Sakerfalcon's reading adventures in 2015

It's now 5 days into the new year and thanks to my rubbish internet at home I'm only just now able to start my new thread. Still, better late than never and not getting online has meant more time to read.

Thanks to everyone who commented, lurked and made suggestions for further reading last year; I hope you'll find something here to entertain you this year too. And maybe I'll get a chance to return some of those book bullets I was hit by!

My ambition this year is to reduce Mount Tbr by buying fewer books and reading more of those I already own. I probably won't succeed, but one has to try. Anyway, I've started by picking three books from the stacks and am enjoying them all so far.

Blood and iron is Elizabeth Bear's take on the intersection between Faerie and the modern world. It's quite complex, with a number of different conflicts to be resolved, and it is sometimes a bit confusing. But the characters are interesting and their motives grey enough to be interesting and to keep the reader wondering who to root for.

A stranger in Olondria is one of the most gorgeous books I've been lucky enough to read. The world in which it is set is lush and intriguing, and the narrator's fascination with it comes across clearly in the prose. Jevick the narrator is the first member of his family to learn to read, and it intoxicates him. When he is required to take his father's place on a business voyage to sell spices, he is eager to immerse himself in the places he's only experienced in books. But his naïve enthusiasm means he ends up haunted by the spirit of a young girl which leads him into strange adventures as he seeks to lay her to rest. The book builds slowly with lots of description but the prose is lovely and the images it conjures up are memorable. A very good book to take one away from the dreary northern winter!

I've started reading The book of Small before I go to see an exhibition of paintings by Emily Carr later this winter. This is a collection of prose sketches of her childhood, so far revolving around the family home in British Columbia. It's written in a simple style but doesn't try to imitate the voice of a child, thankfully. I'm reading this first rather than Klee Wyck as I only have the edited version of the latter. I'm hoping I might be able to get some of Carr's other books in the exhibition shop.

And on my kindle I've started reading Symbiont, the sequel to Parasite. It picks up from where the first book ended and ramps up the action, but I'm not liking it quite as much now that the mystery of Sally's nature is revealed. It's certainly exciting though and I don't expect I'll be able to linger over it!

As soon as I finish one of the above books, I'll be starting A fistful of sky for Morphy's January group read. I'm also going to participate in the Virago group's "Seven Ages of Woman" theme read this year, as I have many unread books that fit in to that nicely.

>1 Sakerfalcon: and it begins *adds A Stranger in Olondria to the wishlist* :)

Happy new year! I look forward to hearing about your reading - and racking up as many bullets as you send in my direction. I've had Blood and Iron on the shelf for much too long, so I really must pick it up this year too.

I started to read The Book of Small when I had to spend some time waiting at the library a few months ago. I enjoyed the third of it that I had time to read, and sometime soon I mean to borrow it and finish the rest.

Wishing you many happy hours of reading and plenty of excellent books for the year ahead.

Blood and Iron sounds interesting.

Just checking in. I'm loving A Fistful of Sky. :)

I read Blood and Iron a few years back. Interesting to see what you will make of it - so much of the story relies on familiarity with old ballads and folklore, and am truly curious to know how it reads for anyone who hasn't a depth of background there.

I don't know how you can read so many books at one time! I think I would mix them all up in my head.

I look forward to hearing about your reading adventures this year.

>2 imyril:, >5 pwaites:, >7 JannyWurts: I'm enjoying Blood and iron but Janny makes a good point about it assuming some familiarity with traditional ballads and folklore. Tam Lin is a running theme, and the Arthurian stories feature strongly too, but there are less obvious references too. Bear doesn't stop to explain things as she goes along; if you're patient, things seem to become clear as the story unfolds although at present I'm still unclear as to the exact nature of the tithe. I'm enjoying it though - the characters are an interesting bunch and both modern day New York City and timeless Faerieland are well done.

>3 SylviaC: It is quite lovely, and I hope you get a chance to finish the book. I wish I'd bought the omnibus edition of Carr's writings that I saw in Victoria when I was there in 2007; it seems to be out of print now.

>4 Peace2: Thank you! I wish you the same.

>6 MrsLee: That's good to know. I remember hesitating over it in the bookshop years ago and not buying it, so am glad to finally have the excuse to make up for that mistake.

>8 catzteach: I try not to read books that are too similar, otherwise I think I would too. But I need to have different books on the go to suit whatever mood I happen to be in, or depending on how tired I am, or how much I can fit in my bag!

I don't seem to have had much time to read at home this week, but I've managed to finish Symbiont while commuting. As a follow-up to Parasite, I found it rather disappointing, feeling very much like a filler. We have lots of repetitive internal monologue from Sal, several kidnap scenarios, a few illogical plans and some mustache-twirling villainy. But of course, Grant manages to wrap the book up in such a way that I'll still want to read the final instalment.

In its place I've started The invisible library, which seems to be an adventure/spy mystery involving librarians who cross between alternate worlds on missions for the titular institution. The world our heroine and her sidekick are sent to this time is on the brink of chaos, with supernatural creatures existing alongside steam-era technology. So far it's great fun.

>10 Sakerfalcon: The Invisible Library: I'm feeling a little tug there. Think I'll wait and see how you rate it, though.

>10 Sakerfalcon: oooh I picked that up as part of my Thingaversary haul in the January sale. I couldn't resist fantasy librarians :)

Claire, I hope you have a great 2015 for reading and everything else that you are involved in. I shall be lurking, just beyond your field of vision.

Sigh, right between the eyes with The Invisible Library. Had to order it from the Book Depository, but it's on its way.

My library doesn't have The Invisible Library. I guess I might have to buy it.

>15 catzteach: Maybe it's just invisible? ;)

Sorry...couldn't resist, though I probably should have.

>16 Marissa_Doyle: You beat me to it. I was going to ask, "How can you tell?"

The Invisible Library sounds as if it might have a touch of Jasper Fforde. I'll be interested to see everyone's thoughts on it.

Marissa, you made me giggle. :)

>11 Meredy:, >12 imyril:, >14 Marissa_Doyle:, >14 Marissa_Doyle:, >18 Jim53: I'm more than half way through The invisible library and so far it's a wonderful romp. The heroine manages to combine feistiness with common sense, her too good-looking to be true sidekick has some intriguing secrets that he's trying not to reveal, and the enemies seem to be all around. The writing is pretty good, although the author is fond of splitting infinitives, and the descriptions of an alternate steampunk-ish London are well-done.

>13 pgmcc: Welcome! I hope you will delurk every now and then to share your wit and wisdom with us.

>16 Marissa_Doyle:, >17 pgmcc: *snork!*

I finished A stranger in Olondria last night, having experienced an almost dreamlike journey through colourful lands. While there is a plot, what stands out is the atmosphere and the way the author weaves stories and legends into the book. It's a picaresque novel that follows Jevick on a journey through the land that has fascinated him since childhood, although he couldn't have imagined the circumstances in which he finds himself. The ghost who haunts him forces him to re-examine his ideas about literature and about whose stories are worthy of being told. I read a review that interprets the book as the immersion of an outsider into the literature and culture of a foreign, revered nation, and how he must learn the worth of his own society, which seemed to work for me. Otherwise the book can be enjoyed as an exotic travelogue with an intriguing supernatural layer.

I've nearly finished Blood and iron, will probably do so this evening. Next up will be A fistful of sky for the Green Dragon group read, and Never no more by Maura Laverty for the Virago group "Childhood" theme.

>20 Sakerfalcon: through the heart! I've been resisting A Stranger in Olondria, but after that description it's going on the wishlist.

>21 imyril: I hope you enjoy it if you manage to track down a copy.

I did finish Blood and iron the other night and overall I enjoyed it, despite sometimes feeling confused as to characters' motives and reasons for taking certain actions. Very little is spelled out and the Fae characters in particular can be bound by illogical rules and practices. There are three main viewpoint characters - Elaine, the Seeker, who is bound to serve the Queen of the Daoine (basically good) Fae; Matthew, a member of the Promethean society of human magi who are opposed to the Fae; and Keith, a werewolf, Elaine's lover and father of her child. The main plot is the conflict between the Fae and the Prometheans, which is coming to a head, but side plots which tie into this one include the need to find and recruit the Merlin who has been reborn into the world, the battle for the heart and soul of Elaine and Keith's son Ian, Elaine's binding of a kelpie and their subsequent bond, the succession of power among the werewolves, and the coming of the Dragon Prince into his power. So there's a lot going on, involving a host of characters, most of whom rarely say what they mean or give reasons for their actions. But I liked the writing, which frequently references folk tales and ballads, the depictions of the Fae kingdoms and their denizens, the use of the Arthurian legends, and the characters. The Merlin, while a fully-rounded character, is basically a McGuffin, off stage for chapters at a time until required by the plot; I'd like to have seen more. I found myself more sympathetic to the Fae characters, though the humans aren't wholly bad and have good reason for their war on Faerie. So to sum up, this is a complex, fascinating, sometimes frustrating book that requires some patience and concentration, but is an absorbing, haunting read. I feel that it will reveal more of its secrets on a reread, which I'll certainly do in the future. I'll also look for the sequel, Whiskey and water which, if the title is anything to go by, should feature my favourite character quite prominently!

I've also finished The invisible library, which was great fun. It was action packed and fast paced, in many ways the opposite of Blood and iron. If you read a lot of steampunk you might find the alt-Victorian London setting rather unoriginal, but I thought it was well done, and the technology was integrated into the story rather than just being there as window dressing. I would have liked to spend more time in the titular Library, rather than just passing though between missions, but to make up for it we do get some good scenes at the Natural History Museum and the British Museum. Irene was a good heroine, resourceful but no Mary Sue, and the antagonism between her and Bradamant went in a surprising and pleasing direction. There will obviously be a sequel (although this book doesn't end on a cliffhanger) which I will look forward to.

I started A fistful of sky last night, and had a hard time putting the book down to go to sleep! I got about 3/4 of the way through before I made myself stop. Gypsum is a sympathetic character and an engaging narrator, and I love the interactions between her, her siblings, and the rest of the family. In a way the plot is very simple, it's just one magical disaster after another, but with each we see Gypsum learning and growing, and the relations with her family members evolving too. I can't wait to finish this, but at the same time, I don't want it to end!

My new commuting book is Never no more, a novel based on the author's own childhood in Ireland in the '20s. When Delia's father dies her mother and 8 siblings pack up and move to the city, but their grandmother, sensing Delia's fear at being uprooted, takes her to live in the country. So far I'm enjoying the little details of everyday life and the narrative voice, which is subtly but unmistakably Irish.

I am following you into Faerie with Blood and Iron. I've been meaning to read it for a couple of years, and the combination of your largely-positive comments and all the myth woven into Silently and Very Fast makes me thing the time is now. So far, I'm enjoying it - but it does help to have at least a basic grounding on how Fae might work, doesn't it? Otherwise it's quite sparkly but obscure.

Found you!

>22 Sakerfalcon: I've just looked up The Invisible Library on Amazon for a peek. You make it sound very appealing. But . . . boys age 11 to 17 in a certain house at a school of magic . . . how's the deja vu quotient?

>23 imyril: I'll be very interested in your thoughts and reactions to Blood and iron. I can't imagine how confusing it would be to read with no prior exposure to faery lore and myth.

>24 BBGirl55: Welcome! It's good to "see" you here!

>25 Meredy: That's only the setting for the first chapter, in which we meet the heroine as she finishes a mission. After she leaves that world we don't go back there. So nothing to worry about on that front!

I finished A fistful of sky and must head over to the spoiler thread to post my comments and to see what others thought of it. I really enjoyed it overall, but it did feel as though the last two chapters were pasted in from another book with the same character names. Very odd. But the characters were lovely, especially our heroine, and I loved the family house where most of the story takes place. It was nice to read such a sunny book in the middle of a rather bleak winter.

Never no more is a delightful read, very evocative with vivid descriptions of people, food and village life in the early C20th. It's not rose-tinted - lives were clearly hard- but the narrative is permeated with love and joy.

>26 Sakerfalcon: Haven't read your post in the Spoiler thread, but your reaction to the Fistful of Sky book is very much like several of those (including me) who've read it. :)

>26 Sakerfalcon: All right, well, that did it, then. I'll just lie down and take the hit.

Nice new thread, Claire! Never No More sounds good; I look forward to your comments after you've finished it.

>29 kidzdoc: Welcome, Darryl! I can't promise any delicious recipes but hopefully you'll enjoy the book talk!

>28 Meredy: It is a fun read, good for when you want something with a fast-moving plot that doesn't require you to think too hard.

I finished Never no more this weekend; what a lovely book. Rural Ireland in the 1920s is vividly evoked and suffused with the love of the author for her childhood home. According to the introduction, the book tells of the childhood she wished she'd had rather than the one she actually did, yet I'm sure a lot of the details must have been taken from life. I'm not surprised to learn that she was most famous for her cookbooks, as her descriptions of food and its preparation are enough to make one's mouth water. I thought the book succeeded very well in achieving a balance between nostalgia and the darker side of life in an economically deprived area, never becoming too sentimental or too grim. Wonderful.

I read a library book this weekend, Vixen which is a historical novel set in C14th England. I couldn't really enjoy this book, perversely because of the accuracy of its portrayal of the period. The author really does succeed in showing how nasty, brutish and short life was back then, and how narrow-minded and superstitious people could be. The three main characters are a priest, who despite being sincere in his faith is still a horrible person, his housekeeper Anne who starts off as a spoiled brat but does grow and become sympathetic, and the mysterious Maid or Vixen, a feral child who appears in time to be hailed as a miracle from God. The writing is lovely but the whole thing was too miserable for me to enjoy reading. If you liked Karen Maitland's Company of liars you might like this, although it's even darker than that book IMO. A pity, as it has a gorgeous cover!

I also read Still life, the first of the Inspector Gamache mysteries. My friend Sasha is to blame for getting me started on these, when she forced A trick of the light into my hands and said "Read this!" I like that although this is the first in the series the characters all feel as though they existed before the book started, and that we have just dropped in on them while they're living their lives. The setting is excellent and also feels well-established. I thought her style was a little weak in this one - there were a few passages I had to go back and reread because the clunkiness made it hard to work out what had just happened - and the mystery was perhaps a bit overcomplicated, but on the whole this was a very good read and I'm looking forward to more in the series.

My current commuting book is The sleepwalker's guide to dancing, which is about an Indian-American family. As I'm reading an ARC I don't know much more about the plot than that, but so far I'm enjoying the characters and the convincing rendition of the Indian-English speech rhythms.

I'm still enjoying The book of Small, although I did set it aside for a while as it was very similar in theme to Never no more (childhood seen by an adult looking back). I'm reading it a few chapters at a time in order to savour the prose and the vision of Victorian-era BC.

I'll choose another "home" read before I go to bed this evening :-)

>30 Sakerfalcon: IMHO the Gamaches get better as you go along. Still Life was certainly good enough to get me to come back, primarily because of the characters; by Bury Your Dead the writing has improved considerably.

>31 Jim53: Yes, I was glad to have read one of the later books first so I knew things would improve in that respect.

Yesterday I had a couple of long train journeys to make and I brought Station eleven with me to read (as The sleepwalker's guide was too heavy to carry). I managed to finish it, mainly because I just didn't want to stop reading. It's beautifully written and the way the non-linear story passes between seemingly unconnected characters drew me in and kept me reading until all the pieces fit together. I'd recommend it even if you normally wouldn't read a post-Apocalyptic story as this one focuses more on people's inner lives than on physical survival, and while there is the violence you'd expect in this setting it occurs off the page for the most part. A lot more time than I'd expected is spent in the book's past, before the disaster occurs, and at first I wondered how this would be relevant to the "present" day narrative, but it came together beautifully. Also, the author does use present tense for some of the narrative, but she makes it work. My best read of the year so far (although the year is young ...)

>31 Jim53: Still Life didn't win me over, but I seem to have bounced the book bullet on to my Mum and she's been buying the others so I might dip into a later one at some point and give Gamache another chance :)

>32 Sakerfalcon: However, I'm dying to read Station Eleven as I've heard so many good things. I've been resisting buying it until I catch up on all the other bullets! I'm not sure my self-discipline will last...

Aaand The Invisible Library arrived today from the Book Depository, so the bullet has well and truly hit its target...except my son snagged it to read first.

>34 Marissa_Doyle: Uh-oh...I think I saw you jump and run to get into the line of fire.

>35 Meredy: Sssh! Don't tell...I don't run very fast. It's the sciatica, dontcha know.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Station Eleven, Claire. I bought a copy of it this month, and I'll probably read it in the spring.

>33 imyril: I don't usually read mysteries at all, but the characters and setting drew me in to these. The first one I read was A trick of the light, which is no. 7 or 8 in the series and although it referred to events from previous books I was able to keep up and enjoy the read. I do look forward to seeing what you think of Station eleven when you get hold of a copy.

>34 Marissa_Doyle: I hope you and your son both enjoy the book. It's a fun ride!

>37 kidzdoc: Darryl, I'll be especially interested to see what you think of Station eleven as I know you don't usually read dystopian/post apocalyptic themed books.

I've nearly finished The book of Small, which is a lovely read. I must try and get hold of some of Emily Carr's other books.

The sleepwalker's guide to dancing is entertaining so far, about a dysfunctional Indian-American family.

And my just-before-bed book is An artificial night, the third of Seanan McGuire's October Daye books. I'd heard that this is the one where the series really gets into its stride and I have certainly noticed a marked improvement over the first two.

You just got me with two BB's Claire. A stranger in Olondria sounds exactly up my alley and the same applies for Vixen - I belong into the group who really enjoyed Company of Liars by Karen Maitland.
I agree with you on your comments on Station Eleven pretty much. I was wondering from time to time how everything will fit together. As I mentioned already on my thread, despite some flaws in characterisation and storyline it was a brilliant read, which I was almost unable to put down.
My fave read so far this year is the first volume of Saga, an absolutely terrific GN. Great art and great storyline.

>39 drachenbraut23: I look forward to hearing what you think of the BBs, especially Vixen. If you can't find a copy of Stranger in Olondria I can lend you mine when you're back in the UK. And your and other people's recommendation of the Saga series prompted me to search for it in the Westminster library system, where I found that Marylebone, my local branch, has the first two volumes! So I checked them out on my lunch break and am looking forward to them.

The book of Small was delightful. A phrase from the book's review here on LT sums it up perfectly - "She does capture that world of late-Victorian childhood where one minute she's sitting on a stiff chair drinking tea in a dark parlour, and the next she's squeezing through brambles and mud to get to her own Secret Garden." Now I'm really looking forward to the exhibition of her paintings, which I'm going to see this weekend.

I finished An artificial night and really enjoyed it (I do seem to have read an usually high number of books about Faerie so far this year!). It is much, much better than the previous books in the series, with Toby making wiser decisions and being generally more sensible and competent than before. The worldbuilding is still excellent and in this one I particularly liked McGuire's take on the "How many miles to Babylon" nursery rhyme - very different to Diana Wynne Jones' use of it in Deep secret. There's barely a hint of romance, though tension building which will surely come to a head in future instalments. I'll try and get to the next volume soon.

This weekend I indulged in a reread of A civil campaign, my favourite of the Vorkosigan series. It never fails to make me laugh out loud, and it's a nice change to read a book where the characters, both good and bad, get exactly what they deserve.

I'm still enjoying The sleepwalker's guide to dancing. It's a long book but I'm enjoying getting to know the characters as we see scenes from their past as well as the present. The protagonist is Amina, whose parents emigrated to the USA from India, to her grandmother's great displeasure. Amina and her brother have a nice middle class upbringing in New Mexico but tension between their parents over the rift with family back home has a lasting effect on their lives as they become adults. This is an absorbing read that I'm reluctant to put down when I have to get off the train.

At home I started reading Smiler's Fair this weekend, a fantasy novel consisting of 5 interwoven plot lines, each following a different character. The world suffers from a similar problem to that of The warded man - demons that prey upon humans given any chance. The solution here is different - as the demons rise up from ground that has been covered over for too long, everyone in mobile dwellings, whether boats that are towed around lakes, or houses built on rails that can be slid along. The titular fair consists of structures that can be taken down and transported with ease when necessary. Other than that there's not a lot here that won't be familiar to readers of the genre - an arranged marriage to be fled, a dishonourable past to be overcome, a peasant boy who clearly has a Destiny - but it's nicely done and well written and keeps me turning the pages.

Oh, dear, I'm afraid I had to lie down for The Invisible Library not because of a bullet hit but because of a soporific wipeout. I fell asleep three times during our first read-aloud, and my husband was drifting so badly that he kept reading wrong words...which I told him were more interesting than the right ones. This one is just not going to work for me.

>41 Meredy: Oh no, that sounds like a tranquilizer dart not a bullet! I hope you're able to find the book a home where it will be a better fit.

Finished a couple more books this week. The sleepwalker's guide to dancing was a very good read, with characters who were interesting if not always sympathetic. I liked the portrayal of the Indian-American family which managed not to descend into cliché (although there were the descriptions of delicious food that you might expect!). Despite the title, the book is not chick lit, although I doubt it will appear on the Booker shortlist (despite the publisher comparing it to Americanah). It's the story of a family haunted by conflict and tragedy in their past, and how a crisis in the present (the father's ill health) forces everyone to confront things they'd tried to bury. There are events which could be seen as supernatural, but equally they can be explained as hallucinations; it's left ambiguous, which I like.

I also finished Smiler's Fair, which was an okay read in the fantasy genre, if not exactly groundbreaking. It shows the influence of GRRM in the high body count, but doesn't feel as grim overall. An ancient conflict between the gods of the Sun and Moon, which led to the Moon's defeat, has arisen again when a prophesied child is born. The five viewpoint characters were vivid enough to keep me interested in them, although I was disappointed that only one of them was female. We do meet some other women along the way but only one seems to be potentially significant, at this stage. I might read the sequel if I see it at the library but overall the book didn't grab me as I'd hoped.

I managed to get volumes 1 and 2 of Saga from the library, after seeing great reviews and recommendations all over the place. I can see why. The art is stunning - gorgeous, disturbing, tender, gruesome, as the story requires. Some of the images will certainly be too graphic (sexually or violent) for some readers, and it's not for children, but they didn't feel gratuitous. I love the relationship between Marko and Alana, which is the catalyst for the story; they are star crossed lovers determined to find a world where their baby can grow up in peace. This series is bleak, beautiful, dark, life affirming, violent, and ultimately hopeful.

On my commute I'm dipping back into The time traveller's almanac until I decide what to read next.

At home I'm enjoying Half-off Ragnarok, despite there being rather a lot of snakes in the book!

Saga is definitely on my list of GN's to get to at some point and your comments certainly aren't dissuading me from leaving it on that list. It's one of the options for when I finish Locke & Key and catch up on another series.

>42 Sakerfalcon: I'm going to put it in the library donation box. Except for a slight spread on the first few pages, it's pristine. Somebody else will love it in my place.

>44 Meredy: I was wavering about The Invisible Library but you have saved me money. Thank you!

Does one get any credit for a book bullet dodged?

>45 pgmcc: You have to stand and take two others to make up for it.

Ouch!

>40 Sakerfalcon: Thank you for another offer of lending me the book. I possibly will come back to it, especially as I try to reduce my book buying this year.

>42 Sakerfalcon: Great that you enjoyed Saga as well, if you like to I can lend you volume 3 and 4, which I own a copy of.

Thank you for recommending The Turn of the Screw as a starting point for Henry James. I have listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the story. I almost got a heart attack when and how the book ended, such great suspense. Are there any of his other works you could recommend as well?

Aha! I did find you *finally*! Sakerfalcon, I'm afraid that I had lost track of you, but now you are starred and I can join in the fun. And I got hit with two of your titles -- A Stranger in Olondria and Vixen (which I did see you weren't overly thrilled with due to the general grimness of the period. On the other hand, I loved Company of Liars.

>48 drachenbraut23: I'd love to borrow the Saga volumes, as Marylebone library only has the first 2. Thanks!
I've read a lot of Henry James, for some reason, and I see that my highest rated titles, other than Turn of the screw, are What Maisie knew, The Aspern papers, Daisy Miller, The wings of the dove and The American. Aspern papers and Daisy Miller are both short, about the same length as TotS. None of them have the (possible) supernatural element of TotS though.

>49 jillmwo: Welcome! I'll be interested to see what you think of Vixen if you get a copy. I thought it was grimmer than Company of Liars, and quite claustrophobic-feeling, but it was undoubtedly a good rendering of the period.

I thoroughly enjoyed Half-off Ragnarok, despite initially being disappointed at the change of narrator from Verity to her brother Alex. But his narrative and adventures are just as engaging as Verity's (although I would say that his voice a little too similar to hers). Alex is based at the Columbus, OH zoo, posing as a reptile specialist while actually using his posting to start a basilisk breeding programme and to survey local cryptid populations. But of course, there are suspicious events happening in the outside world that throw him into danger and force him to seek out and halt the perpetrator. Alex is perhaps not such a vivid character as Verity, but the supporting cast are excellent. His co-worker, Dee, is a gorgon and I think she's pretty great (more appealing than the love interest, IMO). We also see a lot of Alex's grandparents, and Sarah, who is recovering from the events of Midnight blue-light special), as well as a rather unnerving 8 year old girl ... I enjoyed the zoo setting (in spite of all the snakes) and it was interesting to see the study of non-humanoid cryptids compared to the species that Verity is most concerned with. I'm very much looking forward to the next book (but I'm really looking forward to a novel about Antimony).

In my lunch break today I read the final story in The time traveller's almanac, reaching the end of what would in paper format be a massive tome. This was a great collection for me as I've read very few SF short stories and found the majority to be very worthwhile reads, entertaining, eye-opening, thought-provoking, disturbing, amusing and/or just plain fun. I'll definitely be dipping into this again in the future (or maybe the past) to revisit my favourites.

My current "home" reads are Stranger at the wedding, which I'm reading for sandstone78's discussion thread, and The midnight queen, which was a BB from Marissa. Both have well developed worlds, sympathetic characters and interesting plots, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the stories take me.

Maybe I should give Half-off Ragnarok another chance--I did find Alex's voice kind of like Verity-lite, and thought his love interest was a drip, but... And yes, I'm totally down with a book for Antimony!!

