inge87's 16-in-16: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

On your mark, get set, go! Today is my 9th Thingaversary, so I thought it was the right time to set up my 16-in-16 category challenge thread. This year my theme is people associated with my category subjects, a.k.a "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants". Some are well-known, others much less so. The hounds are ready for the challenge, are you?

2016 Categories
1. Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920)
2. The Inklings: Fantasy
3. Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir
4. Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction
5. Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction
6. The Venerable Bede: History
7. Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries
8. Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction
9. Beatrix Potter: Picture Books
10. George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward)
11. Dominic de Guzmán: Religion
12. Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir
13. Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969)
14. Gregor Mendel: Science
15. Herodotus: Travel
16. Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction

Symbol Key
* = re-read
+ = owned at least a year and still unread (Mt. TBR)
^ = foreign language book

1. Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920)

1. An Alphabet of Saints by Robert Hugh Benson - 1905 (4)
2. Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson - 1907 (4)
3. The Dawn of All by Robert Hugh Benson - 1911 (4)

2. The Inklings: Fantasy – COMPLETED 3/19

1. Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews (3)
2. Wickedly Dangerous by Deborah Blake (3)
3. Survival by Julie E. Czerneda+ (4)
4. Migration by Julie E. Czerneda+ (4)
5. Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda+ (4)
6. Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney (4)
7. Winterwood by Jacey Bedford (3)
8. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (4)
9. Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (3)
10. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs (3)
11. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs (3)
12. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs (3)

3. Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir

1. Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky (4)
2. Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me by Geert Wilders (3)

4. Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction

1. Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi (3)
2. Girl in Dior by Annie Goetzinger (2)
3. The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World's Favorite Beverage from 7000 BC to Today's Craft Brewing Revolution by Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith, & Aaron McConnell (3)
4. A Bride's Story, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori (4)

5. Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction

1. Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (4)

6. The Venerable Bede: History

1. Murder by Candlelight: The Gruesome Slayings Behind Our Romance with the Macabre by Michael Knox Beran (4)
2. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy (5)

7. Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries

1. Quick Curtain by Alan Melville (3)
2. Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg (4)
3. In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (4)
4. A Fountain Filled with Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming (3)
5. Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming (5)
6. Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon (4)
7. Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves (3)
8. The Girls She Left Behind by Sarah Graves (3)

8. Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction

1. The White Stag by Kate Seredy (2)

9. Beatrix Potter: Picture Books – COMPLETED 2/14

1. The Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Tompert (2)
2. Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt (5)
3. Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. (4)
4. B is for Bear: A Natural Alphabet by Hannah Viano (3)
5. Americanine: A Haute Dog in New York by Yann Kebbi (4)
6. Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest (4)
7. The Easter Chick by Géraldine Elschner (4)
8. The Nativity by Géraldine Elschner (3)
9. Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick (5)
10. Saints for Girls: A First Book for Little Catholic Girls by Susan Weaver et al. (4)
11. I Sing a Song of the Saints of God by Lesbia Scott (4)
12. The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan (4)
13. Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat by Jeanne Perego (3)
14. I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor (3)
15. A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays by Tasha Tudor (3)
16. Easter: The Passion and Resurrection by Géraldine Elschner (4)
17. The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous (3)

10. George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward)

1. Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin - 2015 (3)
2. Friction by Sandra Brown - 2015 (3)
3. The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-Tale from Ireland by Roger Buck - 2015 (4)
4. Wild Hearts by Sharon Sala - 2015 (3)
5. Cold Hearts by Sharon Sala - 2015 (3)
6. Deep in the Valley by Robyn Carr - 2000 (3)
7. Just over the Mountain by Robyn Carr - 2002 (3)
8. Down by the River by Robyn Carr - 2003 (2)
9. Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael O'Brien - 2015 (3)

11. Dominic de Guzmán: Religion – COMPLETED 3/27 (Easter)

1. The Reign of Christ the King by Michael Davies (3)
2. Corpus Christi: Holy Communion and the Renewal of the Church by Athanasius Schneider (3)
3. The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity by Taylor Marshall (3)
4. You by Fulton Sheen (4)
5. Conversation with Christ: The Teaching of St. Teresa of Avila about Personal Prayer by Peter Thomas Rohrbach (4)
6. Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (3)
7. Mit brennender Sorge by Pope Pius XI^ (4)
8. On Pascha by Melito of Sardis+ (4)
9. A Short History of the Roman Mass by Michael Davies (3)
10. The Seven Last Words by Fulton Sheen (3)
11. The Sadness of Christ by St. Tomas More+ (3)
12. The House of Gold: Lenten Sermons by Bede Jarrett, OP (5)
13. Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe (4)

12. Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir

1. Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice by Eva K. Betz (4)
2. Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R. and Companions: Modern Martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church by John Sianchuk (3)
3. A Story Of St. John Vianney by Brother Ernest, C.S.C. (3)
4. Demeter and Persephone: Homeric Hymn Number Two by Homer & Penelope Proddow (4)
5. Saint Germaine and the Sheep by Eva K. Betz (3)
6. Saint Athanasius by F. A. Forbes (3)
7. St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro (3)
8. Saint Pius V by Robin Anderson (4)

13. Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969)

1. The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart - 1962 (3)
2. The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon - 1932 (3)
3. Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov+^ - 1958 (3)

14. Gregor Mendel: Science

1. Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser (4)
2. The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution by Donald R. Prothero (3)
3. Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things by M. R. O'Connor (3)

15. Herodotus: Travel

1. The Ghost of Flight 401 by John G. Fuller (3)

16. Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction

1. Jackaby by William Ritter (3)
2. Beastly Bones by William Ritter (3)
3. Thee, Hannah! by Marguerite De Angeli (3)
4. The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove (3)
5. Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty (5)
6. The Golden Specific by S. E. Grove (3)

DeweyCAT
-Jan-
Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
-Feb-
Jackaby by William Ritter
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney
Wild Hearts by Sharon Sala
Cold Hearts by Sharon Sala
The Ghost of Flight 401 by John G. Fuller
-Mar-
Thee, Hannah! by Marguerite De Angeli
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
A Fountain Filled with Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Demeter and Persephone: Homeric Hymn Number Two by Homer & Penelope Proddow
You by Fulton Sheen
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin
Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer
Mit brennender Sorge by Pope Pius XI
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Saint Germaine and the Sheep by Eva K. Betz
Saint Athanasius by F. A. Forbes
On Pascha by Melito of Sardis
St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro
A Short History of the Roman Mass by Michael Davies
The Seven Last Words by Fulton Sheen
The Sadness of Christ by St. Tomas More+
Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael O'Brien
Saint Pius V by Robin Anderson
The House of Gold: Lenten Sermons by Bede Jarrett, OP
Easter by Géraldine Elschner
The Dawn of All by Robert Hugh Benson
Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe

GeoCAT
-Jan-
Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice by Eva K. Betz
Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Tompert
Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt
-Feb-
Corpus Christi by Athanasius Schneider
A Bride's Story, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori
Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov
-Mar-
Demeter and Persephone: Homeric Hymn Number Two by Homer & Penelope Proddow
The White Stag by Kate Seredy
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin
The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy

RandomCAT
-Jan-
Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest
The Nativity by Géraldine Elschner
The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-Tale from Ireland by Roger Buck
-Feb-
Jackaby by William Ritter
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick
-Mar-
I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor
A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays by Tasha Tudor

SFFKIT
-Jan-
Survival by Julie E. Czerneda
Migration by Julie E. Czerneda
Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda
-Feb-
Jackaby by William Ritter
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney
Winterwood by Jacey Bedford
-Mar-
The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove
Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
The Golden Specific by S. E. Grove
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson
Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael O'Brien
The Dawn of All by Robert Hugh Benson

BingoDOG


1. Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R. and Companions by John Sianchuk
2. Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael O'Brien
4. Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg
6. Resurrection Science by M. R. O'Connor
7. The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart
8. Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky
9. The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-Tale from Ireland by Roger Buck
10. Survival by Julie E. Czerneda
13. Migration by Julie E. Czerneda
16. Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
17. The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon
18. Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
19. In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
20. Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov
23. Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi

Woman BingoPUP


1. Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
6. A Bride's Story, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori
7. The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart
9. St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro
13. Migration by Julie E. Czerneda
16. Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1 by Kiiro Yumi
17. Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney
22. Survival by Julie E. Czerneda

Currently Reading:
A Procession of Saints
Strangers Below
I Want to Get Married!

Total books read so far: 93

Top of the TBR Pile:
Das Farnese-Komplott^
How to Converse with God
Pope Pius VII
A Thousand Words for Stranger

April Potentials
Agents of Empire
Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me
The Blue Whale
The Cabaret of Plants
Changes in the Land
The Cold Between
Encounters at the Heart of the World
The Far Traveler
First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson
Jacob Have I Loved
Karl I: The Emperor of Peace
Lives of the Northern Saints+
A Matter of Interpretation
Neighborhood Sharks
The Politics of Prudence
Saint Brigid and the Cows
Saint Colum and the Crane
Shackleton's Journey
Wandering Whale Sharks
Where the Wild Things Were
The White Cat and the Monk

Okay, that's all the important stuff. As you may remember, I do rather impressive lists of potential reads for each category, so stay tuned and be prepared for book-bullets!

I am adjusting my bullet-proof vest, but I suspect it won't work for all the bullets flying around here!

Looking forward to seeing the lists! I am enjoying this august assembly for your challenge :)

Very intriguing list of categories again! Dropping a star and putting on the body armour.

>21 DeltaQueen50: Probably not, but at least you can say you tried. :)

>22 rabbitprincess: They're quite an interesting bunch, aren't they?

>23 MissWatson: Thanks!

When I first opened your thread the dogs in the topper just set me back in my chair with their focus and energy. Great way to start a new thread. I hope you have a great reading year!

>25 mamzel: Thanks. The hounds are definitely ready for the chase. And so am I—once I finish the nine other books I need for 15-in-15.

Potential Reads for Category I: Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920)



I picked 1920 for the cut off date, since it seems like that's when a lot of the post-World War I societal changes really begin to be felt in literature. But it's a rather random and arbitrary date.

(Saint) Robert Southwell was an English Jesuit and a poet, who worked as an underground priest in England for many years until he was executed for treason in 1595. His best known work today is probably the Christmas poem, "The Burning Babe".

My Shelves
Bunte Steine by Adalbert Stifter (English-speakers may be familiar with Rock Crystal, the book's most famous story)
Cecilia by Fanny Burney
The Clever Woman of the Family by Charlotte Yonge
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Hester by Mrs. Oliphant
Miss Marjoribanks by Mrs. Oliphant
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
The Wild Irish Girl by Lady Morgan

Other Novel Possibilities
A Blameless Woman by John Strange Winter
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Something by Trollope or various Ida von Hahn-Hahn potboilers

Poet Potentials
Lyric Poetry by Women of the Italian Renaissance by Virginia Cox
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff
Andrew Marvel
Milton
Novalis
Edgar Allan Poe
Friedrich Rückert
Shakespeare
Robert Southwell
Friedrich von Spee
Francis Thompson
Thomas Traherne
Henry Vaughan
among others

Robert Southwell's "The Burning Babe":

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,
Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;
Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.
“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
    So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”
    With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
    And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

Nice categories and first list!

>29 Tess_W: Thanks!

Potential Reads for Category II: The Inklings: Fantasy/SciFi



The Inklings was a literary group in the 1930s and '40s associated with Oxford University. Its core members were J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams, but many other writers and academics participated as well over the years.

Out Now
Among Others & My Real Children by Jo Walton
Arcanum by Simon Morden
Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier
Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael D. O'Brien - Mar.
The Fall of Arthur by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien*
The Magic Ring by Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqué*
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
The Place of the Lion by Charles Williams
A Play of Shadow by Julie E. Czerneda*
The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty
The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle*
Species Imperative: Survival, Migration, Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda* - Jan.
Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan*
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
The Witches of Wenshar by Barbara Hambly*
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
Young Woman in a Garden by Delia Sherman

Coming Soon to Theaters Near You
The Custodian of Marvels by Rod Duncan* (Feb.)
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman (Jan.)
Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney (Feb.) - Feb.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (Jul.)
The House of War and Witness by Linda, Louise, & Mike Carey (Jan.)
Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop (Mar.)
The Seer's Choice by J. Kathleen Cheney (Jan. for non-kindle formats)
Winterwood by Jacey Bedford (Feb.) - Feb.

* = From my shelves

I think it was your 2015 thread that first had me discover the Category Challenge! (I had bought a book that I was really excited about, followed the touchstone and saw 2 conversations - 1 was my ROOT thread where I mentioned it, the other was your 2015 Category Challenge thread. The book, fwiw, was Back in the USSR: Heroic Adventures in Transnistria). So in 2016 I will be taking the challenge for the first time!

Your thread title made me smile - I have an Oasis-sing-along-themed challenge next year, and one of their albums is called "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants". Besides that - great categories once again and I look forward to following along. :)

>32 Jackie_K: Welcome to the fun! Back in the USSR is still on my to-get-to list. It's never been published in the US, so it's trickier to get hold of, but it does sound fantastic.

>33 Chrischi_HH: Thanks for stopping by. I should be more active this year because I'm done with grad school, but we'll see how it goes. I got my thread title from a quote by Sir Isaac Newton, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". It's a great mental image, so I'm not surprised that others have liked it too.

I was going to go with the Confederate diarist Mary Chesnut for Category III but then I forgot that I was going to use her as the category title and went with Sir Winston Churchill, a man who needs no introduction, instead. Then I decided that it was still December so why not change back to my original choice? This has the added bonus of giving me parity between the sexes for my category titles: eight men and eight women. So "Mary Chesnut" it is.

Potential Reads for Category III: Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir



Mary Chesnut was a South Carolinian political wife who kept a diary during the American Civil War and began editing it for publication shortly before her death in 1885. If you've seen Ken Burns' Civil War, then you've met Mary Chesnut, as her diary has become one of the great primary sources for that period. It's been on my TBR list forever, and who knows, maybe this year I'll finally read it.

Biographies
Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology by Edward H. Burtt Jr.
Carolingian Portraits: A Study in the Ninth Century by Eleanor Shipley Duckett*
Charles Williams: The Third Inkling by Grevel Lindop
The Cost of Courage by Charles Kaiser
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm
Edward II: The Unconventional King by Kathryn Warner
Eleanor of Castile by Sara Cockerill
Franco: A Personal and Political Biography by Stanley G. Payne
Gothic for the Steam Age: An Illustrated Biography of George Gilbert Scott by Gavin Stamp
A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain by Marc Morris
The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge
A Haven from Hitler by Heini Gruffudd*
Iris Origo by Caroline Moorhead
The Knox Brothers by Penelope Fitzgerald*
The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History by Jonathan Horn
Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli: A Strange Romance by Daisy Hay
Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music by Barry Mazor
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne
Richard III: A Ruler and his Reputation by David Horspool
William Cobbett by G. K. Chesterton*

Memoirs
Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868 by Kate Stone
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates
Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land by John Graves
I Want to Get Married!: One Wannabe Bride's Misadventures with Handsome Houdinis, Technicolor Grooms, Morality Police, and Other Mr. Not Quite Rights by Ghada Abdel Aa
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
London War Notes, 1939-1945 by Mollie Panter-Downes*
The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me by Sofka Zinovieff
Mary Chesnut's Diary by Mary Chesnut
More Was Lost by Eleanor Perenyi
The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston*
Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind by Sarah Wildman*
Partisan Diary: A Woman's Life in the Italian Resistance by Ada Gobetti
The Past is Myself and The Road Ahead by Christabel Bielenberg
Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang by Zhao Ziyang*
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
A Spy in the Archives: A Memoir of Cold War Russia by Sheila Fitzpatrick
Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari
There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond by Meline Toumani
War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944 by Iris Origo
Words without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass

*= From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category IV: Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction



Naoko Takeuchi wrote Sailor Moon. Which is really all you need to know.

Potentials
An Age Of License by Lucy Knisley
The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf
Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang
A Bride's Story, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori - Feb.
The Comic Book Story of Beer by Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith, & Aaron McConnell - Feb.
Displacement by Lucy Knisley
Dispossession: A Novel of Few Words by Simon Grennan
Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
Fatherland by Nina Bunjevac
First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson by Simon Schwartz
Irmina by Barbara Yelin
Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer
The Leg: The Remarkable Reappearance of Santa Anna's Disembodied Limb by Van Jensen & José Pimienta
Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi - Jan.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 4 by Hayao Miyazaki
The New Deal by Jonathan Case
Persepolis I and Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Volume 7 by Naoko Takeuchi
Templar by Jordan Mechner
Thermae Romae, Volume 1 by Mari Yamazaki
300 by Frank Miller
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
Vinland Saga 1 by Makoto Yukimura

I have a hold request in for Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli at the library. It looks really interesting! And I'll be interested to hear what you think of A Great and Terrible King. Marc Morris' book about the Norman conquest was very good.

