather than finding it hard, but I do like stream-of-consciousness writing and, although this wasn't it, the flow of the style was reminiscent of it. It made sense to tell the story in that way since it's told by a narrator after the fact. When you're recounting a dialogue, you do it in that "run-on" way that this narrator does. Are we thinking the writer (the one that's living in the first blind man's apartment at the end) is the narrator?

>178 luvamystery65:
Glad you liked Red Rising - I thought the characters were realistical and the world-building great, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it continues.

>179 andreablythe:
I thought it was a great idea to not have names for the characters - what an ironic thing to describe people by what they used to do and how they looked in a book where nobody can work or see.

And how beautifully cheeky of Saramago to use blindness as an allegory for not being able to see. I can just imagine the moment when he's thinking about writing a book about how blind people are to their fellow man and trying to figure out what format to use. "Well, they're blind, so I'll make them all... blind." Haha! I would have a hard time not being enamored with a mind that comes up with that.

You all are reminding me that I need to read more of Saramago's work. I remember that it took me some time to get used to the writing/style, but that I loved it so much once I did. I think the book affected me so much that I felt I had to take a break from him, but now it's been so long... I can't remember where I read it, but I read an interview with him last year where he talked about the process of having his work, and Blindness specifically translated--he had a translator who he'd worked with for years, and he talked about the heartbreaking irony that, while his translator worked on Blindness, he himself was starting to go blind (maybe from AIDS--I don't remember anymore). I remember crying when I read that interview, alone, and so I ended up rereading Blindess instead of going into some of his new work. I think it's time for me to correct that... I still don't know if I can handle the movie, though...

Blindness is quite a grim read and I absolutely can see why you'd need a break. That's such a powerful story, that interview - my edition says that Pontiero passed away before being able to finish all the edits, but it (obviously) doesn't say anything about him going blind. I'll be rereading Blindness as some point in the future, for sure.

>180 -Eva-: Yup, that was my impression as well (re: spoiler text). All of this great Blindness and Saramago talk has reminded me I have the sequel Seeing on my TBR bookcase. Time I got around to reading it, I think. ;-)

Great review of Blindness! I really must read Saramago one day.

I've always wondered about Blindness your review makes it more likely I'll get to it

I had Blindness in the pile for last year (one of the CATS at the end of the year, I think) but never got to it. Sounds like a powerful story. I'm really not much for the stream-of-consciousness writing, but the story sounds so interesting that I will get to it eventually.

>171 -Eva-: Blindness sounds interesting. I can see some stylistic commonalities with The History of the Siege of Lisbon based on your review. Saramago's style is very interesting, and like you I definitely want to read more.

>186 dudes22:, It's not really stream of consciousness, but looks a lot like it because Saramago's style is very wordy and he likes long sentences that seem to go on forever.

AAAH - I see.

Thanks, all!

>183 lkernagh:
Looking forward to getting to Seeing as well!

>186 dudes22: & >187 inge87:
Correct, it isn't technically stream-of-consciousness, but there are very few periods and dialogue isn't obviously marked, so the feeling is similar to reading stream-of-consciousness.

#12



The Maias (Portuguese original: Os Maias: Episódios da Vida Romântica) by José Maria de Eça de Queirós

The story of the fortunes and misfortunes of three generations of men in the wealthy Maia family in the 1870s. The Maias is a Naturalist novel, but instead of concentrating on the seamier part of life, his protagonists are of the higher echelons in Portuguese society and are subjects of as well as collaborators in the author's observations of society and its continuing physical and moral decline. It's definitely not as gritty most other Naturalist works, but it has at its core the pessimism that is truly Naturalist - very few of the characters are allowed to be happy and those who are for a while tend to pay for it many times over before the story ends.

But it's not all doom and gloom; wealthy Portuguese society is quite a charming and amusing place to be, with the illicit affairs, languid trips to the countryside, fashionable visits to the opera, and the preposterous swagger of the upper classes. Eça de Queirós is remarkably good at writing characters who are quite pretentious, decadent, and quite silly without making then into caricatures - there is a huge amount of affection for each of them and although there were a few I should have intensely disliked, they are all presented with such a healthy dose of irony that you can't but be fond of their idiosyncrasies and lunatic ideas.

My only complaints is that I haven't heard of this author sooner - he's one of Portugal's most esteemed authors, but why he isn't mentioned any time Flaubert, Eliot, Balzac, or Tolstoy comes up, is a mystery to me. His greatest crime seem to have been that he wrote in one of the "smaller" languages, which has been rectified by the excellent, and award-winning, translation by Margaret Jull Costa – highly recommended for anyone with a liking for 19th century literature.

That sounds like an author to look out for! Thanks for the review!

>190 -Eva-: I'll have to look for this book.

Never heard of either book or author. Sounds great!

>190 -Eva-: Thanks for the review, it's definitely going on the BB list !

I'm mainly surprised I've never heard of him before - and a little bit appalled that they made me read Flaubert at school. More than once! When I could have ticked that particular box with Eça de Queirós instead.

At least they made you read foreign authors in school, we did English authors only (Dickens & Thomas Hardy as novelists, the war poets & Ted Hughes and of course Shakespeare) hence my lifelong hatred of Dickens and Hardy & suspicion of poetry strangely I still enjoy Shakespeare, they didn't manage to ruin him for me....

I know absolutely nothing about 19th century Portugal. This one sounds good and one I will consider reading before Balzac at al.... sometimes reading the well known greats turns me off the lesser known, and probably better authors, like José Maria de Eça de Queirós. Wonderful review, Eva!

The Maias is a book bullet for me too. Just in general, I'm surprised at how the best of literature from smaller countries gets overlooked, often not translated at all. Are you doing a focus on Portugal. Saramago is Portuguese as well. Interesting review on Blindness. I couldn't get through that novel myself.

