Sibyx (Lucy) Reads in June

Herself

***June Current Reads***

♬

library Dead Water Ann Cleeves mys (5)
✔ Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) Stacy Schiff bio
♬ As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust Alan Bradley
Ongoing
Murdoch Marathon: See you in 2015! IM readers group is HERE
Virago Soon?
Reading the New Yorker 2014 Read my reviews here: HERE
Now reading The New Yorker 2015 no reviews yet: January 2015

69. ♬ Caveat Emptor Ruth Downie mys ***1/2
70. ✔ Transatlantic Colum McCann contemp fic ****
71. Library Lost Lake Sarah Addison Allen contemp fic ***
72. new Red Bones Ann Cleeves mys ***
73. ✔ Deryni Rising Katherine Kurtz fantasy ***
74. ✔ Nothing Sacred Angela Carter lit essays ****1/2
75. ✔ Four Ways to Forgiveness Ursula LeGuin sf ****
76. ♬ Semper Fidelis Ruth Downie mys ****1/2
77. ✔ The Bohr Maker Linda Nagata sf ***1/2
78. new Blue Lightning Ann Cleeves mys ****
79. ✔ The Gift Vladimir Nabokov contemp fic ****
80. new Undercity Catherine Asaro sf *** 3/4

Guide to symbols
♬ = audio
✔ = Year plus on shelf

***Read in May***

58. ✔ Desolation Road Ian McDonald sf ****
59. new The Final Sacrifice Patricia Bray fantasy (3 Chronicles of Josan) ***1/2
60. new White Nights Ann Cleeves mys ****
61. new Moon Tiger Penelope Lively contemp fic ****1/2
62. ♬ Symphony of Echoes (2nd of 5) Jodi Taylor sf/ time travel ***1/2
63. New Yorker magazine, December 2015
64. ✔ Clover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life Natalie Dykstra bio ****
65. ✔ Local Custom (in Pilot's Choice) Sharon Lee & Steve Miller sf ****
66. ✔Scout's Progress Sharon Lee & Steve Miller sf:sp/op ****1/2
67. ✔ Mouse & Dragon Sharon Lee & Steve Miller sf:sp/op ****
68. ✔A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 1 Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Reflections
A skewed month this is because I went on a space opera binge, understandable under the circs. There is reading to be enlightened and reading to be not just entertained but to unwind. The one contemporary novel I did read, the Lively, was superb--it is true that when you are reading lighter fiction, excellent writing stands out. Other than that, I had the satisfaction of finishing up 2014's New Yorkers. I'm surprised that I read eleven books, although the Lee-Miller's are hard not to gobble up!

Reading Stats
Total: 11
Men: 1
Women: 5
M-F duo: 4
Non-fiction: 1
Fiction: 1
SF/F: 6
Mystery: 1
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 1
Months of NYers: 1

Housekeeping
*In: 6 2015 Total=19
Out: 1 2015 Total=15
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 1
New: 4
Old: 6
Quit: 1

* Books In
14. Cold Dish Craig Johnson
15. Rock With Wings Anne Hillerman
16. A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson
17. The Burgess Boys Elizabeth Strout
18. The Man in the Wooden Hat Jane Gardam
19. The Tropic of Serpents Marie Brennan

ENOUGH ALREADY! I QUIT! 2015
1. ✔The Club Dumas Arturo Perez-Reverte mys (March)
2. ✔ In the American Grain William Carlos Williams essays/Am hist (April)
3. gift/new Archaeology in Romania Andrew Mackenzie nf (April)
4. ✔ In Sunlight and In Shadow Mark Helprin contemp fic (May)

Series Tally 2015

Started in 2015
Shetland Ann Cleeves (3 of 6): NEXT UP: Dead Water (5)
Medicus Ruth Downie mys (5 of 6 READ) NEXT UP: Tabula Rasa (6)
Lady Trent's Memoirs (1 of 3) NEXT UP : The Tropic of Serpents (2)
Iron Druid Chronicles Kevin Hearne (1 of 9) NEXT UP: Hexed (2)

Continuing in 2015
Chronicles of St. Mary's (2 of 5 ) NEXT UP: A Second Chance (3)
Culture Iain Banks (10) NEXT UP: Inversions (5th of 10)
Walk to Constantinople Patrick Leigh Fermor (2 of 3) Next Up: The Broken Road
Liaden Universe 14 of ? ) Next up: Necessity's Child
Flavia de Luce Alan Bradley (5 of 7) As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust audio only! (7)
I'm out of order: The Dead in their Vaulted Arches (6) shd have been next

