Ronincats' Reading and Craft Recurrences IV

It is simply impossible to find a photo that does justice to the incomparable Flower Fields in spring. Visible from I-5 as you pass through Carlsbad north of San Diego proper, these are 50 acres of gorgeous ranunculi.

Hi, I'm Roni, and this is my 7th year in the 75 Book Challenge group. I read heavily in science fiction and fantasy, with a side dish of non-fiction and a sprinkling of mystery and romance. This year I'll be participating in the Lois McMaster Bujold year-long Vorkosigan read, the Arabian Nights read, the Harry Potter series reread, the American Authors monthly read (at least for some of the authors), the Science, Religion & History quarterly read, and The Culture group read, for starters. I typically read about 150 books and 50,000 pages a year. I also play around with pottery, beading and wirework, crochet, garden and pets, so pictures thereof will be sprinkled throughout my threads and can be found in my member gallery.

My final thread of 2013 is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/161637

My 2014 threads:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/170681 2/22/14-4/9/14
http://www.librarything.com/topic/167738 1/22/14-2/22/14
http://www.librarything.com/topic/162722 1/1/14-1/22/14

Goals and tickers:

Books Read in 2014:

January
1. Indexing by Seanan McGuire (420 pp.)
2. If the Shoe Fits by Laurie LeClair (244 pp.)
3. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (313 pp.)
4. Hexed by Kevin Hearne (296 pp.)
5. Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern edited by Todd McCaffrey
6. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (297 pp.)
7. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (309 pp.)
8. The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (234 pp.)
9. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (389 pp.)
10. The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (315 pp.)
11. The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (345 pp.)
12. Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold (302 pp.)
13. Grimoire of the Lamb/The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (99 pp.)
14. The Librarian: Little Boy Lost by Eric Hobbs (98 pp.)
15. Longbourn by Jo Baker (332 pp.)

February
16. Bastion by Mercedes Lackey (342 p.)
17. The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson (433 pp.)
18. Frederica by Georgette Heyer (437 pp.)
19. The Arabian Nights by Hassan Haddawy (428 pp.)
20. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (320 pp.)
21. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (309 pp.)
22. The Silvered by Tanya Huff (484 pp.)
23. Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade (179 pp.)
24. Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee (366 pp.)
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (341 pp.)

March
26. Hammered by Kevin Hearne (312 pp.)
27. Mr. Wuffles by David Weisner (30 pp.)
28. Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold (311 pp.)
29. Tricked by Kevin Hearne (370 pp.)
30. Half-Off Ragnorak by Seanan McGuire (368 pp.)
31. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (396 pp.)
32. The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg (515 pp.)
33. Trapped by Kevin Hearne (322 pp.)
34. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (309 pp.)
35. Serendipity's Tide by L. Shelby (233 pp.)
36. Treachery's Harbor by L. Shelby (194 pp.)

April
37. Fealty’s Shore by L. Shelby (248 pp.)
38. The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski (265 pp.)
39. Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Bart Ehrman (197 pp.)
40. What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton (446 pp.)
41. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (272 pp.)
42. The Celestial Globe by Marie Rutkowski (293 pp.)
43. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (332 pp.)
44. Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett (381 pp.)
45. The Jewel of the Kalderash by Marie Rutkowski (320 pp.)
46. Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier (318 pp.)
47. The Unforsaken Hiero by Sterling Lanier (240 pp.)
48. Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold (338 pp.)
49. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer (304 pp.)
50. The Normans by Lars Brownworth (210 pp.)
51. The Warlock's Curse by M. K. Hobson (398 pp.)
52. A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (353 pp.)
53. Fall of Light by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (307 pp.)

May
54. The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper (381 pp.)
55. Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer (355 pp.)
56. Cinder by Marissa Meyer (390 pp.)

Books Acquired in 2014:

January
1. Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear
2. Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C. J. Cherryh
3. Aunt Dimity: Snowbound by Nancy Atherton
4. The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
5. Legacy by James H. Schmitz
6. Changer by Jane Lindskold
7. Dragon's Kin by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
8. Desolation Road by Ian McDonald
9. Grimoire of the Lamb/The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
10. Magnificent Devices 4-book set by Shelley Adina

February
11. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
12. Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee
13. Shannivar by Deborah J. Ross

March
14. Beast Master’s Circus by Andre Norton (301 pp.)
15. Destroyer by C. J. Cherryh (406 pp.)
16. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds (580 pp.)
17. Spin by Robert Wilson (452 pp.)
18, Tricked by Kevin Hearne (370 pp.)
19. Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire (368 pp.)
20. Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (497 pp.)
21. Buffalito Destiny by Lawrence Schoen (308 pp.)
22. Buffalito Contingency by Lawrence Schoen (274 pp.)
23. Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett (381 pp.)
24. The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg (498 pp.)
25. Trapped by Kevin Hearne (322 pp.)
26. Disenchanted & Co by Lynn Viehl (417 pp.)

April
27. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (254 pp.)
28. Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Bart Ehrman (197 pp.)
29. Of Darkness, Light and Fire by Tanya Huff (513 pp.)
30. Rise of a Hero by Hilari Bell (578 pp.)

May
31. Forging the Sword by Hilari Bell (608 pp.)
32. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (352 pp.)
33. The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan (331 pp.)
34. Summerland by Michael Chabon (500 pp.)
35. China Court by Rumor Godden (304 pp.)
36. Super Finishing Techniques for Crocheters by Betty Barnden (128 pp.)

Book #39 Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code by Bart Ehrman (197 pp.)

I picked this up from the library sale table for 25¢ out of curiosity. I read TDVC back when it was all the talk at the urging of a friend, and hated how it was written (short, hyperactive chapters and jumping all over the place) but thought the premise was interesting. Ehrman has nothing new to say--since I’ve read fairly extensively on the early history of Christianity--but this is a nice summary and does really make clear what, as he says, IS truth and fiction in the book. Very readable.

Book #40 What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton (446 pp.)

I’ve had a lot of fun with this over the last week. This is a collection of Jo’s blogs from tor.com from 7/08 to 2/11, about 20% of what she actually wrote, but the ones where she is talking about what she is re-reading. So the first one is titled “Why I Re-read”.

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who re-read and those who don’t. No, don’t be silly, there are far more than two kinds of people in the world. There are even people who don’t read at all. But there are two kinds of readers in the world, though, those who re-read and those who don’t.

This is something, of course, that has come up numerous times on LT, and Jo hits the divide right on the money: “There are so many books, they say, and so little time.” But Jo, like me, is a re-reader, and I love her rationale and discussion here. “When I read, I know what I’m getting. It’s like revisiting an old friend.” “A re-read is more leisurely than a first read...Because I know what’s coming, because I’m familiar with the characters and the world of the story, I have more time to pay attention to them. I can immerse myself in details and connections I rushed past the first time and delight in how they are put together. I can relax into the book.” Ah, Jo, as Anne Shirley would say, you are a kindred spirit.

And it doesn’t hurt that during this time span, Walton reread the entire Vorkosigan series and Steven Brust’s Dragaera series and wrote about her reactions to the books.

I’ll try to get back to some of her other discussions in the next few days. I like the way she writes.


Book #41 The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer (272 pp.)

Speaking of re-reads, I was feeling a little under the weather today and not like any of my ongoing reads, so I picked up this month’s Heyer book (well, actually I think it may have been last month’s) to distract myself. This has never been one of my favorites but any Heyer beats most other books hands down.

Here are the bracelets for my husband, and the long composite bead I'm working on:


And here is the sweater, the back and part of the front, no sleeves yet:

How funny, the continuation doesn't show in your last thread. I had to go to the group page and search (horrors!). Found you though! My star didn't carry over, either.

Happy New Thread, Roni!
Those flowers up top are gorgeous!!
And lovely craftiness happening here, as usual...

Thanks to Jim for getting your continuation up! The flower fields do look amazing. And here I am just content to have the snow evaporating. Underneath is mostly fifty shades of brown.

I reread, less of late than of yore, in part because joining LT caused this book avalanche that I am struggling with..... but this year things are looking up a little, my nose is above water.

Ah, found you, thanks to Jim.

As ever, gorgeous photo (if that doesn't do justice to the Flower Fields, I can't imagine what would), gorgeous jewellery and gorgeous knitting (i'm in a turquoise phase, myself).

>10 sibylline: And congratulations to sibyx for getting her nose above water, because I'd like to know what that feels like ;0)

And here I am. I wonder what kind of glitch that is, the continuation not working one?

I've got the Walton collection on my pile, gazing at me reproachfully as I click Kindlepages in the Jodi Taylor series...q.v.

Ah, thank you, Jenn, for putting that link on my old thread. So glad you found me anyway. Don't know what happened with the continuation feature--I used it.

Thank you, Amber, queen of the LT crafters!

Lucy and Nina, I'd thank Jim too, but what did he do? Did he get it into the Threadbook? Let me know so I can go thank him personally.

Lucy, I'm following your photos of The Great Melt with interest. Love your waterfall. Above water? Just don't wash away in the snowmelt.

Thanks, Nina--the fields are really even more awesome in person.

Visitors, remember you need to manually star the thread if you use that to find it again, as I do. I couldn't find it myself until I remembered to do that.

AND question of the thread for my readers:
Do you do word puzzles, and if so, what are your favorites?

I've done crosswords since high school, and do Word Jumbles, Cryptoquips, Anacrostics, Letterboxes, Places Please, but especially like Sudoku and above all else Kakuro or Cross-sums.

Anagram Magic Squares and Flower Power.

Happy New Thread, Roni! I'm thankful that it was near the top so that I could find and star it!
Oh gosh! Does anybody remember the wonderful puzzles that were in the back of the old Saturday Review? Double Cryto-something...... You filled in the numbered grid, which was a quotation when completed, by answering a list of questions. And then the first letters of the question list answers spelled out the author's name. I LOVED those. And what was it called?

Double crostic? There is a web site.

Is Flower Power the puzzle where the clues have you fill out the words in spirals from the center?

Peggy, that's what I referred to as "anacrostics" above--I love those too. The first letters usually spelled out the title as well as the author. I just went and found my book of them (Dell usually has 8 or 9 scattered in their big crossword puzzle books) and I guess they are just called Crostics. They are so much fun to figure out.

>17 ronincats: Yes. Clockwise and counterclockwise clues. I do like the single puzzle type books.

Yes, the not-showing-the-continuation is a bug - probably related to all those no-title threads that have been hanging around. cD is working on it, Tim is watching.

I do sudoko - which I think of as logic puzzles, not word puzzles. My mom and I do crosswords - specifically, the Sunday crossword in the San Francisco Chronicle - together every week. And occasionally we do the cryptogram and/or the double crostic as well - I do like anacrostics, though every time I do one I remember the Lord Peter Wimsey story with a crossword puzzle where the creator of the puzzle "threw away all his anacrostics" when crosswords came out...he liked the new puzzle better. Merl Reagle (who does that Sunday puzzle) is excellent - punny but not cryptic, I can't handle the cryptic puzzles.

