Leslie's Reading the Rainbow in 2015

In honor of my decision to read the Travis McGee mysteries as one of my challenges next year, my theme will be colors. Books can be used in more than one category. I have decided to reduce some of the challenge-related pressure by not specifying how many books in some of the categories...

Total number of books read in 2015, including rereads, audiobooks, ebooks, library books, etc.

Mysteries

Mysteries remain my main genre of reading, so I have several categories or challenges here. In particular, I would like to finish up several series that I have started and start the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald.

Scarlet challenge #1: (scarlet ibis)

Continue working on (and hopefully finish!) my "Read the USA" Mystery Challenge. This is the one category that didn't get done in 2014...

visited 41 states (82%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

new states
·January Exposure {North Dakota} (done 1/9)
·Out on a Limb {Tennessee} (done 4/15)
·A Deal on a Handshake {Wyoming} (done 6/18)

duplicate states
·The Deep Blue Good-by {Florida} (done 1/19)
·A Bobwhite Killing {Minnesota} (done 1/24)
·Deadly Valentine {Virginia} (done 2/7)
·Nightmare in Pink {New York} (done 2/15)
·Open Season {Vermont} (done 4/6)
·Friday the Rabbi Slept Late {Massachusetts} (4/22)
·Yesterday's Body {Virginia} (6/11)

Ruby    (ruby-throated hummingbird)

Foreign mysteries (mysteries originally not written in English): including finishing Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö's Martin Beck series and continuing the Andrea Camilleri Montalbano series, Arnaldur Indriðason (Icelandic), Georges Simenon (French), Boris Akunin (Russian) plus miscellaneous others

Italian:
·The Voice of the Violin (done 2/2) {reread}
·Excursion to Tindari (done 3/17)

Icelandic:
·Strange Shores (done 3/3)

Danish:
·The Purity of Vengeance (done 4/28)
·The King's Hounds (done 6/26)

Maroon challenge #2:

Read paperback mysteries already owned, focusing on finishing Michael Innes' Inspector Appleby series & starting the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald (goal=24+)

Inspector Appleby series
·The Weight of the Evidence (done 1/2)
·Appleby's End (done 2/24)
·A Night of Errors (done 4/19)

Travis McGee series
·The Deep Blue Good-by (not a ROOT) (done 1/19)
·Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
·The Quick Red Fox (done 4/1)
·A Deadly Shade of Gold (done 5/31)

miscellaneous mystery ROOTS
·The Three Coffins (done 4/26)

Brick challenge #3:

Books in translation (world lit):
3 major parts to this challenge are A) classics & books from Guardian list; B) Around the World type challenge; and C) foreign mysteries
possibilities include:
A) Thomas Mann; W.G. Sebald (Austerlitz &/or The Rings of Saturn); Herman Hesse (Narziss and Goldmund); Italo Calvino; Balzac

B) ~2 Asia: Norwegian Wood; Silver Stallion; The Face of Another
~2 South America: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by Joao Guimaraes Rosa (Portuguese ->Brazil??), Love in the Time of Cholera (audiobook)
~2 Africa: Anthills of the Savannah;
~2 Arabic/Middle East: Salman Rushdie; Memet my Hawk; The Open Door by Latifa Zayyat; Palace Walk

C) Foreign mysteries (see above)

Books read for A & B (books for part C will be listed above under Ruby):
  ·The Three Musketeers, French (done 1/7)
  ·Austerlitz, German (done 1/30
  ·Heidi, Swiss German (done 1/30) {reread via audiobook}
  ·Bel-Ami, French (done 2/5)
  ·Strait is the Gate under the title "The Narrow Gate", French (done 2/25)
  ·Twenty Years After, French (done 3/11)
  ·Wolf Totem, Chinese (done 3/16)
  ·Invisible Cities, Italian (done 4/1)
  ·The Guest Cat, Japanese (done 4/2)
  ·Uncle Vanya, Russian (done 4/3)
  ·Love in the Time of Cholera, Spanish (done 4/17) {audiobook}
  ·Right You Are (If You Think So), Italian (done 5/27)
  ·The Vicomte de Bragelonne, French (done 5/28) {audiobook & Kindle}
  ·The Sea-Gull, Russian (done 6/1)
  ·Ten Years Later, French (done 6/16)

✔Pink challenge #4:   

Read 15+ Kindle books owned before July 2014 (Kindle catch-up)
1. January Exposure (done 1/9)
2. The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
3. A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
4. Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28)
5. Bel-Ami (done 2/5)
6. Deadly Valentine (done 2/7)
7. Yellow Crocus (done 2/12)
8. In a German Pension (which also finished the omnibus "Selected Stories", done 2/13)
9. Indian Summer of a Forsyte and In Chancery (contained in the omnibus "The Forsyte Saga - Complete") (done 2/21)
10. Awakening and To Let (contained in the omnibus "The Forsyte Saga - Complete") (currently reading)
11. Caesar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts (done 2/24)
12. Dutch Me Deadly (done 2/27)
13. Twenty Years After (done 3/11)
14. The Duchess of Malfi (done 3/16)
15. Room With a Clue (done 3/22)
--------------------------------------
16. Uncle Vanya (done 4/3)
17. Open Season (done 4/6)
18. Ruth (done 4/14)
19. Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery (4/15)
20. Wine of Violence (4/27)
21. Right You Are! (If You Think So) (done 5/27) (contained in omnibus Three Plays)
22. The Vicomte de Bragelonne (done 5/28)
23. Yesterday's Body (done 6/11)
24. Two Gentlemen of Verona (contained in the omnibus "The Complete Works") (done 6/22)
25. The Riddle of the Sands (done 6/28)

Orange challenge #5:

Read 12 short story collections (one per month):
1. Rain and Other South Sea Stories by W. Somerset Maugham ✔
2. In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield ✔
3. Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories ✔
4. The Very Best of Charles de Lint ✔
5. The Grey Woman and Other Tales ✔
6. The Complete Stories of Evelyn Waugh (read about 250 pgs)
7. A Deal on a Handshake ✔
8. Curious, if True: Strange Tales (abandoned 6/26)
9.
10.
11.
12.

Tan challenge #6:

Historical fiction & Adventure
A) Read/reread the whole d'Artagnan series by Dumas
   ·The Three Musketeers (audiobook) {reread} ✔
   ·Twenty Years After ✔
   ·The Vicomte of Bragelonne ✔
   ·Ten Years Later ✔
   ·Louis de la Valliere
   ·The Man in the Iron Mask {reread}

B) read 3+ Sabatini off my shelves
  ·

C) miscellaneous historical fiction
  ·The Luminaries
  ·Regeneration
  ·Wide Sargasso Sea
  ·Yellow Crocus
  ·Affinity
  ·Wolf Totem
  ·The Masuda Affair
  ·Room With a Clue
  ·Wine of Violence
  ·Niccolo Rising {reread}
  ·The King's Hounds

Yellow challenge #7: (yellow warber)

Read at least 25 books (new-to-me) from the Guardian's list of 1000 novels. This doesn't include books from the Discworld series which comprise a single entry on the list (see my powder blue challenge below for those books).



1. The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
2. Regeneration (done 1/21)
3. Austerlitz (done 1/30)
4. Bel-Ami (done 2/5)
5. Wide Sargasso Sea (done 2/9)
6. Affinity (done 2/22)
7. Strait is the Gate (under the title "The Narrow Gate") (done 2/25)
8. Tales of the City (done 3/16)
9. Invisible Cities (done 4/1)
10. The Man in the High Castle (done 4/10)
11. Ruth (done 4/14)
12. Love in the Time of Cholera (done 4/17) {audiobook}
13. Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (done 4/22)
14. Cloud Atlas (done 4/24)
15. The Three Coffins (done 4/26)
16. Chéri (done 5/5)
17. The Left Hand of Darkness (done 5/24)
18. The Remains of the Day (done 5/31)
19. The New York Trilogy (done 6/6)
20. The Riddle of the Sands (done 6/28)
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

Green challenge #8:

Read 24 plays (2 per month):
1. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (done 1/10)
2. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (done 1/21)
3. Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw (done 2/9)
4. Caesar's Wife by W. Somerset Maugham (done 2/24)
5. The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster (done 3/16)
6. Uncle Vanya (done 4/3)
7. Fanny's First Play (done 4/15)
8. Right You Are! (If You Think So) (done 5/27) (contained in omnibus Three Plays)
9. The Sea-Gull (6/1)
10. Long Day's Journey into Night (6/15)
11. Two Gentlemen of Verona (done 6/22) (contained in the omnibus "The Complete Works")
12.
13.
14.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

I really enjoyed my sci fi/fantasy category this year so I am expanding it for 2015...

#9: Author Challenges
A) Indigo (indigo bunting)
Continue reading Charles de Lint's Newford series (and his other books as well, such as Yarrow)
·The Very Best of Charles de Lint (done 4/7)

B) Navy
Finish reading Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series:

✔Shards of Honor -- book 1
✔ The Warrior's Apprentice -- book 2
✔ Ethan of Athos - book 3
✔ The Borders of Infinity - {novella} 3a
Falling Free -- book 4
✔Brothers in Arms -- book 5
✔ The Mountains of Mourning -- {novella} 5a
✔ Labyrinth -- {novella} 5b
✗ Borders of Infinity -- Book 6 = novellas 3a,5a,5b
✔ The Vor Game -- Book 7
✔ Barrayar -- Book 8
✔ Mirror Dance -- Book 9
✔ Cetaganda -- Book 10
✔ Memory -- Book 11
✔ Komarr -- Book 12
A Civil Campaign -- Book 13
Diplomatic Immunity -- Book 14
Winterfair Gifts -- {novella} 14a
Cryoburn -- Book 15
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- Book 16
✗ Dreamweaver's Dilemma: Short Stories and Essays by Lois McMaster Bujold contains prequel
-----------------------------------------------------------
Omnibus editions:
✓ 1) Cordelia's Honor = 1 & 8
✓ 2) Young Miles = 2,5a,7
✓ 3) Miles, Mystery & Mayhem = 3,5b,10
✓ 4) Miles Errant = 3a,5,9 (done 3/29)
✓ Memory -- Book 11 (not included in omnibus) (done 6/8)
5) Miles in Love = 12-13,14a (currently reading)
6) Miles, Mutants and Microbes = 4,5b,14
Cryoburn -- Book 15 (not included in omnibus)
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- Book 16 (not included in omnibus)

Powder blue challenge #10:

Read 5+ books from the Discworld series:
1. Men at Arms (done 2/1)
2. The Color of Magic (done 5/30)
3. Feet of Clay (done 6/19)
4.
5.

Miscellaneous sci fi/fantasy books:
·Robots and Empire (ROOT) (done 1/18)
·The Foundation Trilogy (BBC audiobook adaptation) {reread} (done 2/2)
·Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28)
·The Man in the High Castle (4/10)
·The Left Hand of Darkness (5/24)

Violet challenge #11:

Read 12 poetry collections (one per month)
1. Collected Poems 1909-1962 by T.S. Eliot (done 1/16) ✔
2. New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver (done 2/12) ✔
3. Classic Love Poems by various authors, narrated by Richard Armitage (done 2/15) ✔
4. The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 ✔
5. This Great Unknowing : Last Poems by Denise Levertov (done 4/12) ✔
6. Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth by Adrienne Rich (done 4/23)
7. The Jacob's Ladder by Denise Levertov ✔ (done 5/20)
8. C.P. Cavafy Collected Poems by C.P. Cavafy, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn ✔ (done 6/23)
9.
10.
11.
12.

Purple challenge #12 (purple-throated sunbird)

Reading Bingo


Complete a row, column or diagonal.

I think I will try for a row and a column, so a total of 10. Right now, I am thinking column A and row 3...