>38 rabbitprincess: Susan (susanj67) read Mr & Mrs Disraeli earlier this year and liked it. It's one of those books that I always mean to read but never think about when I'm in a library that might actually have it.

A Great and Terrible King was on my "list of books I wouldn't mind getting for Christmas", so we'll see if it turns up under the tree.

You've got a good group of categories here and very impressive lists of possibilities. I look forward to seeing the rest of the lists and following along to see what you do end up reading.

>40 staci426: Thanks! This time of year I start getting exciting about what I might read next year too. I just have one more for 15-in-15 and then I'm done. :)

Potential Reads for Category VI: Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction



Gertrud von Le Fort was a twentieth-century German author who wrote pretty much everything: poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, novels and novellas. While she wrote both contemporary and historical fiction, it is her historical novellas (especially the one translated into English as The Song at the Scaffold) that are probably best remembered today. Thus she's here and not somewhere else.

Potentials
Anything by Georgette Heyer or Louis de Wohl

Angels in Iron by Nicholas C. Prata
At Break of Day by Elizabeth Speller
Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato
Becket by Jean Anouih*
Come Rack, Come Rope by Robert Hugh Benson
The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott
The Exchange of Princesses by Chantal Thomas
The Fifth Queen by Ford Maddox Ford
The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert
The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
In My End is My Beginning & Robert Peckham by Maurice Baring
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin - Mar.
Die Letzte am Schafott, Die Madgeburgische Hochzeit, etc. by Gertrud von le Fort
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt*
Margaret the Queen by Nigel Tranter
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
On the Field of Glory by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Queen Hereafter by Susan Fraser King
Rob Roy & Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
The Rood and the Torc: The Song of Kristinge, Son of Finn by Matthew Dickerson
Shadows and Images by Meriol Trevor
The Spanish Match by Brennan Pursell
A Tapestry of Lives, Volume 2 by Jean Sims
Treason by Dena Hunt
Trieste by Daša Drndić
Vinland by George Mackay Brown

Coming Soon to Theaters Near You
I Saw Her That Night by Drago Jančar (Jan.)

* = From my shelves

Nigel Tranter! Woo! :D

>43 rabbitprincess: I've never read any of his fiction, but it's been a long-standing goal.

>42 inge87: The touchstone for The Spanish Match links to Stieg Larsson. Is this be about the incredible trip when Charles Stuart and the Duke of Buckingham went to Madrid incognito to woo a Spanish infanta?

>45 MissWatson: Gah, I thought I'd fixed that touchstone before I posted, but I guess I just thought about fixing it. Well, it's fixed now, and yes, that's the basic plot. How good it is, I don't know, but it sounded interesting enough for the list. Thanks for catching that for me.

>46 inge87: I'll be watching out for your comments. I read a non-fiction account of it earlier this year and still think it's an amazing story.

>47 MissWatson: The Stuarts may not have been the best monarchs, but they were interesting ones.

Potential Reads for Category VI: The Venerable Bede: History



(Saint) Bede was a Northumbrian monk of the seventh and eighth centuries. His most famous work, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, earned him the title "Father of English History" as well as the descriptor "venerable".

And to repeat what I said last year: "No, I am not aiming to read all this. (But it'd sure be fun if I could . . . )".

Asia
Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany
Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great in Afghanistan by Frank L. Holt
Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition by Nisid Hajari
The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades by Paul M. Cobb
The Reckoning: Death and Intrigue in the Promised Land---A True Detective Story by Patrick Bishop
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

British Isles
Fascist Scotland by Gavin Bowd
God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England by Jessie Childs*
Jambusters: The Story of the Women's Institute in the Second World War by Julie Summers
Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer
Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich by Martin Levy
Men from the Ministry: How Britain Saved Its Heritage by Simon Thurley
Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642 by Tim Harris
The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918-1923 by Charles Townshend
The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village by Eamon Duffy*

Europe
1815: Der Wiener Kongress und die Neugründung Europas by Thierry Lentz
1864: The Forgotten War that Shaped Modern Europe by Tom Buk-Swienty*
Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World by Noel Malcolm*
Der Anfang vom Ende des alten Europa by Hans Fenske
The Baltic: A History by Michael North
Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyde
Der Brand: Deutschland im Bombenkrieg 1940-1945 by Jörg Friedrich
The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon
Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation by Sverre Bagge
The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War by Graham Robb
Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe, from the French Revolution to the Great War by Michael Burleigh
Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire by Peter H. Wilson
The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000, etc. by Chris Wickham
Das Leben adeliger Frauen by Martina Winkelhofer
A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire by Geoffrey Wawro
Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Bismarckian Germany by David Blackbourn*
The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen
Ostend: Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, and the Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann
A Popular History of the Reformation by Philip Hughes*
Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna by Adam Zamoyski
Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950 by Mark Mazower
Slovenia 1945: Memories of Death and Survival after World War II by John Corsellis
The Thirty Years War by C. V. Wedgwood
To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 by Ian Kershaw
Uprooted: How Breslau Became Wroclaw during the Century of Expulsions by Gregor Thum

Eurasia
Children of Rus': Right-Bank Ukraine and the Invention of a Russian Nation by Faith Hillis
The Circassian Genocide by Walter Richmond
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar
Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia by Donald Rayfield
The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy* - Mar.
The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union by Serhii Plokhy*
Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane by S. Frederick Starr
Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia by David Greene
The Shaman's Coat: A Native History of Siberia by Anna Reid

United States:
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass
Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution by David L. Preston
Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960 by Rebecca Sharpless
Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn*
The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics by Stephen Coss
Great River: The Rio Grande by Paul Horgan*
The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History by Jonathan Horn
Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America by Michael McDonnell
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy
Mesa of Sorrows: A History of the Awat'ovi Massacre by James F. Brooks
A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek by Ari Kelman
Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Making of the American Revolution by D. Peter MacLeod
Papist Devils: Catholics in British America, 1574-1783 by Robert Emmett Curran
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne
The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army by Colin G. Calloway

*= From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category VII: Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries



Although she wrote many other things and even translated Dante, Dorothy L. Sayers is probably best remembered for her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. He may be a snob, but who can resist a hero with "Death" as a middle name.

Potentials

Black-Eyed Susans: A Novel of Suspense by Julia Heaberlin - Jan.
Coldsleep Lullaby by Andrew Brown
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Death in August by Marco Vichi
Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg - Feb.
Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay
Demise in Denim by Duffy Brown
Dogstar Rising by Parker Bilal
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman
The Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel
An Early Wake by Sheila Connolly
A Fatal Winter by G. M. Malliet
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers
Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown
The Inner Circle by Mari Jungstedt
A Killing at Cotton Hill by Terry Shames
The King's Hounds by Martin Jansen
The Language of the Dead by Stephen Kelly
Nights of Awe by Harri Nykänen
The Ravens by Vidar Sundstøl
River of Darkness by Rennie Airth
The Scribe by Matthew Guinn
A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana
Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night by James Runcie
The Song is You by Megan Abbott
Spring Tide by Cilla & Rolf Börjlind
Strange Gods by Annamaria Alfier
Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass
Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon*
Eine unbeliebte Frau by Nele Neuhaus
The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon* - Feb.

Coming Soon to Theaters Near You
The Killing Forest by Sara Blædel (Feb.)
The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home (Apr.)
Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne (Jan.)
Serpents in Paradise by Martin Edwards (Mar.)

* = From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category VIII: Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction



Born Guido di Pietro, Brother Giovanni da Fiesole was a 15th century Dominican friar and painter who became known in English as "Fra Angelico" (angelic friar) for the beauty of his works.

Potentials

Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler
The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière by Catherine Coleman Brawer
The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement by Anna O. Marley
The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building by David J. Peterson
Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea by David Konstan
The Bundi Wall-Paintings in Rajasthan: Rediscovered Treasures by Milo Beach
Capturing Music: The Story of Notation by Thomas Forrest Kelly
China's Forgotten People: Xinjiang, Terror and the Chinese State by Nick Holdstock
Color, Line, Light: French Drawings, Watercolors, and Pastels from Delacroix to Signac by Margaret Morgan Grasselli
Chaste Wives and Prostitute Sisters: Patriarchy and Prostitution among the Bedias of India by Anuja Agrawal
Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters by Patrick Lee & Robert P. George
Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It by Ian Leslie
Edward Gorey: His Book Cover Art and Design by Edward Gorey
Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s by Patricia Mears
Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler
Everything is Happening: Journey into a Painting by Michael Jacobs
Exposed: A History of Lingerie by Colleen Hill & Valerie Steele
Fair Park Deco: Art and Architecture of the Texas Centennial Exposition by Jim Parsons
Hanok: The Korean House by Nani Park
In the Country by David Gentleman
The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History by Brian Fagan
Jewel City: Art from San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition by James A. Ganz
Kimono: A Modern History by Terry Satsuki Milhaupt
Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us by Paul Koudounaris
Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music by Barry Mazo
Recording Britain by Gill Saunders
Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain by Robert Ford & Matthew J. Goodwin
Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession by Ian Bostridge
Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World by Shereen El Feki
Shin Hanga: The New Print Movement in Japan by Barry Till
Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine by David S. Shields
Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen
Velázquez: Las Meninas and the Late Royal Portraits by Javier Portús Perez
A Very Courageous Decision: The Inside Story of Yes Minister by Graham McCann
Visions of Japan by Kawase Hasui
Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia by Fiona Ritchie & Doug Orr
Why Homer Matters by Adam Nicholson

* = From my shelves

A few of Fra Angelico's paintings:


The San Marco Altarpiece


The Virgin of the Annunciation


Crucifixion with Saint Dominic

I really love all these book lists! If you read Death of an Airman, let me know and I'll try to arrange to read it at the same time :)

>53 rabbitprincess: Thanks. I'm planning on reading Death of an Airman for BingoDOG (it involves an airplane flight). One of the libraries where I have borrowing privileges has a copy, but I haven't really set a date for reading it.

Those are some very ambitious lists! Best of luck to you.

>55 mamzel: Thanks. I'll never get to all of them, but they give me something to work with.

Potential Reads for Category IX: Beatrix Potter: Picture Books



Potentials

Americanine: A Haute Dog in New York by Yann Kebbi - Jan.
A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat by Emily Jenkins*
The Girl who Loved Wild Horses and others by Paul Goble
The Hunter's Promise: An Abenaki Tale by Joseph Bruchac & Bill Farnsworth
I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina by Anna Pavlova & Edgar Degas
The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan & Hadley Hooper
The Lady in the Blue Cloak: Legends from the Texas Missions by Eric A. Kimmel, Susan Guevara
Mad About Monkeys by Owen Davey
Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt - Jan.
Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell
The Miracle of St. Nicholas by Gloria Whelan & Judith Brown - Feb.
The Nativity by by Géraldine Elschner & Giotto* - Jan.
The Night World by Mordicai Gerstein
Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies & Mark Hearld
The Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Trompert - Jan.
Plant a Pocket of Prairie by Phyllis Root
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman & Ben Newman
Roses in the Snow: A Tale of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary by Dessi Jackson & Lydia Grace Kadar-Kallen
Saint Anthony the Great by John Chryssavgis
Saint Felix and the Spider by Dessi Jackson & Lydia Grace Kadar-Kallen
Saint George and the Dragon by Jim Forest & Vladislav Andrejev
Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest & Vladislav Andrejev* - Jan.
Shackleton's Journey by William Grill
Sona and the Wedding Game by Kashmira Sheth & Yoshiko Jaeggi
Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder & Julie Morstad
Take It to the Queen: A Tale of Hope by Josephine Nobisso & Katalin Szegedi
The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins
The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith by Josephine Nobisso & Katalin Szegedi

Coming Soon to Theaters Near You
The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill (Jul.)

* = From my shelves

Wow for 9 years with LT! Great categories and love the potential reads lists you have posted!

>58 lkernagh: Thanks. I signed up for LT as a freshman in college who had books in three locations in two states; LT and I have been through a lot together!

Potential Reads for Category X: George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward)



George Mackay Brown was an award-winning Scottish writer of fiction, poetry, and plays, particularly associated with and influenced by the Orkney Islands. First published in the 1950s, he continued writing up until his death in 1996. His first novel (Greenvoe) was published in 1972, which is how he wound up heading this category.

Potentials

Adjusting Sights by Haim Sabato
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Between Heaven & Hell by Peter Kreeft*
The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev
Die Braut sagt leider nein by Kerstin Gier
A Cherished Freedom by Joyce Stranger
Emma, Mr. Knightley, and Chili-Slaw Dogs by Mary Jane Hathaway
The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy
Für jede Lösung ein Problem by Kerstin Gier
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Into a Raging Blaze by Andreas Norman
In Wahrheit wird viel mehr gelogen by Kerstin Gier
Lakeland Vet by Joyce Stranger
Die Laufmasche: 17 gute Gelegenheiten, den Traummann zu verpassen by Kerstin Gier
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
The Matriarch by Witi Ihimaera
Oceanstory by Leslie Marmon Silko
Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks
Patriot Games by Tom Clancy
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
Unterwerfung by Michel Houellebecq*

* = From my shelves

>54 inge87: That's also what motivated me to pick it for my 2016 pool :)

Also, Merry Christmas!

>61 rabbitprincess: Great minds think alike! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Potential Reads for Category XI: Dominic de Guzmán: Religion



The Dominican Order is celebrating its 800th anniversary jubilee this year, so it felt appropriate to use its founder, Saint Dominic, to head this category.

Catholic Theology
Conversation With Christ: The Teaching of St. Teresa of Avila about Personal Prayer by Peter Thomas Rohrbach
Corpus Christi: Holy Communion and The Renewal of the Church by Athanasius Schneider*
Christ's New Homeland—Africa: Contribution to the Synod on the Family by African Pastors by Robert Cardinal Sarah*
The Church and the Human Quest for Truth by Charles Morerod, OP*
Early Dominicans: Selected Writings by Simon Tugwell
How to Converse with God by St. Alphonsus Liguori
How to Get More out of Holy Communion by St. Peter Julian Eymard
Kleine Geschichte des Dominikanerordens by William A. Hinnebusch
Life Everlasting by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
The Little Oratory: A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton*
Mary in the Middle Ages: The Blessed Virgin Mary In The Thought Of Medieval Latin Theologians by Luigi Gambero
The Mass and Modernity: Walking to Heaven Backward by Jonathan Robinson*
The Musical Shape of the Liturgy by William Peter Mahrt
Phoenix from the Ashes: The Making, Unmaking, and Restoration of Catholic Tradition by H. J. A. Sire*
Prayer Primer: Igniting a Fire Within by Thomas Dubay*
The Reign of Christ the King by Michael Davies* - Jan.
Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church by Peter Kwasniewski*
The School of Jesus Crucified: The Lessons of Calvary in Daily Catholic Life by Ignatius of Side of Jesus, CP
The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story by Professor Roberto deMattei
A Short History of the Roman Mass by Michael Davies*
Signs of the Holy One: Liturgy, Ritual, and Expression of the Sacred by Uwe Michael Lang*
Thomas Aquinas and the Liturgy by David Berger

Other Christian
The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam by Sidney H. Griffith
Cosmos, Life, and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village by Juliet Du Boulay
Guide for a Church under Islam: The Sixty-Six Canonical Questions Attributed to Theodoros Balsamon
An Introduction to the Medieval Bible by Frans van Liere
Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land by Laura L. Camden & Susan Gaetz Duarte
Orthodox Readings of Aquinas by Marcus Plested
Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation by Robert Bartlett

Other Religions
Between Pagan and Christian by Christopher P. Jones
Being German, Becoming Muslim: Race, Religion, and Conversion in the New Europe by Esra Özyürek
Children Into Swans: Fairy Tales and the Pagan Imagination by Jan Beveridge
The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination by Sarah Stewart
Pagan Britain by Ronald Hutton
Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity by James J. O'Donnell

* = From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category XII: Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir



Élisabeth Leseur was the wife of a prominent French atheist who was inspired by her husband's anti-religious activities to explore and deepen her own faith. Always suffering from ill health, she eventually died of cancer in 1914. After her death, her husband received a note from her in which she predicted that he would return to the Catholic Church and even become a priest, sentiments he found ridiculous. He promptly went to Lourdes to reveal the healings there as fraudulent, but instead he had a religious conversion. He went on to publish his wife's spiritual diary and some of her letters before joining the Dominican order in 1919 and eventually becoming a priest.