Oh, and I do logic puzzles - the ones with 1. John is tall and wears an orange shirt. 2. Mary is taller than at least one other person. 3. Someone in a blue shirt is the tallest in the group. etc etc.

19> I fell in love with logic puzzles when I needed to do them for the GRE exam. I have books of them and an iPad app.

I guess I was including all paper puzzles there, Jenn, not just "word" puzzles, regardless of what I actually said. Have you tried kakuro, with the numbers? It includes basic computation in the problem-solving.

>1 ronincats: That is beautiful!

>6 ronincats: I really want to read What Makes This Book So Great especially as it sounds like we feel the same way about rereading but I'm dithering because the library doesn't have a copy and I can't decide whether to splash out at the hardback price or whether I want it as a kindle book or a paper book. Of course, it also sounds like a book that would be very dangerous for my wishlist and my TBR pile.

Jo Walton also has another novel coming out later this year and I'm also very excited about that despite the fact that I still haven't read through her back catalogue yet...

Sorry to hear you've been feeling a bit bleugh. Glad The Corinthian helped.

>7 ronincats: Nice.

I'm more of a logic puzzle person than a word puzzle person. I did a lot of sudoko and kakuro at university but don't tend to do so many nowadays.

>1 ronincats: Love the flowers.

>22 souloftherose: I also tend to prefer logic puzzles.

Roni, I play a lot of Word WELDER on my iPad. A LOT.

Lovely colourful start to your latest thread, Roni.
Am another who loves word puzzles. I usually have half-an-hour daily of a word game on mindjolt to keep my cognitive juices flowing.

Just like old times - I've found you and have dropped my star.

Your thread topper picture is a knockout. I love that you also find Georgette Heyer great comfort reads, I always feel better after reading one of hers.

>21 ronincats: Ugh, yes. I hate it (and Cross-Sums, and all the related ones). Logic I like, but somehow mixing math in (though I quite like math on its own) messes me up.

I like the Griddlers game though - the one where you draw a picture in colored-in squares, by logic. http://www.griddlers.net/

I've always loved all sorts of word puzzles, but I don't get much time these days for them. I did get a book of kindergarden-level sudoku puzzles for Charlie, just to see if he'd like them - and he *loves* them, and is freakishly good at them. It's looking more and more as if he's inherited the mathy-sciencey talent from Tomm (certainly *not* from me!).

Heather, I got What Makes This Book So Great from the library, so I was fortunate. There's nothing that would make it NOT a good Kindle book, as long as you can bookmark. However, I did tend to skip around the book, since there was an excellent table of contents. It's a great book for dipping into and out of, rather than reading straight through.

Lori and Heather, for some reason the word logic puzzles, the more difficult ones, tend to give me fits. Inferences I can easily make in my number puzzles seem to elude me. :-(

Stephanie and Paul--wordwelder? mindjolt? I can see I have to do some due diligence on the computer.

Judy, Heyer does for me exactly what Jo Walton is talking about in the quotes from her book above. I know what I'm getting and it's totally entertaining.

Oops, Jenn, another website to check out, griddlers.

Amber, Scholastic used to have a SpongeBob Squarepants picture sudoku book at the school book fairs that was simply delightful. Ah, Ammy has a link--there are three of them.
http://www.amazon.com/Sudoku-Puzzles-Spongebob-Squarepants-Spotlight/dp/14169242...
Charlie might enjoy them.

So, if we expand to computer puzzles, besides the ones listed above and those that are just computer versions of the paper and pencil ones mentioned, are there any others out there?

I do Words With Friends and Words of Wonder on Facebook. But my favorite computer game is Set. There is a daily puzzle here: http://www.setgame.com/set/daily_puzzle

So yesterday I finished my composite bead and strung it. Here's a picture, with the one I did a month or so above it for contrast. That one is a dusky lavender, this one dark blue. I strung this one on beading wire rather than memory wire so it is more flexible.



I have materials for one more, in light blue crystal, to do.

30> Oooh, beautiful.

29> I was going to mention Set. I do Set puzzles on the iPad. Also Logic puzzles and Sudoku.

The only puzzles I really like are crosswords....and not the insanely difficult NY Times versions either! I do sometimes like a Sudoko but my mom does the daily one in the newspaper religiously.

It's kind of ironic that my nephew who lives in Glendora sent me his Flat Stanley to visit Maine locations!

Hi Roni,

I'm new and love Iain Banks -- I noticed in your thread you mentioned a Culture group read. Where can I find out about that?

MD, they are pretty, I think, although I don't know if I would wear them. However, some of the people at my table last winter said what they looked for in a necklace was a bold statement--mine were too subtle for them--and this should fill that niche, hopefully.

How funny, Heidi.

Hi, Cindy. Welcome to the 75ers!! Whenever you want to find things out, you can go to the group page (at the top of each thread there is a link where it says the name of the group) and from there to the group wiki where all the groups and threads are tracked. But here is the direct link. Scroll down and you will find the Culture thread and the threads for each individual book.

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:75booksin2014

Haircut today, and then the farmers' market in La Mesa. Picked up a huge bouquet of freesias and other flowers for $4, some really sweet strawberries, and some fresh oranges and cherimoyas from our favorite grower. It is in the 80s there, 77 here at the moment. Usually in April we cannot comfortably sit out on the patio in shorts and tank top in the late afternoon--but this week we've been doing it. My first sweet pea is finally blooming--I don't know why they are so late.

>30 ronincats: Absolutely gorgeous!

>30 ronincats: Those colors are so lovely! The dark blue is deeply satisfying.

I'm just not a fan of the bead compositing thingummy. Sorry....

Hi Roni, I've found you again after being on hiatus for a while. Your beading is beautiful as always, although I would probably not wear something so bold. Kudos to those who do, though!

Love your new thread, Roni! What a wonderful thread topper pic. Your beading and crocheting projects look great.... I really like the soft colour of the yarn you have chosen for the sweater.

I haven't done word puzzles in a long, long time but my favorites are Word Jumbles and Word Find games.

>30 ronincats: - Very nice!

>29 ronincats: Thanks for the link, Roni, but I'm afraid that Spongebob is persona non grata in our house - I can't stand that cartoon! Ha!

Hi Roni - good to see you loved the Jo Walton book. I ended up not finishing it as I wasn't familiar with enough of the titles she was talking about and didn't feel like reading it straight through. I want to just dip into it from time to time, so will probably buy a copy when it comes out in paperback. To make up for that I'm finally listening to Agent of Change as it's been a while since I read some scifi.

Have you read Rooftoppers? I just started it and it's quite delightful.

>40 avatiakh: Oh, I loved Agent of Change. I hope you have a good time with it, Kerry.

Wow, those Flower Fields are gorgeous, Roni! Congrats on the new thread, and I hope everybody finds it after the trouble you had.

What Makes This Book So Great sounds like my kind of book. I enjoy ones where you can dip in like that. One of my favorites was The Western Lit Survival Kit by the witty Sandra Newman.

Hope you have a great weekend.

>6 ronincats: Love what Walton says about re-reading. Makes me want to read the book. What are some other books she mentions?

>13 ronincats: I've had to manually star a few threads. Pain in the rear.

I did the USA Today crossword for two years. But they got harder and harder and less fun, so I stopped.

The only time I do them now (or word finds) is if I'm in the hospital. So it's pretty rare.

Good to see you here, Marie, and thank you!

Richard, it's a little too glittery and complex for me as well--I'm a streamlined type of gal, although I've fallen for Patricia Locke jewelry lately--but they are pretty.

Julia, welcome, my dear. Like you, I probably would not wear them, but a lot of people would--or at least so I hope.

Lori, my mom loves Word Jumbles above all else! Thank you for your kind words.

Amber--NO! What did poor SpongeBob do to deserve your ire?

Kerry, about half of the pieces are about books I've read at some time. (There are 130 pieces in the book, most of which reference specific books but some are general.) Of the others, I'm familiar with the authors of about half of those. The rest are going onto the wishlist I'm creating specifically from the book. I can see that the more familiar you are with the books she's talking about, the more you can judge whether the rest of the books are for you or not. Have you read the Maori Fantasy, The Bone People by Keri Hulme? And I promise, you will love Agent of Change. At the least, you will love Edger.

Joe, I think you would love the Walton book. Really.

Morphy, she's a big fan of Samuel Delany and Vernor Vinge, Bujold and (I know you don't care for) Steven Brust, so a lot of their books are in there, as well as books by Arthur Clarke and Robert Heinlein. But there is so much more. There are a bunch of them on the back cover:

One of my favorite pieces in the Walton book is the only one about a non-science fiction book, Middlemarch. But it should have been, cries Jo! "Her books constantly come back to technology and the changes it brings." "...she saw the world in an essentially science-fictional way."

"The trouble with mimetic fiction (mainstream, imitative of real life) isn't that you can tell what's going to happen...but that you can tell what's not going to happen." "In science fiction you can have any kind of story--a romance or a mystery or a reflection of human nature, or anything at all. But as well as that, you have infinite possibility. You can tell different stories about human nature when you can compare it to android nature, or alien nature. You can examine it in different ways when you can write about people living for two hundred years, or being relativistically separated, or under a curse. You have more colours for your palette, more lights to illuminate your scene."

"What i want is stories as well written and characterized as Middlemarch, but with more options for what can happen. That's what I always hope for, and that's what I get from the best of SF."

Hear! Hear!

And Richard, just for you--"What I loathe about Dickens is the shallowness of his caricatures, the way he pushes them around his ludicrous plots not even like puppets (because I could admire a well-done puppet show) but like children's toys that might topple over at any moment and get a grinning "Aw shucks" from the mawkish and badly played omniscient narrator."

>44 ronincats: Nice. (Though she and I obviously differ in our opinions of Dickens.)

Book #42 The Celestial Globe by Marie Rutkoski (272 pp.)

This is the middle book of the trilogy started with The Cabinet of Wonders. So there's little I can say without spoilers. This is a middle-school level book and so far, it doesn't rise above that level for me. Petra is not a particularly likable character and the villain is batshit insane. Still, I'll finish the third book to see if it can redeem the series.



Book #43 Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (293 pp.)

Most of you have probably heard Richard book-warbling about this one, but I first heard of it from Peggy (LizzieD). I'd say it owes a lot to Connie Willis' time travelers, but certainly takes it off into a new direction. It's light and entertaining and FREE! Can't beat that.

Foggi, like Richard, she has difficulty being clear and definite in her opinions. Right!

>46 ronincats:
I keep forgetting to say that Jodi Taylor's writing reminds me a bit of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

Of course I scuttled over from Richard's thread to see what Jo Walton was saying about Mr. Dickens but what do I find? Absolutely beautiful bracelets! Migosh your "craft recurrences" are lovely, Roni.

>44 ronincats: *blissful coos*

>43 ronincats: Yes, I've read The Bone People, loved it. I'll try again with What makes this book so great once my Coursera on the Middle East is finished.
I read the first two The Cabinet of Wonders books and couldn't be bothered to continue. I liked the first book.

Stephanie, that connection had not occurred to me.

Thank you, Tui! Glad to see you here.