1A) A book with more than 500 pages: The Three Musketeers ✔
1B) A forgotten classic: The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9)
1C) A book that became a movie: The Forsyte Saga (done 3/18)
1D) A book published this year:
1E) A book with a number in the title: Twenty Years After (done 3/11)

2A) A book written by someone under 30: The Luminaries (done 1/16) ✔
2B) A book with non-human characters: Robots and Empire (done 1/18)
2C) A funny book: Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28)
2D) A book by a female author: A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
2E) A book with a mystery: The Weight Of The Evidence (done 1/2)

3A) A book with a one word title: Affinity (done 2/22) ✔
3B) A book of short stories: Rain and Other South Sea Stories ✔
X) FREE CHOICE - Poetry book Collected Poems 1909-1962 (done 1/16)
3D) A book set on a different continent: Austerlitz (done 1/30)
3E) A book of non-fiction: Life on the Mississippi (audiobook) (done 1/25) ✔

4A) The first book by a favourite author: Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28)
4B) A book you heard about online: Corpse Diplomatique (done 4/7)
4C) A bestselling book: The Guest Cat {NYT Bestseller} (done 4/2)
4D) A book based on a true story: Regeneration (done 1/21)
4E) A book at the bottom of your TBR pile:

5A) A book your friend loves: The Name of the Wind (done 4/25) ✔
5B) A book that scares you:
5C) A book that is more than 10 years old: She Shall Have Murder (done 1/13)
5D) The second book in a series: Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
5E) A book with a blue cover: January Exposure (done 1/9)

BINGO done! row 2 done 1/28/15
       row 3 done 1/30/15

Silver challenge #13:
Read at least 3 nonfiction books:
1. Life on the Mississippi (audiobook) (done 1/25) ✔
2. The Souls of Black Folks (audiobook & Kindle) (done 2/21) ✔
3.

Alabaster challenge #14:    (white egret)

A-to-Z challenge (restricting it to titles). Mysteries will be listed in bold.

A = Austerlitz (done 1/30) or Appleby's End (done 2/240
B = A Bobwhite Killing (done 1/24)
C = Caesar and Cleopatra (done 2/9) or Corpse Diplomatique (done 4/7)
D = The Deep Blue Good-by (done 1/19)
E = Excursion to Tindari (done 3/17)
F = Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (done 4/22)
G = The Guest Cat (done 4/2)
H = How the Light Gets In (done 2/12)
I = Indiscretions of Archie (done 1/28)
J = January Exposure (done 1/9)
K = The King's Hounds (done 6/26)
L = The Luminaries (done 1/16)
M = Men at Arms (done 2/1) or The Masuda Affair (done 3/19)
N = Nightmare in Pink (done 2/15)
O = Open Season (done 4/6)
P = Pebble in the Sky (done 2/28) or The Purity of Vengeance (done 4/28)
Q = The Quick Red Fox (done 4/1)
R = A Red Herring Without Mustard (audiobook) (done 1/15)
S = She Shall Have Murder (done 1/13)
T = The Three Musketeers (done 1/2) or The Three Coffins (done 4/26)
U =
V = The Vicar of Wakefield (done 1/9); The Voice of the Violin (done 2/2)
W = The Weight of the Evidence (done 1/2)
X =
Y = Yellow Crocus (done 2/12) or Yesterday's Body (done 6/11)
Z =

Black challenge #15:    (raven)

Hoarder's Corner
# of Books for this challenge: 10

Progress: 7/10 books

1. A book that has been on my TBR shelf for years --
✔2. A book that I think I'll hate -- Cloud Atlas (done 4/24)
3. A book I received for free -- Saint Martin's Summer (inherited from my great-uncle)
✔4. A book recommendation from a friend -- The Name of the Wind (done 4/25)
5. A book club selection that I missed
✔6. A book with a hideous cover -- A Deadly Shade of Gold done 5/31)
✔7. A book that is so long I want to cry -- Twenty Years After (done 3/11)
✔8. A book that is so short it's barely a book at all -- Awakening (done 2/22)
✔9. A book that I know nothing about -- The Souls of Black Folk (done 2/21)
✔10. A book that has won awards -- The Luminaries (done 1/16)

A colour theme! Fun!

Great theme! Good luck with your challenge.

Good luck!

Thanks Ikernagh, Rabbitprincess, and The_Hibernator! My only problem right now is I keep wanting to add more colors :P

I appreciate your Kindle catch up category. I have to clear some from mine as well. It's just so darn easy to put more titles on that thing, isn't it?

Excellent set-up. Looking forward to seeing what you read.

Mamzel -- much too easy! I think that I have more than a lifetime's worth of books on my Kindle now (something like 450 unread) so my goal won't even make a dent! Oh well, I have to start somewhere :P

Thanks -Eva-! I am starting off the year with some chunksters:

The Three Musketeers audiobook, narrated by John Lee (this is my first time listening to it but I have read this book several times before)
The Luminaries, which I am counting in my Bingo as an author under 30 (not as a book over 500 pages, which of course it is!)

Really like your titles and color theme!! Good luck with your list.

Very creative set-up. Good luck with the chunksters!

Thanks for the support Helen & MissWatson!

Maroon Challenge #2: Paperback Mysteries already owned
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z

The Weight Of The Evidence,   (done 1/2)

Owned since 2006 when I acquired it from my parents (who owned it since the 60s!).
3½ ★ Decent police procedural. Innes has some sly wit in his writing in this one somewhat similar to that of Edmund Crispin. I am not sure that this mystery "played fair" in the sense of the reader being able to solve the case but I did enjoy trying.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge but not within the row/column I am working on

I love your use of colors. Good luck with your challenge this year.

Tan Challenge #6: Historical Fiction
Brick Challenge #3: Books in Translation
Purple Challenge #11: Book Bingo 1A
Unofficial ALPHACat January: J & T

The Three Musketeers,    (done 1/7)

5★ Although I have read this French masterpiece several times, this was my first time listening to it as an audiobook. John Lee did a marvelous job with the narration, although I did get distracted a few times by how much his voice sounded like Sean Connery's!

Despite being over 700 pages long, this book never seems to drag. I look forward to reading the rest of the series :)

Orange Challenge #5: Short Stories
Purple Challenge #11: Book Bingo 3B

Rain and Other South Sea Stories,    (done 1/8)

4½★ This collection was originally published under the title "The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands" in 1921. The new title was inspired by the fact that the short story "Rain" was made into a movie starring Joan Crawford. These short stories, mostly set in Samoa, vary in length from almost as long as a novella to less than a page.

>30 leslie.98:
That one is on my potentials list for this year. I've only read a children's abbreviated version before, but I'm looking forward to getting the whole story. :)

>30 leslie.98: It's also a possible for me as well so glad to see you enjoyed it so much and even finding new ways to do so.

>32 -Eva-: & >33 AHS-Wolfy: I can't recommend it too strongly! Hope you both enjoy it.

Scarlet Challenge #1: Read the USA mystery {North Dakota}
Pink Challenge #4: Kindle Catch-up (owned since 2013)
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z
Unofficial ALPHACat January: J & T

January Exposure,    (done 1/9)

3★ Pretty good cozy mystery, set in North Dakota. I liked the protagonist, Ellie Craven, although her ignorance about some of the scientific apparatus seemed far-fetched as she is an analytical chemist by profession.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge (5E) but not within the row/column I am working on

Yellow Challenge #7: Guardian books
Pink Challenge #4: Kindle Catch-up (owned since 2012)
Alabaster Challenge #14: A-to-Z

The Vicar of Wakefield, and (Librivox audiobook)

4★ I found this satire of mid-eighteenth century English society quite amusing. However, it wasn't as good as Goldsmith's famous play, She Stoops to Conquer.

Also fits into the Purple BINGO challenge (1B) but not within the row/column I am working on

Green Challenge #8: Plays - #1

Antony and Cleopatra,   (done 1/10)

2½★ Read on my Kindle as part of Shakespeare's The Complete Works.

While the plot of this tragedy had plenty of action, somehow it just didn't work for me. I don't know if it was the language, my mood, or reading it instead of watching a performance... I'll have to try this one again sometime

Could also count as historical fiction in the Tan challenge!

Alabaster Challenge#14: A-to-Z (S)

She Shall Have Murder,    (done 1/13)

4★ I was pleasantly surprised by this 1940s British cozy -- the author maintained the 'cozy' style (nonprofessional detective) without becoming too caught up in romance (a common flaw in many cozies). I felt the balance between Jane & Dagobert's personal life and the mystery was just right. Ames also managed to have several plausible motives within a fairly restricted circle of suspects.

This could also be used in the Purple BINGO challenge (5C) but not in the row/column I am working on

Great set-up, I love the rainbow colour theme! And starting the year with The Three Musketeers is indeed a good start. I only have it here in French (which I haven't spoken or read in the last couple of years), but I might give it a try as well later this year. Good luck with the rainbow!

>39 Chrischi_HH: Thanks! The Three Musketeers is one of my favorite books but I can't imagine reading it in French -- my French is of the poor high school variety.

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z (R)

A Red Herring Without Mustard,     (audiobook) (done 1/15)

3★ This is the third book in the Flavia de Luce series and I still don't like any of the main recurring characters (except perhaps Dogger). I rounded up my rating from 2½★ based on Jayne Entwistle's narration and the slight twist at the ending of an otherwise predictable plot.

I know many people really like this series and being a chemistry nerd myself, I was hoping to be one of them. Unfortunately, I find the main character, 11-year-old Flavia, unlikable and unrealistic. So this is my last outing of this series.

>41 leslie.98: On the plus side for you, that's one less series to worry about :)

The third one wasn't my favourite. The fifth and first ones are probably tied for first place in my ranking.

>42 rabbitprincess: LOL, you're right, I don't need more series to follow! What I should do is try to transfer one of the series I am working on to audio, but most of them are ROOTs...

Violet Challenge #11: Poetry
Purple Challenge: Bingo (free square, 3C)

Collected Poems 1909-1962,    (done 1/16)

4★ While I love some of the poems, others I didn't care for at all. So it is hard to rate the book as a whole... These poems were selected by Eliot himself just a few years before he died as the best of his work and it certainly contains all of his most famous work EXCEPT for the fact it doesn't even have one poem from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats". With that in mind, I cannot whole-heartedly recommend it as a single sole volume of Eliot's poetry.

I am not much of a modernist, so it is perhaps not surprising that I found many of the so-called "minor poems" more enjoyable than the more serious (and to me often more obscure) verses. My favorites:

- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
- Portrait of a Lady
- The Waste Land
- Ahe-Wednesday V (If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent)
- Five-finger Exercises (esp. I Lines to a Persian Cat)
- Landscapes (esp. V Cape Ann)
- Burnt Norton from Four Quartets
- To the Indians Who Died in Africa

Purple Challenge: Bingo (2A)
Black Challenge: Hoarders (#10)
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction (Part C)

The Luminaries,   (done 1/16)

2★ Although well-written, this historical fiction epic of the New Zealand goldfields lacks heart. Catton created an intricate plot with a nicely chosen cast of characters but she never managed to make me care about them.

Too bad you wasted so much time on this chunkster! I have it on my Kindle but it might end up working its way to the bottom of the list.

>46 mamzel: People who like character-driven books will probably like it more than I did. I am someone who prefers plot-driven novels over character studies.

Group Asimov reads
possibly Purple Bingo challenge (2B)

Robots and Empire,    (done 1/18)

3★ While I did eventually get absorbed, this last book of Asimov's Robot series didn't live up to my expectations based on the first 3 books. Perhaps it was the lack of Elijah Baley, but the novel felt more like Asimov's attempt to bridge the gap between the previous books in the Robot series and the Foundation series and less of an individual plot.

Love your theme! Lots of nice pictures of birds; isn't that Indigo Bunting something?

>49 paruline: I am a birdwatcher, albeit a lazy one so bird pictures for the colors seemed appropriate. I recently saw an indigo bunting - the color is amazing especially considering that it is really just refractions and the bird is really black!

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

The Deep Blue Good-by,    (done 1/19)

3½★ This was my first book by MacDonald -- I figured it made sense to start at the beginning with the first Travis McGee. This series has been recommended to me by various people but I really had only one preconceived notion -- that McGee was a private eye. So I was a bit surprised by how hard-boiled the book was & that McGee isn't really an investigator by profession.