Completed or caught up with in 2015
The High Lord Trudi Canavan (3 of 3)
Cormoran Strike (2 of 2)
Pegasus 1 of 1 (more forthcoming.....)
Serrano Legacy Elizabeth Moon(3 of 3)
The Old Kingdom Garth Nix(4 of 4)
Imperial Radch (2of 2) Next Up - 3 coming out in Nov 15.
Chronicles of Josan (2 of 3) READING: The Final Sacrifice (3)

To be continued? (from 2013 or earlier)
1. The Seven Kingdoms Kristin Cashore (2 of 3) Next up: Bitterblue
2. Liaden Universe Sharon Lee Steve Miller Let's say I've read 11 of 19!
3. KingKiller Chronicles Patrick Rothfuss 2 of 3. Doors of Stone forthcoming (undeclared)
4. Rivers of London Ben Aaronovitch (3 of 6) Next up Broken Homes

I'm posting this list as an aide-memoire as I've decided to stop hoarding the Culture series. I think I have them all except #4.
1. Consider Phlebas -READ Reread? Barely remember it.
2. Player of Games READ ages ago, but I remember it quite vividly.
3. Use of Weapons READ
4. The State of the Art (stories) PROLLY WILL SKIP
5. Excession READ
6. Inversions NEXT UP
7. Look to Windward (did I read this?)
8. Matter
9. Surface Detail
10. The Hydrogen Sonata READ

********* NEW!**********

Books on Offer
Come back and check the list from time to time.

Transatlantic Colum McCann
6 Katherine Kurtz (Camber/Deryni)
1 Garth Nix J

69. ♬ mys ****
Caveat Emptor Ruth Downie

An unwilling but unemployed and just back in Londinium from Gaul Medicus Ruso gets roped into investigating the missing tax money from Verolameum. And the tax collector is missing too. As usual his partner Tilla, a Briton and a midwife, manages to involve herself fully. Ruso's friend Valens' marriage isn't going well either and Tilla is more and more worried about the fact that she and Ruso do not seem to be conceiving a baby which both want very much. So lots going on and the usual tangle and good fun. ****

Why now? Another long car ride!

New Liaden book tomorrow! I found out it was available on Kindle in the middle of May and heroically restrained myself so that I could have a hardback that matches my other recent books in the series--but it was hard. I'm hoping it comes early in the day.

Oooooo did you do the early order? I think mine should come by Friday! I have to wait though because somehow I haven't read Necessity's Child!! So that is on order too. And I want to read that one before this new one.

I had it pre-ordered, and Ammy usually has it there on the date of release--I got the email saying it had shipped today.

Cool!

*sigh*
I'll at least be reading Carpe Diem this month.

Just a wave.

Happy New Thread, Lucy. I love lady P's photo.

Happy new thread, Lucy!

I visited here first before you added the photo in >1 sibylline:. Now I see it. She's so regal!

Book arrived in the mail! Carpe Diem is good, Peggy. Bet you can't stop there!

Happy New Thread and did P select that place herself to better watch the road?

No -- I confess that was a posed shot - I kept trying to get a better 'action' shot, but my camera wasn't cooperating!

70. contemp fic ****
Transatlantic Colum McCann

There is the woeful problem of reading a fine book at the wrong time. I kept reaching for my other books even though when I did pick up this one I read along contentedly. Yet except for opening story of Brown and Alcock and Lily's story I wasn't urgently pulled in most of the time. Now I know some among my LT friends here were appalled by the fragmented sentences, but I wasn't aware every second of finding them directly annoying, however I wonder if it had the effect of making it a tiring read? Do incomplete sentences leave a question mark in the air? Who can say? It is a fine, intense, deeply researched novel. I'm a sucker for this kind of intertwining and the literary device of using an object, in this case a letter, passed along from generation to generation, to connect disparate lives together over a span of time. Literary version of the 5 degrees of separation? Best moment? When Manyaki picks up a little crumb fallen off the ancient envelope and eats it. Brilliant!!!!! ****

Why now? Yep, you guessed it, the alphabet method strikes again; it was time for an M book from the contemp fic shelves. There are wayyyyy too many M's so I can never skip it.

Just checking in on your new thread...love he Posey pic!

And congratulations on completing your book!!!!

42 F this morning. I wore gloves! Thinnish ones, but rilly!

>20 Matke: Thanks - of course, I am now obsessively finding a million little things to fix.

>21 sibylline: Oh dear, I could send you some heat it's 30C (86 F) here and tomorrow it will be even hotter.

Shhhhhh! This is even CUTER than Posey:



A day old fawn. Tiny! Seen today! Head is tucked up to right. I couldn't get a better pic w/o maybe disturbing it.

Ooooh! (But Posey was just as adorable as a puppy. There's something about babies...)

Awww! You were so lucky to get a photo of that fawn.