>196 psutto: I can only imagine the difficulties of introducing a love of Shakespeare, when you have to read his original language. In non-english-speaking countries he gets a new translation every fifty years or so. Even the "classic" Swedish translations of his works are more than around a hundred years old. The thought of having had to read whole plays in early 17th century Swedish as a teen is pretty scary. (We did read early Swedish literature like Lucidor or Stiernhielm, but really only fragments and snippets)

199. I always found the original Shakespeare texts to be easier than the later translated Swedish versions. And I've never had any difficulty reading (and understanding) the literature (Swedish) from the 17th century.
Swedish lit from the turn of the century though, that is much more difficult.

>200 PawsforThought: I would dare to propose you weren't a typical teen in that aspect, Paws. I was interested in literature back then too, but found Shakespeare a bit of a chore even in Swedish translation. Still do, at times. I've read a lot of his works in the original language as well, but prefer the translations by for instance Hallqvist or Eriksson. Probably because I enjoy his way with plot and character much more than his language per se. I've loathed the time I have had to spend waddling in his sonnets for example.

201. I've never been typical anything but I know several other people in my class who found reading the original text easier than the translated one. Translations are often rather convoluted and that makes it difficult to understand them.
I would never read a translated Shakespeare work again if I can avoid it.

And the sonnets are wonderful. Not as easy to understand as the plays but so beautiful.

I am of course not claiming that a translation can ever be up to par with a Shakespeare original (or probably any original), for other purposes than acessability. Just to make that clear. And apparently not even that is necessarily true :)

And the sonnets are very skilled of course. Just notmy thing. At all.

203. Well, we all have different things. ;)

#13



The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

Luis Alberto Urrea weaves a story around the life of his ancestor, Teresa Urrea, sometimes called the "Saint of Cabora." Teresita is an interesting character and her fictionalized growth from precocious child to confident woman is nicely described and her transformation into healer/saint is a fascinating one, especially when you know it's based on historical documents. The only quibble I have is a small one and is perhaps because the writer is a relative: he doesn't fully get under the skin of his characters - perhaps because he's too concerned with imagining what they were actually like, rather than making them fully fictional. He may have gotten closer to Santa Teresita had he let go a little more of fact and made her more fiction. Nevertheless, it's a great story of a truly fascinating person living in an interesting time and place, one I now want to know more about.

#14



Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

Somebody is practicing black magic in Chicago and the White Council tasks Harry Dresden with finding the culprit, but it turns out to be someone close to home and Harry soon has to battle even greater forces. This is one of my favorites in the series - the stakes are enormous, for Harry and those he tries to help; the storyline is complex and presumably the start of a big story-arc in future installments; and the characters are brave and cowardly and snarky and wise and funny, all at the same time, and I can't help but enjoy them thoroughly, especially Mouse, the "fuzz-barge." This is really a series to read from the beginning rather than jump about - I still get somewhat confused with the huge cast and I can't imagine it would be easy to read them out of order - but make sure you do pick it up if you have any affection at all for urban fantasy.

>196 psutto:
Good point. That is one good thing about coming from a "small" language: you will inevitably have to read in translation eventually and if a publisher has to hire a translator anyway, they might as well pick literature from any country in the world.

>197 lkernagh:
Thanks! I'll have to admit to a deep dislike of Flaubert so I'm extra incensed that I had to read him rather than something so much better. :)

>198 cammykitty:
Yes, you may as well be warned - there will be a few more of the Portuguese writers showing up on this thread this year. I'm working on Pessoa right now, but he's a slow read, so it'll take a little longer before I'm done.

>199 GingerbreadMan: thru >204 PawsforThought:
I do love Shakespeare and his language is amazing, but I have to say I would not have made it through him the first time around had it not been for the Swedish translations - neither I nor my fellow students at school had a firm enough grasp on English nuances to fully understand him in the original. I was on my second round of Uni when the language really clicked for me.

206> Glad you're still enjoying the series. I'm going to try "rereading" them on audiobook. I haven't listened to an audiobook in ages because of the cold weather - didn't want to leave the CDs in the freezing car.

>208 BookLizard:
It is such a great series to relax from harder reads and the reader, James Marsters, is really brilliant!

Brr, I remember freezing cars. :(

Yeah! I'll watch your Portuguese authors to set up my list for when I do it. Might be a few years from now! I'm planning on working my way through South America first.

Interesting review of The Hummingbird's Daughter. I've seen the book around, but didn't know it was based on an ancestor. Actually, I didn't really know anything about it other than it had a cool title.

I've only ever listened to The Dresden Files in audio (I most recently listened to #10, Small Favor) and for me, Marsters makes the series! I have a 14 in '14 cat for The Dresden Files wherein I want to have listened to up to the fourteenth title in the series by the end of the year, but for Ghost Story (narrated by John Glover,) I'll probably switch to print.

I listened to all my audio on my iPod/iPhone which reminds me of something that happened in the winter of 2012-13: I was determined to hike an easy trail during cold conditions. I was prepared: Yak Trax on my hiking boots snowboarding gloves, a full parka.. I don't think I made it even 200 feet up in elevation before my face was slack-jawed and numb with the cold, and my fingers and toes started hurting with the cold. I fumbled for my iPhone to see how cold it really was, but it had shut down with an error message saying it was overheated. Apparently, it doesn't have a message for being frozen, so when a temperature change renders it useless, it just says it's overheated! Anyway, frozen iPhone in hand, I made it back to the car where I eventually warmed everything (face, fingers, toes and iPhone) back up. I never found out how cold it was when I was on that trail, but back in the car, the iPhone eventually registered a whopping two degrees!

>210 cammykitty:
Haha - I picked up The Hummingbird's Daughter at the Friends of the Library bookstore purely because of the title and cover - I had no idea either what it was about. :) I only read it now because I realized it fit into both GeoCAT and RandomCAT for March.

