inge87's 14-in-14 Challenge, Chapter 3: There Were Twa Sisters

The Cheeke Sisters (c.1650) by Anthony van Dyck

It's a new thread, which means a new month and a new song! "The Twa Sisters", or "The Two Sisters", is an old Northern European ballad, but the theme of sibling hatred is a universal one. As one might expect, this song has dozens of variants from both Britain and Scandinavia, but basic plot is that the elder sister is jealous of her younger's luck in love and pushes her into the water to drown.

There were two sisters sat in a bour;
Binnorie, O Binnorie

There came a knight to be their wooer.
By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie

He courted the eldest with glove and ring,
But he loed the youngest aboon a' thing.

He courted the eldest with broach and knife,
But he loed the youngest aboon his life.

The eldest she was vexed sair,
And sore envied her sister fair.

The eldest said to the youngest ane,
'Will ye go and see our father's ships come in?'

She's taen her by the lilly hand,
And led her down to the river strand.

The youngest stude upon a stane,
The eldest came and pushed her in.

Sometimes the younger sister's corpse becomes the source of a musical instrument that announces her fate at the end of the ballad, which is always an interesting plot device. There are some interesting facts about this ballad here.

And now for the YouTube videos:
A traditional version by Custer LeRue
A modern version by Clannad
An Old Norwegian language metal version by In Extremo
Another variant, "Cruel Sister", sung by Pentangle

Categories
1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920)
2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science
3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy
4. John Barleycorn Must Die: Food/Gardening
5. The Skye Boat Song: History
6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction
7. Lady Franklin's Dream: Mysteries
8. Fear a' Bhàta: Other Non-Fiction
9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 onward)
10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion
11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969)
12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel
13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy
14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy

Symbol Key
* = re-read
+ = owned and unread since before 2013 (Mt. TBR)
^ = foreign language book

1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) – COMPLETED 10/4

Of all the girls that are so smart
There's none like pretty Sally;
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.
_________________________________________________________________

1. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope* - 1894 (3)
2. So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne by John Keats+ - c.1818-1821 (3)
3. The Lost Estate (Le Grand Meaulnes) by Alain-Fournier - 1913 (2)
4. The Cardinal's Snuff-Box by Henry Harland* - 1900 (3)
5. Wanted—A Match-Maker by Paul Leicester Ford* - 1901 (3)
6. The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen by Elizabeth von Arnim - 1904 (3)
7. The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke by Rupert Brooke - 1915 (3)
8. English Poetry, 1550-1660 by Fred Inglis (ed.) - 1550-1660 (3)
9. The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories by L. M. Montgomery* - 1899-1934 (3)
10. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster* - 1908 (3)
11. Love Insurance by Earl Derr Biggers - 1914 (3)
12. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen+ - 1817 (3)

2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wode nu,
Sing cuccu!

Summer has come in,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!

________________________________________________________________

1. The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea by Callum Roberts (4)
2. All Natural*: A Skeptic's Quest for Health and Happiness in an Age of Ecological Anxiety by Nathanael Johnson (3)
3. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy (3)
4. Tambora: The Eruption that Changed the World by Gillen D'Arcy Wood (4)
5. The Kingdom of Rarities by Eric Dinerstein (4)
6. Roadside Geology of Texas by Robert A. Sheldon+ (3)
7. Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World by Todd McLeish (3)
8. The Sea around Us by Rachel Carson (3)
9. Hummingbirds of Texas, with their New Mexico and Arizona Ranges by Clifford E. Shackelford (3)
10. The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet by Kristin Ohlson (4)
11. Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait by Matt White (3)

3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy – COMPLETED 8/16

Her hair was long, her limbs were white,
And fair she was and free;
And in the wind she went as light
As leaf of linden-tree.

Beside the falls of Nimrodel,
By water clear and cool,
Her voice as falling silver fell
Into the shining pool.

Where now she wanders none can tell,
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.
_______________________________________________________________

1. The Death of King Arthur: A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage (3)
2. A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson+ (3)
3. Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison* (4)
4. The Paradise War by Stephen R. Lawhead (3)
5. Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer (3)
6. The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley (4)
7. Anata ni Hana o Sasagemashou, vol. 1 by Tomu Ohmi (3)
8. Anata ni Hana o Sasagemashou, vol. 2 by Tomu Ohmi (4)
9. Anata ni Hana o Sasagemashou, vol. 3 by Tomu Ohmi (3)
10. Anata ni Hana o Sasagemashou, vol. 4 by Tomu Ohmi (3)
11. Spell of Desire, Vol. 1 by Tomu Ohmi (4)
12. The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney (5)
13. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (5)
14. The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney (4)
15. Written in Red by Anne Bishop (4)
16. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (4)
17. The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith (3)
18. Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop (3)
19. Landline by Rainbow Rowell (4)
20. The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (4)
21. Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James (3)
22. Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley (4)

4. John Barleycorn Must Die: Food/Cooking

They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
And he's brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last
______________________________________________________________

1. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen (3)
2. The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart (3)
3. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (4)
4. Desert Terroir: Exploring the Unique Flavors and Sundry Places of the Borderlands by Gary Paul Nabhan (2)
5. The Land of the Five Flavors: A Cultural History of Chinese Cuisine by Thomas O. Höllmann (5)
6. Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop (3)
7. The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup, and One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest by Douglas Whynott (2)
8. Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon by Cindy Ott (4)
9. Carl Warner's Food Landscapes by Carl Warner (2)
10. The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz (4)

5. The Skye Boat Song: History - COMPLETED - 3/30

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.
_____________________________________________________________

1. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth by John Garth (5)
2. The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (3)
3. A Subaltern's War by Charles Edmonds (Charles Edmond Carrington) (4)
4. The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox (4)
5. The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria by John Kiser (2)
6. Erzähl es niemandem!: Die Liebesgeschichte meiner Eltern by Randi Crott & Lillian Crott Berthung^ (4)
7. Converting Bohemia: Force and Persuasion in the Catholic Reformation by Howard Louthan (3)
8. The Last Man in Russia: The Struggle to Save a Dying Nation by Oliver Bullough (5)
9. How the Reformation Happened by Hilaire Belloc+ (3)
10. The Extinction of the Ancient Hierarchy: An Account of the Death in Prison of the Eleven Bishops Honoured at Rome Amongst the Martyrs of the Elizabethan Persecution; Archbishop Heath of York, Bishops Tunstall, Bonner and Companions by G. E. Phillips (3)
11. The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century by David Reynolds (4)
12. Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S. Wells (3)
13. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56 by Anne Applebaum (4)
14. Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh (3)
15. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus by Oliver Bullough (4)
16. Passion and Resurrection: The Greek Catholic Church in Soviet Ukraine, 1939-1989 by Serge Keleher+ (4)
17. Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe by Simon Winder (4)
18. The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe by Andrew Wheatcroft (4)
19. Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley (5)
20. Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe by Adam Zamoyski (3)
21. The Oaken Heart by Margery Allingham (3)
22. Daphne Du Maurier and Her Sisters: The Hidden Lives of Piffy, Bird and Bing by Jane Dunn (3)
23. Historical Short Stories of Navarro County by Alva Taylor (ed.) (2)
24. Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910-1940 by Adrian Locke (3)
25. White Elephants on Campus: The Decline of the University Chapel in America, 1920-1960 by Margaret M. Grubiak (3)
26. The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945–1970 by Andrew Demshuk (4)
27. Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World by Abby Sallenger (3)
28. The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen (3)
29. The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam by G. W. Bowersock (3)
30. Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton (3)
31. 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline (3)
32. Cunegonde's Kidnapping: A Story of Religious Conflict in the Age of Enlightenment by Benjamin J. Kaplan (4)

6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction – COMPLETED 6/29

Two broken Tigers on fire in the night flicker their souls to the wind
We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin
It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun
At home it will almost be spring
The flames of the Tigers are lighting the road to Berlin

Ah, quickly we move through the ruins that bow to the ground
The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down
And all that I ever was able to see
The eyes of the city are opening now it's the end of the dream

_______________________________________________________

1. My Father's Glory by Marcel Pagnol (3)
2. My Mother's Castle by Marcel Pagnol (3)
3. Magnus by George Mackay Brown (3)
4. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer* (4)
5. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2)
6. Die letzte Begegnung+^ by Gertrud von le Fort (4)
7. Venetia by Georgette Heyer* (5)
8. Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown (2)
9. The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland+ (3)
10. Atemschaukel by Herta Müller^ (3)
11. The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth (4)
12. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier+ (3)
13. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer* (4)
14. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer* (4)
15. Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer* (3)
16. Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks (3)
17. Why Dukes Say I Do by Manda Collins (3)
18. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer (4)
19. Beyond Sing the Woods by Trygve Gulbranssen (3)
20. The Duchess Hunt by Jennifer Haymore (3)
21. The Rogue's Proposal by Jennifer Haymore (3)
22. Why Lords Lose Their Hearts by Manda Collins (3)
23. A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare (3)
24. Once upon a Winter's Eve by Tessa Dare (3)
25. Madeleine's Christmas Wish by Ella Quinn (4)

7. Lady Franklin's Lament: Mysteries - COMPLETED 5/6

In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin alone with his sailors do dwell

And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long-lost Franklin I would cross the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know on earth, that my Franklin do live.

_______________________________________________________

1. The Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Pötzsch (4)
2. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (3)
3. The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis (2)
4. The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer* (4)
5. A Not So Perfect Crime by Teresa Solana (3)
6. The Endless Knot by Wiliam L. Biersach (3)
7. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers (4)
8. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer* (4)
9. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers (5)
10. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers (4)
11. The Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstøl (4)
12. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (3)
13. Cover Her Face by P. D. James (3)
14. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers (3)
15. Deadline by Sandra Brown (4)
16. Scandal in Skibbereen by Sheila Connolly (3)
17. Hello, Darkness by Sandra Brown (3)
18. State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy (4)
19. Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh (3)
20. The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home (4)
21. Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham (2)
22. The Woman who Walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home (3)
23. A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh (2)
24. Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet (4)
25. A Question of Honor by Charles Todd (4)
26. An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd (3)
27. Why Earls Fall in Love by Manda Collins (3)
28. Strangled in Paris by Claude Izner (4)
29. The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal (3)
30. Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner (3)

8. Fear a' Bhàta: Other Non-Fiction – COMPLETED 6/29

Fear a' bhàta, na hóro eile
Fear a' bhàta, na hóro eile
Fear a' bhàta, na hóro eile
Mo shoraidh slàn leat 's gach àit' an déid thu

'S tric mi sealltainn on chnoc as àirde
Dh'fheuch am faic mi fear a' bhàta
An tig thu 'n-diugh na 'n tig thu màireach
'S mar tig thu idir gur truagh a tha mi

Oh my boatman, na hóro eile
Oh my boatman, na hóro eile
Oh my boatman, na hóro eile
My farewell to you wherever you go

I often look from the highest hill
that I might see, oh boatman
Will you come tonight, or will you come tomorrow
Oh sorry will I be if you do not come at all

______________________________________________________________

1. The Silence of St. Thomas: Three Essays by Josef Pieper (4)
2. Imperfect: An Improbable Life by Jim Abbott & Tim Brown (3)
3. Light on a Dark Horse: An Autobiography, 1901-1935 by Roy Campbell (3)
4. Kleine deutsche Versschule by Wolfgang Kayser^+ (3)
5. A Defense of Dignity: Creating Life, Destroying Life, and Protecting the Rights of Conscience by Christopher Kaczor (3)
6. The Hooligan's Return: A Memoir by Norman Manea (2)
7. The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory by Deborah Alun-Jones (4)
8. The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry (3)
9. Raising Henry: A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, and Discovery by Rachel Adams (3)
10. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease by Daniel Lieberman (4)
11. Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell (3)
12. Mittelalterliche Elfenbeinarbeiten: ausgewählte Werke aus den Beständen des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums by Renate Eikelmann (ed.)^+ (3)
13. There and Back Again: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Origins of The Hobbit by Mark Atherton (3)
14. The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures by Philip Mould (3)
15. Library Research Models: A Guide to Classification, Cataloging, and Computers by Thomas Mann (4)
16. Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia by Sigrid Rausing (3)
17. The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor: The Life of Christ Illuminated by Thomas A. Mathews (3)
18. Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (4)

9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 to Present) – COMPLETED 8/10

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I do not fear the time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?
______________________________________________________________

1. The Birds of the Air by Alice Thomas Ellis - 1980 (2)
2. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy* - 1984 (5)
3. Greenvoe by George Mackay Brown - 1972 (3)
4. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino - 1979 (4)
5. The Etruscan Smile by Velda Johnston - 1977 (3)
6. The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago - 1989 (4)
7. Cosmas, or the Love of God by Pierre de Calan+ - 1977 (4)
8. We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - 2013 (3)
9. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris - 2013 (4)
10. Ceremony of Innocence by Dorothy Cummings McLean - 2013 (4)
11. Kate's Progress by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles* - 2013 (4)
12. Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot by Kerstin Gier^ - 2004 (3)
13. Lügen, die von Herzen kommen by Kerstin Gier^ - 2002 (3)
14. Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - 2014 (4)
15. Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan - 2013 (4)
16. Mean Streak by Sandra Brown - 2014 (4)
17. The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya - 2011 (2)
18. Persuasion, Captain Wentworth, and Cracklin' Cornbread by Mary Jane Hathaway - 2014 (5)

10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion – COMPLETED 5/14

As it fell out upon a day,
Rich Dives he made a feast,
And he invited all his friends
And gentry of the best.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down,
And down at Dives’ door;
‘Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Bestow upon the poor!’—

‘Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my door;
No meat nor drink will I give thee,
Nor bestow upon the poor.’
_____________________________________________________________

1. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. R. Ellis Davidson+ (4)
2. Advent and Christmas with the Church Fathers by Marco Pappalardo (2)
3. The Belief of Catholics by Ronald Knox+ (3)
4. The Most Holy Eucharist: Our Passover and Our Living Bread by Fr. Thomas J. McGovern (3)
5. How to Make a Good Confession: A Pocket Guide to Reconciliation with God by John A. Kane (4)
6. Cranmer's Godly Order by Michael Davies (4)
7. A Bitter Trial: Evelyn Waugh and John Cardinal Heenan on the Liturgical Changes by Evelyn Waugh (4)
8. Meditations for Lent by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (3)
9. Excommunication and the Catholic Church by Edward Peters (3)
10. The Modern Rite: Collected Essays on the Reform of the Liturgy by Klaus Gamber+ (3)
11. Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs by Paul Koudounaris (5)
12. Sisters in Crisis Revisited: From Unraveling to Reform and Renewal by Ann Carey (3)
13. Der Sonntag: gestern, heute und immer by Romano Guardini+^ (3)
14. "Male and Female He Created Them": Essays On Marriage and the Family by Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez (3)
15. I Believe: The Nicene Creed by Pauline Baynes (ill.) (4)
16. Rose Among Thorns: Simple Advice for Renewing Your Spiritual Journey by St. Francis de Sales (3)
17. The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis (3)
18. Letter to My Sister by St. Aelred of Rievaulx+ (3)
19. La hermosa Señora: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe by Pat Mora^ (3)
20. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven—But Never Dreamed of Asking by Peter Kreeft+ (3)
21. Heaven and Earth in Little Space: The Re-enchantment of Liturgy by Andrew Burnham (4)

11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969)

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late
_____________________________________________________________

1. A Pedlar's Pack and Other Stories by Elizabeth Goudge - 1937 (3)
2. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart* - 1958 (4)
3. I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven - 1967 (3)
4. Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges - 1960 (4)
5. Song at the Year's Turning: Poems 1942–1954 by R. S. Thomas - 1955 (3)
6. Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell - 1934 (3)
7. Dayspring by Harry Sylvester - 1945 (4)
8. The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge - 1956 (3)
9. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes+ - 1946 (5)
10. Huntingtower by John Buchan+ - 1922 (3)

12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel

Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen,
ich fahr dahin mein Straßen,
in fremde Land dahin.
Mein Freud ist mir genommen,
die ich nit weiß bekommen,
wo ich Elend bin.