If you forget about the drinking and the sex for a moment, McGee is the precursor of the TV show "Leverage" -- he takes back what was stolen in the first place. A descendant of Robin Hood, so to speak, who operates on the shady side of the law but is still the 'good guy'... I enjoyed this aspect of the plot enough that it made me forgive the dated 1960s attitudes.

This isn't really a mystery -- there is no "whodunit" aspect. I guess that it is a thriller (or suspense? I get these two subgenres confused). I don't know if that is typical or not. Guess I will find out!

Honorary part of the Maroon challenge -- this isn't a ROOT but Maroon is where my "read the Travis McGee series" challenge is located.

>38 leslie.98: She Shall Have Murder sounds really good! BB taken. :)

>52 christina_reads: I think it has recently come out in Kindle edition as well as the Rue Morgue Press paperback edition I read so hopefully you will be able to find a copy. Enjoy :)

Green Challenge: Plays (#2)

Much Ado About Nothing,    (done 1/21)

3½★ What can I say? I just like comedies more than tragedies... This play had many of the same flaws that Antony and Cleopatra did but I liked the basic plot more. I was probably helped by the fact that I have seen this performed so the constable Dogberry was understandable (I don't think he is based solely on the written words).

Oh, and I didn't read this pretty edition but read it on my Kindle as part of my Project Gutenberg "Complete Works".

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list (#2)
Purple Challenge: Bingo (3A or possibly 4D)

Regeneration,    (done 1/21)

4★ or maybe even 4½ This historical-fiction novel centers around the poet Siegfried Sassoon and his psychiatrist Dr. Rivers during his stay at the mental hospital Craiglockhart during 1917.

The central theme is conflict between duty and survival which Rivers recognizes as the basis for most of the cases of "war neurosis", shell shock or as we now call it PTSD. Where do we draw the line between a soldier's duty and a completely reasonable desire to survive? The heart-wrenching part was the fact that many of the men (especially officers) didn't want (at least in the conscious part of their brain) to be posted in a "safe" position because they felt it was shameful to desert their men. The stress of being responsible for others without having any power to control conditions must have been enormous...

>55 leslie.98: I'm certainly glad PTSD is understood more now than in 1915. Regeneration is a reminder that bravery has many faces.

>54 leslie.98: Much Ado is my favorite Shakespeare. :) Like you, I prefer the comedies to the tragedies! But I agree -- you have to SEE Dogberry rather than just reading him. Loved Michael Keaton's portrayal in the Kenneth Branagh movie!

>56 VivienneR: Indeed! The section where Rivers visits his colleague Yealland was horrifying -- the notion that these men were malingering was bad enough but Yealland was plain sadistic.

>57 christina_reads: I liked the Branagh movie version & think Keaton's Dogberry is the best I have seen! Have you seen the Joss Whedon film? I watched it after reading the play -- loved the cinematography but it wasn't as successful as the Branagh version in my opinion.

" constable Dogberry was understandable"
That is an achievement worth mentioning. :)

>59 -Eva-: LOL! Shakespeare's 'clowns' are some of the most difficult characters for me, so I will pat myself on the back for that one :)

>58 leslie.98: I did see the Joss Whedon version…liked it, but the Branagh version is still my favorite!

I thought Regeneration was pretty special when I read it last year, I sure hope I get a chance to fit the next book in soon.

>61 christina_reads: I do so agree!

>62 DeltaQueen50: I read a bunch of WW1 poetry last November in honor of Veterans Day (Armistice Day), including both Sassoon and Owens. Someone in my rl bookclub said "In that case, you should read Regeneration". I hadn't realized it was the first in a trilogy until after I had checked it out from the library. Do you know if they (Sassoon, Graves, and Owens) appear in the next book?

Updated my bingo graphic in message #13. Now I am wondering what to use for my free square book -- maybe a book of poetry since that isn't covered in any of the other squares...

>51 leslie.98: I read the first Travis McGee a few years ago and enjoyed it, but I haven't found time to continue the series yet. Too many series & too little time!

>65 cbl_tn: I acquired many (but not all) of the series when my folks decided to move to a smaller home. I got several other series as well -- now to find the time to read them! Too many books, not enough time as the saying goes.

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOT
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z
Unofficial ALPHACat January: J & T

A Bobwhite Killing by Jan Dunlap,    (done 1/24)

4★ Fun, well-written, cozy mystery centering around a group of bird watchers. While not as avid a birder as those in the book, I did enjoy all the bird sightings (and the generous birding in MN links at the end were nice too!). I'll be reading more from this series! Hopefully it won't matter that I started with #3...

>30 leslie.98: - The Three Musketeers read by a narrator with a voice like Sean Connery would get me re-reading that classic!

Sorry to see The Luminaries didn't work for you but as you said, the plot tended to meander and seemed pointless at times so I can see where the frustration would be in reading it.

>68 lkernagh: Listening to the classics is a nice way to revisit them, I find. And John Lee's voice was definitely a bonus!

As to The Luminaries, I can appreciate the writing and see why some would really like it.

>63 leslie.98: I don't know for sure, but I believe the Regeneration story continues on with most of the same characters.

>70 DeltaQueen50: Thanks for getting back to me. It will be a while before I go on with those in any case as WW1 is too depressing to read about very frequently.

I thought this was pretty funny, thou saucy milk-livered maggot-pie!

Silver Challenge: Nonfiction
Purple Challenge: Bingo (3E)

Life on the Mississippi,  (Kindle) &  (audiobook)

4* (3½ for the book itself) Grover Gardner did an excellent narration for this Twain book. I thought that this was going to be a memoir, and it is -- to some extent. However, it is also a collection of stories Twain came across while traveling on the river as well. I am counting this as nonfiction, but it is hard to tell how 'truthful' some of the stories are! Did Twain invent them? Or perhaps he is just recording tales that someone else invented... or perhaps they are true stories. Whether they are true or are fiction, they are mostly engaging and often funny. My biggest complaint is that he jumps from one thing to the next too quickly at times.

>72 leslie.98: Love it! I hope I can remember "Puking knotty-pated pignut" for an appropriate moment!

>72 leslie.98: - One could have a lot of fun with that!

>74 VivienneR: and >75 lkernagh: The only problem is I won't remember any of these in the heat of the moment :P I guess I need to practice... but I don't know how friends & colleagues would respond to that!! lol!

It's way to easy to fall back on the most familiar and modern epithets, isn't it?

>77 mamzel: Indeed! In fact, I notice that I tend to use the same adjectives over and over in general.

Record-breaking snowfall here with 34" -- now I have to shovel out the car!   :(

During the storm, I managed to read my last Ian Fleming book, The Spy Who Loved Me. This doesn't fit into any of my categories but it was such a different style from the other Bond books that I wanted to post anyway.



4* I'm glad that I decided to go back and read this one, which I had previously skipped. Although Bond has an important role, this entry in the Bond series (#10) is quite different in style and content from the others. A first-person narrative of a girl just reaching adulthood in the early 1960s into whose life gangsters & violence (and eventually James Bond) suddenly erupt.

Good luck with the shovelling! That's a lot of snow in one go.

Here is my neighbor's car and the sidewalk in front of my building and my car, partly dug out:

     

Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
Purple Challenge: Bingo (2C)
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Indiscretions of Archie, (Kindle) &     (audiobook)

3½★ Fun, fast read but not up to the standards of either the Jeeves or Blandings books. Mark Nelson did a good narration in the free Librivox recording & I liked the fact he did different voices. Unfortunately, his voice for the main character Archie was the one I liked least -- the English accent wasn't quite right.

And that gives me a BINGO in the second row :-)

Purple Challenge: Bingo (3D)
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Brick Challenge: Books in translation (German to English)

Austerlitz,   (done 1/30)

Really just 2½★ for me.

I rounded up in my rating to 3 because Sebald gave me plenty to think about. However, I found the style of very long sentences and paragraphs that went on for 5 or 10 pages tiring. I also missed the use of quotation marks to distinguish what was narrative being told by Austerlitz to the unnamed narrator & what was being told to Austerlitz by a third person & what was the unnamed narrator's thoughts.

Surprisingly, the change in voice in the middle of sentences worked well, once I got used to it. For example (my underlining):

"In the first few weeks after his return from Bohemia, Austerlitz continued his tale as we walked on, he had learnt by heart the names and dates of birth and death of those buried here, he had taken home pebbles and ivy leaves and on one occasion a stone rose, and the stone hand broken off one of the angels, but however much my walks in Tower Hamlets might soothe me during the day, said Austerlitz, at night I was plagued by the most frightful anxiety attacks which sometimes lasted for hours on end."

The sentence starts out from the unnamed narrator's perspective and switches midstream to Austerlitz's perspective, yet it is perfectly clear.

Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Swiss German to English)

Heidi,   (audiobook) (done 1/30)

4½★ {reread} The book itself gets 5 stars, but Marnie MacAdams slightly spoiled this heartwarming tale of the young Swiss orphan by the voice she used for the terrible and terrifying Frau Rottenmeier. I am sure that my response to this is biased by my childhood memories but I enjoyed rereading this immensely.

>81 leslie.98: - That is quite the snowfall!

>85 lkernagh: Some chore shovelling out but now it is quite pretty with the sun shining. Fingers crossed that the next storm predicted for Monday is a flop...

Updated my Bingo card in message #13 & chosen a poetry book for my free square.

January stats:
(do not include books not yet finished)

# of pages = 5,885 in 20 books plus a few speeches
# of books from the Guardian's list (new/total) = 3/4
# of books in translation = 3
# of library books (including ebooks & audiobooks) = 5
# of audiobooks = 5
pick of the month = The Three Musketeers (of course!)
biggest surprise = The Spy Who Loved Me

January status update:

#1 SCARLET: Read the USA mysteries -- 1/13
     RUBY: Foreign mysteries -- 0 (currently reading my first of the year)
#2 MAROON: mysteries off my shelves -- 1/24
#3 BRICK: books in translation -- 3
#4 PINK: Kindle catch up -- 4/15
#5 ORANGE: short stories -- 1/12
#6 TAN: historical fiction -- 1/9 (plus 2 misc.)
#7 YELLOW: Guardian list -- 3/25
#8 GREEN: Plays -- 2/24
#9 INDIGO: Charles de Lint -- 0/5
     NAVY: Vorkosigan series -- 0/12 (?)
#10 POWDER BLUE: Discworld -- 1/5
#11 PURPLE: Bingo -- 14/25
#12 VIOLET: poetry -- 1/12
#13 SILVER: nonfiction -- 1/3
#14 ALABASTER: A-to-Z -- 9/26
#15 BLACK: Hoarder -- 1/10

>81 leslie.98:
That just looks so painful to me. I am not a friend of The Snow - hence why I moved from Sweden to Southern California....

>88 -Eva-: Hahaha! Maybe you had the right idea :) But when I lived in LA, I missed the seasons as we have them here.

Powder Blue Challenge: Discworld
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list*

Men at Arms,   (done 2/1)

4½★ I have only read 2 other Discworld books so I hesitated to rate this as a 5 because maybe I will like some of the other books in the series even more!

Pratchett writes a story that moves right along yet manages to slip in things for you to mull over along the way, such as the true purpose of police or the nature of power. I love the footnotes, which I noticed in the first of his books I read, Hogfather. Carrot, the simple yet not stupid 6-foot-tall adopted son of dwarves, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters.

*The Guardian's list has a single entry for the entire Discworld series. Therefore, this both does and does not count towards the Yellow challenge

AlphaCAT February: I and B
SFFFCAT - classic sci fi
Group Asimov read

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov   (done 2/2) {reread}

3½★ Sadly this BBC audiobook adaptation of Asimov's classic trilogy suffered from some sound quality issues (variable volume ranging from almost inaudible to too loud; annoying sound effects). It is also much abridged.

An acceptable way to recall the books but I wouldn't recommend it as a replacement for reading them (or listening to an unabridged audiobook).

Ruby Challenge: Foreign Mysteries
Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Italian/Sicilian -> English)

The Voice of the Violin,   (done 2/2) {reread}

4★ Not only a good 'whodunit' but I love all the food references :)

Although yesterday's storm wasn't our first of the year, when I read this poem this morning it was so appropriate!

