TIFFIN'S Second for 2014

Some of the family oldies I've inherited.

THINGAVERSARY: 26 FEBRUARY Joined 2007




The TickerFactory seems to be having trouble. I have now read 46, with 29 books to go.

The plan for 2014 is to try to clear up some of the tbr backlog here. It's getting ridiculous. I'm not one who thinks it's wonderful to have over 200 unread books on hand: I think it's daft. So I'm going to try to make 1/2 of my books read in a month come from those shelves. And I'm going to be ruthless about getting rid of books I know I just won't read. Apart from that, nothing really structured planned. Too much of a mood reader for that.

OTS: off the tbr shelves, including ones which have been on the Kindle for ages.

BOOKS READ 2014

JANUARY
1. The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal 5 stars OTS
2. The Man in the Snow by Rory Clements
3. Prince: A John Shakespeare Mystery by Rory Clements
4. Traitor: A John Shakespeare Mystery by Rory Clements
5. The Heretics: A John Shakespeare Mystery by Rory Clements
6. Pentecost Alley by Anne Perry OTS
7. Grimoire of the Lamb by Kevin Hearne
8. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker OTS
9. The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson OTS
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy OTS

5/10 from tbr shelves; the rest were Kindle reads so no new physical books brought in this month

FEBRUARY
11. Hounded by Kevin Hearne
12. Hexed by Kevin Hearne
13. Hammered by Kevin Hearne
14. Silencing the Ghosts by Felicity Gibson OTS
15. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope 4.5 stars OTS
16. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I by George R.R. Martin
17. A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II by George R.R. Martin
18. A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III by George R.R. Martin
19. A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book IV by George R.R. Martin

2/9 from the tbr shelves; all others were Kindle reads

MARCH
20. A Dance With Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book V by George R.R. Martin
21. The Queen's Man: A John Shakespeare Mystery by Rory Clements OTS
22. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
23. Period Piece by Gwen Raverat OTS
24. The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
25. The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
26. The Halfmen of O by Maurice Gee
27. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley OTS
28. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
29. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor

3/10 OTS: the rest were Kindle reads

APRIL
30. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
31. When a Child is Born by Jodi Taylor, and, Lucia and the Diplomatic Incident by Tom Holt, counting two short stories as a book
32. Tricked by Kevin Hearne
33. Trapped by Kevin Hearne
34. Hunted by Kevin Hearne

MAY
35. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
36. Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

JUNE
37. Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
38. Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins

JULY
39. A Feast for Crows, Book IV of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin {a reread
40. Shattered by Kevin Hearne, Book 7 of the Iron Druid Series
41. A Far Better Rest by Susanne Alleyn
42. The Martian by Andy Weir

AUGUST
43. Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet
44. Death and the Lit Chick by G.M. Malliet
45. Death at the Alma Mater by G.M. Malliet
46. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor

JOURNALS READ 2014
1. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 39, Autumn 2013
2. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 40, Winter 2013
3. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 17, Spring 2008
4. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 18, Summer 2008
5. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 42, Summer 2014
6. Slightly Foxed Quarterly, No. 8, Winter 2005

I wasn't very successful with reading Off The Shelf in February because I got all tangled up in the Game of Thrones series. Thankfully Martin hasn't written the next book so my task for March will be to tackle the tbr shelves again. Onward!

Those TBR shelves are a never-ending source of consternation, aren't they? I like having lots to choose from, but too much choice can be paralyzing. Never mind the space issues.

I really love your inherited books...there's something about those oldies.

Good luck reading off your TBR shelves! While I'm reading from my shelves, I've also succumbed to several Kindle deals oops.

Wonderful picture of the books you have inherited!

I'm going to have to read the fifth Game of Thrones book, simply because I realize that when the TV series starts in the spring, it will blend bits from both books 4 and 5, which run contemporaneously. Ho hum.

Love old books.

Ah yes, the TBR nightmare - I had a great beginning with my Read It or Get Rid of It program and have fallen on my face, also getting immersed in a series, the Asaro in my case!!!!

Oh, those books up top! Love.

Happy New Thread!

21. The Queen's Man: A John Shakespeare Mystery by Rory Clements



Kindle edition.

When Walsingham sends his intelligencer, John Shakespeare, up to Warwickshire to sniff around to see what kinds of "Popish" plots are brewing to free Mary Queen of Scots, whisking her away to freedom in France, he has no idea his own family will be so involved with the plots and counter plots in Stratford-on-Avon. His brother Will features largely in this one, as does Will's pregnant bride-to-be, Anne Hathaway.

A fun read for a still wintery March evening.

22. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley



Kindle edition.

I have been waiting for this book for a long time. Some part of me must have sensed that the world at Buckshaw couldn't last, that it would be a bittersweet read, so I put off reading it until I finally had to succumb. Sweet because I love Flavia de Luce, that quirky almost 12 year old with her big wonderful glorious brain. Bitter because the way Bradley has set this one up it can stand as the last book in the series or it might possibly lead on to another book at some time. Whether the last or not, this is the end of the Flavia some of us have grown to know and love. This gawky prepubescent girl can never be that girl again in another book. No more haring off on Gladys, her bicycle. No more enchanting conversations with Dogger, her father's friend and saviour. No more skulking around her great rambling home with its lost and decaying rooms. No more going head to head with Feely and Daphne. Bradley draws all of it to a close in this book.

Some people have grumbled that no eleven year old girl could be so brilliant, so much of an autodidact about chemistry but I never had one whiff of this inability to suspend those disbeliefs. Bradley reached into that girl in me, that glorious creature who felt she could do anything before the continuous dousings of adult cold water had their eventual effect. He realised her in the character of Flavia. I rode my bike the same way, my first green one speed wonder as trusty a steed as Flavia felt her Gladys to be. Flavia was curious about things exactly the way my younger self was, with the firm exception of chemistry. And now she's a wrap, teetering on the edge of puberty and having to step into a more adult world, to play a different role.

He may bring her back in an older incarnation but she won't be the same. And I will miss her.

I read your review of The Hare With Amber Eyes. Thumbs up from me, and I note that there are many thumbs up for your excellent review!

Brenda/Brenpike, highly recommended this book. I purchased it while in Philadelphia during the meet up last May. Your review prompts me to read it soon....after I read the many library books I've checked out -- 35 in all.

Happy Sunday Tui!

Having finished Dersu the Trapper I am now returning to The Hare with the Amber Eyes - it is quite a contrast in subject matter!!!!

Hi Linda! I hope you like it. It's a quiet read but a good story.
Lucy, I can see that it would be.

ETA: review is up for The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: My Review

Am reading Period Piece by Gwen Raverat, a Slightly Foxed edition. It's just delightful so far. I keep wanting to put quotations here. For example,
"I was also born into the trying position of being the eldest of the family, so that the full force of my mother's theories about education were brought to bear upon me; and it fell to me to blaze a path to freedom for my juniors through the forest of her good intentions."

I'm already enjoying your new thread, Tui, and I hope to read Period Piece someday. It's been hanging around here for a long time but not as long as those wonderful books that you inherited.