Innsbruck, I have to leave you,
to travel down my own paths
into strange lands.
My joy is taken from me,
which I cannot receive,
where I am unhappy.
_______________________________________________________________

1. Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon+ (3)
2. The Lawless Roads by Graham Greene (4)
3. Reports from a Parisian Paradise: Essays from France, 1925–1939 by Joseph Roth (2)
4. Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński+ (3)
5. Die Besteigung von Mont Ventoux by Petrarch+^ (3)
6. Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman (3)
7. French Milk by Lucy Knisley (3)
8. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette by Hampton Sides (3)
9. A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam by Norman Lewis (3)
10. The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō (4)

13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy – COMPLETED 7/30

Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
"Oh, and alas, Janet," he said, "I think you go with child".

"Well, if that be so," Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby's name.

For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey
I'd not change my own true love for any knight you have.”

_____________________________________________________________

1. The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea* (4)
2. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (3)
3. In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (3)
4. Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson* (5)
5. Hero by Alethea Kontis (1)
6. Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll (3)
7. Allegiant by Veronica Roth (2)
8. A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce (3)
9. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (3)
10. Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier (4)
11. Legend by Marie Lu (2)
12. The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (5)
13. The Hanukkah Ghosts by Malka Penn (4)
14. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier (3)
15. Courtship & Curses by Marissa Doyle (3)
16. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Volume 1 by Naoko Takeuchi (3)

14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy – COMPLETED 10/6

She had not walked and reached the town
She heard the death bells ringing
And as they rolled they seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."

"Oh Mother, oh mother go make my bed
Make it both long and narrow
Sweet William died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow."

___________________________________________________________

1. The Lark on the Wing by Elfrida Vipont (4)
2. She is not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick (3)
3. Who Comes with Cannons? by Patricia Beatty* (4)
4. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (3)
5. Be Ever Hopeful, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty* (3)
6. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (3)
7. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith (2)
8. A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee (3)
9. The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee (3)
10. And Both Were Young by Madeline L'Engle* (5)
11. The Tamarack Tree by Patricia Clapp (3)
12. The Traitor and the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee (3)
13. The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (4)

Currently Reading:
Italian Ways
The Black Opera
Counting Sheep
The Thanatos Syndrome

Total books read so far: 246

Top of the TBR Stack:

Desert of Love
In My End is My Beginning+
I Saw Three Ships
Das Leben des heiligen Martin+^

A Garden of Marvels
Pied Piper
Walking Home

* = re-read
+ = owned and unread since before 2013 (Mt. TBR)
^ = foreign language book

Okay, we're safe! I'll be back later to tidy up and post last month's reading round-up.

July Round-Up!

History has repeated itself and Juvenile/YA Fantasy is completed.

Books Read: 26 (2 more than last year)

Category Challenge

133 of 168 read - 79.17% done (true total 156 books)

6 of 14 categories completed - 42.86% done

Individual Categories
1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 10 - 83.33% done
2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science - 8 - 66.67% done
3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy - 10 - 83.33% done
4. John Barleycorn: Food/Gardening - 3 - 25% done
5. The Skye Boat Song: History - 24 - 100% done
6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction - 13 - 100% done
7. Lady Franklin's Dream: Mysteries - 17 - 100% done
8. Fear a Bhata: Other Non-Fiction - 14 - 100% done
9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 11 - 91.67% done
10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion - 15 - 100% done
11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 9 - 75% done
12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel - 5 - 41.67% done
13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy - 12 - 100% done
14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy - 5 - 41.67% done

Genre
Fiction - 16 - 61.54%
Non-Fiction - 10 - 38.46%

Sources
Work - 8 - 30.77%
Corsicana PL - 5 - 19.23%
Me (Reread) - 5 - 19.23%
ILL - 4 - 15.39%
Me (Acquired this month) - 2 - 7.69%
Me (TBR) - 2 - 7.69%

Authors
Female - 17 - 70.83%
Male - 7 - 29.17%
Both - 0 - 0%

Edition Language
English - 25 - 96.15%
German - 1 - 3.85%

Original Language
English - 22 - 84.61%
German - 2 - 7.69%
Dutch - 1 - 3.85%
Latin - 1 - 3.85%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 20 - 76.92%
Series Books - 6 - 23.08%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 1 - 3.85%
3 stars - 17 - 65.38%
4 stars - 6 - 23.08%
5 stars - 2 - 7.69%

Average Rating
3.35

Best of the Month



Fiction (Tie): One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

Non-Fiction Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

Happy New Thread! I see you are making great progress with your challenge and already have 6 categories completed!

Happy new thread! You are indeed making great progress - congrats!

Yay, new thread! Great roundup too. Looks like a productive month.

>20 lkernagh:, >21 -Eva-:, >22 rabbitprincess: Thanks! It's been a lot of fun.

The Hanukkah Ghosts by Malka Penn

Categories: Tam Lin, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, juvenile, intermediate reader, Jewish, time slip, time travel, Yorkshire, World War II, Holocaust, refugees, bigotry, Hanukkah

The Hanukkah Ghosts is a wonderful lower-intermediate level time slip novel about World War II and the wonder of miracles. Susan has come to visit her father's aunt in Yorkshire for a week. She is homesick, but won't admit it. Then she discovers that the veil between the past and the present at her great-aunt's estate is thin and meets Hanni, a Jewish refugee from Vienna who is staying at the same house during World War II. Hanni is missing her parents and having to put up with abuse for being Jewish from Alex, Susan's great-aunt's step-son. Susan wants to help Hanni, but doesn't know what to do. However, during Hanukkah, everything is possible.

A short, but well plotted book. Highly recommended for those who enjoy time slip novels and original stories.

That is a wonderful picture at the top of your new thread. Happy reading!

>25 MissWatson: Thanks!

White Elephants on Campus: The Decline of the University Chapel in America, 1920-1960 by Margaret M. Grubiak

Categories: The Skye Boat Song, RandomCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, history, architecture, religion, campus chapels, science and religion, culture change, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Pitt, MIT, William & Mary

White Elephants on Campus describes how even after the deline of religion began on university campuses in the United States. Using case studies of chapel building programs on several influential non-sectarian universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Pittsburgh, and MIT, the author shows how chapels represented something in the minds of administrators that did not translate into campus life. They thought that having a chapel would influence the character of the students and help promote their studies even as mandatory chapel attendance was being phased out. This has left the buildings as white elephants that no one knows quite what to do with.

This was very interesting to me, because my alma mater, Mount Holyoke, has its own white elephant, Abbey Chapel. The site of many concerts and benediction on graduation eve, the only religious group still large enough to use the main chapel regularly is the Catholics, and we rattled around quite a bit. Although on a smaller scale, MHC's experience with its chapel is very much in keeping the the thesis that Grubiak introduces in the book.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in universities, religion, and the changes of the 20th century.

Abbey Chapel:

The Springfield Republican


Main Chapel Interior, 2012 Christmas Concert

Hummingbirds of Texas, with their New Mexico and Arizona Ranges by Clifford E. Shackelford

Categories: The Skye Boat Song, RandomCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, science, birds, hummingbirds, attracting hummingbirds, identification guide, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona

Hummingbirds of Texas is pretty much explained in its title. The first two-thirds of the book is dedicated to hummingbirds in general and how to attract them. The last third is guide to hummingbirds found in Texas, from common residents like ruby-throats and black-chins to rare strays from south of the border. I grabbed this from the library because ever since my flame acanthus started blooming last week, I've been spotting the occasional hummingbird visitor to my butterfly garden. I thought the guide would be useful, and it was.

If you live in Texas (or New Mexico or Arizona) and have an interest in hummingbirds, you may want to pick this up.

Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier

Categories: Tam Lin, GeoCAT

Series: Ruby Red Trilogy aka Liebe geht durch die Zeiten (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, YA, fantasy, romance, time travel, questionable motives, secret societies, family secrets

Emerald Green is the last book of what is known in America as the Ruby Red Trilogy. Suffice to say our heroes finally figure out what the Count is up to, work out their love-issues, and discover some important new facts about themselves. It suffers from an excess of loose ends needing to be tied, with the result that it is a weaker book than its predecessor Sapphire Blue. But if you enjoy original YA fantasy, and don't mind plots that don't always make since, then you should pick up the trilogy, starting with Ruby Red.

Happy New Thread !

>27 inge87: It's fascinating for me, in 21st century secular France, to learn about chapels on campus. It's an interesting subject indeed :)

>30 electrice: Thanks! The whole chapel-as-an-education thing was part of a very British philosophy of educating the whole person. The opponents of chapels on campus were usually trained or influenced by Continental European universities and believed in a scientific knowledge-based approach to education in which God and religion played no role. This latter group eventually won, but there are plenty of lovely campus chapels as a result of the older philosophy.

Library Research Models: A Guide to Classification, Cataloging, and Computers by Thomas Mann

Categories: Fear a' Bhàta

Keywords: non-fiction, library science, information science, research, cataloging, classification, grad school, unt

Library Research Models is a book about how to search for information in a library effectively. The author provides several different methods for organizing material and search methodologies. Originally written in the early 1990s, the computer sections as well as the emphasis on printed bibliographies make the book a bit outdated, but the philosophies contained within it are still thought-provoking and relevant.

Spell of Desire, Volume 1 by Tomu Ohmi

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Series: Spell of Desire (1/5)

Keywords: fiction, Japanese, fantasy, manga, josei manga, witches, familiars, family, secrets, cute fuzzy animals

Spell of Desire, Vol. 1 is the first volume of a fantasy josei manga (women's comic) about a young woman who works as an herbalist and leads a fairly mundane life until a dark, handsome stranger arrives to tell her that she comes from a family of witches. At which point everything changes. Kaoruko now has to deal with powers that often run out of control and only Kaname can help her.

Lots of introduction here as the author sets the stage for the rest of the manga. Plus did I mention there are some cute, fuzzy animals? For those who enjoy josei or mature shoujo manga or are interested in those genres.

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream

Series: White House Chef Mysteries (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American, mystery, cozy mystery, White House, chefs, assassinations, politics, the Middle East

State of the Onion is a cute cozy mystery about Ollie, an aspiring White House chef, who accidentally becomes involved in events beyond her comprehension when she brains a trespasser with a frying pan. The commemorative frying pan for her boss's retirement party. If only she can get it out of evidence in time. Meanwhile, there's an old rival vying for her dream promotion and a last-minute Middle Eastern peace delegation to plan for. And then people start to die, and it looks like the assassin has his eyes on Ollie. If only she can make it through the week, she might be okay.

A must for those who enjoy cozy mysteries.

Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot by Kerstin Gier^

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, German, auf deutsch, chick lit, wife swapping, meddling father-in-law, gardening

Ein unmoralisches Sonderangebot (An Immoral Bargain) is what happens when a family patriarch decides he wants his sons to give him grandchildren and offers them 1 million euros each to switch wives for six months as part of a bet with his drinking buddies. Olivia is content living with her husband and running their nursery business, but can think of lots of productive ways to use the money. So it's off to her brother-in-law's apartment in the city, while her sister-in-law moves out to the country. Naturally, things start to happen, but it will take a lot drama and hijinks before everything gets sorted out. Grandchildren included.

A fun, humorous bit of chick lit.

Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, GeoCAT, MysteryCAT

Series: Lord Peter Wimsey Continuation (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, British, mystery, historical mystery, series continuation, Lord Peter Wimsey, marriage, lies, misunderstandings, murder

Thrones, Dominations is the first of Jill Paton Walsh's continuation of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. This one is based on Sayers' outline of a never completed novel that should have followed Busman's Honeymoon. Harriet and Lord Peter are in the first months of their marriage when they meet another British couple in France. Later the wife of that couple turns up dead. Harriet and Lord Peter, being Harriet and Lord Peter, cannot help but investigate.

While it's obviously not written by Sayers, Thrones, Dominations has better plotting than some of the "real" Lord Peter novels. If you've enjoyed the rest of the series, you might want to pick this one up.

The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, GeoCAT, MysteryCAT

Series: The Sea Detective (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, Scottish, mystery, ocean currents, sex trafficking, family secrets, WWII, death, murder, sexism

The Sea Detective is the first of a Scottish mystery series about the eponymous sea detective, a Ph.D. student in Edinburgh who studies ocean currents and the way they carry objects, particularly bodies. This volume is also the story of two young girls trafficked from India for sexwork in the UK, and the sea detective's grandfather, whose fate during World War II first drew him to study ocean currents. While this might seem like a thousand disparate ends, it actually works out quite well.