Lucy, I'm counting on you to be part of the latest project!

Let me advertise the latest project. Last year during the year-long read of Bujold's Vorkosigan series, the possibility of a similar year-long read of Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe series was bruited about for this year. What with all the issues with my brother's cancer the first part of the year, I never followed up on it, but I'm now looking for people who might want to participate in a July through June format. This would be for people currently reading in the Universe, people who want to give it a try for the first time, and those who are up for a reread or simply love to talk about the books. There is no "schedule"--you simply post when you are reading a book and invite discussion about it if you wish. It's really just an excuse to add a bit of impetus to reading these books. Suggested reading order on my thread (http://www.librarything.com/topic/191746)--let me know if any of you might be interested.

>23 sibylline: Wow. Gorgeous picture.

>26 ronincats: I am so there!!!!

>23 sibylline: Oh my! I spy a little ear!

>23 sibylline: Oh, so beautiful. Did you know that there must be a fawn or was it just a coincidence?

Oh dear, Oh dear. On a whim I picked up a Sarah Addison Allen at the library yesterday Lost Lake and on p. 92 encountered a 'toe-headed' girl. This is why you. cannot. trust. spell check!!!

>31 sibylline: 'toe-headed' girl
A disturbing image.

>31 sibylline: >32 qebo: I should say so! I'm just at the host (?) of the years-long parties in The Hydrogen Sonata (many phalluses {phalli?} all over his body); I think your girl is almost equally disturbing.

>31 sibylline: Typos drive me crazy! (And not just as a former copy editor and proofreaders.)

>23 sibylline: so sweet!

>31 sibylline: >34 rebeccanyc: Have you come across Ivan Vladislavic and the proof reader's derby in The Restless Supermarket? (now I'm paranoid I've missed out a hyphen...). I had a couple of moments of unwilling recognition.

I haven't but I have wishlisted it!!!!!

71. contemp fic ***
Lost Lake Sarah Addison Allen

So this is light fiction and for what it is, not bad, a sweet story, predictable and comfortable if simplistic. However, I never really recovered from the image of a 'toe-headed' kid that I encountered on page 92. Don't. ever. rely. on. spell. check. ***

Why now? Several folks here have enjoyed Allen and then there this was at the library the other day so I picked it up.

>36 charl08: No, but I'll look for it!

What I am reading this week:



These essays by Angela Carter are incredible - but you can only read small bits at a time; I know I'll get into the Nabokov, he hasn't failed to enthrall me yet; the Cleeves mystery is the 3rd or 4th in this Shetland series and I'm not as into it as I have been to some. A character I really was rooting for has 'left the stage' and it took all the fun out of it for me. I'm not driving around much at the mo' so no audio happening either.

And note the gradual shift here to a rather cool color theme (all but the audio book that is).

Love the Posey pic and the little fawn, Lucy!

My over-anxious fingers have, on a few occasions, typed "two-headed" instead of tow-headed. Fortunately I caught the error before anyone out there in the world saw it.

Two headed would be better - I would assume the person did know the word and how to spell it, but toe..... that's just disturbing.

Agreed, Lucy!
I think I've passed on somewhere in this group my most egregious typo - which could have made the rest of my teaching career from that point HELL had I not caught it just as I was closing the lid of the copier. I closed a letter to parents at the beginning of a school year "Piggy" rather than "Peggy." I shudder at the thought!

Oh boy, are you lucky you caught that!!!!!

As much as anything I am here to say that it is raining so hard Posey made it clear she had NO interest in taking a walk. In my view this is an 'adult' dog behaviour. :/

It also means, any of my fitibit friends, that unless it stops it will surely be difficult to make my quota today, at least, with Posey along. I may go without her if need be!

Lucy, my three children were all towheads. If anyone called them that, they were insulted. I'm thinking they were hearing "toe heads"! Awww, the fawn is precious, but so is Posey sunning on the rock.

I liked your muse on the incomplete sentences. They usually don't bother me, either. Interesting idea that they may lead to book fatigue. I definitely get worn out with graphic novels...that's why they are few and far between in my reading world.

>45 sibylline: Aaaaw... did she give you the "are you serious" look and then turned her back on you (that's what our cocker spaniel did when we tried to take her for a walk in the rain, because she knew it would mean towels, maybe the hairdryer and an hour in a basement room back home)? Happy Wednesday!

Yes, Nata, she stood there with the rain dripping all over her in that blocky way dogs take on when they don't want to do something. Towels, yes, hairdryer and basement, no. Biscuit, yes. The rain did stop later, so we went out mid-morning. We had a bit of flooding by the end of the day - 4 3/4 inches over about 36 hours, that's plenty.

I should have taken a picture of it, eh?