Period Piece sounds like my cuppa!

The chapter about Raverat's Aunt Etty, who enjoyed poor health, has had me in paroxysms this afternoon, so that I could barely drink my afternoon tea. A sample:

"And when there were colds about she often wore a kind of gas-mask of her own invention. It was an ordinary wire kitchen-strainer, stuffed with antiseptic cotton-wool, and tied on like a snout, with elastic over her ears. In this she would receive her visitors and discuss politics in a hollow voice out of her eucalyptus-scented seclusion, oblivious of the fact that they might be struggling with fits of laughter."

or this, featuring Uncle Richard:

"If the window had to be opened to air the room in cold weather, Aunt Etty covered him up entirely with a dust sheet for fear of draughts; and he sat there as patient as a statue, till he could be unveiled."

Tui - Very slow getting across to your new thread this time. Congratulations offered belatedly and a little shamefacedly.

>13 tiffin: I haven't read this series as yet but I get ever more tempted. Would be just like me to start a series that has just finished.

Oh Paul, I find the threads so overwhelming at times so I do understand. No apologies ever necessary. As for starting a finished series, at least you wouldn't be waiting for the next book!

>20 tiffin: HAHAHA

*dashes off to Amazon to get Raverat's book*

Oh and *smooch*

>12 tiffin: Good news about the new Rory Clements novel! It's on my UK Kindle, waiting for me...

The Raverat book is one that I read as a quasi-child (I was technically a child, but not reading as if I were one...) I think I picked it up when I was 10 or 11 and we visited Darwin's home; that would make sense to me. I remember enjoying it tremendously.

Suz, you'll polish the Clements off in a couple of hours, knowing you. I am a big fan of the Slightly Foxed editions, those reprinted memoirs which are quite wonderful and need to be brought back into awareness. The Raverat is one of them, complete with wonderful drawings inside. I would love to know how to say her name properly, however. Is it Rave'rat, or Rah'verat, or Ray'verat, or just what?

Tui I have no idea what is correct; mentally, I've always used the first pronunciation in my head, although since I think her husband's name was Jacques, suspect the second is more likely to be accurate.

Good 'evens Tui, you are definitely on a reading roll! (especially if you count each GoT as 3 novels, which is is roughly!).

Received the latest Slightly Foxed quarterly yesterday, and read nearly all of it last night. There's a Mitford in it...

That reference to Uncle Richard under the dust sheet...we've heard that before, eh?

Suz, I think I'll stick with rah'verat, which is what I've been saying between my ears.
Caro, that was the only up side of getting that virus: I could do little except read and sleep, so I did both with gusto.
Linda, I'm still reading Winter 2013. Spring 2014 is sitting there waiting. And yes, we've heard that Uncle Richard under the dust sheet. hehehe

23. Period Piece by Gwen Raverat

Bright red cover, Slightly Foxed Edition.

When your grandfather is Charles Darwin and you can also claim Josiah Wedgewood as an ancestor, it is to be expected that your family might not fit the run of the mill Edwardian and Victorian mold. Gwen Raverat's look back at her childhood is both enchanting and enlightening for its look at this extraordinary family with its scientists, artists, musicians and thinkers, but also for its snapshot of an era. Gwen's drawings of family members, homes, and events, are peppered throughout this reprint of her memoir in this lovely little Slightly Foxed Edition.

She begins by describing her home, Newnham Grange in Cambridge. moving through chapters named Theories, Education, Ladies, Propriety, followed by one of my favourite chapters, "Aunt Etty", a loving description of and tribute to her beloved Aunt Etty (Henrietta, one of Charles Darwin's daughters). The chapter about the Darwin family home, Down House, with its mulberry tree outside the nursery window and her cherished grandmamma in residence was another favourite. "Ghosts and Horrors" describes some of the nasty things which haunt childhood, including bullies who are cruel to animals and a group of Cambridge students carrying the body of a woman down the street at night.

Her chapter about her five uncles with her descriptions of the traits and characteristics of Uncle William, Uncle George (her father), Uncle Frank, Uncle Lenny, and Uncle Horace, was nothing short of brilliant for its acute observation of each man, his place in the family, and the view in which he was held by others. These were the sons of Charles Darwin, each as individual and different from the other as brothers can be, and yet very much family in their affection and regard for each other.

The chapter headed "Religion" was great fun, as you would expect from a granddaughter of Charles Darwin. This was followed by "Sport", "Clothes" (which she detested), and "Society" (in which she always felt extremely awkward, shy, and uncomfortable).

Sharp, acerbic, wonderfully funny and irreverent, I know I would have loved Gwen Raverat (nee Darwin) in person, should I have been lucky enough to get past her shy and prickly antisocial exterior to get to know her. She lets us in with this book, writing of her memories and experiences in a way which kept me engaged to the last word. Her drawings are so good, whether capturing her young self being forced to act as a kind of chaperon, a family outing on tricycles with the family spaniel trudging along behind, or running along a nine foot high wall in the garden by the river. It's a look at an era which I only had a whiff of through my own grandparents, guessed at from the silver button hooks on my Nana's dresser along with the hair jar where one put one's hair after cleaning one's hairbrush. An era of horse drawn vehicles, spats, gas light, whale bone corsets, layers and layers of clothing, innumerable rules and regulations for behaviour, all gone except for backward peeks in a gem of a book like this.

>30 tiffin: I'm glad I've already ordered this because if I hadn't I'd have to wait even longer to dive into it after that glowing review!

Yup, yup, yup, I'm gonna have to spring for that one.

Here are some photographs of Gwen Raverat, as well as some of her works of art. Her woodcuts are wonderful.

http://tinyurl.com/lxpenx9

Sounds like a lot of fun, Tui!

Great review, Tui ... sounds like a winner.

>30 tiffin: When your grandfather is Charles Darwin
Got me right there, then persuaded me further.

Hi Rebecca, Laura, and Katherine: well, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm enjoying memoirs these days.

Tui, I subscribe to the neat little Slightly Foxed Editions (love pocket editions) and have that near the top of a pile, I think I might bring it over to my reading table sooner!

Lovely review.

What an amazing woman Gwen Raverat must have been. Did you visit any of the pages those images came from? Like this one, for instance, a blog by her grandson? I think you've just clued me in to someone I need to know a lot more about. You're right, her woodcuts are stunning.

Caro, me too re pocket editions. They are perfect for reading in bed. I don't have the entire set of SF editions because of the cost in Cdn funds plus postage but I got the ones which really resonated the most.

She sounds fascinating, doesn't she, Linda? I must check out that blog.

I won't forget GR again after that review. Thanks, Tui!

Peggy, I think you would thoroughly enjoy this one. Thanks for stopping by!

24. The Black Prism by Brent Weeks



Kindle edition

Ok, I don't know what possessed me but I think I must have read about it someplace and thought the premise sounded fun. Well, it wasn't ba-a-ad but it wasn't fantabulous either.