>211 Tanya-dogearedcopy:
I wonder why they switched reader for one book - perhaps Marsters wasn't available at the time. That is a shame, though.
I'd be quite upset if my phone told me it was too warm when I was freezing my buttocks off! :) Why you would even go outside voluntarily at that temperature is something I can't explain, though... :)

>212 -Eva-: The whole thing about the Marsters/Glover narration was somewhat suspicious: One week, Marsters was at ComiCon in NYC announcing that he was about to head into the studio the next week to start recording and all the pre-release materials had Marsters name on it. Then, Penguin Audio puts out a statement post-release that there had been a scheduling conflict. Like The Dresden Files audio fans wouldn't have waited! :-/

I led a very sedentary lifestyle and was obese. I can't stand gyms because people can see me and I'm never motivated enough to work out at home; so I decided on hiking as a way to help me exercise/burn calories. The area where I live (Southern Oregon) is rife with hiking trails; but I started out walking around the block and taking the dogs to the dog park. I don't hike or kayak as much as I did last year though (still in recovery/pain management from a car accident late last summer, ironically coming back from a hiking trip) and some of the weight has come back on; but I'm not nearly as fat as I was and I'm slowly getting back on track :-)

The audiobook for Storm Front is "in transit" to the library for me. I hope it gets there Wednesday, otherwise I'll have to wait until Saturday to pick it up.

213> Good for you, getting out and hiking. Sorrry about your accident. I know all about pain and how much it sucks. I also hate gyms. Hiking is good for both body and soul.

Every so often I look at the Dresden files on my bookshelf and wonder about doing a re-read, then I remember hating the last book so much I stopped reading the series and wonder about getting rid of them, having not been able to decide on either they continue to gather dust on the shelf....

I really like Shakespeare when performed well and have a hard time reading poetry & plays of any kind - when there's poetry in a book I usually skip it - my inner ear is deaf to it I guess....

> 215 Where did you leave off?

To be honest, if I hadn't already purchased the audios through the now defunct weread4you.com (they used to have amazing sales!), I probably would not have continued, and very nearly dumped the series at#6, Blood Rites! The writing is terribly uneven, but more often than not rife with cliches, continuity errors, and suspect choreography during the action scenes; and yet, Marsters does such an extraordinary job of making the books better than they are, even when his own voice is sub-par on occasion. I'll probably roll with the series through book #14,and call it. It's by far the longest I've stuck with a series since the Vampire Lestat/Vampire Chronicles days but now I'm much more enamored with the Urban Fantasy stuff set in London :-)

I love poetic writing, but like you I seem to be deaf to it when reading poetry per se. I can get through Shakespeare because I've studied it and seen most plays performed (I used to work in theatre (lighting)) and, of course if there's a strong bass line to it (lyrics) I can get into some of it; but my brain doesn't seem to be formatted to handle straight poetry! :-D

I seem to remember it going downhill but carrying for a couple of books hoping it would get better, I think I made it to white knight but it was definitely wobbly before then

There are definitely some real clunkers in the series e.g. the aforementioned Blood Rites and I don't know why I find myself so forgiving! I usually toss out other series 3 or 4 books in on much lesser grounds; but again, I think it's because Marsters so completely inhabits the character of Harry Dresden, I would feel like I'm giving up on Harry/Marsters rather than Butcher/the books. and I don't seem willing to do that just yet. ;-)

I know many of you liked this one, but it was not for me, unfortunately.



#15



The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by lan Bradley

Flavia's mother Harriet is returned to Bishop's Lacey, a stranger gives Flavia a mysterious message, and a number of Flavia's loved ones act more mysterious than ever. I was looking forward to spending some time with very clever but somewhat obnoxious Flavia in her unrelenting search for some criminal or other. Instead, Flavia's whole previous world seems to have been a charade and she has been groomed for something completely different. Flavia is not the same as before either - lots of navel-gazing and at one point, she completely abandons a complex plan she has prepared without protesting at all, which is most definitely not Flavia-like behavior. Of course, this could be meant to be a sign of her turning into a teenager, but I don't really care for teenage Flavia as she seems to have lost her sense of humor. I'll probably read the next installment just to see if this one was a blip (which I hope), but I'll keep my expectations in check.

>213 Tanya-dogearedcopy:
That's a shame they didn't wait for Marsters. It must have been something without a specific end-date, or I think they would have waited.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the gym, but luckily I have the beach near for walks and some great hiking-trails not too far away. Good for you getting back on the horse, so to speak - any accident is going to set you back. Hope you're 100% recovered from the accident at least.

>214 BookLizard:
Hope you'll like Dresden - if you do, there's lot of fun ahead. :)

>215 psutto:
Probably the second you get rid of them is when you have a craving to start the series again. :)

Shakespeare (and any other playwright for that matter) should really be watched - for me, reading plays is only an alternative if you can't find a performance to watch.

>219 -Eva-: You're not alone. This is the book I've liked least in the series, and I hope it's not headed where it seems it's headed. The bright spots came from Flavia's little cousin.

>220 -Eva-: - that's usually the way, I regret doing a book dump when we last moved as there are some books that, at the time, i thought i wouldn't want to read again, and sure enough now they're not available i want to read them again....

>221 cbl_tn:
Well, it seems as if she'll be going off to some Canadian school to be spy like her mother, in which case I'm out. It irritated me a lot that the writer changed so much about the reality behind the other books - this whole time she has been groomed to become a spy? And her sisters have been resenting her because she was to inherit rather than them? I much preferred that they disliked her because she was an irritating brat. I liked that irritating brat. :)

>222 psutto:
Speaking from experience here - the plight of re-buying books I've already owned has been felt many times... :)

>223 -Eva-: I'll be right behind you for the same reasons!

>219 -Eva-: - Nice review!

>223 -Eva-: and >224 cbl_tn: - Ditto!