>47 Deern: It's never occurred to me before reading that! It does sound insulting if you don't know what 'tow' means -- apparently it is some of the leftovers of the process of spinning or carding (or whatever it is you do to it) of flax - so it is obviously very pretty and very blonde!

72. mys ***
Red Bones Ann Cleeves

My attention wandered in and out on this one and I have to say, it was not Cleeves's best. I was disappointed about what happened to the most interesting character in the book -- after that it all fell flat -- and the culprit, the whys and wherefors, just didn't do it for me. However, as always, the characters and the setting (this time on Whalsay) were good. I loved seeing Sandy, one of Perez's young colleagues, take two steps forward and one back. If you like the series, read it for the other things, not the murder plot. ***

Why now Got the series as an xmas gift, so plowing through them. One left. Can't decide whether to give it a rest or just keep on, not exactly an earth-shattering decision, is it?

Mainly a matter of do you want the closure of "Yay! A series finished!" or to savor the series a little longer. Your call. ;-)

>45 sibylline: Well I am well down in the fitbit league this week, having first managed to strain something on my foot, and then managed to lose it completely. It was found under the bed in the guest bedroom after 24 hours!

>50 ronincats: Yes, well that happens, and none of us can keep uo with Mamie! Since having fitbit friends I have gotten wayyyyy more serious about putting it on my bureau IN PLAIN SIGHT at night and things like that which seem to be helping a lot. But how did yours get THERE!

And by the way - I now have THREE unread Lee-Millers piled up on my shelves waiting for July. The two most recent novels and book 2 of the stories. I have decided to reread all the books about "the big move" since it's been awhile (no spoilers) and then the Crystal ones. First and last!

>51 SandDune: Yes, there is that and it IS tempting, although I am sure she is busily writing the next one.

>72 SandDune:. Umm, actually, there are now a total of 5 books in the series, with a six on the way. :)

Oh, OUCH, Jim! So much for closure. The good thing is maybe I can find #5 for the spousal unit!

Well, I will say that I thought 3 was the weakest and they get better. Not to make your decision any easier... :)

Hi Lucy, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

It appears as though I missed most of your May thread but I am here now to put in an appearance on your June thread! Adorable thread topper pic of Herself and the newborn fawn.

Thanks, Lori, nice to have a visitor. I've been quiet lately because of work and music. But I did finish a book!

73. fantasy ***
Deryni Rising Katherine Kurtz

This is the first in a longish series, but I am going to let it go and the five that come after, after having read the first. The main reason for it is the total dearth of female characters, unless stereotypically evil or weak and deluded and whiny. Also, as with another fantasy series I read recently, Chronicles of Josan Patricia Bray the plot trumps all to the expense of character development of any sort. Thirdly, the story revolves around humans with magical powers, the Deryni, but something about the way they are presented was disappointing an unconvincing, I'm not sure why. Curiously, however, even though the Bray was less well written, it tantalized and came closer to offering enough to capture my attention, while I can tell I'll just get more and more annoyed while if I go on. I think I can stand reading novels by men with no strong women characters, if other things I value, like character development which I put about neck and neck with plot, are strong, but I find it very hard to endure sf or fantasy written this late in the game (1970) with the women's movement firmly under way. A book that manages neither to have any balanced representation, character development of those who are present, and obsesses slavishly with plot, well, just not going to cut it for me. It is maddening, however, because the writing is excellent. Perhaps Kurz develops a wider scope later? I did leaf through the 6th book (I have the first two trilogies) and it didn't seem so. ***

Why now Oh, total randomness. I admit I have a desire to clear my shelves of books that I 'have a feeling' aren't going to cut it. Sometimes I have to pick a known winner because I know I need a good read, sometimes it feels like the right time to pick a dark horse.

I've listed a few more books on >5 sibylline:

>59 sibylline: I read the first of the series many, many years ago and like you, never continued the series.

It's a shame isn't it? - She writes (wrote?) very well.

Look how 'washed out' my reading has become! All but the audio.

Hi Lucy, missed your June thread until now! My world in June is rather hellish, LOL! Love the photo of Herself, and also of the day-old fawn.

So here is my paper copy of the mss - almost ready to go to get spiral bound -- I hope they can do a tome like this one. Just have to finish up the glossary and off it goes!!!

That's impressive looking!

They still require paper? I would have thought it would all be digital.

>65 sibylline: It's REAL!!!

I'll be submitting it digitally, Roni, but Sterling's wife Ann, in her eighties needs a paper copy, really can't manage the computer piece. I'll make one or two extras just to "have" depending on the price. I feel more secure, too, having a few paper copies of this draft.

The drawing, btw, is by my neice Isabel!