In a world operating on magic using the colour spectrum, some folks can use red, green, violet, yellow or blue to pull colours out of light and make them do pretty much whatever they want, everything from buildings to weapons to boats to prisons. Some people are bichromes, some are polychromes. And then there is the Prism, the one who has complete mastery over all the colours. The downside is that every time you use this magic, it lessens your life. These foks get arcs of colour around their irises. When the arcs shatter and go into your whole eye, you go a bit nutty and can get quite dangerous.

So Gavin Guile is the Prism and he's trying to hold this world together after the horrific war which left it shattered, a war he and his brother had fought. Weeks creates an interesting world, fairly interesting characters but he has a tendency to over describe, over explain. About a third of the way into the first book in what I assume will be a series, this started to irritate me. We're rushing headlong into a room, bent on mayhem, and Weeks suddenly has us stop while he discusses the history of the room's architecture. Gack.

The third book in the series isn't out yet but I have the second one sitting here. This is where my completist tendencies hoist me on my own petard: I'll probably read it just to know what happens next.

Three stars for the creativity but not necessarily for the writing.

You made me laugh about your 'completist tendencies', what a wonderful way of putting it!

Well, Lucy, you know whereof I speak, right?

>44 sibylline:, >45 tiffin: You're in good company Tui (and Lucy, I presume). I think there are a lot of us with completist tendencies hanging out on LT!

>43 tiffin: Nope. Not a-gonna do it. Nope nope nope. Not openin' the door.

25. The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks Vol. II of the Lightbringer series



Kindle edition

Well, things sure got boiling in this one. But 3rd book doesn't come out until August and it doesn't look like that's going to be the end of the series. Whatever happened to good old fashioned trilogies? What's with all this multi book stuff, with the remaining books not even written? Now I have the War of Thrones and this series hanging over the abyss.

The Old Gods are rising again in the various satrapies, fuelled by the revenge and discontent of those who have been abused or mistreated by Chromeria, which believes in Oroholam, the one god. The key players are still in place in this book: Gavin the Prism, Kip, the White, the Red, et. al. Things aren't working out very well by the end for the Prism, however, so much to be resolved.

*lalalalalalalalalala* can't hhhhheeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr you

And the third book isn't out until August. Pah.

Richard, I give Weeks full marks for creativity and having made a world which holds together really well. His writing, well, not so much. He over writes, if you know what I mean.

Ugh, I do indeed know what you mean. I like lush description and I like trenchant observation and still there's a line. Overwriting that's too flowery, or overwriting that's too explicatory, it's all just such a waste to me.

He's of the explicatory ilk.

Currently reading The Halfmen of O. It's been on my tbr list for years.

26. The Halfmen of O by Maurice Gee



Kindle edition

I have been wanting to read this SF book for kids for some time now and finally got around to it. I imagine the target age is around ten to twelve years old? It was a thoroughly satisfying story of good triumphing over evil.

Very versatile writer, Maurice Gee. I may be reading his Crime Story later in the year.

Have a lovely weekend, Tui.

Well that's very odd: I left a reply to Paul with a wish for a good weekend to him and there isn't a thing there. Pah.

27. Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley



Kindle edition

A sweet and short precursor to The Haunted Bookshop, which tells the tale of how Roger Mifflin and Helen McGill became man and wife. When Helen purchased the travelling bookshop named "Parnassus", pulled by the docile Peg, accompanied by Bock the dog, she had no idea that her dry years as a governess and then as the manager of her brother Andrew's (the famous author) farm home were about to disappear into the warmth created by a little Puck of a man with a red beard and a tweed cap. Self described as "fat", in her forties, Helen is as astonished as anyone else at the delight of falling in love.

Not as good as the sequel but a cosy little read with a lot of sweetness in it.

>56 tiffin: Gremlins. *nodding wisely*

WHY don't I have *Parnassus*??? I almost think that I used to. I loved *Haunted Bookshop*, which I could stand to reread but won't now.

I suspected them, Suz.
Peggy, it would be a good read between heavier reads. I had it sitting on the Kindle and finally got around to it, so it's technically OTS.

I don't have Parnassus either, although I read it long ago (and loved it)!

>57 tiffin: Oohoo, I've just started that one myself!

Parnassus on Wheels is up there with Miss Buncle's Book on my list of "never-fail-to-amuse" reads.

28. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor



Kindle edition.

Volume I of the Chronicles of St. Mary's, a very special and clandestine operation of historians attached to Thirsk University who time travel back to the past to research for historical accuracy. The team at St. Mary's, everyone from the techies to the Historians themselves, are wonderfully eccentric but some are dangerous and ambitious as well. Dr. Madeleine Maxwell is the smart and very funny heroine of a series which promises to continue to be full of adventure and misadventure, mayhem, murder and mischief. Not a heavy read but not fluff either. Just fun with a good dollop of silliness thrown in for good measure.

And yes, I have got the next two books on the Kindle, ready to go.

Well, what do you know! The first *Chronicle* is free for Kindle, and it's now reposing on mine. I might read it sooner rather than later too. Thank you, Tui!

Dropping by to say "hello" as I am catching up. I was looking at your thread topper more closely. I saw that copy of Lorna Doone in it and realized that it was probably the same binding my grandfather's copy was. I know it was at our house for awhile, but I don't know whether one of my brothers ended up with it or if it was given to one of my cousins.

Hi Peggy: it's a perfect read for when you don't want anything too challenging but you don't want to be a total airhead either.
Hi Lori: that was my grandfather's copy too. I love old bindings. Some of them were so beautiful, little works of art themselves. That "Beasts" book was my other grandfather's, a book about pets which he had had as a child and which my widowed grandmother somehow managed to hang on to, despite emigrating to Canada from Scotland in the 30s with just a few trunks of things.

Lovely that your grandmother hung on to them!

I've had Parnassus on Wheels on the shelf for quite a while; read The Haunted Bookshop, but not that one. I may have to remedy that soonish!

>64 tiffin: Whelp, just what I need - another series. So thanks for that. *snork!*

>57 tiffin: Funny, a friend returned these to me only last week. Maybe a re-read in order.

>64 tiffin: Tempting. Ooh, I got it free for kindle.

>70 scaifea: +1

>64 tiffin: Foul Canadian temptress, I've read the first 20pp already.

Well, with the book bullets you lot throw around, I don't feel one bit guilty. Besides, the first volume is free for the Kindle set.
Linda, Parnassus is short and sweet: perfect for a mid-week read.
Amber, Dr. Maxwell's area of specialisation is Ancient History *trying to look innocent and failing*.

Back again with a big THANK YOU for pointing me to Jodi Taylor. I'd stay and chat, but I have to get back to St. Mary's!

Hah! I have almost finished the 2nd book, Peggy. I'm going to count it for March because I started it last night.

I've read all three and the short story and I'm longing for another. Ms Taylor lulled me into thinking that the end of book 3 would be it and then the last sentence... Unfortunately (from my point of view) she is diversifying and has been writing a romantic novel but she has promised to get back to St Mary's.

>73 tiffin: What is that sound...? Is that...could that be...a warbling I hear...?