Potentials
Aelred of Rievaulx: The Lives of the Northern Saints by St. Aelred of Rievaulx*
Ambrose by Boniface Ramsey
Avoiding Bitterness in Suffering: How Our Heroes in Faith Found Peace amid Sorrow by Ronda Chervin*
Bakhita: From Slave to Saint by Roberto Italo Zanini*
Begin Again: The Life and Spiritual Legacy of Bruno Lanteri by Timothy M. Gallagher
Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R. and Companions: Modern Martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church by John Sianchuk* - Jan.
Blessed Miguel Pro Pro by Ann Ball*
Captive Flames: On Selected Saints and Christian Heroes by Ronald Knox
The Curé d'Ars Today: Saint John Vianney by Fr. George Rutler*
A Heart for Europe: The Lives of Emperor Charles and Empress Zita of Austria-Hungar​y by James and Joanna Bogle
Kampf gegen den Nationalsozialismus by Augustin Rösch, SJ
Léon Harmel: Entrepreneur as Catholic Social Reformer by Joan L. Coffey*
Letters to His Friends and Family by Pier Giorgio Frassati
The Life and Pontificate of Pope Pius XII: Between History and Controversy by Frank J. Coppa
Life of St. Dominic by Bede Jarrett
The Life of St. Philip Neri by Mrs. Hope*
A Man of the Beatitudes: Pier Giorgio Frassati by Luciana Frassati*
My Battle against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich von Hildebrand*
Pope Pius VII, 1800-1823: His Life, Reign and Struggle with Napoleon in the Aftermath of the French Revolution by Robin Anderson*
Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI by Tracey Rowland
Saint Athanasius by F. A. Forbes* - Mar.
Saint Catherine of Siena as seen in her Letters by St. Catherine of Siena
Saint Dominic: The Grace of the Word by Guy Bedouelle*
Saint in the Wilderness: The Story of Isaac Jogues, Missionary and Martyr in the New World by Glenn D. Kittler
Saint Peter Canisius by James Brodrick
Saint Pius V: A Brief Account of his Life, Times, Virtues and Miracles by Robin Anderson* - Mar.
Saints of the American Wilderness: The Brave Lives and Holy Deaths of the Eight North American Martyrs by John A. O'Brien*
The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur by Elisabeth Leseur*
The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal Celso Costantini's Wartime Diaries, 1938-1947 by Celso Costantini
The Spiritual Life of Cardinal Merry del Val by Girolamo Dal-Gal*
St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro* - Mar.
Der Ultramontane by Martin Mosebach

* = From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category XIII: Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969)



Mary Stewart wrote both romantic thrillers and Arthurian fantasy, but it is her earlier thrillers written in the 50s and 60s that are her best works (in my opinion a least).

Potentials
After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima
The Brandons by Angela Thirkell*
The Confidential Clerk by T. S. Eliot*
A Fine of Two Hundred Francs by Elsa Triolet*
Gipsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp*
Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary by Ruby Ferguson*
A Lighthearted Quest by Ann Bridge*
The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark
Minnie's Room: The Peacetime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes
The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart - Jan.
My Neighbor's Garden and Mine by Nancy Richey Ranson*
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham*
The Penguin Book of Spanish Civil War Verse*
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima*
The Tiber was Silver by Michael Novak*
The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macauley*

* = From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category XIV: Gregor Mendel: Science



Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian friar in what was then the Moravian city of Brünn in Austria-Hungary and is now the Czech city of Brno, who has become known as the "Father of Genetics" due to his discovery of genetic inheritance using pea plants.

Potentials
Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time by Beth Moon
At Day's Close: Night in Times Past by A. Roger Ekirch
Back to the Garden: Nature and the Mediterranean World from Prehistory to the Present by James H. S. McGregor
Banned: A History of Pesticides and the Science of Toxicology by Frederick Rowe Davis
Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of the Pacific Northwest by David Hall
Butterfly Gardening for Texas by Geyata Ajilvsgi
The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination by Richard Mabey*
Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas
Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-on Introduction to Ancient Mathematics by David Reimer
Dangerous Neighbors: Volcanoes and Cities by Grant Heiken
Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery
Driven Wild: How the Fight against Automobiles Launched the Modern Wilderness Movement by Paul S. Sutter
Earth's Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters by Martin J. S. Rudwick
Evening's Empire: A History of the Night in Early Modern Europe by Craig Koslofsky
Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot by Peter R. Crane
Gods of the Morning: A Bird's-Eye View of a Changing World by John Lister-Kaye
Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey Through Carbon Country by Courtney White
Intolerant Bodies: A Short History of Autoimmunity by Warwick Anderson
John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire: How A Visionary And The Glaciers Of Alaska Changed America by Kim Heacox
League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru
Let There Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark by Paul Bogard
Longing for the Bomb: Oak Ridge and Atomic Nostalgia by Lindsey A. Freeman
Longleaf, Far as the Eye can See by Bill Finch*
Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser - Feb.
The Moor: The Landscape That Makes Britain by William Atkins
The Nine-Banded Armadillo: A Natural History by W. J. Loughry
Plant Conservation: Why It Matters and How It Works by Timothy Walker
Prickly Affair: The Charm of the Hedgehog by Hugh Warwick
The Spine of the Continent: The Most Ambitious Wildlife Conservation Project Ever Undertaken by Mary Ellen Hannibal
The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution by Donald R. Prothero - Feb.
The Thinking Person's Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson
Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape by Craig Koslofsky
Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River by Kenna Lang Arche
War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz*
Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife by John M. Marzluff
Welcome to the Microbiome: Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You by Rob Desalle
Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators

* = From my shelves

Belated happy thingaversary! Good to see you here!

>68 -Eva-: Thanks!

Potential Reads for Category XV: Herodotus: Travel



Herodotus wrote the first history book and travelled extensively in order to uncover stories to fill it. Here are some of his modern-day successors.

Potentials

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin
Along the Enchanted Way: A Story of Love and Life in Romania by William Blacker
Architecture at the End of the Earth: Photographing the Russian North by William Craft Brumfield
Back in the USSR: Heroic Adventures in Transnistria by Rory MacLean
Belles and Whistles: Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains by Andrew Martin
Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires by Dominic Ziegler
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West*
The Chains of Heaven: An Ethiopian Adventure by Philip Marsden
Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea by Claudio Magris
The Edge of Extinction: Travels with Enduring People in Vanishing Lands by Jules Pretty
Farewell Spain by Kate O'Brien*
The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown*
Fleeing Herod: A Journey Through Coptic Egypt with the Holy Family by James Cowan
From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple
From Pillar to Post by Anne Sinclair Mehdevi*
Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past by Giles Tremlett
Griechische Inseln: 1944 by Erhart Kästner
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest by Craig Childs
Ibn Fadlan's Travel Report As it Concerns the Scandinavian Rûs by Ibn Fadlan*
Imperium by Ryszard Kapuściński*
Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation by Elizabeth Pisani
In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond by Robert D. Kaplan
A Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles through Islamic Africa by Steve Kemper
Land of Eagles: Riding through Europe's Forgotten Country by Robin Hanbury-Tenison
Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia by David Greene
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert MacFarlane
A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels Among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq by Gavin Maxwell
Republic or Death!: Travels in Search of National Anthems by Alex Marshall
Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture by Matt Goulding
The River's Tale: A Year on the Mekong by Edward Gargan
The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron*
Rural Rides by William Cobbet*
Slow Train to Switzerland: One Tour, Two Trips, 150 Years and a World of Change Apart by Diccon Bewes
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor*
Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain by Charlotte Higgins
Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys by Amelia B. Edwards*
Walking Home: A Poet's Journey by Simon Armitage
The West Indies and the Spanish Main by Anthony Trollope*

* = From my shelves

Potential Reads for Category XVI: Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction



Fantasy
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender
The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan
Jackaby by William Ritter - Feb.
The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
Snow like Ashes by Sara Raasch
Stolen Songbird by Danielle Jensen
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Non-Fantasy
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys*
The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Flight into Spring by Bianca Bradbury
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge
Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
Painted Saints by Lucy Embury
Rose under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith
Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi*
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore

Coming Soon to Theaters Near You
The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller (Feb.)
The Keeper of the Mist by Rachel Neumeier (Mar.)
Pax by Sara Pennypacker (Feb.)
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (Mar.)
Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan (Feb.)
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (Mar.)

* = From my shelves

I'm happy to find another Mary Stewart lover. I devoured her books when I was in high school. You may have inspired me to revisit the Merlin stories again. I'm also happy to see you reading Sepetys in the YA section. I was extremely fortunate to come across an ARC of Salt to the Sea and it was fantastic!

I used to love Mary Stewart's YA mysteries. I haven't read much of her adult stuff. I think I tried them when I was too young!

Great categories with tons of variety as usual! Americanine! ROFL.

>72 mamzel: I've had Between Shades of Gray for a couple of years now but have never read it. The news about Salt to the Sea has pushed it up the priority ladder, as Gunther Grass wrote a book about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, Crabwalk, that I really enjoyed.

>73 cammykitty: Ah, Americanine: the exciting story of a French haute dog's visit to New York City. There's no part of the concept that I don't love. :)

>72 mamzel: & >73 cammykitty: Mary Stewart is a lot of fun. The trick is not to take her too seriously. I really feel that everyone should try to read at least one of her books once.

You've put together a very interesting list of possible reads and reminded me that it might be time to reread something by Mary Stewart.

LOL! I've got to find Americanine! & I think that's why I liked Stewart's YA. They were short, fun, and in exotic locations. What's not to love?

>75 hailelib: Thanks—and it's always a good time to (re-)read something by Mary Stewart!

>76 cammykitty: About Americanine: I know. If I'd known about it when I made my Christmas list it totally would have been on it. As it is, I'm just waiting for work to start back up on Monday so I can make the ILL librarian find me a copy. ;)

As for Mary Stewart, that's it in a nutshell.

Finally catching up with the 2016 threads, and as usual, I want to read basically all the books you've listed! I really loved The Painted Veil, so I'll be interested to see what you think of it. Best of luck with your challenge!

Nice categories! Starring you so I can follow along.

>78 christina_reads: Thanks, I'm done with grad school, so we'll see how it goes this time around.

>79 thornton37814: Thanks for stopping by!

Best of the CATs 2015



1. Twelfth Night/Henry V – Classic Fiction (pre-1920): The Good Comrade by Una L. Silberrad

2. Medicine Man – Environmental Science: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

3. Star Wars – Fantasy/SciFi: The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter by Rod Duncan

4. Princess Mononoke – Graphic format: Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault

5. Rob Roy – Historical Fiction: Helena by Evelyn Waugh

6. A Man for All Seasons – History: Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War against Hitler by Mark Riebling

7. The Last Waltz – Memoirs: God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith with Nicolas Diat by Robert Cardinal Sarah

8. The Third Man – Mysteries: In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward

9. Once – New Fiction (2000 to Present): Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

10. Koyaanisqatsi – Other Non-Fiction: A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention by Matt Richtel

11. The Tamarind Seed/The Hunt for Red October – Recent Fiction (1970 to 1999): The Tamarind Seed by Evelyn Anthony

12. Chariots of Fire – Religion: Saint Athanasius: Defender of the Faith by Michael Davies

13. A Hard Day's Night – Retro Fiction (1920 to 1969): Charlotte Cross and Aunt Deb; or, the Queerest Trip on Record by May Hollis Barton

14. Out of Africa – Travel: Goodbye to A River by John Graves

15. Babe – YA/Juvenile fiction: A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively

Best of the Challenges



HistoryCAT: Uniformity with God's Will by St. Alphonsus Liguori
RandomCAT: The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip
SFFCAT: The Shores of Spain by J. Kathleen Cheney

Best of the Rest
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell
The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist by Robert R. Reilly
Contraception and Persecution by Charles E. Rice
Das Evangelium der ehelichen Treue: Eine Antwort auf Kardinal Kasper by Rainer Beckmann
Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia by Max Egremont
George V: The Unexpected King by David Cannadine
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamond by Mrs. Oliphant
The Seven Good Years: A Memoir by Etgar Keret
The Vanished Landscape: A 1930s Childhood in the Potteries by Paul Johnson

Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice by Eva K. Betz

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, GeoCAT

Series: Easy Reading Books of Saints and Friendly Beasts

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, the Order of Preachers, Dominican lay brothers, Peru, Afro-Peruvians, protagonist of color, saints, Saint Martin de Porres, miracles

Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice is a short biography of Saint Martin de Porres, written for early readers. It's one step up from a picture book, with black-and-white illustrations on every page and large print text. It covers Martin's life from the beginning in a Peruvian slum through his many miracles, including that of the mice (whom he got to move out of the sacristy and into the garden), to his death and then culminates in his canonization as a saint in 1962. It's a very nice book, although some of the text has not aged well (it was originally published in 1963), most notably the use of "negro" once at the end of the book and a few references to how Martin had black skin on the outside but was pure white on the inside (black is beautiful anyone?). But this doesn't take away from the overall value of the book, and in a time in which finding books with minority protagonists is a big deal, a book about the son of an African slave and her Spanish master who rose to become a respected Dominican lay brother and healer cannot help but find an audience.

Highly recommended for those looking for Catholic books to take their children on the next step from reading picture books and those who enjoy vintage Catholic fiction, just be prepared for some phrasing that would be awkward in today's society.

First Line: The lame dog walked painfully down the street and Martin's dark eyes followed it with sorrow.

Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi

Categories: Naoko Takeuchi, DeweyCAT, BingoDOG, WomanBingoPUP

Series: Library Wars: Love & War (1/15)

Keywords: fiction, Japanese fiction, manga, adaptation, alternative history, censorship, libraries, book banning, war, paramilitary librarians, bootcamp

Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 1 begins the adventure of Iku Kasahara as she begins her career in the Library Defense Force. In her world, the Japanese government passed a censorship law in the late 1980s that has led to the attempted banning and seizing of "offensive" books and magazines. The Library Defense Force is the local governments' attempt at fighting back and protecting books and libraries from the federal government. Iku is the first woman to join the LDF in its history, and she attacks her job with an eagerness that makes up for her lack of skills. Her sergeant, Dojo, however, appears to pick on her and work her harder than the other recruits, but she doesn't let that get to her either.

Overall, a fun read perfect for book-lovers everywhere that manages to discuss an important topic (censorship) in an accessible way.

First Line: A gentle hand that softly touched my head.

Girl in Dior by Annie Goetzinger

Categories: Naoko Takeuchi

Keywords: fiction, French fiction, graphic novel, historical fiction, Paris, fashion, Christian Dior, the "New Look", clothes modelling

Girl in Dior is a French graphic novel about Christian Dior's "New Look" and the fashion sensation he inspired. Our heroine is an aspiring fashion reporter who after a mishap ends up becoming one of Dior's "Young Ladies" (a.k.a. a model). Unfortunately, beyond oohing and ahhing at the clothes, there's not much plot here. This is especially obvious once she becomes a model. There's a love interest we meet for a couple of pages, the heroine gets married and the next thing we know her husband's been killed when the Andrea Doria sinks. Then a couple pages later Dior is dead and the book is over. It's like the author had a great idea and then couldn't execute it to save her life.

For Dior "New Look" fans willing to look beyond the book's weaknesses, anyone else will demand a functioning plot.

First Line: At the time, neither I, nor anyone else, had ever been to 30 Avenue MONTAIGNE.

The year is young and I am already taking some hits here! Love your lists of possibilities and plan to come back and study them more closely.

Library Wars looks really cool!

>85 DeltaQueen50: Thanks!

>86 -Eva-: It's a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see what happens to Iku now that she's finally out of training and entering the "real" library world.

The Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Tompert

Categories: Beatrix Potter, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, Peru, Dominicans, mice, animal point-of-view, saints, Saint Martin de Porres

The Pied Piper of Peru is a picture book telling the story of Saint Martin de Porres and the mice from the mice's point-of-view. It doesn't really work. Juana and her mice family have been living in the priory kitchen in Lima, Peru, for many years, and they never had problems until a new mouse moves into the neighborhood who loves cheese so much that he causes enough damage to attract attention. This leads to a cat moving into the kitchen and forcing the mice into linen closets and other such places. The friars and lay brothers want Martin to trap or poison the mice, but Martin does not want to and the mice do not want to die. Can Martin find a solution?

An okay book that seems to be missing something. There are some lovely watercolor illustrations by Kasparavičius Kęstutis, although I found the fact that the mice were wearing clothing a bit odd, but I do think it suffers from an inferior text. But if your kid is really into St. Martin de Porres, this is one of the options out there. It's not a bad one, per se, but it's not really a great one either.

First Line: My name is Juana.

>88 inge87: Sorry that one didn't work. It sounded like a promising read from the title.

>83 inge87: - Love Library Wars! The 13th installment is waiting for me at the library. Pretty sure I heard that it will end with #14 that is coming later this year.

>89 thornton37814: It was definitely disappointing. But my last Martin de Porres book, Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert, was much better. I'll be putting up a review soon.

>90 LittleTaiko: It is a fun series. The last book is actually #15 which is coming out in the US in April.

Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt

Categories: Beatrix Potter, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, Lima, Peru, Afro-Peruvians, Dominicans, healers, friars, lay brothers, minority protagonist, Pura Belpré Award winner

Martín de Porres is the best of the three children's books about St. Martin de Porres that made up my mini-readathon. A perfect trifecta of concept, text, and art, it tells the story of the life of Martin as a historical figure in colonial Lima. No one expected anything from the son of a slave, but he proved himself as a healer and a human being to everyone he met, and when he died the whole city mourned. The illustrations by David Diaz are supurb, the only oddity being that the Dominican friars wear all red (like a cardinal) instead of their black-and-white Dominican habit like Martin is shown wearing.

Overall, it's an amazing book and excellent for use in heritage month activities in schools (with an Afro-Peruvian hero the story would work for either February or September). Highly recommended for anyone who likes good picture books.

First Line: Anna Velázquez hurried out of the barrios of Lima and onto the plaza.

The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart

Categories: Mary Stewart, WomanBingoPUP

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, thriller, Greece, Crete, shootings, kidnapping, missing persons, holiday, family, secrets, crime

The Moon-Spinners is a typical Mary Stewart thriller: our heroine is abroad, gets sucked into events much larger than herself, finds herself in trouble, and somehow extracts herself from it while managing to pick up a man. In this case, our setting is Crete and our heroine Nicola is trying to escape the bustle of Athens during the Easter season. But a sudden decision to deviate from her designated path finds her encountering a wounded man and his attendant and finding herself drawn into their troubles. Because the man's teen-aged brother went missing during the shooting and no one knows what happened to him. Nicola can't help but go looking for him and soon becomes convinced that there is much more going on in this sleepy village than meets the eye. If only she can keep ahead of the criminals before they catch on to her and her allies. Otherwise, it won't be a very happy Easter at all.

A fun read, it's not the greatest of Stewart's works, but it's not the worst either. You should pick this one up if you've liked her other works, like retro thrillers, or if enjoyed the movie.

First Line: It was the egret, flying out of the lemon grove, that started it.

Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. & John Archambault

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, children's fiction, picture book, American Southwest, Native Americans, blindness, disabled protagonist, minority protagonist, horses, horse racing, family, stories, Reading Rainbow

Knots on a Counting Rope was a favorite growing up, so I was excited to find a copy on clearance for $2.99 at Half-Price Books. The book tells the story of a blind boy and his grandfather, members of an unnamed Native American tribe that that context suggests is probably the Navajo Nation. The boy, Strength-of-Blue-Horses wants his grandfather to tell him the story of his birth. Each time he tells that story, the grandfather adds another knot to the counting rope, with the idea that once the rope is full of knots, the grandson will know the story well enough to tell it himself. An inspirational story of inter-generational relationships and one boy's will to flourish in spite of the odds.

For those who enjoy picture books with disabled protagonists, good illustrations, or quality storytelling. Highly recommended.

First Line: Tell me the story again, Grandfather.

Knots on a Counting Rope is an excellent book for young children.

>95 hailelib: It is. I'm on a bit of a picture book kick right now (one of my coworkers thinks it's a reaction to finishing grad school), and it's been kind of fun to revisit the old childhood standbys.

Great thread set-up and I have never seen so many possible reads before on a thread - wow!

Library Wars sounds like something I would like. I haven't read anything by Mary Stewart before - not sure this is the book to start with, but I should give her a try.

I've stopped listing my potential reads now. Always seem to be the same each year with just minor alterations to the ones I do actually get around to reading.

>97 LisaMorr: Thanks! Library Wars is a lot of fun. For Stewart, Nine Coaches Waiting or Touch not the Cat are probably the best starting points, but most of her older stuff is good.

>98 AHS-Wolfy: I work in acquisitions at my library, so I'm always adding new ones. It's a fun intellectual exercise.

Murder by Candlelight: The Gruesome Slayings Behind Our Romance with the Macabre by Michael Knox Beran

Categories: The Venerable Bede

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, history, British history, London, true crime, murder, legal trials, execution, Romanticism, death

Murder by Candlelight is an account of several murders that took place in Britain during the first part of the nineteenth century, during what the author considers the "golden age" of murder. But while the focus is on the murderers and their actions, the author also pays attention to the writers of the era, the Romantics, and their documentation and attempts to grapple with the subject. Particularly prominent are Thomas De Quincey and Thomas Carlyle but crowd pleasers such as Byron and Shelley also make themselves known. When it comes to the murders they are the usual tales of vengeance, greed, and mindlessness. Murder is one of those things that never really changes, no matter the time or place. But Beran's prose really brings his chosen murders to life, and will make you think about the Romantics and their times in a whole new way. And yes, he does eventually get to Jack the Ripper.

Highly recommended for fans of true crime, British (and particularly London) history, Romanticism, or interesting interdisciplinary non-fiction.

First Line: On an autumn day in 1823, a coach set out from the town of Watford, in Hertfordshire, and drove toward the nearby village of Elstree, some ten miles north of London.

Black-Eyed Susans: A Novel of Suspense by Julia Heaberlin

Categories: George Mackay Brown, WomanBingoPUP

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, Texan fiction, thriller, murder, death, serial killers, death row, false convictions, forensic science, friendship, crazy people, Fort Worth, Huntsville, family, therapists

When she was sixteen years old, Tessa went out for a run and disappeared, only to be found lying with four other bodies in an abandoned field full of Black-Eyed Susans. This local wildflower comes to define the girls and the name sticks, particularly to the lone survivor. Now, years later, the man who was arrested for the crime is going to be executed in Huntsville, and Tessa is becoming increasingly aware that the wrong man might have been convicted. She is also beginning to think that original killer may be stalking her again. And now she has her own teenager to worry about. The last trial destroyed her family, but can she afford not to go through the process again? And will she live long enough to try? You'll only find out by reading all the way to the end.

A fun Texas thriller. I'm particularly heartened by the mention of Corsicana (this city needs all the PR it can get). Heaberlin clearly knows Fort Worth well, although the idea of a church in Dallas having a basement is extremely iffy, as the soil usually makes that impossible. I didn't really like the ending, which knocked it down to three stars from four, but if you like thrillers, strong heroines, or books set in modern-day Texas, this one may be for you.

First Line: Thirty-two hours of my life are missing.

Both books are going onto my wishlist - especially the Texas one. You're right, the idea of anybody having a basement in Dallas does strain the imagination a bit.

>102 LittleTaiko: They're both great books, each in its own way.

A quick geology lesson for those wondering why Dallas has almost no basements:

Dallas has what is known as expansive clay soil. Suffice to say, when the soil dries out it contracts and when it gets soaked, it expands. This wrecks havoc on building foundations and makes any basement guaranteed to crack and leak. So no one has them.

Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R. and Companions: Modern Martyrs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church by John Sianchuk

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, BingoDOG

Keywords: non-fiction, Canadian non-fiction, biography, hagiography, history, Ukrainian history, Soviet history, Polish history, WWII, Western Ukraine, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Redemptorists, martyrs, 20th century martyrs, gulag, imprisonment, political prisoners, priests

Blessed Bishop Nicholas Charnetsky, C.SS.R. and Companions is an account of the lives and deaths of 25 members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine who were beatified (declared "Blessed") by Pope John Paul II in 2001. The bulk of the book focuses on four men, two bishops and two priests, who were members of the Redemptorist Order, but there are short biographies of all the martyrs (bishops, priests, religious sisters, and laymen) at the end of the book.

A quick history lesson, Western Ukraine, also known as Galicia, was part of the Austrian Empire until 1919, when it became part of Poland. It's residents were Catholics who celebrated the same liturgy as the Orthodox but who recognized the authority of the Pope. Its spiritual capital was and is Lviv. This Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church found itself stuck between the Orthodox Russians, who felt they had fallen away and the Poles, who wanted to assimilate the Ukrainians into good Poles in part by making them join the Western Catholic tradition. The Ukrainians just wanted to keep on doing what they were doing. World War II only made things worse, because the Soviets wanted the Church done away with entirely. A good chunk of this book describes the ways they went about trying to do this. But it also tells of lives given up for the betterment of the locals and the ways in which early 20th century Ukrainian nationalism expressed itself.

There is much talk to today about ISIS/Daesh and the evils it perpetrates, but this is nothing new. Evil has always been with us, and when it comes down to it the Soviets and the Nazis could be just as disgustingly brutal as today's Islamic terrorists. Blessed Zenon Kovalyk's mock crucifixion (he was not only nailed to the wall but also had a fetus stuffed in his abdomen) bears that out. The book suffers a bit by being written for the Ukrainian diaspora by the Ukrainian diaspora, with some assumptions made and terms used that make it less accessible than it might have been. But this is an important book on an important and increasingly relevant subject.

For those with an interest in Ukrainian history, 20th century Christian persecutions, or Eastern Catholicism. Highly recommended.

First Line: The ancient and beautiful Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv holds the grave of Bishop Mykolay (Nicholas in English) Charnetsky.

In Murder by Candlelight, is that the same time period where Burke and Hare were busy killing fresh corpses for the university anatomy classes? That would all make a certain sense as a background for Frankenstein.

>104 inge87: I think they may get mentioned, although most of the murders take place slightly later when it was easier to legally acquire corpses for anatomy.

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Categories: The Inklings

Series: Innkeeper Chronicles (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, online serial, fantasy, magic, Texas, innkeepers, aliens, vampires, hope crushing hordes, peace conferences, manipulation, neutrality, trust, war, murder, assassination

Sweep in Peace is the second book in a series about a woman trying to run a inn for extraterrestrial visitors in suburban Texas. Things have quieted down a bit since the events of Clean Sweep, but when the opportunity comes for Dina and her inn to host a peace summit, they heat up quickly. First she must find a chef willing to work on a tiny budget, then she must deal with her guests: the three warring parties and the negotiators trying to work out an end to the bloodshed. Although innkeepers are supposed to be neutral, Dina quickly finds herself being manipulated by all sides. Will they ever make peace, and will Dina live to see it happen? You'll have to read on to find out.

I didn't like Sweep in Peace as much as its predecessor. It lacked that book's sense of adventurous fun and instead was just kind of depressing. The last chapter perked things up, but overall, I just wasn't feeling it. Hopefully, the promised third story will be more like the first.

First Line: A man walked into a darkened room, moving on silent feet.

B is for Bear: A Natural Alphabet by Hannah Viano

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, picture book, alphabet book, nature, animals, outdoors, art deco-eque

B is for Bear is a charming alphabet book that uses animals and other things of nature to teach the letters. What really makes the book is Viano's gorgeous art deco-esque paper cut illustrations. I'm particularly fond of H's illustration of a whirling school of herring. Highly recommended for anyone interesting in quality illustrations, unique alphabet books, or interesting picture books.

First Line: Perfect for a squirrel's winter food stash, an ACORN falls from the branches of an old oak tree.

Americanine: A Haute Dog in New York by Yann Kebbi

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: fiction, French fiction, children's fiction, picture book, dogs, New York City, travel, kinetic drawing

Americanine is the story of a French dog who visits New York City and returns to France a different breed. His friends insist he tell them all about his trip, so he does. What follows is a wild tour through New York from Manhattan to Coney Island as told through Kebbi's wild kinetic illustrations. They aren't always pretty, but they capture the hustle and bustle of the city perfectly. Highly recommended for NYC-lovers, those looking for picture books with unique concepts, or just dog lovers in general.

First Line: Hiya, pals!

Friction by Sandra Brown

Categories: George Mackay Brown

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, thriller, judicial thriller, Texas, family court, custody battles, murder, Texas Rangers, protagonist is framed, awkward romances

Friction finds Brown tackling the issues of the meaning of family, child custody battles, and good old fashioned cold-blooded murder. All Crawford Hunt wants is custody of his daughter. He gave her up to his in-laws while coping with the aftereffects of his wife's death, but now he's ready to live again and ready for his daughter. Only his in-laws and a family court judge stand in his way—until a gunman storms the courtroom and opens fire. Now not only is the custody battle on hold, but someone is trying to frame Crawford for the crime. It will take all he can do to stay alive and keep those he loves safe. Especially since his heart keeps wanting to add the judge to that category too.

It's Sandra Brown so you know they're going to survive: it's the journey that's important. And this journey is a lot of fun.

First Line: The two stalwart highway patrolmen guarding he barricade stared at her without registering any emotion, but because of the media blitz of the past few days, she knew they recognized her and that, in spite of their implacable demeanor, they were curious to know why Judge Holly Spencer was angling to get closer to the scene of a bloodbath.

Wickedly Dangerous by Deborah Blake

Categories: The Inklings

Series: Baba Yaga (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, Upstate New York, missing children, small town gossip, the Otherworld, magic

Wickedly Dangerous takes place in a world where Baba Yaga is a professional title held by witches who do the bidding of the Queen of the Otherworld on Earth. Barbara, our first Baba in the series, is travelling through Upstate New York in her airstream when she catches the attention of a local sheriff tasked with locating a serial kidnapper. Barbara hasn't been in town long enough to be that person, but Liam is looking at anyone who might fit the bill. When a local makes a bargain with her to save her daughter, Baba gets involved in the case as well, which is good because it soon become apparent that the Otherworld is involved. Cue the suspenseful music.

An average, but fun, urban fantasy. It's not the best thing you'll ever read, but it's not the worst either.

First Line: The crackle of the two-way radio barely impinged on Liam McClellan's consciousness as he scanned the bushes on either side of his squad car for any sign of a missing seven-year-old girl.

>110 inge87: Wow, that's a long first sentence! I like seeing all the first sentences of the books you read.

>109 inge87: - I love dogs and NYC - on the wishlist it goes. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll probably order it in the next day or so.

>112 rabbitprincess: I've been adding first lines since September 2014, and it's a lot of fun. They're like little book nuggets, providing hints at what the rest of the book will be like. Friction's is one of the longer ones, although I can think of at least one more that was longer.

>113 LittleTaiko: It sounds like Americanine will be right up your alley.

Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

Categories: Mary Chesnut, DeweyCAT, BingoDOG

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, Jewish non-fiction, memoir, books, non-profits, Yiddish, Yiddish literature, book rescues, Jewish culture, Jewish-American culture, language extinction, immigration, assimilation, generation differences, National Yiddish Book Center

Outwitting History is the story of the creation of the Yiddish Book Museum, now located at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Going to college at Mount Holyoke, I used to pass it all the time on the bus, but I never actually visited. Lansky discovered Yiddish while a student at Hampshire, but it was only during a graduate program at McGill that he found his calling to rescue Yiddish literature from oblivion. With just an idea and some contacts, he began collecting Yiddish books from those who no longer needed them to redistribute them to those who did. Little did he realize the volume of books he would receive. Lansky started his project just as the last generation of Yiddish speakers was dying, so he found himself the heir to a culture that was rapidly fading away. Through the years, he met a number of remarkable people, had some exciting book-schlepping adventures, and found himself creating a permanent future for Yiddish culture that will last long after its last members are gone.

An interesting life told interestingly. If you like Yiddish, books, or Jewish culture, you'll want to pick this up.

First Line: The phone rang at midnight.

Survival by Julie E. Czerneda+

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT, BingoDOG, WomanBingoPUP

Series: Species Imperative (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, science fiction, science, biology, evolutionary biology, salmon, research, graduate students, aliens, space travel, invasion, friendship

Mac is a salmon biologist who runs a lab in the British Columbian wilderness. Her only concerns are her research and dealing with the owners of the land the lab is located on. She has no interest in anything off planet, even though space travel is a possibility for anyone who wants it. However, in Survival, everything changes. Friends become enemies and enemies friends, and Mac finds herself far beyond anywhere she ever thought she'd be. Caught up in an intergalactic mystery with no idea why she (a salmon scientist) was chosen, it is all Mac can do to keep it together. She is changing, but the scientist in her never leaves. Even if she finds her way back home, some parts of Mac will never be the same.

First Line: The drop glistened, green and heavy, as it coalesced at the leaf's tip.

>115 inge87: - this sounds like an interesting book so I think I'll take a book bullet on this one. And since the museum is only a couple of hours away, I might take a trip up there in the summer.

>117 dudes22: I've heard good things about it and knew someone who interned there one summer, but I never made it myself. Now I live halfway across the country, so I'll have to wait for my next college reunion before I have a chance to visit.

The Reign of Christ the King by Michael Davies

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, church and state, Catholic politicians, lecture

The Reign of Christ the King is the slighted edited version of a lecture Davies gave in 1991 about how the Western world has ceased to recognized Christ as King and instead has put man before him. Davies gives the reasons why Christ is King and how we reached the point in which his kingship has become something that embarrasses many Catholics, who seek to follow the world instead of Christ. In short, Davies is against the separation of church and state, which he views as an evil that came out of humanism and the French Revolution. Over twenty years later, many of his points are still valid if not even more valid than when he made them. Even if you disagree with Davies, he's always interesting and gives you something to think about. This book is no exception.