Oh, I remember enjoying The Aspern Papers back in AP English in high school...yes, TotS is definitely a one-off for James.

>51 Marissa_Doyle: Did you reach the point where we find out the love interest's back story? I wouldn't call her a drip after that, although she does start to fit another stereotype that I'm not overly keen on.

I finished Stranger at the wedding as I reached a point about 2/3 in where I couldn't stop reading. Kyra, Alix, Spens, Rosamund, are all interesting characters with realistic flaws and strengths, and those with minor roles to play are also nicely well-rounded. I liked the setting, which feels more like Europe's C18th/C19th rather than the usual faux-Mediaeval background, and the focus on the merchant class and their servants rather than the nobility. Plot wise, I appreciated that Hambly wove significant details into the story right from the start (such as Kyra's inability to tell the footmen and kitchen maids apart) so that we have all the clues we need, even though they are slipped in so casually that the reader might miss them. I wasn't expecting the reason for the threat to Alix to be so dark, but Hambly managed to make it fit naturally into the book rather than it feeling like an "Important Issue" that she'd shoehorned in. I partially figured out who was responsible before the characters did, but the denouement was still very satisfying. This was my first of Hambly's fantasies (I read A free man of color last year) and I will definitely be looking for some more.

I read a library book this week as I travelled to work, You by Austin Grossman. I picked it up as it was recommend for people who liked Ready player one, which I had great fun with, and because I also enjoyed Microserfs. As You is about the struggle of a small company to produce the next great thing in video games it seemed like a good choice. But sadly this failed to meet the high standards of those other books, despite a good start. Russell gets a job at a games company managed by some high school classmates of his, and becomes part of the design team. I'm not quite sure how this happened, as from what we are shown of his interview he seemed a pretty mediocre candidate, but never mind. I quite enjoyed the office dynamics and was looking forward to a tense narrative of how the team overcame the many obstacles to produce their new product. But one of those obstacles is an in-world curse that seems to have mutated since it was introduced in their high school days, and this necessitates long, dry descriptions of the various worlds and game play that completely failed to draw me in. Add to this the bizarre dream? hallucination? sequences where Russell has long conversations with characters from the game and I started skimming about a third of the way in. I'm not sure if a gamer would get more from the book than I did, but it's certainly no Ready player one. Disappointing.

Now I'm reading Strange weather in Tokyo, which I've been looking forward to since @jnwelch recommended it when we met last year. It's a Japanese slice of life kind of novel about a woman in her 30s who meets a former teacher of hers by chance, and the friendship that forms between them.

Still enjoying The midnight queen. I like Gray who is more of a nice scholarly hero than a more physical type, and I especially appreciate that he's not too proud to take advice from Sophie, Joanna and Mrs Wallis or to acknowledge their often-greater strength and knowledge. I'm slightly underwhelmed by the big reveal about Sophie's identity, but am looking forward to seeing the political and personal implications that it holds for her and for the wider plot.

Finished Strange weather in Tokyo, which was a lovely little book. It's a quiet story of the relationship between Tsukiko and her former Japanese teacher as they meet over a period of several months. They are both rather isolated, solitary people and they advance and retreat awkwardly as the seasons pass. Their hesitancy might annoy readers who prefer more decisive characters, but it seemed appropriate given Tsukiko's spiky nature and Sensei's old-fashioned manner. Nature and the weather are beautifully described as Sensei and Tsukiko find themselves going mushroom picking, viewing cherry blossoms and visiting an island. This is a book to read slowly and savour, enjoying it as the characters enjoy their many meals together.

The midnight queen was a good read too. I really liked the characters and the alternate-Regency era world in which they live. The women have plenty of agency despite conventions of society and find their own ways around the restrictions. It was very well-written too, echoing the tone of the period without sounding false, and I only noticed one stray North American-ism. It's basically a fantasy of manners, set in polite society where nefarious villains are plotting to overthrown the king. Some might find it a bit slow-moving, but I didn't mind spending more time in this world and getting to know it and the characters better. I'd love to read a sequel set about 10 years later, to see if Sophie does what is suggested at the very end of this book.

Now I'm reading Crow Lake, which I picked at random from among the unread books on my shelves. It's very good so far, the story of a family from Northern Ontario and the hard life they live after their parents are killed. Kate has left all that behind now and has her dream career as a professor of Freshwater Invertebrate biology, but finds her past still haunts her in ways she doesn't understand (as is always the way with this sort of book!) It's well written and the remote, harsh landscape feels very immediate.

At home I'm reading Downpour, the sixth book in the Greywalker series of urban fantasies. I really like these books; Harper is a pretty sensible, level-headed heroine whose work takes priority over her love life - no hook-ups with the latest supernatural creature to hit town! This story takes place on the Olympic peninsula and is sparked off by a ghost who claims to have been murdered in his car several years earlier. This leads Harper to discover ill-doing on a far deeper level, and gets drawn in against her will.

I managed to fit in a reread of Marianne, the magus and the manticore, one of my favourite books by Sherri S. Tepper. I'll probably go on and reread the rest of the trilogy. The parallel worlds into which Marianne is drawn are vivid and haunting, as familiar and confusing as dreams, and with a similarly dreamlike lack of logic to them. The books also avoid the preachiness which is a fault of Tepper's later work.

ETA I'm also rereading Golden witchbreed for sandstone78's group read, and finding it just as good as I remember, so far.

I like the sound of Strange Weather in Tokyo. I'll have to see if I can find it through inter-library loan.

The midnight queen is on my TBR, nice to hear you liked it!

The Greywalker series sounds intriguing.

>54 SylviaC: It really is a lovely little book. I hope you track down a copy and share your thoughts on it.

>55 zjakkelien: Marissa wasn't as keen, but I thought it was very good. I really liked the detail of the world (where Classical gods are still worshipped) and the characters were a nice lively lot.

>56 catzteach: I think the series slips under the radar a bit because of the relative lack of romance and the rather nebulous nature of Harper's abilities. I have to admit I do find it hard to visualise what she is seeing and doing with her power, despite it being described in some detail. But I like her, and especially her ferret!

I finished Crow Lake and thought it was very good. This could easily have been written as a thoroughly miserable book, given the tragedy that occurs in Kate's childhood and the disturbing events on the neighbouring farm. But I didn't find it to be so, perhaps because Kate as a child was too young to be aware of the darkness in her world. She had plenty of people to love her and who largely succeeded in sheltering her from life's cruelty. Her narrative as an adult comments on this as she looks back and tries to work out why she is so reluctant to resume the once-close relationship she had with her older brother. There is a bit of "if only I had known then what I know now" in the narrative, but not enough to be annoying - it does just feel like someone ruminating over her past. It was interesting how the remoteness of the Northern Ontario setting made the book feel as though it was set in the C19th rather than the C20th century; although the characters have cars and tractors the roads are still mostly dirt and Kate attends a one-room school (in what must have been the '70s, I guess, although the author didn't specify the period). This wasn't amazing literature like Margaret Atwood, but it was a good solid read.

Still reading Downpour and Golden witchbreed, and for commuting I have a silly cosy mystery that I picked up at the library, Real murders. It's fun but I think if an author introduces TWELVE difference characters in chapter 2 then she should provide a cast list at the front of the book!

And on my kindle I'm dipping into The best of Tor.com from 2014. Some excellent short stories so far, and an original illustration for each one. I can only imagine how much better they look in colour.

Downpour came to an exciting conclusion that left me feeling very satisfied with the story as a whole and the character development of the leads. For a while I was afraid that the villain was going to be the one suspect who Kat kept having to delay interviewing, which would have felt really false and lazy on the part of the author. But I should have known better; the actual resolution was very well done and made total sense. Now I want to visit the Olympic National Park even more than before, having read the descriptions of the lush rainforest flora in this book.

Real murders didn't really work for me. Firstly, the main character fits every librarian stereotype out there - drably dressed, glasses-wearing, rather shy, no love life (well, until in the book she suddenly has 2 love interests come from out of nowhere). Secondly, as I mentioned above, there were too many characters introduced, few of whom were fleshed out or given a real part to play - even though they all should have been suspects and thus examined in some detail. Thirdly, a lazily-structured mystery, as I said above - lots of suspects but no real investigation. Fourthly, negative depiction of mental illness. Fifthly, and I think this is the strongest reason for me - the contrast between the cosy community and gentle humour with some really quite violent murders was too jarring for me. The characters didn't really seem to react strongly enough; rather they got straight back on with their daily lives soon after learning of the crimes, whereas I think most communities would be more deeply shaken up (as in the Three Pines books that I've read so far).

In contrast, I read another cosy mystery this weekend that was an absolute delight. A friend of mine lent it to me and I have to admit to some scepticism when she recommended it. It's about a librarian and her two cats who turn out to have some magical talents which they use to draw clues to the heroine's attention. Total cheese, I expected. But it was very well done - much of what the cats do is merely an extension of natural cat behaviour. The librarian is portrayed as an ordinary woman with a job in the library, not "Librarian Stereotype (TM)". (And the author actually seemed to know what a librarian might do, other than just sit in the back room and mend books all day.) The murder victim was someone who was horrid enough that the general lack of traumatic reaction wasn't unrealistic, and there were enough clues presented for the reader to be able to solve the mystery if paying attention. The book is called Curiosity thrilled the cat, and would obviously appeal to cat lovers more than general readers of mysteries.

>58 Sakerfalcon: Oh, I'll have to get Curiosity Thrilled the Cat for my mom--that sounds right up her street. I like animal sidekicks, but not when they get twee--which is why Bride of the Rat God worked so well for me.

And I very much enjoyed the worldbuilding in The Midnight Queen, but the plotting was just so predictable that I lost interest. If there's a second book that gets a bit twistier, I'll definitely give it a try.

>59 Marissa_Doyle: The cats weren't as twee as I was afraid they would be - they don't talk, for example. I did wonder why, when one of them tries to follow her into town, she insisted on hiding it in her bag rather than letting it follow her. Being followed by your cat wouldn't necessarily attract attention, but someone noticing it was in your gym bag definitely would!

Work prevented me from finishing my last post, so here's the update on my current reading.

I'm reading a book a friend lent me - How to be a heroine, a memoir triggered by the author's dispute with a friend over who was the best heroine, Jane Eyre or Catherine Earnshaw. She has the sudden realisation that she was wrong to be striving for a life like Cathy's when in fact Jane's example has more to offer, and this stimulates her to reread and reevaluate some other favourites from her past. Characters include Anne Shirley, Scarlett O'Hara, Nanda Grey, Katy Carr and Esther Greenwood. The author is from a Jewish family of Iraqi descent, and she touches on this and how her reading was both a reflection and a reaction to her life in this community. It's a great book, one that is bound to make me do some rereading of my own.

Golden witchbreed is excellent, Ursula le Guin-style social science fiction. I do remember all the travelling and the suspicion that Christie faces, but a lot of the details had faded so reading it feels fresh.

How to be a Heroine is a title that seems to get recommended a lot in the Internet circles that I frequent.

>58 Sakerfalcon: book bullet... Curiosity Thrilled the Cat will be on my "find" list...

:D

I'm with you, fuzzi, I'm going to put Curiosity Thrilled the Cat on my list, too!

Sakerfalcon, if you ever get the chance, do visit the Olympics. The park, that is. :) it is amazingly beautiful! I really should go more often since I'm only a six hour drive away.

The friend who lent me Curiosity thrilled the cat will be so pleased when I tell her how many of you are planning to read it!

>63 catzteach: I have a friend in Seattle, and I'm hoping that I can spend a couple of weeks visiting her and seeing more of the PNW. What I've seen already is stunning. Downpour was interesting in that it mentioned a little of the impact the Twilight books have had on the area.

I finished How to be a heroine, which was a wonderful read. Sylvia, I'm not surprised you've seen it recommended as it will appeal to anyone who read (or still reads) the classics of girls' fiction, as well as to readers of books by and about women in general. The author achieves a perfect balance between summarising and analysing the books, and telling us of her own life, which is pretty interesting in itself. Literature both high and low is covered, from works by Alcott, Austen and the Brontes to Lace, Riders and Valley of the dolls. She makes it clear that her interpretations are very personal, not the ONE way to read the books, which I appreciate. At the same time, her insights have made me think a bit more about some of them and will certainly be in mind when I reread.

I'm getting near the end of Golden witchbreed and the tension is growing as Christie comes closer to finding out who has been trying to kill her and why. Along the way we've seen a vividly realised society, world and characters, created with great skill and care. The book is comparable to Left hand of darkness, although Le Guin's work is more tightly plotted and faster paced. It held me gripped in a way that GW doesn't. At the same time, I think Mary Gentle's treatment of gender is handled better than Le Guin's, if only perhaps because Gentle created her own pronouns rather than resorting to the default "he". GW can also be compared to Foreigner in its study of a human dropped into an alien society whose mores and morals are far from predictable. I'm looking forward to finishing this soon and seeing if the ending is as I remember it, and then to progressing onto Ancient light.

My commuting book is What if?, by the creator of xkcd. This has been on my wishlist for ages, but I found a copy at the library so grabbed it immediately. I've only read the answers to the first four questions so far but it's great. Serious science applied to absurd questions, with a dab of humour and Munroe's characteristic illustrations.

On kindle I'm still working through The best of tor.com 2014, and finding almost all the stories so far to be excellent.

What If? is fun!

>65 SylviaC: It is indeed! My favourite so far is the Periodic Table scenario, but there are plenty of other good entries that have made me giggle on the train. I'm not mathematically minded but only one had me completely at a loss and that was the human supercomputer question; but I wasn't terribly interested in the answer anyway.

Finished Golden witchbreed and the traitor was who I remembered it to be. It's an excellent SF novel with both ideas and characters developed equally well. Anyone one who enjoyed Foreigner for its portrayal of what it means to be human in an alien society should give this a try. It's less introspective and claustrophobic but just as interesting and thought-provoking.

Now I'm reading The drowning city, which has been on my tbr pile for a while but which Narilka reviewed recently, prompting me to start it. I'm enjoying the variety of female characters and the SE Asian-type setting. It's quite a thoughtful treatment of colonialism and the class system as well as an exciting, fast-paced story.

This weekend I read Shakespeare's landlord, the first in a mystery series by Charlaine Harris. This was a million times better than the other mystery of hers that I read recently, Real murders. I found the protagonist far more interesting, and there wasn't such a disconnect between a cute cosy setting and the grisly murder of innocents. Here, the setting was less cosy and the murder less disturbing, enabling a more consistent balance between the ingredients. I found the next three books in the series at the library so will be reading them between more substantial fare over the next couple of weeks.

>66 Sakerfalcon: The periodic table was a favourite of mine and my son's, too. There was one about throwing a baseball that I didn't get, but I could at least understand the gist of most of them. My son is a math person, so he probably understood most of it.

>67 SylviaC: I finished What if? on my lunch break today, having thoroughly enjoyed the whole book. I think that although the periodic table remained my overall favourite, in general I found the astronomical and geological questions to be the most interesting. I especially enjoyed the two treatments of "What if Earth's oceans drained away?", where the Netherlands end up ruling the earth (and Mars). This is a great book if you, or someone in your life, enjoy science, maths, the xkcd webcomic, or worrying about unlikely events. (Okay, perhaps it's not such a great book for the latter kind of person!)

Last night I finished The drowning city and really enjoyed it. Its reviews seem to be rather lacklustre which perhaps set my expectations low - in any case, I was pleasantly surprised by the book. The worldbuilding was excellent, with a vividly hot, humid, crowded city and steamy jungles overshadowed by a threatening volcano. Plot wise, events revolved around the two major factions who are trying to revolt against the power of the Empire whose colony the land has reluctantly become. The protagonist has been sent by another nation to aid the rebels; this could easily have become a "white saviour" plot except that Issylt finds herself as much helped as helping, dependent upon local allies as events spiral out of control. There are two other female leads who play at least as important roles as Issylt, as well as many other more minor characters. Very little is morally black and white - the Empire is certainly heavy handed and unjust in its treatment of people they deem a threat to power, yet the city is stable and prosperous under their rule. The rebels are all fighting for a good cause, yet their methods are often brutal, causing the deaths of innocents. This is a very entertaining read, one that should appeal to fantasy fans who want something a bit different to the usual pigboy story.

I've just started Trouble and her friends a cyberpunk SF from the 90s which is very good so far, despite some inevitably dated technological details.

I'm also reading The sugar house, volume 3 of Antonia White's quartet about a young Catholic woman in the early C20th. The first half of the book follow's Clara's tour with a theatrical company while she is infatuated with a fellow actor; the second half sees her enter a less-than-ideal marriage. I've been reading this for a while but forgot to record it.

Tomorrow I'll choose something new to read on my way to work.

>68 Sakerfalcon:
Claire, how could you do that to me? You got me right between the eyes with What if?. Going for a head shot is a bit brutal.

>68 Sakerfalcon: Trouble and Her Friends! I could write a long essay about how very interesting the things that book got wrong are- the most glaring one by today's standards, I think, is not the presence of the body-implant interface but rather absence of wireless internet.

The key thing that stops the books from dating as badly to me as other computer-centric fiction from the cyberpunk era though is the way Scott privileged how people used her fictional computers over the hardware specifications and implementation- the way things work may not be technologically possible, but the human-computer interaction rings very true to me as a programmer.

>68 Sakerfalcon: I'm glad you enjoyed The Drowning City!

I was waffling on Curiosity Thrilled the Cat but then I saw it was set in Minnesota. On to Mount TBR it went!

>69 pgmcc: My work here is done :-D

>70 sandstone78: I agree that it's the physical plugging-in to the net that makes the technology feel rather clunky. Aren't people still predicting that one day we won't need external devices at all, instead everyone will have a chip in their brain? In that respect, the brainworm would be a precursor to that. I'm really enjoying the book - Trouble and Cerise are great characters and the supporting cast, though many of them are left behind as the plot moves, are well-rounded and diverse.

>71 Narilka: I've ordered the sequel (my library only has volume 3) from amazon!

>72 Morphidae: I hope you enjoy it - it certainly makes a good comfort read.

I've read the next two Lily Bard mysteries this week, Shakespeare's champion and Shakespeare's trollop, both of which were enjoyable. I like Lily in spite of her prickliness (for which she has good reason) and her stumbling over plot clues while doing her cleaning job seems reasonable. She does happen to be in the right place at the right time rather a lot, but given that she's the first-person narrator I suppose she needs to be for us to learn about events. My main complaint about all three books so far is that they end very abruptly - the mystery is solved and there is almost no wrap up at all. I'm also not hugely keen on the dynamics of her relationships with men - she tells them about her past and why she's not keen on intimacy, they push her boundaries and suddenly she lets them in! It happens too quickly for me to find it convincing. One thing I was pleased about in this respect - Harris didn't develop the love triangle that was threatened in book 1.

I've just finished The sugar house, which was an absorbing but very sad read. It's the third book in Antonia White's quartet (based on her own life) about a young Catholic girl growing up in the early C20th. Poor Clara is as fated to be miserable as one of Hardy's heroines. But her descent into depression is sensitively told and makes for a compelling read. I loved the scenes of life on a theatrical tour of the provinces, all grimy lodgings and witty banter from the other actors. I was saddened that the moment of understanding between Clara and her mother from the end of The lost traveller didn't last, and they failed to connect in this book as Clara walled herself off again. Perhaps White is a bit heavy handed in the scenes that show how like children Clara and Archie are, playing at life while failing at it in every way. But it worked for me. In its depiction of a young woman's fall into depression it could be compared to The bell jar, though it is told in the third person and so isn't as claustrophobic as Plath's novel. Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to the concluding book, Beyond the glass.

I also finished Trouble and her friends which I really enjoyed (although perhaps not quite as much as Brightly Burning). The first chapter had me afraid that the dynamic between Trouble and Cerise would be that of "talented genius leaves poor less-gifted girlfriend to mope", but in fact both women are extremely able, determined and brave - equals, in fact, though with different strengths. I'm interested in some of the secondary characters - their fellow crackers and net walkers - but the plot would have felt padded had Scott digressed into their backstories. Seahaven, both real and virtual, was an excellent setting (once we got there), a grim vision of future environmental collapse with its own social mores. There was perhaps a bit too much description of characters working their way through virtual icewalls to get to certain sites on the net, but I didn't find it as tedious as in, say, Fool's war where I found myself starting to skim. I've been really impressed with what I've read so far of Melissa Scott's work, and am looking forward to exploring more of her output.

I also read the last few of the Best of tor.com stories and novellas, the majority of which were at the very least interesting, and the best of which are still haunting me. They cover the territories of horror, post-Apocalyptic, noir, fantasy, SF, and any combinations of the above. It's definitely worth downloading while it's still free on kindle!

So I've started a whole bunch of new books this week. At home I'm alternating between Death masks, my next instalment of the Dresden Files, and The name of the star, a YA novel that I've had on the Tbr for ages. It mixes modern-day Jack the Ripper murders with a boarding school story and the supernatural, and so far is a fun read. On my commute I'm reading High Rising, my first attempt at one of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels, and on kindle I've started The book of strange new things, which was highly recommended by some fellow LTers whose judgement I trust on these matters :-)

I'll also be starting Ancient light as soon as I finish one of the above, for this month's group read.

>73 Sakerfalcon: I preferred the Lily Bard series to the Aurora Teagarden. Her growth as an author is obvious from series to series.

>74 Sakerfalcon: "I'm alternating between Death masks, my next instalment of the Dresden Files, and The name of the star, a YA novel that I've had on the Tbr for ages."

You are a woman of sterner character than I! When I start a Dresden novel, I don't do anything else until I finish it!

>75 Morphidae: I agree with you; I only read the first Aurora Teagarden book and wasn't tempted to continue even though all the books were available at the library. Lily Bard was a much more interesting character who felt "real", and the stories were a more comfortable blend of crime and community for me.

>76 MrsLee: I think it's just due to me having a short attention span at the moment :) Also, I find the Dresden books exhausting - can't imagine how Harry keeps going for days at a time without sleep! They are always fun reads though.

I finished The name of the star last night and really enjoyed it. I'm not at all interested in Jack the Ripper and dislike the mythology that's grown up around him and the murders, but this book used it well. I liked that Rory, the heroine, had a good sense of humour and that she made and valued female friends as well as male. There is a sort of romance in the book but it's very understated and never detracts from the plot. Additional points for Rory having a special power and her love interest being ordinary. London is nicely portrayed (although it doesn't usually rain that much in August!) and the author paid attention to detail so that I only caught a couple of stray Americanisms. I'll be looking for the sequels.

So now I've started Ancient Light and the first chapter has drawn me straight back into the world of Orthe and its politics.

"can't imagine how Harry keeps going for days at a time without sleep!"

I've decided that is part of his special wizard physiology. Like his healing powers. :)

I read Strange Weather in Tokyo today. (But my copy was called The Briefcase.) I loved it, so thank you for recommending it!

>78 MrsLee: Those would certainly be very useful powers to have, even if one doesn't get injured quite as often as Harry!

>79 SylviaC: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It is a lovely little book, one that I'll certainly reread.

>74 Sakerfalcon: I saw the sequel at the store when I bought book 1. I'm almost sorry I didn't. I'm definitely interested in your thoughts after you read it.

Nooooo! Something horrible has happened to the cat in The book of strange new things. Now I'm going to be haunted by it all day :-( The worst thing about it is that it's not an unrealistically gory thing but an accident that could happen to anyone with a cat, which makes it all too real. Gah, I hate when books are too realistic about things like this!

Sorry about that. It's a good book in other ways, though not everyone will like the slow build and relaxed treatment of Peter's work on Oasis. Questions are building - why are the Oasans so keen to hear the Christian message? Why are all the USIC staff so easy going, with no tensions between them even in their less-than-ideal living and work conditions? What has caused the weather, economic and political systems on Earth to break down so completely? Will Peter and Bea's marriage survive their separation and the miscommunications caused by infrequent email-type messaging? Unfortunately all I can think about right now is the poor cat though.

>81 Narilka: I'll try and get to The bone palace soon. It looks as though it takes place in another part of the world with a different culture - hope I like it as much as I did that of Symir.

This weekend I read Night owls, the first in a new (ish) urban fantasy series. I think another LTer drew this to my attention last year. It's set in a bookstore and has two female leads, which was enough to put it on my Must Read list. Not as much of the book takes place in the store as I might have liked, and the plot is basically "the goodies have the MacGuffin and must stop the baddies from getting it", but the world and the characters are all entertaining and the plot moves along nicely. We have a nice team of supernatural and mundane heroes, each with their own motivations and backstories, and they work well together despite some trust issues along the way. Unusually for UF, there is no romance in the book, although I suspect some will crop up in later books. This is a fun read, not perfect but a good debut and I'll be picking up the second book when I see a copy.

I'm also enjoying exploring more of Orthe in Ancient light and wondering how Christie is going to manage the balancing act between her responsibility to her employers and her loyalty to Orthe.

I know what you mean about the cat! I think it's a twist on the Chekhov platitude that a gun shown in the first act must be fired in the third...or something on those lines. A cat shown in the first act must be killed by the third. It doesn't happen with dogs, only cats and I cringe now every time I meet one in fiction.

Until I red your latest post, I wasn't tempted by The Book of Strange New Things at all, despite the glowing praise, my positive experience with his other work and the fact that the book itself is supposed to be a beautiful object. Now I'm a little tempted.

>82 Sakerfalcon: Ya got me! I just requested Night Owls from my library.

>82 Sakerfalcon: I read and liked Night Owls last year. I hadn't heard of it until I saw a copy on the shelf at my local B&N- urban fantasy isn't usually my thing, but Val sounded really interesting so I sprang for it.

She and Chaz ended up being my favorite characters, overall. I like Elly and Cavale, but not quite as much, and am interested to see more of Justin and Sunny and Lia. Overall, though, I found the plot a little uneven but I really liked that it really was an ensemble cast instead of just main character and friends. I suspect that there's some possible romance between Val and Chaz, but I could easily see them discussing it like adults and deciding to stay friends as well. Elly and Justin seemed rather more definite, though.

>85 sandstone78: Aha, then it was you I took the book bullet from! Thank you! Yes, I too preferred Val and Chaz, perhaps because they were more mature, whereas Elly in particular seemed prone to youthful thoughtless impulses. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Roy takes her characters.