29. A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor



Kindle edition

Vol. II of the Chronicles of St. Mary's. More ripping and snorting and tearing around through history. There are people mucking about with History and the muse of History is not amused (see what I did there?) so Dr. Maddy Maxwell (better known as Max) and her crew have to try to put things right. One of the things I like about this series is that she doesn't over-prolong the agony of the gory or suspenseful bits but gets things resolved pretty swiftly. As a wimp, I appreciate this. I often stop reading things because the author seems too caught up in the awful moments and I just get too wound up but Jodi Taylor just rips right along so I don't hyperventilate for too long.

Already reading Vol. III.

30. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor



Kindle edition

Vol. III of the Chronicles of St. Mary's. Well so that's how the battle of Troy actually happened. Max Maxwell and crew are time hopping all over the place again but it doesn't work out very well for Leon and Max. And then it kind of does but with the last words of this instalment, you know things are going to be happening again whenever Ms. Taylor decides to write the fourth book. I hope that's sooner rather than later.

Ah, the torture of waiting for a new installment!

I'm waiting for four right now, can you believe it?

>78 tiffin:, >79 tiffin: I'm snerking and haw-hawing through #1 now. You *got* me!

I owe you a few, bud. hehe

hmmmmmmm

Period Piece = 1

Chronicles of St. Mary's = 3

I'd say we're even for 2014. In fact, you're ahead I'll bet!

Rather than wait, I'm reserving #s 2 and 3 for later.......like next week maybe. Thanks again, Tui!

Oh Richard, I owe you far more than one over the years!
Peggy, she leaves us hanging!

Let's see, I'm waiting for:
1. that one with the witches
2. Saint Mary's
3. Game of Thrones
4. *drawing a blank but I know there is one*

I shall have you to know that:

1) I'm at the beginning of Chapter 12 of One Damned Thing and am ready to velociraptor some folks.
2) I have Kindled up 2 & 3 and the short story
3) Am even as we speak preparing a sacrifice to the Canadian Frost Demon to convince her to bite the whole of Ontario for the entire next twelve months if a Certain Situation isn't resolved!

Whew.

Uh oh Tui, looks as if you might be in trouble!

Am now 25% into #2. No time to chitty-chat.

I've been there before, Lucy!

Richard, isn't the Cretaceous fun?

Just a wave...

After two days of rain and milder temps, we have lost close to 3' of snow. There are actually patches of (very brown and depressed looking) grass at the back, although the shadier front with its heaps from the township plough and Himself's snow blower is still very much a work in progress. Today there is a vivid blue sky up there and the woods across the road are orchestral with bird calls. How the spirits lift with a good injection of light and sun!

The sump pump is running with encouraging regularity (glunk qwishhhhhh), taking the water from the underground streams which would like to use our basement as a shortcut and redirecting it on its merry way to the lake. Geese are honking in pairs over the house, and everything with a wing and a feather is getting quite territorial.

It has been a long, hard winter in these parts. Normally stoic Canadians were at their wits end as yet another heavy snowfall came down. We will emerge pale-faced, white legged but joyous into what passes for Spring: a dirty, grubby few weeks of grit infested snow turning into spongy lawns, burbling torrents down the ditches, with road sand blowing in our eyes as we walk our dogs. And then one day, seemingly overnight, the daffs will poke through to toss their golden heads around, things will dry up enough to rake and clean up downed branches, and the air will turn from a threat to a caress. Sometimes we go hard into blistering temps that leave us stunned and changing the furnace to air conditioning, scrambling to get our cotton bedding out of storage and cast off the duvets of winter.

For those who live in climes which don't do these abrupt about face season changes, you might not understand how the Canadian spirit leaps at this brief but glorious season, the Canadian summer. But leap we do, flinging off barbeque covers, throwing Muskoka chairs all over our decks, swarming all over garden centres, wearing shorts at the first possible moment, cycling, canoeing, kayaking, and being outside every possible moment. And most wonderful of all, leaving our windows open to hear the wind.

ETA: I posted this on FB this morning and copied it here for certain chums who don't use FB and who have been dismayed as snowfall after snowfall came down on this part of the world. It looks as though *touch wood* we're over the worst.

A Paean to Spring from the heart. Thanks, Tui!
Here the daffodils have come and gone, the camellias are also on the way out, the birds are singing, trees are greening, azaleas are starting, wisteria and dogwoods also, and we long for those few golden days in the 70s and 80s before summer hits like a Turkish steam bath.

>92 tiffin: I completely understand. We Minnesotans are at our wits end too. Happily, I was able to grill outside on Monday evening (grilling and baseball being my true signs of spring) nevermind the snowbanks still in the yard.

>92 tiffin: How lovely...our daffies are just peeking up, and I have crocuses!

>92 tiffin: Daffs up, daylilies sprouting, nary a crocus was seen. The *shudder* lilies of the valley are recrudescing as well. Can't have everything.

I've posted my review of Just One Damned Thing After Another. View all small packages with suspicion.

Not a flower in sight here, Peggy, Linda or Richard. People from Minnesota and Michigan understand these things very well indeed, Erik.

Richard, the lily of the valley is my birth month flower and has the sweetest fragrance. I know they spread and intrude but I do love them.

I LIKE lilies of the valley. I also love lilac, and peonies, and parrot tulips, etc. etc. Nearly all my fave flowers are spring/very early summer bloomers. After mid-June, meh.

Not a sign of anything coming up here.

Riffing off of a meme over on Richard's thread:

Like Richard, I can't remember my first SF. It was back in the early 60s and I just devoured the stuff. I seemed to always know when a new book by an author had come out but on reflection perhaps there just weren't that many writing in the genre back then. My love of SF carried on through into the 70s but it dwindled by the early 80s because I had children, not a lot of money to devote to books, very little time between home and full-time work duties, not to mention finishing up my Masters thesis.

But in there too was a strange and unwarranted sense that reading SF wasn't quite grown up enough, that I needed to devote what reading time I had to less frivolous forms of literature and exercise ze leetle grey cells. So I packaged up almost all of my science fiction paperbacks and when a friend opened a used bookshop, I gave them all to him, almost entirely stocking his SF shelves with my 2,000 paperbacks. I still run into people now and then who purchased my books from him. Now I don't regret helping a friend, not in the least, but I have come to regret both my attitude towards SF and the letting go of some irreplaceable classics in the genre.

I kept my Delaneys, a few Gibsons, and some others which felt important at the time. Sometimes, though, a yearning comes over me when I wish I hadn't been quite so cavalier and had held on to a few more, especially when I hear certain ones at LT raving about them. A medically damaged memory means I could have read them all over again, as fresh as the first time.

Now I find the whole field overwhelming. There are so many new authors in it and so many technological advances for them to play with that the only way I know to pick someone up to read them now is to hear about it here. I no longer have that dopey feeling that it isn't quite grown up or serious enough. If you enjoy something, that's good enough and although I won't read them, I am trying to stretch my tolerance to include Harlequin romances. I have paid my dues to the gods of Heavy Stuff and am happily ensconced in those years where I can damn well do what I want, within legal and civil bounds. This includes reading fantasy or SF, as long as they're good.