If you like contemporary mysteries with flawed protagonists and interesting science, then The Sea Detective is definitely one to pick up.

French Milk by Lucy Knisley

Categories: Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, travel, Paris, graphic non-fiction, mothers and daughters, family, food, eating, milk

French Milk is Knisley's graphic diary of a trip she and her mother took to Paris in January 2006. Suffice to say, she really enjoyed the milk there. Written between her college graduation and grad school, it's a bit raw and unpolished, but you can see the spark of genius that would lead to Relish. If you like original travel memoirs, Paris, or interesting graphic non-fiction, you may want to pick this up.

Librarian's Aside: French Milk is a much more adult work than Relish, with a ton of swearing, lots of smoking and cigarette talk, frequent allusions to sex, and a few pages about polyamory. If you have a younger teen who enjoyed Relish, be aware that French Milk may not be an appropriate follow up for everyone.

Argh! I've gotten out of order. The following two reviews should have been put in before Library Research Models.
____________________________________



Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman

Categories: Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen

Keywords: non-fiction, travel, history, art, Dutch New Guinea, West Papua, Asmat tribe, missing persons, white privilege, stupidity, head-hunting, missionaries, colonialism

Savage Harvest is a book about a privileged white man acting entitled and taking one too many risks and the author's quest to find out the truth about his death. Michael Rockefeller, son of a governor and some-time presidential candidate had a taste for "primitive" art, and wanted to prove himself to his family by discovering art from people culturally untouched by the West and bringing it back to New York City and mount an exhibition (and no he did not see anything ironic about this). However, as much as Rockefeller was involved in the art, he never seems to have been involved much with the actual lives of the Asmat people of what was then Dutch New Guinea whose art he was buying. He was also in complete denial about the fact that the Asmat still practiced headhunting. But the official verdict was that he drowned in the sea, even though there were many rumors that he had made it to shore . . . and been eaten by Asmat villagers.

Hoffman set out to visit the Asmat in what had since become Indonesia's troubled West Papua region, and almost immediately he learns that Rockefeller's story is the worst kept secret in the Asmat region. But it takes the length of the book to truly come to the bottom of the story.

An interesting, nuanced take of while privilege and preconception in a land where these mean nothing if you're alone. I also learned a lot about the Asmat and their lands, and about headhunting. Not necessarily for the squeamish, but arm-chair art lovers and travellers or those with an interest in the peoples of New Guinea may want to pick it up.

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer*

Categories: Roads to Moscow, GeoCAT

Series: Alastair Books (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, British, historical fiction, 18th century, Paris, France, England, family, secrets, rakes, mysterious pageboys, kidnapping, revenge

These Old Shades is a delicious tale of revenge served cold and fiery young page, who is not at all as he seems. The Duke of Avon is winding his way through the streets of Paris at night, when he runs into a striking young man with red hair. intrigued for his own reasons, the Duke buys the boy from his elder brother an makes him his page (it's the 1750s, so people did things like that). Although it's obvious to all that he has something up his sleeve, even the Duke is surprised by what actually transpires.

A fun, early Heyer set in an unusual time period. For Heyer devotees and neophytes alike.

>36 inge87: I hadn't realized that there's a continuation of the Lord Wimsey mysteries. I've been rereading Sayers's mysteries and am about halfway through. I'll have to keep this one in mind.

>41 mathgirl40: Jill Paton Walsh has written four novels continuing Lord Peter's story: Thrones, Dominations (1998), A Presumption of Death (2002), The Attenbury Emeralds (2010), and The Late Scholar (2014). The first is based on an unfinished manuscript by Sayers, the rest are pretty much all JPW.

I got massively behind with reviews towards the end of August, so what follows isn't exactly pretty. I'm just happy to be able to move on into a new month and a new academic year.

The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, GeoCAT

Series: The Golden City (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fantasy, sirens, selkies, seers, murder, kidnapping, secrets, spies

The Golden City is a fantastic fantasy set in a alternative Porto, Portugal, where people have magical powers and selkies and sirens (sereia) live in hiding. Because for the last 20 years, non-humans have been banned from the Golden City on pain of death. That doesn't mean that they aren't there though. Oriana is an agent for the Sereian government posing as a lady's maid. But then, just as her charge is about to elope, they are kidnapped and left for dead. But why did this happen. Oriana wants answers, but she has to keep herself alive first.

Wonderful characterizations and excellent world building. A kind of historical urban fantasy. Highly recommended.

Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, GeoCAT, MysteryCAT

Series: Albert Campion Mysteries (2/25)

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, mystery, murder, criminal gangs

Someone is trying to kill an American judge and the bodies are piling up, just who is behind the killings and what do they want with the judge? Campion smuggles him out to Mystery Mile, a remote English estate, but will that be enough to save him?

The plot just didn't do much for me. But Allingham is supposedly a master, so I may try one of the later Campion novels at some point in the future. This one, though, is pretty skippable.

Love Insurance by Earl Derr Biggers

Categories: Sally in Our Alley

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, insurance, secret motives, screwball, Florida

Love Insurance proves that the path to love is never easy, especially when money is involved. You never know what people will try to insure, but guaranteeing that the bride will arrive at the altar is certainly one of the odder gambles to pass through the New York office of Lloyds. Especially once the agent meets said bride and falls head over heals. Now his heart and his pocketbook are at odds, and Florida society is about to get a lot more interesting.

Written by the creator of Charlie Chan, this is screwball comedy at its best.

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Categories: Barbara Allen

Series: Daddy-Long-Legs (1/2)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, epistolary novel, college, romance, anonymous benefactors

Daddy-Long-Legs is an epistolary novel about a brave orphan who manages to get an anonymous benefactor to sponsor her college education. The only requirement is that she write her benefactor. If "Mr. Smith" expected his life to continue as usual, he was highly mistaken.

There's some controversy about whether the benefactor abuses his position. I do think his actions about controlling the heroine's summers to guarantee access to her are highly problematic. But the rest is just a bit on the strange side, and on a literary level nowhere near a Rochester-level abuse of power.

It's an excellent book, just be aware of the controversy and potential ick-factor.

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, time travel, time slip, Cornwall, Jacobitism, romance, love and loss

After her sister Katrina's death from cancer, Eva doesn't have the slightest idea what to do with herself, so she returns to Cornwall, to the place where she and Katrina were truly happy. The Rose Garden at the estate captures her attention as she attempts to help her old friends keep up the family business. And then she starts slipping back in time to the early 1700s, where she makes a new set of friends. But you can't live in two times at once, can you? Ultimately, Eva will have to find her own answers. Only then will she truly find her way home.

A beautiful time travel romance. For fans of Kearsley or those with an interest in historical Cornwall or good romances. Highly recommended.

>47 inge87:
I remember reading that as a kid, but can't remember what I thought of it - a re-read is due.

good batch of reading!

I'm excited to see your positive review of The Golden City! That one caught my eye, but I wasn't entirely sure about it...onto the TBR list it goes! Also, I definitely can't pass up a title like Love Insurance. Totally agree with you about Daddy-Long-Legs and the power issue...it didn't really bother me, but I can definitely see how it would bother others!

>49 -Eva-: I think Daddy-Long-Legs is one of those books that people feel differently about depending on their age.

>50 lkernagh: Thanks!

>51 christina_reads: The Golden City was on my wait and see list too, but then I found a copy at the library. It is totally worth picking up.

Lügen, die von Herzen kommen by Kerstin Gier^

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, German fiction, fiction in German, chick lit, online dating, journalism

In Lügen, die von Herzen kommen (Lies that Come from the Heart), a writer for a women's magazine is told by her new boss to write an article on online dating. So she creates a fantasy account and soon meets a man, meanwhile her relationship with her boss also heats up. If only he weren't dating the owner's daughter. Naturally, as may be expected in chick lit, nothing is quite as it seems.

I predicted the ending of this one before I'd gone farther than reading the back cover. But it was fun, and that is all that matters.

Desert Terroir: Exploring the Unique Flavors and Sundry Places of the Borderlands by Gary Paul Nabhan

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die

Keywords: non-fiction, food, terroir, travel, American Southwest, US/Mexico border, conquistadors

Desert Terroir is one man's exploration of food and culture in the American Southwest. It's a bit too naive for my tastes (the complaints about new border rules in Big Bend in particular, as if there wasn't a good reason, and I consider people being shot and killed a good reason), but some people may enjoy it.

The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945–1970 by Andrew Demshuk

Categories: The Skye Boat Song, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, history, memory, ethnic cleansing, World War II, Germany, Silesia, Potsdam Agreement, war

At the end of the Second World War, over 10 million ethnic Germans were evicted from the homes where their families had lived for centuries and forced over the border into the new boundaries of postwar Germany. Suddenly around 25% of the postwar German population were expellees who wanted to go home. And yet nothing happened. The Lost German East tells the story why. Focusing on Silesia, he describes how refugees conceptualized their homeland and recognizing that it no longer existed in the real world, created one in their memory that they could visit whenever they wanted.

A remarkable account of trauma and memory.

Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World by Abby Sallenger

Categories: The Skye Boat Song

Keywords: non-fiction, history, American history, Louisiana, hurricanes, Last Island Hurricane of 1856, climate change

Island in a Storm tells the story of the 1856 Last Island hurricane, which wiped out a popular tourist resort of the rich and famous and serves as a forewarning of weather to come. A popular, narrative history, it's a bit light on references, but it tells a good story.

For those with an interest in weather catastrophes, hurricanes, history, or Louisiana culture.

I'm behind on reviews again, but I find I can't do it right now. We had to put down Chiquita, my family's 14-year-old terrier, Friday afternoon after a sudden illness. She was boarded Saturday and Sunday night while I was in Denton for grad school and my Dad was in Austin for a family reunion, and when he picked her up Monday afternoon she was clearly not doing well. Just after midnight on Thursday she started having seizures. After a brief recovery she had another seizure that night and never really regained consciousness. It's particularly hard because she was fine Saturday morning and now less than a week later she was gone. The vet says she probably had a brain tumor.

My Dad is not taking it well, because she was originally my grandparents' and was especially a last link with his father, who picked her out at the pound in Dallas and brought her back to Corsicana with the connivance of a caregiver even though my aunts had told him no more dogs. We buried her in my backyard in my in her bed with her favorite toys and a milkbone for the journey. Freckles, as I called her, was the best of terriers: a loyal friend with a fighter's heart. Everyone who knew her will miss her.

I'm sorry to hear about your sudden loss. Chiquita was obviously a well loved member of the family and will be missed greatly.

Sudden losses of pets are hard. We had to put down our 18 year old cat after a sudden illness. I went to school knowing that the cat was going to vet and came home to the news of the decision reached while at the vet. I still miss that loveable old cat and understand how missed your Chiquita will be by all who knew her.

Oh no! I'm so sorry for your loss. A lovely girl.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your lovely Chiquita.

Thanks everyone. It's hard, but we're moving through it. Sometimes it feels like she's been gone a million years, other times I'm convinced she's just around the corner or on the other side of the back door. One thing is for certain: she'll never be forgotten.

So very sorry to hear about your loss. And so sudden as well. She does look a lovely girl!

>63 -Eva-: Thanks, she was one of a kind.

The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet by Kristin Ohlson

Categories: Sumer is icumen in

Keywords: non-fiction, science, agriculture, soil science, carbon sequestration, soil improvement, climate

The Soil Will Save Us is an interesting account of carbon sequestration and how pioneering farmers and researchers are attempting to improve soil quality. This has the result of not only improving crops and rangelands but healthy soil also absorbs more carbon dioxide instead of allowing it to be released into the atmosphere.

An interesting, accessible book on a timely topic. Highly recommended.

The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen

Categories: The Skye Boat Song, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, history, European history, Scotland, England, France, war, climate change, Edward I, Edward II, Robert the Bruce

The Third Horseman documents the end of the Medieval Warm Period and the deadly famine that followed. Although it claims to be a general European history, the bulk of the book focuses on various English Edwards and their rocky relationship with Scotland. As such it's nothing special. But if you have an interest in how weather affects everyday life, you may want to pick this one up, although I think Tambora does a better job of getting at the point the author wants to make.

Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia by Sigrid Rausing

Categories: Fear a' Bhàta

Keywords: non-fiction, memoir, anthropology, Estonia, Ethnic Swedes, fall of Communism, former Soviet Union, deportation

Everything is Wonderful is an account of the author's time as an anthropologist on a former collective farm in Estonia from 1993-4. Based on her journals and memories, Everything is Wonderful is a personal story of a people whose lives were catastrophically upended by Soviet occupation and who are just beginning to put things back together.

An interesting account of being a foreigner abroad and of a culture in grips of change. For those who want to know more about the people she meets, she wrote an academic book based on the experiences described in the book: History, Memory, and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia: The End of a Collective Farm.

The Seat of Magic by J. Kathleen Cheney

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, GeoCAT

Series: The Golden City (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, fantasy, alternative history, sirens, selkies, seers, mystery, murder, dysfunctional families, politics, plotting

The Seat of Magic is the sequel to the absolutely amazing The Golden City. Someone is killing magical creatures in Porto, and Oriana finds herself in the thick of things again. Plus her father decides he want to reconcile, which promises to open a whole new can of worms. And just when things couldn't get more stressful, it seems someone may want to assassinate the prince.

More fun adventures with everyone's favorite siren. For some reason the dress and caplet she wears to the ball is the outfit she's wearing on the cover to the previous book where it makes no appearance, but the final book in the trilogy comes out next summer, and I can't wait.

The Woman who Walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, GeoCAT, MysteryCAT

Series: The Sea Detective (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, Scottish fiction, mystery, murder, secrets, power, greed, betrayal

The Sea Detective finds the sea detective helping a young woman figure out the truth about her mother's death. It's a lot like the storyline about the detective's grandfather in The Sea Detective, a small Scottish village with dark secrets involving murder. There's not as much science this time, which I missed, but the third book (due out in early 2015) sounds like it may mark the return of more fun with currents.