>84 tardis: Hope you enjoy it! I loved the premise that a vampire who can't go out in the day would run a late-night bookstore!

>83 Bookmarque: You are right about Chekhov's Cat syndrome. I have read books where the dog gets it, but cats do seem to come off worse on the whole. I'm usually prepared for it but this time I'd let my guard down for some reason.

I did finish The book of strange new things yesterday, despite the hiccup with the cat, and enjoyed it on the whole. If you read it hoping for a big payoff and answers to all your questions, you will be disappointed. But as an examination of faith, marriage, isolation and idealism it is very good. Peter is an English Christian who lands a job as pastor to the alien natives of the planet Oasis. His wife, Bea, does not meet the requirements to go too and remains behind, on an Earth that starts to deteriorate at an alarming pace. Communication is limited to email-type messages which Peter can only receive on the few days when he's at the base. As Bea's life spirals into chaos, Peter's mission goes more smoothly than he'd dreamed, causing a disconnect between the couple very quickly. (I did have a quibble with the communication system though - outgoing messages are checked for content and censored, but incoming ones are not. Given that USIC even tears pages out of magazines to prevent staff from seeing current news, surely they'd stop and edit incoming messages too.) The planet of Oasis and its people are suitably alien and a lot of attention is paid to Peter's developing relationship with the natives and the ways in which he seeks to make the Bible relevant to them. Yet this is definitely not a preachy, pro-religion book, more a study of faith and how it both supports and betrays individuals. The only other book by Faber I've read is The crimson petal and the white, which was just too unpleasant for me to enjoy, and which annoyed me by leaving everything open at the end. The book of strange new things is similar in its lack of resolution at the end but I didn't mind it quite so much. Both books are like journeys that, while you see lots of interesting things along the way, somehow stop short of their destination. I recommend it if you don't mind this, and if you are interested in the themes of the book.

Now I'm reading The mottled lizard, which is the follow-up to Flame trees of Thika which I very much enjoyed reading a couple of years ago. I'm in awe at the descriptions of the Kenyan landscape teeming with wildlife; somehow I doubt there's quite so much there now.

Ancient light is still in progress; I'm particularly enjoying the glimpses of the Desert Coast culture.

>86 Sakerfalcon: "If you read it hoping for a big payoff and answers to all your questions, you will be disappointed"

...how very very Michel Faber. As you note, The Crimson Petal and the White charges along until it sort of stops with an open end; and while Under the Skin certainly has a climax, it doesn't feel like a resolution. Clearly the habit hasn't offset my overall enjoyment of the works as I keep coming back for more ;)

That said, he does the same in his short stories, and there it doesn't work for me at all - so far, they've all disappointed (although I haven't read The Apple, largely because I wasn't sure I wanted to revisit the world of the The Crimson Petal and the White).

>87 imyril: If you read The book of strange new things I will be very interested to see what you think of it.

>88 Sakerfalcon: I will let you know when I get to it. It's near the top of my wish list, and only the price has maintained my resistance to buy it before TBR gets a few volumes lower ;)

>89 imyril: I bought the kindle version when the price lowered a few weeks ago. The physical book is lovely though, but I'm resisting the temptation to get it.

This weekend I had a couple of longish train journeys and I reread Finder on my kindle. I remember enjoying the book when I read it a few years ago, and I liked it just as much this time (although I still hate it that Tick-Tick dies. It's urban fantasy in the Charles de Lint tradition, a mash-up of human and elves in a freewheeling, artsy, foodie city, to which kids run away looking for an escape from the mundane world but often fall into drugs and homelessness. The lucky ones fall on their feet or are rescued, as with our hero Orient. I was glad to get this for kindle as paper copies aren't very easy to get in the UK, but the kindle edition does have some formatting and transcription errors.

Still reading Ancient light and finding it hard to put the book down as things are falling apart on Orthe. The questions of moral responsibility and whether the Company should act to try and reverse the damage they've caused, or whether intervention will just make things even worse, can easily be applied to our world as Western politicians debate whether to send troops and/or aid to other countries. But it's a fascinating story in its own right even if you want to ignore the parallels. It's a long book but very absorbing.

And The mottled lizard is proving to be an enjoyable follow-up to The flame trees of Thika. Huxley's descriptions of the native peoples and the other European settlers are insightful and frequently humorous, and despite the discomforts of life on this frontier, one can't help envying her her unique childhood. There is rather a lot of shooting wildlife though, as Elspeth is older and able to join in the hunts. I know it was a normal part of life at that place and time but I still don't like to read about it. The portrayal of the native people is about as good as you're going to find for the period, I think; she makes clear distinctions between the different tribes and individuals and explains their customs, societies and beliefs without condescension, although they are obviously Other. She does point out how irrational it is of Europeans to cling to their ways in a land to which they are completely unsuited and notes how bizarre they must seem to the Kikuyu and others.

I keep forgetting to mention that I'm also reading Clariel, which I found at the library. I'm enjoying it a lot, but I wish I had been spoiled as to who Clariel becomes in the future. It's good to be back in the Old Kingdom in an age when politics and society were quite different.

I've finished several books since my last update, so this could be a long post!

I'm still trying to put together some coherent thoughts on Ancient light. It was an excellent read, if perhaps a little longer than it needed to be. The ending did not take me by surprise; the "love-it-or-hate-it" reputation of the book had led me to expect something that stunning and controversial. The downward spiral into which the planet Orthe sinks was one of those disasters you can hardly bear to watch, yet are unable to look away from. Gentle raises pertinent questions surrounding the issue of outside intervention in local conflicts - whether this is the right thing to do, and whether there is ever a possibility of it ending successfully for anyone. It was interesting to be back on Orthe after a period of social and political change in the Hundred Kingdoms, but I was sorry that so many of the characters from Golden witchbreed had died or been killed in the meantime. The new people we meet are just as complex and flawed, for the most part, and we see a lot of women in positions of responsibility (although they handle it with mixed success). I'm sure I'm going to be thinking about the book for a long time, both for its thought-provoking themes and for the vivid descriptions of Orthe, its people and their cultures.

I also finished The mottled lizard, which ended up being less enjoyable than Flame trees of Thika. I didn't remember so many traumatic animal deaths in the earlier book, but in this one not only was there a lot of hunting (although the author expresses her doubts about it throughout the book) but several of the family's pets meet very sad ends. The stunning landscapes and abundant wildlife that she describes left me with a wistful feeling, but this was balanced by frequently humorous episodes from the lives of the family and their friends and neighbours. Huxley is writing from hindsight, and shows an awareness that the European settlers are forever changing Kenya, and perhaps not for the best. A good read for a portrait of a time now passed into history.

I hadn't realised just how much I like Garth Nix's Old Kingdom until I picked up Clariel, his latest book in the series. The story is set some 800(?) years before the Sabriel trilogy, at a time when the Abhorsens have shirked their responsibilities and are no longer respected, the King is refusing to rule and the Guilds are effectively ruling the city of Belisaere. Clariel is brought reluctantly to the city by her parents, goldsmiths who hope that she will find a more realistic future there than in the small town they came from. However, she soon finds that she is a pawn in the schemes of several different parties - not just her parents, but the larger Goldsmiths' Guild, the Charter Mages, and those who wish to see a strong Crown again. I wanted to like Clariel more than I did. For a seventeen year old she seemed very immature, constantly complaining about her fate and her parents, and so driven by her dreams of living in the Great Forest that she was incapable of seeing the reality around her and making sensible decisions in response to it. However, the political situation was complex and believable and the plot fast-paced and exciting so it was a good read. The one thing about the ending that felt a bit off was when Princess Talethiel turns up right at the end and we're just told "Oh, she was with the Clayr all along". So she was voluntarily staying away while her city and her kingdom fell into corruption and people lost their lives and homes, just waiting until disaster almost strikes before she bothers to come and take up her responsibility? This whole subplot ended up making no sense at all; it wasn't nearly as well thought out as the rest of the story, and felt like it was tacked on at the last minute.

Last year I enjoyed, with a few reservations, Lilith Saintcrow's first book about Bannon and Clare, a steampunk adventure set in an alternate London. I discovered that the library has the second and third books in the series, and just read The red plague affair. I enjoyed this a bit more than the first book, as I felt that it was better constructed and plotted. Plus I always like books where the heroes have to try and stop the advance of a deadly disease :-) There were still no other significant female characters than Emma though, which was a bit of a disappointment. (I don't count Victrix, the Queen Victoria equivalent as she is just the vessel for the ruling spirit Britannia. But these books are fun romps and I've got no. 3 on the pile.

Had to take a break for lunch, and shall now wrap this up.

This weekend I couldn't resist any longer and just had to read Pocket apocalypse, the latest Cryptid book by Seanan McGuire. I was worried initially that we wouldn't see anything of the Aeslin Mice as the story requires Alex and Shelby to go to Australia. But our heroes get around the restrictions on livestock and agricultural imports and the mice play an important part in the book. I liked McGuire's take on werewolves, which result from a virus transmitted through bodily fluids, and which can affect any mammal, resulting in some pretty scary sheep, for example. It's just as gripping and funny as the previous books in the series, but I thought it fell down in its portrayal of the Thirty Six (and indeed, all the Australian humans other than Shelby) as incompetent, paranoid bigots. These people are so busy bickering that they're incapable of focusing on the problems at hand and are a thoroughly unlikeable bunch. There may be some hope for Shelby's sisters who were a bit less repulsive than the rest. We did get to meet a couple of new cryptid species which were cool, and Helen the Wadjet doctor was excellent. I was disappointed to see in the Afterword that the next book will return to Verity and Dominic - I want an Antimony novel!

So I'm currently reading Ancillary sword, on my kindle - excellent at the half way point, just as good as the first book; The broken crown which has taken me a few attempts to get into due to its dense prose, but I seem to have passed the crucial point and am now hooked; and the second Magical Cats mystery, Sleight of paw.

91> The Princess Talethiel subplot in Clariel was definitely not done well. I'd also agree about Clariel seeming immature especially in the beginning. I warmed up to her after about page two hundred I think.

>93 pwaites: I wanted to like her, because I can relate to feeling out of place and wanting to be somewhere other than you are, but she really was a bit whiny at times.

Time for another update.
Sleight of paw was another fun visit to the little Minnesota town of Mayville Heights. The cats had less to do this time, and Kathleen put herself in danger at the end of the book for no good reason other than to add suspense to the finale, but I really enjoyed seeing how Kathleen is building strong friendships and becoming a real part of the community. I've moved straight onto book 3, Copycat killing.

Ancillary justice was one of the best books I read last year, so I was looking forward to Ancillary sword with a mixture of eagerness and fear that it wouldn't be as good. The fear was unfounded; I was able to delve straight back into the world of the Raadch and was gripped straight away by the plot and by characters old and new. I've seen arguments on the web as to whether these books deserve all the praise they've garnered, and whether they really are as groundbreaking as is claimed, but for me what makes them such standout reads is that the characters and setting are so well-drawn. This is a smaller-scale adventure than last time, with the action based around one system, but we still see plenty of politics and social tension between different peoples and classes. There are tantalising hints that the Presger will have an impact in book 3, thus widening the scope again, and I'm looking forward eagerly to seeing what happens next in this universe.

On my kindle I'm reading Night calls, a fantasy that seems to be set in an alternate (or possibly post-Apocalyptic) North America where technology is a pre-industrial level and certain people have psychic, if not magical, gifts. I like our young heroine Alfreda who is learning how to control her mental powers alongside the skills with herbs upon which people are dependent for healing and protection. It's a good read so far.

And The broken crown is keeping me intrigued with its politicking and manipulation between different faction in the Dominion. I'm especially enjoying seeing Diora make friends of her fellow wives in the harem of the heir to the crown, instead of seeing them as rivals.

Wow, it's been quite a while since I updated. Perhaps because I still haven't finished The broken crown so it feels as though I don't have anything to report. I'm enjoying the read, but it is very dense and takes the same sort of concentration as, say, one of Janny Wurts' novels.

I did finish Night calls, which was a nice quick book, with sympathetic characters and an interesting world. I very much liked the folksy American setting which felt very C19th although with more freedom for women and girls - hooray! The plot was perhaps a bit episodic, with one crisis following another, but we get to see Alfreda learn and grow in confidence as the events progress. I have the second book in the series on my kindle already and am looking forward to reading more about this world and its people.

Over the Easter weekend I had a bit of reading time and used it for Diana Wynne Jones' last novel, The islands of Chaldea. This was a lovely read, perhaps not up to the standard of her very best books, but better than a lot of the fantasy for young readers that's out there. In some ways it's quite similar to Night calls, being about a young girl studying with a wise woman to learn to use her powers. Jones' book is set in a fantasy version of the British Isles, and her characters must travel through the parallel Scotland, Ireland and Wales in order to overcome the sorcery that has walled off the fourth island from its neighbours. Aileen is an engaging narrator, conveying the insecurity and idealism of youth without becoming whiny or annoying, and she keeps the story moving along nicely. Jones died before completing the book so her sister finished it and I for one couldn't tell where the authorship changed; the style flows smoothly throughout. Recommended to fans of the writer, and to those looking for a well-written middle grade fantasy.

I have a couple of books to read for group discussions this month, Millenium Hall by Sarah Scott and Shadow man by Melissa Scott (presumably no relation). The first is an C18th novel telling of a household in which women live harmoniously without men, doing good works and pursuing the arts. It's rather didactic and everyone seems too good to be true, but it's interesting to explore this vision of female freedom written in an age when marriage was the ultimate goal for a woman. The latter is an SF novel looking at issues of gender, set on a planet where humans must identify as either male or female despite there actually existing 5 physical variants which the rest of the galaxy (? solar system?) acknowledge. So far there seems to be a lot of politicking and trading taking place and it's certainly drawing me in.

And yesterday I went to the library and picked up some graphic novels - three of the Hilda series, the first volume of Morning glories and March: book one, which was recommended by @kidzdoc on his thread. I read March last night and thought it was excellent. It's by the US Congressman John Lewis and tells of his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement starting from his youth in Alabama. It was a moving and compelling read, bringing the events and people of those years to life in a dramatic way but without resorting to emotional manipulation. I highly recommend this; it would be a good read for high schoolers as well as adults.

Hi; catching up on your thread. The Flame Trees of Thika was a childhood favorite of mine, as was the miniseries. Time for a reread and rewatch, I think, and I expect it will hold up well in adulthood.

I love A Stranger in Olondria—and it has a gorgeous cover! A reviewer on LT mentions that it references Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath. Sofia Samatar also contributed a story, "Ogres of East Africa," to the Long Hidden anthology. It's an examination of the coded language of the imperialist, racist Victorian exploitation of Africa. She wrote it as a response to a particularly awful book she had read: "In my story, the white hunter voices similar opinions, in the same kind of pompous tone, but what he says is a lot milder than what you read in A Picnic Party. He doesn't dwell on dirt and nakedness, for instance. The disgust isn't there. My hunter is more cheerfully racist."

Never No More and Strange Weather in Tokyo both sound lovely.

95: The Broken Crown is what I call a "long-haul book," or, you-may-as-well-relax-and-enjoy-it-because-you're-going-to-be-here-awhile. I had the same experience with it. I felt the pace did quicken a little bit once the scenes shifted to the Empire, but still, it's a good thing that the worlds of this book are worth spending time in.

Kushiel's Dart was another long-haul book for me. Vinge's The Summer Queen, which I'm currently working my way through at a somewhat leisurely pace, is yet another one. They're well worth reading, but be warned.

>95 Sakerfalcon: Yes, Michelle West's books (at least the ones she writes under that name) are quite dense and tend to be a bit stately. I love her books, but they take time. I'm currently reading House name, which comes before The broken crown. I was planning to continue with a re-read of the sun sword series, but I think I will read Hunter's oath and Hunter's death next (which I've never read before). Reading House name, I go the feeling I'm missing something. In the first two books, I didn't have this feeling, but in this one it does show a bit that she is telling the same story from a different perspective. Some of those events take place away from the protagonists of the House war series and that feels a bit awkward to me at times. I believe the group read of Hunter's oath got shifted, right?

>96 LibraryPerilous: I'll have to seek out that story by Sofia Samatar. I loved her writing style in Olondria - conveying all the details of the exotic (to the narrator) lands yet never turning purple or florid. I'd love to see her take on Victorian attitudes.

>97 kceccato: Agreed. I enjoy the richness of these worlds but I can see that those who read primarily for plot would not get on with the books. How are you finding The summer queen? I liked The snow queen but hated the romance - Sparks is just so awful that I hated him being the love interest and have little desire to read more of him unless he undergoes a personality change!

>98 zjakkelien: As far as I can tell, Sandstone78 is planning the group read for May/June. I'm hoping to pick up copies of the two books by then. I do have the first of the House series but maybe I'll wait until I've read the Hunter books and more of the Sun sword series before starting.

So I finished The broken crown at last, and very much enjoyed my time in this world. The Empire and the Dominion are neighbours but enemies, currently enjoying an uneasy truce until the events of this book occur. The author has been inspired by Eastern cultures rather than the more usual European influences which bring colour to the setting and a certain formality to character interactions. This is very much a tale of the upper classes - almost all the characters are nobility, priests or senior military figures - and the plot involves complicated political schemes that will test the loyalty and values of the main players. Theirs is a society where emotions are kept hidden and subtlety is essential, especially for the women of the Dominion who must conform to the roles of daughter, wife, mother or sister. They have more freedom in the Empire, as we see women play key roles in the military and in politics. But the formality of speech and ritual is the same across both countries. Make no mistake, this is not a quick, light read, but one that is fully immersive and rich in detail. I'm very much looking forward to finding more of this and the related series so that I can spend more time in this world.

Still reading Shadow man, which is excellent. It's a very political plot but one coloured by the unique gender issues of the world which permeate all aspects of life for the majority of people. The little details of the worldbuilding stand out (as in Burning Bright), such as the popular religious rituals, the bar/club culture, the markets and the clothes, giving the reader a vivid picture of the city without resorting to info-dumping. As in our world, gender politics arouse strong feelings and I have to admit feeling a sense of dread for our protagonists as they stir up the opposition and face real menace. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how things resolve - it's very unpredictable at the moment.

I don't think I'll bother reading the rest of the Morning glories series. It skews too much towards the horror genre for me; I was hoping for something more SF/dystopian. The Hilda books were delightful though. They're about a little girl who lives with her mother in a house in a lovely valley populated with very strange creatures. I expected to see a Moomin appear at any moment! The three titles I found were Hilda and the troll, Hilda and the black hound and Hilda and the midnight giant and I recommend them to readers of all ages who enjoy a little whimsy and a chuckle.

On kindle I'm reading In certain circles, an Australian novel about two brothers and sisters from quite different social backgrounds who are brought together when the brothers encounter each other on a train. It's set just after WWII in Sydney. Zoe, from whose perspective we see events, is a rather conceited 17 year old and I'm waiting to see if she grows up and learns what's really important in life.

At home I'm still trying to decide what to replace The broken crown with. Maybe City of stairs which I've been wanting to read for ages, or else a reread of Matter which I loved first-time around.

>98 zjakkelien: >99 Sakerfalcon: Yep, May/June for Hunter's Oath and Hunter's Death! As I understand it, there's a lot of overlap between the first two (or possibly three) House War books and the Hunter books- basically the same events but from a different perspective. (I think that the Sun Sword series takes place between books three and four of the House War series?)

>99 Sakerfalcon: It's been such a long time since I read The Summer Queen (hoping to rectify that this year!) but I believe that if there's any romance, it's between Moon and Gundhalinu. There's a short novel about Gundhalinu that takes place between Snow Queen and Summer Queen, World's End, but I don't remember a lot about it.

I'm just starting Shadow Man myself- the everyday detail that Scott uses to build her worlds is definitely one of my favorite parts of her work.

99: I don't blame you a bit for hating Sparks Dawntreader. I don't like him either, not one bit; he's on a constant self-pity kick while he's busy making life miserable for everyone around him. But if you're interested in Spoilers, here is one (and if you're not, well, you don't have to read it): at last, Moon ends up with BZ.

>100 sandstone78: Yeah, the Sun sword series is in between book 3 and 4 of the House War series. I haven't started book 4 yet (mostly because I want to reread the Sun sword books first), but I'm quite sure you need to read the sun sword before continuing with Skirmish. I've only just started Hunter's oath (yes, my timing is off, sorry), but I've got the feeling the real significant overlap is between House war 3 (House name) and either both Hunter books, or possibly only with Hunter's death. The hidden city and City of night both take place purely in Averalaan Aramarelas, capital of The Empire, and none of the characters are from Breodanir. As a matter of fact, almost all of them are from Averalaan, except one of the later members of Jay's den. Only in book 3 do the characters from the Hunter books appear. The Hunter books start in Breodanir, and presumably will move to Averalaan later.

I'm quite curious to see some of these characters from a different perspective. To me, some of the happenings in House name were a little contrived, because the House war books are about Jay, and she doesn't have a lot of interaction with the Breodani. So the part where their story is told feels a bit off, as a slightly strange intermezzo, except that it is actually rather important. It's weird to have such an important part of the story without the main characters present.

So far I've noticed that West's writing style is different in her first books. The density and stateliness that marks her other Averalaan books is mostly lacking here. Because of that, it reads a bit faster. I think these books are an easier introduction to West than some of her other work because of it as well.

Until I've finished the Hunter books I cannot say for sure, but I think the best reading order is going to be:

1. The hunter books (2)
   
2. The first 3 House war books
   
3. The sun sword books (6)
   
4. The rest of the House war books (however many there are going to be)
   

>100 sandstone78:, >101 kceccato: Thanks for the spoilers! I definitely want to find a copy The summer queen now :-) I do already own the two short novels that come before and after it.

>102 zjakkelien: And thanks for the suggested reading order. I'll join in with the Hunter group read next month and then perhaps continue with The hidden city as I already own it.

Last night I finished reading Shadow man, as it got to the point where I just couldn't put it down. I found this a gripping, thought-provoking read right from the beginning. Scott splits the narrative between two viewpoints, one of Warreven, a Haran native and the other Tatian, an offworlder, showing Hara from the inside and out. Hara is unique in this far future setting in that it demands that humans identify as either male or female despite there actually being five physical variants (the result of mutation from drugs taken to survive FTL travel as populations spread throughout the galaxy). Some more progressive elements of society want Haran law to acknowledge the five genders, but the Traditionalists are a powerful opposing force. The tensions affect virtually every aspect of life on Hara, especially the trade with offworld pharmaceutical companies upon which the economy is based. While much of the plot is concerned with lawsuits, trading and politics and set around just one city, the book is an exciting read with a fascinating setting, characters you come to care about and plenty of drama and tension. I thought the ending was well done, pointing us towards the future rather than resolving events in the book's present. It feels complete yet, as with Burning Bright, there is room for more stories in this setting. I should point out that while it's clear where the author's sympathies lie in the gender debate the novel never becomes preachy or lets the issues overwhelm the plot - it's a great read as well as giving you food for thought. I'll share more detailed thoughts on the group read thread when I have a chance.

I finished In certain circles and quite enjoyed it while not being blown away. I wonder if I would have read it if it was set in England about British characters? But it's an Australian novel, set around Sydney and the suburbs in the 20 years after WWII. Privileged Zoe and her brother Russell (who survived a stint in a POW camp) find their lives entwined with working class Stephen and Anna, their relationships ebbing and flowing over the years. The book obviously examines issues of class and wealth and does so quite effectively, but I felt at a distance from the characters despite their lengthy interior monologues. Partly this is because we spend a lot of time with them as they reflect on past or upcoming events but are not shown the events themselves. I don't regret reading this and would try something else by the author if I find anything.

I settled upon City of stairs as my "before bedtime" book and, after taking a little while to get into it, am thoroughly enjoying the read. I'm not sure this story needs to be told in the present tense, and the prose suffers a bit for it, but the titular city and the politics of the wider world are gripping, intricate and subtly drawn, and the characters are interesting and complex.

On kindle I'm reading The moon king, which was shortlisted for the BSFA award. It's set in an island city in which the moon influences all aspects of life. It is permanently overhead thanks to a machine created by the city's founder (who may or may not be alive and reigning several centuries later). As it waxes, people's moods and the atmosphere of the city become bright and euphoric, with an abandoned carnival atmosphere at the full moon. Conversely, as Dark approaches people become depressive and violent. Further, the city itself cracks and crumbles, to be restored (but not as good as new) as the moon waxes again. It's an interesting, if totally implausible, premise and I think on the whole it works. At the time the book opens, the city is becoming even more unstable than usual, and we see events through three main characters - Lottie, an artist, Anton, an engineer and Mortlock, an ex-policeman with memory problems. The worldbuilding and atmosphere remind me strongly of The boy with the porcelain blade, but so far the plotting and characters are far superior to that book. I'm enjoying it a lot, despite feeling that there are perhaps too many elements stuffed into the world and that sometimes characters are doing what the author wants rather than what seems more natural based on the personalities we've been shown.

>104 Sakerfalcon: I'm not a fan of present tense in general. I don't think it creates the sense of immediacy authors think it does. Usually, it has the opposite effect on me—pulling me out of the action—especially if the book is a historical novel, such as Wolf Hall.

The Moon King sounds very interesting.

>105 LibraryPerilous: I completely agree with you about present tense. It works slightly better for me in 3rd person than 1st but I really don't like it at all in novels. Oddly, I think it can be effective in short fiction.

I finished The moon king and enjoyed it, although the book is not without its flaws. What will make or break it is if you can buy into the premise upon which the world is based - that the founder of the city somehow managed to "tether" the moon to the island so it keeps the tides under control. The downside is that it affects people's moods - they become euphoric as the moon waxes and depressive and violent as it wanes. The book has a Weird feel akin to that of Mieville's New Crobuzon or Vandermeer's Ambergris, although IMO it's nowhere near as accomplished as either. It is, however, compelling in its own way and not so grotesque as the examples I mention. My main gripe is that we only see the matriarchal Church of Women through the eyes of characters who are hostile to it, so although we are told that it offers protection to victims of domestic violence and help with childbearing (and possibly abortion; that wasn't clear to me) our impression of it is negative. I've a feeling this will be a book that people either like or hate; I liked it and would read more set in this world (although this seems to be a stand-alone).