/riff

>98 Chatterbox:: Suz, I am a Spring flower person too although I might go to the end of June to include peonies, all the irises, poppies, and lilies. The neighbours next door have two crocuses in bloom, right up by the house. We live in hope!

Oh, all RIGHT, I'll acknowledge the poppies. Those really extravagantly flowery jaggedy-edged ones in exotic colors. You can keep the lilies and iris; I appreciate but do not adore 'em.

Cripes, I sorted some photos at Photobucket into folders and lost my topper here.

Tried picking up a Barsetshire novel but tiny brain doesn't want to function after dealing with income tax. Going to read something mindless instead.

>101 tiffin: Oh boo! (photo)
Yay! (light reading)

Sending hugs

Such beautiful writing up there at >92 tiffin:. I read it a couple of days ago when I was frantically busy and couldn't respond properly. I love the groaning of the sump pump in your basement as a sign of spring and of Canadians flinging the covers off their barbie apparatus.

I didn't have quite as violent a reaction to sf, and I didn't own the books I had read - they all belonged to my older brother or various libraries - but I did 'get serious' in the mid-seventies through the early 90's...... my light reading became stuff like Thirkell then.

SF is incredibly varied now, impossible to keep up with or read all of - and to me has some of the most exciting and valid writing around. I'm struggling to catch up too!

The stupid book giveaway I did was in the early 90's when I unloaded about twenty Viragos..... ones I hadn't cared for....... little did I know that I would find LT and fanatical collecting..... sigh.

Thanks, Lucy! I kind of hoped it would generate at least a bit of discussion but it stayed strangely quiet in here until your visit. It's comforting to have your views about the genre. And oh pooh about the Viragos, especially if any of them were those rare and hard to find ones.

Did I ever mention that I'm a Scot and married to another who is Puritan in his soul? "Saving" is my grandmother's word. So I almost never got rid of books until I discovered PBS. I am letting a few mysteries go now, but only a few.
For about 15 years I read a lot of scifi - catching up after having turned up my nose at it for years. I'm not sure what's happening with my book selection now, but I'm reading less of that and of mystery, which was my staple for most of my life.
Hmmm. I think that I might have gotten rid of one Virago because I thought that Henry Handel Richardson was a man. *sigh for stupidity*

Oh Peggy, you're singing to the choir here. Scottish immigrants starting in the 1820s on my mother's side and my Dad was Scottish. They hung on to everything and now a lot of it sits here. My great great grandfather was an editor in Edinburgh: I have his dictionary which was published in the mid 1700s, so I'm supposing it was his father's. We are a family of pack-rats with a strong dose of waste not, want not in our veins.

I think what impelled the SF purge was a combination of factors: Himself and I moved quite a bit, so repeatedly packing up books (and their bricks & boards bookshelves) had lost all its charm; I was so busy with young twin lads, a full-time job, and finishing up my Masters that any way I could simplify my life was attrctive; I honestly didn't think I'd want to read them again.

Mom was a great mystery reader and a steady library user, so I read anything she brought home until I moved out on my own. I've come back to mysteries in my senior years, especially enjoying those set between the wars.

What has turned for me is an inability to read the bleak, the miserable, the horrific, with the feeling that that stuff almost lacerates my soul now. My young self could handle it but now I am only too painfully aware of what a filthy mess humanity is making of things. I want to be told a story that allows me some respite from my own thoughts about all of it, and although I'm too pragmatic to ever be a Pollyana, something that gives me some reason to hope.

Just lurking, having nothing to offer on the subject of sci-fi. I just don't read it...never caught the bug. With the exception of C. S. Lewis' trilogy back in the'70's and the odd short story now and then over the years, usually at my husband's urging, I know next to nothing about the genre.

>106 tiffin: I think "hope" is the reason I've returned to the SFnal fold after years of hit-and-miss reading. The Martian is one of the most hopeful, positive books I've read in years. I loved it. I loved the experience of reading a smash hit book about a *smart* man with quick wits and a sense of humor who figures, if I'm gonna make it, it's time to think creatively and use *every*thing* I have.

Wastefulness makes me a crazy person. Buying food and letting it spoil for want of a tiny effort to store it properly is a cardinal sin to me. (Found some uncooked chicken uncovered and still in its foam tray this morning, not my money so I'm not involved but REALLY?!?) That's why I found that book in particular so soothing...someone else sees the reason to be frugal and to use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!

I could say more, at the risk of repeating myself, about the fact that science fiction has truly blossomed - like a river exploding into a wide delta with so many branches and almost uncategorizable sub-genres (I mean, what do you do with a book like The City & The City? Is it dystopic? Is it a mystery? Is it a political allegory? Is it .... just plain magic!!!!!?????? As in one of the greatest reads ever?) Most people, including many who ought to know better (as evidenced last year by the. most. pathetic. ever. New Yorker attempt to 'examine' science fiction, have NO CLUE about what has happened to the genre. Too busy turning up their noses. They can't get further out than dabbling around Margaret Atwood...... her dystopic books are fine indeed, but they chose her because of 'name recognition' and some of the others they chose, don't write what I would think of as sf at all.

To my mind, even the often naughty, tasteless cover art is part of the fabulous energy of the whole enterprise. I also like the fanciful spaceships, stations, future cities and all the rest. I adore the cover art in fact!

Ma belle cousine, I must introduce one small grump re: SF in today's world: Dystopias. I watched the film of The Hunger Games. Pretty, I suppose, in that it's got a nice "look" but ye gods and little fishes! It makes no sense. It doesn't hang together! Like every other dystopian novel I've read since Brave New World.

Am I missing some greatness somewhere?

SF has remained a closed book to me and I'm amazed by how popular it seems to be here on LT. I don't sneer at it though, it's just a genre that doesn't (so far) appeal. I used not to like mysteries either but find I'm reading those a bit now, so things may change. I've loved the St Mary's Chronicles though - do they count?

I did the same with a load of Viragos, Luci, when we moved back in the mid-80s and I really regret it now. I still haven't found some of the titles I gave away.

>110 richardderus: That's YA, Richard, probably one of the most abused areas of the dystopic genre. I did read the books because the LD was into them, and they were all right - YA seems to be an excuse to skim and skimp on inconvenient detail. I haven't seen the movies, but I understand the 'big problem' is the lack of continuity with a book that already had a bit of trouble with that......

>111 CDVicarage: At least I'm in good company if you did that too! I found a couple of them at our library, mostly unread, and I took them back with the librarian's permission!!! But only two or three.
Those St. Mary's books are in one of those new and very fun 'unclassifiables'!

I have wishlisted The Martian, Richard: thank you! I totally agree with you about wastefulness.

Lucy, I love those books which are just plain magic. In fact, I live for them! As for the pundits and their takes on things, I learn more listening to my lads and their friends talk about these things than I ever have from their quasi academic burblings. Although I did do a Utopia/Dystopia course as an undergrad and it was a lot of fun; got me reading things I might not have otherwise.