The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam by G. W. Bowersock

Categories: The Skye Boat Song

Keywords: non-fiction, history, ancient history, Ethiopia, Arabia, war, conquest, inscriptions

The Throne of Adulis is an overview of an interesting, but obscure epoch of history: the wars between kingdoms in what is now Ethiopia and Yemen in the first centuries AD. I did not know much about Axum and Himyar before the book, and I learned a lot, even though I felt the book was a bit to short and shallow. But ultimately, there is still much that remains unknown about that area and that era.

For those interesting in obscure historical events, the origins of Islam, or the ancient Near East.

Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait by Matt White

Categories: Sumer is icumen in

Keywords: non-fiction, history, ancient history, Ethiopia, Arabia, war, conquest, inscriptions

Prairie Time is the author's account of his relationship with the soil in his native region, Northeast Texas in the Commerce/Sulphur Springs/Mt. Pleasant/Paris region. If you've ever had an interest in prairies, you'll learn a lot in this book, but I'm not sure the constant references to small town Northeast Texas will be appreciated by those will no knowledge of the area.

Courtship and Curses by Marissa Doyle

Categories: Tam Lin, GeoCAT

Series: Leland Sisters (Prequel)

Keywords: fiction, YA, historical fiction, fantasy, romance, Regency Britain, Napoleonic Wars, spies, murder, magic

Courtship and Curses is a YA historical fantasy set in the Regency Period. The heroine, who is disabled is a strong, remarkable young woman, even when she doesn't realize it. She can also do magic. Which is good, because someone is using magic to try and kill members of the War Office, and she may be the only one able to foil the plot. As if making one's debut was not stressful enough.

Huntingtower by John Buchan+

Categories: Turn! Turn! Turn!, GeoCAT

Series: Dickson McCunn (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, Scottish fiction, rambles, kidnapping, Russian exiles, rescue

Huntingtower is the tale of a holiday gone wondrously, fantastically wrong. All Dickson McCann expected was to take a nice ramble in the Scottish countryside, while his wife was away at the spa. Instead he found himself saving a princess with only a cynical poet and some underfed schoolboys as allies. In the process, his tired life finds a second wind.

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Categories: Barbara Allen

Keywords: fiction, YA, romance, dysfunctional families, moving, postcards, love at first sight

The power has gone out across the eastern seaboard, but that doesn't matter much to our protagonists, because they've found each other. That is until their families both leave New York City and head in wildly different directions. Will they be able to stay together, or will outside forces keep them apart? Read The Geography of You and Me to find out.

A good premise with a remarkably mediocre result.

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer*

Categories: Roads to Moscow, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, historical fiction, Regency period, death, mourning, first loves, manipulative men, bickering

After her father's death finds her the ward of her ex-fiance, Serena sets out to make the best of things in Bath Tangle. Life will never be as it once was, but after bumping into an old flame maybe it will be better. That is unless Rotherham insists on being difficult, and considering that that's why Serena broke up with him to begin with, that seems an unlikely situation.

It's a fun story, but something about Rotherham's actions has always sat awkwardly with me. Instead of acting like a normal human being to get back in Serena's good graces, he decides to use someone else as a tool to punish her. If I were Serena I would have made his life much more difficult at the end of the book

July Round-Up!

August's reviews are finally done!

Books Read: 33 (14 more than this month last year)

Category Challenge

146 of 168 read - 86.9% done (true total 189 books)

6 of 14 categories completed - 42.86% done

Individual Categories
1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 11 - 91.67% done
2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science - 11 - 91.67% done
3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy - 14 - 100% done
4. John Barleycorn: Food/Gardening - 4 - 33.33% done
5. The Skye Boat Song: History - 29 - 100% done
6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction - 15 - 100% done
7. Lady Franklin's Dream: Mysteries - 22 - 100% done
8. Fear a Bhata: Other Non-Fiction - 16 - 100% done
9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 13 - 91.67% done
10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion - 15 - 100% done
11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 10 - 83.33% done
12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel - 7 - 58.33% done
13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy - 15 - 100% done
14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy - 7 - 58.33% done

Challenges
GeoCAT - 19
MysteryCAT - 4
RandomCAT - 1
ROOT Challenge - 1

Genre
Fiction - 20 - 41.18%
Non-Fiction - 13 - 58.82%

Sources
Austin PL (Books) - 11 - 33.34%
ILL - 4 - 12.12%
Me (Acquired this month) - 4 - 12.12%
Austin PL (E-Book) - 3 - 9.09%
Corsicana PL - 3 - 9.09%
Free Online E-Book - 2 - 6.06%
Me (Other) - 2 - 6.06%
Me (Reread) - 2 - 6.06%
Me (TBR) - 1 - 3.03%
Work - 1 - 3.03%

Authors
Female - 17 - 58.62%
Male - 12 - 41.38%
Both - 0 - 0%

Edition Language
English - 31 - 93.94%
German - 2 - 6.06%

Original Language
English - 29 - 87.88%
German - 3 - 9.09%
Japanese - 1 - 3.03%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 21 - 63.64%
Series Books - 12 - 36.36%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 3 - 9.09%
3 stars - 19 - 57.58%
4 stars - 9 - 27.27%
5 stars - 2 - 6.06%

Average Rating
3.30

Best of the Month



Fiction (Tie, Again): The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Non-Fiction: The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet by Kristin Ohlson

Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, Maine, island life, family, secrets, puppets, abuse, insanity

Heroes Are My Weakness is an entertaining romance set on a Maine island. After her mother's death, Annie finds herself with no money and only a cottage on a remote Maine island for shelter. Although she aspired to be an actress, she has ended up a ventriloquist and the individual personalities of her puppets play a major role in the plot. But Annie has a history on the island, and it becomes increasing clear that it is not a happy one. And now it seems that her problems haven't stayed in the past and are still trying to get her. Will she make it out alive? Will she figure out what she wants to do with her life? Or will the island claim another victim?

A romance thriller with interesting characters and a good plot. Highly recommended.

First Line: Annie didn't usually talk to her suitcase, but she wasn't exactly herself these days.

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette by Hampton Sides

Categories: Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen

Keywords: non-fiction, history, American history, exploration, polar exploration, search for the Northwest Passage, Siberia, U.S. Navy

In the Kingdom of Ice is the tale of the fatal voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette, which was attempting to find the supposed open ocean at the top of the world. Instead, the ship and her crew found themselves trapped in ice above Siberia, and most of them would never see home again. Just how they came to find themselves there, and how some of them managed to escape is a tale of adventure, determination, and tragedy.

For those who like narrative histories about tragic voyages, Arctic exploration, and eccentric millionaires.

First Line: On a misty morning in late April 1873, the Tigress, a steam barkentine out of Conception Bay, Newfoundland, was pushing through the loose floes and bergs off the coast of Labrador, heading for the seasonal seal-hunting grounds.

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: The Montgomerys and Armstrongs (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, romance, historical fiction, Scotland, abusive relationships, war, conquest, kidnapping

As Scottish Highland-based historical romances go Highlander Most Wanted is not bad. After being held hostage and raped for a year, our heroine really just wants to become a nun and live in seclusion for the rest of her life. But then the hero and his army take out the bad guys and he can't keep his eyes off her.The heroine has actual issues that had to be dealt with, and the misunderstandings actually make sense. Does it mean that it makes a great deal of sense and is destined to be the next crossover hit: no. But there are far worse forms of entertainment out there than this one. It's the second of the series, but you don't need the first one for things to make sense.

First Line: "Did you ever wish but for a moment to go back in time?" Genevieve McInnis whispered as she stood in the window of the tiny tower room that had been appointed to her more than a year past.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Volume 1 by Naoko Takeuchi

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, GeoCAT

Series: Sailor Moon (1/12)

Keywords: fiction, Japanese fiction, manga, shojo manga, Sailor Moon, magical girls, evil aliens, talking cats, mysterious superheroes, high school girls

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Volume 1 is the first volume of the world famous Sailor Moon manga series. This the newer, far more accurate translation, and it's quite an enjoyable adventure. Usagi is just an ordinary schoolgirl until she meets a talking cat and discovers she's the superhero Sailor Moon, destined to save lives while seeking out a mysterious princess and her magical crystal. In the course of the volume Usagi discovers several other Sailor Scouts, although Sailor Venus isn't revealed until later in the series. She also meets the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. This is really just an introduction, and the real action takes place later, but who can resist Sailor Moon?

First Line: Wake me up earlier, Mom, you dummy!

Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Series: The Others (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, dystopia, shape-shifters, vampires, government oppression, blood prophets, conspiracies

Written in Red is an American dystopia set in a world populated by humans and supernatural being, known as the Others, alike. In this world, blood prophets, who prophecy when their skin is cut, are used by their masters for all kinds of unscrupulous purposes, until one escapes and takes shelter with the Others. Living with vampires and werewolves may be difficult, but it's a lot easier than the other option. Until the other option comes looking for her, and doesn't care what happens to anyone who gets in their way.

A fun novel of supernatural suspense. Book 2 Murder of Crows is already out, and book 3 comes out next year.

First Line: Long ago, Namid gave birth to all kinds of life, including the beings known as humans.

A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh & Dorothy L. Sayers

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream

Series: Lord Peter Wimsey Continuation (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, mystery, series continuation, WWII, evacuees, land girls, murder, spies

A Presumption of Death Peter and Harriet meet World War II, and indeed, at times, this book feels like it's more about the Second World War than the Wimseys. But there's a mystery here and Nazi spies, so it's at least moderately entertaining. Thrones, Dominations was better though.

First Line: I think I had better write you my usual Christmas letter now, because naturally the war has upset the posts a little; and one can't really expect ships to go quickly when they are convoyed about like a school crocodile, so tedious for them, or to keep Grand Geometry, or whatever the straight course is called, when they have to keep darting about like snipe to avoid submarines, and anyway I like to get my correspondence in hand early and not do it at the last moment with one's mind full of Christmas trees – though I suppose there will be a shortage of them this year, but as I said to our village schoolmistress, as long as the children get their presents I don't suppose they'll mind whether you hang them on a conifer or on the Siegfried Line, and as a matter of fact Denver is thinning a lot of little firs out of the plantation, and you'd better ask him for one before he sends them all to the hospitals.

>78 inge87: I can never resist a story about exploration and tragic circumstances, so it's a hit for In the Kingdom of Ice :)

>83 electrice:, Most books with subtitles like "The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette" are generally worth reading. :)

We're currently under lock-down at work due to a nearby armed bank robbery. If it weren't so serious, it'd be kind of fun.

Oh, scary - hope it all resolves well!

>86 -Eva-: We're all clear now. They still haven't found the robbers though.

For the curious, BREAKING: Law enforcement looking for Citizens National (College Park Mall location) bank robbers

Whoa! Glad you and your co-workers are safe!

>88 christina_reads: Yeah, the college where I work, the local high school, and an elementary school were all put on lock-down for around two hours. They still haven't found the robbers, who could have gone anywhere once they got on the interstate.

So long as all innocent bystanders are safe and the lock down is now over, I would say that a lock down definitely brings some excitement to an otherwise (possibly) boring day.

>90 lkernagh: I agree. It's a great time to get work done or be lazy, as long as the bad guys stay far, far away.

Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton

Categories: The Skye Boat Song

Keywords: non-fiction, World War II, Palau, war, MIA, search efforts, remembrance

Vanished is the twin stories of US pilots during the Battle for Palau and the hunt decades later to find a missing plane and finally bring its airmen home. I didn't know anything about Palau except that it was an island nation in the South Pacific, so I learned a lot. I also learned about the drive and determination that goes into the quest to bring every soldier home, no matter how long he's been lost. If you have an interest in the Pacific Front of World War II or in the complexity of living after a loved-one was listed as MIA, this book may be for you.

First Line: On a warm Spring morning in 2008, a rumpled archaeologist named Eric Emery stood at the edge of a massive barge in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and glared into the the water.

Sleighbells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Series: O'Neil Brothers (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, romance, contemporary romance, Vermont, Christmas, family, ski lodge

Sleighbells in the Snow is a Christmas romance about a PR agent who finds Christmas traumatizing due to events in her past and how she finds healing in the mountains of Vermont. Kayla can't stand Christmas, and neither would you if you were her; however, it's pretty hard to escape. Which is why she jumps at the chance to stay at an isolated cabin over the holidays as part of a new work project. Except she discovers she can't escape Christmas or her fears even in Vermont.

First Line: Kayla Green cranked up the volume on her favorite playlist and blocked out the sound of festive music and laughter wafting under her closed office door.

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Series: All Souls Trilogy (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, vampires, witches, demons, genetics, conspiracies, family, academics, palimpsests

The Book of Life is the much awaited final volume of Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy. Everything that has been building in the previous two books comes crashing down to a startling conclusion. Everything I could say here feels like a possible spoiler, but Diana and Matthew finally set their lives sorted out, and the bad guys meet appropriate endings. Plus there are the twins to think about and we finally get to see what's written in the manuscript. The Book of Life marks a return to the academic world of Discovery of Witches and I think it is a much stronger book than Shadow of Night. If you enjoyed the rest of the trilogy, you definitely need to pick this one up.

First Line: Ghosts didn't have much substance.

Roses Among Thorns: Simple Advice for Renewing Your Spiritual Journey by St. Francis de Sales

Categories: Dives and Lazarus

Keywords: non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, meditations, correspondence, St. Francis de Sales, Christian Living

Roses Among Thorns is a collection of meditations written by St. Francis de Sales compiled from various letters and correspondence by the translator. I'm fond of St. Francis; he gives good advice. Besides benefiting from his thought, you also get an idea of the kinds of problems people asked him advice about, which is interesting.

For Catholics looking for spiritual reading or those with an interest in St. Francis de Sales.

First Line: All of the seasons of life come together in the soul.

Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream

Series: Max Tudor (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, cozy mystery, England, village life, Women's Institute, murder, allergic reaction, vicar-sleuth

Wicked Autumn is the first of a mystery series set in rural England featuring a vicar who is ex-MI5. The Women's Institute has become the fiefdom of Wanda Batton-Smythe, a demanding woman who maintains that nothing would happen if not for her intervention. Needless to say, when her body is found during the village harvest festival, many secretly breathe a sigh of relief. But there is still a murderer out there, and who knows when he'll strike next. It falls to Max, who actually knows a thing or two about murder, to figure out the case.