This week I found the second volume of March, John Lewis's graphic novel about the civil rights movement, based upon his own experiences. The graphic form really beings home the viciousness of those opposed to the movement in the depictions of hate on their faces, and makes it even clearer just how courageous the protesters were to persevere in spite of the very real danger of injury or death. It's very interesting too in showing the splits and disagreements between those committed to nonviolence and those who wanted more radical action; no-one is perfect. I hope this trilogy (part 3 is due next year) will gain a wide readership; it deserves to.

I read another Hilda book too, Hilda and the bird parade, which was delightful. These are such lovely picture books/graphic novels that I want to give copies to everyone! (Sadly my budget won't allow that.)

I've nearly finished City of stairs and have grown to love it after a slow start. Shara makes me think of the "before" Myfanwy from The rook - behind her dull exterior she is competent at research and administrative tasks, although less so in practical matters. Fortunately she has her "secretary" Sigrud to act as hired muscle when needed, and they make a good team. I'm also impressed by Mulaghesh, the city governor, who has a hard job but never does less than her best even when she'd rather retire to a more peaceful post.

I've also started reading California, a dystopian novel set after natural disasters and the resulting food and fuel shortages have caused society to fall apart. Cal and Frida have been living on the land for a few years when Frida discovers she is pregnant. From the cover blurb I know this will lead them to seek out other survivors, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. I've seen mixed reviews for the book but it appealed enough for me to want to pick it up when I found it in a charity shop.

And I'm nearing the end of Millenium Hall, which has been a slog in places but is worth reading for its vision of women living independently and responsibly at a time when this was hardly believed possible.

>106 Sakerfalcon: I tried to get into The Moon King on the flight out and couldn't connect with the prose - but I am meaning to go back and give it another whirl when I'm a bit less stiff, crotchety and bored ;) I've been a bit amused that I seem to have done better at reading books I would normally struggle with in-flight this year (like Liza of Lambeth), and struggled with what should have been easier reads!

City of Stairs sounds like I will love the characters though. I may have to finally give in and move it from the wishlist to Mount TBR...

>107 imyril: I didn't really notice the prose. I did find myself skimming some of the passages describing the machine and its workings, towards the middle of the book - that sort of thing never holds my interest!

I finished City of stairs and loved the way that Jackson resolved the different plot strands to end the novel. While the characters are good it is the worldbuilding that stands out for its treatment of colonialism and the tensions between government and citizens that pervade everyday life. It's also a very interesting take on religion and gods. I like that this book could be a stand-alone, but am eagerly looking forward to City of blades which is set in the same world (and appears to feature Mulaghesh as protagonist - hooray!) City of stairs is as much political thriller as fantasy and could appeal to readers who don't usually enjoy the latter.

Now I've started Parable of the sower, which is set in a very bleak future but has already grabbed my interest.

>108 Sakerfalcon: I can't dodge this much incoming friendly fire! Must.Buy.City of Stairs ;)

108, 109> I also loved City of Stairs. It will undoubtedly be one of the best books I've read this year.

>108 Sakerfalcon: City of stairs sounds quite good! And nice that you're reading Parable of sower, I haven't read that one yet (I don't want to read the Butlers too quickly, because there is a limited supply...)

>109 imyril:, >110 pwaites:, >111 zjakkelien: My 4.5 star rating is entirely subjective, based on how much I loved the second half of the book. Really it should be lower for the totally unnecessary use of present tense which frequently threw me out of the first part of the book. Unfortunately now he's started the trilogy? series? in that style it's pretty certain to continue that way.

I finished Parable of the sower and found it hard to put down, despite the bleakness of the world. Like California (which is perhaps not the best book to be reading alongside Sower!) it is set in a future USA where society has fallen apart due to natural disasters, climate change, epidemics of disease and the resulting economic collapse and shortages of food and fuel. Lauren lives with her family in a walled enclave where several families eke out a living while violence threatens from the streets outside. The first half of the book is extremely dark, not least because we know something cataclysmic is coming that will be more devastating than any of the smaller (but still grim) tragedies described. Once Lauren is forced to leave the community and sets out on the road things become more positive, perhaps because she is at least able to take action rather than just wait for disaster to come. I've seen complaints that Lauren is too mature and competent, particularly at the start of the book when she is only 15. I didn't think it was that far fetched though, given that she is the eldest of 5 children and was home educated by her preacher-professor father. She works hard and soaks up as much knowledge of all things as she is able. It was a joy to me to read about a sensible, competent heroine who turns into a good leader and brings people together to unite against a violent world. I'll read the sequel soon.

I finished a short book, Belzhar, this week as well. I wanted something a bit lighter than Sower and this story of traumatised teens sent to a special boarding school for the "emotionally fragile" was a pleasant and undemanding read. The characters are likeable and the boarding school setting is always a favourite of mine. I didn't find Jam, our narrator, as interesting as some of her classmates, but I liked seeing how they grew close and formed friendships. The treatment of depression and PTSD was rather shallow, with everyone's problems solved (literally) magically. I guessed early on that Jam's situation was not quite what she wanted us to think it was, so that reveal wasn't a surprise. I have to mention that although this book was written in 1st person present tense, the prose rarely bothered me - something about Wolitzer's style washed over me instead of tripping me up (as Robert Jackson Bennett's did in City of Stairs). This is a YA book and perhaps it would appeal to that audience - for me, it was an easy light read despite the potentially heavy subject matter.

I'm now continuing in the post-apocalyptic vein with California which is interesting to compare to Sower. Cal and Frida left the city and its crumbling infrastructure to live on the land in isolation, but Frida's pregnancy has forced them to seek out a community to join. Frida seems too naïve and trusting to survive in this world, but Cal is harder-headed and wary.

I still have the end of Millenium Hall to read. It's not a bad book but one to admire rather than love. I will never really enjoy C18th prose. (Although at least it's not written in the present tense!)

Still trying to decide what to settle on for my next "before bed" read. Maybe Hild, maybe The goblin emperor, perhaps something else entirely.

112> I need to get around to reading Parable of the Sower soon..

Ditto >113 pwaites:

>112 Sakerfalcon: I liked Parable of the Sower and thought (uncomfortably) that it didn't stretch credibility nearly as much as most futuristic dystopian novels do. But the ending seemed lame to me, and I wasn't tempted to go on to the sequel. I'll be interested in your comments on it; I could change my mind.

>113 pwaites:, >114 LibraryPerilous: I hope you find it a worthwhile read - I'm not sure "enjoyable" is quite the right word given how bleak the book is at times.

>115 Meredy: I agree that this was one of the most plausible dystopian futures I've read, partly because the cause was an accretion of small things rather than a massive cataclysm and partly because it focuses on a middle class, rather that everyone being either super-privileged and protected or the poorest of the poor. (And the cast of characters reflect the ethnic diversity of Southern California.) I do wonder about the state of the rest of the world - presumably it's as bad as the US, given that Lauren looks to space as the ultimate haven rather than another country or continent. Re the ending I basically liked it but it felt a bit too hopeful and happy given all that had gone before. I know Butler has left plenty of room for things to go wrong, but still, it felt a bit of a mismatch with the rest of the book.

This week I've finished both Millenium Hall and California, two quite different books.

Millenium Hall took a long time to read despite its short length, due to the C18th prose and the didactic nature of the story. However, it was very refreshing to read about a society of women who live together independently from men, using their money and other resources for the common good. Their patronage of the lower classes - setting up schemes to educate the children and find gainful employment for the adults - may seem condescending to us today but was pretty forward-thinking for the time and almost unheard of for such ventures to be instigated and managed by women. The various "case histories" of the ladies are moderately interesting, telling us why they are unmarried and how they came to the Hall, but are based on the usual tropes of the period - neglectful guardians, cruel step-parents, widowhood, unsuitable suitors, suitable suitors who meet a tragic end before the wedding - so are largely predictable (especially as we already know that the character has ended up at Millenium Hall!) This is an important book in the history of women's thought and writing, but a hard one to love. However if you have any interest in the period and don't mind elaborate prose and well-meant didacticism then give it a try.

California was an interesting comparison to Parable of the sower, both books being set in California after society has fallen apart due a combination of realistic causes. In this case, the protagonists are a white middle class couple who have chosen to retreat to the wilderness rather than stay in the increasingly unsafe city. This means that, unlike Parable, we are not shown the violence and thus the world feels less frightening by comparison. Frida and Cal are fairly interesting; their relationship is physically passionate yet they keep secrets from each other and have quite different attitudes to life. Cal is realistic and practical, while Frida is idealistic and longs for the frivolities of their old way of life. Interestingly, after they join the community and start to discover its secrets, their attitudes almost reverse, with Cal wanting to bury his head in the sand and Frida wanting to know the worst so they can leave if necessary. While I kept wanting to read to find out what would happen, ultimately it all felt a little bit bland - the community's secrets weren't as bad as it seemed they would be based on the build up, the untrustworthy leader didn't feel like a real person and as I said, we didn't really get much idea of how lawless the outside world had become. Cal and Frida were more exasperating than sympathetic and of the supporting characters I felt that only Anika and Sailor really stood out. It wasn't a bad book to read on the train, but not worth rereading.

Now I've started The goblin emperor, which is wonderful so far, and on my kindle I'm reading Nexus, which is an SF thriller. I had expected a more serious treatment of the neuroscientific and moral issues involved but it's actually kind of a popcorn read and as such I'm ignoring the inconsistencies and enjoying the ride.

Happy Thingy!

>117 imyril: Ooh, thanks for reminding me! I may just be able to slip some purchases in under the wire before the LT thugs get onto me ...

>118 Sakerfalcon: that's what friends are for ;)

>119 imyril: Fortunately I remembered that I needed to order the Hunter books for sandstone78's next group read ... That's about all I can afford this month, but I'll be receiving birthday books at the weekend which I'll count towards my total.

Wait, we can count gift books toward the LT tax?

>121 suitable1: It's my thread, so yes I can :-)

I finished The goblin emperor and loved it. Maia is a lovely protagonist, a genuinely good person thrown into a situation where he is completely out of his depth. He's fortunate to have a good adviser at his side, Csevet, who helps steer him through various potential traps and pitfalls, but most of the time Maia is forced to work things out for himself. How he overcomes the plots against him, finds friends and forges alliances and slowly finds a voice in government is a joy to observe and provides many moments of satisfaction. The world seems to be populated by elves and goblins; I don't think there were any mentions of humans, yet all the characters are "human" in the ways that make for a good story. The names/titles are complicated but no more so than those in Inda and the glossary at the back of the book was helpful. Maia's story arc is basically resolved at the end of the novel, but I'd love to read more about some of the other characters and this world; it has the potential to hold many more stories.

Nexus was an entertaining SF thriller, based on the premise that a drug has been developed that allows users to link minds. The EU and US seek to ban it, based on very real fears of its misuse. Other countries, notably China, want it legalised but only for use by the government, not always benevolently. Our heroes want it available for all, despite the potential for misuse, as they believe the majority of people will use it for good. (Personally I wouldn't want to link minds with anyone else for any reason, but there you go.) It's an exciting, fast-paced book, mostly set in Thailand, that fills the same niche in one's reading life as a big-budget action movie. In fact, one could probably be made based on this book. I know the library has book 2 so I'll pick that up soon.

Also this week I read Ella Minnow Pea, a clever little book that combines literary wordplay and the perils of totalitarianism. The independent nation of Nollop reveres its namesake, the man who created the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and the centrepiece of the town is a memorial that has the sentence spelled out on it. When the letters one by one start to fall off the town council decides that this is a message from Nollop telling them to stop using said letters. Infractions are harshly punished, and as neighbours ruthlessly report even accidental slips by their fellow citizens the population is soon living in fear. Of course, a small group are determined to fight this madness but will they succeed as their numbers dwindle? The novel is epistolary and so the text must itself obey the rules imposed by the story. It's amazing how expressive it continues to be even after several letters have been banned. This is an entertaining and creative read which anyone who loves wordplay will probably enjoy.

Now I'm reading Kindred rites on kindle, the sequel to Night calls. It's begun a bit slowly, with a tedious chapter where Alfreda is teaching her young brothers how to make a weatherproof den, but it looks as though it should pick up very soon given that there is a poltergeist hanging around.

And I've started Shadowscale, the sequel to Seraphina which I loved.

>123 Sakerfalcon: I love the sound of Ella Minnow Pea! I'll have to keep an eye out for it... Your book bullets are always well-aimed :)

>125 imyril: It was a fun read, and surprising how eloquent the prose is even after several letters are forbidden.

Kindred rites was an excellent sequel to Night calls. We see Alfreda continue to learn and grow in power, but as she does she attracts unwanted supernatural attention. The book starts rather slowly but everything becomes relevant to the story as it progresses. The alternate historical USA setting is well drawn, using woodcraft, herblore and magic in equal measure. I like that women have a wider range of roles to play in this society yet it never feels as though C21st century attitudes have been given to characters. I'm looking forward to reading the third book, Spiral path, at some point in the future.

I'm reading Shadowscale on my way to work now. It's got lots of good things in, but I feel it's a little bit overlong which is making the pacing uneven. Seraphina is still a likeable heroine but makes some mistakes and has to readjust her ideals and assumptions along the way. Thankfully her love interest doesn't have too much page time - I'm not a fan of the romance and Kiggs (I don't even like his name!) is rather bland. I do wish we saw more of Glisselda, but it's nice to get to know Abdo and some of the other half-dragons better and to meet some new ones.

I've also started reading Hunter's oath for sandstone78's group read and a few chapters in am enjoying it a lot. The prose is less formal and thus more readable than in The sun sword and even though the blurb implies that it's a male-dominated story I can already see signs that this is in fact not the case. The mythology of the world is a variant on the Fisher King story, where each year the god takes a life in return for allowing human life to survive. I find the social networks, where a noble Hunt Lord is paired with a common-born Hunt Brother for life potentially very interesting, particularly in how this relationship intersects with marriage, parenthood and other social roles.

And I'm trying again to get through Reamde - it's a big hardback edition that has been sitting in my living room for ages waiting for me to have time to sink into it. It doesn't help that the book is too big for me to commute with or read in bed!

>127 Sakerfalcon: I keep looking at Reamde and deciding I don't feel strong enough (in any sense!)

...The Luminaries suffers from a similar condition.

>128 imyril: Granta posted the first 50 pages of The luminaries on their website after it won the Booker. I read them and had no desire for any more. Reamde does have a pretty good plot, at least the parts involving Zula, and it looks as though Richard's storyline should pick up soon too.

I finished Shadowscale last night and find myself conflicted in my response to the book. Overall I thought it badly paced, dragging in some places but hurried in others. Much of the story is quite repetitive - Seraphina looks for a half-dragon, finds them, may or may not recruit them to her cause, then the half dragon gets corrupted by the villain. I didn't like Seraphina herself as much in this book; she seemed very passive a lot of the time and indecisive, perhaps because Hartman wanted her to come into her power at the very end of this long book, which meant the character had to tread water for a long time. In fact, I felt as though most of the characters were being moved around by the author rather than acting naturally. And what actually was the deal with Seraphina's "garden" in the end? That was very hard to decipher. I still hated the romance, but at least it was a subplot (its resolution was interesting though). The villain was SO powerful that it required a deus-ex-machina to defeat them. And the narrative tried to make the villain more nuanced because of their past, but I found myself mentally urging Seraphina to just kill her already! It might have been her imprisonment and abuse that made her a psychopath, but she is still a psychopath when it comes down to it. What I liked about the book though, I loved - Porphyry and its culture; the other half-dragons that we get to know (there are so many of them that a few are really only mentioned in passing) especially Abdo, Camba, Neduard and Blanche; the scene at Lab 4 and the quigutl there; the glimpses we get of Glisselda's growth into her role as queen; the diversity of the cast and the world; the very end which focuses on Seraphina and Orma rather than the romance. I'd love to pick the good things out of the book and put them into a different story. I've seen an interview with Hartman where she says she may write books about some of the side characters; I'd love that. Abdo and Camba would certainly be great protagonists.

I've now started reading something completely different - The waves which is one of the few novels by Virginia Woolf that I've never read. I'm going to see a new ballet next week which is based around her life and three of her novels, Orlando, The waves, and Mrs Dalloway so I want to get in the appropriate frame of mind!

>127 Sakerfalcon: & >128 imyril:

I thought Reamde was the first Stephenson book I read with a satisfactory ending. I also found that it grabbed me and dragged me through it at a rate of knots. The first few pages needed a bit of endurance but after that it was a rollercoaster ride. Anyone else I know who has read it has flown through it. I am a very slow reader but I got through the book in a week.

>130 pgmcc: Thank you for your encouragement, Peter. Now that I've had time to sit and read more than a handful of pages at one time I'm into the story and thoroughly enjoying the whirlwind adventure. I'm up to where things have just gone pear-shaped in Xiamen.

I finished reading The waves on my way home yesterday and found it a worthwhile experience. It's a polar opposite to Reamde, which is very plot driven. The waves has really no plot at all, although we do learn something of the lives of the six characters. But it's really all about their inner lives and perceptions, narrated in stream-of-consciousness style prose in language that is beautiful and very poetic. As its title implies, I let the book wash over me, immersing me in the thoughts and mental wanderings of the characters. I'm now looking forward to seeing how it translates into ballet.

This weekend I read a short YA book, Blood wounds. Its protagonist Willa is part of a blended family, with a stepfather and -sisters who make it clear that she and her mother are just as close as blood relatives could be. It's a harmonious household, until Willa's birth father appears on the news, having killed his second wife and children, seemingly seeking Willa and her mother. From the back of the book it appears that this is the plot of the novel and that we'll be reading a thriller as the two women try to keep ahead of their pursuer. In fact, this plot is wrapped up in the first 1/3 of the book, and the real story is about the cracks in the perfect façade that this event has revealed, and how it changes the nature of the family for ever. It's a meditation on what really makes a family, on fairness and whether blood really is closer than water. I liked Willa; on the surface she's quiet, patient and accommodating but she's only able to maintain this calm exterior by cutting herself in secret. In the wake of the shock she finds herself speaking out and putting herself first for a change. It was a very quick read but had me engrossed the whole time.

I'm still enjoying Hunter's oath, although I can tell that it is part of a much bigger story and I'm only going to get resolutions to a small part of it in this book. I like the major characters, Stephen, Gilliam and Evayne a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of their world as the book progresses.

I'm also reading Half a king as I found a copy at the library. While it's not a new story - heir to the throne is betrayed and left for dead, but vows revenge - Abercrombie's cast of characters are three-dimensional and compelling, as is their Norse-inspired world. Yarvi was disregarded by his father for having a malformed, useless hand, and studied to become a minister (priest-advisor type person) as his older brother looked set to take the throne. Now that he's been thrown into a harsh world to take care of himself he must use his brains and wit to compensate for his lack of brawn. Women have power and agency in this world, although as much of the action has taken place among enslaved oarsmen we only have one major female character at this point. (Yarvi's mother is also a powerful character but Yarvi is separated from her early on in the book.) She's pretty awesome though and overall the book is a great read.

Remade is the one Stephenson book I'm prepared to try again - especially after seeing it on these threads . I hated quicksilver that much I was never going to read anything else by him, but I might make an exception for remade some day.

>132 reading_fox: I'm really enjoying Reamde now that I've got past the first hundred pages or so. I wasn't that interested in Richard who is the focus of the book's beginning, but now the cast of characters has expanded and the plot has moved internationally it's an entertaining romp. But then, I have enjoyed most of Stephenson's other books, including Quicksilver, so my opinion might not be the most helpful to you!

I finished Hunter's oath and am looking forward to its sequel next month. Stephen was definitely a better choice of viewpoint character than Gilliam would have been and I'm curious as to the role that fate has in store for him. I'm still curious as to the wider society of Breodanir - are all the nobility Hunter Lords or are they just a select subsection? What if a Hunter Lord only has daughters? I like Elsabet and would have liked more scenes with her in, but when she did appear she was always intelligent and full of practical good sense. I'll post more thoughts on the group read thread when I have time.

Half a king was a good read, although I prefer Abercrombie's adult books. The characters, world and story were all very good but I found a lot of the twists and turns to be predictable largely because I've read so much in the genre already. Presumably there'd be more surprises for a younger reader. I enjoyed the bonds that form between Yarvi and his fellow slaves (although again, I could tell who was being set up to be killed off by how the relationships evolved) as they travel through a brutally cold landscape. I'll definitely read the next book if I can find it at the library; it looks as though it follows different protagonists while keeping Yarvi's story ticking along in the background.

This weekend I read The book of the unnamed midwife on kindle. It was a very good read, set in the USA after an epidemic kills off around 98% of the population, with considerably more women dying than men. This is nothing like Station Eleven despite its similar premise. Midwife is a story of survival in the years immediately following the epidemic, when just staying alive is of paramount importance. It's a violent world, especially for women, and our heroine sees some terrible sights and hears brutal stories as she searches for safety. I appreciated that the midwife has to adjust physically and mentally to shooting other humans, even to save her own life - the first time she has to defend herself with a gun she misjudges her aim and is slow and clumsy, getting away more by luck than skill. It takes time before she becomes confident at protecting herself. My main complaint about the book is the same as @imyril mentioned. The narrative purports to be a diary that is being transcribed in the future for archival reasons. However, more than half the contents are in an omniscient third-person voice - where did that come from? It's made clear when other people's stories have been copied into the narrative, but the source of these other large sections is never explained. However, I'd recommend the book if you want to read a story of post-apocalyptic survival with a focus on women's experiences.

I also read an enjoyable old children's book, The Grenville garrison, one of those stories where a family of children are blithely dispatched to spend the summer camping on their own while their parents are abroad. Adventure ensues when the children learn that the prince of a Ruritanian-type country is staying nearby and that a plot is afoot to assassinate him. Each of the children has an important part to play in saving him, using their own unique skills and talents as appropriate. It was nice to see the boys insisting to the old-fashioned prince that their sisters would of course be helping and were every bit as capable as boys if not more so! A very entertaining read, like a much better-written and plotted Enid Blyton!

And I read an urban fantasy by Tanya Huff, Gate of darkness, circle of light. This features a disparate group of individuals seeking to prevent forces of Darkness from invading Toronto and from there, the world. The effects of the dark really are nasty, and the sense of threat to our heroes is very real. The book's strength lies in the diversity of its cast - the developmentally disabled Rebecca, musician Roland, Asian social worker Daru, Mrs Ruth the bag lady and Tom the cat. I suppose it's logical that those on the edges of society might be the first to become aware of what is slipping through the cracks in the world and it's certainly refreshing to see such unconventional heroes take the lead. Charles de Lint does this too but most of his characters are so super-specially artistically gifted that they don't feel as real as Huff's. This was a great read, a stand-alone book with a satisfying ending.

Now I'm still reading Reamde, as I said above, and also started Adult onset, the new novel by Ann Marie MacDonald whose The way the crow flies was one of my favourite reads. The protagonist of Adult onset is Mary Rose ("Mister") Mackinnon, author of 2/3 of a trilogy of children's books and now stay-at-home mum to a 5 year old son and 2 year old girl, while her wife develops a career in theatre. What's the book about? Motherhood, aging, family relationships, the desire to protect one's loved ones, fear, need and the way the past shapes the present. It is claustrophobic (to me) in its depiction of Mister's home life with the children and how their needs have so completely overtaken her life. Within the first few pages the book had confirmed my decision never to have children - it seems to be all stress with no payoff! I'm enjoying the read anyway despite having nothing in common with the main character.

I'm also rereading Matter, which I loved when I read it first. It's not holding up quite so well this time round but is still engaging and entertaining.

Finished Adult onset last week and can't say I loved it. It was very claustrophobic, which I think was intentional, but I felt that most of the protagonist's problems were self-inflicted. I don't think I'd like Mister if I knew her. She's very quick to take offence and to get angry at what seem like innocuous remarks. The books covers a week in which her wife is away from home, leaving her in sole charge of the household. At the same time, pain in her arm is reoccurring at the site of the bone cysts she had as a child. Her parents are coming to visit but her increasingly confused mother can never remember the day and time when they will arrive and they have several frustratingly circular conversations over and over again. What I couldn't really empathise with was Mister's conviction that her anger problems must have stemmed from some abuse in her childhood. We are shown flashbacks to what was certainly a difficult youth as her mother suffered severe depression that kept her unable to move from the sofa for months, and at times her temper made her scream at the children and say horrible things to them. (And later, when Mister comes out, her parents' reaction is harsh and heartbreaking.) But it's all so nebulous and unreliable, as are Mister's memories, that it's hard for me to see where her conviction is founded, and the book doesn't come up with an answer. To me it just felt as though Mister wanted to put the blame for her anger on someone else, rather than take responsibility for it and seek help. That's another thing I didn't like about her - she seems to have great friends and neighbours who offer help and company without being pushy, but she shoves them away, quite nastily at times. I can understand why she flies off the handle in conversation with her wife - guessing there is some buried resentment at her role as career woman while Mister is stay at home mum - but even bearing that in mind, some of their arguments seem unreasonable. It was certainly an interesting read, and I'd love to see what other people think of it, but I can't exactly recommend it.

I also finished Reamde and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book was a slow starter for me but once the main cast of characters was introduced and the action-packed plot kicked off it was a gripping read despite its length. I liked the diverse characters and the scenes that took place in Xiamen and the Pacific North West; both settings were very well realised and convincing. >130 pgmcc:, Peter, I agree that the ending was excellent, better by far than the unfinished scramble in which most of his other books have ended. This isn't a science fiction novel, rather an international thriller involving cybercrime, terrorism, explosions, lots of guns, online gaming and some very dubious border crossings. It is self indulgent in its length, but never takes itself too seriously. The last 200 pages or so were unputdownable and I was turning the pages furiously to find out what would happen. It could probably be made into a great action movie with characters a little bit larger than life, international locations and thrilling sub plots that converge for a huge finale.

Now I'm reading Main Street as I've been eavesdropping on the American Author Challenge and it seemed like a good reason to pick up my copy. It's the story of a young woman with lofty ideals of bringing beauty and culture to the small towns of the Midwest, who finds her advances are not exactly embraced when she marries the doctor and moves to one such community.

Also still rereading Matter and enjoying it, though I thought I remembered more scenes with Djan Seriy when I read it before. Maybe she gets more page time later in the book.