First Snow by Mary Oliver

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fileds
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain - not a single
answer has been found -
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

(copied from http://predmore.blogspot.com/2009/12/poem-first-snow-by-mary-oliver.html)

Beautiful poem! Not surprised that it's by Mary Oliver, she is such a wonderful poet.

>94 LittleTaiko: I am just discovering her poetry. Really liking it so far!

Very nice. New to me. Must put her on a 2016 list.

>96 Lace-Structures: I am reading her New and Selected Poems which was recommended to me as a good place to start. If you want something shorter though, her American Primitive won the Pulitzer back in the 80s.

Brick Challenge: Books in translation
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
AlphaCAT February: I & B

Bel-Ami,     (done 2/5)

3½★ I loved the writing in this but the story was ultimately depressing. The nineteenth century French realism always seems to be about unattractive people -- were there no nice people in Paris during the 1800s?

I've seen several movie adaptations of Heidi but I'm not sure I've ever read the book. I need to do that someday!

Your snowfall looks surreal to me. I've only seen anything approaching that much snow once in my life. That was enough!

>99 cbl_tn: Oh we have added ~16" to that. And a 3-day storm is coming in this weekend -- it has gotten surreal alright!

If you enjoy children's books, give Heidi a try.

Cat and books, all that is missing is the comfy chair!

No chair?!? No wonder the cat's contemplating escape to the wide world!

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOT

Deadly Valentine, (done 2/7)

2½★ While some of the plot was predictable, even obvious in places, the ending did manage to surprise me. There was also more details about the sex between Tess and Jack than I wanted to read (in fact, I didn't read it - just skimmed through 'til it was over). However, I can't really complain about that as it was clear in the blurb that this would be the case...

Green Challenge: Plays

Caesar and Cleopatra, (done 2/9)   (1945 film)

3★ Interesting take on Cleopatra. My favorite parts, though, were in the stage directions and commentary. For example, in setting the scene of the first act (my underlining of bits I liked):

"A great radiance of silver fire, the dawn of a moonlit night, is rising in the east. The stars and the cloudless sky are our own contemporaries, nineteen and a half centuries younger than we know them; but you would not guess that from their appearance. Below them are two notable drawbacks of civilization: a palace, and soldiers."

and a bit later:

"Belzanor is a typical veteran, tough and wilful; prompt, capable and crafty where brute force will serve; helpless and boyish when it will not: an effective sergeant, an incompetent general, a deplorable dictator. Would, if influentially connected, be employed in the two last capacities by a modern European State on the strength of his success in the first. Is rather to be pitied just now in view of the fact that Julius Caesar is invading his country."

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Tan Challenge: Historical fiction

Wide Sargasso Sea,   (done 2/9)

3½★ Right now, having just finished this, I am giving it 3½ stars. But I need to mull over some thoughts so my rating might change.

My immediate reaction was that I liked the writing, and some of the descriptions were beautiful. I found the story of Antoinette's childhood sad and felt very sorry also for her mother after the fire in which the parrot died and Pierre was fatally injured.

I don't understand why Rochester started calling her Bertha (other than the fact that was her name in Jane Eyre. His character in this I found less believable than that of the women.

I also found the references to the "Emancipation Act" a bit confusing as that reminded me of Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" (which I don't think had effect in Jamaica or anywhere in the West Indes) rather than Britain's 1833 "Slavery Abolition Act" (which did emancipate the slaves in the British West Indes in 1834). However, I did find the descriptions of the various racial tensions fascinating.

Violet Challenge: Poetry

New and Selected Poems,   (done 2/12)

4½★ Too bad this was a library book, as these are poems to read again and again. I think Oliver might join Derek Walcott as my new favorite poets.

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

How the Light Gets In,   (done 2/12)

4★ Wow! So exciting I read it in one sitting -- but most of the interest comes from the long story arc that has been building since the first book of the series, not the nominal murder investigation about which the book is written. This is definitely not a good stand-alone mystery.

While I was enthralled by the developments between Gamache, Beauvoir and the slimy Chief Superintendent Francouer, the mystery of who murdered Constance Ouellette was a bit obvious. This is the first of Penny's books in which the solution to the murder was so plain to see and I was somewhat disappointed by that.

>106 leslie.98: - Her poems are the sort to be reread many times. I'll have to check out Derek Walcott since you are such a fan.

>108 LittleTaiko: So I have discovered! Guess I will put this on my birthday list :)

I have only read White Egrets by Walcott but I loved it. I checked it out of the library because I had recently discovered Walcott had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here is a brief blurb:

{Walcott} won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction
AlphaCAT February: I & B

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim,   (done 2/12)

3★ I liked the beginning and ending of this historical fiction set in pre-Civil War Virginia and Ohio more than the middle. Lisbeth as a teenager seemed unbelievably naive. This level of blindness is like the Germans during WW2 saying they didn't know what was happening to the Jews. I guess it stems from a similar psychological need to not see the cruelty that you feel you have little ability to ameliorate.

Orange Challenge: Short Stories
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
AlphaCAT February: I & B

In a German Pension, which finishes "Selected Stories",   (done 2/13)

4★ This collection is the third and last part of my Kindle edition of "Selected Stories" (the first 2 parts, "The Garden Party and Other Stories" & "Bliss and Other Stories", I read in 2013). I found this collection distinct from the other 2 in that the stories are almost chapters in a "slice of life" novel, describing the various characters & events that occur while the main character, an Englishwoman, is staying at this pension (sort of like a boarding house).

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series
AlphaCAT February: I & B

The Borders of Infinity (contained in omnibus Miles Errant) (done 2/13)

3★ This short novella was a bit more gritty than the previous books I have read in the Vorkosigan series. The idea of using a dome to contain prisoners of war, psychologically breaking down the prisoners' unity and civilizing forces was intriguing if somewhat horrifying.

>109 leslie.98: - I bought White Egrets and look forward to reading it soon. Love the title as it reminds me of growing up on a dairy with lots of egrets around.

Oh great >113 LittleTaiko:! I look forward to hearing how you like it. Egrets and all those big wading birds are amazing...

Violet Challenge: Poetry

"Classic Love Poems" by various,   (done 2/15)

4★ This Audible freebie had 15 poems, narrated by Richard Armitage. Most of the poems happened to be in my Kindle edition of "Bulchevy's Book of English Verse", so I could read along (and I did read some other poems not in the recording).

I particularly liked the Andrew Marvell poem "To His Coy Mistress" & Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shephard to His Love". Although Shakespeare's 18th sonnet was good, it isn't my favorite of his love poetry.

Maroon Challenge: Paperback Mystery Catch up
Purple Challenge: Bingo (5D)
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Nightmare in Pink,   (done 2/15)

3★ I am undecided whether I like this series. The style is more of a hard-boiled mystery (not my favorite sub-genre) and the 1960s feel to the books is strong (especially regarding sex). However, Travis McGee himself I find intriguing -- he is the missing link between Robin Hood and the TV show Leverage. This is just the second book & I own something like 15 more of them, so I won't be giving up on the series yet!

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series
AlphaCAT February: I & B

Brothers in Arms, (contained in the omnibus Miles Errant, done 2/17)

4★ I was glad to see Bujold return to the previous style of space opera adventure in this entry in the Vorkosigan series. I was struck this time by certain similarities between Miles and Lymond (of Dorothy Dunnett's historical fiction series) -- they both are born leaders who created impressive mercenary forces at a surprisingly young age (I had forgotten that Miles was only 17 when he gained command of the Dendarai!). Of course, there are a lot of differences too -- in both physique and personality.

AlphaCAT February: I & B

The Inimitable Jeeves,   (done 2/21) {reread}

4★ This early Jeeves book is more of a collection of short stories, most involving Bertie Wooster's pal Bingo Little, than a novel. While highly amusing, it isn't quite as hilarious as "The Code of the Woosters" or "Jeeves in the Morning". However, I think it is a good introduction to the world of Jeeves & Wooster.

Jonathan Cecil continues to delight me with his narration of Jeeves, Bertie, and the rest. I was a little taken aback at first by his voice for Bingo, which has the slightest trace of a lisp, but I quickly got used to it.

>115 leslie.98: Mmm, Richard Armitage... :D

Silver Challenge: Nonfiction
Black: Hoarder's Challenge

The Souls of Black Folk,   (done 2/21)

3★ for the book, 2½ for the audiobook edition

While interesting to see what has changed (and sadly note what has not), I found that these essays didn't impact me the way Zora Neale Hurston's book "Their Eyes Were Watching God" or Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" did. I guess I relate to the more intimate personal lives shown in novels than the same situation shown in aggregate form in nonfiction. The parts I liked best were the ones that dealt with individuals, such as 'Of the Coming of John'.

Mirron Willis's narration may have played a role in my feelings for the book, as his deep slow voice was soporific. I had to speed up the narration to 2x to get what felt like normal speed to me. Even then I had trouble staying focused and frequently ended up having to read along in the Kindle edition to force my attention to the text.

>119 rabbitprincess: Yes, perfect for love poems :-)

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
AlphaCAT February: I & B

Indian Summer of a Forsyte and In Chancery,   (done 2/21)

4★ The middle section of "The Forsyte Saga". The novella "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" I liked slightly more than the novel "In Chancery" so I would give it 4½ stars.

These two cover about 20 years from the end of the first book in the Saga, "The Man of Property", with the slow dying out of the older generation and (eventually) the birth of a new generation of Forsytes to both Soames and Irene (NOT together though!!).

Galsworthy clearly understood the nature of obsession as he shows with Soames feelings for Irene, even at the very end of "In Chancery"...

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Black Hoarder's Challenge (#8)

Awakening,   (done 2/22)

3½★ This 'interlude' that starts off Volume 3 of the Forsyte Saga is quite short. It is from the perspective of Irene & Jolyon's son Jon at age 8. Life as a child in the first decade of the twentieth century...

Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's List
Purple Challenge: Bingo (3A)

Affinity,   (done 2/22)

2½★ Maybe even 2 stars. I got bored by this book by page 250 and had to force myself through the last 100 pages. Some lovely descriptive passages but too slow moving for my tastes -- still, if that was all I would have given it 3 or even 3 1/2 stars. However, I found the plot completely predictable and the characters unappealing. And why is this billed as a mystery? Romance, yes; ghost story, okay but mystery, no!

Maroon Challenge: Mystery ROOTs

Appleby's End,   (contained in the omnibus The Michael Innes Treasury) (done 2/24)

4★ While not for everyone, I enjoyed this peculiar but witty English mystery. I am not sure that I like the writing (the vocabulary is obscure to the point of words not even found in the dictionary), but I enjoy the varied cultural references and the plot is, as usual with Innes, bizarre but intriguing. And there is a twist right in the very last line!

Green Challenge: Plays
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOT

Caesar's Wife,   (done 2/24)

4★ As with all Maugham's work, this play is well written. I found it amusing on the surface but rather sad underneath.

This play centers on the relationships between several English people living in Cairo. Sir Arthur Little, a middle-aged man in the British civil service, has recently married a much younger woman, Violet, thus crushing the hopes of his close friend and contemporary Anne and ousting his widowed sister Christina from control of the household. Anne's younger brother Ronald is working for Sir Arthur as secretary. As the play opens, we find the Littles entertaining in honor of the visiting Appleby's, an MP & his wife from a North-country manufacturing district.

It soon becomes apparent that Anne, at least, is worried that there is something between her brother Ronny and Violet and she has pulled strings to have the Foreign Office transfer him to Paris. However, the Khedive has asked Sir Arthur to find him an English secretary who knows Arabic. While Christina would like Arthur to appoint her son Henry, Ronny is a better man for the job.

That sets up the central conflict -- Ronny loves Violet, who is married to Arthur -- it is Arthur, Gueniviere, and Lancelot in a modern setting. Does Arthur know? Should Christina tell him so that her son can get the job? If Anne tells him, would she be able to win over his heart? All good scenarios but none of them is what happens. The hint is in the title, Caesar's wife.