Ha, I knew you'd like that, Richard!

Kerri, I've now put The Bone People on my wishlist. I was thinking about not finishing the Rutkowski trilogy, but I already have the third book here from the library and I'm a quick reader, so I'll probably finish it.

Watched my first Father Brown mystery on PBS tonight and liked it. I know a number of people have talked about the books.

>52 ronincats: The books are excellent - so are the PBS mysteries. They're just not the same thing. I've only seen a couple of the PBS ones, and in each case I recognized which FB story they were derived from but they were very very derived. And Father Brown is...rather more pushy/flashy and less humble in the PBS shows. Not that he's not a strong character in the books, but he's very humble and modest and oh by the way "deep insight into his opponent's mind/actions/motivations". I like the book Father Brown better - but that may just be that in general I prefer written to video presentations. I actually watched all of one PBS show (two, but the previous one was several years ago) - I watch _very_ little TV, so it must have been excellent.

>43 ronincats: Thanks for posting that!

>44 ronincats: I keep flip-flopping. I wanted to read it because I liked stuff mentioned on the back of the book. But now I don't because I couldn't finish the first chapter of Middlemarch and like Dickens!

The Bone People is a truly excellent book.

I think this may have been an early episode, Jenn. At least, Fr. Brown was not in the least pushy and seemed pretty humble throughout.

Morphy, this is a great book to get from the library if you can. It is a dipper, so it's very easy to just check out her reaction to books you are interested in (GREAT table of contents, and each piece--there are 130--is only 3-5 pages long). And besides that, even when you disagree with her, she's entertaining.

Lucy, glad you found me. I've put The Bone People on my wishlist AND on hold at the library, the updated edition. Does anyone know why there is an updated edition? I see I'm #50 now for The Martian, also on hold. And I'm still #1 in line for Cinder, which I put on hold at the beginning of December, but I've been there for the last month with no movement. Ah well, at least I won't be getting them all at once.

Woke up with a headache and sinus congestion--hopefully it is "just" allergies rather than a virus. Sipping my coffee now and hoping things will be looking up. Also just realized that I downloaded my pottery pictures last night and forgot to put one up here, so will go take care of that now.

Here we go. The blue bowls in the front are part of a 4 bowl set commissioned for a friend--the last one is still getting fired.

The 4 green bowls directly behind them are all in the same glaze on black clay and make a nice set but I need ideas regarding how to use them. One is as a set on a dresser to keep jewelry such as bracelets and rings in.

ETA the front bowls are about 6" in diameter, cereal bowls, so the green ones are 4 to 4-1/2" in diameter.

Absolutely beautiful necklaces, Roni. I might like to talk to you about one of those. So glad you posted a photo of the flower fields. I was thinking about doing that before I left but didn't get it done. Tulip are about at their peak here and we're enjoying the many fields we pass on our way here and there.

The necklaces are gorgeous, Roni! But the bowls just blow me away!!! You are so talented! Every time I visit I get another WOW moment!

So I see Richard got you with JODTAO as well... I too, succumbed to the warbling. Alas, he has powerful methods of persuasion. :)

Thank you, Reba. Hope we'll get some tulip pictures.

You are so right, Tina. Those whammies of his, you don't want to mess with!

Made a tree of life for another LTer tonight. Similar to one made for myself a while ago (mine is the larger one on the chain).

>56 ronincats: It may just be my perception - the one I saw recently was about the cult of the sun, and the scene I'm thinking of he was thrown (politely) out of the monastery and promptly climbed back over the gate and went looking for the person he'd been trying to reach before. Politely, and humbly, and darn well going to go where he wanted to go. Which isn't all _that_ different from the books, come to think of it.

Fine, fine, fine. I'll put it on Mount TBR.

>204 Storeetllr: in the previous thread: What a Gorgeous bowl, Roni.

Just catching up on threads. Live is taking over LT time. Peet and I went to London for a few days and I spend last weekend with my best girlfriend. So I'm hopelessly behind on thread. I'm trying to visit all my starred ones this week.

And now you have started a whole new one! With lots of gorgeous bowls and lovely necklaces and hangers. Wow.

Wow, beautiful bowls, Roni.

I had a good time with Just One Damned Thing After Another, too. Tracking down the second one now, although my other recent purchases are staring at me, wondering when I'm going to get to them.

The blue bowls are so lovely, as always. The green bowls are very pretty, but bowls with in-turned lips are always a flummoxment to me. I don't know what, apart from filling them with water and floating fleurs on 'em, one is meant to do with them. Add a lid and they're bean-pots? Dunno.

That green glaze is something special! The blue will always make me smile, of course.

whammy-less *smooch*

>30 ronincats: Va va VOOM! Very elegant.

>57 ronincats: Love the blue glaze; the bowls look like paua shell.

Jenn, he sounds determined to say the least.

Hi, Connie. You've been busy!

Joe, I'm holding off on adding the Kindle versions. Partly due to a new pet peeve.

Pet Peeve Alert!
I have always shared my books with my sister in the middle of Kansas. This started before Amazon, when the access to books when you are at a minumum of 30 miles away from the nearest bookstore, and that one none too whippy was severely limited. I still send her a package of what I read every couple of months, and she sends them back when she's read them. Since we both have Kindles, I though, yay! we'll save bigtime on postage since I can lend them to her. But all the neat books I've been buying lately, including the Hearne books and JODTAA, do NOT have lending enabled. I didn't notice until I had bought books 4 & 5 of the Iron Druid series for my Kindle. Now I'm looking before I buy. Granted, JODTAA is free so there is no need to enable lending for it, and books two and three are lendable, so I probably will buy them via Kindle. However, I'll likely buy the rest of the Iron Druid books, and any other unenabled books (like Disenchanted & Co), in hard copy from my favorite independent rather than succumb to the instant access allure of Kindle.

Richard, you can put change or jewelry in them on your dresser or on a side table. Also candy or nuts. But I agree, use is somewhat limited, which is why I was asking for creative ideas.

Nina, thank you so much.

...hair receptacles...? Sorry, I am just stumped.

I'd use them for putting out olives, salsa, hummus, diced tomatoes, etc., so people could make their own tacos or burritos, and the like. I use little pottery bowls like that all the time.

And I love, love, love those green ones and really wouldn't be forced to do anything with them except look and pick up and arrange and rearrange. I like Tui's idea too though.
I'm a bit perplexed about calling The Bone People " the Maori Fantasy" --- I'm not sure what I would call it, but fantasy wouldn't be among my top ten qualifiers...... (What did I miss?)

I'm catching up on your threads Roni. I've been reading the Jo Walton too (and I ordered her summer book at our local indie). I feel like a match her tastes about 70%.

Re the #13 question, why yes I like to do the hard crosswords. Somewhat competitively. If you are looking for good free hard crosswords, check out Brendan Quigley, also Matt Gaffney's weekly meta-crossword. Andy Kravis is an up-and-comer. There's also a 'guess my word' page that is nerdy fun.

>69 tiffin: Yum!

Provided the glaze is okay for food, the taller ones for green tea? The look nice to put something warm in & cuddle on a cold day. The shorter ones for dipping - olive oil & balsamic vinegar, soy sauce & wasabi, butter?

('scuse iPhone typing)

That is weird >70 LizzieD: - it seemed one of the more gritty books I've read.....

>73 sibylline: What am I missing here? It was gritty and hard and unforgiving and tragic, but why call it fantasy?

Tui, yes, those would be good uses. Nina, the glaze is completely food-safe and the pottery is oven, microwave and dishwasher compatible! Actually, the two larger ones in the back row are handleless cups for tea, so you are right on with that.

I found The Bone People mentioned in a list of fantasy which had that label in parentheses--I don't remember what article it was in. From your comments, Peggy and Lucy, I'm wondering now if it might be TOO gritty for my tastes.

QQ, where have you been? I agree with you completely--70% sounds about right for me as well.

Richard, it's a privilege to stump you. ;-)

So, no one is identifying with my pet peeve in >67 ronincats:. Too esoteric? Probably most of you aren't in the habit of regular lending.

To be honest, I hadn't realised that you could lend Kindle books. I've only recently got my Kindle, and very few people I know in real life read a lot of books; still fewer read fantasy & sci-fi, so I don't have anyone to lend to.

But if lending were a big part of my buying books, then it I would have the same pet peeve.

>67 ronincats: I bought The Mysterious Benedict Society on Kindle intending to lend it to my Sweetie. Until Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore it was the first book I'd read and enjoy that I thought that he might like. Then I found out that I couldn't lend it. Grump. So, I bought another copy and gifted it to him. I don't really regret sending more money Trenton Lee Stewart's way, I've enjoyed the series, but it was still annoying.

Walking away before I highjack your thread with other ebook peeves. I do have hundreds of ebooks in one format or another, not against the format, but they do have their drawbacks.

>76 humouress: I find it a little obscure to figure out if something is lendable ot not. It seems to me that I had issues figuring it at one point before I actually bought an ebook. Fortunately, it is easy to cancel a purchase.

I don't buy ebooks, so don't lend them!

I didn't like The Bone People so haven't said anything. I gave it 5/10 stars. I'll post my micro-review only if you are interested. I don't want to put you off if you really want to read it.

Roni - the fantasy element in The Bone People is more a form of Maori spirituality so hardly fits the criteria of fantasy IMO. The novel deals mainly in the harsh reality of domestic violence and is a stunning read. I think it might interest you with your background in child psychology as one of the main characters is a young child.
My comments from 2010: It was very rewarding, a beautiful bewitching read, so deeply embedded in New Zealand culture, taking you to both the highs and lows of human existence. Brutal, spiritual and a supreme statement of unconditional love.

^ I agree with this. It's one of my favorite novels ever. I hope you enjoy it, Roni (if you choose to read it).

>75 ronincats: - I was sort of vaguely aware of the Kindle lending thing, but have never tried it with another person. It sounds like a cool thing. I'm sorry you've been having issues with it.

I've never tried lending an ebook - when the concept started, you could only lend a book once. Ever. So you could buy it, and lend it to one person, and it was thereafter unlendable. Which sounded so weird and counter-intuitive that I kind of ignored the whole concept thereafter.

I get books from various places - Kindle from Amazon, Baen ebooks, Project Gutenberg, direct from authors, Humble Bundles, etc - and then put them through calibre and turn them into epubs that I can read on anything I please, have no DRM (shhh! that part's illegal), and if I wanted to I could lend them/give them to anyone. I don't, though, because that's a bad thing to do to authors (I care not at all about Amazon et al, but authors yes. And at least some of the publishers). If I really love a book, I aim other readers at it where I got it or the equivalent. And besides, if I gave away a book I de-DRMed, that really would be illegal. I can argue for fair use if I only do it so that I can read it more easily, after I legally obtained it.

RE: the lending. Jenn, yes, lending it just once ever is a definite limitation, but in my case where I always and only lent my books to my sister, even pre-ebooks, it was a benefit. As I said, imagine the savings in postage costs!