So what you are saying is never get rid of any books? *looks at 100+ books on "to get rid of pile"*

>226 psutto:
Unless they're read before the get-rid-of happens, chances are a re-buy will happen. :)



#16



Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin

When some exceptions are introduced to the double jeopardy rule in Scotland, Malcolm Fox is asked to take another look at an old murder case, one that involved a young John Rebus and his then colleagues, a group whose members called themselves the "Saints of the Shadow Bible." Besides the interesting plots and brilliant dialogue that come standard with Rankin, what I really enjoy is how each story is firmly placed in its contemporary history and that the characters are allowed to grow older and change. While Scotland is preparing to cast the vote on independence, Rebus is allowed to be his regular blood-houndy self, Clarke gets to throw some well-deserved weight around, and Fox gets a little more rounded so that he's not all holier-than-thou. As soon as Fox was introduced in The Complaints, I was hoping that we would eventually be treated to a proper Rebus/Fox match-up and it's finally here and it's all good - both of them are allowed to be their own selves and also take on some of each other's traits, like they would do in real life. I do hope we get to see this duo get into more mischief in a future installment.

March Summary:

Number of books: 5
Pages: 2,474
CATs: 3

Category Progress:
1. Original Language Fiction: 3/12
2. Translated Fiction: 2/12
3. Non-Fiction: 1/12
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks: 6/12
5. Group Reads and CATs: 2/12
6. Read and Give Away: 2/12
7. Overflow: 0/12

Best read of the month: The Maias by José Maria de Eça de Queirós, which was brilliant, which I hadn't expected or I should have heard of him before, right?! :)
Least good read of the month: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley, which took an unexpected and, for me, disappointing turn.

Good to see another fan of Saints of the Shadow Bible.

I was also pleased that Rankin has decided to not make Fox into a one-dimensional joke character. I was worried after reading Standing in Another Man's Grave.

>229 avatiakh:
It was a great one - very happy about that!!

>230 RidgewayGirl:
I was wondering if he was purely meant to have a cameo in Standing in Another Man's Grave and that's why he was so dull (for lack of a better word), but that Rankin then decided not to have the two series split - there is loads of potential in having Rebus and Fox work together considering their common goals and completely different approaches. Sparks may fly. :)

Oooo - disturbed by your Flavia review. I didn't read the spoiler, but some characters aren't meant to grow up. Sounds like perhaps Bradley is sick of her and should start another series, but I know that would mean taking a financial hit for awhile and perhaps even breaking a contract. I still haven't read many of them yet though, so I've still got a while before I hit her becoming a teen.

>232 cammykitty:
He seems to be taking her in a whole new direction and it's not one that is interesting to me. Judging from the reviews, a lot of people seem to have liked the change, though, so you may too... :)

>227 -Eva-: I've only read two Rankin's so far, The Black Book and Knots and Crosses, having discovered him just a few months ago (thanks, people of LT). I'm glad to see you give this one such a high rating. I need to get the stack of Rankins I've acquired.

>234 mstrust:
He's a huge favorite of mine, and I'm a little bit jealous of people who get to read him for the first time. :)

Yaaaay Saints of the Shadow Bible! I'm visiting my parents for Easter and could probably read their copy over the weekend :)

@233 Curiousity got me and I read your spoiler. It's ok. By the time I get back to Flavia, I will have forgotten that. That might be an ok direction, but it seems a bit of a stretch. And I think it's much more credible that her sibs dislike her because she is an annoying brat.

I like having Rebus and Fox together as well.

Rubbing my hands with glee over the Ian Rankin novels! :)

#17



Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

Princess Solveig and her two siblings are hidden in a frozen fortress to protect them from the war, but the enemy proves to be on the inside as well. Things I liked: it was a good story with high stakes, the berserkers were great characters, Munin was very funny, and the ending was very good. Things I didn't like: the author made them Vikings without it mattering to the story and the princesses are copies of Sansa and Arya Stark. The audio-version narrator is really great, but she can't pronounce the main character's name, which I thought was odd until I heard an interview with the author and it turns out he can't pronounce it either (Google-fu isn't that hard to acquire, people).

#18



Marcoeffekten by Jussi Adler-Olsen

A young man is forced to flee when he finds out that the oppressive clan leader who runs his "family" has killed a man; Carl, Assad, and Rose get wind of an embezzlement case that has a man missing; and it seems the financial institutions of Denmark are shadier than anyone could have imagined. Adler-Olsen does know how to weave a complex story-line, but in this installment, he may have tried to squeeze in a few too many into the same story. It is obvious that Adler-Olsen is extremely passionate about the issues he's trying to cast light upon, but it does get somewhat confusing at times and the various twists could have used a few more explanations. What does make up for it are the absolutely amazing characters that are so odd and grouchy and hilarious that you can't help but love them. Poor Carl gets to compare his coworkers with kindergarteners high on sugar, wish they came with subtitles, and try to decipher the many camel-related idioms that he is bombarded with. Such a great team to spend time with - can't wait to do it over again! For those of you who follow the series, we also get a tiny (but exciting) step closer to finding out Assad's true background.

#19



The Property by Rutu Modan

When her grandmother returns to Poland to get some property returned, Mica insists on coming with her, but the trip reveals the grandmother has a deep secret and an unenviable task to complete. Such a great story with numerous layers of human fate in so few pages. I'm already a huge fan of Modan's and her ability to describe deep feelings in her very simple drawing style. She outdid herself in this one, though, the mix of humor and severity makes for a combustible combination - I shed actual tears when the true reason for the grandmother's trip became clear. Modan is an unmissable gem - couldn't possibly recommend her work more than I already do.

Major BB taken for The property...

>242 -Eva-: I haven't dipped my toe into the graphic novel waters yet, but your review has tempted me to add this to the WL. (The attractive cover helps, too!)

The Property sounds like a great.

Your review of The Property sounds really tempting. I'm guessing which way it is going already.