Wow, Lucy! Just WOW! Love your niece's drawing, too.

>65 sibylline: Wow! from me too.

>65 sibylline: Congratulations, Lucy. Very impressive.

Seems more real in paper (and wise to have the hard copy backup: I still shudder at the thought of a computer melt-down the day before I was due to submit an MS).

Congratulations!

It looks SO pretty!! Congratulations, hugs and countless admiring "wow"s!!!

I JUST SENT THE MSS.

Yes, I feel slightly hysterical. Dazed.

Woo hoo! Congratulations Lucy.

Idea for accessory for Posey?

Posey is much lovelier than either of those doggies. QE II doesn't know what she's missing.
HURRAY! REJOICE!!!
We will let you rest a bit, but I wonder what you'll do next.......

You know what I love about that photo? How happy QEII looks! That's a REAL smile.

I actually finished a book!

74. essays ****1/2
Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings Angela Carter

These are superb! The topics range from Japanese customs to lingerie, to nudity in art, Dorothea's sexual disappointment, unspoken but the elephant in the closet, with Casaubon and Catherine's unusual and unseemly (for Brits) passion for Heathcliff. Carter is always turning over the rock to examine the dark side, of gender assumptions, of sexual interactions. The piece on the nude -- female vs male -- as found in fine art, porn films, and magazines, is simply brilliant. She has a piece on men who fetishize women's clothing (D.H. Lawrence for one!) and how interesting it is that trans men to women are far more in love with the outer layer, the clothing, makeup, hair etc. of women, than most women. Of course I kept thinking of Caitlyn Jenner. Thoughtful, biting, funny, and convincing. ****1/2

Why now? It was a paperback of the right dimensions for a trip I took weeks ago - but a slow read for me, I really had to savor each piece.

75 sf ****
Four Ways to Forgiveness Ursula K. Leguin

I gobbled up all the LeGuin I had missed somehow or other a few years ago, but I missed this one, perhaps because it is 'stories'? Novellas really and all slightly intertwined in a very satisfying way. LeGuin is a pragmatist when it comes to men and women, which can be daunting and--I will admit it--irritating to me. Irritating because, let's face it, I read sf to get away from the 'way people are'. That there would be places and planets with people of human origin living on them a million years from now, enslaving and raping and all the rest of it, just depresses me. That said, the four stories, about the two planets Yeowe and Werel are terrific. The Werelians are visited by the Hainish (which if you read LeGuin you know who they are). It is already a bifurcated society with owners and assets (property/slaves). They develop space travel and get to Yeowe where they set up to exploit slaves and planet with equal ferocity. But the four stories are all about the power of love and about hope and determination and learning to have an open mind. ****

Why now? Wanted a 'sure thing' read, which LeGuin generally is.

Heavens! I haven't been to my own thread in five days! Well that is because I am reading some 'slow' books:



I am trying to speed through the Nagata, about which I can't quite make up my mind. The Nabo bio and novel are not books to dash through. However, the novel has sucked me albeit gradually and a bit grudgingly. It was written in Russian and translated and there is a difference from his written-in-English novels. Conversely, I am hoarding the Downie for the drive (tomorrow) down to the Cape.

I need a little action around here, so I am trying very hard to get a nice photo of Posey!

Congrats on finishing the mss! It must feel strange without that work to do.

It does feel extremely strange. Lots of chores to do that have been put off, but the work was such a good organizing factor . . . I've decided to devote the summer to music, so I am trying to work out a sensible program. Easy to make the plan, not easy to follow through unless the plan really is a good and do-able plan.

In fact I am very tempted to plunge back into the novel I've been writing --- as well as to plunge even further back into a novel I finished and need to revise, and a novella ditto and and and.... I learned a LOT doing this project and am eager to apply it!

And here is the Po pic - she has on her 'worried' look . . . wondering why I am following her around with that weird thing over my eye.

Miles behind on the threads but trying to catch up. The photo of Posey made my heart smile. It's frame-worthy. Also loved the photo of the fawn...what a treat to have seen it.

>87 sibylline: Love Posey.

We were in our p-patch (community garden) this past weekend and a woman walked by with an adorable Corgi. I spoke to him and the corgi, named Bevin, attached to me immediately. He started following me around and wanting to be petted (which I was happy to oblige). We were all laughing and I just about took him home with me. Heh.

I'm planning to read some LeGuin next month. I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness (in college, so decades ago, but I remember loving it) and The Dispossessed. I've been thinking I should read A Wizard of Earthsea because, well, because it's A Wizard of Earthsea. You're a fan. Your recommendation?

Po is adorable even wearing her worried look, Lucy!