A fun cozy mystery, there's not much gore but there are a lot of interesting people. I'm rather in love with the cover of the UK edition, which gives Thea, Max's Gordon Setter, a prime position:



First Line: Wanda Batton-Smythe, head of the Women's Institute of Nether Monkslip, liked to say she was not one to mince words.

Wicked Autumn marks my 200th book read this year! Last year's #200 was The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, which I read at about this time last September.

200 books. Colour me awed.

I am in awe as well. Since retirement a few years ago I have upped my reading but I have yet to break the 200 mark.

Let me just say, WOW!

Woo hoo! Two hundred books is fantastic!

>98 MissWatson: >99 DeltaQueen50: >100 paruline: >101 rabbitprincess: Thanks! It's been a lot of fun so far, and there are still many more books to go.

Joining in with the impressed - well done!

200 is an impressive number, to be sure! Congrats!

>103 -Eva-: >104 lkernagh: Thanks!

The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, short stories, Vietnam, Vietnamese-Americans, folklore, family, things that go bump in the night

The Frangipani Hotel is a collection of short stories either set in Vietnam or featuring Vietnamese-Americans. The supernatural and unexplainable plays a major role here, and an unspoken horror seems to linger behind the scenes. As is always the case with such books, some stories are good, others are not. But if you enjoy short stories and have an interest in Vietnam and/or Vietnamese culture, you'll want to seek this volume out.

First Line: "Here, con, I cut up a đu đủ just for you."

The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis

Categories: Dives and Lazarus

Keywords: non-fiction, religion, Christianity, philosophy, suffering, why do people suffer, animal suffering, heaven, hell, redemption, free will

The Problem of Pain is a short work on the nature of suffering by the esteemed philosopher-author C.S. Lewis. Why do people suffer and why does God allow it, these are the kind of issues addressed in the book. The chapter on animal suffering is particularly interesting, because I recently lost a pet. For Lewis-aficionados and those with an interest in the topic alike.

First Line: Not many years ago when I was an atheist, if anyone had asked me, 'Why do you not believe in God?' my reply would have run something like this: 'Look at the universe we live in.

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream

Series: Bess Crawford Mysteries (5/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, historical mystery, World War I, child abuse, secrets, murder

A Question of Honor is the 5th Bess Crawford mystery and one of the best of the series in my opinion. In this one Bess is minding her own business on the front when she is informed by a dying soldier that a deserter and murder suspect from her father's old regiment had be spotted on the battle line. Bess being Bess she has to investigate, and what she uncovers makes it clear that the past was not as clear cut as she remembers. But where is Captain Wade? And if he murdered five people in 1908, how many would he be willing to kill now to keep his secret?

A compelling historical mystery set in the closing days of World War I. I'm not sure why Bess is looking at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the cover, since all but the prologue takes place in Western Europe, but it's attractive even if it doesn't fit. Those new to the series can start here without losing much, but the first book, A Duty to the Dead is worth reading too.

First Line: The letter came for Lieutenant and Mrs. Standish on an afternoon when the heat was at its height, and we had already retired indoors to rest until the evening.

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Series: The Others (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, shifters, vampires, blood prophets,

Murder of Crows picks up where Written in Red left off, with new super drugs and threats to the Others. There is a fascist People First movement looking to export its hate to the New World, and closer to home there are those who don't seem to understand the stakes—namely that if they really wanted to, the Others could wipe humans off the map. Will prevail or will peace find a way? The blood prophets are predicting doom, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen, right?

More interesting fantasy with Meg, Simon, and friends. Those new to the trilogy will definitely want to start with Written in Red in order to understand what is going on. Recommended for fans of urban fantasy and good storytelling.

First Line: Nudged awake by his bedmate's restless movements, Simon Wolfgard yawned, rolled over on his belly, and studied Meg Corbyn.

Letter to My Sister by St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Categories: Dives and Lazarus, ROOT Challenge

Keywords: non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, religious life, medieval Europe, anchoresses, rule of life, mediation, the life of Christ

Towards the end of his life, St. Aelred of Rievaulx wrote his sister a rule for anchoresses at her request. Letter to My Sister is that rule and indeed is the only evidence we have that St. Aelred had a sister. After laying out a daily plan for female enclosed life, Aelred proceeds to provide a series of meditations on Christ's life, death, and resurrection.

There's a lovely metaphor about spiritual garments, but this will most likely only be of interest to medievalists and those interested in St. Aelred.

First Line: Let her now hear and understand me well, whoever she may be that forsakes this world and chooses the solitary life, desiring to be hidden and unseen; wishing as a body dead to this world to be buried in a cave with Christ.

The Land of the Five Flavors: A Cultural History of Chinese Cuisine by Thomas O. Höllmann

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, German non-fiction, food, history, culture, China

The Land of the Five Flavors is an accessible and highly readable academic history of the Chinese people and their food. Divided into chapters by focus (food, drink, cooking methods, eating culture, etc.), it doesn't go into histories of individual regional Chinese cuisines, but instead approaches the topic from the view of mainstream Chinese culture. I was reading this book at the same time as Fuchsia Dunlop's memoir Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, and found that they worked quite well together to produce a comprehensive portrait of Chinese cooking.

The formatting is a bit weird, in that quotes referenced in the text are set apart from the main body in dark text blocks, which makes it look like a textbook. I think this has to do with translating the book from German and adapting it to an English-language audience, but besides looking odd, it doesn't really have a negative effect.

Anyone with an interest in China, Chinese food, or just the relationship between food and culture in general should pick up this book. Highly recommended.

First Line: "If three is anything we {the Chinese} are serious about, it is not religion or learning, but food." In the 1930s, the Chinese writer Lin Yutang summed up the culinary aspirations of his fellow countrymen and women as a common denominator in his book My Country and My People (p.337).

Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, thriller, marathons, running, North Carolina, Atlanta, extramarital affairs, lies, secrets, isolation, doctors, medical emergencies, concussion, amnesia, questionable motives, vengeance, guilt

In Sandra Brown's latest thriller, Mean Streak, Emory goes for a weekend of solo training in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina to prepare for an upcoming marathon. Her marriage is on the rocks, but she doesn't let that get in the way of her running or her successful medical practice. But then after only a few hours on the trail, she wakes up with a concussion in a remote mountain cabin with a man who maintains he's so dangerous he won't giver her his name. How did she get there? Will the weather ever clear so she can get down the mountain? And just who is her mysterious rescuer? You'll have to read on to find out.

Pretty much every Sandra Brown novel follows the same basic plot outline, so I was trying to predict the plot twist from the beginning of the book. But naturally when the big reveal came at the end of the novel, I was way off the mark. A tight thriller about love, betrayal, and finding peace. For Sandra Brown fans or those who enjoy good thrillers.

First Line: Emory hurt all over.

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, China, food, travel, eating, cooking, cookbook writing, ethics of eating, food tampering, Sichuan, Hunan, Xinjiang

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper is Fuchia Dunlop's memoir of how she accidentally discovered her career as a Chinese food writer. From her beginnings as an impulse Chinese-language student to cooking student and cookbook writer, it is all here. There is also an interesting narrative about assimilation and third-culture-ism, as Dunlop begins to feel more Chinese and less British. Various regional cuisines and cultures of China are covered as are Dunlop's growing feelings of unease about the safety of the food she is eating and the ethics of eating endangered species. But the personal touch of a good memoir runs throughout.

For those who've enjoyed Dunlop's cookbooks, those interesting in China or Chinese food, or those who enjoy good memoirs. For those who want more, The Land of Five Flavors provides an academic view of Chinese eating that complements Dunlop's nicely.

First Line: The preserved duck eggs were served as an hors d'oeuvre in a fashionable Hong Kong restaurant, sliced in half, with a ginger-and-vinegar dip.

An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream

Series: Bess Crawford Mysteries (6/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, historical mystery, World War I, desertion, false accusations, murder, secrets

An Unwilling Accomplice finds Bess accused of helping a soldier desert, after he disappears while under her care and is later accused of killing a man. Naturally, she refuses to let her name be falsely attacked, and manages to get Simon to ferry her around rural England to get to the bottom of the mystery. Plot-wise, I thought this one was rather weak. Just when it felt like the tension between Bess and Simon was going somewhere in the last book, here it seems to be non-existant. But it's still worth reading for fans of the series.

First Line: I'd just brought a convoy of wounded back to England, and as I walked into Mrs. Henessey's house in the cool of early morning, I thought what a haven of tranquility it was.

La hermosa Señora: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe by Pat Mora^

Categories: Dives and Lazarus

Keywords: non-fiction, children's non-fiction, en Español, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, saints, apparition at Tepeyac, Mexico, family, traditions

An Unwilling Accomplice is a charming picture book telling the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadelupe with the frame story of a grandmother making paper flowers with her granddaughter and a friend. The illustrations are lovely and perfect for a storytelling session or reading aloud at home.

It was published simultaneously in English (as The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe) and Spanish, so there's an edition for everyone.

First Line: ¡Mira! ¡Ya acabé! — Dice Terry mientras muestra una radiante flor de papel rojo.

The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor: The Life of Christ Illuminated by Thomas A. Mathews

Categories: Fear a' Bhàta

Keywords: non-fiction, art, art history, Armenia, religion, Christianity

The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor is the exhibition catalogue for an exhibition of pages from the Gladzor Gospels that was held in Los Angeles to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Christianity in Armenia. The first 50-or-so pages describe the Gospels, their history, and their imagery. The rest is full of pretty pictures. And boy are they pretty.

For those who enjoy liturgical art, especially eastern-style and/or Armenian-style iconography.

First Line: Los Angeles has grown as a center for major art collections throughout the twentieth century, particularly in the last four decades.

A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee

Categories: Barbara Allen

Series: Mary Quinn Mysteries (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, YA, mystery, cozy mystery, historical fiction, Victorian Era, spies, smuggling, secrets, family, people of color, passing

A Spy in the House is the first Mary Quinn mystery, a historical series about a girl who is picked up out of the gutters of Victorian London and saved from a hanging in order to become a spy. The Agency, where she works takes advantage of the fact that society expects nothing from women to achieve their goals, so Mary's first position after she finishes school is that of a hired companion in a household that may be involved with insurance fraud, smuggling, or something quite worse. She's trying to stay under the radar, but James Fenton, whose brother is infatuated with Mary's charge, can't seem to stay away from her. Being a spy is harder than Mary thought, but with a bit of luck, surely she'll see things through.

An excellent start to what promises to be a good series. It's technically YA, but makes a great crossover read for those who like cozy mysteries, since the feel is very much the same. Highly recommended.

First Line: She should have been listening to the judge.

>117 inge87: Oh, that's a fun series! I liked the second book, The Body at the Tower, as well.

>118 christina_reads: I finished The Body at the Tower this morning (thank you library e-books) and enjoyed that as well. There's actually a forth book, Rivals in the City that's out in the UK now but won't come out until next spring on this side of the pond. I'm kind of excited.

September Round-Up!

Books Read: 23 (3 less than this month last year)

Category Challenge

150 of 168 read - 86.9% done (true total 212 books)

8 of 14 categories completed - 57.14% done

Individual Categories
1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 11 - 91.67% done
2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science - 11 - 91.67% done
3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy - 18 - 100% done
4. John Barleycorn: Food/Gardening - 6 - 50% done
5. The Skye Boat Song: History - 30 - 100% done
6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction - 16 - 100% done
7. Lady Franklin's Dream: Mysteries - 26 - 100% done
8. Fear a Bhata: Other Non-Fiction - 17 - 100% done
9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 16 - 100% done
10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion - 19 - 100% done
11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 10 - 83.33% done
12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel - 8 - 66.67% done
13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy - 16 - 100% done
14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy - 8 - 66.67% done

Challenges
GeoCAT - 4
ROOT Challenge - 1

Genre
Fiction - 14 - 60.87%
Non-Fiction - 9 - 39.13%

Sources
Austin PL (E-Book) - 14 - 60.87%
ILL - 3 - 13.03%
Work - 2 - 8.7%
Corsicana PL - 1 - 4.35%
Me (Acquired this month) - 1 - 4.35%
Me (Other) - 1 - 4.35%
Me (TBR) - 1 - 4.35%

Authors
Female - 13 - 58.62%
Male - 7 - 41.38%
Both - 1 - 0%

Edition Language
English - 22 - 93.94%
Spanish - 1 - 6.06%

Original Language
English - 19 - 82.61%
French - 1 - 4.35%
German - 1 - 4.35%
Japanese - 1 - 4.35%
Latin - 1 - 4.35%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 12 - 52.17%
Series Books - 11 - 47.83%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 1 - 4.35%
3 stars - 14 - 60.87%
4 stars - 7 - 30.43%
5 stars - 1 - 4.35%

Average Rating
3.35

Best of the Month



Fiction: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Non-Fiction: The Land of the Five Flavors: A Cultural History of Chinese Cuisine by Thomas O. Höllmann

Nice reading month and only slightly grudgingly taking the BB for the Lee series from you and Christina. Historical mysteries are a favorite read for me so no serious damage done. ;-)

>121 lkernagh: Thanks. Sorry about the BBs though. I'll try not to read such interesting books next month. The Lee books are quite good though.

Meet Atkins, he was a little heavy when he was picked up as a stray so someone at the animal shelter thought it would be funny to name him after the diet. I got him off death row a couple of weeks ago but you'd never know he was a hardened criminal if you met him—unless obsessively wanting to cuddle is a crime. Officially he's a six-year-old fox terrier mix, but on the inside he's very much a hound. The local squirrels and the neighbor's cat have all been put on notice.



Plus he has spotted paws! So cute!

>123 inge87: - Oh, lookit that smile on Atkins' face! He looks so eager to please. Very happy to see you saved him from death row.

Awww look at that face! What a cutie!

Adorable!!!!! Congrats on getting a new best friend!

>124 lkernagh: Thanks! I live in a semi-rural area with low adoption rates and lots of stray animals, so I try to do my part. Atkins was picked up as a stray, but he was clearly someone's couch potato at one point, since he was not only neutered but also appeared accustomed to being fed from the table :(. I try not to think about how traumatizing being lost and then stuck at the animal shelter for three months must have been for him.

>125 rabbitprincess: And he knows it too!