#20



Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle

A series of vignettes about the year the artist spent in Jerusalem while his wife worked in Gaza for Médecins Sans Frontières. Delisle clearly had no idea what to expect when he arrived in Israel and the reader gets to come along for each of his culture shocks - some funny, some scary, and some really sad. It's interesting how Delisle is purely an artist - at no point is he a participant in the events around him or learn from them, but the only thing on his mind at all times is to put an image of the current situation down on paper. It would have been interesting to see some growth in the character, but since Delisle is only in Israel because of his wife's job, it's probably only natural for him to stay inside his bubble. The drawings are very simple and the coloring subtle, but capture Delisle's view of everything around him in only a few well-chosen lines. Looking forward to checking out Delisle's story about his two-month visit to North Korea.

#21-22



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 2 by Stieg Larsson and adapted by Denise Mina

A graphic novel version of the first of Stieg Larsson's books about Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, adapted by Scottish writer Denise Mina. It's a great adaptation, but (inevitably) quite a few details get lost and I'm not sure if I fill in the blanks with knowledge I have from the books or if the comics do stand on their own. The art is very good and the characters' looks "fit" how they are described in the original - only a couple of them look like the actors from the movie. I do have a problem with them splitting this into two volumes (of about 150 pages each) - it's clearly only in order to charge for it twice, since it would easily fit into one volume.

#23



Habibi by Craig Thompson

Escaped slaves Dodola and Zam have to face the horrors of the modern/ancient world in order to survive. The good parts are the excellent art and a few of the storylines (those dealing with contemporary consumerism and environmentalism), but they get buried a little underneath another forty or so storylines. Unfortunately, it's quite sexist as well - pretty much every male in the book is up for some rape whenever a woman is around, no big deal. Its racial stereotypes that are pretty bad too - apparently in Thompson's idea of the Muslim world, harems where a sultan can have women's heads chopped off without anyone reacting is compatible with having a regular 21st century modern city outside its walls. In total, it's a yes for the art and a couple of the storylines and a resounding no for all the rest.

>249 -Eva-:
Yeah, Eva. The racism and the sexism sucked with Habibi, though the art is gorgeous and I read a review that the exploration of the Koran was well done. Too bad it failed so much in those other areas.

>250 andreablythe:
Something so pretty should have been great!!! :)

Thanks for the Rutu Modan recommendation. I'll have to check out her work!

>247 -Eva-: I read this just recently. I thought Delisle was very much in a bubble too. I would like to read Pyongyang by him but I really want to read The Burma Chronicles.

>248 -Eva-: Interesting.

>253 luvamystery65:
At least I'll be forewarned if Delisle does the same thing in North Korea. The Burma one sounds interesting too.

I've read most of your recent reads so feeling safe to visit here. Agree about Habibi, especially enjoyed Icefall & The Property and wonder if you've read Boaz Yakin's Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family.

I made a list of Middle Eastern & Maghreb graphic novels and came across a few that I hadn't read including Metro: A Story of Cairo (banned in Egypt) & A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return. Please add to the list if I've left any out.

>255 avatiakh:
What a great list! Hitting me with some BBs there.

Yes, I also got some BBs from creating the list. Have tried to find more GNs to add to the list without success.

>249 -Eva-: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that about Habibi. It looks so gorgeous and I was hoping to read it. Now, I don't think I will.

A friend of mine already put me off habibi but still good to see it wasn't a one off opinion, shame because blankets is quite good. I didn't get on with the Rutu Modan one I read, not the one you reviewed, exit wounds so would be interested in what you think of that one... I have read and enjoyed pyongyang but not checked out his other work, again someone told me it's disappointing after the NK one...

Love the GN reading! I keep on meaning to give Habibi a read so I am sorry to see that the story doesn't live up to the wonderful artwork.

#24



The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy And Other Stories by Tim Burton

A collection of odd poems, true to the odd nature of the author. Some sad, some quirky, some funny, and the only problem is that it's a tiny little volume that should have been much longer.

"Char Boy"

For Christmas, Char boy received his usual lumps of coal,
which made him very happy

For Christmas, Char Boy received a small present instead of
his usual lump of coal,
which confused him very much.

For Christmas Char Boy was mistaken for a dirty fireplace
and swept out into the street.

#25



Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

Daytripper is the story of a day in the life of Brás de Olivias Dominguez - or rather several different days in his life, each ending the same way, with his death. Brás spends his days weaving engaging stories from the details of people's lives in his obituaries, and the stories do the same to the many possible ends Brás could have. Since the variations are caused by little everyday things and we go back and forth in time over Brás's possible pasts and futures, those things that are little in one story can in another one become something life-changing for the characters. Not only it is a highly intense story, the art is passionate and the coloration lush - this is one that I will reread more than once.

#26



The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

The second novel in the Martin Beck-series brings our hero to Budapest in the search of a missing journalist. It's not as great as the first one, but for a sophomore it could have been a lot worse. Beck is true to himself - dogged and determined - and his fellow police officers are methodical as usual. This is foremost a police procedural series, so it's almost invigorating that Beck gets to be a bit of an action-hero at one point. Solid series, but don't start with this installment.

>255 avatiakh:
Somebody snagged Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family right in front of me at the library, but it's on the wishlist. Great list! I'll certainly add if I find something that's missing. I have a few more Actus books, but not all the stories in those collections specifically take place in Israel - do you still want them on there?

>259 psutto:
Exit Wounds is actually my least favorite of hers, so perhaps you'll like this one or her Jamilti and Other Stories, which is great.

OK I'll give her another go!

I have daytripper on the shelf, must get round to it soon...

Oh, I really enjoyed Daytripper as well. I've just picked up the last three Aya books, they come in one volume, Aya: Love in Yop City and it's book sized which is a bit of a shame as the illustrations are harder to appreciate.

Regarding the list, either the books are set in the region or the author/artist is from there.

Daytripper sounds quite good and a bit unusual.