Miss Po has beautiful eyes no matter how she's feeling! Thanks for the pic!!
And, you know, I've tried and tried to love Le Guin, but it's hard for me. I did eventually like *Left Hand*, but I've never been able to finish Always Coming Home, and I'm not sure that I've tried anything else..... Seems as though I did.....

>84 sibylline: After reading Nabokov's Blues last year, I felt positively disposed enough to try a novel, but I haven't yet gotten there.

Aw, pretty Miss Po. Don't worry dear, she's not as mad as she seems. Or is she ????
Good luck with your plan to focus on music, Lucy. Hope the LD is having a nice summer.

>89 EBT1002: The Earthsea books are pretty much classics. The first is the best!

Stopping by to say hello and to give the thread a little push forward.

>87 sibylline: - Miss Po looks as sweet as always in that photo!

I'm in Wellfleet on the Cape -- uneventful drive during which I finished my fourth or fifth Medicus novel--I enjoy these mysteries so much they really make the miles fly by! You would all laugh (in a nice understanding way) at how many books I brought to read. My spousal unit thinks I am ridiculous but it is all about what I might be in the MOOD for reading . . . Other times when I come here alone I always have a work retreat agenda, this time I don't.

76. mys ****1/2
Semper Fidelis Ruth Downie

These just get better and better! Or I am more involved and care more about Gaius Petraeus Ruso and his British wife, Tilla. This time they are in Iboracum (York) and young British recruits are dying violently and mysteriously. Ruso and Tilla uncover corruption at a high level and each in their own characteristic way dig themselves deeper and deeper out of favor with everyone. Emperor Hadrian and his wife Sabina turn up in this one as it twisted and turned and I really did wonder how Ruso was going to get out of his manacles and back into favor! The creepy Matellus (I am listening, so I don't know how everything is spelled!) and Valens, Ruso's bestie also turn up briefly. I think what I liked best about this one is how committed Gaius and Tilla have become to each other--no longer testing or doubting and more accepting of how the other person just is. ****1/2

And I just noticed that I have achieved (and surpassed) 75 books, which had entirely evaded my notice!

I brought a huge bag of books with me this summer even though I have my iPad and a load of audio books, which is what I'm mostly "reading" right now. A combination of optimism that I'll get more read than I probably will plus fear of running out of reading material...nothing worse than that!!

Enjoy your stay on the Cape.

Congratulations on blowing past the 75 book mark, Lucy!

WOW! Past 75!! You are the WOMAN!

Love the picture! I have two corgis as well - they are the best dogs.

Congratulations on sneaking past 75 without noticing!

Yay 75!

75! woooo hoooo!

Thank you everyone! And welcome >103 JMC400m:! I'll have to go see if you have posted photos of your corgis!

77. sf ***1/2
The Bohr Maker Linda Nagata

Plenty to like here, but also something that, for me, and perhaps only me fell slightly short of making it a really good read. The idea isn't bad: The Commonwealth--comprised, one assumes, of the heavies of our times, the G-7 and a few hangers-on, has given up a great amount of their power to the "Chief of Police" whose mission is to keep the line drawn between legal and illegal programming of nanobots that can alter life forms at the molecular level. It's a bit simplified and the Chief herself is a bit of a cut-out an amusing deluded sort of good-bad gal (who is really the villain). Was it the names that didn't ring true? "Maker" for the immensely complex programs? Or "atrium" for the in-brain receiving area for "ghosts" - that is the extremely lifelike projections people can send around of themselves. The list goes on. The biggest problem is that while I do think Nagata has her ideas straight in her head, it was not always clear to me who was in their real body, and if they were, how they suddenly were. It is quite rare to actually die in this world (unless you are poor and live in one of the countries that is only tangentially connected to the Commonwealth) because you can have back-ups and copies and you can grow a clone and use a ghost and so on. . . . I have a similar issue sometimes with fantasy when it is just too easy for the person to practice magic, no fatigue, no consequences. It's a shame because some of it really does grab you and IS interesting and DOES work. The deeper question of how far can you go before you alter "life" irretrievably, echoes of GMO and DNA fiddling fears we have now, is a good one. In this case, the issue is particularly complicated by the fact that the poorer people of the Earth have no resources at all--kept from them by the Commonwealth . . . so having this program could change things for the better, even if it would NOT be life as before. It's a great question to explore. I have another Nagata novel, that may even have a character from this one in it, so I will try it. ***1/2

Why now? Time for an sf book, it was, and this is the one that jumped into my hand. It does fit with the general program of trying some of the authors whose books I've acquired knowing little about them.

Congrats on the 75, (despite not noticing!).

Congrats on 75!

>99 sibylline:

Ooh, congrats! I did that last year when I had a miscount - very annoying! :)

>98 sibylline: - Ooohhhh.... 4.5 stars. That has caught my eye!