Turns out Arthur knew all along. He still keeps Ronny in Cairo since he is the best man for the job. Both Ronny and Violet are 'honorable' and so wouldn't dream of doing something so vulgar as having an affair so theirs is a doomed love. Arthur asks Violet, for the sake of the British Empire's mission in Egypt and Ronny's career in the Foreign Office, to try to behave irreproachably (hence the Caesar's wife bit).

I felt that the behaviour and responses were all very believable, in terms of the time (1920s) and setting of the play. Typing this review has made some of the plot seem less plausible in retrospect but while reading it, it felt true.

I find Michael Innes can be hit or miss, so I am taking note of Appleby's End for future reference.

>127 DeltaQueen50: An added bonus of this one is it introduces the woman who will become Appleby's wife (and her loony family)!

Brick Challenge: Books in Translation
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

"The Narrow Gate",   (done 2/25)

4½★ Better known as Strait is the Gate.

This is the second French classic I have read translated by Walter Ballenberger. I appreciate the way he has put them into modern English without losing the flavor of France.

I have only read one other book by Andre Gide, "The Immoralist". Both that novel and this one deal with people who choose to live their lives according to a guiding principle and where that decision takes them. While I could understand the main character in "The Immoralist" better, I had more sympathy for Alissa & Jerome in this novel.

Both are quite short and would make a good introduction to this Nobel Laureate.

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Dutch Me Deadly,   (done 2/27)

3★ This is #7 in the Passports to Peril series, but the first one I have read. While I think the premise of a tour group of seniors is clever, I found these seniors not very realistic and all too similar to each other. I also found the "bleep"ing out of swears annoying -- either avoid profanity or use it, don't try to have it both ways by having the characters swear and hiding the words!

The murder plot was good, with plenty of clues to the solution without making it obvious, and the red herrings were fairly plausible.

Purple Challenge: Bingo (4A)
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z
SFFFCat February: Sci Fi Classics

Pebble in the Sky,   (done 2/28)

3½★ I read this for the Bingo square "First book by a favorite author" (4A), as many other qualifying books had recently be read or reread. While I found it a fun read, and it was interesting to see so many of Asimov's themes already present, the plot itself wasn't as good as in his more famous works.

It was exciting but it had some science flaws (one of which Asimov apologizes for in the afterword! To be fair to him, that one didn't bother me that much). The one that bothered me was the biological attack, which would surely encounter some people with immunity. Plus quarantine or other isolation procedures must exist. I guess that we of the 21st century are more aware of the possibiliities of these kind of attacks than they were in 1950.

>130 leslie.98: I think I tried one of those and wasn't that happy with it.

>132 thornton37814: Yeah, I picked that up as a freebie but I won't be spending money to read any more. Or even checking them out of the library...

Updated my Bingo graphic in message #13

Ruby Challenge: Foreign Mysteries (Icelandic)

Strange Shores,   (done 3/3)

4★ This 11th entry in the Scandanavian mystery about Iceland's Inspector Erlendur was a bit slow getting started but built up to a powerhouse finale. However, I don't think it would have the same impact if read as a stand-alone.

Wow, didn't realise there were that many books in the series. I've only ever read the first and even though I liked it well enough haven't got around to the second as yet. It's good to see that even that far into the series that it's providing enough entertainment for a 4★ rating.

>136 AHS-Wolfy: It is #11 in the series but #1 & 2 haven't been translated into English, so if you count Jar City as the first, this is #9. I really like this series - much more than Wallander!

I've read one of the Wallander books and wasn't impressed enough to look for another. Yes, Jar City was my first encounter with Inspector Erlendur and have the next in line on the tbr shelves. Just haven't got around to reading it yet.

Oh the next one, Silence of the Grave is marvellous! Best one in the series I think!

The Wallander series is one that I enjoy but don't love, if that makes sense. I've read the first few and have the rest in my TBR stack. I read them sporadically though and never feel compelled to pick up the next to see what happens next.

>138 AHS-Wolfy: >140 LittleTaiko: The one Wallander book I read had too much about his feelings and problems for my taste. Of course, the Erlendur books have that too so I guess it is just that the Wallander didn't appeal to me. I didn't really like the PBS/BBC TV series either despite the beautiful cinematography and Kenneth Branagh...

Trying out the map for where my books have been set:


visited 21 states (9.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

Brick Challenge: Books in Translation (from French)
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction (set 1649)
Purple Challenge: BINGO (1C: book made into a movie -- "The Return of the Musketeers")
Black Hoarder's Challenge: (book so long it makes you want to cry -- 880 pages)

Twenty Years After ,   (done 3/11)

4★ for the book, 3★ for the audiobook.

While I appreciated being able to listen to this as a free audiobook, this isn't one of Librivox's best offerings. It was slightly annoying to switch narrators every few chapters (in a book with 90 chapters, that is a lot of switching!) along with changes in pronunciation of the French names and places. However, none of the narrators were unintelligible, which I have experienced with a few Librivox recordings. I just went to reading the text rather than listening for a couple of the narrators.

It took me a little while to warm up to this sequel to The Three Musketeers but it was worth perservering! Once again, our 4 friends have become embroiled in court politics, this time involving Richelieu's successor Cardinal Mazarin. One reason I think this was slower to start for me was that I had a little trouble in identifying all the people as some of the historical characters were unknown to me yet were presented with little or no explanation. Thank goodness for the internet!

Also, I was a little puzzled about Porthos -- I don't remember him being such a strong man (he is almost a Hercules or incredible Hulk in this book!). The characteristic of him I recall best from the previous book was his love of fine clothes & appearance.

Now that I have noted my complaints, here is the good parts. Although the 4 main characters (and Anne of Austria) are the same as in the previous book, this story stands alone quite well. Each of the 4 have gone their different ways, and at first, I was saddened that they were no longer the close-knit companions they were in The Three Musketeers. But as the story progressed, the strength of their friendship showed clearly and happily they all end up working together in an unsuccessful attempt to save King Charles I of England from Oliver Cromwell & execution. The story becomes quite exciting and I found by midway through I was having trouble putting it down!

Yay for enjoying Twenty Years After! It took me a bit to warm up to that one... I kept comparing it to The Three Musketeers, but I was happy to see the intrigues continue. ;-)

>144 lkernagh: said"It took me a bit to warm up to that one."

Glad to know it wasn't just me then! I think it does suffer in comparison to the first book which is so wonderful. If I hadn't had such high expectations, I probably would have warmed up a bit faster.

Violet Challenge: Poetry

The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013, (read ~50%)

3½★ My biggest complaint is that this volume is overwhelming -- too large to be appreciated in a 2-week library loan. If I owned this and could read the poems more slowly I would probably be giving it a higher rating. As it is, I just read about 300 pages before it had to be returned. Luckily my strategy of reading from about 6 different locations gave me a chance to experience at least a taste of each of the major selections included.

I found that my favorite section was from "White Egrets" although the "Midsummer" section ran a close second. I didn't care for the early work nearly as much as the later poetry.

Orange Challenge: Short Stories
AlphaCAT March: H & Q

Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories,   (done 3/15)

4½★ This mammoth volume contains over 50 short stories featuring Poirot. I was glad I read it on my Kindle as over 850 pages in print would have been unwieldy!

As a Christie fan, I found this a real treat. For those who don't care for her writing, the foibles of Hercule Poirot may grate on the nerves as they are more pronounced in these short stories than they were in her full-length novels and the short story format doesn't give much time for character development.

Despite the fact that I hadn't read many of the stories before, I was familiar with them from my repeated viewing of David Suchet in "Poirot" on PBS. In fact, so familiar was I with the TV adaptations that I noticed all the variations from their plots when reading these originals! One noticeable variation was the absence of Hastings from a surprisingly large number of the stories.

Green Challenge: Plays
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

The Duchess of Malfi,   (done 3/16)

3★ The play itself deserves a higher rating but this free Kindle edition from Amazon was annoying in its formatting so I downgraded the rating.

I have been curious about this play ever since I first read Agatha Christie's Sleeping Murder as a teenager. I knew very little about it other than what I gleaned from that reference... It is a tragedy very much in the style of Shakespeare's great tragedies, which is not surprising since Webster & Shakespeare were contemporaries, but without the 'comic relief' (a relief to me as I generally hate that part of Shakespeare!).

I do have some questions about some of the motivations in the play especially one crucial point -- why do Ferdinand and his brother the Cardinal want to prevent their sister from marrying again (she is a young widow)?? It can't really be for inheritance because she has a son from her first marriage (though he never appears). Everything that happens stems from this one point.

I also watched the 1972 performance on YouTube -- as is generally true with plays, it was better when seen than when read. The performance cut out some of the scenes & dialogue but was on the whole a faithful version.

Brick Challenge: Books in translation
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction

Wolf Totem   (done 3/16)

4½★ Although the ending is no surprise, tears still welled up in my eyes. The view of a lost way of life on the grasslands of Mongolia was fairly unsentimental most of the time, despite the narrator's somewhat heavy-handed infatuation with the wolf totem.

>149 leslie.98: I've had Wolf Totem stuck on my tbr shelves for more than 5 years. Perhaps your review will give me a push to finally get around to reading it.

>150 AHS-Wolfy: It was fascinating to read about the nomadic lifestyle still in existence in the 1970s!

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

Tales of the City   (done 3/16)

4★ Perhaps this book doesn't deserve such a high rating but its stories of 1970s pre-AIDS bohemian San Francisco was the right book for me at the moment. If you are offended by crude language, casual sex or drug use, this book probably isn't for you.

Although I was younger than these characters in '70s, I was old enough that many of the pop culture references (such as to the TV shows Maud and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) made me nostalgic.

Frances McDormand does a good job narrating.

Ruby Challenge: Foreign mysteries
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Excursion to Tindari   (done 3/17)

3½★ This 5th entry in the Inspector Montalbano doesn't disappoint. I particularly like to see how he navigates between the Mafioso and his incompetent & antagonistic boss.

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction

Room With a Clue   (done 3/22)

3½★ It is a relief to read a cozy mystery that is a mystery and not a romance novel.

The protangonist in this cozy is a recently widowed hotel owner who decides to investigate the death of a guest in order to protect the hotel and its staff. I like the Edwardian setting and the main character Cecily Sinclair but a few of her close friends from the nearby town were less convincing (Phoebe and Madeline). However, the mystery was well crafted so I will be reading at least one more in this series.

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series

Mirror Dance , which finishes the Miles Errant omnibus (done 3/29)

4★ The Vorkosigan series is such fun reading! I found the 3 stories in this omnibus were connected by a shared theme of identity -- what makes us who we are? How much of ourselves comes from outside versus innate traits? How do we maintain that identity under pressure? These questions are highlighted by the introduction of a surprising new character Miles' clone and therefore younger brother, Mark Vorkosigan.

I love the fact that after I surface from the adventure of these books, there is more to mull over. In this last book of the omnibus, the story took a darker turn (it has some fairly graphic torture scenes) but despite my discomfort for some of it, Bujold kept me reading - and thinking. I do hope the next book (Memory) is a little lighter though!

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list books
Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Italian to English)

Invisible Cities,   (done 4/1)

2½★ I think I read this at the wrong time in my life. I could appreciate the beautiful prose but only a few of the chapters spoke to me. Mostly I felt stupid as clearly there was some meaning that I was just not getting and didn't have the energy or interest to figure out.

I'm impressed that you read over 50 Poirot stories all at once! I'm a Christie fan too, and a David Suchet fan as well.

>157 mathgirl40: :D I spaced them out, reading one or two stories a day. I think it would be easy to overdose, even for a Christie fan like myself, if I had tried to read it like a novel straight through!!

Maroon Challenge: Paperback mysteries
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

The Quick Red Fox,   (done 4/1)

4★ Not a typical mystery. It took me a short time to warm up to this plot but once I did, I found it interesting and a bit sad. The early 1960s flavor is pretty strong so some might find this a bit too dated but that didn't bother me.

Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Japanese to English)
Purple Challenge: BINGO (4C)

The Guest Cat   (done 4/2)

3½★ This was a charming book which was a quick read. However, I feel perhaps I should have taken a bit more time with it. I felt that I could sense that the writer was a poet, even in translation; his imagery was evocative.