>126 -Eva-: Thanks!

The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee

Categories: Barbara Allen

Series: Mary Quinn Mysteries (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, YA, mystery, cozy mystery, historical fiction, Victorian Era, London, spies, secrets, family, people of color, passing, construction, blackmail, corruption

The Body at the Tower finds Mary disguising herself as a boy and investigating mysterious occurrences at the construction site where they are building the new parliament building (today's Big Ben). Naturally, she bumps into and collaborates with James, who is inspecting the construction site for the government. And tensions are building at the Agency about the direction to take the organization, with Mary right at the center.

Poor Mary, things never seem to go her way, but as always she manages to figure things out in the end.

First Line: A sobbing man huddles at a narrow ledge, clawing at his eyes to shield them from the horror far below.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Categories: Lay of Nimrodel

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, Los Angeles, rotary phones, relationships, marriage, love, borderline-fantasy on the magical realism side of things, second chances

Landline is a tale of second chances and the magic of rotary phones. Georgie is a writer on a hit television series, but she and her partners have finally gotten the chance to write their own show. The only problem is that they need to have several scripts ready for a pitch by December 26th, and Georgie is supposed to go with her husband and daughters to Nebraska to visit his parents. This is a once in a lifetime experience, so she stays home while everyone else heads to the airport. It probably also marks the end of her marriage, since Neil doesn't seem to want to take her calls. And to make things worse, her dies and she ends up having to dig an old phone out of a box at her mother's to call Nebraska. Only the Neil who picks up isn't the one who just left, it's almost like he's someone else entirely.

Despite the setting, this is not a magic of Christmas story (thank goodness!), instead it's about love and life choices and the power of a grand statement. Highly recommended.

First Line: Georgie pulled into the driveway, swerving to miss a bike.

And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle*

Categories: Barbara Allen

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, YA, post-war, Swiss boarding school, teenaged girls, Bildungsroman, self-acceptance, skiing, family, art, relationships, wwii, trauma, proto-YA

And Both Were Young is the tale of Philippa, a rather unhappy girl whose mother died tragically in a car accident a year earlier and whose father is being perused (in Philippa's mind at least) by Mrs. Jackman, who would really like Philippa out of the way. The result is that Philippa is sent to a Swiss boarding school while her father travels to work on illustrations for a book (he's an artist). She immediately finds herself out of her depth and having no tolerance for the teasing of her schoolmates, self-ostracizes herself. Her only joy is her illegal friendship of Paul, a French boy who is living nearby with his father. But gradually, with a little luck and a few shoves from a favorite teacher, she comes into her own to find her place at school and in the process finds herself as well.

This is one of my favorite novels. For whatever reason, it always leaves me feeling warm and happy inside. Originally published in a rather bowdlerized version in 1949, it was rewritten and republished in a form closer to the original manuscript in 1983. The novel is set in the late 1940s, so there are lots of interesting references to life in postwar Europe. Highly recommended who loves a good story, boarding school fiction, or Madeleine L'Engle.

First Line: "Where are you going, Philippa?" Mrs. Jackman asked sharply as Flip turned away from the group of tourists standing about in the cold hall of the château Chillon.

The Tamarack Tree: A Novel of the Siege of Vicksburg by Patricia Clapp

Categories: Barbara Allen

Keywords: fiction, YA, American fiction, historical fiction, American Civil War, Vicksburg, Siege of Vicksburg, immigrants, outsiders, slavery, abolition, survival, proto-YA

The Tamarack Tree is, as the subtitle would suggest, a young adult novel about life in Vicksburg during the American Civil War. Rosemary leaves her home in London to join her brother and uncle in Vicksburg, Mississippi, after the death of her mother leaves her orphaned. It's 1860, so she's just in time to makes some friends, fall in love with a Yankee, and experience the Civil War. The bulk of the book is dedicated to her experiences in besieged Vicksburg, and the author does a good job making history painless and compelling.

The bit about the Southern girl separated from her Yankee true love is about as old as the Civil War, but it's not too ridiculous here. Rosemary's position as an outsider in Mississippi society also allows the author to teach the readers without interrupting the narrative flow. It's been out of print since forever, but worth picking up if you happen to bump into a copy.

First Line: I was thirteen when Mama died, fourteen when Derek and I arrived in the States.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen+

Categories: Sally in our Alley, ROOT Challenge

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, romance, Jane Austen, Gothic novels, parody, questionable relatives, misunderstandings, Bath

Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest works, although it was only published after her death in 1817. It's reputation is that it is a spoof of Gothic novels such as those by Ann Radcliffe; however, that part is really only around thirty pages towards the end of the book when Catherine visits Northanger Abbey. The rest of the book is more typical Austen social commentary, with Catherine, the daughter of a curate, visiting Bath with family friends, meeting people, and falling in love. As always, the heroine makes the wrong kind of friends but ends up with the right ones.

This isn't the best of Austen's novels (that would be either Persuasion or Sense & Sensibility in my book), but it may not be the worst one either.

First Line: No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

Why Earls Fall in Love by Manda Collins

Categories: Lady Franklin's Lament

Series: The Wicked Widows (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Bath, blackmail, murder, spousal abuse

Why Earls Fall in Love is the second book of a trilogy, but it can be read successfully out of order. Isabella, Georgiana, and Perdita were all involved with the accidental death of Perdita's husband while he was trying to kill her. Authorities have never identified them with the incident, but someone else has and is willing to make their lives miserable in order to get revenge.

This time it's Georgiana's turn. An officer's widow due to the Napoleonic Wars, she is not particularly sad to see him go, since he was fond of beating and generally degrading her. So imagine her surprise and dismay when it appears that he has followed her to Bath, where she is working as a lady's companion. Luckily her employer's nephew (who played a minor by key role in book 1) is willing to help. Especially when their investigation turns up a body. Will they be able to figure out who Georgiana's blackmailer is in time, or will she end up as dead as the man on the opera house roof?

An excellent mystery. Much better than the cover or title would suggest.

First Line: “It’s extraordinarily ugly, isn’t it?” Mrs. Georgina Mowbray asked her friend, and fellow army widow, Mrs. Lettice Stowe, as they stood before the latest painting to have taken Bath by storm in the fashionable Messrs. Oliver and McHenry Art Gallery in Clarges Street.

The Traitor and the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee

Categories: Barbara Allen, RandomCAT

Series: Mary Quinn Mysteries (3/?)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, historical fiction, mystery, London, Buckingham Palace, Queen Victoria, murder, racism, conspiracies

The Traitor and the Tunnel is the third Mary Quinn mystery and finds her working a job at Buckingham Palace while everyone's favorite engineer is improving the sewers. Although she is supposed to be investigating a string of petty thefts in the palace, intrigue surrounding the Prince of Wales soon grabs her attention, and it appears she may be closer than ever to discovering the truth about her father. James' presence proves important when it appears that Mary's new query is using the sewer tunnels for their own nefarious purposes. Closer to home, Mary finally decides to come clean to James about her past, and the Agency appears to be coming apart at the seams. Just what does Mary's future hold? Only time will tell.

Originally this was supposed to be the end of the trilogy; however, there is a fourth book that is already out in the UK and will be published in the US and Canada in early 2015.

First Line: The old man was all but barefoot, with only a mismatched pair of leather flaps, much eroded by time and wear, bound to his feet with strips of rags.

Why Dukes Say I Do by Manda Collins

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: The Wicked Widows (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, mystery, romance, Yorkshire, blackmail, murder, family, spousal abuse

Dukes Say I Do is the first book of a trilogy about three women, Isabella, Georgiana, and Perdita, who were all involved with the accidental death of Perdita's husband while he was trying to kill her. Authorities have never identified them with the incident, but someone else has and is willing to make their lives miserable in order to get revenge.

Isabella's story is first. Perdita's elder sister and the widow of a rather awful Earl. She has focused all her energies on her sister's happiness. So when her godmother, the Dowager Duchess of Ormond, threatens to ruin Perdita's engagement to a man who will treat her well unless she manages to get her grandson, the new Duke of Ormond to visit her in London. But he is notoriously rustic and wants nothing to do with the City. So Isabella must go to him in Yorkshire, but someone else has gone there too. Someone who wants her dead and is willing to do anything to achieve their goal. It will be up to Isabella and the Duke to find the culprit(s) before they find her.

Not quite as good as Why Earls Fall in Love, but a fun regency romp none the same.

First Line: "You cannot simply insist I travel to the wilds of Yorkshire to fetch your errant grandson, Godmama," Lady Isabella Wharton said with a nervous laugh.

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, historical fiction, Georgian Era, kidnapping, romance, highwaymen, rakes, scandals, card-cheating, guilt, family, friendship

The Black Moth is Georgette Heyer's first novel, a Georgian melodrama of card cheats, rakehells, family guilt, and highwaymen. Years after Jack Carstares fled England after being accused of cheating at cards, he has returned and is acting as a highwayman, robbing the rich to feed the poor. Until he rescues the beautiful Diana from an attacker set on her virtue. Meanwhile, his brother Dick can't get over what happened with Jack all those years ago and lets his wife and her brothers drive him ragged. But the Black Moth refuses to believe that his chances with Diana are over and Jack may be forced to accept his legacy once and for all.

A fun lark of a novel. Highly recommended.

First Line: Clad in his customary black and silver, with raven hair unpowdered and elaborately dressed, diamonds on his fingers and in his cravat, Hugh Tracy Clare Belmanoir, Duke of Andover, sat at the escritoire in the library of his town house, writing.

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Series: Noctis Magicae (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, fantasy, historical fantasy, alternative Britain, magic, Oxford, Brittany, London, conspiracies, death, lies, family, romance

The Midnight Queen is a charming historical fantasy set in a world in which many people have magical talents and Britain rules a kingdom without Scotland or Ireland but with territory in France. Gray Marshall is minding his own business as a scholarship student at Merlin College, Oxford, when he is dragged into events that he does not understand and ends up losing his magic and being blamed for the death of a fellow student. His punishment is to spend long vacation with his professor in Brittany. There he meets the middle daughter, Sophia, who secretly studies magic at night because her father would never allow her to do it openly. But even without his magic Gray can see that there is more to Sophie than meets the eye. Which becomes important when the events in Oxford follow him to Brittany and he and Sophie need to flee. Because the Oxford conspirators are merely small fish, and their friends have much grander plans that threaten the entire kingdom.

A fantastical adventure through a pseudo-Regency Britain. It will be interesting to see where the author takes the series. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

First Line: It was his own fault entirely, Gray reflected later.

A fantastical adventure through a pseudo-Regency Britain

SOLD! Sounds like a fun read!

ETA: I have just requested it for my local library. I am shocked they don't have a copy!

>138 lkernagh: Admittedly The Midnight Queen has only been out for around a month, so it makes since that your library doesn't have it yet, but if/when they get it, it's totally worth picking up.

>137 inge87: Oh, I liked The Midnight Queen a lot too! And I may have to check out that Manda Collins series as well now. :)

>140 christina_reads: The Collins books are fun. There is a romance element, but the mystery element is the meat of the plot, especially in Why Earls Fall in Love.

A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam by Norman Lewis

Categories: Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen

Keywords: non-fiction, travel, French Indochina, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, war, upheaval, rebellion, nationalism, colonialism, military rule, hill tribes, Việt Minh

A Dragon Apparent is Lewis' account of his travels in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the dying days of French Indochina. Although he doesn't realize it, he is writing about a world that will be completely destroyed not long after his visit. Already, you can watch it teeter in the text: trips that are impossible due to bandits or rebels; the constant military presence; the sheer inequality between foreigner and native. However, there is also a great deal of beauty. Lewis travels to Angkor and up through the highlands of Laos. There is also a very interesting depiction of a Cao Dai temple in Vietnam. What is missing, and even Lewis himself admits this, is real contact with the political opposition. Most of the book is spent in the company of various French officers. It is only at the very end that he finally manages to visit a Việt Minh encampment, where one officer makes a telling remark about how their enemies are "slowly converting {them} to communism". There are also full page black and white photographs scattered throughout the book and a truly handy map of his journeys at the beginning.

For anyone interested in the history of Southeast Asia or who enjoys interesting travel memoirs.

First Line: Indo-China lies immediately to the south of China proper and to the east of Burma and Siam.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven—But Never Dreamed of Asking by Peter Kreeft+

Categories: Dives and Lazarus, ROOT Challenge

Keywords: non-fiction, religion, Christianity, philosophy, the afterlife, heaven, salvation

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven is exactly what the title suggests: a philosophical attempt at describing the afterlife. The beginning is very accessible and the end is interesting, but the middle was a bit too full of philosophical theory for me. But with everything from whether animals join their masters in heaven to theories on how eternity in heaven works, there's something for everyone. For those interesting in the subject.

First Line: "Will my dead cat be alive in heaven?"

Beyond Sing the Woods by Trygve Gulbranssen

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: Bjørndal Trilogy (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, Norwegian fiction, historical fiction, rural life, hardship, jealousy, greed, love, family

Beyond Sing the Woods (Og bakom synger skogene) is a historical novel set in the mid-to-late 1700s about a family living in the distant reaches of rural Norway. Life is hard and the prejudice of the townsfolk towards the family even harder. But that doesn't stop them from trying to prove themselves and improve their stations—or from managing to attract good women to their side. But times are changing and it seems that the old ways are falling by the wayside, will the family be able to hold it together or will they fall prey to their weaknesses. Only time will tell.

An interesting novel of historical Norway, apparently Gulbranssen was the fourth-bestselling author in the world at one point before the Second World War. This style of novel has been rather out of style for the past several decades, but if you bump into a copy, it's worth picking up.

First Line: The crags above the depths of Maiden Valley were deepening to blue and their lines softening in the raw air of the autumn evening.

Strangled in Paris by Claude Izner

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, MysteryCAT

Series: Victor Legris (6/?)

Keywords: fiction, French fiction, historical fiction, mystery, Paris, murder, shipwreck, devotion, betrayal, family, secrets, love

Strangled in Paris (Le talisman de la Villette) is a historical mystery set in Paris in 1894. This is the sixth book of a series by a pair of sisters writing as Claude Izner, I hadn't read the rest of the series, but didn't feel I was missing too much by not having read the previous books.