First Line: On 11 December 1925 Pope Pius XI promulgated his encyclical letter Quas Primas, on the Kingship of Christ.

Migration by Julie E. Czerneda+

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT, BingoDOG, WomanBingoPUP

Series: Species Imperative (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, science fiction, science, biology, evolutionary biology, research, graduate students, aliens, space travel, invasion, friendship, betrayal

Migration finds Mac recovering from the events of the previous book and getting forced to take a vacation after a mysterious earthquake damages the research station. All she really wants to do is focus on salmon while trying to forget Emily's betrayal. No one seems to take her story about the dangers of the Ro seriously. Until she finds herself tracked down by a couple of aliens and accepted to join an intergalactic conference on the crisis situation in New Zealand. There she makes some new friends and begins to make headway. But so are the Dhryn as they eat their way across planetary systems. Why are they doing this and what do the Ro has to do with it? These are only some of the questions Mac must answer, before the species' migration brings them to Earth and all Mac holds dear.

The unusual sequel that doesn't suffer for being the middle book of a trilogy. Highly recommended for fans of well-written science fiction featuring strong women, intelligent aliens, and lots of biology.

First Line: By what measure should we condemn ourselves?

Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me by Geert Wilders

Categories: Mary Chesnut

Keywords: non-fiction, Dutch non-fiction, memoir, politics, current events, Islam, Islamism, Islam vs. the West, migration, immigrants, crime, no-go zones, assassinations, police protection, living in hiding

Marked for Death is a combination memoir and polemic by the Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Best known for his political alliance with Ayaan Hirsi Ali and his opposition to what he sees as Islam's incompatibility with Western culture. Probably the best bit is when Wilders is describing what it is like to have to live in hiding with 24/7 police protection, which has been his life since the attack on Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in 2010. It's a soulless life with no privacy and no stability, because he must constantly move around to keep his identity secret. I'd never be able to stand it, but somehow Wilders has manage to endure. There's a lot of exaggeration about Islam, but reading it after the Paris attacks, there are also some insights that seem remarkably prescient. 2012 seems like a much more innocent time compared to life after 2015. Wilders may make people uncomfortable, but his position certainly has a place in the greater conversation about the West's relationship with migrants and with Islam.

An interesting book by a very controversial politician. Whatever you may think about his politics, Wilders will make you think. Which is what I value most in books about politics and current events.

First Line: On January 1, 2010, at 10:00 p.m., a 74-year-old man fled from his living room.

Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, religion, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Nicholas of Myra, Christmas present

Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins is a picture book retelling of the story of Saint Nicholas and how he saved three girls from prostitution. Not that the book ever actually mentions that bit, it just says they couldn't marry. Nicholas is depicted as a youth who wants to do good and live up the model set by his late parents and by his uncle the local bishop, so when he realizes his neighbors' situation, he comes up with a plan.

What really makes this book is Vladislav Andrejev's illustrations, done in the style of Eastern Orthodox iconography. For anyone who likes good illustrations or is looking for Saint Nicholas stories that focus on the saint instead of Santa Claus.

First Line: Once upon a time there was a boy named Nicholas.

Quick Curtain by Alan Melville

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers, BingoDOG

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, mystery, golden age mystery, police investigation, father-son detective team, theatre, actors, opening night, murder, missing persons, farce, satire, British Library Crime Classics

Quick Curtain is a golden age mystery of the theatre. It's opening night and anyone who's anyone is there. They get more than they paid for though, when the play's hero ends up shot on stage. The shooter hangs himself, but a theatre-loving investigator and his journalist son think that more is going on. What follows a series of farces, as the two follow leads around the London and beyond. Just what is the ingenue up to and where did she disappear to? How did the victim acquire two widows? And just what direction did the bullet actually come from? It's up to our unlikely duo to find out.

Don't take it too seriously, because it sure doesn't. There's some police procedure somewhere, it just gets lost in the comedic moments. Recommended for lovers of golden age mysteries, father-son investigative teams, and theatrical fiction.

First Line: M. René Gasnier's bald pate loomed suddenly over the rail of the orchestra pit.

The Easter Chick by Géraldine Elschner

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: fiction, German fiction, picture book, holiday picture book, Easter, Easter picture book, chickens, eggs, counting down to Easter

Poor Hilda, she has a beautiful egg that she's been incubating for a while, but it just won't hatch. Then one day she hears a voice. Her chick has decided it wants to be born on Easter and wants to know how many days are left. Hilda doesn't know, so she asks the other barn animals who direct her to a wise owl. He teaches Hilda and her chick how to count to Easter: it's the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring.

A cute book that is so fun you forget you are learning. There aren't that many Easter books that aren't either about bunnies or Bible stories, so it certainly fills a useful niche. Lent is coming up, so it's the perfect time to pick up The Easter Chick from your library, so you can count down the days with Hilda and her chick.

First Line: Hilda had laid the most beautiful egg, and she fussed over it lovingly.

Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda+

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Species Imperative (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, science fiction, science, biology, evolutionary biology, research, graduate students, aliens, space travel, invasion, friendship, evolution, species manipulation

Regeneration brings the trilogy to a close. Mac and Nik continue their long-distance quasi-relationship as their responsibilities drag them to opposite ends of space. Mac has Emily back, but needs to keep her occupied as Mac herself travels to Myriam to investigate the Dhryn's evolutionary past. But she never makes it. The Ro will do anything to stop Mac, even if Mac still hasn't figured out why. Meanwhile we learn a lot about the Dhryn and how they lived before their fatal meeting with the Ro. Which is good, because what Mac does eventually figure out takes her back to Earth where the time for the final reckoning has come.

An excellent trilogy that combines evolutionary biology with the best kind of science fiction. Highly recommended for fans of science fiction with strong female protagonists, science fiction about science, or well-written stories.

First Line: The portents will come.

Species Imperative sounds like a good series to add to my list.

>126 LisaMorr: It's an excellent trilogy. Czerneda was a scientist before she was a writer, so she really knows what she's talking about.

I'm glad to hear your positive comments about Czerneda's work. I'd never heard of her until a year ago, which is really embarrassing, considering that she is somewhat "local" and we both went to the same university. I met her recently at a Toronto convention and found her to be totally charming, and gracious when she won the Canadian Aurora Best Novel award this year. Anyhow, I picked up a copy of A Turn of Light from her fantasy series and hope to get to it soon. It sounds like I should try her science fiction series as well.

>128 mathgirl40: I loved A Turn of Light when I read it in 2013. That was actually my first Czerneda. I've got the sequel on my shelves but haven't gotten to it yet. Overall, she's been a great discovery.

The Nativity by Géraldine Elschner

Categories: Beatrix Potter, RandomCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, German non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, holiday picture book, Christmas, Christmas picture book, Annunciation, Visitation, Holy Innocents, Three Kings, flight into Egypt, religion, Christianity, fine art illustrations, Giotto frescoes, Christmas present

The Nativity is a retelling of the Christmas story using images from Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Beginning with the Annunciation it continues through the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth and the journey to Bethlehem. After the birth the book continues with the arrival of shepherds and wise men and the slaughter of the Innocents ending with Joseph's dream and the flight to Egypt. The last page has a nice allusion to Easter that is subtle in a way I don't normally associate with picture books, but is really the perfect ending.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not Giotto's greatest fan—I really don't like the way he paints eyes—but there is something to be said about picture books using classic art. It's a great way to expose children to the great artists without forcing it on them, like hiding zucchini in chocolate muffins. Overall, definitely one to include in the Christmas picture book collection.

First Line: One morning in the spring, a voice sounded in Mary's house.

The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-Tale from Ireland by Roger Buck

Categories: George Mackay Brown, RandomCAT

Keywords: fiction, Catholic fiction, philosophical fiction, Ireland, Socratic dialogue, traditional Catholicism, church and society, conservatism, monarchism, strange encounters, mysterious guests, romance, secularism, New Age-ism, Catholicism, philosophy, debate, Christmas present

The Gentle Traditionalist is a rather odd book by modern standards: most of it is a Socratic dialogue between the narrator, the mysterious "Gentle Traditionalist", and various interesting visitors. Our hero is a rather confused average Brit, who is in love with Anna. First he lost her to a search for New Age completion, and now he's shocked to discover that she wants to be a Catholic nun. When she invites him to visit her in Ireland, he thinks he may still have a chance. But was it all a misunderstanding? After he's in a car accident, he stumbles into the office of the Gentle Traditionalist, who promises to explain everything that's separating him from Anna and how he might still win her. For the narrator, it's a trip through the rabbit hole to a world view completely different from his. But for anyone looking for a painless introduction to traditional Catholic thought (albeit a particularly European strain), it's a journey they'll want to take.

A unique book and probably best described as Sophie's World meets Father Brown, I've never read anything quite like it. Highly recommended for anyone interested in modern Catholic fiction, traditional Catholic philosophy, or Irish Catholic culture.

First Line: GPL. Those are my initials.

January Round-Up!

Books Read: 26

Category Challenge

26 of 192 read - 13.5% done

0 of 16 categories completed - 0% done

Individual Categories
1. Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 0 - 0%
2. The Inklings: Fantasy - 5 - 41.67%
3. Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir - 2 - 16.67%
4. Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction - 2 - 16.67%
5. Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction - 0 - 0%
6. The Venerable Bede: History - 1 - 8.33%
7. Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries - 1 - 8.33%
8. Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction - 0 - 0%
9. Beatrix Potter: Picture Books - 8 - 66.67%
10. George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 3 - 25%
11. Dominic de Guzmán: Religion - 1 - 8.33%
12. Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir - 2 - 16.67%
13. Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 1 - 8.33%
14. Gregor Mendel: Science - 0 - 0%
15. Herodotus: Travel - 0 - 0%
16. Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction - 0 - 0%

Challenges
BingoDOG - 9
WomanBingoPUP - 5
GeoCAT - 3
RandomCAT - 3
SFFKIT - 3
DeweyCAT - 2

Genre
Fiction - 15 - 57.69%
Non-Fiction - 11 - 42.31%

Sources
Work - 5 - 19.23%
Austin PL (e-book) - 4 - 15.38%
Irving PL - 4 - 15.38%
Me (last month) - 4 - 15.38%
Me (this month) - 4 - 15.38%
Me (other) - 3 - 11.53%
ILL - 2 - 7.69%

Authors
Female - 11 - 47.83%
Male - 11 - 47.83%
Both - 1 - 4.34%

Edition Language
English - 26 - 100%

Original Language
English - 21 - 80.77%
French - 2 - 7.69%
German - 2 - 7.69%
Japanese - 1 - 3.85%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 19 - 73.08%
Series Books - 7 - 26.92%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 2 - 7.69%
3 stars - 14 - 53.84%
4 stars - 9 - 34.62%
5 stars - 1 - 3.85%

Average Rating
3.35

Best of the Month



Fiction: Species Imperative: Survival, Migration, Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda

Non-Fiction: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt

The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World's Favorite Beverage from 7000 BC to Today's Craft Brewing Revolution by Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith, & Aaron McConnell

Categories: Naoko Takeuchi

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, graphic-format non-fiction, history, history of drink, beer, brewing, comic book-format

The Comic Book Story of Beer is a history of beer from the Ancient Sumerians through medieval monks and modern industrialist brewing to the craft beer movement of today done in a comic book format. If you've ever wondering about how your beer came to be or just like interesting graphic non-fiction, it's worth picking up. The authors certainly know their beer, although their history (or maybe just their grasp of Catholicism) seems a bit too popularized to be completely accurate. Using the frame narrative of a beer novice who has to pick up some suds for a party for some foodies, the book tells beer's story from the very beginning. Once we read the middle ages, each chapter also features profiles of one or two well-known types of beer that originate in that era. Whatever you might think about the value of graphic-format works, if you grab this one, it's guaranteed that you'll finish knowing a lot more about beer than you though possible.

Recommended for beer fans and those interested in interesting graphic-format non-fiction.

First Line: B-DEEP!

>133 inge87:
Aaah, thank you! You just solved a birthday-gift problem for me!! :)

>121 inge87: Taking note of Geert Wilders. This book sounds interesting.

>134 -Eva-: You're welcome! It would make a great gift for any beer-lover.

>135 Tara1Reads: Interesting is a good word for him. No matter what he says, it's usually interesting.

Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser

Categories: Gregor Mendel

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, science, health sciences, medicine, microbiology, microbes, antibiotics, missing microbes, disease, diabetes, gluten intolerance, food allergies, antibiotic resistance

Missing Microbes is an important discussion of the role that the microbes that live on and in us have in keeping us healthy and what happens when they disappear. There is a particular focus on antibiotics, because they appear to be the main culprit, but other factors are also discussed in detail. Research is increasingly suggesting that these "missing microbes" may be responsible for the rise of many illnesses and conditions that were uncommon, if not unheard of, before the modern era. The book can probably be divided into four sections: introduction to microbes, why are the microbes disappearing, what effect does the lack of these microbes have on our health, and what we can do about it.

My grandfather and his three siblings caught diphtheria in November 1917. Living in the country, half of them died because my great-grandparents waited to late for the father to ride into town and get a doctor. I would really prefer not to get dragged back into that time, so I try to avoid antibiotics except when absolutely necessary. This makes me automatically sympathetic to Blaser's arguments, but for those skeptical about the pitfalls and dangers of antibiotics (or who think all bacteria are bad), there are 36 pages of endnotes to back up his claims in the text.

A well-written, highly accessible book about a topic that will only become more prominent in health science debates as research continues. Highly recommended.

First Line: I never knew two of my father's sisters.

>137 inge87: This looks good too. I am getting too many BBs from your thread haha!

>138 Tara1Reads: There's a warning in post #20 for a reason! :)

Jackaby by William Ritter

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, DeweyCAT, RandomCAT, SFFKIT

Series: Jackaby (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, YA, fantasy, historical fantasy, mystery, detective duo, New England, murder, supernatural crimes, investigation, police, extermination, legendary creatures, ghosts, shapeshifters

Jackaby is a YA historical fantasy set in New England featuring a detective pair who investigate supernatural crime. He is a seer who may be mad and she is fresh off a Romanian dinosaur hunt, what could possibly go wrong?

Abigail ran away from her English home to hunt for dinosaur fossils in Romania, when that didn't work, she decided to go home, but then decided America sounded less threatening than facing her parents. So she ends up in New Fiddlesham with no money, no friends, and no employment. A chance encounter with the enigmatic Jackaby changes that and she becomes his assistant. Before she can acclimate herself to her new position, she finds herself knee deep in murder. A local man has been murdered and exsanguinated and Jackaby has decided that he is on the case—even if the local police want him very, very far away. When Jackaby predicts another murder, it appears New Fiddlesham is in great trouble indeed. If only he and Abigail weren't the prime suspects!

A fun historical fantasy, that is so fantastical, you don't notice all the anachronisms. Highly recommended for fans of unusual or detective YA novels.

First Line: It was late January, and New England wore a fresh coat of snow as I stepped along the gangplank to the shore.

>139 inge87: Oh sorry I missed that warning!

>141 Tara1Reads: Too late!

And I've added Missing Microbes to my list to investigate.

>137 inge87: and >142 inge87: Ooh! My library actually has Missing Microbes and it's currently checked out. It's a small miracle on both counts. :-)

>140 inge87: Glad you liked Jackaby -- it's a lot of fun! I really need to pick up book #2, Beastly Bones.

>143 hailelib: It's a good one.

>144 Tara1Reads: I know that feeling. My public library is on the small side of medium—and seems to order way more Amish Christian romances and midlife-crisis "woman finds herself" dramas than anything I actually want to read. Which is why it's always a thrill to spot something good in their catalogue.

>145 christina_reads: I went ahead and grabbed Beastly Bones at work, since we have a copy. I've only gotten a few pages in, but it seems to pick up right where Jackaby ended with the cat that is turning into a fish. Poor cat!

Beastly Bones by William Ritter

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, DeweyCAT, RandomCAT, SFFKIT

Series: Jackaby (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, YA, fantasy, historical fantasy, mystery, detective duo, New England, murder, supernatural crimes, investigation, shapeshifters, dinosaur bones, theft, animal attacks, friendship

Beastly Bones picks up where right where Jackaby left off, with our intrepid pair going to visit a society lady whose cat appears to be turning into a fish. By the time they get there the transformation is complete and the cat is now living in a bowl and has a litter of scaly kittens. Jackaby takes them back home and reveals them to be chameleomorphs: predators that take on the appearance of their prey in order to live among them and feed at will. Abigail is excited about the discovery of dinosaur bones in nearby Gad's Valley, which just so happens to be where everyone's favorite police officer had to move after it was revealed that he was a dog shifter. Jackaby is focused on the chameleomorphs and rejects a visit to the bones—until the chameleomorphs' previous owner is found murdered in a strange way that matches deaths in Gad's Valley. So a visit to the bones (and Charlie) is in order. And that's where the adventure truly begins.