MD, the information is available on all Kindle books on the product page. You scroll down to "Product Details" and down at the bottom, just above the Amazon Best Sellers Rank, it says:
Lending: and then either "enabled' or 'Not Enabled", and I'm finding the latter more and more.

:-) Nina!

Kerry and Kerri--sounds like I need to be in a certain state of mind to read it. I definitely won't pick it up expecting it to be light reading now, which is good to know. Thanks for the detail. I may pick it up at some point for professional interest.

Thanks, Morphy, for the input.

Book #44 Hiero's Journey by Stirling E. Lanier (318 pp.)

Hiero quests across a post-apocalyptic North America is much the same tone as John Carter traipsed across Mars--there is the same sense of adventures and encounters with new societies and strange comrades. Although old-fashioned in tone (the book is 40 years old), it was entertaining to see the predicted changes some 5000+ years in the future and just good fun with the many adventures.

I have a Kobo Touch, not a Kindle, and there is no lending option. I have bought or downloaded for free quite a few Kindle books, but lend or borrow if you only use the Kindle app. Not being able to lend or give away books when I'm done with them is a big reason why I will never spend more than $5 for an ebook. The ereader is fantastic for reading library books, though, which is the majority of my reading anyway.

I also use my the ereading capability on my Ipad primarily for library books.

I certainly understand you being peeved. I don't know how to loan Kindle books so when a friend (who lives a block away) recently wanted to borrow a book i have on Kindle I just loaned her the device and all. She has her own but I usually read on my iPad now so it was just easier that way under the circumstances. Less useful for loans between S.D. and KS though lol

Hi Roni,

I'm glad you posted the link to your thread as I might not have found it (especially as distracted as I've been). The flowers at the top are beautiful!

I'm in the market for a Kindle Paperwhite and the discussion about the unreliability of the ability to loan a book gives me pause.

I hope to read The Bone People one of these days as it has been so highly praised by people whose opinions I trust.

Lending with the Kindle is super easy once you figure out what to do, Reba. On your Manage Your Content and Devices page on Amazon.com, it lists all the books, etc. that you've purchased. If you click on the + to the left of a book, it expands the selection to show date purchased and links to the order details and product page. Over on the right margin is a button that says "Actions". When you click on that, the bottom option will be "loan this title" and once you click on that, you just put in the email and name of the person you are loaning it to and your name and click "send now". Finis.

But it won't show up if lending is NOT enabled, which can clearly be seen on the product page before you buy the book, Ellen. It's not unreliable, it's just that some books are not being enabled for loans, whether by the author or the publisher I don't know, and I imagine it would be the same regardless of e-reading device. And I'm so glad you found me.

Julia and Marianne, I've borrowed a couple of books from the library on my Kindle, but usually if I have the choice of format I go with the paper ones, especially since the library is so close to my house.

Speaking of which, I picked up Maggie for Hire, the first in the Maggie MacKay--Magical Tracker series for free. It's by Kate Danley, who wrote the much discussed The Woodcutter. We'll see if I like it enough to continue the series--and it IS loan-enabled.

It's about equivalent to call One Hundred Years of Solitude or Cloud Atlas or a zillion other books I can easily think of.... a fantasy, in fact that book is MORE of a fantasy than The Bone People. Idiots trying to market it - 'Maori' = spiritual = fantasy?

Hi, Roni ~ Beautiful jewelry (esp. the tree earrings) and bowls!

Agree with you about borrowing print copies of books from the library as opposed to eBooks. I tend to forget I have them on the Kindle and then have to re-borrow them when they expire.

Gotcha, Lucy.

Thanks, Mary!

One last discussion from Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great: Her blog from 1/18/10, and article 95 in the book, "SF reading protocols".

Jo got me with this lead-in:

We've all probably had the experience of reading a great SF novel and lending it to a friend--a literate friend who adores A. S. Byatt and E. M. Forster. Sometimes our friend will turn their nose up at the cover, and we'll say no, really, this is good, you'll like it. Sometimes our friend does like it, but often we'll find our friend returning the book with a puzzled grimace, having tried to read it but "just not been able to get into it."

How many times have I seen that exact scenario with those exact words occur here on LT? Many, many times!

That friend has approached science fiction without the necessary toolkit and has bounced off. It's not that they're stupid. It's not that they can't read sentences. It's just that part of the fun of science fiction happens in your head, and their head isn't having fun, it's finding it hard work to keep up."

She gives some examples, one of which was someone zeroing in on a technical detail and wanting it explained where it was just a plot device, and another with literary fiction readers who want to make the zombies in sF into metaphors, when that's not their primary, or perhaps any, function.

She talks about getting into an argument on a Trollope mailing list with people who want footnotes in the edition to explain unfamiliar terms. "I argued that they'd either figure it out from context, or they didn't need to. After a while I realized that I was reading Trollope as SF, assuming that the text was building the world in my head."

"Having a world unfold in one's head is the fundamental SF experience."

"Because SF can't take the world for granted, it's had to develop techniques for doing it. "

These include the simple infodump and also incluing, which is scattering pieces of information throughout the text to add up to a big picture.

"The reader has to remember them and connect them together. This is one of the things some people complain about as 'too much hard work' and which I think is a high form of fun. SF is like a mystery where the world and the history of the world is what's mysterious, and putting all that together in your head is as interesting as the characters and the plot, if not more interesting."

Since there's a lot of info to get across and the author doesn't want to stop the story more than necessary, there are techniques for doing it, signals for what can be taken for granted and signals for what's important. People's names and placenames and product-names become important information, as when a character casually hails an ornithopter. Not having these skills is why sometimes literary fiction authors write really clunky science fiction--they don't know what needs explanation and what doesn't.

Walton ends by pointing out that there are books that are good starter-sets for acquiring the SF reading skill and Harry Potter has been one for lots of people.

I really enjoyed this article!

>27 jjmcgaffey: Oh, thank you for the griddlers link. Those are the sort of puzzles I love doing but they're really hard to find in printed form now.

>29 ronincats: Thanks for your thoughts on What Makes This Book So Great, Roni. It sounds like one I would like to have on my shelves so I'm going to try and wait for the paperback (if there is one).

>57 ronincats: Oh, lovely!

>60 ronincats: Still love those trees of life! The blue stones are very pretty.

>91 ronincats: "SF is like a mystery where the world and the history of the world is what’s mysterious, and putting that all together in your mind is as interesting as the characters and the plot, if not more interesting."

Sounds like a fascinating article Roni. I'm off to find her blog post to read it online.

Happy Easter!

Thanks for the quotes from the Jo Walton article, Roni. Very interesting. We had Jule Verne on the shelves in our house, and for me that was a good SF starter.

I like both mysteries and SF, but our son only likes SF. I can never figure it out, because he loves solving puzzles, but mysteries just don't interest him.

Thanks for the explanation of Kindle borrowing. I hope I can remember it until I need it :)

Reba, FAVORITE the message by clicking on the More link under it, and then you can find it easily.

Hi, Joe. Glad you came by. Thought you'd like the Jo Walton stuff, so glad you saw it.

Diana, you have been BUSY today! Happy Easter to you too.

Heather, I think they may have removed the posts that went into the book from the website. :-(

I've spent the last few hours removing 50000 old email messages from my commercial email account--you know, the one that gets all the ads and newsletters from businesses. Long overdue, and hopefully I will do better at deleting them immediately.

>91 ronincats: Aha! That's why I read fantasy and SF, but mainstream literature doesn't work so well for me.

And now I have a clue as to why 'Harry Potter' has been such a phenomenon. (I've joined the HP group read, but am finding it hard ( / have always found it hard) to gauge my reaction to the series, having come to it long after all the hype was well-rooted.) I like the series, and it is well written, but it does seem on par with a lot of other fantasy and other juvenile / YA.

>94 jnwelch: When I was young, I had my 'mysteries' phase, but after a while, I got a bit fed-up. Either you didn't get enough clues - because Sherlock went off on his own snooping expedition without Watson, or he had access to some obscure bit of information ("You didn't notice that faint aroma, Watson, but I did" etc.) - and the solution was provided out of the blue, or (less often, admittedly) the answer was so obvious you spent half the book yelling it at the protagonists.

>93 wilkiec: Those bunnies are proliferating all over the place!

>97 humouress: I read the first Harry Potter before the second came out, and never mustered enough interest in the series to pick up the second. I know, I'm weird. But yeah, the idea of fantasy and SF doing worldbuilding in a way that literary novels don't makes a lot of sense to me - makes sense of my lack of interest in literary novels, too.

>91 ronincats: I have What makes this Book so Great so I dived in to read that particular essay. It really summed up what I like about sci-fi. I will admit to sometimes getting caught up I'm technical details, but only when the technical details seem to make no sense whatsoever! I'd have been interested to know what other books she considers suitable 'starter-sets' for non sci-fi readers. Incidentally, I'm halfway through Jhereg for the main reason that she clearly likes the series a lot.

Thanks Roni. You're a font of useful information!

There you go, Nina! I thought it was an interesting insight as well--having seen some of our literary friends here on LT give a highly touted SF book at try and then saying, I just don't get it.

Well, I was into children's fantasy long before the Harry Potter books came out, Jenn, and they just naturally fell into my lap despite the hype, which usually turns me off trying a book. I can see Rowling's debt to Diana Wynne Jones and E. Nesbitt and Elizabeth Goudge--but I enjoy them a lot. As the series builds (the first two are charming children's books), the characters become so real and the drama becomes intense.

Rhian, how nice that you had the book to hand. It's such a great book to dip into and back out of because of its structure. And like I said initially, it doesn't hurt at all that she reviews every book in two of my top three favorite series, Bujold's Vorkosigan books and Brust's Dragearan series. Hope you are enjoying Jhereg.

Reba, my life story has been being a support person with loads of resources. Glad to be of help!



Book #45 Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett (381 pp.)

This is the first Pratchett I've bought on Kindle and it's the one I've been reading sitting in waiting rooms for all the routine doctor visits over the last three weeks. I must confess, it was a slow starter for me as it built up the development of the steam locomotive, although I did take some enjoyment in the fact that Harry King seemed to be modeled in part on Noddy Boffin in Our Mutual Friend. However, once the stage is set, the last part of the book is a thrilling dash across the landscape of Discworld that pulled me in entirely and left me satiated at the end!

Pottery studio day! I brought home the fourth bowl of the blue bowl set above, but it looks just like those. So other than that, I brought home what was going to be a small pie plate, but it cracked at the bottom during the first firing. So now it will be a succulent planter. The other piece was intended all along to be a planter--it has a built-in saucer and drainage holes. Neither is glazed on the inside except along the rim because plants prefer raw clay.

I spent the whole time today doing glazes, so I will have a teapot, 2 bowls, 2 pitchers and a carved jar next week to come home with me.

>102 ronincats: Love them!

Those are beautiful!

Lending: One of the reasons I prefer real / tree books over e-books any day.

>60 ronincats: Now that is STUNNING work! Makes me want another one. Are you posting things directly at me, woman??? ;)

I hope you have a terrific, very blessed, and

Hi, Roni! Beautiful pottery planters!

Happy Easter!