Victor Legris is supposed to be running a Paris bookstore, but he finds he would rather spend time with his photography and his new wife. Then an old adversary asks him to look into the disappearance of a friend of his mistress, and he finds himself back at detecting despite his best efforts. Paris may be the city of love, but it is also a city of hate, and a few men have earned the hatred of someone very dangerous indeed. Will Victor find the murderer before he strikes again, or will some secrets remain hidden. One must read on and find out!

The authors really manage to capture the gritty feel of turn of the century Paris, I'm planning on finding a copy of the first book (Murder on the Eiffel Tower) to catch up on what I've missed.

First Line: The storm was battering the Normandy coast.

Silence For the Dead by Simone St. James

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel, MysteryCAT

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, urban fantasy, horror, historical fiction, Gothic fiction, WWI, hospital, ghosts, possession, secrets, madness, domestic violence

Silence For the Dead is an historical urban fantasy set in 1919 Britain. Kitty is running from her past and manages to lie her way into a nurse's position at a remote mental hospital for veterans (who mostly have what we'd now call PTSD). But it is soon clear to her that something is very, very wrong there. Just what happened to the family that owned the house before it became a hospital, and what does this have to do with the suicide attempts and nightmares that everyone is having. Sometimes the past refuses to stay there, and Kitty and her friends are about to learn this the hard way, as a ghostly evil draws ever nearer.

A fun Gothic fantasy with horror overtones. There's a bit of insta-love, but the characters are engaging and the mystery compelling. I wouldn't want to stay at that hospital, that's for sure.

First Line: Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow.

Heaven and Earth in Little Space: The Re-enchantment of Liturgy by Andrew Burnham

Categories: Dives and Lazarus

Keywords: non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Anglicanism, Catholicism, Anglo-Catholicism, liturgy, liturgical reform, liturgical renewal, Vatican II

Heaven and Earth in Little Space discusses the changes in liturgy in the Church of England and the Catholic Church, the effects of these changes, and how further changes may be beneficial. The author, an Anglican bishop, is very much of the reform of the reform school. It is very interesting to get a non-Catholic viewpoint that nevertheless manages to understand and recognize the various Catholic positions on these issues.

First Line: A persistent counterpoint of this book is the way in which the practice of Anglicanism, and in particular of the Church of England, throws light on the Latin Rite and on issues of revision and reform.

>145 inge87: Ouch, ouch, ouch. That's another book bullet.

>145 inge87: I have a copy of Murder on the Eiffel Tower if you want it.

>148 MissWatson: I guess I should roll out some caution tape.

>149 rabbitprincess: Thanks, that would be great! I'll PM you my address.

Great! I'll mail it out this weekend. I'm glad it will be going to a good home.

>150 inge87: Ah, the damage is done, and partly self-inflicted. I keep coming back for more...

>151 rabbitprincess: I promise to take excellent care of it. Especially since it fits next month's MysteryCAT challenge.

>152 MissWatson: Well, at least now no one can say they weren't warned! :)

The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, MysteryCAT

Series: Makana Mysteries (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, Sudanese fiction, Cairo, Egypt, mystery, private investigator, missing persons, murder, kidnapping, exiles, gangsters, power, wealth, corruption, truth

The Golden Scales is the first Makana mystery (there are three books total so far) about a Sudanese police inspector living on the margins of society in exile in Cairo. When someone gives his name to a powerful businessman, he can't refuse the money, even though it's obvious that he's not being told everything. But the star player of the mogul's team has gone missing, and he wants Makana to find him. Then an Englishwoman he met in passing at a restaurant is found dead, and he beings to connect the dots between a long missing girl, a poor boy, and a gangster feud gone very, very bad. But what can Makana do but trudge onward, even when it appears that an old enemy in Sudan may have finally decided to do away with him at last.

A gritty, realistic account of Cairo life circa 1998 (the book is set in the aftermath of the 1997 Luxor Massacre). Makana is the classic honorable sleuth with a dark past who doesn't know when to stop. I look forward to reading the next book and seeing what else life has in store for our intrepid detective.

First Line: The bright light struck her full in the eyes and for an instant she was blinded, as if struck by some ancient curse.

I picked up the first three Makana Mysteries for the Kindle on a daily deal so I am very happy to hear that you liked the first book.

>155 DeltaQueen50: I look forward to reading your thoughts about The Golden Scales when you get to it. It was grittier than I expected, but still very good.

The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup, and One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest by Douglas Whynott

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die

Keywords: non-fiction, food, maple syrup, sugaring, weather, New England, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Quebec

The Sugar Season is a book about maple sap harvesters and how their tree lots and companies fare over a years time. I thought it was pretty forgettable. It wasn't really about maple sap/sugar/syrup at all, but rather about the perils of business, which was not what I was expecting.

First Line: Though it was January and well ahead of the time when sap normally runs in the maple trees in New Hampshire and Vermont, the weather was warm and the trees were beginning to stir.

The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, GeoCAT

Keywords: fiction, Indian fiction, Guyana, travel, dialect

The Sly Company of People Who Care is a book about an Indian cricket reporter who decides to move to Guyana and spends a lot of time traveling around and talking in Guyanese dialect. The book has won/been shortlisted for a bunch of awards, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. Highly skippable.

First Line: Life, as we know, is a living, shrinking affair, and somewhere down the line I became taken with the idea that man and his world should be renewed on a daily basis.

We had a rather exciting mail day on Monday here at Chez Jennifer (I plead grad school homework for the delay on this great news). Murder on the Eiffel Tower had made its way all the way from Canada as well as Cunegonde's Kidnapping: A Story of Religious Conflict in the Age of Enlightenment and The Golden City from BookDepository. It was a good day to like books!



And a big thank you to rabbitprincess for sending me her copy of Murder on the Eiffel Tower! It looks like it will make great homework procrastination reading.

The Duchess Hunt by Jennifer Haymore

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: House of Trent (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, Regency era, romance, missing persons, blackmail, illegitimacy, class differences, family

The Duchess Hunt is a fun Regency romance with a mystery subplot. Sarah has been happily growing up with and then working for the Hawkins family since she was a child. Then one day family matriarch the Dowager Duchess of Trent, goes missing in the middle of the night. Her son calls the family together and suddenly Sarah finds herself promoted from housemaid to lady's companion to the duke's young sister Esme. She also finds herself falling in love with her old childhood hero—but a gardener's daughter has no hope with a duke, and secrets from his family's past may put him beyond her reach forever. But nothing is gained without trying, and Sarah is certainly willing to try.

A quality read. The search for the duchess continues in the next Trent book, about troubled second son, Luke.

First Line: Sarah Osborne had only lived at Ironwood Park for a few days, but she already loved it.

The Rogue's Proposal by Jennifer Haymore

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: House of Trent (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, Regency era, romance, missing persons, financial ruin, family, fraud, child abuse, secrets

The Rogue's Proposal is the second book in the Trent series. Luke is in Bristol looking for the man last seen with his mother, when he is approached at an inn by a mysterious woman in half-mourning, who is looking for the same person—he murdered her husband and stole her father's money. Together Luke and Emma team up and cross the Isle of Britain as they uncover what turns out to be a slippery and dangerous man. Just what could the duchess want with such a man? And will the secrets they both share unite them or tear them apart. Only time will tell.

First Line: Lord Lukas Hawkins wasn't drunk enough.

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley

Categories: The Lay of Nimrodel

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, Italy, actresses, missing persons, ghosts, mediums, jealousy, murder, actors, guilt, romance

Season of Storms finds Celia Sands uncomfortably accepting the leading role in a supposedly cursed play that her mentor/foster father is directing in Italy. Decades earlier another Celia Sands was supposed to take on the role only to disappear the night before the play opened. When modern Celia arrives at the estate where the play is to be staged, she immediately senses that something more is going on here. She also has to deal with her uncomfortable relationship with her mother and the potential for love with the estate's owner (the playwright's grandson). Just what happened to the first Celia? Was the play plagiarized from a lost source? And will Celia the Second live long enough to see the curtain rise? One must read on to find out.

I really enjoyed this one. It had the perfect amount of Gothic mystery to accompany the family issues and the budding romance. Plus the twist at the end is perfect. Highly recommended for Kearsley fans or who those who enjoy romance with slight hints of the paranormal.

First Line: "It isn't me he wants, it's just the name," I said to Rupert.

October Round-Up!

Books Read: 22 (5 less than last year)

Category Challenge

157 of 168 read - 93.45% done (true total 234 books)

10 of 14 categories completed - 71.43% done

Individual Categories
1. Sally in our Alley: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 12 - 100% done
2. Sumer is icumen in: Ecology/Environmental Science - 11 - 91.67% done
3. The Lay of Nimrodel: Fantasy - 21 - 100% done
4. John Barleycorn: Food/Gardening - 7 - 58.33% done
5. The Skye Boat Song: History - 30 - 100% done
6. Roads to Moscow: Historical Fiction - 21 - 100% done
7. Lady Franklin's Dream: Mysteries - 29 - 100% done
8. Fear a Bhata: Other Non-Fiction - 17 - 100% done
9. Who Knows Where the Time Goes?: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 17 - 100% done
10. Dives and Lazarus: Religion - 21 - 100% done
11. Turn! Turn! Turn!: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 10 - 83.33% done
12. Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen: Travel - 9 - 75% done
13. Tam Lin: YA Fantasy - 16 - 100% done
14. Barbara Allen: YA Non-Fantasy - 12 - 100% done

Challenges
GeoCAT - 1
ROOT Challenge - 2

Genre
Fiction - 18 - 81.81%
Non-Fiction - 4 - 18.19%

Sources
Austin PL (E-Book) - 7 - 31.8%
ILL - 4 - 18.2%
Me (Acquired this month) - 4 - 18.2%
Work - 3 - 13.6%
Me (TBR) - 2 - 9.1%
Corsicana PL - 1 - 4.55%
Me (Reread) - 1 - 4.55%

Authors
Female - 11 - 57.89%
Male - 7 - 36.85%
Two Women/One Pseudonym - 1 - 5.26%
Both - 0 - 0%

Edition Language
English - 22 - 100%

Original Language
English - 20 - 90.9%
Norwegian - 1 - 4.55%
French - 1 - 4.55%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 12 - 54.55%
Series Books - 10 - 45.45%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 2 - 9.1%
3 stars - 12 - 54.55%
4 stars - 7 - 31.8%
5 stars - 1 - 4.55%

Average Rating
3.32

Best of the Month



Fiction: Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley

Non-Fiction Heaven and Earth in Little Space: The Re-enchantment of Liturgy by Andrew Burnham

The Susanna Kearsley novels are on my radar screen so happy to see Season of Storms was a good read!

>164 lkernagh: Season of Storms was quite good. I can definitely recommend it, although it lacks some of the hallmarks of her more recent work (i.e. no one travels through time, has memories of living in another time, etc.).

Why Lords Lose Their Hearts by Manda Collins

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: The Wicked Widows (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, romance, mystery, Regency era, blackmail, murder, kidnapping, family, domestic violence

Why Lords Lose Their Hearts is the final novel in the Wicked Widows trilogy, so we finally find out who is behind all the mayhem of the fist two books. But not before someone tries to kill/frighten Perdita several times. Because it was her husband whose died, so she has to suffer the most. Her late husband's secretary, Lord Archer Lisle, has been attracted to her for years, but she is afraid of committing. So when she refuses to leave London in spite of the dangers lurking there, he must take matter into his own hands.

The one major sticking point for me was that people kept telling Perdita that if she married Lord Archer, she lose her title and become a mere "Mrs.". But that's utter nonsense—she'd become Lady Archer Lisle, just like Prince Michael of Kent's wife is Princess Michael of Kent. Please authors do your research.

First Line: "A pair of prime goers, Lord Archer. The best I've ever seen at Tattersall's."

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: Spindle Cove (3/4)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, romance, Regency era, family, inheritance, foundlings, secrets

A Lady by Midnight is the third Spindle Cove novel, about people in a village where women go to get away from the pressures of London society. Kate is the local music teacher, a founding who has no memory of the family that lost her. Until one day some people show up claiming to be her cousins. Corporal Thorne of the local militia (see A Night to Surrender to find out more about that), has his reasons for wanting to keep Kate safe and he claims to be her fiance to protect her from her "family". Normally the two can't stand each other, but faking engagements has a way of revealing secrets and bringing adversaries together. Which is good, because neither Kate nor Throne are who they seem, and they'll need both their strength to make it through the next couple of weeks.

Tessa Dare is definitely one of the rising stars of historical romance. The books in the Spindle Cove series (four novels and two novellas) can stand alone on their own merits but the things do make more sense if you read the first book first.

First Line: Corporal Thorne could make a woman quiver, from all the way across the room.

Once Upon a Winter's Eve by Tessa Dare

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: Spindle Cove (1.5/4)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, romance, Regency era, secrets, Christmas, party crashers

Once Upon a Winter's Eve is a Christmas novella in the Spindle Cove series that takes place between books one and two. Violet Winterbottom has come to Spindle Cove to escape, "The Disappointment". She's happiest with her back against the wall at balls, and the Spindle Cove militia ball is no exception. Even though her family has sent a carriage to take her back to London the next day and made it clear that her husband-hunting will start in earnest in the Spring. But all that changes when a half-frozen stranger speaking only Breton finds his way to the ball and collapses on her lap. She's the only one who can communicate with him, and she can't help feeling she knows him from somewhere. Is he truly a French spy, or something very different. Suffice to say, Christmas is going to be much more exciting than Violet planned.

A charming, well-paced novella. The perfect thing to put you in the Christmas spirit, no matter the season.

First Line: In December of 1813, the officers' ball had a profund effect on Spindle Cove's economy.

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline

Categories: The Skye Boat Song

Keywords: non-fiction, ancient history, fall of civilizations, Eastern Mediterranean, Sea People, Egypt, Hittite Empire, Canaan, Minoan Civilization, Mycenae, Mitanni Empire, Babylonia, trade, drought, earthquakes, rebellions, mysteries of history

1177 BC is not really about 1177 BC, that's just a symbolic year. It's really about the decline of an interconnected culture of Mediterranean kingdoms, and why they collapsed at around the same time around 1200 BC. On that front it's an interesting book, but it's not particularly compelling. Suffice to say, it's not all Sea People, not that anyone's particularly sure who the Sea People were to begin with.