On the surface, this is a simple story of a couple who meet and eventually fall in love with a neighbor's cat. I happen to be a cat person so I could relate to the descriptions of the cat's play and habits; I think though that the cat & her habits were also a metaphor for a part of Tokyo & a way of life that was disappearing in the 1980s and 90s. My knowlege of Japan is slim so I am just guessing...

Brick Challenge: Books in translation (Russian to English)
Green Challenge: Plays
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Uncle Vanya   Librivox audiobook   (done 4/3)

4★ I listened to the full-cast recording by Librivox while I read this & would recommend that method. This play struck me as having a lot going on even through it is mostly talk rather than action. Vanya (Ivan) has been caring for his niece Sonia's estate after his sister died; now, his (former?) brother-in-law & his second wife Helena are visiting. Helena exerts a disruptive influence on all the male characters which irresistably reminded me of Helen of Troy.

I was struck by how modern some of the ideas expressed were. One example of this is the doctor's ideas about forests - his thoughts about deforestation and climate could have been spoken by someone today. I hadn't realized that these ideas existed in the late 1800s when Chekhov wrote this play!

Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

Open Season   (done 4/6)

3½★ I both read the Kindle ebook and listened to the Whispersync audiobook of this first book in the Joe Gunther series. This police procedural was a bit grittier than my normal mystery reading but I liked Gunther and the Vermont setting. I will be reading more from this series!

Orange Challenge: Short Stories
Indigo Challenge: Charles de Lint

The Very Best of Charles de Lint   (done 4/7)

4★ I was pleased that 18 of the 29 stories in this collection were new to me (and the 7 from Dreams Underfoot I read back in the '90s were due for a reread). Some of the stories were very dark (one in particular about a very young girl suffering from sexual abuse) but there were enough hopeful stories to keep this volume from being too much for me to handle. I am glad however that I spread out my reading of them -- to read them all back-to-back might have reduced my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

I particularly liked "The Badger in the Bag" (about the souls of musical instruments coming alive at night), "A Wish Named Arnold", and "Pixel Pixies". Oh and the tribute to Joe Strummer "That Was Radio Clash"!

Purple Challenge: BINGO

Corpse Diplomatique   (done 4/7)

2½★ While I enjoyed this cozy mystery, I didn't think it was as good as the first one (She Shall Have Murder). Perhaps this is due to the fact that Jane did very little sleuthing, leaving most of it up to Dagobert who performed his detective work unseen to both Jane (the narrator) and us readers. I got a bit tired of having him summarize what he had learned rather than being given the chance to 'experience' it myself.

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

The Man In The High Castle   (read as part of Four Novels of the 1960s; done 4/10)

3½★ I would have given this alternative history sci fi classic a higher rating but I disliked the ending. Although I knew the basic premise, this book was not what I expected. One thing Dick did very well was describe how living as a conquered people had seeped into the mind-set of the various American characters (even those born before the war).

Updated my bingo graphic in post #13 -- only 4 more squares to go!

And I have completed my Pink Category -- to read at least 15 Kindle ROOTs :)

I just returned home after succumbing to temptation at the local library's book festival. In addition to buying the books listed below, I got to meet Norton Juster and get him to sign my worn copy of The Phantom Tollbooth which my parents bought me back in the early 1960s! We watched a short documentary about the writing & illustrating of the book followed by a talk and Q&A session with Juster. Yay!!

I took home with me one new book -- Borderlines (2nd Joe Gunther mystery) (signed by author)

and 5 used books - all from the Guardian's list :)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Moo
The Remains of the Day
Atonement

That sounds like a very exciting day! Hurray for getting books signed and buying more! ;)

It was a good day, especially the author talks! In addition to Juster, there were a couple of mystery writers & some other contemporary authors (previously unknown to me). Finding some good books to buy was the bonus :D

Violet Challenge: Poetry

This Great Unknowing : Last Poems   (done 4/12)

3★ or perhaps 3½ stars. I really liked a few poems in this posthumous collection and didn't dislike any of them. However, most of the poems didn't make any strong emotional connection with me. I'm curious now to see how some of her earlier work strikes me.

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
AlphaCAT April: E & F
RandomCAT April: Life-altering changes
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Ruth   (done 4/14)

2½★ I have had this classic novel on my Kindle since October 2012, but unfortunately it was the worst Gaskell book I have read. The Librivox audiobook was also not great. I started by listening to the audiobook edition but eventually had to switch to reading the Kindle edition.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a great writer so it isn't the quality of the prose but the content which disappointed me. For those unaware of this classic, Ruth is about a young woman who gets seduced and becomes pregnant. Luckily for her, a Dissenting minister takes her in when she is abandoned by her lover and he & his sister decide to take her home and hide her "misfortune" by declaring her a widow. Eventually the secret comes out.

I can see that this topic would have been daring when this was written. Unfortunately, Ruth is annoyingly sweet and simple (to the point of stupidity in places) and the entire novel is too preachy in tone.

That said, I added another ½ star because despite the fact I didn't like Ruth and was mostly bored by the book, I still cried at the end. Only a good writer could pull that off!

>171 leslie.98: Oh, I'm sad to hear it was a disappointing read. I've had my eye on it for my women author catgeory, but I think I'll put it a little further down the list now.

>172 MissWatson: I have enjoyed several of her other novels, such as Wives and Daughters, Mary Barton, and Cranford. I had mixed feelings about North and South which was also a bit preachy but had good social commentary about life in a mill town. If you haven't read any of these, they would be a better choice than Ruth.

>172 MissWatson: I've read all of those you mentioned except Mary Barton, so it would seem I'll pick that up before Ruth. I rather liked North and South, but then I was predisposed to like it because I watched the BBC version first.

Green Challenge: Plays
AlphaCAT April: E & F

Fanny's First Play , read as part of omnibus

3★ I knocked off ½ star due to the poor editing on this edition -- almost all of the apostrophes were missing (for example: hes instead of he's or were instead of we're), which was quite annoying. Also for some reason, certain vowels were left out of contractions (havnt instead of haven't; arnt instead of aren't). I read this in the Kindle omnibus The Plays of Shaw (26 Plays).

I had never heard of this satire by George Bernard Shaw before. I did read the preface, which I normally skip or read afterwards, and am glad I did so as certain aspects of the play were much funnier knowing Shaw had published this play anonymously.

This play features a "play within the play". The 'inner' play is a spoof on the comedy-of-manners social satire such as Oscar Wilde wrote; it is about 2 middle-class families each of which have parents striving to maintain respectability and/or morality after suddenly discovering their child has been in jail after shenanigans on Boat Race Night. The 'outer' play is a satire on playwrights (including Shaw himself) and drama critics.

I was amused by both the 'inner' and 'outer' plays but some aspects of the humor in the 'outer' play were clearly aimed at contemporary critics of whom I have no information so my guess is it was funnier at the time it was first produced (1911).

Scarlet Challenge: Read-the-USA mysteries {TN}
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery   (done 4/15)

3★ Having spent time in eastern TN/western NC in and around the Smoky Mountains National Park, I loved the setting of this mystery. The mystery itself was OK -- a little predictable but with an interesting motive. I didn't much care for the scenes given from the culprit's perspective; the change in point-of-view was jarring and the information provided unnecessary. It would have been a better story without these bits in my opinion.

Another flaw, but a more tolerable one for me, was the explanations about slime molds. I found the information interesting but a less science-oriented reader may find them boring or overly long. Also, some of the information is given twice (once to Henry and then again to Phoebe) which seemed like padding.

Brick Challenge: Books in translation
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

Love in the Time of Cholera   (done 4/17)

4★ Armando Duran was a marvelous choice of narrator for this audiobook. However, I think I might have had difficulty with the audiobook if I hadn't already read the book in print. Love in the Time of Cholera is more straightforward than One Hundred Years of Solitude but Marquez still writes with complexity, switching from past to present and back.

Maroon Challenge: Paperback mysteries from my shelves

A Night of Errors   (done 4/19)

4★ Perhaps even 4½ stars...

Appleby has left Scotland Yard following his marriage to Judith Raven (whom he met in the previous book, Appleby's End) but still gets talked into helping the local police inspector when murder strikes the Dromio family. Based on this book, he will be back at Scotland Yard soon!

While this plot is convoluted in typical Innes fashion, this 11th entry in the series is more of a straight-forward police procedural than several of the previous books. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I found this one of the more entertaining books so far in the series.

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z
AlphaCAT April: E & F

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late   (done 4/22)

4½★ I had been vaguely aware of this series before but hadn't paid it much attention until I was introduced to the Guardian newspaper's list of 1000 Novels Everyone Should Read and found this first book of the series in the Crime section.

I am so glad that I finally read this! I found the rabbi David Small very likeable, although he played a smaller part in the story than I expected. The relationship between the Catholic chief of police and the Jewish rabbi promises to be an ongoing pleasure. I hadn't realized until I started reading this that it was set in Massachusetts, which as a MA native is a plus for me.

The mystery itself was excellently crafted. The pointers to the culprit were there yet the revelation of who it was still surprised me (even though I had noticed one of the biggest clues!).

Violet Challenge: Poetry

Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth   (done 4/23)

2½★ While I did like a few of the poems ("Rhyme", "Hubble Photographs: After Sappho", parts of "Draft #2006"), most left me either unmoved or confused. Perhaps I should have gotten an earlier collection, more similar to "Planetarium".

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
Black Challenge: Hoarder's (#2)

Cloud Atlas   (done 4/23)

4★ This book was heading for a 2½ or 3 star rating for me until the last few sections. Perhaps my change of heart came from the book itself but I suspect that participating in a group read of the book helped. Because I was discussing the book with others, I put more thought into questions such as "Why did Mitchell write it this way?" and "What is the purpose of the recurring features?" while I was reading than I would have done if I had been reading this on my own.

I can't claim that I "know" what the book meant or was supposed to mean but I can say that this is a book that has a meaning. It could be about the terrible price greed and selfishness cause the world to pay; it could be about the importance of belief; it could be something else entirely. Different readers will come away with different messages.

For a while, I thought that Mitchell was suggesting that civilization was cyclical so a return to barbarism was inevitable. As a missionary in the South Seas said in the second section of Adam Ewing:

"'That's what all beliefs turn to one day. Rat's nests & rubble.'"

The decline of civilization shown in the book certainly seems to bear that out. But the final pages of the book changed my mind. Ewing talks about the importance of belief and acting on your belief even if it seems futile:

{Adam's imagined criticism from his father-in-law}:"'...only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!'
   Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

I love that message! However, I can't give the book 5 stars because there were some aspects that bothered me. They are probably silly nitpicking details but they prevent me from giving this the highest rating.

The most serious flaw for me was in the Sonmi sections -- I liked how Mitchell was showing the devolution of the language to coincide with the cultural decline. However, the use of American brand-names turned into nouns bothered me -- at first I thought it was clever but in Korea, these should have been Japanese brands rather than American. Also, some of the brands were already losing prominence when the book was written (Kodak for example) and so are unlikely choices (Fuji film would be far more likely to be commonly used in Asia than Kodak).

The theme that greed & the dominance of corporations over individuals leads to ruin could have been illustrated just as well with Asian brands.

Purple Challenge: Bingo (Book a friend loves)
Black Hoarder's Challenge: #4

The Name of the Wind   (done 4/25)

4½★ for the audiobook, 4★ for the Kindle book

Audiobook: Nick Podehl does an absolutely marvelous narration of this fantasy novel. Listening to his narration swept me along and I would find myself sitting in the car just listening because I didn't want to break into the story! He also drew me past some bits which in retrospect seem a bit more YA than I typically would like.

Kindle: A great fantasy book. However, in the end, there was something lacking. Perhaps that feeling comes from the fact that the story isn't completed in this book, despite it being over 650 pages long.

I like the way the story is being told through Kote to the Chronicler. There are a few aspects of the plot that seem a little too YA to me but more in retrospect than as I was reading/listening.