This one suffers a bit from middle-of-the-trilogy-itis, and is really just one big set up for the last book. Not that it isn't fun in its own way, it just seems a bit pointless in the greater scheme of things. Kind of like the monster. But book three is going to be the investigation of Jenny's murder, so I am very excited for September when it's due out.

First Line: "Follow my lead, Miss Rook," Jackaby said, rapping on the ornately trimmed door to 1206 Campbell Street.

The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution by Donald R. Prothero

Categories: Gregor Mendel

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, science, evolution, history of life, fossils, paleontology, case studies

The Story of Life in 25 Fossils tells the story of evolution from the first life from Cryptozoon (think stromatolites) to Lucy, our oldest human ancestor. Instead of just history in fossils, it is better to think of this book as history in case studies. Each chapter contains a short history of one facet of Earth's evolutionary history organized around one fossil, but not dominated by it. At the end of each chapter is a short reference list and a feature telling where you can see the fossils or replicas of the fossils in person. This is supplemented by an appendix containing lists of the best natural history museums in the US and around the world. It's all a lot of fun, although the author does get preachy in the last two chapters, the ones about our direct human ancestors, to the extent that I skimmed them more than read them. Otherwise, it's an accessible introduction to a very important area of science.

I was recently introduced to the concept of teaching through living books vs. textbooks by the internet. This would be a great resource for someone trying to teach the history of life/evolutionary science using that method, with the aforementioned caveats about the last two chapters. But since each chapter is self-contained, they can easily be avoided.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of life or the fossils that tell us all we know about it.

First Line: When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, the fossil record was a weak spot in his argument.

An Alphabet of Saints by Robert Hugh Benson

Categories: Robert Southwell

Keywords: poetry, British poetry, religious poetry, Catholic poetry, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, saints, art nouveau

An Alphabet of Saints is an alphabet book containing one saint for every letter of the alphabet from Anthony of Padua to Zita. Each saint has a picture with a short description as well as several rhyming lines of verse about their lives. In that it is very much a book of its time. What is remarkable now is that it was geared towards children, whereas our educational system has changed so much in the ensuing century that kind of doggrel is encountered much later, if at all.

Although it is technically a children's book, the level of writing means that it is equally enjoyable for adults with an interest in poetry. The art nouveau print illustrations are also worth a view. Recommended for Benson fans as well as those looking for solid Catholic children's books.

First Line: The twenty-six SAINTS in this volume of rhymes
Lived in various places in various times ;

A Story Of Saint John Vianney by Brother Ernest, CSC

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, biography, hagiography, Jean Vianney, Curé of Ars

A Story Of Saint John Vianney is the life of the famous Curé d'Ars retold for children. Emphasis is put on the fact that he struggled academically and almost couldn't become a priest, but still managed not only to become a priest but also to become a saint. Which is a fairly good lesson as such lessons go.

Vianney was born to a poor family in a time when priests were banned by the revolutionary French government. By the time this was changed, he had a lot of catching up to do and struggled in the seminary. When he received the parish of Ars, he arrived to find hardly anyone attended services. By hard work and personal devotion, he not only changed things locally, but soon become known throughout France.

An interesting take on an interesting life. There are not as many pictures in this one, so it is probably best for intermediate readers or reading aloud.

First Line: Those of us who find it difficult to study should be very interested in a boy by the name of John Baptist Vianney.

Corpus Christi: Holy Communion and The Renewal of the Church by Athanasius Schneider

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, Kyrgyz non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Holy Communion, Eucharist, mouth vs. hand

Corpus Christi is more of a conglomeration of thoughts about the importance of the Eucharist than an organic whole. The first chapter is the story of a family the author knew in Kazakhstan. The next couple of chapters are the author's thoughts on the proper reception of the Eucharist (in the mouth, not in the hand), and then there is a chapter of excerpts from writers (particularly Pope Paul VI) about the importance of receiving in the mouth, then there are some prayers, and then some concluding thoughts. The overall whole is interesting, but I think Dominus Est is the better book.

Still, if you liked that book, or are interesting in Schneider or in current issues involving the Eucharist, you may way to pick this one up.

First Line: Peter Schmidtlein was born near Karaganda April 16th 1967 in the large German family of Peter and Serafina Schmidtlein who had eight children.

Since he's the namesake of my religion category, here's an excerpt from An Alphabet of Saints brought to you by St. Dominic and the Letter D:

D for SAINT DOMINIC, Spanish by birth,
Who shone like a star in all parts of the earth.
In France there were heretics called Albigenses
Who poisoned the Faith wither their lying pretenses,
And spread their ridiculous nonsense about;
But Saint DOMINIC went and soon hunted them out.
Then with with Lawrence and Bertrand and Peter Cellani
He started his Order of Dominicani,
Or Domini Canes, the Dogs of the LORD,
Who go hunting for souls in the might of the Word.
The MASTER they follow in black-and-white coat
To catch men by the heart instead of the throat.
        Our LADY much loved this dear knight of the LORD,
        And her rosary served for his buckler and sword.

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick

Categories: Beatrix Potter, RandomCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, Winnie-the-Pooh, WWI, black bears, Canadians, Christopher Robin, veterinarians, mascots, orphaned animals, friendship, family, Caldecott Medal

Finding Winnie is a charming picture book that tells the story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Poor, complete with A Princess Bride-style interruptions. Lindsay is telling her son Cole a bedtime story about her grandfather, Harry Colebourn, a Canadian veterinarian who joins the army during World War I and buys a bear cub from a trapper on the way to Britain that he names Winnipeg after his hometown. "Winnie" soon becomes the unit's mascot, but when the troops leave Britain for the front, Winnie gets left behind at the London Zoo, where she makes a new friend, one Christopher Robin Milne. Throughout the story, Cole interrupts his mother with questions (and no, this is not a kissing book), which makes the story accessible and gets readers thinking along with Cole.

I'm a great fan of Sophie Blackall's illustrations are excellent and perfectly complement the text. A must-read for Pooh fans or anyone who enjoys quality picture books. Highly recommended for reading aloud or reading alone, as long as you read it!

First Line: "Could you tell me a story?" asked Cole.

Dreaming Death by J. Kathleen Cheney

Categories: The Inklings, DeweyCAT, SFFKIT, WomanBingoPUP

Series: Palace of Dreams (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, psychics, touch sensitives, dreaming, murder, ritual murder, family, secrets, death, investigations, politics

Dreaming Death is the first in a new series by the author of the Golden City trilogy. Instead of historical Portugal, we are now in an entirely new world with its own rules and order. Mikael Lee dreams of murder and death while Shironne lives his visions. They have never met, because others have felt it safer that way. But a series of murders means that this is going to change. And nothing will be the same again. Because in a world where power is shifting, and the balance between ethnic groups is delicate, someone is unleashing chaos and only Mikael and Shironne can stop him.

A very interesting start to a new series, there's a lot of world-making here, and I still think there are bits that need to be resolved. The blind heroine with extreme touch sensitivity is an interesting POV that I haven't encountered before, although Cheney has explored the possibilities of touch sensitivity in some of her short fiction. The next book apparently picks up a month later, and I can't wait to see what has happened in the meantime.

Recommended for fans of Cheney's other works or interesting fantasy in general.

First Line: Liran Prifata's dove gray uniform jacket lay to one side, his shirt tangled with it, pale blotches on the bare dirt.

The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Categories: Mary Stewart, BingoDOG

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, thriller, murder, cross-country travel, mysterious female, police chase, golden age mystery, UK edition

The Z Murders is a thriller from the golden age of British mysteries. In this case, a chance encounter between a young man, a beautiful girl, and a dead man turns into a cross country chase around England. The police chase the man who chases the girl who seems to be fleeing for her life. But what is behind these mysterious deaths and just what is the significance of the "Z" medallions left at the scene? Only time will tell, but there may not be any time left.

A fun thriller. I liked Mystery in White better, but this one is still very good. Highly recommended for fans of golden age mysteries, retro thrillers, or British travel.

First Line: Places, like people, have varying moods, and the moods of London are legion.

Winterwood by Jacey Bedford

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Rowankind (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, fantasy, historical fantasy, magic, ghosts, fae, shapeshifters, government agents, privateers, family, secrets

Winterwood is the first in a new historical fantasy series, and while it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it shows potential . . . great potential. Ross Tremayne is a young widow who captain's her late husband's privateer ship in his name as part of the wars against Napoleon. When she visits her mother for the first time in years, she receives a strange inheritance: a box, a brother, and a man out for her blood. All she wants is to go back to sea, and her husband's ghost would like that as well, but fate has other plans in store and if she wants to survive she may have no choice.

It's got everything you'd expect for an historical pirate fantasy . . . mysterious govenment agents, deadly family secrets, magical mysteries, and lots of fae. But somehow it just didn't meld the way it should have (or at least the way I thought it should have). But book two sends us off to visit some wolf shifters in Yorkshire, so I'm hoping things will be a bit smoother now that we're off and running. Recommended for fan of interesting historical romantic fantasy that don't mind a few rough edges.

First Line: The stuffy bedroom stank of sickness, with an underlying taint of old lady, stale urine, and unwashed clothes, poorly disguised with attar of roses.

I Sing a Song of the Saints of God by Lesbia Scott

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, children's fiction, picture book, religion, Christianity, song, hymn, saints, Anglicanism, Episcopalianism

I Sing a Song of the Saints of God was one of my favorite hymns that we sang in Episcopal elementary school, so when I discovered that someone had turned it into a picture book, I couldn't not buy it. The song discusses how all kinds of people became saints, and the illustrator, Judith Gwyn Brown, has interpreted the lyrics though the medium of a parish play. The artwork has just the right touch of nostalgia, but I'm not sure if that was done on purpose or just the effect of 35-year-old fashions in art. I really liked it. If you ever sang "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" in an Episcopal or Anglican church, you'll like it too. But you may also like it if you're interesting in good, quality illustrations or picture books about saints. Highly recommended.

First Line: I sing a song of the saints of God,
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.

>155 inge87: The Z Murders was so delightfully bonkers. And a gorgeous cover, again!

>158 rabbitprincess: Indeed. I've got Thirteen Guests on the shelves to read as well, so there's still more attractively-packaged Farjeon to come. :)

>153 inge87:

Finding Winnie sounds like a great book. I like to keep up with Caldecott winners.

>160 hailelib: Finding Winnie is an amazing book and totally worthy of the Caldecott. I'm a great fan of picture books as a medium and am rather enjoying the fact that my need for a 16th category has given me an excuse to bring my obsession out into the open.

Oops . . . I skipped one. This should have gone between The Z Murders and Winterwood.
_____________________________________________



Saints for Girls: A First Book for Little Catholic Girls by Susan Weaver et al.

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: non-fiction, American fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, biography, hagiography, saints

Saints for Girls is a collection of stories of female saints that were previously published in four volumes between 1957 and 1961. All of the famous ones are here, plus a couple of lesser known women of the faith. Some sections are smaller, while Saints Therese and Bernadette have longer stories dedicated to them. Each section has the original title page with the author and illustrations names as well as the imprimatur. The best part are the very retro mid-century illustrations, which is a style that I am very fond of.

A nice collection of stories of women who lived their lives for Christ and the Church, written for early readers.

Wild Hearts by Sharon Sala

Categories: George Mackay Brown, DeweyCAT

Series: Secrets and Lies (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, thriller, romance, West Virginia, death, murder, family, childhood sweethearts, reporters, dreams

Wild Hearts is the first in a trilogy of romantic thrillers set in the fictional West Virginia town of Mystic. The apparent suicide and possible murder of her father brings reporter Dallas Phillips back to her hometown from the bright lights of Charleston and back into contact with Trey, her old childhood sweetheart who is now the town's chief of police. Her father, Trey's mother, and two other classmates were involved in a terrible accident after their high school graduation. One died and the other three were too injured and drunk to remember what happened. But now Trey's mother is dreaming and her dreams contain her fractured memories of that night. Meanwhile, Dallas's family farm is about to be foreclosed upon. Her father never mentioned anything to her, but it appears that he had a plan and did not want to call upon her to help him. So she sets about trying to figure out his secret and do it herself. Trey, of course, is more than happy to help. Especially, since it seems that someone has it out for Dallas, just like they had it out for her father.

A fun thriller about coming home and reclaiming lost love. The dream segments are interesting and clearly something very bad happened (but knowing Sala, we won't find out what until book 3). Highly recommended for fans of romantic thrillers and childhood sweethearts.

First Line: The cackle of hens and the occasional squawk of a pissed-off rooster were the beginning to Dick Phillips's day as he went about his morning chores.

Cold Hearts by Sharon Sala

Categories: George Mackay Brown, DeweyCAT

Series: Secrets and Lies (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, thriller, romance, West Virginia, death, murder, family, dreams, stalkers, break-ins, high school romance, meddling parents

Cold Hearts picks up where it's predecessor left off—yet another passenger in that fateful ride 30 years ago has been killed and now Mack is left to piece together what happened to his father. Trey's mother is still dreaming back her memory, and now she is the only one of the four still alive. Meanwhile, Mack's high school girlfriend is back in town after she inherits her parents' house and naturally (because it's that kind of book) she's being stalked. The two did not part well, but he still loves her enough not to let a crazy stalker kill her. Together they investigate his father's death and the identity of her stalker, but the hunters in Mystic are both busy and secretive, and time is running out.

Not quite is good as the first book, but then again second books rarely are. The third book comes out at the end of March, and we'll finally find out all the secrets someone is willing to kill to keep quiet.

First Line: It began with phone calls in the night.

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, children's fiction, picture book, religion, Christianity, Christmas, Russia, Soviet Union, secrets, persecution

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas is a charming Christmas picture book set in Russia that teaches both the spirit of Christmas and the history of the persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union. Now some might wonder why I read a Christmas book in February, but the truth is my library hold took almost two months to come in, so I figured it was better late than never. It's Christmas time in Russia and Alexi is listening to his grandmother tell stories of what Christmas was like when she was a girl, before the soldiers came. Alexi wonders why they can't celebrate Christmas like that anymore, but as his grandmother reminds him, it has been sixty years since the soldiers came and shut down the church and the priest disappeared. But Alexi decides to try anyway and low and behold a miracle happens.

A unique and memorable story that should be added to Christmas picture book collections everywhere.

First Line: It was the day before Christmas in the small Russian village of Zeema.

Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat by Jeanne Perego

Categories: Beatrix Potter, RandomCAT

Keywords: fiction, Italian fiction, children's fiction, biographical fiction, picture book, cats, Pope Benedict XVI

Joseph and Chico is a picture book biography of Pope Benedict XVI as told by Chico, a cat who has known him his entire life. Which was my biggest issue with the book (and may be an issue with older children readers as well), because there is no way a cat can be that old! But it's a lovely book besides that and a good way to introduce the younger set to Pope Benedict.

First Line: MEEEOOOOW!

A Bride's Story, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori

Categories: Naoko Takeuchi, GeoCAT

Series: A Bride's Story (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, Japanese fiction, historical fiction, graphic novel, manga, Central Asia, nomads, marriage, family, baking, embroidery, kidnapping, guests

A Bride's Story, Volume 2 follows Amir and her new family as she continues to get to know her neighbors and becomes accustomed to village life. We also get to meet Mr. Smith, an English adventurer who has come to stay with Amir's in-laws while documenting their way of life. But the events at the end of Volume one to to fruition, and her family has come to take her back and give her to another clan in marriage. Will she be forced to accompany them and leave her new family behind, or will she find a way to resist their demands? You'll have to read on to find out.

I really like this manga. A perfect way to introduce someone to manga who thinks they don't like manga, the series is accessible and really shows the flexibility of the format. But you'll want to start with volume one first.

First Line:

Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers, BingoDOG

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, mystery, murder, airplanes, flying, Scotland Yard, bishop-investigator, mysterious deaths, criminal enterprises, newspapers, secret lives

An Australian bishop comes to the Baston Aero Club to learn how to fly and better reach is distant parishioners, but instead he arrives just in time to encounter Death of an Airman in this fast-paced aeronautical mystery. Just when the crash appears to be a clear case of suicide, the investigators uncover a wide-reaching conspiracy with links to the continent. But just who killed the airman and when did they do it—You'll have to read all the way to the end to find out.

An exciting golden age murder mystery complete with an eccentric crime-solving cleric, what could be more fun. Highly recommended.

First Line: A young woman with a reddish face and horn-rimmed glasses appeared suddenly out of a door marked "Manager, Baston Aero Club".

>168 inge87: This book ticked off so many boxes for me! It was a lot of fun.