>262 -Eva-:
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed Daytripper, Eva. It's one of my favorite graphic novels. Such an interesting story structure and such great development of characters. Somehow there still manages to be character growth even with the device of the main character dying each day.

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy is also a lot of fun. :)

>261 -Eva-: I want! I want! Got me with a BB, Eva.

#27



The Invincible Iron Man Masterworks Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

This collection contains the first few appearances of billionaire genius Tony Stark and his alter ego, the invincible Iron Man. It's a lot of fun to see the origins of the character, but it sure hasn't stood the test of time, because, oh dear grief, it's racist. If you enjoy clunky anti-Communist propaganda, though, this'll be right up your alley.

#28



Saga of the Swamp Thing Book 1 by Alan Moore

This collection contains the first issues of Alan Moore's run as a writer for the environmentally conscious comic book series about humanoid/plant creature Swamp Thing. I love Moore's idea of what the relationship between Alec Holland and Swamp Thing is and I love even more how he took a regular comic seriously and gave his all to give it a proper storyline and characters without sliding into too many of the regular comic book clichés. This was one of my favorite comic books when I was younger and I can happily announce that it stands all the tests of time in the world.

#29



Thor Masterworks Vol.1 by Stan Lee

Disabled Dr. Donald Blake vacations in Norway and finds a walking stick in a cave, one that, once he handles it, turns into Mjölner and turns Blake into the Norse god of thunder, Thor. It's quite cheesy and the plots are super-hero-tastic, but it's really wonderfully enjoyable. I know being Swedish may have something to do with why I like Thor a little more than I ought to, but I don't care. Having Odin's big face appear in the sky with invaluable advice and having Loki come up with his loony schemes is just hilarious. For those who go for Kindle-versions, though, know that that edition contains 10 fewer issues than the equivalent paper-version.

#30



White Night by Jim Butcher

When his brother seems a possible suspect in a series of murders, Harry Dresden teams up with his apprentice Molly, Sergeant Murphy, gangster Johnnie Marcone, and Elaine Mallory to clear Thomas of all suspicions, only to be dragged into the political mayhem of the various vampire Courts. Another entertaining installment in the series with the same great characters. If you like the style of the series, this won't disappoint. The plot is tight and there are a few tense and a few hilarious moments that'll keep you turning the pages. Mouse is still my favorite character, no change there.

I really, really liked Alan Morre's Swamp Thing. Been a while since I've read it. Your review makes me want to read again. :)

That was quite a dose of graphic novels! Thor is indeed an attractive superhero! Have you seen the movies?

I was looking at the cast list for the first Thor movie and thinking perhaps I need to see it! Lots of big names on there. Also, yay Norse mythology :)

>276 rabbitprincess: I live-texted one of my best friends as I was watching Thor and reading those texts is quite an interesting peak into just how worked up you can get about something as unimportant as a movie. I, erhm, didn't particularly like the movie...

Did they just take the names of the gods/goddesses and then make up a completely different story and give them completely different personalities? That would be vexing.

>278 rabbitprincess: Not completely. Most of my agony came from the horrific pronounciations (buy-frahst!) but there were a lot of other small things that annoyed me too. If you're not very familiar with Norse mythology you probably won't pick up on them, or at least not all of them.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki ("low-key"!) was superb, though.

Hm, I'm not sure I actually know the correct pronunciations! Such are the perils of encountering words only in print. Off to find a pronunciation guide :)

>280 rabbitprincess: Know that Sif is pronounced like "sieve" and bifrost like "beefrust" (ish). You'll be miles better than they were in the movie. I just find it strange that with a budget that they undoubtedly had, they didn't have a couple of hours to spend on checking what the approximate pronounciation was (also, Stellan Skarsgård should be ashamed of himself).
There are other issues besides the names, too. Like the colour of Thor's hair (him being a red-head is a fairly important part of his persona), the style and shape of the hammer (should look more like a LOTR-dwarf's battle axe with the handle cut short) and the look of bifrost (it's supposed to be a rainbow but in the movie it's more like a rave dancefloor).

#31



Frälsaren/The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø

A professional killer shoots a member of the Salvation Army during a concert and Harry Hole has to search the lower echelons of Oslo to figure out who could have it out for a soldier of God. Other than the usual Nesbø-quirk where it sometimes takes some work figuring out who is the topic of a scene, this is a great mystery; it's well-plotted, suspenseful, full of great characters, and the stakes are high for everyone involved. If you like twisty mysteries, Harry Hole is your guy, but I'd recommend reading them in the original publication order or things will get a little confusing at times.

>274 andreablythe:
I was slightly worried that I wouldn't still like them, but they are high enough quality to still work. Very happy about that!

>275 mamzel:
Yeah, I've been preparing for my upcoming vacation home to Sweden and I have a visitor coming to stay for a couple of days before I leave, so I've been in easy-read-mode. I have seen the Thor movies and I have to say I'm a bit of a sucker for that whole series - although I like Thor even better in the Avengers movies. Loki is always good, though!

So, dear friends, I am leaving for Sweden this Friday and won't be around much (or even at all) before that, so have a great May and I will see you all in June!

It's a little early, I know, but I won't finish any more books this month, so here goes:

April Summary:

Number of books: 12
CATs: 7

Category Progress:
1. Original Language Fiction 4/12
2. Translated Fiction 5/12
3. Comic Books 3/12
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks 6/12
5. Group Reads and CATs 7/12
6. Read and Give Away 3/12
7. Overflow 0/12

Best read of the month: Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá because it's pretty and inventive and feels new
Least good read of the month: Iron Man Masterworks Vol. 1 by Stan Lee for its blatant racism.

Have a great trip Eva!

Enjoy your trip home.

Välkommen hem! :)

Bon voyage Eva! I hope you have a wonderful visit with family and friends at home.

have a good time!

Enjoy your trip home Eva. I look forward to seeing your book haul that you bring back with you. Have fun with your mama and take lots of photos to share with us.