>134 Sakerfalcon: This isn't a science fiction novel Exactly.

All the technology exists and is in use, even bitcoins, the online money.

Your description of Reamde strikes me as perfect. I also like your description of Stephenson's normal type of endings. unfinished scramble

>133 Sakerfalcon: I'm glad you enjoyed The Book of the Unnamed Midwife - I did think it was an unusual entry into the post-apocalyptic genre and appreciated the focus, even if it has a few flaws. I understand there will be a sequel; I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that - it stands well alone, but it might be interesting to focus on rebuilding - not many authors do!

>134 Sakerfalcon: I'm nearly 2/3 into Matter on my reread, and enjoying it without feeling compelled to pick up and keep reading (ahem, which is why I got distracted and read The Echo). I'm liking it more than I appear to have done last time, although it still feels quite lightweight / protracted in the sense that I feel like I've read a lot of book for not much actually happening after the first couple of chapters.

>135 pgmcc: Thank you! I realise that I forgot to mention the cougar though ...

>136 imyril: Yes, I will probably check out any sequel to Unnamed Midwife. I hope she chooses to structure the narrative more consistently next time though.

I'm very much enjoying Main Street and hope to finish it tonight or tomorrow. Carol, the outsider whose hopes of bringing art and culture to a small Minnesota town are dashed by the narrowness of its citizens, is an interestingly flawed heroine. I can sympathise with her for being a "hexagonal peg" as she calls herself, who hasn't found the right hole, but at the same time her superiority and lack of self-awareness makes one dislike her. Her best qualities are shown through her treatment of Bea, her Swedish servant girl who becomes a friend, and who Carol tries to make the town accept as one of their own. (One thing this book makes very clear is that the class system is alive and well in the USA.) It's not a happy book, but it is fascinating and an excellent read.

I finished my reread of Matter and while I didn't like it as much as I did the first time round, it was still a lot of fun. I like the low-tech Sarl people, and the shellworld of Sursammen is one of Banks' best creations. Ferbin is not exactly a hero, but I enjoyed the Jeeves and Wooster-like banter between him and his servant Holse. Ferbin's sister, Djan Seriy, is one of Banks' more appealing female characters, and I wish she'd had more page time. The youngest brother, Oramen, is sympathetic and his transition from naivety to awareness of the danger he is in makes for compelling reading. However, as imyril found on her recent reread, the pacing in the book is very uneven, with action sequences happening very quickly, and then hundreds of pages spent getting the various characters across the galaxy and into their places for the finale. It made me think of Moby Dick, or The whale where Melville's slow narrative is meant to reflect the long periods of boredom on a whaling voyage! Anyway, it's still a good book and I'm glad I finally reread it.

I'm currently trying to decide which books to take with my on my upcoming holiday in Scotland. So far I've put out Cloud Atlas and Miss Mole, and I have my kindle too. We should be outdoors most of the time so I may not have much time to read, but one must always be prepared! I'll be spending a couple of days near Newtonmore in the Spey Valley before heading over to the Isle of Ulva for the rest of the week.

Have a great time in Scotland, Claire!

>137 Sakerfalcon: oh that sounds like a lovely trip - enjoy!

Well, it's back down to earth with a bump after a glorious week in Scotland. I didn't have a lot of time to read as the weather was so good that we were outside almost all the time.

I finished Main Street before I left and really enjoyed the read. Lewis did a great job in portraying both the hypocrisies and the warmth of a small-town community, and in making Carol a well-rounded heroine, sometimes likeable and sympathetic, other times irritating and short-sighted. I found her a more appealing character than, say, Sister Carrie or Jennie Gerhardt from works by Theodore Dreiser, another American realist writing in the early C20th. I'm rather sorry that I didn't have a chance to read Lewis on my American Literature courses at university, but am glad to have come to him at last.

While on holiday I managed to read most of Cloud Atlas, and have finished it since getting home. I went into this with almost no expectations - I knew it was hugely popular, and consisted of several interlinked sections but I had no idea of the contents, characters or settings. Mitchell made each narrative completely immersive and convincing in style, whether the setting was an C19th century sea voyage or a far-future dystopia. My favourite stories were those of Sonmi, Frobisher and Luisa Rey but all were brilliantly done and I'd have been happy to read a whole book of any of them. I've got The bone clocks on my kindle and am looking forward to it.

I'm currently reading Miss Mole (bumped up the tbr pile by @SylviaC's recent remarks on it) and Hunter's death, which is for @sandstone78's group read. I don't think I'm going to finish it by the end of the month as I'm only 3 chapters in and the book is considerably longer than the first one, but I'm enjoying the new characters and look forward to seeing how their story relates to Stephen, Gil and Evayne's.

>140 Sakerfalcon: I am glad you enjoyed Cloud Atlas. I enjoyed The Bone Clocks but probably enjoyed Cloud Atlas more.

I will say nothing more until you have read The Bone Clocks.

Scotland in the sun must have been wonderful. Any palm trees this time?

>140 Sakerfalcon: Glad you enjoyed Cloud Atlas and I quite agree that I would have been happy to read full novels for some of those sections. I'll definitely be checking out more of {{David Mitchell's work. Was that your first of his too or have you read something else of his before?

I read Main Street back when I was in 8th grade. Of all of Sinclair Lewis' novels, it's the only one I can bear, because the man was always seemed so spiteful about human imperfections. I understand why in the context of his time but he's certainly not a warm and fuzzy or even a popular read. (Just a required one once you hit college and maybe not even there any more.)

Welcome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip - do we get photos? ;)

>141 pgmcc: No palm trees but a wonderful time nonetheless.
Other people have told me that they too preferred Cloud Atlas to The bone clocks. I will let you know my thoughts when I've read both.

>142 AHS-Wolfy: I haven't read anything else by Mitchell, but will be doing so soon. I really was impressed with Cloud Atlas, far more so than I expected. It's rare that a book lives up to its hype but this one did.

>143 jillmwo: I think Lewis managed to stay just on the right side of the line between critical and spiteful in Main Street, but it was close at times. I think Bea was about the only character who was shown in a wholly positive light and she dies. A very dim view of humanity indeed.

>144 imyril: Thank you! I'm about to try and upload a couple of photos - here goes!

The top picture shows the house (on the left) where we stayed.

The middle one is the strait between Mull (on the left) and Ulva (on the right) in the evening.

The bottom one is the view from just under the summit of Beinn Chreagach which was my post during the deer count. Not a bad place to sit for a day, with skylarks singing all around and the odd golden eagle flying over!

>146 Sakerfalcon: *happy sigh* that's a spot I've been wanting to go to for many years (we always end up further north). Gorgeous photos!

>146 Sakerfalcon: Oh, so beautiful. A part of my heart will always reside in Scotland; somehow I knew that from early childhood. I've visited only once. Pictures like yours seem to transport me.

Soooooo pretty! Thank you for sharing.

Those are lovely pictures! I love the way the last one seems to go on forever.

Oh, those pictures are *lovely*! It must have been wonderful.

Glad you all enjoyed the glimpses of Scotland. The isle of Ulva really is one of my favourite places on Earth (out of the limited number I've visited) and I hope to explore more of the Hebrides one day.

It was hard to come back and be pitched into turmoil at work, with a restructuring meaning that I have to reapply for my job. Amidst the stress I have been reading and mostly enjoying what I've read.

Miss Mole was an excellent read, a portrait of a very unusual woman and those around her. Miss Mole is a farmer's daughter, educated above her station but without the background to move up in society. Idiosyncratic, she chooses the life of a paid companion to widows, a nanny to children, a housekeeper, always dependent on others for food and a roof over her head. While often a tedious life, she takes pleasure in observing the foibles and peculiarities of her employers and society in general, and frequently causes confusion when she can't resist putting her sly thoughts into words. At first, the narrative is rather oblique, partially obscuring events and making slow reveals, hiding the details just as Miss Mole hides her true personality. We follow her as she becomes housekeeper to a widowed church minister and his two daughters, one still at school and rather sickly, the other a slightly touchy young woman anxious to find a husband and a place for herself in life. Reluctantly Miss Mole finds herself caring for these people and for other acquaintances and opening up a bit - until echoes from a past indiscretion force her to make a choice about her future and theirs. As the story unfolds, so the narrative becomes more direct just as Miss Mole loosens her hold on her secrets. It's extremely well done, and a vivid picture of life in post WWI England (Bristol to be precise) from the point of view of a fascinating woman. I'm glad I have some more of Young's novels on my Tbr pile, as the two I've read so far have been excellent.

I'm still reading Hunter's death; it's very good but is taking me a while. I find Jewel's chapters more interesting than Stephen's, although now that all the characters are in Averalaan it's moving faster now. I didn't enjoy the vulnerable teenage Evayne scenes at all, they seemed unnecessary and to undermine her power, but other than that it's been good so far.

I've been borrowing library books too recently, because apparently there isn't enough on my tbr pile. I read 2/3s of Thief's magic by Trudi Canavan and returned it because I just didn't care about the story or the characters. On the other hand, I devoured Charlaine Harris's Day shift and was left wanting more. I love the town on Midnight Texas and its tiny population, most of whom are more than they appear, and I'm disappointed to see that it's only going to be a trilogy. I'm currently reading Crux, the sequel to Nexus which is just as gripping and fast-paced and puts our characters in increasing difficult moral and ethical situations.

On kindle I read House of the rising sun, an urban fantasy set among Fae in New Orleans. The female lead started out very selfish and whiny, not sympathetic at all, but as the book progresses she learns and grows into a better person who considers the needs of others. The male lead is likeable from the start but also has to change as he's forced to take on new responsibilities. The various types of Fae are cool and unusual; the vampires are properly nasty and non-sparkly; and the witches are scheming and manipulative although not terribly good at it from what we are shown. The politics between these groups and to a lesser extent the humans are twisty and intriguing, and upon finishing the book I downloaded the sequel, City of eternal night. It's very rare that I do that, but obviously, despite its flaws, this series is something I need at the moment!

The first chapter of Miss Mole set me up to expect Miss Mole to be drab and repressed, but sweet-natured. Then Chapter 2 immediately turned that assumption on its head. While she is a victim of circumstance, she is certainly not passive!

Miss Mole and House of the Rising Son both sound good! I'll have to add them to my ever growing list!

>153 Sakerfalcon: I'm intrigued by the Nexus trilogy.

Thank you for sharing your lovely photos. It sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. I Know Where I'm Going! is one of my favorite movies. It was filmed partly on location on Mull, so I have visiting the Inner Hebrides high on my travel spreadsheet.

While I was on holiday recently, I read Burning Down George Orwell's House. It's a hoot, although it also is message fiction. Andrew Ervin manages to make the residents of Jura suitably eccentric and creepy without resorting to slapstick or belittlement.

I hope the restructuring isn't too stressful and that it gets sorted soon.

>153 Sakerfalcon: What are the other E.H. Young novels you've read? I have just finished Miss Mole and I'm eager to know what else of hers you'd recommend.

The pictures are fantastic and you have pulled me back to my 1975 fieldtrip to Mull.

Good luck with the restructuring. It is never any fun playing a part in the implementation of someone else's great idea.

Happy reading.

>154 SylviaC: You are absolutely right, and that's what makes her so entertaining to read about. I do enjoy the "shy repressed character comes out of her shell" storyline (a la Miss Pettigrew) but this was so different and wonderful.

>155 catzteach: I hope you enjoy them if you do get around to reading them. Very different to each other, but both excellent in their own ways.

>156 LibraryPerilous: The Nexus books are like popcorn for me - fast reads that although they contain some serious moral and scientific issues, still have a light touch. There's lots of action - some of the scenes reminded me of the shootouts in Reamde - and vivid international settings. Of course Crux ended on a cliffhanger and my local library branch doesn't have the third book!
Mull and the Hebrides generally is a beautiful part of the world. I hope you're able to visit there one day. I'll look out for Burning down George Orwell's house; the title alone is enough to intrigue me.

>157 jillmwo: I've only read The Misses Mallett, which was excellent. I still have William, Jenny Wren and The curate's wife on Mount Tbr.

>158 pgmcc: Thank you. I can imagine that Mull was a great location for a field trip.

Thanks for the good wishes for my work situation. My interview and presentation are on Wednesday so any crossed appendages and good wishes are very much appreciated.

This weekend I finished reading Hunter's death. There was a lot that was good about the book but by the last couple of hundred pages I was ready for it to be over. I think the beginning chapters took too long and generally there were many details that slowed the whole thing down. I'd like to have seen more of Jewel at the end, and of Miri all the way through. I felt rather distanced from a lot of the action. I'm not sure if this was because of the dense prose or some other reason, but I felt that in such parts as where the city of Averalaan is being haunted by the sounds of ghostly voices I should have been able to feel the tension and horror of the situation; but I didn't. Averalaan itself and its society was well-drawn and interesting, but I was less enamoured of the Breodani and their hunting-based culture. Gilliam comes across as a bit of an oaf for much of the book, and Stephen is the super-special sensitive one. Evayne's obsession with him comes across as a bit of a crush, on the part of the author as well as the character. The Terafin was a great example of a strong, wise leader and it was good to see a woman take this role. All in all, I think The sun sword is a better book, although the prose is even denser and requires a lot more concentration on the part of the reader. At its best the book put me in mind of Carol Berg's Collegia Magica trilogy although that I intend to reread one day; the Hunter duology I shan't.

City of eternal night was excellent but ended on a real cliffhanger. I'm going to download book 3 after my interview on Wednesday as either a celebratory or commiseratory gift to myself. Harper was much more sympathetic in this book, wholly likeable in fact, but her inexperience and lack of knowledge of the supernatural world leads her to make a terrible decision which will have consequences for both her future and that of Augustine. Giselle is contemptible, and I'm wondering if there is more to Zara than meets the eye. We see more of Dulcinea, Cy and Lally, and get a bigger picture of the fae world and its politics. Painter uses her chose backdrop of New Orleans very well, and the cast of characters reflects the diversity of the city well. I'm rather sorry that this is only a trilogy because I really like this world.

Well, my interview is over and done with; I wasn't successful but there are some other internal vacancies at the university which are being held for us to consider. So although I'm disappointed with the outcome mostly I'm just relieved that the most unpleasant part of the process is over and that I have some alternatives to redundancy.

Probably because I wanted comfort reading, I picked a children's book off my shelves the other night and read it in one sitting. My horse says reminded me of Henrietta's House by Elizabeth Goudge, with hints of The secret garden and Green Knowe. The horse of the title is imaginary, coming to the heroine Elizabeth at night and giving advice in her dreams. The story is that of a family looking for a new home, a quest which leads them to a lovely but deserted house and garden on the moors. How they bring the garden back to life and persuade the landowner that they are the perfect tenants for the house makes a lovely light story for young readers and nostalgic adults.

Since then I've been flitting between several different books, not really settling on any one in particular.

On kindle I'm enjoying The bone clocks; I hadn't meant to read another book by David Mitchell so soon after Cloud Atlas, but I found myself stranded with only my kindle one day and picked this from the unread books. I'm enjoying it very much so far, just into the third section. Holly starts as a typically self-absorbed, naïve teenager who thinks she's worldly-wise but is forced down to earth with a crash. While running away from home she gets caught up in some mysterious goings-on which are not explained but which would cause anyone to question their sanity. The next section of the book is narrated by a sociopathic Cambridge student who meets Holly in a bar at a Swiss ski resort. Mitchell has a gift for making the most unpleasant people fascinating to read about and for changing the narrative voice convincingly for each new character. I'm currently with Holly's partner at a wedding in Brighton and in his flashbacks to his journalistic assignment in post-9/11 Iraq. I'm not how Mitchell researched this section, but his nuanced picture of life in and outside the Green Zone seems plausible. I know the prevailing opinion is that this book isn't as good as Cloud Atlas, but I'm enjoying it so far anyway.

Wanting something lighter to read at home, I picked up Etiquette and espionage which has been on my tbr pile for a while. This was a lovely YA steampunk book about an incorrigible, intelligent girl who gets sent to a very unusual finishing school. It's great at showing girls learning to think for themselves and use their gifts as well as just being a fun romp. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

I've also started Whiskey and water, the sequel to Blood and iron. This picks up 7 years after the events of the earlier book, with Matthew, magically crippled now, happening to find a murder scene in New York City. We see both old friends (and enemies) and new faces, and so far the book is less dense and more comprehensible than the first one - it's not so stuffed with random references to Fae lore and legend. I'm still waiting to see how Kit Marlowe fits into the main storyline, and what role Whiskey will play, but all in all this is shaping up to be a satisfying read.

And I'm reading the first of Kage Baker's Company novels, In the garden of Iden. I've managed to collect all but one of the series so thought I should start reading it! The slightly complicated premise is that ways have been found to make people immortal and to travel back in time (although not to changed recorded history). Unfortunately the immortality technique only works on very young children, and the limits of time travel mean that you can't tell your past self who won the Grand National and place a huge bet on it. So basically the Company (which has sole ownership of the technology) takes suitable abandoned or orphaned children out of the historical timeline, gives them the immortality treatment which turns them into cyborgs, and uses them as agents who can make subtle changes that don't affect history but can make profit in the future. It's quite complicated if you think about it, but I'm trying not to and just enjoying the story. Our heroine is Mendoza, rescued from the Spanish Inquisition and trained as a botanist. She's sent with a team to the England of Mary Tudor to collect samples of plants that have since become extinct, so that the Company can "rediscover" them in the future and corner the market. I've explained this terribly but take my word for it, it's a fun idea and the author uses it well. I've a feeling there will be a tragic end to at least one plot thread, but until that happens I'll enjoy the story.

>160 Sakerfalcon: I'm sorry, hope whatever is in your future will be brilliant and a wonderful surprise for you.

>160 Sakerfalcon: options are good. Hopefully one of these opportunities will be a good fit.

Your enthusiasm for Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks is nudging them up my TBR pile - I've been sat on them for a while for no particular reason (as I loved both of Mitchell's books that I've read).

>160 Sakerfalcon: I'm sorry to hear that; I hope one of the other positions works for you.

I might have to reconsider Etiquette and Espionage after your review.

I really enjoyed Etiquette and Espionage! I wasn't as thrilled with Prudence when I read it a few weeks ago. I just didn't get into the characters. :(

Well, I have fallen behind lately what with being busy at work and my internet at home not letting me stay online for long. Thanks to all of you who've stopped by and for your good wishes. I've opted to take a lower-paid position still within the library, which will at least give me an income and some training opportunities while I look for work elsewhere.

>162 imyril: I've since finished The bone clocks, and while I can see why people don't like it as much as Cloud atlas I enjoyed it a lot. Holly is an interesting character who grows from a stroppy teenager to an adult who still sometimes makes mistakes but learns to live with them and herself as the world around her changes. It's more overtly SF than Cloud Atlas, which may have put off readers who don't generally read genre fiction, and the SF elements felt out of place when they appeared. I think this was deliberate though, so that we could feel the confusion and shock along with the characters. Mitchell's greatest strength is, IMO, his ability to create distinct narrative voices for a wide range of characters, something shown to great effect in both the books I've read by him. I will of course be looking for more!

>163 LibraryPerilous:, >164 catzteach: I really did enjoy E & E; it was just what I needed at a stressful time. And it was so good to see all those girls using their very different gifts and working together. I have the sequel which I'll be reading very soon.

Whiskey and water is progressing well, I hope to finish it before I go on holiday. We're travelling with the cast between New York City, Faerie and Hell, and very entertaining (and sometime frightening) it is too.

I do need to finish In the garden of Iden, too - I can see I have a late night ahead!

This week while commuting I read The matriarch by G. B. Stern which was excellent. It follows several generations of a large cosmopolitan Jewish family as they move across Europe, marry and intermarry, succeed and fail in business and adapt (or not) to the change from 19th to 20th century ways. The narrative voice is sometimes rather distant, giving us an overview of the family history, then swoops in to focus on a particular individual and their story, before moving on again. The family includes some wonderful characters (several of whom I'm glad were safely restrained within the pages of a book!) and all are fascinating to read about. This was the first novel in a series of five, and I do own the next one so will be reading that fairly soon.

I'm off to Romania for a week, leaving tomorrow, so have to finish the aforementioned books above before I go (I just can't leave a book unfinished, or take one with me when I have only a few chapters left) and then find some new ones to take with me. I'll probably bring my newest acquisition, Dead cold which is the second Inspector Gamache novel, and at least one other in case my mood changes while I'm there.

>165 Sakerfalcon: enjoy your trip!

>165 Sakerfalcon: I am glad you enjoyed The Bone Clocks. I felt the final section was a bit unnecessary. It seemed to be there simply to let Mitchel show his skills at imagining a dystopian future and to show off what he knew about threats to the environment. While it was unnecessary to the rest of the book he did to it realistically. I felt like it was a little sequel to the main story.

I also enjoyed Black Swan Green. It is not in the same league as the other two books but it does have some interesting parts and does have some thought provoking ideas. You might have noticed that it is referenced in The Bone Clocks.

>166 imyril: Thank you!

>167 pgmcc: I agree, it was like an epilogue to show what happened to some of the characters (mainly Holly) after the events of the previous section. It was very well done though. I've seen in reviews that all Mitchell's previous books were referenced in The bone clocks, although obviously I missed them entirely!

I forgot to add above that I also read Ink and bone this week, a YA novel based upon the idea that the Library of Alexandria was never destroyed and now (in 2025) controls all information in the world. There is no explanation given of how this came about, but nonetheless it is quite a cool premise and makes for an interesting and exciting read. Our hero is Jess, a boy with a dubious background whose father wants him to gain one of the coveted apprenticeships within the Great Library and then act as a spy for him. So we have a not-unfamiliar set up with a group of young people put into a school-type setting and forced to compete for a limited number of positions. Of course the Library is a sinister and shadowy organization, although the book isn't really dystopian. But it's well done; with engaging characters among the youngsters, a Snape-type instructor who may or may not secretly have the student's best interests at heart, and some fairly thought-provoking discussion of how information can be controlled by technology resting in the hands of one all-powerful body, this is a very good read. There is a bit of romance but it never stops the action. Recommended if you're looking for an entertaining lighter fantasy read.

Have a great trip!

>169 SylviaC: Thank you! We had a great time, exploring the mountains, caves, churches and a salt mine and eating lots of CHEESE! Got to love a country where fried cheese is always on the menu!

While I was away I read Dead cold which was a very good second entry in the Inspector Gamache series. We continue to learn more about the residents of Three Pines and about the forces massing against Gamache within his own department. There were perhaps one or two too many twists in the mystery for my liking, and I'm not a fan of how Penny hides information from the reader while making it clear that the characters know the facts we are missing. Still, I'm looking forward to my next visit to this small town in Quebec.

I also finished The just city which I very much enjoyed. It imagines that Athene decides to found a city based on Plato's Republic and uses the viewpoints of three characters to explore the practicalities and pitfalls of the venture. Along the way it raises many moral questions in a non-didactic way that makes you, and the characters, think. Our viewpoints are Maia, a frustrated scholar from Victorian England who is transported to the city when she prays to Athene; Simmea, who is rescued from slavery at the age of 10 and raised in the city to become one of its leaders in future; and the god Apollo, who takes the form of a human child in order to better understand the human world. This could have been a very dry and dull book but Walton weaves the philosophy and moral dilemmas into an engaging story. My only criticism would be that the voices of the three narrators were basically identical and I sometimes had to check back to the beginning of the chapter to see who was speaking.

On the way home I started Seawitch, the seventh in the Greywalker series. This is a nautical mystery involving mermaids and otter-people and in which we see Harper forced to consider her relationships with her friends. In previous books she has tended to use her friends when she needs help but not give much back, and she's called on that in this book which is good. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Downpour but it was still a good read.

Since getting home I've also read The mime order, sequel to The bone season. I'm not a huge fan of this series so far but something about it keeps me reading. It's set in an alternate London where people with clairvoyant powers are persecuted and hunted down. In the first book we discovered that this was all part of a larger scheme involving supernatural creatures from a parallel world but which has been covered up by the mortal authorities. This book sees our heroine Paige back in London and on the run from the authorities. For someone who's supposed to be in hiding she goes out ALL THE TIME, with a hat on and a scarf over her face as a disguise. She's always getting physically attacked and injured yet seems to have recovered a few pages later. She's a very generically feisty heroine who doesn't really stand out for me from the mass of such protagonists. More interesting are some of the supporting characters and the grungy, dangerous city of London. My main gripe about the world is that it's ridiculously overcomplicated, with a hierarchy of clairvoyant powers all with stupid pseudoscientific names which required horrific info-dumping in the first book. There was less of that this time, thankfully, but the pacing was a bit slow at times although generally the book is pretty action packed. I'll look for book 3 at the library but this isn't a series that I want to own.

Now I'm reading Pilgrimage 2 for All Virago-All August. This is part of Dorothy Richardson's overlooked series of stream-of-consciousness novels documenting the life of Miriam in early C20th London. They are not the easiest of reads but form a fascinating look at the inner life of a young women at that time as she tries to find her independence.

At home I'm reading Cast in courtlight, the second in Michelle Sagara's Elantra series. They are second-world fantasy set in a city populated with five different species of inhabitants all with their own societies and customs. Our heroine is a member of the police force of this world (the Hawks) but is having to wrestle with the emergence of her gift for magic, something she doesn't want to engage with. Magic isn't a huge force in the world, but it seems to cause trouble when it does occur. The books are much more police/political thrillers than "young girl coming of age" which makes a nice change, and although they are published by an imprint of Harlequin, so far there's no romance.

And I really must start reading Seveneves before it needs to go back to the library ...