>102 ronincats: sooo pretty!

>102 ronincats: ooh yum; caramel and mint tea ;0)

Happy Easter, Roni! Not caught up, but your pottery is just so beautiful - how very talented you are!

Yep I was drooling over the hardcover of the new Pratchett at a bookstore I just happened to drift into yesterday...... but every library around here buys them all so I can wait....

Yes, Roni is the best for accurate information.

And I have obediently added Jhereg to my WL .....

I'm excited about the new Walton book.... There is a real need for good writing for the general public about what it is about sf and fantasy that IS so great..... some of us seem to just fall into it with no effort and others -- I have noticed for some it is a particular book that sets them off on the big adventure.... and then of course, there are plenty for whom it simply does not appeal. I find that, in itself, fascinating, that the idea of imagining and speculating about the unknown would be a completely alien concept to someone.

Love the new pottery, Roni!

Thank you so much to all the pottery lovers, foggy, Jim, Mary, Richard, Nina, Mamie, and Amber.

Tina, you are a ray of sunshine in my life!

Lucy, you haven't read the Vlad Taltos books?!?!?!!! Let's see, the last long series I pointed you toward was the Liaden Universe...and how did that work out for you? ;-) I got the Pratchett on my Kindle, pre-ordered. And don't expect that Walton is writing extensively on this specific issue, although she is in general. Only a few of the 130 articles directly address this, and I've highlighted most of them here.

I know I will not get out to everyone's thread with Easter greetings today, so I am going to borrow Genny's wonderful wording and wish this for you here.

" Whatever your beliefs or personal philosophy, may this be a day to recognise and rejoice in those experiences, places or people which are signs of life and hope for you and for our world."

Happy Easter, Roni!! For you and everyone around you!

Thank you, Connie, and the same to you and yours!



Book #46 The Jewel of the Kalderash by Marie Rutkoski (320 pp.)

This is the last book of the trilogy of The Kronos Chronicles. All in all, I think it's a good middle-school adventure, with a nice mix of ethnicities, but adults would probably not be able to suspend belief enough to gloss over the more improbable parts of the story. And there are no hidden depths--what you see is what you get.

So we decided to have something different for Easter dinner and so, instead of just roasting a leg of lamb, we tried a recipe my husband had seen on Giada at Home on the Food Channel for Italian Springtime Lamb. After pounding a butterflied (de-boned) leg of lamb flat, I spread it with deli mustard and then a spread of spinach, walnuts, rosemary, garlic and raisins sautéed in olive oil. The whole is then rolled up and roasted, and came out like this:

And it was delicious!



Book #47 The Unforsaken Hiero by Sterling E. Lanier (240 pp.)

This sequel has Hiero separated from his love and deprived of his mental tools, in dire straits indeed. Our hero, however, finds unlooked for allies and makes it back North to take the battle to the Unclean. As noted for the first book, fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Andre Norton are sure to love these books, set in the far future in a post-apocalyptic savage world. But fans have been waiting for over 30 years to see if Hiero can successfully find Luchare, driven into the wilderness, and restore her to her kingdom, and find and defeat the true source of the Unclean...

>116 ronincats: WOW! My mouth is watering...

I like the juxtaposition of the ham and Hiero, unintended punning there?????!!!!

Nope, no Taltos. Obviously must rectify!

>97 humouress: humoress, that is exactly how I feel about mysteries too! Either the author is hiding things, or the author is obvious. One makes me feel dumb, the other shouty.

Roni, any thoughts about the Hugo nominations this year? I've already got my favorites--Ancillary Justice and xkcd/Time.

>116 ronincats: I love lamb, and that looks amazing! I need that recipe. Italian Springtime Lamb on The Food Channel you say?

>91 ronincats: Great discussion on how to approach SciFi. I *really* want to get my hands on this Jo Walton book!

I have not yet tried the lending option on my Kindle. I find the whole thing frustrating and it probably why I usually only buy really cheap ebooks or borrow ebooks from the library. I lend a lot of books to friends and. I hate the idea that I am blocked from doing that many times with Kindle books. This is not to say that I dislike my Kindle, on the contrary, I love it a lot. But for some books, the real deal is just better for me.

>96 ronincats: So far, this particular article is still on the tor.com website here.

>101 ronincats: I bought Raising Steam at the end of last year and still haven't read it. I've found the last few Pratchett books to be slightly disappointing and I think that's putting me off a bit.

>116 ronincats: Oh yum, that looks lovely.

Well, I was basically out of commission yesterday. Awake for much of the night before with severe gut pain--gas--I ended up going to the doctor at 8 last night due to a temperature plus continuing soreness in the area. I'm now on two different antibiotics and a pain killer for my first serious bout of diverticulitis. Hopefully I will be able to get some reading done today.

Amber, I don't think my Easter dinner was to blame. The lamb was delicious--so tender.

Lucy, lamb, not ham! And definitely must rectify the large hole in your reading that is the Brust oeuvre.

QQ, I have to hang my head in shame. Ancillary Justice is the only one I've read, although I downloaded the two free nominated novellas.

Mary, exactly. You should be able to find it under that name on the website.

Heidi, Heather has found that particular article still online. See the link in her message right below yours. For me, the lending policy works because I usually don't lend out my books except to my sister--like many of us, I don't have a real life reading community around me. But it only works if the book is lendable in the first place--grrrr!

Heather, glad you were able to find it (the Walton blog article). Raising Steam started slowly for me, but by the last part of the book, it had moved above the last few books in story absorption or, as Pratchett would put it, narrativium.

Sorry to hear about your diverticulitis attack, Roni. My Mom has had problems with this over the years but she has been just fine for the last five years or so.

Your Easter lamb looks fantastic. Unfortunately I have a husband who dislikes lamb otherwise I would be all over that recipe. I have to save my lamb eating for restaurants as he can't even stand the smell of lamb cooking.

Since it was free for the Kindle, I picked up the first in Dana Stabenow's Sci-Fi series, the book is called Second Star and the series is Star Svensdotter.

>124 DeltaQueen50: oh argh another free Kindle book! I blame Richard.

>125 AuntieClio: Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Judy scored a fair hit on me with that book bullet, I shall have you to know.

>126 richardderus: Richard dear, I merely blame you for forcing enticing me to join the world of kindle books.

I guess there enough book bullets bouncing around for everyone to take a few hits! ;)

>123 ronincats: - Yikes on the diverticulitis, Roni! Take care of yourself and get all the rest you need.

>124 DeltaQueen50:, >125 AuntieClio: - I love Star Svensdotter - I've owned the paper copies forever. I also already had Second Star - sigh - and haven't yet gotten the second and third books. I like her mysteries, but I love Star.

Oh diverticulitis, oh dear. Hope you feel better soon.

Whoops, at least the ham and lamb rhyme!

Oh, ouch! Not fun. I hope you are feeling better!

I picked up the Star Svendotter eBook too! Plus one of the other Stabenows. (I have the other one already.)

I hope you will feel better soon, Roni!

Absolutely groegous photo of the lamb. Salivating like crazy. Thanks for the advice on lending Kindle books. I'll be sure to check that out.

Sending healing *whammies* for the diverticulitis. Hoping you are fast on the road to recovery.

>123 ronincats: Oh Roni - sorry to hear you weren't well. I hope you feel better soon!

Hi Roni -- sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. Hope it gets better soon and that you pamper yourself in the meantime.

Roni, I hope you're feeling better. Diverticulitis sounds like no fun at all!

Hope you're feeling better already, and got lots of reading done.

>130 jjmcgaffey: Glad to hear that you enjoy Star Svensdottor, it was a freebie so I can't complain either way but it's nice knowing someone likes it. :)

Thank you, Judy, Stephanie, Richard, Lori, Jenn, Lucy, Mary, Connie, Marianne, Heather, Reba, Julia, and Nina, for visiting. I'm doing much better but the effects of two strong antibiotics on my system is keeping me pretty quiet. I am doing some reading in bed, and we actually walked the two blocks to the library today to pick up a couple of books that had come in, but today was pretty much blown by my decision to take one of the prescribed painkiller pills when I was awakened by discomfort last night, and ended up sleeping late and feeling woozy most of the day. No more of that.

I did pick up the Sven Svensdottor book for my Kindle.
Also found the e-mail message I missed at the beginning of March which had my February ER book attached, so will now put that on my Kindle. It was The Normans.



Book #48 Brothers In Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold (338 pp.)

Comfort reading has been the order of the day, and so I read the next book in the Vorkosigan series for the group read. Miles is on or above Earth for the whole of this book, with issues of accounting (getting paid) and Komarran insurgency complicate his life greatly. And an important new character is introduced. More great Miles, but not the place to start. Still, a very important book, directly leading into the next book which is perhaps the most important of the whole series.

Currently reading Faro's Daughter for Liz's Heyer read of the month, and The Warlock's Curse for bookclub next Tuesday. Oh, what did I bring home from the library? The Bone People, which from what I hear is NOT light reading and so may or may not get read this time, and Eight Milliion Gods . Oh, and one of the Sir John Fielding mysteries from the 25¢ table, The Price of Murder.

Sorry to read that you've been fighting the wars, Roni. Hope you mend well.

>140 ronincats: "Comfort reading has been the order of the day" The positive effects of comfort reading should never be underestimated. I've just finished Cetaganda and am excited again about reading through the rest of this series. I am a little way behind you though - next up for me is Ethan of Athos.

I do hope you feel better soon.

I liked that Bruce Alexander series quite well, but somehow lost track of it around book 4. Has it kept up the quality?

Roni, I am very sorry to hear about your health troubles. I hope this clears up quickly for you.

I started reading Diplomatic Immunity this morning....so much fun!

Tui, I am mending, thank you. I think it's the meds more than the condition at this point!

I reread Ethan of Athos just a couple of years ago, so am not re-doing it at this time, Heather, but enjoy! Ethan's exposure to the incomparable Elli is a lot of fun--for us, at least.

Richard, I devoured the first 3 back when that's all there was, and read the next 2 or 3 a number of years later. Of those, they did seem to keep up the quality. This is a later one and I'll let you know when I read it. It's a series I've always wanted to get back too--any devotee of Georgette Heyer has run into the Bow Street Runners and the history in these is fascinating!

Heidi, I've pulled Memory off the shelf but have a couple of other books I need to get to first. Yes, enjoy!

We did drop by the pottery the other evening to pick up what I glazed last Saturday. I was trying some new glazes, with the exception of the teapot, and am not all that happy with them.

I **adore** the white-and-blue bowl! It's so wonderfully evocative of the summer sky.

The teapot's a bit...grim...and the flower bowl looks like you left some salsa verde in it. The others are charmingly familiarly blue/green, and that is a Good Thing.

It's all in the lighting, Richard dear!

Muuuuuuuuuuuch more like it, it's very Rivendell-looking. Ethereal, ever so slightly menacing. An object of power, don't you know.

I quite like the looks of that pitcher on the left, Roni. And the teapot is lovely also.

The Teapot of Power. Much like the Frying Pan of Doom in the Enchanted Forest, I suppose, and nearly as heavy.