Congrats on passing the magic 75 book mark!

Congrats on 75 books Lucy!

Hi Lucy, congrats on 75. I wish you a fabulous weekend.

So it is getting to be late in the month and I am lagging terribly behind the 150 necessary to start July. Not a stellar reading month so far and I've been a bit absent on the threads due to running around mainly and trying to spend less time on the computer and more time practicing music. No need to double post until the 30th, but do say something or other if you come by!

>115 sibylline: I'll just say hello then!

>115 sibylline: Hi Lucy! The Nagata books have been on my wish list for a long time, so thanks for your review.

:-) a second hello from me.

I am sure we can get you over the 150 mark by Wednesday so that you can start a July thread. ;-)

Well, I'm by, and Hello! I read one Nagata - can't remember the title or the characters, but something about it has stayed with me (something about a gravity well, dunno). I guess that's not a definitive comment, but it's all I got.

Hmmm. Did a little research, and it was Deception Well, which is maybe the 3rd in the trilogy of which Lucy's book is the 1st. I didn't feel as though I were reading something attached to other stuff, but it has been a long, long, time, and the book is probably in the attic, which explains why I hadn't catalogued it. Good grief! (And how many commas can YOU stick in one little sentence???)

Returning your visit to my thread, with alas nothing bookish to say.

>108 sibylline: And I have read Vast, given to me by a friend, not realizing it was the final book of that series. It was big-scale science fiction, but didn't grab me emotionally.

>117 kgodey:, >123 ronincats: I had to extensively rewrite that review of the Nagata . . . what a total mess!

I have Vast - but not the one in the middle which must be Deception Well and which, for some reason, I think might be hard to locate for a good price or something. Plus I'm not sure I want to bother buying it.

>121 LizzieD: As Roni can attest, I am the queen of comma over-usage!

>124 sibylline: OH yes! ;-)

>124 sibylline: I have the opposite problem, Lucy. There are never enough commas in my work so I go back and chuck some in on the rewrite.

Good morning, Lucy. Here we have another wonderful day with8 deep blue sky. Wishing you Happy Sunday.

Hi Lucy, I read but rarely post.

>126 Familyhistorian: I am seriously considering a comma ban just to see if that might help me. I put in a comma every time I pause to think! (Way too often I guess!)

>126 Familyhistorian: Here on the Cape it is POURING rain and blustering! It is the kind of day you think, "Why did I think it was a good idea to come here?"

>128 avatiakh: Thank you for helping out!

Wow.... do you think you could send some of that rain this way.... minus the blustering bit? ;-) Here is hope you manage to stay dry today.

Ah, the east coast! We've had 3" in a day and a half. We certainly needed that much, but we didn't need it to run off. Picky! Picky! Picky!
I assume that your party (except maybe for Posey) have brought enough books to keep you in business!

Hello Lucy, I wish you a lovely day. Here the temperatures ate rising. We have 27C and it will be the coldest day of this week. I don't like it when it's so hot and even getting hotter.

I hope the weather on the Cape improves! Happy almost July :)

Mini meet-up with Suzanne today on the Cape! Suzanne has the honor of being the first LTer to meet Posey!

78. Mys ****
Blue Lightning Ann Cleeves

This one of the first series of four books is a humdinger. Set on Fair Isle, Perez, who is visiting his parents with his fiance, gets involved in a murder that takes place at the birding facility at the North Light. She captures the obsessiveness of birders very well, and as always, the harsh beauty of the Shetlands. If you are into the series, you'll get to this one and then you'll know why I can't say much of anything. ****

Why now Brought it with me on my mini vacation and gobbled it up.

>134 sibylline: How very cool!

>134 sibylline: - Six degrees of separation! I've met Suz so it's almost like I've met Miss Po :)

>137 katiekrug: Points for a nice try!

Great mini-meet up photo of Suz with Miss P!

Lucky Suz getting to meet the divine Miss Po!!

Wonderful mini meet-up photo.

Nice picture, Lucy. Thank goodness that the weather has finally straightened itself out. Looks as if it will be a nice one today!

Yes! Maddening as I have to leave tomorrow very early. Utterly beguilingly lovely today, naturally, when I am rushing about doing laundry and mopping and so on. (With periods of sitting on the porch reading, of course!

Hi Lucy - just posting to help you on your way to next month's thread. Lovely photot of Suzanne with Miss P.

>145 sibylline: Thank you Heather!

>145 sibylline: You're welcome!

Nearly....

...there!

Come on......... So close.......

Liaden thread is up!
http://www.librarything.com/topic/192715

Lucy, we were in Boston over the weekend; wet there as well. That's not very interesting I know, but I'm trying to take your thread over the top!