Well, I managed to complete Seveneves last night and feel quite pleased with myself for having managed to devour this massive tome in quite a short time. I have to agree with @pgmcc that it's not nearly as engaging as Stephenson's other books. He's known for info-dumping but usually he uses an informal, conversational voice to impart the information so it never becomes dry. Here though he opted for a flat, impersonal style like you might find in a technical journal and so while what he said was potentially interesting, the way in which he did so was dull. I liked the main characters in parts 1 and two - Ivy, Dinah, Tekla, Markus, Doob and Moira - but didn't feel that their counterparts in section 3 were as well-drawn or engaging. The baddies (especially Julia) were rather too much the mustache-twirling villains to be really believable (or maybe I just don't want to believe that people would act that way in that situation). For the most part, the section chronicling the countdown to The End was interesting, although I doubt that those last two years would be as orderly and calm as depicted here. Part 2 really dragged, I thought, with the technical mission recounted in too much detail and slowing the pace to a crawl. My main issue with the third section was that I couldn't believe the seven different peoples hadn't interbred more - mixed-race people seemed to be a rare exception. Surely at least 5 of the seven eves would have seen the need to try and instill a culture of interbreeding down the generations to prevent the sort of factionalism that propels the conflict we are shown? I wonder if he is planning a sequel; there seemed to be plenty of loose ends left at the end of the book. I have to mention that part 3 put me in mind of Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312 at times, with Seveneves suffering in comparison. All that said, I still enjoyed the read for the most part and would check out a sequel should one appear. I'm very grateful for Peter's comments which led me to hold off on buying this one though!

Now I'm continuing with Pilgrimage 2 in which Miriam has embraced the giddy delights of bicycling, and Cast in courtlight, which sees Kaylin trying (not very hard) and failing to be diplomatic. I've also started Curtsies and conspiracieswhich is as delightful as its precursor.

>165 Sakerfalcon:, >168 Sakerfalcon: Good heavens, woman. I do believe that's the first time I've encountered Gatling gun book-bullet fire--you hit me with at least five between the two posts.

It's true. I'm zig-zagging back and forth to duck the rapid-fire. That said, I went and looked at Dead Cold although the touchstone refers me to A Fatal Grace. (Is there a different name in the US?) Still it got me. I must add that title to the mountainous TBR. BUT it will probably mean I have to let go of something else from the mystery section. Perhaps I can part with one I uncovered yesterday. Anyone know anything about Devoured by D.E. Meredith? I've no idea how it came to be on the shelf.

>172 Marissa_Doyle: Now you can't leave me in suspense - which ones hit you? Purely for research purposes ... :-)

>173 jillmwo: It took me a while to confirm but yes, Dead cold and A fatal grace are the same book. I do wish publishers wouldn't do that.

I've finally found some time to add a few photos from Romania for those of you that asked (just before I head off on my next trip!) Let's see if this works ...

In order they are:

In the south of Apuseni National Park

In the Bears' Cave, where fossilized bones of over 100 cave bears have been found, amid stunning stalagmites, stalactites and other rock formations

The entrance to the ice cave at Scarisoara, a popular destination for school groups and tourists, as you can see by the number of ant-like figures descending the steep stairway. The average temperature within the cave is -6 Celsius, enough to keep it frozen year-round.

A typical rural landscape in the sunshine

Inside the Turda salt mine, now a tourist attraction. This felt like the setting for a YA dystopian novel - an underground world complete with bowling alley, pool tables, a boating lake and ferris wheel all intended to keep the underclass content to slave away below the surface while the evil overlords exploit the world above ground! Only a small part of the mine is still actively supplying salt.

Turda gorges, carved through the rock by water over the ages.

oooooh cave-y goodness! Looks like a great trip. Intriguing landscape, too.

beautiful pictures of a remarkable place! Do please tell us more.

What a lovely adventure!

Fun! Some lovely Stalagmites there too. Unusual.

>175 Sakerfalcon: Lovely pictures!

>175 Sakerfalcon: gosh the colours on that rural idyll are so paintbox perfect it almost looks like a set :)

Looks like a great trip!

Beautiful. Thank you for this glimpse of Far Away.

Fantastic pictures. Really lovely.

175, 176> Those are beautiful pictures!

Honestly, when folks I knew made use of the expression, "back to the salt mines", I had no idea of what they really meant...

Very nice photos, @Sakerfalcon. I take it you had a wonderful time?

Lovely pics!

I particularly like the salt mine pictures (here and on Facebook). The biggest employer in my community is a very large salt mine. It is good to know that when the salt runs out in a couple of hundred years, there may be a "Plan B".

Thank you all for your comments, I'm glad you enjoyed this taste of Romania. It's a beautiful country with very friendly people which either gets overlooked by the outside world or, in the UK at least, is given a bad name by the media. (I shan't go into details because that would violate the No Politics rule; suffice to say I disagree with most of our media.)

For Hugh and anyone else who wanted more details, here's a quick summary:
We flew into Cluj-Napoca in the NW of Romania, a city whose historic centre has lovely belle-époque type buildings, Catholic and Orthodox cathedrals (and many other churches), many universities and medical schools, a botanic garden, parks and a fascinating cemetery. It's in the part of Romania that used to be Hungary so you will see Hungarian food on menus and bilingual signage in places.
We spent an evening exploring and then the next day hit the road into the Apuseni mountains, which are part of the Carpathians and a national park. It contains Romania's only true karst landscape, with many wonderful caves and gorges such as those in my pics. The mountains are very green and the landscape generally looks Alpine but without the pointed snowy peaks of the Alps. It's predominantly rural, and quite poor; we frequently saw people using horses and donkeys instead of tractors or other machinery. I think most people feed themselves and their animals on what they produce, and try to sell the rest by the roadside, or at markets.
Food at restaurants tends to be heavy on meat and poultry with some trout; FRIED CHEESE is almost always on the menu too, as is polenta with cream and cheese. It's not easy to get fresh vegetables although when we were self-catering last year and going to the supermarket the fruit and veg was of excellent quality and delicious. I guess people just don't go out to eat vegetables! Desserts are irresistible - clatite (crepes) with jam or chocolate are tasty but the ultimate treat is papanash - google them but not if you're already hungry without food to hand! Here's a picture of what the ones we ordered look like (some of the other images are a bit odd):


This doesn't show that they are enormous - about 6 inches in diameter - and that we generally got served 2 in a portion!

In bookish news, I finished Curtsies and conspiracies, which was a hugely enjoyable romp and, having found Waistcoats and weaponry at the library, have continued to follow Sophronia's adventures. I can see these books becoming comfort reads for their wonderful characters, lack of angst, and ability to put a huge grin on my face. In addition, Carriger gets her British English spot on in both the narrative and dialogue.

I also finished Pilgrimage 2 which is a very different read, understandably compared to Virginia Woolf's novels in terms of style and the focus on young women's lives, thoughts and feelings as they engage with the world of early C20th London. We tend to see Miriam's reactions to events rather than the events themselves, making it sometimes hard to know what has actually happened, but the point is that it's the inner landscape that's important, not the outer. Recommended if you like The waves or Woolf generally.

>189 Sakerfalcon: How very interesting! I thought Cluj-Napoca was no more than a heavily polluted industrial wasteland.

Papanash sound like something worth making the next time I want a very tasty instant hear attack.

Romania sounds well worth visiting.

>190 Sakerfalcon: Carriger has become a favourite of mine. Her books always amuse me. Also, I met her at a con and she's just as witty in person. Plus amazing wardrobe :)

>191 hfglen: Cluj certainly has more than its fair share of horrible Communist-era development on the outskirts of town, but the centre is beautifully preserved and felt very vibrant. The city was even selected as the European Youth City for 2015.

>192 tardis: I've only read the Finishing School series, but I see that they link to the Parasol books so I'll have to track those down too.

Waistcoats and weaponry was another excellent read, seeing the characters having to grow up a bit and think about the future. There was a little too much of Sophronia thinking about her love interests at times, and the pacing faltered a bit, but overall this was a very good book. I appreciated Carriger getting out of the school for this adventure, although I was sorry that this meant leaving Agatha and Pillover behind to focus on Dimity, Sophronia, Sidheag, Soap and Felix. The werewolf politics ended up feeling like a plot device to get the gang out of school and on the run, but I gather it ties into the Parasol books as well. I love these characters and this world and will be eagerly awaiting the fourth book when it appears.

I managed to leave for work without a book the other day, so started reading The mirror empire on my kindle (even though I meant for Infidel to be my next book by Kameron Hurley). So far, Mirror Empire is fascinating and hard to put down. It's set in a world (or actually, more than one) where plant life is sentient and highly dangerous, and where temples train the gifted to draw powers from the various moons that circle above. As each rises and descends so the powers become stronger or weaker, in cycles that can last years. The action switches between several viewpoint characters so we see different parts and levels of society. The book is set at the time of the rare emergence of the dark star Oma, which 2000 years ago opened a gateway between worlds allowing a devastating invasion to take place. Now it looks set to happen again, and our protagonists must each deal with this in their very different capacities. I expect the book to get quite grim but so far it's fine and drew me in within a few pages.

On Monday I'm off for a 2 week road trip to British Columbia, Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana. (I know I just got home from Romania; I don't usually take my holidays so close together and it will be a long time before I manage to travel again after this.) I'll be taking my kindle with me, but am also bringing The cruellest month to continue Inspector Gamache's adventures, and The diviners for a different variety of CanLit. I look forward to catching up with you all when I return.

Where in Alberta are you going, Sakerfalcon? It's too bad I have to go back to work on Monday or maybe we could meet up :)

>194 tardis: Oh, that would have been lovely! I think we'll just be driving through the southwest corner of the province in order to cross into Montana, although I hope we'll have a little time in Waterton Lakes National Park. Another time I'd like to go to Banff, Lake Louise and that area.

Remember, Claire, you must post photographs on your return. You cannot tease us by talking about all those fantastic places you are going to visit and then not post photographs. It is the right thing to do.

Have a great time.

In fact, nothing less than a full day by day trip report is what's needed!

An illustrated report, mind you.

and audio

I hope you have another great trip!

>195 Sakerfalcon: That's a gorgeous part of the province, and I get down there way less often than I'd like. If you have a chance on your way by, stop at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump - http://www.history.alberta.ca/headsmashedin/ - a world heritage site and well worth the time if you have it. The view out over the plain is worth a stop all by itself. It was bucketing rain when we were there and we still enjoyed it.

>174 Sakerfalcon: Well, you got me hard with The Just City, which I've already started reading. I see what you mean by the narrative voices all sounding alike, but I'm well and truly caught as of page 34.

>196 pgmcc:, >197 hfglen:, >199 suitable1:, >200 SylviaC:, >201 tardis: Thank you all for your good wishes and interest in my trip. I am now back and mostly recovered from jetlag (landing at 7 a.m. and going straight to work may not have helped with that!) and will get a full report posted soon, with pictures. For audio, you will have to come to London (or pay my fare to where you live) so that I can recount details in person ;-)

It turned out not to be the best year to explore southern British Columbia and NW USA due to terrible wildfires in the region. We were fortunate that the places we'd planned to visit were all accessible but, in Glacier National Park particularly, visibility was extremely poor. We'd get to the top of a mountain and instead of a view all we could see was a whitish haze. However, we still had a marvellous time, thanks to the lovely park and campground staff, some excellent hiking trails and not least all the wildlife which came to show itself to us. We saw black bears, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, a beaver, moose, deer, marmots, ground and red squirrels, bald and golden eagles, red-tailed and Swainson's hawks, loons, mergansers, spruce and ruffed grouse, ospreys and belted kingfishers, among other things. What we could see of the lakes and mountains was stunning and I was pleased with the photos I managed to take. I can only imagine how difficult a summer like this must be for those who live in the area, with the poor air quality and possible losses to their businesses due to a reduction in visitors, not to mention the possibility of having to evacuate one's home. I like to think that we helped the local economy a bit by our visit, and we certainly had a good time.

@tardis, we really wanted to get to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, mainly because of the name and the story behind it, but it was off our route and we were already having to take a longer route back to Vancouver due to the fires, so we didn't have time. We did stop for breakfast at a little Mexican restaurant attached to the general store in Twin Buttes, which was fantastic - I highly recommend it! My huevos burrito was enormous and delicious. I definitely want to come back to this part of the world in future; it deserves a lot more time than we had to give it.

While I was away I did manage some reading. I finished The cruellest month on the plane coming over, and thought it better than its two forerunners. The mystery didn't have quite so many twists and turns, and two plots (the murder and the conspiracy against Gamache) intertwined well. I wasn't convinced by Nichol's character arc; she has always seemed too extreme to be believable, but she didn't grate so much in this book at least. I still love seeing the lives of the residents of Three Pines and getting to know them better, and would love to have breakfast at the Bistro before heading over to Myra's bookshop!

On my kindle I read The mirror empire which I ended up not enjoying quite so much as I thought I would when I started it. Reading a few pages every couple of days may not have been ideal though, as I lost track of where people were and what they were supposed to be doing. It felt a bit too long and convoluted in the end and I found I was getting impatient at times. That said, the characters were interesting and diverse, if not always likeable, and I loved the world with its sentinent and vicious plantlife. There are a lot of good things in the book, but it is extremely dark, with genocide being a core plotline. Any world where the magic is powered by blood is not going to be happy. On the whole, I preferred God's war but may check out the sequel to this if I find it at the library or on a kindle deal.

I managed to finish The diviners on the plane home, not being able to fall asleep. This book is a clear forerunner of Margaret Atwood's work, being the life story of an independent Canadian woman fighting against the restrictions of society to find her place in the world. Morag is a writer and each chapter starts with a scene in the present as she is waiting to hear from her 18 year old daughter about whom she is worried. We then flashback in "Memorybank Movie" scenes to Morag's youth, growing up as the foster daughter of the town scavenger after her parents die. Socially she is an outsider, only finding friendship with other sidelined children, her one goal to get out of the small town of Manawaka and find freedom. But another part of her wants to be normal, and this leads her into a restricting marriage. Morag is coming of age in an earlier era than Atwood's heroines, but has many of the same battles to fight. This is a beautifully written and compelling novel, frank in its treatment of a woman's physical, emotional and intellectual desires, but also a fascinating look at life in small-town Canada with the strengths and weaknesses of a close-knit community.

Now I'm reading Song of the beast for @sandstone78's group read and enjoying it just as much as I have Carol Berg's other books. I always like first-person narratives when they are done well, as this is, and Aidan is a sympathetic hero. She has an intriguing take on dragons too, and I'm looking forward to seeing where she takes things.

I had a nice surprise when I got back from holiday - my friend from Philadelphia had sent me a package with a book in it! She sent a copy of Shades of milk and honey, without knowing that this book has been on my wishlist for ever! So I couldn't resist diving straight in and am now completely embroiled in the lives of Jane, Melody and their various friends and neighbours. It is delightful, just what I need to pass the time until the next of Gail Carriger's Finishing School books appears.

I liked Shades of Milk and Honey as well. I have the second one in the series but haven't gotten into it yet.

203> I agree with your assessment of The Mirror Empire. I also feel that it was very much a "Part One" of the bigger series story and didn't really have it's own arc.

>203 Sakerfalcon: yeah, the fires put a damper on the end of the summer here in Oregon. I haven't been in the outdoors much since the beginning of August as we were smoke filled for most of the month. The cooler weather has returned and it even snowed on one of the fires the other day! It's a bummer the smoke ruined some of your views. I spent a summer working in Glacier when I was in college. Such a gorgeous place! It's where I fell in love with hiking.

I also love Gail Carriger. I've read all her books and am eagerly awaiting others.

>204 jillmwo: I ended up finishing Shades of milk and honey in about a day!

I really enjoyed it despite feeling that Kowal was trying a bit too hard and not always succeeding with her Austenisms. I only noticed a couple of slips in the prose style, but there were times when I felt that characters were acting in ways, or displaying attitudes, that would not have been acceptable to persons of their status at that time. Jane blithely leaving Melody alone with her suitors, or her mother leaving Jane at home (albeit with her father) instead of making her come to Bath stood out in particular. I also found the pacing off - after proceeding at a stately pace that allowed the world and characters to develop nicely, all of a sudden events took off at a gallop and the book was over before you knew it. However, I thought that the integration of magic into a Regency setting was very well done, and the characters were nicely drawn. Jane was a likeable heroine and her relationship with Melody was a good blend of jealousy and affection, with love coming through after even the worst conflicts. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series, but hope that Kowal becomes less of an Austen imitator and develops her own parts of the world more fully.

>205 pwaites: Yes, it feels as though the real story is only now going to begin, in book 2.

>206 catzteach: I hope the rain and snow has put out the fires and you are able to get outdoors again. Staying stuck in the house is no way to spend a summer, even with good books to read! We could see that Glacier was amazing even without seeing the best views; I'm envious of you spending a whole summer there!

In addition to Shades, I also finished Song of the beast this week. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Berg's later books, although there was much that was good about it. I started out very engaged with Aidan and his story, but about 2/3s of the way in it started to drag. I think the changes of narrator may have caused this; the prose style didn't change enough to give the new character a different voice, so it felt as though Berg had only done it as a way to convey information that didn't fit into Aidan's p.o.v. It took me a while to warm to Lara, perhaps because of the aforementioned lack of a distinctive voice. Also, I never felt the chemistry between her and Aidan, maybe because the two of them were just telling us about their feelings rather than showing them to us through their interactions. And sorry to add another complaint - by giving the non-gendered race the male pronoun, these characters just felt like more men; if we hadn't been told they were non-human I'd never have guessed. But the dragons were really well done - not anthropomorphised at all, so neither good nor evil, but beasts who just need to be freed to live according to their nature. The plot revolves around evil deeds done with good intentions and shows how such things spiral out of control, poisoning the future. It is a good read, but I found the Lighthouse duology and the Collegia Magica trilogy to be more original and I will reread them but not this one.

As my going-to-work book I've been reading The chimes so I can give my copy to @kidzdoc when he visits later this week. It's one of the titles on the Booker prize longlist, but based on my reading I don't expect it to get any further. It's one of the least convincing dystopian novels I've ever read, set in an England (no mention of the rest of the UK or world) that is kept in amnesiac submission through music. A giant instrument made of palladium plays to the whole country at morning and evening, and somehow the soundwaves? it produces scramble people's brains so they cannot form new memories. Muscle memory (or "bodymemory") can be developed, usually by learning a trade whose skills and routines become embedded at a subconscious level, and also most people possess a few objects which trigger specific memories for them (not sure how this works). Reading and writing have died away too. The point of the book is obviously not to portray a realistic society but to make one think about the need for a collective memory and the importance of the past. It's poetically written with musical terms replacing some common vocabulary - tacet, lento, piano. From reading reviews, this has made the book a difficult read for many. I didn't have a problem with it; I'm also wondering what the Guardian reviewer found "fiendishly difficult" about the structure in her glowing review. It's told through the voice of Simon, a boy whose dying mother sends him to London with a tune in his mind that will lead him to someone significant. But she won't help him and he ends up falling in with a "pact", a group of scavengers who glean the banks of the Thames and tunnels under the city for palladium which they can sell to traders. I imagine that this book will be too SF for literary readers, and not SF enough for genre readers. I appreciated that there is some very beautiful prose and that that it does make one think about the importance of memory, but mostly I found myself asking questions like "There's just one carillon but it can be heard/felt all over England?" "What about the rest of the world?" "Why are some words spelled differently e.g. mettle for metal when they don't write anyway?". Clearly this book is not meant to be read analytically! I will be interested to see what people in the Booker Prize group think of it. To me, Station eleven was a far better literary dystopia.

I'm currently reading Saltation, which is the second Theo Waitley book in the Liaden universe, Late eclipses, the fourth October Daye novel, and have yet to choose my next commuting book.

>207 Sakerfalcon: Hmm, I've been eyeing The Chimes, but now I think I might relegate it to the list of things I will borrow from the library as and when TBR gets rather lower...

>208 imyril: I think the issue with The chimes is that really it's a literary novel not a dystopian novel and so the author's aim wasn't to create a situation that was actually workable and plausible; she wanted a device through which to explore her themes. Interestingly this weekend I spoke to two other people who've read it recently, both normally readers of spec fic - one loved it and the other had the same reaction as me. When you do get around to reading it I will be very interested to see which camp you fall into.

I finished Late eclipses and loved it, despite this being quite a dark instalment in Toby's life. Her loved ones are being targeted by an old enemy who seeks to pin the blame for their fates on Toby, while also causing her to question her sanity. This book harks back to the first in the series, with some unfinished business coming back to threaten her, but we also see her friendships and relationships continue to change and grow. The forces stacked against Toby are formidable, and extremely powerful, but fortunately she has some very good friends who are determined to see justice done. Not everyone will like Toby, who tends to dwell on the guilt she feels when her victories come with a cost, and who is less proficient a fighter than some other UF heroines. I find her low self-esteem realistic given her circumstances, however, and appreciate her determination to keep going anyway and fight for what she believes is right. The close of this book leads me to believe that her story will continue to be one well worth following.

Saltation is a fun read. I was afraid from the back cover that it would be a constant recounting of attack after attack upon Theo as she is bullied by her classmates at piloting college, but there is a lot more than that going on and we see her making some good friends and allies as well as the inevitable enemies. At least this strand of the Liaden universe has stayed away from the "lifemates" trope that spoiled some of the other books for me; while Theo has strong feelings for Win Ton, they take a distant second place to her ambitions as a pilot.

As my commuting book I've been inspired by @bookmarque to read Mortal love by Elizabeth Hand. Like all Hand's work it is rich, sensual, and disturbing, exploring themes of art and madness and featuring a set of creative but self-destructive characters. London is well-described in both the 19th and late 20th centuries (although there was a reference made to "Southwark Cathedral" in the 1880s, 25 years before it was given cathedral status; back then it would have been the Church of St Saviour.) I don't think I'd want to know these people in real life but they make for fascinating reading.

Duplicate post.

As you know, I agree with you about The Chimes. Underwhelming. I'd take Station Eleven over it in a blink. Can't imagine what kidzdoc's reaction to it is going to be.

>212 Sakerfalcon: Joe, I've just started reading The perks of being a wallflower, having tracked down a library copy, and am greatly enjoying it so far. Thanks for the recommendation!

>209 Sakerfalcon: I've not read The Chimes yet, and I'm not keen on dystopian lit anyway, but this "literary novel not a dystopian novel and so the author's aim wasn't to create a situation that was actually workable and plausible; she wanted a device through which to explore her themes" is exactly why I disliked Station Eleven. :)

Mortal Love sounds right up my alley.

>212 Sakerfalcon:. Glad you're enjoying The Perks, Claire. Wait until you get to the end. Woo.

>213 LibraryPerilous: Sounds like you'd do well to stay away from The chimes! Mortal love was indeed excellent though. It's not easy to read about characters who keep making bad decisions because they are blinded by obsession but Hand writes so beautifully that find yourself drawn into their world.

>214 jnwelch: I flew through The perks of being a wallflower, and thought it was excellent. You really got inside Charlie's head and felt you were seeing the world through his eyes. It was a painful read at times, remembering those awkward teenage years when it seemed everyone but you had their life sorted and knew the cool things to say and do, but watching Charlie find friends and build relationships without needing to change and conform to be accepted was heartening. The book is steeped in late 80s/early 90s culture, with mixtapes playing an important role throughout the book. I'm not sure what an actual young adult of today would make of that! The revelation at the end of the book was powerful, even though I had begun to suspect something of the sort, and although it's terribly sad the book still ends with hope. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this look into the mind of a teenage boy as he tries to figure out what life is all about and where he fits in.

After finishing Perks, I read another quick book, Butterflies in November, which is an Icelandic novel recommended to me by a friend. It's about a newly single young woman who decides to take a road trip around Iceland after she unexpectedly wins the lottery. She has to take with her the deaf five year-old son of a good friend who is in hospital and the book follows their adventures together. It took me a long time to get to like the main character, who is incredibly careless and impulsive almost to the point of stupidity. The book opens with her accidentally killing a goose while driving, which gives a pretty accurate first impression of her. Even though the book is written as a first-person narrative, it's hard to know what motivates the protagonist; she's been having an affair, and later sleeps with a couple of random men, but we don't really know what she feels about any of them. Sometimes it felt as though a chapter was missing as sudden jumps forward in time or location occurred without warning. In the end though, I liked the relationship between her and the boy (it manages not to become one of those "woman is magically transformed through exposure to special kid" books) and the sense of space and emptiness of the Icelandic landscape that they travel through.

Still reading Saltation, which sees Theo starting her career as a pilot rather sooner than she expected.

My latest commuting book is Goodbye stranger, a YA/middle grade novel about friendship and the changes that come with growing up, set in NYC. We follow Bridge and her two girlfriends through seventh grade, as Tab discovers feminism, Emily starts flirting by text with an older boy and Bridge becomes friends with a boy in her class. It's well written and good at conveying the uncertainties of life at that age.

At home I've been reading The word exchange which I hoped was going to be as good as Mr Penumbra, being similarly focused around books, technology and language. However, the characters - especially Anana who has the bulk of the narrative - are not as appealing or convincing and the narrative seems slow and overlong considering the amount of action that has (not) taken place so far. I'm half way through and will finish the book because it's based on an interesting premise, but so far it's a disappointment.

(Cross-posted from another thread)

Mortal Love! That is the only book I ever read that, the moment I finished the last page, I turned right around and started over again. Glad I did, too, because, as in one of those SIRDS patterns (which look like nothing until you squint at them just right, and then they become a 3D image), much that was hidden or obscure emerged the second time.

It's also one of a tiny handful of books that I read in paperback (twice) and subsequently bought in hardcover as a keeper. I gave my original copy away to a dear friend, but only after transcribing all my marginalia.

And it sent me off looking for the amazing art of Richard Dadd.

>216 Meredy: I can tell that a reread of Mortal love lies in my future. There is so much detail that I'm sure I missed this time. I remember being stunned by Dadd's "The fairy feller's masterstroke" when I first saw it in the Tate Gallery as a teenager, staring into it for ages. Coincidentally, I've just finished rereading The wee free men which also references this painting!

I finished Goodbye stranger last night, having been too caught up in the characters' world to stop reading when I got off the train. Bridge, Tab and Emily are three quite different girls and are starting to head in different directions but they are determined to maintain their friendship, despite some very testing events. Friendship - healthy, unhealthy or downright toxic - is the theme of the book and while there are plenty of messages to take away from it the story never devolves into preachiness. It is funny as well as thoughtful, and Stead maintains a nice light touch despite handling some serious subjects. Highly recommended.

The action has picked up a bit in The word exchange but I'm still not loving the characters. I just can't buy that Anana and Max managed to have a 4 year relationship when they have nothing in common. Even if he was cheating on her the whole time (which it's not suggested he was) I don't think he'd have stayed with her for that long; he doesn't seem the type from what we are shown of him. This is just one of the things that seems to be included because the plot needs it, not because it springs from the characters we are shown.