Thank you, Julia!

I think I see what you mean - the new glazes look much more solid-colored, rather than the dappled shades of the earlier pieces. I do like the pitcher on the left, though. And the teapot looked nice in the big picture, but it's flat-out gorgeous in the closeup!

Heh. So where does the Triple-Chocolate After-Battle Cake go? In the black-and-brown pot?

Ouch. I think I just got hit by an old book bullet - I need to go read that story again! I do love the Enchanted Forest.

>147 ronincats: Roni is the teapot suitable djinn keeping?

The no caffeine piece of your recovery has to be very difficult - I've stopped caffeine here and there and it is a painful process!

Hooray for comfort reading!

>145 ronincats: The glazes look as nice as usual (though I agree that in >147 ronincats: the teapot looks even nicer) except for the green glaze in the flower dish, which seems to have puddled somewhat.

Feeling better yet? More comfort reading prescribed, I believe.

I love the tea pot in both lights.

Well, I love the flower dish! It's perfect for serving nuts or other small stuff. And I don't mind the green glazing at all!

I've been decaffeinated for over 20 years now for health reasons. The first month was difficult. Didn't know better, so went cold turkey. NOT the way to go about it if possible. Never want to go through that again, so have remained resolutely caffeine free ever since. Hang in there. After a while, even a small amount of coffee will have you flying!

The Teapot of Power. heh

Love the pitcher too!

Jenn, the Enchanted Forest is always fun!

Stephanie, the teapot would be perfect for Djinn keeping if you seal the spout--it's quite heavy-duty.

Lucy, we used to be mostly decaf pre-Keurig, but Costco doesn't carry the decaf cups, so have fallen back into the caffeinated camp. It's not been too bad--no, who am I kidding!

Nina, I am finally feeling better today. Thank you!

Thank you, Reba. There's going to be a craft show Saturday, May 10, at the corner of La Mesa Blvd. and Allison in La Mesa, and that teapot, among other things will be sitting on my table! 10 to 5.

Thank you, Connie. It's a crackle glaze puddled on the white.

Marianne, I can't drink more than two cups of caffeinated coffee a day or after 3 in the afternoon. I learned that in grad school where I started having the jitters big time around noon--we were in the habit of drinking coffee all day there.

Mary, here's the last piece, which I brought home today. I had to trim the bottom after it came out of the kiln so left it until today.

>159 ronincats: Gorgeous! My two (current) favourite colours - teal & turquoise, paired with ivory.

Oh, Roni, your pottery just gets more and more lovely! I know you've probably talked about this before, so I apologize for my atrocious memory, but do you sell your pottery ever?

>123 ronincats:: I've never had diverticulitis and hope I never do have it. I understand that it is painful and that the best "cure" is no food for several days. I'm glad you got some relief, Roni. I mostly forgot what I was going to comment on as I've taken in this thread in one big gulp! Speaking of gulps, I'm not sure about the lamb (sort of my same feeling about venison; just can't eat those sweet-looking creatures), but that raisin saucy thing looks delicious! And, of course, your jewelry and pottery is gorgeous as are the Carlsbad flowers in your thread topper.

What I really wanted to comment on was the sci-fi discussion. I favorited the post where you summarized all the reasons as to why I should like this genre. I will attempt it one of these days, I promise!

>159 ronincats: Ooo! I do love the blue with white. Immediately satisfying.

>159 ronincats: I'll have to see what's going on that day -- maybe we'll stop by.

>145 ronincats: & >156 connie53: I like the leafy bowl too!

My apologies to the flower dish; I did not mean to denigrate it, merely to say that the glaze on it is a different effect. Dappled.

:0D

PS - this last bowl looks similar to one in the group photo. Are they a set (or even the same piece. Hard to tell sometimes - the teapot looks so different, for example)?

>160 humouress: Thanks, Nina.

>161 scaifea: Amber, I do sell them, but I haven't tried shipping them at all. Pretty heavy means high postage cost.

>162 Donna828: Donna, it's nice to see you here. I "Hope" to see you here more often, but given all those grandkids (and those great pictures on your thread) I can see why you don't have more time for LT. I'm glad that discussion resonated with you--I think Jo Walton has something there.

>163 richardderus: Ah, yes, those colors...

>164 RebaRelishesReading: Love to see you if you are out and around.

>165 lyzard: Thanks, Liz. You see I still haven't written up Faro's Daughter despite finishing it three days ago.

>166 humouress: Nina, I didn't think you meant anything negative by it! The crackle glaze is very different from the other glazes I've used, you are right, and I just splashed it in. The bowl in #159 is very similar to the other--it has the same shape and same white glaze underneath. You just can't tell size when there is nothing to scale it with, so here's both bowls together.


Today was the first day I've woken up with no discomfort, so we went to the bead show to pick up some seed beads and chain, which I got although one of the seed bead vendors I wanted wasn't there. But afterwards, my husband wanted to go to Fashion Valley Mall, and there we ended up spending money, having some Haagen-Das ice cream, and doing a lot of walking. We stopped for supper on the way home, but I am exhausted! I did get 6 bubble baths for the price of 3, a couple of tops, and the DH splurged on some Ray-Ban sunglasses. My biggest issue now will be staying awake until my usual bedtime.

Shipping! I hadn't thought of that. Makes sense, though...

I'm so glad you are feeling better!!!!!

Wonderful day for being out and about yesterday. We went to Costco (hot dog for lunch) and then to the farmer's market. Weather was just about perfect.

So glad to hear you're starting to feel better Roni! I also like the effect of the white glaze on the two bowls above.

Amber, yes, jewelry and fabric items are much simpler and cheaper to ship!

Indeed it was, Reba. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be just plain hot. Upper 80s indeed!

Thank you, Heather.

Well, I'm three books behind here.



Book #49 Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer (304 pp.)

Keep in mind that the worst Heyer romance is better than 95% of all the other romances out there. That said, this is one of my least favorite of her Regencies. It is a farcical comedy of manners in which we see many elements that later in her writing career Heyer handles much more deftly and smoothly. Ravenscar is much like Rule in Regency Buck--an alpha male of such perfection, except for his atrocious manners, that one cannot identify with him enough to see the attraction. Deb (and why here is everyone referring to her by not only her first name, but a familiar version of it, when everywhere else it would be Miss Grantham? Either she is still a lady by birth, or she has "ruined" herself and Ravenscar would not even consider a liaison.) is too high-spirited for me--the extremes she goes to to avenge Ravenscar's initial opinion of her seem outré and disproportionate. Heyer's side characters, however, already show her skill at creating interesting people. It's a battle royale of wits, best not taken too seriously and simply enjoyed for the farce it is.

Book #50 The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownworth (210 pp.)

This was an e-book for Early Reviewers.

This was an interesting book on how Viking invaders became the Normans and then fanned out from Normandy into Britain, southern Italy, Sicily and even Antioch. The author follows different strands of the Norman families, but especially the Hautevilles in Italy and Sicily. It was easy reading--almost too easy, it felt like history-light. And when I looked at the page count, I could see why! The author focuses on the military engagements and politicking, not on the personal lives--except then at the end of a chapter, he'll comment on the size of one king's harem or the number of illegitimate children he had, for example, leaving one curious and unsatisfied. This could have been so much richer. It makes me want to go to some of the books in the bibliography and get the full story instead of reading this book.

Book #51 The Warlock's Curse by M. K. Hobson (398 pp.)

This author created a very interesting alternate history of the US in the late 1800s in her first two books, The Native Star and The Hidden Goddess, where magic is incorporated into historical detail. This book takes place some 40 years later in 1910 in that same world.

First of all, this book ends in the middle of the story with no closure. That is frustrating, and it was unexpected as the author had created closure for her earlier books. Secondly, the book seemed divided into two halves, with the first being fairly rational and interesting and the second devolving into over-the-top horror. And I did not like the big reveal at the end at all. I may still read the sequel just to find out what is really going on here, and it may integrate back into the first part of the book to improve my rating. But I really do not like horror for horror's sake, which is what this felt like.

Well Roni, you never disappoint. Lots of great readings and beautiful crafts. One stop shopping here on your thread. ;)

Oh dear, History-lite...ick...just not what one hopes for unless it's clearly labeled and sold as such. Sorry for that mild disappointment.

>167 ronincats: Those bowls are lovely! They definitely make one think of the summer sky....something I am still dreaming of here in Maine!

I am glad you are starting to feel better!

>175 jolerie: Valerie, it's so nice to have you back!

>176 richardderus: Perhaps I should have known, Richard. Researching the author after him, he does these history podcasts, and one of the reviewers suggested his chapters tended to reflect this.

>Heidi. Thank you. It was over 90 here today--crazy for April. I'd gladly send you 15 degrees.

I'm feeling much better, thank you all. I've been pretty lazy today--reread some Nina Kiriki Hoffman as I've been wanting to do.



Book #52 A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (353 pp.)

I've been itching for a Nina Kiriki Hoffman read for over a week now. Hoffman writes these completely unique fantasies that are unlike anyone else's (well, doh, that's what I just said, right?). They dig into your gut and yet they tend to be beautiful. My first Hoffman was her novella The Skeleton Key, which you can find online if you search for it--much darker than most of her stuff but still...life-affirming, I would say, which is surprising considering the narrator is dead. This book is about the ordinary one in the family, the one who didn't develop special powers as her siblings did, and what happens when finally her power emerges--and it isn't a positive one. But it's more about the person than the power, really. And the good thing is that I have the sequel, unread, in my TBR pile and now I will read it and get another BOTS (Book Off The Shelf) for the year.

I'm not familiar with most of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work, Roni, but she contributed one of the stories to the werewolf anthology I just read - a story of sex and gender. Is this The Skeleton Key that was the basis for the movie of that name?

What a lovely group of reviews. Between that and the pottery, you've been busy!

>178 ronincats: - Another BB! For some reason, her name always catches my eye, but I haven't had much opportunity to read her. I'll have a search for The Skeleton Key; thanks for the tip.

Like Donna, you have too much going on for me to take it in even if I sit a long time.
I'm relieved that you are feeling relieved. I do hope that was a one-timer.
Lots of good reading! I won't give you any argument about Faro's Daughter. I've favorited the Jo Walton remarks, and they seem spot on to me.
The pottery. I could so easily live with that teapot of power and either of the bowls in 167. Maybe I'd need them both. You keep on keeping on!!!

Roni, I am still relatively new to the Heyer oeuvre so I appreciate your review of Faro's Daughter. There are so many Heyers that it's hard to know which ones deliver the most "bang for the buck", so to speak. Now I know to let that one go and pursue all the other wonderful Heyers I haven't read yet.

The bowls are lovely. That white glaze is very striking, without or without the color accents.

Too bad the history of the Norman's isn't any better.... I would be interested in reading about them.

Thanks for the review Roni! Very intriguing and I'm also one who hasn't heard of this author before. Now I'll be on the lookout.

>179 lyzard: Did you like her story, Liz? No, the movie by the same name is completely unrelated to Hoffman's The Skeleton Key. Btw, she was nominated for a Nebula award in 1995 for it.