Edit: found a link to the cover illustrator's website! He's done a couple of other BLCCs. http://chrisnandrews.co.uk/news/british-library-crime-classics/

>169 rabbitprincess: It's got a little bit of everything I like in my vintage mysteries, which is probably why it ended up being one of the best BLCCs I've read so far.

Deep in the Valley by Robyn Carr

Categories: George Mackay Brown

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, cozy fiction, California, doctors, womanizing ministers, new neighbors, family, friendship, abusive relationships, drug cultivation, PTSD, federal agents

Deep in the Valley begins the tale of June Hudson, the local doctor in the rural northern California town where she grew up. Having taken over the practice from her father, she finds herself 37 and alone wishing for a child but with no man in sight. However, her practice is about to get a new doctor, which should make things easier but naturally only gives her more stress. Instead she contents herself with helping her neighbors including her eccentric aunt Myrna, who's husband disappeared twenty years ago and who makes her money writing about women who murder their husbands. And there's also the issue of the skirt-chasing minister. A constant worry in the area are illegal marijuana grows and the armed men who run them. Rumor is that a raid is coming soon, but the locals have long gotten used to the roving DEA helicopters. However, one night June receives unexpected armed visitors seeking medical treatment, and her life will never be the same.

A fun cozy bit of fiction with just the right mixture of fluff and dark reality.

First Line: June stood in the shower a little longer than usual, preoccupied with a conversation she would have later in the day.

Just Over the Mountain by Robyn Carr

Categories: George Mackay Brown

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, cozy fiction, California, doctors, family, friendship, abusive relationships, drug cultivation, PTSD, federal agents, old flames, demon teenagers, murder investigations, crazy aunts

Just Over the Mountain picks up a little after the end of the first book. The minister is gone, but so is Jim, June's secret federal agent boyfriend. Which makes it even more awkward when her old high school boyfriend turns up divorced with twin sons. He wants to get back together, and she can't tell him the truth about why she won't. Plus his two sons are wrecking havoc across the town and may in up in jail if he's not too careful. Then there's the new minister to get settled in, plus the usual issues with domestic abuse and hospital staffing. But Jim will be able to retire after this one last mission, so maybe things are looking up after all.

All-in-all, it's more cozy fun in the California hills, and who can complain about that.

First Line: June Hudson had nerves of steel.

Down by the River by Robyn Carr

Categories: George Mackay Brown

Series: Grace Valley Trilogy (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, cozy fiction, California, doctors, family, friendship, abusive relationships, drug cultivation, PTSD, cold feet, pregnancy, good neighbors, gambling addiction

Down by the River is a book that really didn't need to be written. Everything had been tied up nicely at the end of Just Over the Mountain, but duologies are apparently not good enough so this third book was produced. So now to generate a book's worth of plot, June gets cold feet about marrying Jim and we finally get to find out what happened to Aunt Myrna's husband. It might have made a nice e-book only novella, but I guess they didn't have those in the early 2000s so it had to be stretched out into novel-length. Highly missable, read it only if you loved book 2.

First Line: Dr. June Hudson awoke to the ringing of the phone.

The Ghost of Flight 401 by John G. Fuller

Categories: Herodotus, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, plane crashes, EAL Flight 401, Everglades, ghosts, parapsychology, memoir, travel, Ouija boards, psychic mediums, 1970s

The Ghost of Flight 401 is the kind of book only the 1970s could produce. A combination of memoir, airplane crash history, and psychic investigation, it tells the story of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, which crashed into the Everglades in December 1972 and the stories of ghost sightings that happened in Eastern Air Lines planes for the next couple of years. The rumor was that the captain and officer Don Repo continued to haunt planes that carried parts reused from the crashed aircraft. This part is the best bit of the book and makes for really interesting reading. It's only when the author delves deeper into parapsychology and decides to try to contact dead officer Don Repo with a Ouija board that it gets ridiculous. Whatever you believe about ghosts, it's a very interesting read, however, you may want to skip the last few chapters. One to check out from the library first.

First Line: I have been conditioned all my life to think that there are no such things as ghosts.

Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov+^

Categories: Mary Stewart, GeoCAT, BingoDOG

Keywords: fiction, Kyrgyz fiction, Russian fiction, Soviet fiction, romance, Kyrgyzstan, forbidden love, WWII, beauty, art, love, song, collective farming, grain transportation, secrets

Dshamilja (I was reading a German edition, the usual English title is Jamilia) is a novella of forbidden love set in the glorious landscape of northern Kyrgyzstan. Told from the point of view of the heroine's younger brother-in-law, who is the only male left in the family because everyone else is off fighting the Second World War. Therefore, Jamilia ends up doing work that women would normally never dream of doing, such as hauling grain to the train depot so it can be sent to feed soldiers on the front. Her mother-in-law does not want her going alone so she travels with the narrator and a crippled soldier returned from the fighting. Over the course of their journey the narrator watches something beautiful unfold, even as he also fears it and knows that as the eldest male in the family he should put a stop to it. But even the most amazing journeys come to an end, and rumors are flying that Jamilia's husband will return home soon. In a world in which women have little power and family is everything, what choices does she have.

A very atmospheric work featuring a part of the world little-known outside its immediate neighborhood. Recommended for those who like good novellas or subtle romances.

First Line: Wieder einmal stehe ich vor dem kleinen Bild mit dem schlichten, schmalen Rahmen.

(My Translation from the German: Once again I stand before the little picture with the simple, narrow frame.

"Official" English Translation: Here I stand before this little painting in its simple frame.)

February Round-Up!

Books Read: 25

Category Challenge

50 of 192 read - 26.04% done (true total 51 books)

1 of 16 categories completed - 6.25% done

Individual Categories
1. Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 1 - 8.33%
2. The Inklings: Fantasy - 7 - 58.33%
3. Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir - 2 - 16.67%
4. Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction - 4 - 33.33%
5. Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction - 0 - 0%
6. The Venerable Bede: History - 1 - 8.33%
7. Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries - 2 - 16.67%
8. Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction - 0 - 0%
9. Beatrix Potter: Picture Books - 12 - 100%
10. George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 8 - 66.67%
11. Dominic de Guzmán: Religion - 2 - 16.67%
12. Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir - 3 - 25%
13. Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 3 - 25%
14. Gregor Mendel: Science - 2 - 16.67%
15. Herodotus: Travel - 1 - 8.33%
16. Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction - 2 - 16.67%

Challenges
DeweyCAT - 6
SFFKIT - 4
BingoDOG - 3
GeoCAT - 3
RandomCAT - 3
WomanBingoPUP - 2

Genre
Fiction - 16 - 64%
Non-Fiction - 9 - 36%

Sources
Me (this month) - 7 - 28%
Austin PL (e-book) - 5 - 20%
Work - 5 - 20%
Me (last month) - 3 - 12%
Irving PL - 2 - 8%
ILL - 1 - 4%
Me (other) - 1 - 4%
Me (TBR) - 1 - 4%

Authors
Male - 13 - 56.52%
Female - 10 - 43.48%

Edition Language
English - 24 - 96%
German - 1 - 4%

Original Language
English - 22 - 84%
Italian - 2 - 8%
Japanese - 1 - 4%
Russian - 1 - 4%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 15 - 60%
Series Books - 10 - 40%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 1 - 4%
3 stars - 15 - 60%
4 stars - 8 - 32%
5 stars - 1 - 4%

Average Rating
3.36

Discovery of the Month



Jackaby by William Ritter

Best of the Month



Fiction: Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg

Non-Fiction: Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser

I added a new feature to this month's reading round-up: "Discovery of the Month". This is for a book that wildly exceeded my expectations. It may not have been the best book I read, but it's certainly worth remembering.

Thee, Hannah! by Marguerite De Angeli

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, DeweyCAT

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, intermediate fiction, historical fiction, Philadelphia, religion, Quakerism, plain dressing, fitting in, growing up, family, slavery, underground railroad

Thee, Hannah! is a rather fun intermediate-reader book about a young Quaker girl growing up in antebellum Philadelphia. Hannah wishes she had curly black hair and got to wear flowery bonnets and pantalettes like her non-Quaker best friend Cecily. Instead she has straight blond hair and wears a plain bonnet that pinches her ears. Her antics drive her parents a bit crazy, but they never give her a good reason except that basically that that's what they do and that she needs to remember that she's a Quaker, it's rather understandable on my end. I'm not sure if the lack of reasoning was because the author was not a Quaker or was actually accurate, but if it was historically accurate than it really isn't surprising that plain dressing mostly died out within Hannah's natural lifetime. Besides learning about Quaker life, the book also discusses slavery and the underground railroad and indeed Hannah finally figures out what it means to be Quaker when she encounters a runaway slave. Mostly it's a story about growing up and wanting to fit and accepting yourself as you are, something that is just as true now as it was in 1940 when the book was published.

De Angeli's illustrations are lovely, and the plot is amusing, even if the argument for Quaker plain dress is really weak, plus it has an exclamation mark in the title—"Thee, Hannah!" is just so much better than "Thee, Hannah". Overall, it's a quality bit of juvenile historical fiction, probably more for girls than boys, because its message is delivered via 90 pages of dresses and bonnets.

First Line: "Nine o'clock, and all's well!

On the book news front, Amazon has put up the cover image for the final Jackaby novel, Ghostly Echoes, in which our detective duo finally investigate Jenny's murder—and it's purple!



August cannot come soon enough.

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers, DeweyCAT, BingoDOG

Series: Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (1/8)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, Adirondacks, police chief, female priest, religion, Christianity, Anglicanism, Episcopal Church, small town life, murder, teen pregnancy, child abandonment, child custody, infertility, adoption, murder

In the Bleak Midwinter is the first in a mystery series featuring the chief of police in small-town upstate New York and the new Episcopal priest—who happens to be a woman and a former helicopter pilot. The two meet for the first time when she discovers a newborn abandoned outside her church on a freezing winter's night. He offers her a ride-along later in the week so she can get to know the town better, only instead they find the baby's apparent mother . . . dead. Thus begins a team effort to uncover the truth of the baby's paternity and the identity of his mother's killer. But between some desperate aspiring adoptive parents, supposed domestic violence, and yet another murder, there seem to be more questions than answers.

This was surprisingly good, managing to balance the fact that one of the protagonists is an ordained minister without sending the book into the "Christian fiction" genre. At the same time, Clare is obviously a minister who believes what she preaches. Perfect for those looking for contemporary mysteries with a twist.

First Line: It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby.

And just like that I have a bingo on my BingoDOG card!



Across the fourth row:
16. Food is important: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
17. Published before you were born: The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon
18. Features a theater: Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
19. Debut book: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
20. In translation: Dshamilja by Chinghiz Aitmatov

The next step is, of course, getting a blackout. Something much easier said than done . . . not that that will stop me from trying. :)

Congrats on the Bingo!

>181 inge87: Well done! Are you going to start over? Try a different one?

>182 DeltaQueen50: Thanks!

>183 mamzel: Thanks, My ultimate goal is a blackout, so I'm going to keep going with what I have. The next milestone will probably be a vertical bingo, but I really should turn to my WomanBingoPUP board and try to get something going there.

I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor

Categories: Beatrix Potter, RandomCAT

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, picture book, American Southwest, desert, celebrations, dust devils, meteor showers, wildlife, childhood classic, Bluebonnet Award nominee

I'm in Charge of Celebrations is a picture book about the joys of being alone and the wonders of nature. Many people ask the narrator whether she gets lonely wandering around the desert, but she says she isn't because she in charge of the celebrations. Celebrations in this case meaning remembrances of really memorable days, such as the day she saw five dust devils or the night that she and a total stranger both watched a fireball in the sky. The illustrations are what makes the book, although Peter Parnall really doesn't do human faces well. The fireball page is especially worth looking at.

Overall, it's a fun book about the wonders of the American Southwest and the human ability to be alone without being lonely. There's also a strong environmentalist undercurrent about respecting nature. Recommended for early readers and those who like interesting illustrations.

First Line: Sometimes people ask me,
"Aren't you lonely
out there
with just
desert
around you?"

A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers, DeweyCAT

Series: Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (2/8)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, Adirondacks, police chief, female priest, religion, Christianity, Anglicanism, Episcopal Church, small town life, homophobia, assaults, developers, environmentalism, industrial pollution, murder, conspiracy

It's the Fourth of July in the Adirondacks, and it looks like someone has it out for gay people. In A Fountain Filled With Blood police chief Russ Van Alstyne must battle his personal beliefs about homosexuality with his desire to maintain law and order (and to not drive off customers from local small businesses). Naturally Clare doesn't think he goes far enough and shoots off some words that she comes to regret. Meanwhile, a local developer is fighting off rumors of environmental pollution and clean up costs. He happens to be gay, so when Clare discovers him dead on a late night stroll the question becomes whether the people beating up gay men have escalated or whether it is the work of an environmentalist copy-cat. There are no easy answers, as our heroes soon discover. About the attacks or about their friendship.

Not quite as good as book 1 (but few second books are). What was probably a cutting-edge theme in 2003, now seems a bit preachy, but the issue is still very much alive today. Recommended for those who enjoyed the first book, those new to the series will want to start there.

First Line: The yahoos came by just after the dinner party broke up.

Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers, DeweyCAT

Series: Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (3/8)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, Adirondacks, police chief, female priest, religion, Christianity, Anglicanism, Episcopal Church, small town life, family, secrets, death, diphtheria, love, hate, free clinics, church repairs, happiness, missing persons

Out of the Deep I Cry is a remarkable book for a number of reasons: 1. Diphtheria, a pet subject of mine, plays a major role in the plot, 2. The story utilizes flashbacks that actually work as part of the narrative, 3. We finally get to meet Linda. Russ and Clare are still trying to figure out the whole platonic friendship thing, because both realize that that is the only option. Clare also has bigger fish to fry: the church's roof needs to be replaced and she has no idea where the parish will find the money to fix it. The solution appears to involve cutting funding to the local free clinic, something Clare dislikes but doesn't see any way around. And then the clinic's doctor goes missing. Did the local anti-vaccine activist do it, or are there other things at work. Meanwhile we learn a lot about Mrs. Ketchem, the woman who responsible for creating the clinic, and the tragedies that inspired her to do so. The novel uses flashbacks to the 20s, 30s, 50s, and 70s in order to tell the story of her loss, which is somewhat paralleled in the present by the story of a woman who believes that vaccines gave her child autism.

I do have to say that the final twist was a bit much, but that may be because I think the bare realities of early twentieth-century rural life were tragic enough without needing any extra dramatics. Overall, it's the best of the series so far, with an important message to be content with what you have, because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Highly recommended.

First Line: Russ Van Alstyne had just gotten a tug on his line when he saw the old lady get up from between the headstones she had been trimming, lay down her gardening tools, and walk into the reservoir.

A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays by Tasha Tudor

Categories: Beatrix Potter, RandomCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, seasons, holidays, celebrations, family, traditions, corgis, Tasha Tudor

A Time to Keep is a picture book about all the ways the author's family celebrates the seasons, from major holidays to family birthdays and beyond. The narrative is driven by a young girl asking her grandmother what it was like when her mother was growing up. Every month had a different thing to celebrate or participate in. The goat-cart racing in particular looks like it was a lot of fun. I would also like to know how they managed to successfully float the cake down the stream (if I tried that it would end up in the water). This being Tasha Tudor, there are lots of Corgis involved, and everyone seems happy about it except the cats.

Those who like Tudor's particular blend of nostalgia and fun will like this book, those who find her kitsch or cloying will not. But every Tudor fan should pick this one up.

First Line: Granny, what was it like when Mummy was me?

Demeter and Persephone: Homeric Hymn Number Two by Homer & Penelope Proddow

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, DeweyCAT, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, Ancient Greek non-fiction, religion, paganism, Greek mythology, Demeter, Persephone, Hades, Homeric hymn, family, secrets, kidnapping, grief, famine

Demeter and Persephone is a adaptation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter designed for children. However, the translation is quality verse, and maintains the pulse and feel of the original Greek hexameters—Proddow studied classical archaeology at Bryn Mawr, and it shows—so really it is perhaps better suited to older children or adults interested in the subject. The hymn to Demeter tells the story of Persephone's kidnapping by Hades and her mother's search for her, with a particular emphasis on her stay in Eleusis disguised as a nursemaid. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are a rather brilliant cross between Ancient Greek and midcentury modern, and with the exception of Persephone, who ends up looking a bit like a strung-out Ancient Greek hippy, work perfectly at bringing the Ancient to life again while keeping the feel of the original culture.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the Ancient Greek myths (the Homeric Hymns were composed as early as the 7th century BC, so you can't get much more ancient than that), those trying to introduce their children to the classics early, or those who enjoy exceptional illustrations. Highly recommended.