Have a safe and memorable trip!

Have a great trip!

Have a wonderful time in Sweden! See you in June!

Have fun! See you in June! I'm filled with envy!

Have a great trip!

GN binge reading - great fun!

Have a wonderful trip - a whole month *gasp!* - and a great visit with family!

Have a great trip! Glad it's a nice long one, since you're going all that way! Enjoy :)

Have a wonderful trip!

Gosh I am behind and now you are on holiday. Still allows me to catch up up and your review has finally made me decide not to bother with Habibi, I quite liked Blankets but been hearing not so good reviews that one so I will avoid. Glad you like Daytripper too :) I wasn't sure if it caught the mood I was it but I rather liked it.

Happy Travels!

Enjoy your holiday.

Got here too late to wish you a happy holiday so I will try and be sure to be here when you get back in June. Enjoy your time with your family, Eva.

Thank you all!!

Well, I'm baaack! I had a fantastic vacation and am, obviously, not entirely happy about being back in real life again, but who likes to come back after a vacation? I have a few reviews to write, but that might take some time. In the meantime, I'll do my monthly summary, just to I feel like I've accomplished something. :) I'll be making my rounds to everyone's thread, but that'll take a while - you've all been very active while I've been away!!

May Summary:

Number of books: 8
CATs: 0

Category Progress:
1. Original Language Fiction 4/12
2. Translated Fiction 6/12
3. Comic Books 9/12
4. Audiobooks and Ebooks 6/12
5. Group Reads and CATs 7/12
6. Read and Give Away 4/12
7. Overflow 0/12

Best read of the month: Lucifer Book One by Mike Carey because it's in a style and with characters I already know and love.
Least good read of the month: Nattbarn by Hanna Gustavsson because the main character wasn't someone I could relate to.

Oh, I have to brag a little bit... I only got 8(!!) books while in Sweden (two of which were gifts). I know it might not be helpful, but here's photoproof:

Welcome back!!

Welcome Home! Bask in the wonderful memories of your trip to keep real life at bay. One should be able to sloooowwwly work ones way back into real life after a wonderful vacation, I just haven't figured out how to convince my bosses of that fact. ;-)

Glad you had a good time and welcome back!

Welcome home, sounds like a great holiday.

Only eight books! That is impressive restraint. But at least a few look like really big books ;)

Hope re-entry into the real world goes smoothly -- especially after crossing all those time zones!

Welcome back! Seems like only a couple of days since you said you were going. Where does time go?

Welcome back!

Glad you enjoyed your vacation and its good to have you back so I can catch up on your thread now. Good to see you enjoying the Cabal's, the Dresden's, the Martin Beck's et al. The Saga of the Swamp Thing will probably be my next comic book project after I finish off Preacher as I already have Vol.1 sitting on the tbr shelves.

Eva's back! Whoop!

Welcome back!

Thank you all!

>304 lkernagh:
I know - they're all expecting me to answer their emails and questions and solve problems! The nerve of some people! :)

>307 rabbitprincess:
My jet lag is gone, but I am going to keep blaming it for my reluctance to return to real life just a while longer. :)

>308 dudes22:
You're telling me! Feels like time absolutely flew by.

>310 AHS-Wolfy:
Thanks! Working on my reviews - hopefully done later today! Hope you like The Saga of the Swamp Thing.

My brother and SIL returned from several months in Germany on Friday. They arrived at home around 3 p.m. and my brother says they went to see a movie to keep themselves awake until a normal bedtime. Sitting in a dark theater for 2 hours with jet lag would not have worked for me! I'd have been asleep before the trailers ended.

Haha - yes, you really have to have a plan that you know works for you in order to stay awake. If you're the type of person who can fall asleep during a movie, the theater would be a big no-no. I tend to unpack as long as I can and when I'm almost deliriously sleepy, I go out for a walk and that keeps me up for another hour or so. I did well this time, but you never know how it's going to hit you.

Welcome back to LT! You were missed!

>316 paruline:
Thanks!! That's so sweet!

Well, below are my May reads, quick and dirty! :)

#32



Lucifer Book One by Mike Carey

Retired from being the ruler of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar is content with his life in LA, running an elite piano bar, but Heaven throws a wrench in the works when they make him an offer he can't refuse. What can I say, I've always loved Lucifer from the Sandman story, and, although not written by Gaiman, it feels perfectly in line with the character and his history. I'm not really sure where the story is going right now, but it's a great ride, extremely intriguing, and with Carey's strong story-telling skills, I am feeling that this will be an absolutely brilliant series.

#33



Hetero i Hägersten by Sofia Olsson

Follow a couple as they figure out how to transition from care-free 20-somethings to settled 30-somethings and try to fit into each other's personalities and into suburbia with as little strife as possible. When this one works, it works really well and the recognition factor is extremely high. Especially when this couple realizes that they really enjoy the things that they previously scoffed at - like spending a Friday night vegging in front of the telly. It's somewhat uneven, though, but it would depend on each reader's individual experience. I did enjoy the tea strainer discussion a lot - that one's got me all over it! This one's not available in English.

#34



Nattbarn by Hanna Gustavsson

14-year-old Ingrid lives her life online, until she finds an older guy who may or may not drag her into adulthood. This has some nice insights into the life of a teenager and I do get some flashbacks to high school (good and bad). The drawings are a very distinct and simple style and it's one I like one minute and dislike another, so I don't really have a verdict on that. My biggest problem is that I can't quite wrap myself around how the main character thinks, but that might be because it was quite a while ago since I was a 14-year-old - that isn't the fault of the book, though. This one's not available in English.

#35



Kiki från Montparnasse by Catel Muller

Alice Prin moves from rural France to Paris and becomes an artists' muse and model and becomes known as Kiki, the Queen of Montparnasse. Although the drawing style isn't extremely exciting, I very much enjoyed following Kiki's story, especially her relationship with Man Ray, seeing as I've seen her in so many of his photographs. Graphic novels are such a great format for memoirs and this is really one of the better ones - the story arc of her real life was just made for fiction.