For relief I started reading Blood rites so that I could spend book time with characters I do like. This adventure of Dresden's starts with a bang, and sees him become the reluctant adopter of a Himalayan temple dog puppy. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes!

My latest commuting read is a combined edition of Haruki Murakami's first two novels, Wind and Pinball which I got from the library. I've just realised that I started reading the second novel first this morning, so will have to go back and start the other one on the way home! Also from the library I have Deceptions which is the third of Kelley Armstrong's Cainsville novels (hopefully this will return to the plot about Liv's parents and dwell less on her love life) and The murder stone, next in the Inspector Gamache mystery series.

Hi, Claire! What do you think of Oreo so far?

>218 kidzdoc: I'm going to start again at the beginning, I think. I didn't mean to start reading it when I did (as evidenced by the fact I haven't even mentioned it here!); I was just going to read the first page to get a feel for it, then found that I'd read 4 or 5 chapters! But I had to finish a couple of library books so I've put it to one side until I can give it the attention it deserves. I think it's going to be a lot of fun, both because of the wordplay and because Oreo herself is so appealing.

ETA If you need your copy back before you leave London, I'll move it to the top of the pile and start it this evening!

>219 Sakerfalcon: No, I don't need Oreo back, Claire. I was just curious on your thoughts about it, after you said that you were enjoying it. Please take your time, but when you do get to it I'd love to get your thoughts about it!

Since I last posted I've finished both Saltation and The word exchange. Saltation was a good read although I didn't adore it the way I did Fledgling. Still, Theo is an engaging and admirably competent heroine and the Liaden universe is a very well-drawn setting for SF adventures. I look forward to seeing where Theo goes next.

The word exchange did pick up in the last third as event spiral out of control and a worldwide crisis hits, but I never did grow any fonder of our main characters. Ana seems to act more as the plot demands rather than because the woman we are shown would do those things, and Bart, who should be a kind of sympathetic nerdy underdog, is just needy and pedantic. His ramblings about Hegel had me skimming to the end of the chapter. Max is totally unlikeable and I'm not sure why Graedon seemed to try and redeem him at the end by having a couple of characters tell Ana that he truly had loved her even though he ended their relationship I didn't buy it at all, as no part of what we were shown of him indicated that. I loved the premise of the book - that language is being destroyed due to a virus spread by tablet-like devices - but the execution was poor and the whole book seemed to me to give off an air of pretentiousness. I think get rid of my copy and just reread Mr Penumbra for a bookish conspiracy story.

I've also read the first of the two short Murakami works, Hear the wind sing. It was his first novel and already contains his signature elements - a laconic young male narrator who drifts through life hanging out in bars, meeting enigmatic women, talking about life with his friend the Rat, and making reference to wells and cats. It's a slice of life story really, no discernible plot, but a pleasant diversion. Now I'm into the second book, Pinball 1973 which picks up our narrator 3 years later when he is running his own translation business but otherwise still drifting, drinking with the Rat and meeting enigmatic women. After I finish this I'm going to go back to Oreo, the book referenced above.

And I'm still enjoying Harry's further adventures in Blood rites.

The second of the two Murakami novels had more of a plot than the first but retained the laid-back atmosphere and lack of urgency. I enjoyed both novels but A wild sheep chase is in a much higher league and I'm not surprised that these two were initially passed over for translation into English.

Blood rites was my favourite so far of the Dresden files series, which I'm reading in order. Harry still has moments when I want to shake some sense into him, but overall he's a very likeable hero and his narrative voice is always entertaining. The main plot and the revelations about Harry's family were woven together well, raising the stakes even higher in the climactic scenes. I like Butcher's take on vampires which manages to combine traditional lore with some original details. I daresay it won't be long before I pick up the next book in the series.

As promised, my latest commuting book was Oreo which was an excellent, highly entertaining read. It's the story of the daughter of a Jewish man and an African American woman who is raised by her maternal grandparents as her father left and her mother travels. When Oreo turns 15, her mother sends her on a quest to track down her father and find out "the secret of her birth". The book is structured around the myth of Theseus, and Oreo's adventures parallel the Greek hero's journey. This is essentially a tall tale, with larger than life characters, and is a satire on American society, culture and the notion of an "authentic" racial identity. Oreo claims and rejects aspects of her Jewish, Black and mainstream American heritage as she sees fit and feels free to exploit people's expectations and stereotypes when it's useful. The author peppers the narrative with Yiddish, African American dialects, advertising speak, popular song, slang, references to high and low culture and arts, equations, a menu, various diagrams, and plenty of puns. When the book was published it had almost no impact, and the excellent fore- and afterword put it in the context of its time (the 70s). At a time when Roots was a bestseller, this book satirized the search for racial identity and starred a heroine who revels in her mixed heritage. Ultimately, Oreo is unique, not African American, Jewish American or anything other than herself. One can't help rooting for her, in spite of the fact that the author has not tried to make her a realistic character, and cheer as she gets herself out of the trickiest situations though intelligence, guile and sometimes just kicking ass. I can see that this wouldn't be a book for everyone; the author is playing with concepts that many hold sacred, and in doing so she forces the reader to unpack, examine and criticise those ideas.

This morning I started reading Peyton Place in honour of Banned Books Week. I'm only a few chapters in but Metalious certainly knows how to set a scene.

At home I've started My name is red, which I've been meaning to read for a long time. It's set in C16th Turkey and the Near East and centres around a group of illustrators and calligraphers who are working on a controversial manuscript for the Sultan. I have a feeling that I'm going to learn a lot about the links between religion (specifically Islam) and art. So far the book is very engaging, with a variety of narrative voices and perspectives.

And I've started Deceptions, the next Cainsville supernatural thriller. I'm pleased to say that this volume gets the story back on track after it got sidetracked by Liv's love life in the previous book.

>222 Sakerfalcon: I shall keep watch to see how you go with My Name is Red as that is on the TBR pile here too.

Great review of Oreo, Claire! I'm glad that you liked it, and I'll definitely read it soon.

>223 Peace2: I'm about 150 pages in and really enjoying it so far. The society in which it is set is beautifully described and very interesting, and the frequently changing narrative voices keep it moving along without becoming confusing.

>224 kidzdoc: I'll be very interested to see what you think of the book. I noticed that Kerry said on your thread that she wasn't keen on it. Although it's a clever satire, the book has lot of heart and was fun as well as thought provoking. I'll save your copy to give back next time you're over (because I doubt you'll really manage to fit it into your reading schedule before then!)

I finished Deceptions, which was a much better book than Visions. We got back to the meat of the plot with more developments in the mystery surrounding the murders of which Liv's parents were convicted. Liv is not always likeable or sympathetic but in spite of that I still want to keep reading about her. I am sorry though that the folks of Cainsville who seemed pretty nice in book one are all turning out to be creepy and manipulative as their supernatural nature is revealed. After Visions I was prepared to drop this series, but now I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

I'm nearly halfway through Peyton Place and finding it a very good read. The portrait of the small New England town is so vivid that you can imagine yourself walking down Elm Street or up to Road's End on a fine autumn day. The character are certainly memorable too. So far I'm finding the men's behaviour far more scandalous than the women's, although I know the reaction after publication was the reverse. To me, it feels like the natural successor to Main Street, which I read earlier this year and is a similarly condemnatory picture of small-town life.

>225 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire. You're probably right in saying that I won't get to Oreo until next year, especially considering all of the books I purchased last month! I hope to return to London no later than April.

Peyton Place was a very good read, surprisingly well-written with characters who felt all too real. While the novel no longer has the shock value that made it famous, it is an entertaining and scathing look at small-town life. The first half of the book introduces us to the characters and gives us hints of what might befall them, then the dramatic events start occurring one after another. There are people you root for, people you want to smack, and others about whom your opinion may change during the book. I'm glad to have read this, and must credit @rainpebble for inspiring me to pick it up.

On my kindle I've read Spirits abroad, Zen Cho's collection of short stories. These really were excellent. Steeped in the culture and mythology of Malaysia they throw the reader into a very different world from that we usually see in fantasy. Cho describes her work as "suburban fantasy", as the settings are neither the big city nor the pastoral landscape; it is set at a time that is recognisably our own though. The speech rhythms of the characters feel authentic, as do the non-translatable Hokkien words and phrases that crop up. Through context the reader can work out what they mean, without the author needing to tell us. A few of the stories are quite gory - SE Asian supernatural beings are often very hungry and take what they want ruthlessly - but there are scenes of beauty too. A few of the stories are set in the UK, mostly in school or university, among the Malaysian expat student community. It's interesting to see Britain from this point of view, and to watch how Eastern and Western magic and supernatural creatures interact. I think my favourite story was "The house of aunts" which is Cho's take on Twilight; this is much better! The kindle edition has author's notes at the end of each story (which you can either read right away, or continue to the next story), in which she talks briefly about the genesis of the tale and what might have inspired or influenced her. I can't recommend this collection highly enough and will certainly be rereading it in the future.

I'm now reading My name is red on my commute; the relatively short sections make it work well for this. I saw in the reviews that a lot of people have found it to drag in the discussions of art and religion and which styles of painting are acceptable, but because it is all in the context of the story (which is basically a murder mystery) it works for me. It's also interesting because I work in an art library! I'm currently just over half way through, at the point where Black has 3 days to find out who has committed the murders, before he himself is tortured as a suspect.

At home I'm rereading The haunting of Hill House because it's October and thus time to read spooky books. I love this book; the slow, subtle build-up, the events which could perhaps be in the characters' minds, or the manifestation of something evil, the claustrophobic atmosphere. It's not for someone who wants action or gore from horror but I don't really like that so this book is perfect.

And I've also started The night villa. There are lots of things I dislike about Carol Goodman's books - the totally unnecessary use of present-tense, the very similar heroines, the frequent inability of the heroine to spot the obvious, because the plot wouldn't work if she did - but something about the books draws me to them despite these very real flaws. I think it is Goodman's ability to create a very vivid, atmospheric backdrop, whether it be a college or school in the woods of the North Eastern US, a writers' retreat set in an Italianate garden or, in this case, a villa on Capri. She also infuses the mysteries with elements of mythology, fairy tale or art history which lend a not quite supernatural but definitely mysterious dimension to the plot. Maybe I read these to escape to the worlds she creates rather than for the plot or characters!

My next kindle read will be Ancillary Mercy, which I've just downloaded having ordered it months ago. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Leckie wraps up this trilogy.

>222 Sakerfalcon: I've taken a bullet on Oreo. Sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I've been reading lots of mysteries in the run-up to Bouchercon and collecting a list of other things to read starting next week, and this is definitely on the list.

>227 Sakerfalcon: I'm glad you enjoyed Spirits Abroad. I'll admit I'm not enjoying Sorcerer to the Crown anywhere near as much, but I'd seek out her short stories any time.

>228 Jim53: I'll be really interested in your thoughts on Oreo. It was a fun read, but I could see that some people might not like the humour, or that certain topics were being treated humorously.

>229 imyril: I'll definitely look for more of Cho's short stories. She managed to immerse me in her worlds within a few pages which makes it odd that, based on your and Marissa's comments, her novel doesn't have the same effect.

I finished My name is Red which, while it was an interesting book, I was ready to be done with. In the end, it didn't really matter who committed the murders; the mystery was the pretext for Pamuk's discussion of the conflict between traditional Islamic and the newer European theories of art. Islam forbids painting from life and the realistic depiction of objects, but it seems there is/was a loophole for illustrations of texts. But said illustrations had to follow traditional forms and represent things and people as Allah would see them - i.e. in an ideal or generic form, not based on real life models, and without the use of perspective. However, more realistic European ideas start to filter in and tempt artists to try new things - which are seen as blasphemous by some. This context underlies the plot and is prominently discussed throughout the book by various characters (including some of the paintings themselves). We are given a vivid look into the world of illustrators and calligraphers of C15th Istanbul, and learn a lot about the practice and theory of their work. There is also a love story, as the protagonist Black seeks to woo his cousin Shekure, with whom he has been in love for 12 years and more. Although there are a number of narrative voices who speak throughout the novel, the tone doesn't really vary which can make it hard to remember who is telling the tale. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the author or the translation. It is lovely prose, however. I'm glad to have read this and it was very interesting, but I don't think I will reread it. I should just warn that there are passing mentions made to the pleasures of sex with young boys, although no such incidents actually take place in the book.

I also finished The haunting of Hill House which was just as disturbing as ever and still an excellent read.

Still reading The night villa and vicariously enjoying the Mediterranean warmth as the mysteries in past and present unfold.

On kindle I'm half way through Ancillary mercy, which is up to the high standard of the previous two parts of the trilogy. Breq is an engaging narrator, and in this book we see her questioning the morality of some of the aspects of her relationship with ship and system AIs, as well as continuing to negotiate the nuances of those with her officers and staff. We have an extremely entertaining representative of the mysterious and dangerous Presger species who provides comic relief for the reader and the other characters, but it's clear that there is more to her and that she is being wildly misunderstood by all, which I'm sure is going to have real consequences. There is a lot of action too, as the conflict between the Emperor's different selves comes to a head with Breq, her crew and Athoek system in the centre. I'm eager to keep reading on as Leckie keeps building the suspense.

>230 Sakerfalcon: I don't think I did Sorcerer to the Crown justice - I was full of cold and stress, and it just wasn't what I was looking for (I found the tone very similar to the shorts, but struggled to immerse in the longer-form, oddly). I've settled far more comfortably into 2 books that are much darker in subject matter and tone - so I'll revisit the Zen Cho when I have a lighter heart :)

>231 imyril: It's a book I do want to read, but am happy to wait for a paperback/second hand/library copy.

I finished Ancillary mercy last night; what a great read, and a fantastic trilogy overall. I loved Breq's unconventional solution to the crisis which overtakes Athoek system, and how through it all she is finding her own identity and embracing her unusual nature. The relationships that develop with ship and station AIs are extremely satisfying, as are those between Breq, her officers, key crew members, and various station denizens. I was pleased by the eventual role of the Presger in the resolution of the crisis and would love to know more about their nature and society - from what we discover it seems very strange! Overall the balance of introspection and action was perfect for me, making this one of my top SF reads, up there with works by Iain M. Banks, Ursula Le Guin and Alistair Reynolds. I'm definitely going to have to reread the trilogy in future, but in hardcopy as I'm sure I've missed some of the nuances and details by reading on my kindle.

I've started working my way through the stories in Stone mattress by Margaret Atwood. These combine the everyday with the macabre and use aspects of genre fiction such as pulp horror, SF and fairy tale to good effect. The first three stories are linked by their characters; the first is Constance, the aging author of a popular fantasy series; the second, her first lover Gavin back in the heady days of their bohemian youth; and the third is Marjorie, with whom Gavin betrayed Constance. The way their narratives entwine through the three stories is very satisfying. The other stories seem to stand alone, although one is linked to Atwood's earlier novel The robber bride. Atwood is probably my favourite contemporary author (this despite the fact that she frequently writes in present tense!) and this collection is well up to her usual high standard.

Still enjoying The night villa, but am planning some Hallowe'en reading once I've finished it, with Something wicked this way comes lined up.

>232 Sakerfalcon: I'm looking forward to finishing the Ancillary trilogy (I've still only read Ancillary Justice), although I think it will be 2016 before I get to them.

...and I'd never consider the concepts of Margaret Atwood and short stories at the same time. I like this combined concept a lot. Consider it a bullet :)

>233 imyril: Margaret Atwood's been writing short stories for years, but I'm not as quick to read them as I am her novels. Silly really, as for the most part they're just as good. I found the last story in Stone mattress a disappointment but otherwise it was a very strong, satisfying collection.

Overall Stone mattress was a 4 star read; I'd have given it an extra half star but for the closing story which really didn't work for me. The main character's visions didn't marry with the plot in any way and there didn't seem to be a point to them. And I found the lack of official response to the terrorist acts unbelievable - even the most apathetic, corrupt politicians are surely not prepared to be seen openly letting elderly people be burned alive? If for no other reason, the victims have children who vote and who might not be happy with a government that let their parents be murdered. The rest of the collection was excellent however.

My other library book was The murder stone by Louise Penny, another excellent instalment in the Gamache mysteries. I missed the setting of Three Pines, but the new setting, of an upscale, secluded resort in the backwoods of Quebec, was attractive and interesting. We have new characters to love, like, dislike and hate, and Penny is clever at forcing us to change our initial impressions as the book unfolds. It was very interesting to see Clara and Peter in a new context - really this series is as much about them as Gamache and the crimes he solves. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

The night villa was a less realistic but entertaining mystery, and I enjoyed this mostly for the Mediterranean setting and the examination of cults ancient and modern.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Something wicked this way comes and mostly enjoying it although I can't read it for long at a time. Bradbury's descriptions of a small town in the Mid West are evocative and beautifully written, and the characters of Jim, Will and Charles are well-drawn, but I'm not really feeling the suspense and fear that I expected. A few pages will have me hooked, then the next drag and I want to put the book down. I guess my rating will depend on how he pulls things together at the end.

I'm enjoying a reread of Fires of the faithful for sandstone78's group read this month. It reads like historical fiction with magic added, set in a land that feels like Italy, after a war and during famine. I find this small scale refreshing after epic fantasies that require us to keep track of world-spanning plots and a multitude of characters. Eliana is a smart but not perfect heroine who, while competent, never becomes a Mary Sue. The importance of music is an aspect I like very much, and the treatment of religion is very well done.

I've been dipping into the 2013 Best of tor.com anthology on my kindle and haven't had a dud story yet.

And my current commuting read is Blythewood, a historical YA novel set at a boarding school in upstate New York. The author (the same Carol Goodman who wrote The night villa) manages to weave real historical events with magic and the supernatural in a way that is extremely enjoyable if not terribly convincing. The school reads like wish fulfilment on her part - a European style castle built in a spooky location, where archery, bell-ringing and falconry are taught alongside more academic subjects. All these things have a part to play in preparing the students to fight the forces of darkness, of which the world is unaware. This would be fluff except that Goodman weaves in themes of women's suffrage, working conditions among the inner city poor and the treatment of those declared to be insane. Fun for those who can suspend their disbelief.

Oof. Took a bullet there with The Night Villa. May consider getting struck by Blythewood as well, depending on how the first one goes. Good shootin' Tex.

>235 Marissa_Doyle: I'm always wary of recommending Goodman's books as I can see so many flaws in them, so I always highlight what to me are the bad points and emphasise that I enjoy the books in spite of those things. She really is good at creating a vivid setting and making you feel as though you are there with the characters, even if those characters are sometimes acting in ways that make you shake your head in disbelief.

I finished Blythewood and enjoyed it a lot, despite it having some of the usual problems of Goodman's work. This series is thankfully written in the past tense though, which made it a far more pleasant read in terms of prose style. The establishment of the school is a very cumbersome and unlikely backstory, and some of the plot devices are a bit on the silly side, but the characters are excellent. Ava is a sympathetic narrator and her friendships are complex and interesting. While there are a few typical mean girls at the school all but one is shown to have something going on under the surface of the stereotype. There are, of course (this being YA), two potential love interests, but it's clear that only one is a serious contender and I wish Goodman hadn't tried to imply that Ava had jealous feelings in regard to the other, as none of her thoughts or actions reflected that. Thankfully not a lot of time is spent on romance anyway. The school is quickly shown to be a front to train young women to battle against supernatural creatures who are all eeeevvvillll and out to get you. But it becomes clear that there are at least two factions in the school, one of which isn't quite so sure about the thoroughly evil nature of all the Other things. Sadly the historical themes are submerged by the supernatural conflict as the book progresses, with just the odd comment from Ava about her experiences as a factory worker, and from other girls about having marriages arranged for them. It looks as though things pick up again in this regard in book 2. One other thing I have to note is that if Goodman did any research into bell-ringing she must have jettisoned it before writing that scene. Having just started learning to ring myself, I can tell you that one doesn't walk into the belfry on the first day, get given a rope, and start ringing call changes! I can only assume that the Blythewood tower has magical bells!

I also finished Something wicked this way comes at the weekend, and remained disappointed by it. I found the long monologues by Charles Halloway to be intensely dull, and never really felt a sense of danger or fear. I liked the nostalgic tone and small town setting, but will reread Dandelion wine for that, and for the spooky October atmosphere I'll reread From the dust returned, both of which I preferred to this book.

Fires of the faithful was just as good the second time around, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the sequel next month.

The tor.com anthology continues to be a winner. I've just read my first taste of Charles Stross's Laundry series, the novella Equoid, and loved it. @tardis has recommended this series to me, as has a RL friend's boyfriend, and now I'm going to have to make getting the first book a priority. It's set in a government department with lots of humour pointed at the bureaucracy, so similar to The rook in that way, but with added Lovecraft and a dash of Cold Comfort Farm.

I've started reading The crowded street by Winifred Holtby on the train to work. It's really good so far, the almost painfully accurate portrayal of a shy, not-quite-pretty-enough middle class young woman in the early C20th. She can't have a career, her family being too genteel for that, and things aren't looking good on the marriage front either - not that she seems to have been trying very hard. She's trying to find a place for herself in a society where there are clearly defined roles, none of which she fits into. The descriptions of the small town and the rivalries and factions between the women ring true. I'm just up to the point where WWI has broken out, and am hoping it will afford Muriel the chance to break away from her confined life.

As Halloween is approaching fast, I've picked up Freda Warrington's A dance in blood velvet, the second of her vampire books. I really like these, despite a lot of angsting going on. The prose is lush, the historical setting realistic, and the characters complex. This volume continues the story of Karl and Charlotte from book one, but introduces a new plot strand with a group of English mystic types who stumble upon more than they imagined when they find an old book and use it to summon "spirits". These are not sparkly vegetarian vampires; they are attractive and exude glamour, but woe betide those who fall for it.

I'm also rereading Breath and bone the second part of Carol Berg's Lighthouse duet. I found this slow going in parts the first time round, but really enjoyed the duology overall, finding it far more satisfying than Song of the beast. After I finish this reread I'll be able to progress to Light and dust, which is set in the same world at a (possibly) later date.

>236 Sakerfalcon: reGoodman--That sounds like how I feel about Eva Ibbotson, who in addition to her MG books wrote a handful of novels for adults--I adore the descriptions and the characters and plots, but so often she falls into large, vitally important character conflicts that could have easily been solved by a brief conversation between the characters. So yes, I hesitate to recommend them too even though I love them.

And I read and enjoyed the second Freda Warrington vampire book, but couldn't get much past the first few chapters on the third. Do you think you'll continue the series?

I really should get around to giving Charles Stross a try at some point. I have a couple of his books sat on the tbr shelves but haven't got around to them yet. Unfortunately not the Laundry series though as that sounds right up my alley.

>237 Marissa_Doyle: If you do go ahead and give Goodman's books a try I will be very interested to see if your opinions match mine!
As I own The dark blood of poppies, I'll give it a go and see if I like where the series is heading. I see a fourth book has just been published - nice to see the author enjoying a revival.

>238 AHS-Wolfy: I just ordered a used copy of the first Laundry Files book. They do seem hard to find used - perhaps a indication that people don't want to part with their copies!

I just finished The crowded street which was an excellent, if painful, read. Muriel's experiences feel all too realistic, as her youthful hopes are crushed by a society that regards marriage as the only appropriate goal for a woman. I could relate to her timidity and fear of failure that leads her to use the excuse of "helping her mother" to pass up the very few opportunities that do come her way. But this just made the ending all the more satisfying. I liked Delia almost from the first time we saw her, and was mentally urging Muriel to respond to her advances of friendship. Holtby's description of a middle class suburb obsessed with class and social climbing is amusing on the surface, but chilling as it becomes clear how devastating it is for those who can't fit the required mould. Echoes of Holtby herself and Vera Brittain in the characters of Muriel and Delia add another layer of interest to the narrative. The only other Holtby I've read is South Riding, but I will certainly be reading more of her work in future.

Last night I finished A dance in blood velvet and mostly enjoyed it, although the pace was rather slow in places. Like Anne Rice's vampires, these too have long conversations about sin, immortality and the nature of their existence. On the whole I think the balance between this philosophising and actual plot is better than with Rice's books though. I found the sections with Ben and Holly made a nice break from the vampires' angst, and it was fascinating to see how the plotlines intertwined. Holly's personal arc was very satisfying in the end too. Too much of Karl and Charlotte's story was taken up by unnecessary angst caused by misunderstanding, jealousy and lack of communication, and Charlotte makes some bad decisions, but given that she was a young woman and is now a young vampire that's not unreasonable. I shan't start the third book just yet as I need a break from the emotional ups and downs of the characters, but I am looking forward to seeing where Warrington takes them next.

I haven't chosen my next commuting book yet, so am finishing the tor anthology on kindle. Today's story, Sing by Karin Tidbeck was sad and creepy and beautiful; even though I was only in the world for a short time I'm still thinking about it.

Breath and bone continues well, although I've reached the part where Valen starts learning about his Danae nature, which is where I remember the narrative starting to drag badly. Hopefully it will read better this time around.

I'm also going to try and fit in one more creepy book this month - The resurrectionists by Kim Wilkins. I've read a couple of her contemporary fantasies and enjoyed her writing and character-building a lot, so even though this is classified as horror I'm hoping to like it.

>239 Sakerfalcon: I haven't read The Resurrectionists in years. I recall it as 'call out the plot as you go' pulpy fun rather than squicky horror, but I rather enjoyed it (I don't like squicky horror! ;)

>240 imyril: I really enjoyed The resurrectionists; I'm also not keen on gore and this didn't really have any, despite the source of the horror. I loved the wintry atmosphere and depiction of the lonely North Yorkshire coast, which she contrasted with the odd scenes from the pov of Maisie's family in sunny, sweltering Australia. I liked that the fear and suspense came as much from the hostility of the villagers (as in We have always lived in the castle as from supernatural sources, and I enjoyed the Reverend's story arc. Maisie wasn't always sympathetic but I cared about her and wonder what will happen to her in the future. One thing made me very happy - the cat survives!