79. Last book for June!
contemp fic ****
The Gift Vladimir Nabokov

Giving Nabokov anything less than four stars would say more about me than about the Vlad himself, but the fact is, it's an odd and uneven book. Historically it is very interesting as it is somewhat autobiographical and the love affair reflects much about his early time with his to-be wife Vera. At times the prose is so vivid and immediate it is almost painful (and sometimes in these passages Nabokov bursts into the first person briefly, a liberty most writers would not be able to get away with); at others you drag along after Nabokov's frankly tedious exegisis of various figures of the previous couple of generations of Russian writers. The book consists of five long chapter. In the first we meet Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, a young white Russian, a poet, an exile living in Berlin. He is moving to a new room. He has to move but he is dragging around but friend arranges that he must see a room that is available and even though he isn't impressed he sees a pretty blue dress draped over a chair, his new landlords have a daughter! and so he takes the room. In Chapter 2 we learn about his life in Russia and about his father, a naturalist who disappears in Siberia just after WW1. The mood and the writing in this chapter could not have been more different--swift and gripping and exciting. After Chapter 1 I though of Fyodor is a bit of a useless little egotist. By the end of Chapter 2 I saw him with great sympathy and was also impressed by his sensitivity to the natural world and a certain capacity for being engaged in the moment. But, you see, Nabokov himself was entirely in charge of my responses; he wanted me to see Fyodor first one way, and then another,. In the 3rd chapter he gets used to living in the apartment and meets Zina, the daughter, and conceives a notion of writing a biography of his father and also one about the writer Chernyshevski (mid-19th), a figure, who it seems got caught in the spotlight. Chapter 4 is a (rather long) precis of the contents of the biography. It is a creative biography in ever sense. This chapter went very slowly and, again, the tediousness of it was on purpose. In the last chapter Fyodor has achieved, at the very least, some notoriety. There is an almost meeting of the Russian writer's society that is very funny. The reviews of the book are quoted at length and there is some of that feeling of mirrors reflecting into infinity--if one stopped and took apart that entire chapter, I have no doubt that one would see careful craft at work, but I hadn't the patience to do it. There is another scene where Fyodor goes bathing in th lake in the Grunewald--again utterly immediate and compelling--at the end of which it is reduced to farce when Fyodor finds his clothes have been stolen. So like life, an ecstatic experience followed by farce. It ends on a hopeful upswing note and while I was happy to be finished, I expect it is a book I will think about from time to time. Nabokov in the rough is still a writer of genius in my view. (It does make him more human). Although there is also a passage about cutting toenails that had me cracking up. ****

Why now? Hmm. I think I picked it up because I also decided it was time to read a bio and I decided to read Vera about Mrs. Vlad.

Glad you finished it! And glad I got to meet the delightful Miss Po, who lived up to her advance billing in all respects, big grin and happy dances included!

(Doesn't Posey look like Explorer Dog in that pic? As if she's perched on the bow of a ship, heading off into the unknown, ready to bark a warning if Evil Things appear in the mist?)

She does! Right now she is Miss Bored To Pieces Dog, and slightly uneasy as I run around packing up.

Now I have to finish Vera (which I've hardly begun), so I can move on to other things. I feel a bit guilty about the Nabo as I didn't really give it the attention it deserves.

I finished one last book for June last night and I don't have time now to do the July thread, not until either later today or tomorrow.

80. ***3/4
Undercity Catherine Asaro

Written with the usual energy and deftness and nicely balanced too, between violence and romance, Undercity didn't deliver quite as much as I had hoped for. Don't get me wrong, it delivered plenty, just not as much as I have come to expect. That said, the main character Bhaajan is terrific--(I feel I met her briefly in another book, just as a side character? Am I crazy?). retired from the Imperial forces she's gone into business as a P.I. and gets hired by the ultra-conservative Majda clan to find one of their missing sons. (The Majda cling to the old ways, keeping their men in seclusion.) Bhaajan is hired because not only is she good, but she grew up in the 'undercity', the aqueducts that lie beneath The City of Cries, the city dominated by the Majda, that lies beside the Vanished Sea. Once there was plenty of water, but it has been gone for thousands of years, all that remains are these amazing structures underground. Anyhow, as Bhaajan looks for the missing young man she uncovers a far deadlier plot--as well as realizing, with the perspective she has from living differently for so long--that things are very bad indeed for the folks in the Undercity. As always it was a fun read, but I couldn't help feeling that things resolved just slightly too easily and that Asaro maybe only had half her mind (which is more than my whole mind) engaged on it. There are hints, however, that this is only the beginning, so let's wait and see if she gets inspired. ***3/4 (will show as a four officially).