Maroon Challenge: Paperbacks Already Owned
Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

The Three Coffins   (done 4/26)

4★ Clever locked room mystery. Carr's style when writing Dr. Fell is a bit didatic and may turn off some readers but I loved the (somewhat lengthy) exposition Fell gives about the various types of so-called "locked room" mysteries. As he says himself:

"    "When the cry of 'This-sort-of-thing-wouldn't-happen!' goes up, when you complain about half-faced fiends and hooded phantoms and blond hypnotic sirens, you are merely saying, 'I don't like this sort of story.' That's fair enough. If you do not like it, you are howlingly right to say so. But when you twist this matter of taste into a rule for judging the merit or even the probability of the story, you are merely saying, 'This series of events couldn't happen, because I shouldn't enjoy it if it did.'"

As I was starting this book, I realized that I had read a few other Gideon Fell mysteries before and that Fell wasn't as much fun as Gervase Fen. In other words, I do not much like Carr's mysteries or perhaps just not his writing style.

However, this seemingly insoluble, improbable locked-room mystery in which the murderer didn't even leave footprints in the snow was extremely clever. I thought I had suspected everyone in turn but not once did I come close to the true culprit! Carr plays fair with the reader -- there are no hidden facts brought out only during the solution. In fact, he tells you in the first chapter the names of certain witnesses whose testimony can be relied on to be truthful and complete!! Yet despite this broad hint and Fell uttering cryptic clues periodically, I only deciphered one small aspect of the crime.

In addition, Gideon Fell did make me chuckle several times with his pronouncements, such as when he gives rules about what ghosts should be like in English fiction (they should be seen in old abbeys or cemeteries, not lemonade stands). I also liked his mention of several other mystery novels and authors who excelled at certain types of mysteries during his discourse mentioned above.

Overall, I would recommend this as an excellent example of a certain style of mystery (the locked room) which is no longer fashionable.

Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction
Pink Challenge: Kindle Roots
HistoryCAT for April: Medieval Crime & Mystery

Wine of Violence   (done 4/27)

3★ I hovered between 2.5 and 3 stars for this historical fiction mystery. I liked the setting and the characters were believable for the most part. I only skimmed the foreword but the author has clearly taken the time to research the Fontevraud order and the time period of the late 13th century England. But some parts of it still struck me as a bit off (Eleanor, the daughter of a Norman noble, being taught to read and write in English for example).

I also found the plot, while probable, slightly distasteful. (There was a lot about sodomy in the book & one of the main characters is a gay man. That is fine, probably accurate, and even an interesting perspective on the times. But the motive of the murders turned out to be the repeated rape of a boy in the village. Good motive but yuck! I will try another from the series before coming to a final judgement.

>179 leslie.98:
Rabbi Small is a great character and the rest of the books are well worth reading as well! I read them ages ago and mean to reread them soon.

>185 -Eva-: I guess I have picked up another series!

Ruby Challenge: Foreign mysteries

The Purity of Vengeance   (done 4/28)

4★ Adler-Olsen continues to keep me glued to the page in this 4th installment of the Department Q series. Although I am not usually a fan of mysteries which feature interspersed sections from the killer's point of view, this style worked well here as we slowly learn about Nete's life. Meanwhile, there are some intriguing developments on the attack on Karl & his colleagues which crippled Hardy. I am beginning to wonder if Hardy is the one who was corrupt....

Orange Challenge: Short Stories

The Grey Woman And Other Tales   (done 5/11)

3★ This collection was a mixed bag -- a couple of European Gothic stories, a couple of moralizing tales, and one set of anecdotes about people disappearing. "The Grey Woman" was the best of the collection but except for the last one ("Disappearances"), I liked them all.

The middle stories ("Libbie Marsh's Three Eras", "Christmas Storms and Sunshine", "Hand and Heart" and "Bessie's Troubles at Home") I found reminiscent of Gaskell's American contemporary Louisa May Alcott. These stories are much what I had anticipated Gaskell's short fiction to be. The first three stories were unexpected in both being set in Europe and in style. I am curious now to read some more of her short stories!

AlphaCAT: May (L & R)
RandomCAT: May (Place in the Title)

The Maltese Goddess by Lyn Hamilton   (done /10)

2½★ I give the book 2½ stars partly because this Kindle edition has a few editing errors that were annoying. However, my biggest complaint was the unnecessary 'talk' of the Goddess at the beginning of each chapter -- I liked it at first but it didn't really have anything to do with the story so I lost interest. Much of the history of Malta contained in those section was also presented in the main story line as well so it didn't even have that purpose.

I also found it extremely distracting in the climax of the mystery for the author to suddenly switch from writing in the past tense to present tense (just for that one chapter).

However, I liked the setting and learned some interesting facts about Malta. I also liked the first book in this series, so depsite my disappointment in this one, I will probably try the next one.

Violet Challenge: Poetry
AlphaCAT May: R & L

The Jacob's Ladder   (done 5/20)

3★ While I enjoyed this collection more than the one I read in April, Levertov's poetry is very hit or miss for me.

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
AlphaCAT May: R & L

The Left Hand of Darkness   (done 5/24)

4★ Despite how slowly I read this, I really liked it. Typically when I like a book, I devour it (sometimes staying up all night to do so!). For some reason, I couldn't do that with this novel.

Le Guin has created another world in vivid detail, as she has done in her other works. The world and people of Gethen (also known as Winter) struck me as more alien not due solely to the physical differences; perhaps because of the details such as the calendar.

"The Left Hand of Darkness" is about the reaction of a world to what is called First Contact in Star Trek terminology. Although the book deals with a world of aliens with a single Terran visiting as a envoy of the Ekumen (similar to the Federation to continue the Star Trek terms), the reactions described would not be surprising in the reverse situation of Earth being visited by an alien envoy.

Brick Challenge: Books in Translation (Italian)
Green Challenge: Plays
Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up
AlphaCAT May: R & L

Right You Are! (If You Think So)   (done 5/27)

4★ Read as part of the omnibus Three Plays which has been on my Kindle since 2013.

Thought-provoking play about varying perspectives and the impossibility of knowing absolute truth. As my favorite character Laudisi says in the first act:

"Laudisi: ... do not tell your husband, nor my sister, nor my niece, nor Signora Cini here, what you think of me; because, if you were to do that they would all tell you that you are completely wrong. But, you see, you are really right; because I am really what you take me to be; though, my dear madam, that does not prevent me from also being really what your husband, my sister, my niece, and Signora Cini take me to be -- because they also are absolutely right!

Signora Sirelli: In other words you are a different person for each of us.

Laudisi: Of course I'm a different person!..."

I liked how Pirandello described the characters' dress and personality in the stage directions. This play struck me as a good one to read as it is mostly talk. I'd still watch a performance but I had less feeling of missing something with this one than typical.

Brick Challenge: Books in Translation (French)
Tan Challenge: Historical fiction
Pink Challenge: Kindle Catch up

The Vicomte de Bragelonne   (done 5/28)

3½★ I was a bit surprised to have the book end as I still had several CDs of the audiobook to go! This discrepancy is annoying but understandable as both the book and the audiobook are just the first part of the book Dumas originally wrote as the final novel of the d'Artagnan trilogy called The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. This last book was so enormous (over 1000 pages) that it is almost always divided into 3, 4 or even 5 separate volumes. I am reading the Project Gutenberg Kindle editions which are using the 4 volume division (although there was a nice little note showing where the book would have ended in a 5 volume split!). I thought that the audiobook I was listening to was also from a 4 volume split but perhaps it was from a 3 volume split instead.

I found sections of this volume very interesting and/or exciting (such as the parts about General Monk) but some of it was rather too long-winded (even for me!). Despite the title, the main character of this is our friend d'Artagnan. Porthos and Aramis don't appear until quite close to the end (Chapter 70 or so), which was a bit disappointing. Athos was present for much of the story although he and d'Artagnan were working at cross purposes for a while. As in the previous book, Twenty Years After, the four friends are not in close contact as the book opens & sadly are once again split in their loyalties, although this time it is d'Artagnan and Athos on the side of Charles II & Louis XIV versus Porthos and Aramis on the side of Fouquet. In Twenty Years After, d'Artagnan and Porthos eventually do come together with Athos and Aramis on the side of Charles I against Mazarin. I hope the 4 come together in the next book!

Powder Blue Challenge: Discworld series

The Color of Magic   (done 5/30)

3½★ I had fun reading this first book in the Discworld series but I am glad that a friend started me off elsewhere in the series. I like Pratchett's humor but it wasn't fully realized yet in this one. The bits about the Counterweight Continent were pretty good though! I especially chuckled at the confusion Rincewind showed about inn-sewer-ants. The best part was the Luggage -- if you have read this, you know what I mean & if you haven't, I can't do it justice with a description.

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list books
AlphaCAT May: R & L

The Remains of the Day   (done 5/31)

4½★ Maybe even 5 stars. I was very impressed by how Ishiguro managed to convey so much emotion in such spare & unemotional writing! I deliberately took my time reading this but this would have been easy to read in one or two big gulps.

Stevens, butler of Darlington Hall, is a man completely out of touch with his own emotions. I wondered at first if he was putting up a front or pretending for some reason (pride perhaps) but by the end, it was clear that he really didn't have any idea of his own feelings.

In the process of showing us this man, Ishiguro also provides us with a look at some of the pro-German British in the years leading up to World War II. While Stevens denies that Lord Darlington was a fascist and an anti-Semite, he then goes on to illustrate his point with reminiscences which belie his position.

Before reading this book, I had seen the movie. Based on that, I thought of this book as being about that part of history but my feeling after reading the book is that this just provided an interesting backdrop to the story of Stevens the man. Perhaps that is because the book is written in the first person, in the form of a journal, whilst the film of necessity is more outside looking in at Stevens, Miss Kenton, and the other occupants of Darlington Hall. It presents a more objective feeling to the action than the book does.

Maroon Challenge: Paperback Mystery ROOTs
Black Hoarder's Challenge: book with an ugly cover

A Deadly Shade of Gold   (done 5/31)

4★ In this 5th book in the Travis McGee series MacDonald showed more of his opinions than in the previous books. For example,

"When dawn came, there would be a hundred thousand more souls alive in the world than on the previous day, three quarters of a million more every week. This is the virus theory of mankind. The pretentious virus, never knowing that it is a disease. Imagine a great ship from a far galaxy which inspects a thousand green planets and then comes to ours and, from on high, looks down at all the scabs, the buzzings, the electronic jabberings, the poisoned air and water, the fetid night glow. A little cave-dwelling virus mutated, slew the things which balanced the ecology, and turned the fair planet sick. An overnight disease, racing and explosive compared with geological time. I think they would be concerned. They would be glad to have caught it in time. By the time of their next inspection, a hundred thousand years hence, this scabrous growth might have infected this whole region of an unimportant galaxy. They would push the button. Too bad. This happens every once in a while. Make a note to re-seed it the next time around, after it has cooled down."

What struck me about them is that so many of these 1960s feelings are so relevant to now, such as:

"If we can restrain ourselves from killing off our own rebels, our doubters and dreamers, all in the name of making ourselves strong, then we can prevail." or

"The president is selling the country down the river with the help of the Supreme Court. Agree with us or you are a marked traitor. You know the sort of thing, all that tiresome pea-brained nonsense that attracts those people who are so dim-witted that the only way they can understand the world is to believe that it is all some kind of conspiracy."

As for the mystery, it didn't really read like a mystery but as a revenge play. And just like the revenge plays, there were a lot of deaths. If I hadn't been enjoying the snide comments on society so much, I am uncertain I would have liked this plot. While not a typical hard-boiled detective story, it is more hard-boiled than I usually like.

>194 leslie.98:
Love for Luggage! :) And thanks for the reminder - I need to get back to this series!

>197 -Eva-: I am glad I finally discovered it but a bit sad that it was not long afterwards that Pratchett died...

Falling a bit behind with my updates. Maybe that is what I will do today... In any case, while it is fresh in my mind:

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list

The New York Trilogy   (done 6/6)

3★ I might have liked this more if I hadn't gone into it thinking it was a crime novel... but probably not. I found this term on Wikipedia's entry for Auster's trilogy, metafiction or even metamystery. I had to look up what metafiction was:

"Metafiction is a literary device used to self-consciously and systematically draw attention to a work's status as an artifact. It poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection."