And the cover art, oh yes! Some of them deserve to be hung on the wall.

Hmmm...I read The Hunger Games before I saw the series, Richard, so perhaps my mind filled in info that the series left out, as I didn't have that problem. I liked the books and thought I would have loved them at 14 or so.

An author I have followed since her early days as a fantasy writer is Sherri Tepper, who has branched in latter years into what you might term an eco feminist, although her scope is broader than that and really includes all of humanity. She has gone through some interesting morphs and changes.

Another writer I used to love back in the day was C.J. Cherryh. She had some romping good reads.

And Kerry, the St. Mary's Chronicles do indeed count. They are such fun.

Sherri Tepper's The Fresco is on my Kindle now...I mean, can one say no to a 99¢ book? I sure can't.

I loved The Fresco it was one of my first Teppers - I have bunches of them waiting waiting waiting..... argh!

I still love Tepper, but I haven't read her in a long time. If I want a great laugh of a sort, I reread The Fresco. She does know how to push absurdity to its logical conclusion. And I know I've said this to you, Tui, but I still love her Shirley McClintock mysteries. Shirley is another one who sees the world clearly. I have been disappointed in her later books and wonder whether she is falling victim to old age. Do you know?
I only discovered Cherryh here in LT, so I have a lot of reading yet to do, and she keeps cranking them out.

I know she had health problems, Peggy, but I'm not sure if they were of the sort to affect her writing.

Chiming in on the scifi discussion to say that I've only dabbled up until now, but recently my best friend and I have embarked on a quest to read through the lists of a few scifi, fantasy and horror award winners, and, despite the turd-like qualities of the one I'm reading currently, I'm very much enjoying it and I can't wait to see what gems I'll discover on the way.

What are you reading now, Amber? I guess I'll go along to try to find out. I think I want to avoid the "turd-like"! *grin*
Tui, I had never found this website before, but I think it may be useful.... Sheri S. Tepper.

Amber, big *snort* from this quarter.
Thanks, Peggy: will have a look see!

31. When a Child is Born by Jodi Taylor



Kindle edition

A short story in the St. Mary's Chronicles series.

I'm double counting two short stories to make one here:

Lucia and the Diplomatic Incident by Tom Holt

32. Tricked : The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book IV by Kevin Hearne



Kindle edition

The fourth book in the Iron Druid series, this one takes place in Arizona with old gods from the indigenous people of the region. Coyote is up to his usual tricks but there are some serious baddies to fight here. The Norse gods are still threatening, so several identity changes are required for Atticus and Granuaile. It's silly and, at times, pretty juvenile, but it's what I felt like reading.

33. Trapped by Kevin Hearne



Kindle edition

Yup, the fifth book of the Iron Druid Series. I'm on a bit of a binge with Hearne again.

34. Hunted by Kevin Hearne



Kindle edition

Book VI of the Iron Druid series. Binge over because that's the last one he's written so far. Waiting to know whether Loki will unleash Ragnarok or not.

I'm chiming in with Tui and Peggy - what sf are you reading???

Wait, I'm back it's that Fritz Leiber, The Wanderer. Don't bother with that! There's sf that's lively and then there is 'historical' sf that is only interesting within the bigger context of the 'history of sf' - in its time it may have worked, and some pieces may still be of interest..... but so many of the older books don't hold up as books that are fun to read.

One set I can't recommend more highly to someone starting out in sf are the Kim Stanley Robinson's, Red, Blue, Green Mars series.

Wouldn't you say those have it all Tui and Peggy (and Roni) if she was in on this?

OK i 'm getting overenthusiastic. Please forgive me!

>126 sibylline: to Amber --- I think it's hard to be overenthusiastic about KSR and the Mars series. I'm convinced that's how it's going to be and am seriously bummed that I'm not going to be here in 2065 to see if it all comes off on schedule.

Yep it's the Lieber book, The Wanderer. It's so stinkin' awful that I've honestly laughed out loud at parts. How does something like that win an award?!

And that's great news about the KSR books - they're on the list

oooh Lucy, I have that trilogy sitting on my Kindle! Hooray!

Thanks for the warning about The Wanderer, Lucy and Amber.

Glad to be of help Amber and Tui!

Hmmm.... Noticing you are very quiet?

Lucy, I'm slogging my way through Red Mars, which bogs down terribly with long descriptions of a geological nature. As the only time I really get to read is at night, tiny brain kind of seizes up, causing me to shut the Kindle off and reach for the comfort of a Slightly Foxed quarterly article. I have been devouring the latter. But thank you for noticing!

And soon it will be active gardening season, so my reading will dive right down.

Oooh, I *lurved* all the geology (areology?) parts! Found it fascinating.

I guess that means I'm a geek AND a nerd. Surprise, surprise.

Oh I like reading about them, Richard, but when he gets too sciencey with chemical reactions and all, tiny brain starts sputtering. It's not the kind of read I can flutter and zip through. It's a funny thing too to have the death of one of the main protagonists right near the beginning and then go back to work forward to it: I know it's coming, I just don't quite know when.

I can see that it's not universal light bedtime amusement! Robinson is no Wodehouse.

Heh. No. Just wait til you get into book .... 3...... and the endless political stuff, making the constitution and all. Gorp. Except I kept on because it was all part of making this 'total' picture. Worth it.

Which Asaro did you get???? I'm questioning the fact that I read the books in the order they were published - the chrono order would be MUCH better, I think, and when I read them again, which it is likely I will do - partly because of this chrono problem..... I will read them in chrono order. The first two published ones (first would come at the very end and second would be somewhere in the middle) are not the best, although #2 starts to hit a groove around the midway mark - a groove which Asaro more or less maintains from then on. Anyway - that's what I recommend, mainly because reading them the way I have has left me often paging around to trying to fit the pieces together.

I am almost finished the last book..... LUCKILY I have a zillion other good books to read, but it will feel strange, I think.

xoxo

Lovely to see you oot and aboot, Richard, but please rest that shoulder.

Lucy, I got Primary Inversion. Hope that's the first.

Hi, Tui. I hope that you stick with KSR or come back to him. I loved it all! I hope I live long enough to do a reread.
Happy gardening when the time comes!

I'm steadily plodding along with it, Peggy. I'm at the part in the first book where all the sabotage is happening, and the threats against John's life. The way it's all unfolding politically is just the way you know it would unfold if we ever got up there.

The 'first' chronologically is Skyfall - I just looked it up - there are a LOT of other novels with the same name - so be careful! I really would read in that order if I were you. I forget where Primary Inversion comes in..... let me go look and come back and report.

Okay Primary Inversion is book 5 - I'd wait. The next after Skyfall is Schism - you can find the chrono order here under Skolian Empire Chronological Order - if you go to any title.

Ok, thanks, Lucy. I will do them in order.

35. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson



Kindle edition.

Review coming.