Thank you, Marianne.

>181 humouress: Nina, did you see the picture in #167 of the two bowls together, in response to your earlier comment? Try Hoffman--good starting points are The Thread that Binds the Bones, the one above, or A Red Heart of Memories. The others tend to be "sort of" sequels to those. And I can't recommend Catalyst--it is just plain weird.

>182 LizzieD: Thanks so much, Peggy!

>183 rosalita: Glad to be of help, Julia, and thank you for your kind words about the bowls.

>184 sibylline: The books in his bibliography sound much more interesting than his, Lucy. It wasn't bad, just...surface.

>185 jolerie: You go, Valerie!!

So I've been playing around and made a prototype of a design I saw online...

What do you think? Should I make a few of these for my wares, or move on?

>186 ronincats: Ooh, I like that!

Book #53 Fall of Light by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (307 pp.)

This story is about the oldest sister of the protagonist in A Fistful of Sky. Okay, but not nearly as interesting or original as the first. But don't let this put you off the ones I recommended above!

>186 ronincats: I did, although it was rather freaky (female human turns into male predator; the sexual consequences are examined).

I like that design, Roni, but in that photo the inserts look rather like eyeballs to me! :)

Huh. I'd never read Skeleton Key - I like it. And I don't find it that much darker than her other stuff - OK, there's a (gruesome) murder, but it's very much skimmed over. The real horror focuses on that kind of thing - this one focuses past it. I've read part of one by her...I can't even remember whether it was a short story (in a collection) or a novel, but that one struck me as real horror. I didn't finish it. Something about lizardmen and a group of armed men going somewhere - high fantasy (rather than her usual contemporary fantasy) but with a really nasty twist. Which I have eliminated from my mind.

I agree with you completely on A Fistful of Sky and Fall of Light - the first is great, the second is only OK.

How big is the pearl cross? It looks nice, but it's hard to judge size without anything for comparison. It could be anything from very delicate to really chunky - I'd like it better on the small side. But it does look interesting - and it would probably lend itself to some really nice color combinations, like the trees.

>187 foggidawn: Foggi, you snuck in on me! Hi!

>189 lyzard: Unfortunately she seems to be preoccupied with sex in her more recent books (Catalyst and the one above), which has moved her from a must-buy author to a wait-and-see author for me for her new books. She's also started a kids' series--the first was okay but not great.

Hmm, the pearls didn't photograph well, I guess.

>190 jjmcgaffey: Jenn, I read it in one of the SF mags that year (1995) and it really stood out. The one you describe is probably her first book, a collaboration with Tad Williams called Child of an Ancient City. I haven't read it or her Star Trek book.

I'm glad we have our usual meeting of the minds on these two Hoffman books.

The pendant is exactly 2" from the top of the wire loop to the bottom. Yes, there could be LOTS of color combos.

I like the cross although I can't see myself wearing it. I can think of many people I know who would, however.

Hi Roni!!! Lots to say after my catch up with your thread, so let's see if I can remember it all (haha)... I should have been taking notes!

Your Easter lamb dish looks delish! I've never attempted eating lamb outside of a gyro, but I would most assuredly try that! Yum!

So sorry about your episode with the diverticulitis. It sounds awful. :( Hang in there with the caffeine. I'm with Marianne...it gets easier. Promise. Never easy (I still want some & slip up from time to time like any good addict lol), but easier...

I love your pottery. You are way too hard on yourself. You are so talented! You have more talent in your pinky fingernail than I do in my entire body!! Now hush up, Not-the-Mama. Oh, and if you ever do sell & ship, count me in. :) Love you, Roni!

Almost forgot, I like the pearl pendant... Can you take a picture next to an object for size reference?

>186 ronincats: It's a lovely design, though I'd recommend a green-wire one, and possibly finding some grey pearls? I like the sinuous form of the crossing wires a lot. I like almost all things pearl, too. Is it possible to use the attaching wire in copper and the shaping wire in green?

More visitors! Such fun, I love visitors.

Reba, I also wouldn't wear it myself, but I was thinking about making one in gold wire with cream pearls for my mom for Mother's Day. And also thought there might be customers interested.

Tina, I just came from your thread! Such lovely anniversary pictures. Sorry, I just compare myself to the others at the pottery studio and know how unoriginal I am--but I do copy well.

Richard, of course it's possible!

I have neglected to mention that I won another ER book this month, even though I am about 4 or 5 reviews behind. It is Getting Schooled: The Reeducation of an American Teacher by Garret Keizer. Did anyone get The Crossword Century? That's the other one I had requested.

I also have ordered 4 (FOUR) books from PaperBackSwap this month. My average is about one a month. I'll report on them as they come in--they are all in the mail now.

Okay, off to work on my end-of-the-month stats. Humidity is still at 5% (Oh, my aching sinuses) and we were the hottest spot in the nation today in the 90s. It's 88 at nearly 6:00 now.

But at 5% humidity...how can you even tell what temperature it is?

>186 ronincats: I'm a clueless bumbler guy, Roni, but I like that one, too.

5% humidity? Never seen the like in our part of the world. Of course, we're right by a big lake.

Got my little weather station, Richard, right by my computer. ;-)

But Joe--we're right by a big ocean! This happens when high pressure sits over the inland deserts and compresses all that hot air, sending it over the mountains and down to the coast. In this Santa Ana condition, right on the coast is hotter than the deserts because the compression heats the air, and the ocean breeze is only helpful right on the beach because it is forced offshore. And who's a clueless bumbler guy? Not you, for sure!

Okay, April stats.

Books read: 17 Pages read: 5222
Longest book: 446 pages
Shortest book: 197 pages
Average book: 307 pages

New to me books: 13
New to me authors: 5
Re-reads: 4

Library books: 4
Kindle books: 4
Books off the shelf: 3
New books: 2 paper, 3 Kindle

Genre:
science fiction: 4
fantasy: 5
Children's fantasy: 3
nonfiction: 3
romance: 2

Author gender:
female: 12
male: 5

YTD: 53 books, 16,502 pages
38 new reads, 15 rereads
11 library books, 9 books off the shelf

17 books!?!? That's so awesome and I'm so jealous..haha!

Yep, it's hot and dry out there for sure. I just came back from getting some help at the Apple store and plan to stay inside until this evening. We did eat outside in the Gas Lamp last night and that was quite pleasant but, mostly, I can't wait for the cool-down they say is coming.

The pearl in wire are very elegant, though I didn't see it for a cross straight away; so it would work for other shapes, too, I think. I also didn't see the eyeballs :0) though I suppose I see how that would seem.

Very nice stats, Roni.

Okay, San Diego beat its record high for May 1 by FIFTEEN degrees today, with a high of 96. Humidity was 5% again, but now, at 9:40 at night, the temp has dropped to 77 and the humidity risen to 11%. Tomorrow is supposed to be better; next week is supposed to be normal.

Valerie, if I had two little monkeys to chase around, there is no way I could have read that many, for sure.

Reba, I'm waiting too.

Thanks, Nina and Lucy.



Book #54 The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper (381 pp.)

This is the first book of a purported series about the Clockwork Empire. Steampunk. Secret societies, mechanicals, Queen Victoria, and zombie plagues. No supernaturals, though. So, it's okay. But little of the charm that imbues the Gail Carriger books throughout, and very little of true originality. If you love all things steampunk, it is harmless and entertaining. But there is nothing to make it a book you want to devote your precious time to. I'll not be continuing with the series.

And I've Pearl-ruled the free Kindle book Her Wicked Ways by Darcy Burke after 15 pages. A supposed Regency romance, the opening situation is SO ridiculous and unrealistic that I can't wast any more time on it.

Oh, my, 5% humidity! That's worse than Colorado, which is dry as a bone and painful on the nasal passages, even with a humidifier going 24/7 in my bedroom. I've had more bloody noses in the past month or so than I had in my entire life before! (Hint: a tiny dab of Vaseline in each nostril helps.) I sure hope things get better soon!

Also, come see the pretty lilac bouquet you won on my new thread!

>186 ronincats: Love that! I can see it either as a pin or a pendant.

>203 ronincats: The beauty of weather in Southern California is how fast it can change. In the 90s (in my neck of the woods - San Pedro) today, 81 tomorrow and 66 on Monday. Come on on shore flow and its beautiful marine layer ;)

Mary, yes, bloody noses are the order of the day this week. Tomorrow is supposed to be better (of course, today was supposed to be better as well). I might believe them--the humidity has crept up to 11%. And the lilacs are beautiful!!

Marianne, thank you.

Jeff, I'm rooting for that onshore flow and our May gray as well. Our forecast looks just like yours.

Three new books came into the house today to stay, and two more from the library. From PaperBackSwap came the third volume of the Farsala Trilogy, a YA fantasy series, and that completes the set. Now I have to make time to read it (all three books). From Tor/Forge came a beautiful duo by Marie Brennan, highly recommended by Kriti and the result of a contest on her blog: A Natural History of Dragons in trade paperback and The Tropic of Serpents in hardback. From the library came a copy of Cinder after over 4 months on the hold list, and an impulse grab titled Fortune's Pawn, the first in a science fiction series by Rachel Bach. It could be really good, or another romance masquerading as science fiction. LT's rating is 3.8 so it should at least be worth reading.

The weather here (San Jose) has been positively ... hot. I don't like it.

Also, there's a new thread for book swapping: 75ers book swap

Roni - the 90% + humidity permanent around here saps my energy no end but under 10% would probably equally not be what I would like. We're never happy are we?

Still have a wonderful weekend in that warm dry air.

Stats on reading will be up soon, promise.

It was 84 at 1:00 p.m. today as compared to 95 yesterday. I think "better" may have arrived.

Stopping by with happy weekend wishes for you Roni. I hope you are feeling better. I continue to marvel at the pottery pieces you produce.

>186 ronincats: - LOVE that pendant! Did you use an antique type of wire? Sorry if you have already mentioned the type of wire - my mouse appears to be on fast scroll speed and I may have zipped past a response. I think the pendant has a nice, old world/last century look to it that really appeals to me.

I'll check that out, Stephanie, but I love the preprinted labels and convenience of PaperBackSwap!

Without the humidity, Paul, it cools down at night so you can sleep and that is good!

Reba, it was still 92 here at that time (about 4 miles further inland from the coast for those unfamiliar with our geography) but the humidity had risen to 12%. Now, at 7 p.m. it's 84 and 40% humidity--Woo hoo!!

Hi. Lori. Thank you. For that pendant I used a charcoal color aluminum wire, 18 gauge.

So today was frustrating at the pottery. I had thrown stuff last week that I needed to trim so it could dry for first firing. The first two pieces I put on the wheel flew off, damaging them, and I had a hell of a hard time with the teapot lid--I only got one piece done the whole time.

The Hidden Queen showed up in the mail from PBS today. Unfortunately I didn't notate who had inspired me to get it.

I'm glad to hear the weather is improving.

Sorry pottery was frustrating. I'm sure it must be therapeutic when it is going well.