I finished my reread of Breath and bone, which read better in some ways this time around. The parts that seemed neverendingly slow the first time were actually much shorter than I'd remembered, and more interesting. But much of the action was a lot darker, with characters facing physical and psychological torment by some very sadistic bad guys. The sense of peril is very real, but it's extremely squicky, at least for me. I can't fault the writing though, which is wonderful, and Valen's narrative voice never falters. There are a few more women in this volume (the first book suffered in that respect for being set in a monastery!) including the awesome Saverian who could have her own book. I was less impressed with Elene's story arc because I didn't get any sense of chemistry between her and Osriel/Gram, so the revelation that she was carrying his child felt like a plot device rather than something that might really have happened. Despite my criticisms this is an excellent, powerful book that, with its pair, immerses you in a vivid world of war and wonder. Recommended with caveats.

I finished the 2013 tor.com anthology, and was very impressed with the quality of the stories. They include secondary-world fantasy, horror, SF, fairy tales and works that aren't quite any genre. The weakest for me was Cory Doctorow's novella which is a follow-up to the Little brother books and has the same air of preachiness that turned me off the first one. These anthologies are only a couple of quid each on kindle and I do recommend them if you like reading short fiction.

My commuting book is Her by H.D., an experimental novel that reminds me of some of Woolf's more difficult works. It's quite beautiful in places, especially when showing us the Pennsylvania woods, but it's often hard to tell what is really happening because events are filtered through Hermione Gart's perceptions and thoughts. She has arrived home for the summer after failing her degree at Bryn Mawr, and is struggling to find a sense of self and a way forward after this setback. Elements of the story are autobiographical, and one of the characters is based on Ezra Pound. I've loved H.D.'s poetry since I first discovered it in the sixth form so this is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time, but perhaps the train isn't the best place to appreciate it fully!

At home I've started Ghost train to New Orleans, a fun urban fantasy about a human who works with Others (called coterie in this series) to produce guidebooks for supernatural creatures who want to travel. It's rather frothy and although the author tries to introduce more serious themes these don't quite sit well with the silliness. I'm not that keen on Zoe, our protagonist, either - she's a bit of a special snowflake, being the only person who could possibly fill her position at the publishing company, the only human among coterie and, to add to that, at the end of the previous book we learned that she actually has a rare and special supernatural power of her own. She's also prone to jumping headfirst into situations where she's totally out of her depth because she thinks she can handle it. However I love the idea of the supernatural creatures existing unbeknownst to us in our cities, sometimes in hiding, sometimes openly, relying on their resemblance to humans to pass unsuspected, and the travel book conceit is just fun.

I've finished quite a few books since my last update; I really should try and post here a bit more often!

I finished Her by H.D. which was a challenging but rewarding read. I adore her poetry and this didn't come close to evoking that level of feeling in me, but I'm glad to have read this intense examination of a young woman's mental journey at a difficult time in her life. The autobiographical elements added an extra layer of interest. I'd recommend this to fans of Virginia Woolf and other Modernist writers who enjoy unpacking a difficult prose style.

Ghost train to New Orleans was mostly a fun read, but I just don't find Zoe a terribly likeable or sympathetic main character. She's frequently rude for no reason, she doesn't think things through, and she's always making bad decisions but not learning from the consequences. Yet she's supposed to be intelligent, talented and super-special all round. What saves these books are the excellent supporting characters - especially Gwen and Eir, goddesses of Death and Healing respectively, and Bertie the dragon - and Lafferty's take on zombie and vampire mythology. It seemed to take forever for Zoe and her team to arrive in New Orleans making the book feel slow to get going, but once it did it was a nice light read (albeit with a few gory moments).

I also read the sequel to Blythewood, Ravencliffe, which continues the story of Ava and her friends as they seek to unite with Fae and Darklings to fight the threatening Tenebrae. More historical themes are woven in again, especially those of the role of women in society and the gap between rich and poor. There is more emphasis on romance in this volume, but for me the series' strength is the importance given to Ava's friendships with other girls and her teachers. She, Daisy and Helen are not as close in this book because each girl is keeping secrets from the others, but they do learn that they can trust each other not to judge and to stand by each other. Although I still find that there is a lot of silliness in the world building that I have to overlook, I'm enjoying these books a lot.

I made a visit to the library last week and came away with The woman in the dunes and The secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, two very different books! Woman in the dunes is a Japanese existentialist novel, in which an entomologist finds himself imprisoned in a hole in the sand, needing to shovel a certain amount each day to keep himself and the woman trapped with him from being smothered. The sand itself is as much a character as any of the humans in the book. There are a lot of metaphors and themes in the book which would make it a rewarding and fascinating text to study. The nature of existence, the futility of life and yet the desperate desire to cling to it, the necessity for a few people to suffer for the common good - I'm sure there are many more that passed over my head. I've been wanting to read this novel for a long time and, while it didn't quite live up to my expectations, I'm glad I did.

Drearcliff Grange was a very enjoyable mixture of St Trinians's and H.P. Lovecraft. The titular school lives up to its unpromising name, set in a bleak, isolated part of the coast where winter seems neverending. Amy is sent to the school when her mother finds her floating on the ceiling. She soon finds that she is not the only girl to have a strange secret. Some of her classmates have similar odd powers; others are the daughters of criminals, mad scientists and the like. When a sinister ant cult infects (and infests) the school it falls to Amy and the other Unusuals to save the day. I found the middle part of the book, when the cult is building its power, to be a little overlong, and it can be difficult to keep track of who's who, as characters' nicknames are used interchangeably with their real ones, but apart from that this was a really good read. The author cites works by Angela Brazil and Winifred Darch as part of his research, which gives him points in my book.

I'm currently reading Cecilia, Fanny Burney's behemoth of a book, for the Virago Chronological group read. Burney was one of Jane Austen's favourite authors, with a similar humorous tone and satirical look at the conventions of society. Burney herself moved in the highest circles and was writing what she knew. I was daunted by the prospect of 900+ pages of C18th century prose but so far the book is extremely readable. It's certainly very wordy - few characters use one word if they can use ten - but the language is colourful and the voices very distinctive. If this sounds appealing to any Austen fans who haven't yet tried Burney, I recommend Evelina as a shorter starting point.

I've just started The long way to a small angry planet, which I believe @imyril is also reading. It's space opera, with a heroine who is a file clerk! She has a secret but how long she'll be able to keep it among the small crew of the ship remains to be seen. There is a lot of humour, especially in the dialogue, and I'm really enjoying the book so far.

On kindle I'm reading the special edition of Lightspeed magazine, Women destroy fantasy! As you might guess, it contains fantasy writing by women - stories new and old, non-fiction and criticism.

Oh, I've been wondering about The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Glad you're enjoying it so far, and I look forward to hearing your reaction when you're done.

Oh, you got me with Drearcliff Grange--especially when I found it was by Kim Newman, whose vampire series is weirdly wonderful.

>244 Marissa_Doyle: Me too.

>242 Sakerfalcon: Drearcliff Range sounds fun.

Becky Chambers is such a goofball in interviews and on Twitter. I'm looking forward to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

>242 Sakerfalcon: I'm loving A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - so very hard only letting myself read the chapters covered in group discussion for the week (as I'm terrible at recalling detail if I zoom ahead!)

Thanks heavens for other books to distract me and pad it out...

>243 jnwelch:, >247 imyril: I finished The long way to a small angry planet last night, having been unable to put it down. I found myself with a smile on my face for a long time after I closed the book. While there is plenty of action in the story, this is rather a gentle space opera, with the focus squarely upon the characters and their relationships. It's basically a book about decent people doing their best to do a good job by getting along and fixing things when they go wrong. Sounds dull - but it isn't. The characters spring to life with vivid dialogue and fascinating backstories, and the many alien cultures are distinctive and plausible. Along the way there are secrets revealed, dangerous relationships explored, lives saved and deals made, all taking place in a universe where very different cultures are still learning to tolerate each other (or not). My favourite characters were Kizzy, the seemingly frivolous but extremely competent engineer, Dr Chef, the alien doctor and cook (hence the name!) and Sissix the reptilian pilot. Rosemary, who is the closest we have to a protagonist, is appealing and watching her grow from a sheltered planet dweller to being at home in deep space with all its diversity is a real pleasure. I would love to spend more time with these characters and follow them on more adventures in the future; I certainly hope the author will oblige!

Cecilia is proving to be another very enjoyable read, although there are times when I find myself mentally shouting at Cecilia not to trust someone, or not to give in to persuasion! At least she has found some sympathetic types to turn to at last, for respite from the greedy, shallow hordes.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet sounds very good. I think it will have to go on the wishlist.

>248 Sakerfalcon:, >249 SylviaC: Ditto. Sounds like my cuppa. I added it to the WL.

248, 249, 250> Same. I've just added it to my To Read list.

Nice review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Claire. I'll also add it to my wish list.

>248 Sakerfalcon: et al

That's a busy bullet - hit here, too. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Me too! It sounds like a good read!

Just had to pop in and say Drearcliff Grange School is an absolute hoot--though my son (who also loved it) was disappointed that Newman's vampire ninja character Mouse, who is obsessed with Angela Brazil, does not make an appearance. I hope he writes more of these!

>249 SylviaC:, >250 jnwelch:, >251 pwaites:, >252 kidzdoc:, >253 suitable1: >254 catzteach: I hope you all enjoy Small angry planet as much as I did. It's still giving me happy feelings two days after finishing it.

>255 Marissa_Doyle: Good to hear that you (and your son) are enjoying Drearcliff Grange. >245 drneutron:, >246 LibraryPerilous: I hope you do as well if you manage to track down a copy. I found the pacing a bit off in a couple of places, but overall the sheer insanity of the premise and the many delightful little details more than made up for it.

Cecilia has managed to get herself out of one scrape, but into another (although she doesn't realise yet what she's done).

On my commute I'm reading Unwrapped sky on my kindle. It's a fantasy novel very much in the New Weird style. I love the setting of the city of Caeli-Amur, with its winding streets and clifftop terraces, cafes where philosopher-assassins sit and debate, the technology fused with magic ("thaumaturgy"), the gardens and opera houses, and the lost twin city sunk beneath the waters of the bay. It feels like a mix of K.J. Bishop's Ashamoil (in The etched city) and Jeff Vandermeer's Ambergris. However I'm half way through and still don't really care for any of the three main characters - Kata, a fighter and agent for the powerful House Technis who is trying to free herself of her obligations to the House; Boris, once a humble tramworker who has become a powerful member of Technis by betraying his roots and his former co-workers; and Maximilian, the idealistic seditionist who seeks to overthrow the corrupt ruling houses and establish an equal, democratic society. The plot centres around this struggle between the existing powers who want to maintain the status quo and those who seek a fairer future, with additional conflicts between the revolutionaries as to the best means to achieve this (and indeed, to define what makes a fairer society). Add in some mysterious ancient machines that may or may not be dormant, enslaved mer-type peoples, and minotaurs and it all makes for a rich mix of ingredients which, however, aren't quite coming together effectively for me. I do want to know what happens next though, and as I said, I love the setting, so it's serving me well enough for reading on the train.

Delurking to say you inspired me to buy The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

bang. there goes another one. I might have to stay off your thread for a bit!

Good thing SantaThing is coming up, the way my wishlist is getting weighed down by these threads.

>256 Sakerfalcon: I didn't like Unwrapped Sky and quit on it fairly early in, although I skimmed quite a bit of the rest. The setting was brilliant, but I intensely disliked Kata's character. At times, I felt the author was throwing in grimness and violence because it's on trend to do so. I may revisit it, and I look forward to your thoughts once you've finished the novel.

>248 Sakerfalcon: I read The long way to small angry planet sometime ago, and I completely agree with you! It's charming, loved the characters and interactions.

>257 souloftherose: Glad you enjoyed it, Heather.

>258 reading_fox:, >259 MrsLee: I guess this is the best time of year to have a long wishlist. Of course, then we need to find time to read all the books we receive!

>261 zjakkelien: I've yet to see a negative response to Small angry planet! It's always a pleasure when other people love the same books as you.

>260 LibraryPerilous: I can see why you put Unwrapped sky down. I never really liked the main characters, although they did develop some depth as the story proceeded. I can appreciate an author who isn't trying to make you like his characters, but they do need to be convincing and I couldn't always believe in their motivations. I did think the violence was appropriate to the plot - after all, this is a city under pressure with different strata of society opposing each other, and revolutions are rarely peaceful. But there was sometimes a bit more detail given than I needed - like the guard's eyeball popping out of its socket as he was being beaten over the head. As I said above, what really kept me going was that I loved the city of Caeli-Amur and kept wanting to discover more of its secrets. The plot managed to hold my interest too. Overall I did basically enjoy the book, but it was one that engaged more with my mind than my heart, and certainly not without some major flaws. I will pick up the sequel when it is released mainly because I want to see more of this world.

I'm still enjoying Cecilia's misadventures as she falls out of the frying pan into the fire once again. The path of true love does not run smoothly even when you are a beautiful, kind, rich heiress, it seems.

On kindle I'm reading House of shattered wings while I travel to work. This is another book where I'm enjoying the worldbuilding but finding it hard to engage with the characters. They are easier to like than those in Unwrapped sky but, as other reviewers have said, they all have complicated backstories that seem at least as interesting, if not more so, than their current situation. I'd also really appreciate a prequel novel that fleshed out the events of the Great War and showed us more of the world than just Paris. But I like the mix of Christian and Vietnamese folk beliefs and the vision of a ruined Paris.

At home I've started reading Lady of magick, the sequel to The midnight queen which I enjoyed last year. This volume sees Sophie and Gray at the university in Edinburgh, while Joanna is serving as secretary and aide to Gray's brother in law who holds an important place at Court. I like the alternate Regency setting, in a Europe where Christianity seems not to exist so everyone worships Romano-Celtic gods and speaks Latin, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, French or Breton as appropriate. And I do love the characters, so that's a good thing!

Midnight Queen and Lady of Magick sound good. I'll have to put those on my list.

I just started Lady of Magick, too! I managed about half the first page on the way to work today (standing on the bus makes it hard to read). I bought it ages ago, but I've had such a pile of library books to get through that this is the first chance I've had to read it.

dropped by to catch up and took a bullet right away on small angry planet. Thanks, I think.

>263 catzteach: Marissa wasn't impressed by The Midnight Queen, and I see that some reviewers have found it boring, but I loved the slow build and found the characters to be people I'd love to spend time with in real life. Hope you enjoy the books if you track them down.

>264 tardis: So far I'm enjoying Lady of Magick even more than the first book. The university at Din Edin is a great setting and I love getting some chapters from Joanna's perspective.

>265 Jim53: I hope you will join the many of us who loved that book!

I finished House of shattered wings this morning so am putting some thoughts down here before I forget it. Overall it was a good read, set against a fascinating dark backdrop and containing an interesting mix of Western and Eastern mythology. The pacing was generally slow which is okay by me, but while some things were revealed in time, many remained obscure. This is a book where a huge amount of the world remains off the page. I always like it when you feel as though there is more going on than what is in the book, but in this case it felt as though we only saw a tiny sliver of the world and its history. I also felt that I was kept at a distance from the characters; I never really got into their heads even when events were seen from their point of view. All were interesting - Phillipe, the immortal from the far east whose nature is unclear; Isabelle the newly Fallen; Madeleine the drug-addicted alchemist; Selene, the head of House Silverspires who suffers from knowing she will never equal her predecessor in the role; Emmanuelle, the perceptive archivist; Asmodeus, manipulative and dangerous head of House Hawthorn - but I felt that so much of their nature, motivations and backstory were only hinted at, making it hard to relate to them. The good side of this is that their actions are never predictable, but the downside is that they didn't always make much sense to me. I did like the resolution to the book; it was a very strong ending and almost made me up my rating by half a star. I would definitely read more set in this world - in fact, I've already started the 3 short pieces contained in In Morningstar's shadow - but, as with Unwrapped sky, this was a book that engaged with my brain rather than my heart. I'd still recommend it to anyone who has it on their wishlist, and would be interested in others' responses to it.

>267 Sakerfalcon: I really enjoyed it - although I also struggled to engage emotionally with the characters, I enjoyed watching their narrative unfold, and the unexpected twists (like the secret of the Seine). I really like that there's clearly a lot more of the world to explore - I've found that my frustrations with how little of it was made clear in this first book have faded into admiration over time; I'm really looking forward to the next book (House of Binding Thorns).

>267 Sakerfalcon: I like Aliette de Bodard's writing, but this particular title hadn't piqued my interest. I usually can't muster an interest in books about angels and/or demons. Your review does make it sound intriguing ...

>267 Sakerfalcon: I think I too will be waiting eagerly for the next book. I guess it is a good thing when you're frustrated because you want the author to show you more of their world!

>268 imyril: I thought the book avoided a lot of the usual stereotypes of fallen angels, while still making it clear that that is what we're dealing with. I don't like books where the author tells us the characters are one thing (trolls, vampires, whatever) but then they look and behave just like humans - what's the point?! de Bodard's non-human characters are clearly distinct in every way from her human ones.

I adored Lady of Magick in every way. The prose is pitch-perfect in capturing the tone of an alternate Regency-ish Britain, and her characters are living, breathing individuals who learn and grow in response to the events of the book. I loved the passages from Joanna's point of view, and the rather delightful situation in which she finds herself at the end of the book. Sophie flourishes in the woman-friendly atmosphere of the University at Din Edin, and I was relieved that when she falls apart after Gray's kidnapping there turned out to be a very real reason behind it, rather than a Bella Swannish emotional collapse at the loss of her man. This series so far has been a great one for providing a variety of prominent female characters who support and encourage one another and who have different strengths and weaknesses. The alternate history of the British Isles and neighbouring territories is obviously well thought out, but we are never overwhelmed with information about the details, just shown what is relevant to the story. I'm looking forward to reading future books about these characters.

I'm within 100 pages of the end of Cecilia and it has been a most enjoyable, if frustrating at times, journey. Frustrating only because the author delights in writing the most irritating characters and events that combine to obstruct Cecilia's path to happiness - I have no doubt that Burney fully intended to tantalise both the reader and her heroine. The book is long, without doubt, but this meant that Burney had ample space to show us a detailed look into the world of high society and the impact that their way of life had on those of lower social classes. There are a number of brilliant set-pieces along the way where the author is able to show off her skill at dialogue, social observation and character interaction, often slipping in a subtle moral or lesson along the way. This is by no means a didactic book, but you will come away with a greater knowledge of C18th English society, imparted in a highly entertaining way.

I've also read Libriomancer by Jim Hines, which was a good read. The central conceit is that some people have the ability to reach into books and remove items from them. There are plenty of rules limiting this power to prevent it from being the easy solution to every problem and to keep things unpredictable. Isaac is a likeable hero and the supporting characters are good too. I especially like Lena the dryad who is an extremely competent fighter. Hines clearly created her in order to explore issues of consent and agency, and I think he was successful. Hines isn't the best writer out there, but the prose does its job and is never painful to read. I'll look for the other books in the series.

On kindle I've enjoyed Clean sweep by Ilona Andrews, an unusual urban fantasy which, it becomes apparent, is actually more SF. Dina is an Innkeeper, but her guests are not of this world, and the inn itself defies the laws of physics. When a threat invades her neighbourhood, Dina finds herself reluctantly working with a local werewolf and a vampire to defeat it. Neither wolf or vamp are what you would expect; the authors have been pretty clever in how they've used the normal tropes, and I liked the twists. There is certainly some sexual tension but no more than that and the action is more important than romance. I'll definitely get the next volume of the series soon.

I'm currently reading Wylding Hall, another fantastic book by Elizabeth Hand, and am rereading Written in red prior to starting the sequel (long overdue of me, I know).

I have Libriomancer on my e-reader, along with another 132 unread ebooks. The concept seems intriguing.

Great to see that you enjoyed Clean Sweep Claire. I listened to the audiobook at the beginning of this year and really enjoyed the story. I am also looking forward to the second instalment. Libriomancer sounds like something I could enjoy as well and I definitely will put this on my wish list.

>270 Sakerfalcon: Is it possible to read Lady Of Magick without having finished the first book? I wanted desperately to like it and did like the worldbuilding very much, but found the plotting so predictable that I lost interest. Is the sequel better in that respect?

>272 drachenbraut23: If you like I will give you my copy of Libriomancer when you are next back in London, Bianca. I think you would enjoy it too.

>273 Marissa_Doyle: I think you can read it without a problem. Did you get as far as (or figure out) the big reveal about Sophie's identity? that she is the missing queen's daughter (I have to admit I wasn't fond of that part of the plot.) It's assumed you know that going into Lady of magick, but I don't think it would affect your ability to follow the plot if you don't have all the details. I thought the storylines in this book were more complex and engaging, especially with the introduction of political tension between England and Alba, and the many new characters we meet.

Thanks, Claire. That was the problem--I figured it out way early and got bored. :) So maybe I'll give this one a try--I did like the setting.

I very much enjoyed Wylding Hall, an excellent short novel by Elizabeth Hand. It is about the mysterious events that befall a folk-rock band while they are staying at the titular location to write their second album in the 1970s. The story is narrated in short sections by the band members, their manager and a few others who were associated with them, as they look back some 30 years later. This made it a fast-paced read, although I did think the narrative voices could have been made more distinct from one another. The strange things that happen could be explained away by the drugs and alcohol consumed, combined with the artistic temperaments of the musicians, but it is left to the reader to decide what might have happened and why. The atmosphere of a lazy summer in the English countryside combines effectively with the mysterious and haunting experiences in the decaying Hall, and the sense of place is very vivid. Which makes it very strange that when the police are called they come from Canterbury (in Kent) when the setting is very firmly in Hampshire! I wondered if Hand had originally set the story in Kent and revised it, but missed that one detail. Still, it didn't spoil the book for me and I recommend it to readers who like a bit of a shudder and don't mind being left to come to their own conclusions.

I finished my reread of Written in red which was just as good the second time around. I will take Murder of crows with me when I go to stay at my parents' house over Christmas.

As my commuting book I've been reading Liana by Martha Gellhorn, a novel of race and class set on an island in the Caribbean during WWII. Liana is a mixed race girl, taken as mistress by the wealthy Marc and then married by him as he tries to spite the white woman with whom he is obsessed. Marc hires Pierre to teach Liana about literature, history, culture, etc to keep her from getting bored. It is unsurprisingly when Pierre and Liana fall in love, but of course their affair can't end well. Liana is trapped between two worlds, neither of which will accept her. She can never be white despite her education and fine clothes, but the poverty of the black population is unendurable to her. This is very much a Pygmalion story, in which the two men occasionally manage to sympathise with their creation, but mostly remain self-absorbed and oblivious. The island setting is beautifully realised and the intersection of the two cultures is well handled. It also gives an unusual perspective on the second world war, seen from afar by a small community of French ex-patriots.

At home I've just started Dreamer's pool by Juliet Marillier which has started very well. And I've also started Dust and light, after my recent reread of the Lighthouse duology. This is an excellent follow-up set alongside, but not (so far) intersecting with, Valen's story.

Dreamer's pool was wonderful, a gripping and emotionally engaging book. It starts out very dark, with our protagonists Blackthorn and Grim in prison, hoping for justice from a sadistic liege lord. Fa(t)e intervenes to free them, but under strict conditions - Blackthorn must promise to forswear vengeance for seven years, and give help to any who might ask her. As she is a healer, there is plenty of help she can offer, but she dislikes people and finds it hard to be around them for long. How she and Grim find a new home and a place in the community, and solve a mystery that is plaguing their new lord, makes for an exciting tale. Celtic lore and history are at the heart of the book, but sensibly Marilier avoids trying to give her characters "Oirish" accents or loading the narrative down with extraneous detail; all the ingredients are nicely blended into a rich, well-written narrative, told from three distinctive points of view. I've seen lots of high praise for this book and am delighted to say that it is well deserved. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.

I've also finished Dust and light which was another very good read. As always, Berg puts her characters through the wringer, both physical and emotional - it's a hard call as to whether she or Robin Hobb are crueller to their heroes! There was one point where I almost threw the book down in disgust when she piled yet more torment onto Lucian, feeling as though I was being emotionally manipulated. But it was necessary to the plot, not just a cheap way to show how bad the baddies really are, and as the narrative progresses we are shown the nuances and ramifications behind the actions and the large part they have to play in future events. This is quite a dark book in places, but there are enough bright moments and pleasing relationships that develop to keep it from becoming depressing or unpleasant to read. In particular I enjoyed seeing how Lucian learned to work with his "ordinary" master, Bastien, despite the many obstacles to a healthy working relationship. This book is set at about the same time as the Lighthouse duology, perhaps a little earlier, and Valen is mentioned in passing a few times. I have the sequel on hand already and will picking it up very soon, as this book doesn't give any closure at its end.

I've also read Ghostwritten and thoroughly enjoyed this my third read by David Mitchell. Like some of his other books, it is a series of linked narratives in a variety of voices and different settings. We travel from Okinawa to New York via Hong Kong, Mongolia, St Petersburg and London, among other locations, and watch as the world comes within a hairsbreadth of destruction. I thought this was almost as good as Cloud Atlas, and better than the Bone Clocks.

I'm about to start reading Murder of crows next, and am a little way into Women destroy science fiction from Lightspeed magazine on my kindle. I expect I will get a book or two for Christmas, so one of those might also jump into my reading pile.

I wish all of you who celebrate a very Merry Christmas, and send my best wishes to those of you who don't. May you all find lots of good books and the time to read them!

Merry Christmas, Claire! I hope that you have a long holiday break to look forward to.

Happy Holidays, Claire!

Debbi and I are so glad we had a chance to see you in September. Let's do it again next year.

BTW, I just picked up Penguin Lost, after thoroughly enjoying Death and the Penguin. Thanks for the tip.

>278 kidzdoc: Thank you Darryl! I hope you are enjoying the new year celebrations with your famil.

>279 jnwelch: Thanks Joe! I'm really looking forward to seeing you and Debbi again next year for more food, theatre and books! Glad you enjoyed Penguin; hope you like the sequel too.

This will be my last post on this thread, and tomorrow (internet permitting) I'll start one for 2016.

Just time to say how much I enjoyed Murder of crows. It's darker than Written in red, and the scope is broader with several new characters. Meg is more comfortable in the Courtyard, but still under threat from those who would return her to her old life of abuse. Conflict between humans and Others is escalating, tearing apart families and communities and forcing some tough decisions. This was a gripping and satisfying read, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.