Moving this to my thread so I don't lose the link address: http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/for-our-beloved-curmudgeon/179809

Hard to get reviews done in gardening season. Finally, here is my review for Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson:

My Review of Red Mars

SO happy that you enjoyed Red Mars! I agree with (and thumbed) your review which pronounces it an important book!

Thanks, Peggy! I'm enjoying Green Mars just as much.

Belatedly catching up.

>106 tiffin: Another pack-rat here. What a treasure to have that dictionary.

>114 tiffin: Funnily enough I was looking at a Tepper I bought I think at your recommendation a few years ago Tui, The Margarets and thinking it is time I picked it off the shelf soon.

Hi Caro: so nice to have a visitor.

Still reading and greatly enjoying Green Mars.

36. Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson



Kindle edition

I liked the second book in the series even better than the first book. Mars is aeroforming at a faster pace than expected. Settlements are growing. And a trigger occurs on Earth which gives the Martians the opportunity to break the transnats' strangleholds on Mars. Exciting stuff!

This doesn't do the book justice but I'm too tired and lazy, between gardening and the weather, to write much else.

The Mars books are on one of my lists somewhere, so I'll get round to them eventually. Glad to see that you're enjoying them!

Soo deelighted that you love the Mars books (so far) - and I agree - there is something about them that goes 'beyond'.

Me too! Me too!
The main reason that I'm angry that I won't live to 2065 is that I won't be around to see how close KSR's vision is to what actually happens. Read on, my friend, read on! (And I will simply note that today I picked up Sixty Days and Counting, the last in his environmental trilogy. Might read it this month; might not.)

Just a wave! Not a sci-fi fan, so I'll move right along past...

37. Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson



Kindle edition.

Well! That trilogy was quite the read. Although there were parts I had to speed read over because they just bogged down too much for this non-scientific brain, the story as a whole was a wonderful one which kept me interested to the end.

As I mentioned before, I think this is an important series, prescient and thoughtful. Earth is overpopulated and in the grip of a few metanationals, companies who own all the resources and means of production. The population has exploded past the point where it is sustainable. War, disease, hunger, all the horsemen of the apocalypse are riding wildly over the planet. Going to Mars to see if it could be populated is Earth's last hope.

What happens is not only the physical transformation of the previously bare planet, with the creation by the "first one hundred" of an atmosphere and then life itself, starting with the smallest lichens, but the creation of a new way of living. The ties to Earth are cut symbolically as the umbilical cord of the first cable is smashed, leaving the Martians to evolve on their own for a few years. When the cable is rebuilt, it is as though the child Mars has become the mother to Earth, teaching it new ways, giving birth to new hope.

Of course humans are humans, and there is a lot of crap to still wade through. The billions and billions on Earth aren't going away, particularly since the longevity serum has been discovered. Natural attrition through death and disease have slowed. But this serum also gives the first one hundred long lives in which to guide, counsel, invent (they are all scientists after all), etc., leading both planets through to what we are left hoping at the story's end will be better worlds.

There are love stories, some taking a century to unfold. There are human hatreds, failings, acts of evil. But there is at its heart in this tale a wonderful hope that we have the chance to get things right, if we'll just be more mindful. I was profoundly impressed with Robinson's breadth of thought, his grasp of pulling all of human history into the present moment. His lessons about fixing what is wrong are so pertinent, so applicable. I could feel it as a hunger with him, the urge to get it right, to stop messing up. We can't fly off and terraform Mars, we don't have the technology at this point. But we certainly can fix how we do things on the mother ship, dear old Earth.

A noble read.

>155 tiffin: *happy sigh* So glad you liked it!

38. Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins



Kindle edition.

When Patricia Brent overhears two of her fellow guests, as the management prefers them to be called, of the Galvin House Residential Hotel (a boarding house in London, England) saying that she is a sad case because no young man ever calls on her, Patricia rebels. She foolishly lets it drop that she will be dining with her fiancé but compounds the lie by saying where. Of course the two old biddies show up to spy on her and of course she plops herself down at the table of a man in a military uniform, begging him to help her out of her pickle.

This young man turns out to be Lt.-Col. Lord Peter Bowen, D.S.O., which almost predictably leads to him falling head over heels for her. What isn't so predictable is that Patricia spends most of the book denying that she has fallen for him, shoving him away, which results in the enlistment of help from his redoubtable sister and an assortment of friends.

A definite cosy. Not as sharp as Barbara Pym, not as silly as Wodehouse, but lots of easy-to-take humour. A perfect sorbet after being immersed in Mars for several weeks.

Thanks, Richard! I'm still thinking about it, which is the sign of a good story.

Yes Happy Sigh from me too! I'm glad it struck you the same way it struck me.

Me three! Me three!
And off to explore the possibilities of Miss Brent! Thanks, Tui.

ETA: Got it! And a freebie!

Tui's in the garden, I'll wager, digging something up, putting something in, or just staring at how lovely her hard work makes the world.

Thinking of you. Happy solstice.

Miss Brent has come to stay with me too, via Kindle freebie...

Sorry for my absence, chums. My second born by two minutes has had a bad cycling accident and has ended up with a serious concussion, not to mention various other contusions and scrapes. His poor dear face and right side was a mess but his helmet saved his life. We looked after him for a week and he's back again this weekend, so all my attention and focus is on him. I'm not even reading, just knitting socks for his (and his twin bro's) upcoming birthday, which all I seem to be up for these days. You never stop being a mom...at least I'm hardwired that way.

Nope, no gardening, Richard, and it shows. It has been too humid, hot, and buggy so this fair-skinned freckle-armed person is lurking in the air conditioning.

Oh Tui, what a nightmare. I hope you are all recovering. I think I can imagine, a bit, how you are feeling as it's always a dread in the back of my mind too.

Oh dear me! How completely terrifying for you. I'm so sorry, Tui, and whammying a major peace-and-calm wave for your whole clan.

xoxo

>155 tiffin: We can't fly off and terraform Mars, we don't have the technology at this point. But we certainly can fix how we do things on the mother ship, dear old Earth.
This series has been hovering at the edges of my attention for ages... errgh, series, and I read so slowly... but you are persuasive.

>164 tiffin: his helmet saved his life
Oh my. Obviously good, but the could've-been... I can see why nothing else is quite grabbing you.

I'm so sorry Tui. Major positive thoughts being sent your way. I don't believe anyone can stop being a mom. I think it is the way we are wired.

Tui - so sorry to hear that. Sending my best wishes and hopes that he makes a good recovery.

Hang in there, Tui.

Oh my goodness! I have equal concern and relief after reading about your son's accident. I'm glad that you can cosset him, and I trust that he is making great strides toward recovery.
Blessings on you all!

Why thanks, one and all. Yes, Kerry, I know you'd understand this one. Peggy, he won't let me cosset him! But I can cook for him and he's always up for a hug.

Oh, wow. Thank goodness he's okay, but I can certainly understand the scare this must have given you! Thinking of you both...

Thank goodness he had on his helmet and it was a good helmet and it worked. Thinking good things and sending them your way.....

I'm sorry to hear about your son's accident, Tui, but glad that he was smart enough to wear a helmet. I pray that he continues to recover nicely, with his mother's TLC, of course.