#36



Cal by Bernard MacLaverty

Racked by guilt at having been involved with a murder, Cal seeks out the victim's widow, but their relationship develops into something unexpected and Cal has to figure out how to deal with his past actions. Although this is very much about "The Troubles" in 1980s Northern Ireland, it's mainly a psychological study about guilt and how to deal with changing circumstances and creating your own fate. This was a reread for me (after about 25 years!) and, although I wasn't bowled over, it did hold up quite well. Not one I'll ever read again, but I'm glad I revisited it.

#37-38



Nemi 7 and Nemi 8 by Lise Myhre

How could you not love Nemi? Fueled by a steady stream of alcohol and chocolate, she's the mistress of darkness and death metal, the savior of unicorns and dragons, the eternal romantic, and the nemesis of small children. Although not always at 100%, Nemi sometimes hits the proverbial nail so hard on the head that you have to laugh and blush at the same time, because at some point we've all thought what she says out loud, and we would all like to be a little bit less like ourselves and a little bit more like her. These installments have quite a few strips that are geared more toward social criticism, which is a new and exciting twist.

#39



Evas öga by Karin Fossum

Inspector Sejer and his faithful canine companion Kollberg investigate the murder of a floater and manage to put the puzzle together and connect the victim with an earlier, seemingly unconnected, victim. This is the first one in the Inspector Sejer series and, since I've read a later one, I can ignore that this is a little shaky and just enjoy seeing the origins of the characters. The mystery is good and I'm looking forward to following Konrad and Kollberg in the other books in the series.

I will happily take the book bullet for Lucifer Book One.... I cannot seem to get enough satirical POV of the ruler of Hell, thanks to Johannes Cabal and my wonderful LT book enablers. ;-)

The Muller book looks interesting but I will need to see just how readily available it is. I know my local library doen't have that one.

>321 -Eva-: Oooh! I love Man Ray; and I just checked and saw this one is available in English! YES! :-)

>323 -Eva-: I love Nemi! I'm on a mission to but all the albums.

I definitely need to get around to picking up the Lucifer books. I really have no excuse now especially with the new editions being published.

>325 lkernagh:
I have no doubt you'll like Lucifer - he's a great character!

>326 Tanya-dogearedcopy:
The book is very much about Man as well, so I think you'll find it very interesting.

>327 PawsforThought:
My goal is to collect all the albums too!

>328 AHS-Wolfy:
I love that the new editions have two volumes in one so they're all about 400 pages - lets you really get into the story.

#40



Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

The king's second son, Yarvi, is planning on becoming a minister, but when his father is murdered, Yarvi needs to figure out how to mete out revenge and retake the throne, with the help of some unexpected allies. This is my first Abercrombie, but he's been mentioned many times by my fellow LibraryThingers, and, after finishing this one, I have no doubt why people have been recommending his books to me. The story is interesting and the world building is fine, but what really shines for me are the characters; I love that none of them are all good or all bad, but all have a balanced grey-scale and are true to themselves while still managing to be surprising. Since it is aimed toward a younger audience, it is a little shorter than I would have wished and the stakes aren't quite as high as they would be in a novel for adults (it feels like a The Chronicles of Prydain meets The Once and Future King type of story), but it has certainly whetted my appetite for this author, all the works of whom I will now put high on my wishlist.

It will be interesting to see how well Joe Abercrombie's YA books stack up against his other novels. This isn't the first good review of it that I've seen so the signs are promising. I still have a few of his other books to get to as well so it might be a while before I can find out for myself though.

>329 -Eva-: Woot! Yay for the Nemi love!
I'm lucky enough to have a friend who enjoys Nemi as much as I do and he always gives me Nemi albums for my birthday. It's our thing. :)

>331 AHS-Wolfy:
PM me your address and I'll send you my ARC - I'd like to give my copy to someone who is likely to enjoy it!

>332 PawsforThought:
When I go to Sweden, one of my "tasks" is to go support the Sci-Fi bookstore (yey for indies!) so if I don't find anything else there I want, I pick up a couple of Nemis! :)

>329 -Eva-: I've been tearing my house apart looking for the exhibition catalog from the Man Ray retrospective I saw many years ago. I can't remember if it was in WDC or NYC - that time in my life is a bit of a blur; but I'm thinking the big show was in WDC while there was smaller show up in NYC at a gallery which included a few of his drawings (b&w pastels.) Many Ray, Kiki, Lee Miller... Stieglitz... I couldn't get enough of them!

>334 Tanya-dogearedcopy:
I bet that was amazing! There was an exhibit last year at Øregaard Museum in Denmark that I managed to miss, but a friend showed me the catalog when I was home - looked fantastic!

>302 -Eva-: Oh you have one book by Asa Larsson in the books' pile. I've just read the two first books of her series. I'm rather fond of her lead lady, Rebecka Martinsson.

>318 -Eva-: Looking forward Lucifer, Carey is definitely a talented storyteller :)

>336 electrice:
While I was in Sweden, I had coffee with a friend who is from the area where the books take place and she said the voice is pitch-perfect, so I just had to pick up a copy of Sun Storm to try. Good to hear you like them in translation too - sometimes books don't work as well translated - as that tends to be a sign of quality writing. Looking forward to it!

>337 -Eva-: I'm happy to learn that it's pitch-perfect, I had the feeling that it was but as I've never been to Sweden and this area I couldn't be sure. The second book has just been translated in french and published in April. I was first on the library's waiting list. I meet the author at a book festival in April and the story at the time seems like one that I could like. I was just a little bit reluctant as it had some religious content but tbh the religion merges really well with the setting. Hope that you'll like it and looking forward your comments ...

I just realized this thread was 300+ posts, so I've created part 2 (please to follow the link below!). :)