While I have seen plays that use this sort of device (and liked them), I felt it was too self-conscious in this book. The questions were being shoved in my face with little subtlety and there was no feeling of resolution (at least for me). I guess I'm just not a modern (or postmodern) kind of gal...

Green Challenge: Plays
Brick Challenge: Books in Translation (Russian)

The Sea-Gull   (done 6/1)

3★ In addition to reading this play, I watched a performance on YouTube:

http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=qiPfPzt8azc

I found that this play had several similarities with the last Chekhov play I read, "Uncle Vanya". There is even the young man who tries to shoot himself. In this one, he tries again later and succeeds which made me come away with a much darker impression. Watching the performance did help me with this play but overall, Chekhov feels too bleak for me. I will come back and try him again some day but not right away.

I'm enjoying your reviews of plays. I too have a plays category but haven't filled it with much yet.

I also liked seeing the Charles de Lint review. I've only read one of his novels (The Mystery of Grace) but have been meaning to read more of his work.

>201 mathgirl40: If you are interested in reading more de Lint, I strongly recommend Memory and Dream or Trader.

>202 leslie.98: Thanks! I'll keep those in mind.

>199 leslie.98:
Interesting to hear - it is on my Mt. TBR and I do enjoy modern (and postmodern) literature when I'm prepared for what's coming, so thanks for the heads-up. :)

>200 leslie.98: I thought the writing was very good. I will be interested in seeing what you think of it when you do get to it.

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series

Memory ,   (audiobook)   (done 6/8)

4★ for the book & 4½ for the audiobook.

Grover Gardner did a terrific narration of this entry in the Vorkosigan series. Very glad that I decided to check this audiobook edition out of the library!

This 10th or 11th entry in the Vorkosigan series (depending on how you count them) was clearly a pivotal point. Lots of previous plotlines & relationships were ended and in the end, Miles is setting out in a new direction. I was a bit sad to see Miles and Quinn break up, although the fundamental difference in their (romantic) goals had been clear for a while. Even worse was losing the Admiral Naismith persona... I am curious to see what happens next!

Regarding this book's plot, I thought that it was fairly obvious that Haroche was guilty. I was beginning to doubt my intuition somewhat in the middle but not much.. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't obvious to Miles.

May summary, a tad late...

# of pages = 3,547 pages in 14½ books ( 3 mystery; 2 sci fi)
# of books from the Guardian's list (new/total) = 4/5
# of books in translation = 4
# of library books (including ebooks & audiobooks) = 6 (& 1 Amazon Prime)
# of audiobooks = 2
best new-to-me book = The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z titles
AlphaCAT June: Y & D
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Yesterday's Body   (done 6/11)

3★ Not bad for a first novel, self-published. The writing is good & I noticed very few typos or grammatical errors.

I found the main character, Jo Durbin, was a bit unclear to me -- she kept referring to herself as an old lady but she didn't act or talk like someone old. I couldn't get a handle on what her age was supposed to be. Her research for a book about homeless people was interesting but the bit about her imaginary cat was overdone -- I assume she isn't actually supposed to be mentally ill!

The mystery itself was OK -- the solution seemed obvious after about halfway through, although the red herrings were convoluted enough that I was willing to think I was mistaken.

Green Challenge: Plays

Long Day's Journey into Night   (done 6/15)

5★ Amazing if depressing play about a dysfunctional family in the early part of the 20th century (to be exact, August 1912). Unlike some of the other O'Neill plays I have read, this one has extensive stage directions which are critical if you have never seen a performance. I have seen the film with Jason Robards and Katherine Hepburn years ago -- as I read, I could recall certain scenes vividly!

While nothing much actually happens during this play, the family is slowly laid bare. The weaknesses of each member is revealed during the course of the day (the play takes place on a single day) as well as the tangled combination of love, hate, anger and sorrow that each feels for the others. Despite its setting, there nothing dated about this play -- this could be a family struggling with drug addiction and alcoholism today.

AlphaCAT June: Y & D

Dodger   (done 6/14)

4★ for the audiobook but 3½ for the book.

Stephen Briggs' wonderful narration brought this young adult novel up to a 4 star rating. While I was pleasantly surprised to find Pratchett's Dodger a separate character from the Dickens one in Oliver Twist, the story as a whole I found less successful than his Discworld books. Maybe people who haven't read the original Dickens would like this better...

Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction
Brick Challenge: Books in Translation (French -> English)
AlphaCAT June: Y & D

Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas   (done 6/16)

3★

This volume (#3.2 in the D'Artagnan series) had less adventure and more plotting than the previous ones in the series. I have already read "The Man in the Iron Mask" (volume #3.4) and I could see that a lot of groundwork for that volume was being laid. I am unhappy about Aramis who is more clearly on the opposite side from D'Artagnan, Athos, and Raoul. He has become very ambitious -- I miss the lover! And despite the fact that he knows Raoul loves Louise de la Valliere, he doesn't hesitate to involve her in his plots.

D'Artagnan & Athos hardly appear in this volume -- I hope they appear more in the next volume, "Louise de la Valliere" (#3.3).

Good observations regarding Ten Years Later! I look forward to seeing what you think of Louise de la Valliere.

>212 lkernagh: I think I need to take a bit of break from the series but I will be finishing it this year!

>210 leslie.98: I have that one in audio. It's been long enough since I've read Oliver Twist that maybe the differences from Dickens won't be as noticeable for me.

AlphaCAT June: Y & D

Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett   (done 6/17) {reread}

5★ I was surprised on this reread by how much of the plot of the entire series is laid out in this first book. I don't mean that there is a lot of hidden foreshadowing but almost all the main characters were introduced and the stage was set. I enjoyed seeing how deftly Dunnett showed the evolution of Claes into Nicholas (or Niccolo) and did see what I think were some hints of things to come later in the series. Dunnett's writing is dense and complex so I find it more enjoyable upon rereading. Knowing the basic elements of the plot allowed me to concentrate more on the writing and descriptive details that sometimes bogged me down the first time through.

Update on where my reading has taken me in 2015:


visited 26 states (11.5%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

Scarlet Challenge: Read-the-USA mysteries (Wyoming)
Orange Challenge: Short Stories

A Deal on a Handshake   (done 6/18)

2★ This Kindle freebie has a fair number of formatting (scanning?) errors (such as "bu t" instead of "but"). If the stories had been better, I could have probably ignored these errors more easily and conversely, if these errors hadn't been annoying me, I probably would have liked the stories a bit more. Oh well, at least I managed to cross Wyoming off my list!

>215 leslie.98: I have the first of the Lymond Chronicles on my shelf and am glad to hear that the Niccolo series starts off well, too!

>218 rabbitprincess: I love both series but I have to warn you that some others were reading Niccolo Rising with me & gave up about 100 pages in. But I hope that you end up liking The Game of Kings :)

>215 leslie.98: Oof, I HATED Niccolo Rising! So it's interesting for me to see your different perspective. I can see how it might be more enjoyable upon re-reading, since I wouldn't have to pay so much attention to the plot setup. Maybe I will try another of Dunnett's books. As a popular historical fiction author, she's definitely an author I WANT to like!

>220 christina_reads: I think you really need to read the entire series to truly appreciate them. While each novel tells a separate episode in the life of Niccolo/Nicholas/Claes, you can only get the big picture of how all the different threads are connected by learning about all the episodes. Because of this, the first book can be difficult since so many characters and scenarios are being introduced.

Powder Blue Challenge: Discworld

Feet of Clay   (done 6/19)

3★ While I enjoyed this 3rd book of the City Watch, it wasn't as humorous as the first two. I am glad Captain Carrot still has his trademark simplicity though.

Navy Challenge: Vorkosigan series

Komarr   (contained in the omnibus Miles in Love, done 6/21)

4½★ What a marvelously fun and exciting entry in the Vorkosigan series! While probably a good story as a stand-alone, it is much better read as part of the series (especially after the omnibus Young Miles and the novel Memory).

I couldn't stop listening to Grover Gardner's excellent narration but did read along a fair amount. So glad to see Miles happily launched on his new career after losing the Dendarii mercenary fleet in the previous book. And a new love interest too! I hope that this one works out for him -- the omnibus title indicates hope on that score!

Green Challenge: Plays
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

Two Gentlemen of Verona   (done 6/22) (contained in the Kindle omnibus of Shakespeare's "The Complete Works")

3½★ I need to think over this play but my first thought is that I would have liked it more if the ending hadn't been so rushed. It didn't strike me as very believable that Valentine would forgive Proteus so quickly.

I also watched a performance of this play on YouTube as I read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEifTpIsn8

Violet Challenge: Poetry

C.P. Cavafy Collected Poems   (done 6/23)

4★ Cavafy's poetry often strikes a chord with me. I like the form of his poetry as well as the content & felt that Mendelsohn did a good translation. Of course, I am unable to read the original Greek so I can't really judge!

I did skip the prose poems at the end of the volume but spent some time looking at the extensive notes on the historical & mythological persons mentioned or implied in the poems. Having been a fan of all things Greek from an early age (my 11th birthday to be exact!), I was familiar with most of the people from ancient times but the notes were still interesting and informative.

Although I think that the two poems most familiar to me before reading this volume, Ithaca and Waiting for the Barbarians, were the best, I did discover several others that I liked almost as much such as As Much As You Can, Second Odyssey and Safe Haven. I was pleasantly surprised by some of Cavafy's pastoral poems such "Rain" and "Morning Sea".

The love poems often showed the stigma he felt being homosexual, calling it an "illicit pleasure" among other terms. Poems such a He Asked About the Quality, The 25th Year of His Life and Hidden indicate a life lived "in the closet" as we now call it. While well crafted (and some of the passages about desire were decidedly erotic even to me!), these had less resonance with me.

Ruby Challenge: Foreign mysteries (Danish)
Tan Challenge: Historical Fiction
Alabaster Challenge: A-to-Z

The King's Hounds   (done 6/26)

3½★ I might have given this 4 stars if I hadn't been annoyed by a glaring historical inaccuracy in the very beginning -- Winston, the illuminator of manuscripts, was using a graphite pencil. While graphite was discovered (in the early 1500s) much earlier than I had expected when I looked into this, it was still much later than the setting of this novel in 1018. This was the only such inaccuracy that I noticed so it is too bad that it happened so early and tinged my opinion of the book.

This Danish mystery is set in England a few years after King Cnut (Canute was the way I would have spelled it) began ruling. I found this early medieval setting, when Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Danes (Vikings) were first coming together into a unified country very interesting. While I had heard of King Canute before, I hadn't really realized that there was a time when England (and apparently Ireland too?) was under the rule of the Danes. One thing I would have liked that was missing was an appendix with definitions of some of the historical terms (such as housecarls, Witenagemot, etc.). Most of the meanings became clear from the context but it would have been a nice addition to the book.

I liked the use of the Saxon Winston coupled with Halfdan, a young dispossessed nobleman -- whose mother was Danish and father Saxon -- as main characters. Not only do the two provide a way to see different ethnicities but Winston had a background in the religious life (monasteries and abbeys) while Halfdan knew more about the "wild" side of life from his days of living hand-to-mouth. The murder investigation by these two was fine with the caveat that this was not a mystery that the reader could solve before the 'detectives'. I will be reading more from this series.

Orange Challenge: Short Stories

Curious, if True: Strange Tales   (abandoned 6/26)

1½★ Not enjoying these stories -- the moralizing irritates me and the paranormal (ghosts and demons) bores rather than frightens. I read the first 2 stories and the first chapter of the third; the last two stories I have read previously in "The Grey Woman and Other Tales". Those two would be the best in this collection...

>216 leslie.98:
Excellent progress!

Thanks >228 -Eva-:. I have been feeling a bit discouraged so your support means a lot :)

Yellow Challenge: Guardian's list
RandomCAT June: On the Water
Pink Challenge: Kindle ROOTs

The Riddle of the Sands   (done 6/28)

3★ A lot of technical details about currents, tides and sailing. Best for people familiar with the Friesland area and/or sailing. The espionage aspects were ground-breaking in their realism when first published in 1903 but a bit dated now.