Thanks Amber, Lucy and Darryl. It's hard when he's a man (and I feel like I'm half his height). Only so much I can do but what I can, I will.

Colleen, I meant to say thank you for your understanding of eternal momhood. To my last gasp and beyond!

I'm posting hello because it has been too long since you got to the top of the heap. I hope recovery is going well for your son. (And you!). Yes, I'm getting the idea that to be a Mom is forever...... it's morphing now into something a little more subtle, but no less connected, ultimately. Like the safety rope on climbing equipment.

>178 sibylline: it's morphing now into something a little more subtle, but no less connected, ultimately.
Yes, I like it.

Hi Tui - I've only just read your post above. I hope he's continuing to recover ok and am thinking of you (2 weeks late!!)

Happy that Lucy brought you up to the top!
Hope all is going well with all of you.

Thanks heavens for safety helmets!!! As I'm sure you're thinking every moment of every hour of every day.

Hope things are improving for you all -- and that the knitting is proceeding apace...

Any quilts on the horizon?

Hi Lucy, Laura, Cushla, Peggy and Suz. Thanks for dropping by! My back has relented enough to let me garden a bit (no more than a few hours at a time) so I have been spending time out there trying to catch up. And the Tour de France has begun, so I turn into a t.v. watcher for three weeks. Knitting birthday socks for the lads while keeping an eye on the Tour and yes, am slowly putzing away at a quilt.

My reading falls right off in July and much of August every year although I do read myself to sleep with Slightly Foxed journals. And I'm rereading one of the Games of Thrones books to figure out which things the movie(s) changed.

Arlen is coming along, for those who asked (and thank you for asking, I do appreciate it), but it was a very bad hit to the head so it will take time. He knows he isn't right yet: isn't handling stresses well. I hope this aspect heals properly.

Hi, Tui! I'm glad to hear that Arlen is doing better.

Tui, stopping in belatedly to leave best wishes for your son's recovery!

Arlen-healing whammys continuing!

Tui-smooching also continuing.

39. A Feast for Crows, Book Four of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

A reread; Kindle edition.

I have been watching the t.v. movie series and felt certain things were being changed, so wanted to do a reread to see what those things were. Funny how you miss a lot when you read something quickly the first time.

40. Shattered by Kevin Hearne



Kindle edition.

The 7th book in the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Loads of fun, including a quotation from A Song of Ice and Fire. Pure unadulterated escapism, all skooched down under the covers, flying around the known world and into the worlds of various mythologies, accompanied by two Irish wolfhounds who are funny and obsessed with meat. Just darn good fun but best read in chronological order.

Tui, I finished the first Game of Thrones book last week - way outside my usual reading area but I really enjoyed it! I haven't watched the TV series but it is really popular here. I might try one book per holidays.

Glad to hear your back is a bit better. Not much gardening happening over here because it is a whopping 9 degrees and raining for the umpteenth day!

41. A Far Better Rest by Susanne Alleyn



Kindle edition

A good solid story set in England, and France prior to and during the French revolution. In fact, I would say that this book deals with the revolution more honestly than does Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. {Working on more to say...maybe}

42. The Martian by Andy Weir



Kindle edition.

What a good story! What a romping good old fashioned adventure in space story. Others have written excellent reviews of it (yes, I'm looking at you, Richard) so I won't bother. I'll just say that it deserves every bit of praise it gets. And bless me but the darn thing has a happy ending!

Wasn't that fun!?!

>190 tiffin:. I think I want to read that one.

Glad to hear that things are looking up for you and your son both! So you've sucked me into the first Iron Druid, and I also have *Martian* on the Kindle.......just too much fun stuff to get to!

Roni, it was!
Linda, I think you might like it.
Peggy, the Iron Druid series is pure fun. The Martian is too but in a totally different way.

I'm copying and pasting this note from Richard so I won't lose the book order here:
>33 tiffin: tiffin: Oh goody good good! There are nine of them:
Tales of the City
More Tales of the City
Further Tales of the City
Babycakes
Significant Others
Sure of you
Michael Tolliver Lives
Mary Ann in Autumn
The Days of Anna Madrigal

They really need to be read in order.

And there's always the LT series page...

https://www.librarything.com/series/Tales+of+the+City

Oh right. I never think of that thing for some reason (because I'm a stunned old fart, possibly?).

I loved those Maupins!!!

Having turned sixty I can now officially join the SOF club? You had me laughing - and I'm in bed with a cold that came on last night.... so nice to get home and get socked in immediately.

the Iron Druid series is beckoning beckoning....

Also a member of the SOF club...

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



Kindle edition.

The first of the St. Just mysteries and just delicious! I'll be reading more of these, that's for certain.

44. Death and the Lit Chick by G.M. Malliet



Kindle edition.

You can't beat a mystery set in a castle in Scotland but when you throw in a handful of mystery and crime writers, with one of their leading lights getting offed, a castle ghost, the requisite howling storm, well, you've got a book to settle in with for the evening (late, late into the evening). More good fun with St. Just, who may just (see what I did there) have been hit with one of Cupid's arrows on top of everything else.

45. Death at the Alma Mater by G.M. Mailliet



Kindle edition.

Well! Three in a row with St. Just. Perfect summer mystery reading, even though I did find her formula predictable by the end of the third book. Set in the hallowed grounds of Cambridge. I had half guessed who dunnit by the reveal but the why of it was interesting.

46. A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor



Kindle edition.

You know that feeling where you don't want a book to end but you can't stop reading it at breakneck speed and then *damn and blast* it's over all too soon? Just did that with this one. What a wonderful series. This one had Time Police, monkeying about with the timeline of history, visits to Pompei just as Vesuvius blew up, the black plague, betrayals, one almighty dust-up (quite true, as exploding flour was involved), and much humour. The attack of the swans! The horse being ridden backwards!

Oh just read it because it's grand.

Such fun to share this series with so many! I love it, and I can't wait for the next one.

Do you think there will be more, Richard? It finally seemed a bit of a wrap in this latest one.

ETA: by the way, Number One Son by Two Minutes is loving it as well. I'm buying him the paperbacks with an eye to borrowing them for a reread one day.

I think the ending was just open enough to allow for some more fun if sales demand it.

Oh right: whatshername the dastardly is still romping around loose!

Yuh-huh. Plus the coin toss. So I don't think we'll dangle forever.

My first St. Mary's is on its way to me!!!! Yay!

I love to watch you bouncing through a series the way you do. It's one of those totally harmless indulgences that get rarer and rarer, isn't it?

Lucy, I hope it's as much fun for you as it has been for the rest of us.
True words, Linda. And even though you don't like time travel books, I think your sense of humour would respond to these books.

>211 tiffin: Ohhhh NOoooo.....No ya don't. I see what you're trying to do there. You and them other warblers. You already got me to stow the St. Just series in my never-ending queue. I'm just going to pretend I never heard of St. Mary's.

St. Mary's is more fun than St. Just. *warbling away here*

*whistles through, completely and utterly innocently*