I almost bought this earlier in the year, but I ended up getting Tambora instead. Having finally gotten a copy of 1177 BC via interlibrary loan, I can't say I regret that decision. Definitely one to browse through before buying or to get from the library, unless you're an absolute devotee of ancient Mediterranean history.

First Line: The warriors entered the world scene and moved rapidly, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

The Scoundrel's Seduction by Jennifer Haymore

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: House of Trent (3/3)

Keywords:fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, romance, Regency era, spies, secrets, Napoleonic Wars

The Scoundrel's Seduction is the final House of Trent novel. It's the story of Sam, the eldest, illegitimate Hawkins brother. Having left the army due to a war injury, he now does more covert work for the government. When the wife of a traitor accidentally witnesses Sam doing away with the man, he has no option but to take her with him. He's already lost two wives and has no desire for a third, but Elise may just make him change his mind. If she can ever bring herself to tell him what she knows. In the process of running from their mutual enemies the two accidentally stumble upon what else but the trail of his missing mother. Some journeys get more exciting as they go along.

I'm rather sad it's all over, because I was hoping that Esme would get a book, but maybe she'll get a novella, after all, she's already written several herself.

First Line: Samson Hawkins eyed the chamber of his pistol, then lowered it to his lap, glancing at the lad sitting beside him in the unmoving carriage.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō

Categories: Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen

Keywords: non-fiction, travel, memoir, translation, Japan, haibun, poetry, friendship, life on the road

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches is a Penguin Classics anthology of five travel pieces written by the 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō. They are written in the haibun style, which is a Japanese literary form combining poetry and prose in a single narrative. There is quite a lot of history here and interesting scenery to contemplate, as Bashō does quite often. I rather think it might have been fun to join him on the way.

For fans of travel literature, Japanese history and culture, or poetry. Highly recommended.

First Line: Following the example of the ancient priest who is said to have travelled thousands of miles caring naught for his provisions and attaining the state of sheer ecstasy under the pure beams of the moon, I left my broken house on the Rive Sumida in the August of the first year of Jyōkyō among the wails of the autumn wind.

The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson

Categories: Barbara Allen

Keywords: fiction, juvenile fiction, historical fiction, Russian exiles, life below stairs, romance, eugenics, ableism

The Secret Countess (original title: A Countess Below Stairs) is a historical fairy tale set in post-WWI England. Anna and her family are Russian nobles now living destitute in London after the Revolution. She's managed to find a sponsor for her brother to attend school, but she's determined to find a way to help her family without resorting to charity. So she takes a position as a domestic servant even though she has no experience with serving, only with being served. She has no experience, but what she lacks in knowledge she makes up in zeal and good-heartedness. So naturally, when she meets the estate's owner, an earl, she manages to win him over too. Except that he's already engaged to be married so that he'll have the money he needs to save his home. Never mind that anyone with eyes can see that it will be a disaster. But perhaps both his and Anna's run of bad luck will finally run out in time for everyone to be saved.

A charming not-quite-YA historical. It can absolutely be read and enjoyed by adults, but the plot lacks a certain sophistication that places it squarely in the field of juvenile literature. But for those who love a good historical novel about White Russian exiles or set in the interwar era, you'll probably want to pick this one up.

First Line: In the fabled, glittering world that was St. Petersburg before the First World War there lived, in an ice-blue palace overlooking the river Neva, a family on whom the gods seemed to have lavished their gifts with an almost comical abundance.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner

Categories: Lady Franklin's Dream, MysteryCAT

Series: Victor Legris (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, French fiction, historical fiction, mystery, Paris, murder, Paris Exposition, Eiffel Tower, fake bee-stings, newspapers, booksellers

Murder on the Eiffel Tower (Mystère rue des Saints-Pères) is the first Victor Legris mystery, written by a pair of French bookseller sisters under a pseudonym. Victor is part owner of a bookshop but his heart is not necessarily in it. Instead his mind is split between a series of seemingly random murders disguised as allergic reaction to bee stings and a beautiful Russian artist who works at a paper to make ends meet. Toss in a mysterious Japanese business partner, an obnoxious assistant, and some boisterous newspaper men, and you have a mystery.

This is very much a first book, so there's lots of focus on characters and perhaps not enough on the actual mystery. But it's hardly the only book with that problem (Maisie Dobbs, I'm looking at you). For fans of French history, historical mysteries, or contemporary French literature.

First Line: Storm clouds raced over the barren plain between the fortifications and the goods station at Les Batignolles, where the scrubby grass smelled unpleasantly of sewers.

Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon by Cindy Ott

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die

Keywords: non-fiction, history, American history, cultural history, pumpkins, cultural memory, farming, nostalgia, pumpkin patches

Did you know that there is no evidence that the pilgrims at pumpkins at Thanksgiving? Have you ever wondered why everyone starts craving pumpkin the moment the wind shifts and the leaves start turning?

Then Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon is the book for you. A cultural history of the pumpkin from the first colonists to present day, it covers the evolution of the pumpkin from marginalized animal feed to Fall icon. A rather vague term describing some varieties of winter squash, pumpkins were considered a sign of country backwardness and female promiscuity only to gradually be caught up in a kind of nostalgia for life on the New England farm in the middle of the 19th century. From there changes in American agriculture made pumpkins a rare source of potential income for small farmers as pumpkin patches became a seasonal must do, even in areas such as the Southeast, where pumpkins do not grow well.

A fascinating story of a lowly fruit that took over a season and made it its own. Highly recommended for those with an interest in American cultural history, the study of food, or pumpkins in general.

First Line: It was most likely cold that day in November 1621 when English colonists and resident Indians gathered to celebrate the newcomers' first successful harvest in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at a fête that Americans now commemorate as the first Thanksgiving.

Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread by Mary Jane Hathaway

Categories: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Series: Jane Austen Takes the South (3/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, Southern fiction, Christian fiction, Mississippi, Persuasion, Jane Austen, doctors, archivists, Civil War reinactors, awkward breakups, family

Persuasion, Captain Wentworth and Cracklin' Cornbread is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion set in modern-day Tupelo, Mississippi. Lucy is an archivist who spends most of her day either thinking about the Civil War or trying to figure out how to save her family from itself. Nothing has been the same since her mother died, and now she is afraid they are about to lose the house her family has lived for 150 years to creditors. Then her meddling aunt connects her to the Tupelo Free Clinic, which is looking for a bigger facility. The back part of Lucy's family home would do nicely and more than pay off the mortgages. The only problem is that with the clinic comes its newest doctor, Jem Chevy. Eight years ago, Lucy's family made her break up with him. After all, they are from an old established black family, and he is a white boy from the trailer park.

But now that the tables are turned, will Lucy and Jem find a way to be together or are the events of the past destined to tear them apart? I think everyone knows the answer to that question, but the journey is still worth it.

A fun Austen retelling, this is quality Christian fiction, not the kind with random Bible verses, come-to-Jesus moments, and talk of "baby Christians", but the kind with characters who happen to be Christian and who attempt to follow their faith through the trials of everyday existence. In short, it's not preachy at all and perfect for Jane Austen lovers everywhere, whether Christian or not.

First Line: "This is an effort to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose."

I wanted Victor to spend more time at the bookshop! It sounded fantastic.

>176 rabbitprincess: Yes, so did I, because I was hoping for more authors to put on my "check this one out" list. Maybe in the next volumes?

>176 rabbitprincess: I'm fairly sure that we'd enjoy Victor's life much more than Victor does.

>177 MissWatson: I know that he's still working there in book six, so hopefully they'll be more "book time" in the other books.

Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

Categories: Fear a' Bhàta

Keywords: non-fiction, medicine, health, end of life, difficult questions, life decisions, death, dying, hospice, assisted living, nursing homes, illness, aging, gerontology

Being Mortal is a remarkable, necessary book about death. Modern society does not like to think about death and wants to put it off for as long as possible. And doctors have not been trained in the best ways to discuss such an uncomfortable, but important topic. Gawande, a surgeon, shows that a few important decisions can make the process easier and more humane for both the patient and his family. For obvious reasons, hospices and their philosophy of care play a major role. There is also a very important chapter on nursing homes, which was particularly relevant to me since my mother has what is essentially early onset Alzheimer's and will soon need to enter care.

Everyone is going to die at some point, and Gawande makes good points that could improve many lives. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in health and end of life care.

First Line: I learned about a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn't one of them.

>179 inge87:
Definitely on the wishlist!

>180 -Eva-: It's a good book. Hopefully you'll like it.

>172 inge87: Oh, I LOVE Eva Ibbotson! As you say, her books are geared toward a younger audience, and they are really almost TOO sweet. But for sheer pleasure/comfort reading, she's practically unbeatable!

>182 christina_reads: This was the first Ibbotson I've read, but it won't be the last!

Cunegonde's Kidnapping: A Story of Religious Conflict in the Age of Enlightenment by Benjamin J. Kaplan

Categories: The Skye Boat Song

Keywords: non-fiction, history, microhistory, Dutch history, German history, Holy Roman Empire, Aachen, religion, politics, The Enlightenment, Christianity, interconfessional marriage

Cunegonde's Kidnapping captures the interesting story of life on a religious borderland in 18th century Germany and the Netherlands. In a world in which your religion defined who you were, being a religious minority was frequently an awkward situation and having a mixed marriage fraught with challenges. Hendrik and Sara were one such couple, he was a Catholic and she a Calvinist, but her family was wealthier than his. They lived in a Dutch territory dominated by the nearby Catholic city of Aachen. Where the child would be baptized became the origin for a series of religious riots and a trials that would last for several years. Suffice to say Hendrik promised the Catholic priest that he would have his son baptized in that church and his in-laws that he would be baptized Protestant. The end result was that someone sent for his mentally challenged sister Cunegonde from Aachen and she attempted to steal the baby and take him to the Catholic church for baptism, something that was allowed in Aachen but illegal in the Netherlands. When she was arrested, chaos broke loose.

The late 18th century is generally viewed a kind of golden age of toleration in Europe, but Kaplan shows that this was not the case everywhere and many places remained mentally unenlightened through the era of the French Revolution and beyond.

A very, very interesting book for anyone interested in the history of interconfessional relations in Europe, obscure wars, or interesting non-fiction about the 18th century. Highly recommended.

First Line: In the chill hours before dawn on Tuesday, 13 April 1762, Sara Maria Erffens gave birth to a baby boy.

Madeleine's Christmas Wish by Ella Quinn

Categories: Roads to Moscow

Series: The Marriage Game (6/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, historical fiction, romance, Christmas romance, France, exiles, spies, family, secrets

Madeleine's Christmas Wish is unique in that it is a Regency romance novella in which none of the main characters are British or American. Instead, they are French. First we met Madeleine, trying to keep her family together in France after the death of her father and disappearance of her brother. A rather nasty local official wants to marry her, but she will have nothing to do with him. The next thing she knows she is being shipped off from home, destination unknown. At this point the story picks up the last bit of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh with the discovery by Georges of a surprise in his latest encrypted missive. After the two are reunited, it's off to Georges' family. But Madeleine promised her mother she'd be back for Christmas, and she is sick with horror about the danger her family could be facing in her absence. So she and Georges return to France, and discover that Christmas is a time of wonder for a reason.

A fun, original Christmas romance. You don't have to have read the other books in the series to enjoy it, although Anna and Sebastian do make a brief appearance at the beginning. For those looking for something different in their romances, this may just do the trick.

First Line: Madeleine, Comtesse du Beaune, set her pen down on the old cherry desk in the château's study.

Carl Warner's Food Landscapes by Carl Warner

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die

Keywords: non-fiction, photography, food photography, art book

Carl Warner is a photographer who makes landscapes out of food for advertisements Carl Warner's Food Landscapes is a collection of these images and the stories behind them. It was all very nice, but still somewhat lacking. I'm really not sure who the target audience is, but it's obviously not me.

First Line: Making landscapes out of food seems a rather unusual thing to do for a living, and people often ask, "What made you start doing this?"

The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz

Categories: John Barleycorn Must Die

Keywords: non-fiction, food, fat, cholesterol, meet, butter, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, sugar, modern society, dieting, Ornish vs. Atkins, Mediterranean diet, bad science

The Big Fat Surprise is the compelling story of how America (and to a certain extend the entire Western World) came to view fat as anathema. The author shows how a few charismatic scientists managed to shut down the discussion and make their opinion the commonly held truth in spite of evidence that they were wrong. Suffice to say a bit of butter, beef and eggs aren't half as bad as you might think. There is also a very good discussion of how the fat alternatives such as hydrogenated oils proved to be worse than the things they were replacing. Overall, this is a highly interesting account of American diet and how guidelines have changed and evolved over the past half-century. From Ornish and Atkins to the Mediterranean diet and the palm oil controversy, it's all here. Highly readable, anyone with an interest in the subject should pick it up.

First Line: In 1906, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the son of Icelandic immigrants to American and a Harvard-trained anthropologist, chose to live with the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic.

Oh, The Big Fat Surprise goes on my future reading list... right beside Salt Sugar Fat, another book I want to read at some point. I have always followed my maternal grandmother's advice when it comes to fat - that butter is good, not evil (margarine is evil) and to be very wary of all oils except for olive oil. Does the book examine oils alternatives like coconut oil, etc? I haven't tried cooking with coconut oil yet but I do find that it is great for hair and skin.

>188 lkernagh: The Big Fat Surprise discusses oils as alternatives to fats in depth. Hydrogenated oils, their unhydrogenated vegetable oil alternatives, and olive oil get most of the attention, but there is also an interesting discussion of how coconut and palm oils were became taboo in the 1980s and how this is slowly changing. Margarine and Crisco also get a lot of mention, I've never really cared for either, but at one point they were "foods of the future".

Margarine has always been an interesting hot topic for me, especially when Quebec became the hold out jurisdiction in North America to maintain a margarine policy (until 2008) that forced margarine manufactures to colour their product white if they wanted to sell their product in Quebec, to ensure that consumers could not confuse yellow margarine with butter. As for Crisco, that product scares me.

>190 lkernagh: The Big Fat Surprise has lots of interesting interesting information about the history of margarine and Crisco and their marketing strategies. I personally try to eat neither; they're both pretty questionable in my eyes.