Sheeesh. We've had the 93°, but I can't begin to imagine 5% humidity. We're always sopping. I will gently point out that also has its drawbacks.
Sorry about the frustrating pottery day.

I hope the weather continues to improve Roni. Nosebleeds are NO fun!

Boo for pottery setbacks and nosebleeds. I hope the dry heat weather pattern has relented a bit, or will soon. As much as I decry our excessive (to me) humidity of an Iowa summer, I don't think 5% humidity would be much fun, either.

Hi Roni, just getting caught up here and of course, I took book bullet regarding Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

Sorry to hear about the weather and low humidity, Roni. I will be interested in your thoughts on the Marie Brennan books.

Phew! After a mammoth catch up session, I'm up to date! Lovely crafts as always - I'm loving the pearl pendant and pottery all as lovely as ever. I'm really inspired to go out and hunt down the Jo Walton you mentioned in your last thread, but not sure if it's out here yet. It's firmly on the old Wishlist for some unspecified date in the future, anyway! Lucy is right; there's so few books about the joys of SF! Let's try and spread the word! I love the explanation of why that sometimes doesn't work out though - all the stuff about world building etc. It's true that that is one of the things I really like about SF; joining the dots in my mind to build up a picture of the society from little clues dropped here and there. I guess there is less of that in literary fiction, but surely you do the same things when it comes to insights into people's characters and motivations? It seemed like an easily transferrable skill to me.
I'm behind on my reviews, so haven't posted about it yet on my thread, but just to say I LOVED my introduction to Georgette Heyer, The Grand Sophy. I had a couple of little issues with it I would like your take on, but they'll have to wait for the review. Overall though, a mighty fine BB, thanks Roni!
Hope your weather continues to improve, although I have nothing but envy for your uninterrupted sunshine! For people mainly used to the Bristish climate, weather that is too hot is almost hard to conceive of, but I can remember from my summers in Budapest how oppressive such heat can be. Humidity is a bit of a closed book to me though - so 40% humidity is good? Well, you live and learn!; )

>60 ronincats: I would be the LTer who received the pendant on the right. My aunt is going to love it. Something that was not obvious to me looking at the pictures of these pendants, they are very sturdy. They look so delicate, I did not expect that.

>91 ronincats: Thought-provoking article about Science Fiction. Not my usual genre, but I've been branching out now that I am finding folks like you with pretty similar reading tastes who read SF & fantasy.

>123 ronincats: Diverticulitis is really nasty stuff. And having to give up wine AND caffeine on top of dealing with that is just ... cruel.

I am glad that you are feeling better.

Your pottery is beautiful. >195 ronincats:, I am certain that you bring your own talents to bear on whatever you make. I doubt very much that you are making exact copies, you are too much of an artist not to tweak things here and there.

>186 ronincats: I think the cross has definite possibilities.

Whew! Sort of caught up.

Too dry, can't really imagine that as humidity is a feature of the eastern section of the USA in the non-winter months. I think of Vermont really as almost a northern rainforest. So wet here right now that the moss is glowing an almost luminescent green, especially as there is nothing else yet in the woods except brown and the tired green of the hemlocks and pines - and those are mostly twenty feet above where the moss is..... At any rate, I hope it improves for you. I hate nosebleeds!

Hi, Nina, Peggy, Tina, Julia, and Heather. Weather was back to normal today--high of 70 with humidity in the 60's. Of course, now we have rain predicted for tomorrow, and a headache descended this afternoon as the low pressure moved in. Can't win for losing sometimes. :-) Meds and a nap have the headache under control.

Julia, growing up in Kansas I know exactly what you mean. It's the 100 degree temps with the humidity in the 90s--makes my face break out every time. Even with the broken nasal capillaries, the low humidity is much better in that much heat.

Judy, happy to have hit you with that bullet. I think NKH is vastly under-known.

Hannah, I'm glad to see you back on LT--I know you've been so busy in RL. Yay on The Grand Sophy! We Americans have been reading all our lives how the climate of the British Isles creates beautiful complexions--neither too not nor too cold, too humid nor too dry.

MD, good to see you here! And with such lovely comments all around--come back soon! ;-)

Lucy, San Diego is desert, just like Arizona. It's just that being next to a huge cold ocean cools us down and keeps us around 60% humidity 98% of the time.

So, before the headache, I finished a necklace and made another cross, with gold wire and cream pearls this time. The show is Saturday so I'm finally starting to move.


And both before and after the headache,



Book #55 Eight Million Gods by Wen Spencer (355 pp.)

About 40 or 50 pages in, I considered Pearl-ruling this book. I'm glad I didn't. What I was afraid would turn out to be teen angst turned out to be a fair portrait of the combination of OCD and being a Sensitive, and the interaction with Japanese gods and culture was fascinating.

ETA Summerland arrived today from PBS.

I love the gold and cream cross. Really beautiful.

+1 for Summerland

I've had A Fistful of Sky on Mount TBR for years, but I'll bump it up a notch.

Thank you, Connie. I love your beautiful pictures on your thread.

Jeff, it's all your fault.

Morphy, I'd be very interested in your take.

Here's this morning's work:


And I started Cinder this morning.

And this afternoon's work:

>226 ronincats: Yay! For starting Cinder. I hope you like it as much as I did. I am currently reading Cress which is the third book in the series. It's super fun.

Love both the blue necklaces you've shared with us recently. Beautiful color on those.

I wish we could get some of your weather over here. I would gladly suffer the low humidity!

I really like the flat centerpiece on the blue necklace.

>222 ronincats: I really like that whole set. Blue is just my favourite colour. Wonderful creations, Roni!

>222 ronincats: Oh, blue is my favorite color, and I love that necklace!
Also, I can't wait to hear what you think of Summerland!

We're the opposite of you weather-wise. It's pouring rain here and I saw snowflakes **shudder** when I first got up this morning. With 200% snowpack still in the mountains, the spring run off is going to be scary this year and I live far too close to a creek ..... Wish I could send you some water!

I've seen so many people enjoying Cinder that I'm thinking of adding it to my list, too. I'll be interested to know what you think.

Heidi, Morphy, Valerie, and Amber, thank you for the blue necklace love.

Heidi and Janet, our potential rain didn't come through. Definitely wish the two of you could send us some water! And below is my Cinder review.



Book #56 Cinder by Marissa Meyer (390 pp.)

After waiting over 5 months on the hold list at the library, I read this in one day. It is eminently readable YA science fiction, with well-drawn characters that capture your affections (or not, as the case may be). Although the "bad" characters tend to be one-dimensional, they are gloriously nasty. My one caveat is that most of the plot points are clearly telegraphed quite early in the story--but this is YA and the story is so very readable, I can forgive it. Besides, the fairy tale framework fills in a lot of the plot points on its own.

Cinder ends at a pause point in the story, and now I have to decide whether to go straight on to Scarlet and Cress or to pace myself so as to be wrapping them up about the time Winter comes out. Evidently there is no waiting list for Scarlet at the library, amazingly enough.

So, two more books just arrived by mail. One is from PaperBackSwap, Super Finishing Techniques for Crocheters, and the other is a lovely hardback of Rumer Godden's China Court from equally lovely Lucy.

>233 ronincats: Glad you had a good time with Cinder, Roni. I couldn't wait, and found the next two equally readable.

Morning Roni!! I really like the necklaces, especially the blue ones. We're hoping to make it to the craft show but we've been given tickets to take the grandkids to see Shreck at Junior Theater in the afternoon so I'm not sure. Hope to see you, and your beautiful things, though.

I've been on the fence with Cinder for the longest time, but your review might just be enough to tip me over and give it a try at some point. Thanks Roni!

>222 ronincats: Hope the headache has gone, at least. I love the blue of those crystals, and I must say the gold and cream looks even more elegant than the other pearls.

>226 ronincats: ... and more nice colours, especially on the stones ...

>227 ronincats: ... and those pinks are so pretty and summery.

>233 ronincats: Not quite a BB because I've got too much on my plate / TBR for it at the moment, but I will keep an eye out for Cinder.

I really enjoyed Cinder and have plans to read Scarlet next month. Then toward the end of the year I will try to fit Cress in so that I will be ready for "Winter" in 2015.

The gold and cream cross is very pretty, really caught my eye. And I like the long blue necklace - with the big discs at the bottom. I don't wear blue, but I like the design of the necklace.

Lovely? Moi?! Thank you!!

Sorry to read that you have been suffering with a headache, Roni. Love you most recent beading projects and, like Valerie, I have been on the fence about Cinder. I have now added it to my 'future reading list' with the library.

Joe, I'll definitely go on with the series, but I think I might wait a bit to go on to the next. I have so many lined up already, and I can pace my way.

Reba, grandkids definitely have priority, but I would love to see you at the craft show.

Valerie, I did really enjoy Cinder, so I hope you will give it a try.

Nina, headache is gone! Thank you for your good wishes and necklace love.

Judy, yes, my pacing will be similar.

Don't wear blue, Lucy??? I live in denim! I need to make myself a blue on blue necklace.

Lori, hope you do try Cinder.

Today was rather a lost day. As was yesterday, actually. Our renters moved out at the end of last month and my husband wanted to do some rather extensive rehab--it's an elderly 30s cottage behind us on the alley. It's almost done but we spent most of yesterday shopping for curtains and blinds and the like, and today I had a retired teachers' luncheon from 11 to 2, and was awake from 3 to 5 in the morning, so after a big lunch wasn't too lively when I got home. I did finish the clasp on the pink necklace and made earring wires for the glass earrings I made to match pendants in March.


I started A Natural History of Dragons last night, and hope to get back to it shortly.

Headaches seem to be going around at this end (though not me, thankfully); maybe it's the weather?

I seem to have a thing for glass jewellery, and I love the colour combinations of this batch. I think I missed them the first time around; maybe I had to jump or skim a thread to catch up.

The upper row are earrings? If so how do you get them in your ears?

They weren't so up close and personal in a previous picture, Nina. Yes, changing pressure fronts are definitely a headache trigger for me.

Connie, that picture is before I added the earring wires last night. It would be quite a trick to wear them as they are in the picture, wouldn't it?

We've been out back in the rental all day, putting up window coverings and shower curtain and waiting for people to show up for their appointments. The last one hasn't shown and now, after I rest up a bit, I have to get everything in order for the craft show tomorrow.

>244 ronincats: No, I thought so too, that's why I wondered how it would work. ;-))

Roni, love all your jewelry. When you get time to take a breath, be sure to check your PM.

Hello Roni! trying to catch up on all of your threads via a huge amount of skimming. Love, LOVE all of your pottery especially the green glazed peices. The bead work is lovely. You make me want to display on own wares over on my thread, however they are nowhere near a nice as yours! Hope you are well.

xoxo

Connie, ;-)))

Hey, Stephanie, I did and I'll package that book up for you.

Nicole, lovely to see you. Sorry about all the work to catch up, but at least you did before I start the NEXT thread! Oh, please post some of your work--I'd love to see it.

Richard! A Richard sighting! I hope your poor hands are getting better by the day!

Come to the new thread and hear all about the craft show today...