First Line: Now I will sing
of golden-haired Demeter,
the awe-inspiring goddess,
and of her trim-ankled daughter,
Persephone,
who was frolicking in a grassy meadow.

The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity by Taylor Marshall

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, religion, Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Jewish origins of Christianity

The Crucified Rabbi is an interesting study of all the ways that Catholic teachings and traditions are derived from Judaism. From the holidays to the Eucharist to the priesthood, religious life, and marriage, he finds connections everywhere. I'm not sure it's all as simple or straightforward as the author makes out, but some parts are extremely compelling and at times it reads like a theologically orthodox Catholic version of Margaret Barker. However, other parts seem more like the theological equivalent of folk etymologies, and leave out the obvious possibility of adoptions from Middle Eastern or European pagan traditions. I also find his use of "Catholic Christian" instead of just "Catholic" to be extremely annoying, I thought we had left that term in the 70s where it belonged. But when the book's good, it's good, and anyone with an interest in the relationship between apostolic Christianity and Judaism will want to pick it up.

First Line: A priest and a rabbi walked into a hospital . . .
     This is not the beginning of a joke, but the beginning of my journey to the Catholic Faith.

Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, mystery, golden age mystery, house party, murder, blackmail, poison, family, secrets, hunting, invalids, artists, gossip columnists, UK edition

Thirteen Guests is a house party mystery where having one too many guests proves a fatal decision. John injures his foot getting off a train and is carried off by a beautiful woman to recover at the estate of Lord Aveling, where she is to be a guest. This uninvited guest makes the total thirteen, a very unlucky number indeed. John, an outsider marooned on a couch for the weekend, is the passive observer of the silent emotions passing amongst those he interacts with. The last couple to arrive, the Chaters, in particular to be the source of much discomfort. Then an artist's portrait of his host's daughter is found ruined and a body is found while the others are hunting. No one seems to know who he is, although some suspect the Chaters might know. But then Mr. Chater's horse turns up riderless and it becomes apparent that much more was going on than anyone suspected. It will be up to the police to sort out all the petty hatred and jealousies and discover the cause of all this death. This is one house party it might have been better to miss.

A fun vintage mystery. The estate is isolated, so you know it had to have been someone in the house, it is only a question of who and the author keeps you guessing until the bitter end. Highly recommended for fans of the genre and those who enjoy well-written whodunits.

First Line: Every station has a special voice.

Julia Spencer-Fleming is one of my favorite authors. So glad to see you are enjoying her series!

>192 VictoriaPL: I picked up In the Bleak Midwinter on a whim and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was, but Out of the Deep I Cry is definitely my favorite so far.

>190 inge87: I'm not Catholic (or Jewish), but our pastor does an excellent job of teaching about the Jewish traditions underlying Christianity. Last night, he showed the presence of the cross in the Old Testament.

>194 thornton37814: I think a lot of Christians are unaware of how much Christianity has received from Judaism. Part of this may be due to historical prejudices but some of it is also due to more recent history and fears of being seen as culturally insensitive (and/or getting accused of cultural appropriation). But every author of the New Testament was Jewish (except for St. Luke), and they were definitely influenced by their own heritage and culture. Therefore there is a lot that Christians can learn about their faith by studying the Old Testament and Judaism, as you show in your example. It's a part of theology that I find very interesting.

Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things by M. R. O'Connor

Categories: Gregor Mendel, BingoDOG

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, science, natural science, biology, genetics, conservationism, species, extinction, de-extinction, sixth extinction, habitat loss, evolution, man vs. wild, anthropocene

Resurrection Science takes on many of the realities facing anyone who wants to de-exinct or even re-introduce species into former habitats and reveals that in many cases conservationists' dreams are unlikely to be fulfilled. Unlike How to Clone a Mammoth, which focuses on the hows and whys of de-extinction, Resurrection Science focuses on the situations on the ground that make de-extinction and re-wilding unrealistic. Travelling around the world, the author shows how man's effect on the environment has changed habitats so that they no longer exist to support the animals they once did. Forrests and swamps have been settled and developed, and such as in the case of the golden toads of Tanzania, sometimes the habitat is completely destroyed and there is nowhere for the animals to return to. There is also the question of what makes a species a species—something that genetics has made much more complicated than it once was—and the fact that evolution moves much faster than we ever imagined. Therefore, what might appear to be a single widespread species may, in fact, be a collection of many related species that may or may not require conservation measures. All of these complications mean that, while the idea of de-exinction may sound appealing, ultimately there are better ways to spend our conservation dollars.

A thoughtful book that's perfect for anyone who loved The Sixth Extinction or How to Clone a Mammoth. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in wildlife conservation or interesting non-fiction.

First Line: When I was a kid in the 1990s, the world often felt like it was on the verge of catastrophe.

Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers

Series: Lizzie Snow (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, police, Aroostook County, Maine, small towns, crime, murder, family, kidnapping, missing persons, determined ex's

Winter at the Door is the first in a new mystery series featuring Lizzie Snow, a Boston homicide detective who takes a job in rural northern Maine to follow a lead about her long-missing niece. When she arrives in Aroostook County, it soon becomes clear that not only is the job not what she signed up for, but that the sheriff has alterior motives for hiring her—he's convinced that someone is killing retired Maine law enforcement officers and making it look like suicide. Lizzie is not convinced but promises to look into it, but quickly becomes caught up in the little issues of Bearkill, Maine. Things that stop being so little when they start becoming murder. Meanwhile, Lizzie is looking for her niece and fighting off the advances of an ex who betrayed her badly but now wants another shot.

An interesting start to a promising series. I could have done with a bit more investigation and a bit less personal stuff, but that may have been the author's attempt at setting things up for later. Unlike many Maine mysteries, this is not a cozy, but it's perfect for anyone who likes strong heroines or books set in small towns or New England.

First Line: Carl Bogart's old Fleetwood double-wide mobile home stood on a cleared half acre surrounded by a forest of mixed hardwoods, spruce, and hackmatack trees shedding their dark-gold needles onto the unpaved driveway.

The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, SFFKIT

Series: The Mapmakers Trilogy (1/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, middle-grade fiction, fantasy, travel, time, kidnapping, family, secrets, changes, border closures, mythical beings, politics, change

The Glass Sentence is the first book of the adventurous life of Sophia Tims, an aspiring cartographer in a world in which time has gone out of whack and different areas belong to different ages: for example, the Eastern US stayed in time, but Canada now belongs to the Ice Age, and parts of Europe to the middle ages. In this environment, maps are essential and luckily for Sophia, her Uncle Shadrack is an expert. Sophia has lived with him since her explorer parents went off to help a friend and never returned. Just when the two of them are about to set off in search of their lost family members, Shadrack gets kidnapped and Sophia has no choice but to try to rescue him. Reactionary politicians have decided to close the country's borders so she only has a matter of days to escape and follow the instructions he left her. Luckily, Theo, an escaped circus performer from the Badlands (Western US), decides to travel with her. What follows is a journey that will change Sophia's life forever, because not only is her uncle missing, but there is strange news from the south and Sophia is heading right towards the danger.

A fun adventure that's not just for middle-grade readers. It's a bit fat and could have been trimmed a little, but the wonders of Sophia and her world still shine through. Recommended for those looking for interesting fantasy concepts who don't care how old the protagonists are.

First Line: The day New Occident closed its borders, the hottest day of the year, was also the day Sophia Tims changed her life forever by losing track of time.

The Girls She Left Behind by Sarah Graves

Categories: Dorothy L. Sayers

Series: Lizzie Snow (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, mystery, police, Aroostook County, Maine, small towns, crime, forest fires, kidnapping, rape, murder, escaped mental patients, family, secrets, lies, revenge

The Girls She Left Behind continues Lizzie's Maine adventure. It may be the middle of winter, but a drought is threatening to send the entire area up in flames. Which becomes the least of her worries when a local teen goes missing and a known kidnapper and rapist is reputed to be heading to the area. Lizzie knows the girl's mother holds a key to the truth—if only she can get her to tell the truth. Meanwhile, the police aren't the only ones looking for the kidnapper and enough blood is found for several bodies, but there's not a body in sight. Just what is going on, and will Lizzie be able to figure it out before fires destroy everything. You'll have to read to the end to find out.

I liked this a little better than the first book. There's not as much awkward time between Lizzie and her ex (although he is very much still trying to win her back), which makes the narrative flow a bit better and keeps up the tension. Lizzie still hasn't found her niece yet, so who knows what kind of trouble she'll be getting into next. Definitely recommended for fans of contemporary mysteries.

First Line: Sleet needles lanced through the January night, gleaming slantwise in the headlights of the cars making their hesitant way long the street outside.

The White Stag by Kate Seredy

Categories: Fra Angelico, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, Hungarian folklore, origin myths, Nimrod, Hunor, Magor, Attila the Hun, Huns, Hungarians, travel, suffering, death

The White Stag is a book that has not aged well. A retelling of the Hungarian origin myth, it was originally deemed worthy of the 1938 Newbery Award, but I can't imagine any child wanting to read it now. Between the stilted language and awkward plot, it's definitely something that an adult interested in Hungarian folktales would read but few others. It's saving grace are Seredy's extraordinary illustrations that look like a cross between Soviet realism and something out of a Fritz Lang film.

Plot-wise, it tells the story of the descendants of Nimrod, who head west from the plains of Central Asia seeking the Promised Land. These are led by twin sons, Hunor and Magor, and their descendants later become the Huns and the Magyars (Hungarians). The bulk of the story describes how the birth of Attila the Hun is foretold and then how Attila seizes his destiny. Suffice to say there's lots of death and killing involved.

Probably worth reading only for the illustrations. Otherwise, it's completely skippable.

First Line: Old Nimrod, might hunter before the Lord, leaned wearily against the stones of the sacrificial altar.

Speaking of good illustrations. I'm a huge fan of the cover illustration for the 40th anniversary edition of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry that came out in January.



Kadir Nelson does amazing work.

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, SFFKIT

Series: Serafina (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, middle-grad fiction, fantasy, historical fantasy, mystery, the Biltmore, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Mountains, kidnapping, disappearances, strange men, family, secrets, dangerous woods, friendship

Serafina and the Black Cloak is the first of a new middle-grade historical fantasy series set at the Biltmore Estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Serafina lives with her father in the basement of the Biltmore Estate. No one knows she's there and her father works hard to keep it that way. Serafina finds purpose in being the estates "CRC"—the chief rat catcher, but one night while hunting rats she sees a evil-looking man make a young girl disappear. Soon other children are missing as well. Serafina is determined to catch the man in the black cloak, even though her father wants her to lay low. But then Serafina makes an actual friends and all of a sudden hiding isn't going to work anymore. Especially since the man in black shows no signs of stopping his child-snatching anytime soon.

A perfect story of growing up with just the right amount of terror. The author clearly knows the Biltmore and the surrounding area well. Book 2 is due out in July, and I can't wait to find out what is waiting for Serafina next—after all, now that she has entered the woods, she'll have to come to terms with what she's discovered, both about herself and about those she loves. Highly recommended.

First Line: Serafina opened her eyes and scanned the darkened workshop, looking for any rats stupid enough to come into her territory while she slept.

Happy to see someone else who enjoys the Julia Spencer-Fleming books. Just wish she'd write them a bit faster - it's been almost three years since the last one! I took a book bullet for Thirteen Guests - sounds like my cup of tea.

>203 LittleTaiko: Exactly, Stacy. I think she's trying to figure out how to move forward from the latest one. That new character... sorry to be vague, but trying not to give anything away.

>203 LittleTaiko: & >204 VictoriaPL: That's one of the reasons I like completed series so much: you don't have to wait forever for the next book.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Mercy Thompson (1/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, werewolves, vampires, coyote shifters, family, pack, secrets, neighbors, Washington State, Wyoming, kidnapping, death

Moon Called is the first book in the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series, featuring a coyote shifter doomed to be surrounded by werewolves. After a very unfortunate event in her teens, Mercy has sworn off werewolves and enjoys annoying Adam, her alpha werewolf neighbor when she isn't busy working as a mechanic at her shop. But when he and his pack are attacked, Mercy finds herself returning to a place she never thought she'd see again and having to deal with things she thought she'd put far behind her. Because someone has kidnapped Adam's daughter, and Mercy's knowledge of wolves may be the only thing that can save the situation.

A fun first book that manages to set the stage for future volumes without too much info dumping. The covers are awful, but don't them them stop you. Highly recommended for fans of urban fantasy or fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest.

First Line: I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first.

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Mercy Thompson (2/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, werewolves, vampires, coyote shifters, family, pack, secrets, neighbors, Washington State, Wyoming, sorcerers, serial killers, murder

Blood Bound finds Mercy accidentally encountering a vampiric serial killer when she does a favor for her VW Bus-driving vampire friends Stefan. That a someone could be both a vampire and a sorcerer is unheard of, and a very, very bad thing. Especially once he turns his mind to the local werewolf population. The wolves, old-school as they are, just want Mercy to stay safe and out of the way, but the vampires believe that only she can track down the killer and the parent vampire controlling him. So staying safe is not going to be an option.

More fun with everyone's favorite coyote. We learn more about Mercy and her friends as well as a lot about vampires and how to kill them. And the set up for book three sounds promising indeed.

First Line: Like most people who own their own businesses, I work long hours that start early in the morning.

You by Fulton Sheen

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, Christian living, love, happiness, faith, God, suffering, Hell, radio broadcasts, World War II

You is a collection of radio lectures given by the author from late 1944 through Easter 1945. The focus in on Christian living, delivered in Sheen's trademark accessible style, and he has lots of ideas for how to live better and live happier, while deepening one's relationship with God. The importance and significance of suffering also makes appearances (remember this was during World War II, so there was lots of that going around), and there is also one lecture dedicated to the nature of Hell. Highly recommended for anyone who has wondered why they aren't happy and wants to do something about it. Highly recommended.

First Line: Are you perfectly happy?

>206 inge87: I am very happy to see your positive comments about Moon Called as I am planning on reading it next month. :)

>209 DeltaQueen50: I'd been avoiding the series because of the covers, but I'm really glad I finally decided to pick up Moon Called, because the plot is so much fun.

Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin

Categories: Gertrud von Le Fort, GeoCAT, DeweyCAT

Keywords: fiction, Russian fiction, historical fiction, middle ages, healers, pilgrimage, faith, travel, Eastern Orthodoxy, holy fools, friendship, death, sin, penance, visions

Laurus is a very interesting historical novel set in medieval Russian that won a lot of awards in Russia and then garnered a lot of attention in certain parts of the English internet when the translation was released last Fall. It's an interesting book, both stylistically and plot-wise. Arseny (he's not going to be Laurus until page 330) is born in the Rukina Quarter of Russia in 1440. His parents soon die of plague and he is raised by his healer grandfather, Christofor. Arseny too becomes a healer, but when his lover dies in childbirth without the benefit of marriage or confession, he is so overwhelmed by guilt that he spends the rest of his life in penance trying to help her soul obtain salvation.

You learn a lot about medieval Russia as well as Russian folk beliefs, as Arseny spends more than an entire section of the book as the holy fool Ustin (after Ustina, the aforementioned dead beloved) in Pskov. My favorite character is probably Ambrosio, the Italian seer who is interested in identifying the time of the end of the world and travels with Arseny to the Holy Land.

Structurally the novel is interesting in that the author is constantly inserting archaically-spelled words and sentences even as he also sticks in obviously modern terms as well. There are also visions of the future seamlessly inserted into the plot, jumping the narrative suddenly decades if not centuries for a paragraph or two. The best of these is probably that of the 1950s historian who visits Pskov and meets the girl of his dreams.

Laurus is a great book over which ponder the meaning of life. It's infused in a particular kind of Orthodox spirituality that makes it specifically Russian in character. An American or Briton could never have written this book. Highly recommended for fans for novels with interesting construction, those who enjoy fiction with a spiritual message, or those interested in modern Russian literature.

First Line: He had four names at various times.

I must say here that Laurus is one of those books you will either love or want to throw against the nearest wall. I spend most the book wanting to hurl it, but find now that I'm done that I really enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a book that requires a certain amount of patience, but is rewarding by the end. This makes is a perfect book for Lent.

Conversation With Christ: The Teaching of St. Teresa of Avila about Personal Prayer by Peter Thomas Rohrbach

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, prayer, mental prayer, meditation, Teresa of Avila

Conversation with Christ is a guide to the style of meditative prayer favored by Saint Teresa of Avila. One should note that unlike Eastern-style mediation, which is what most people think of these days when they hear "meditation", Western-style meditation does not involve emptying one's mind but rather filling it. The goal is to have a conversation with Christ (hence the title) and there are five basic steps to the process: the preparation, selection, consideration, conversation, and conclusion. Basically, the practitioner prepares himself for prayer, selects a passage to meditate upon (such as the story of the crucifixion or another passage from the Bible), then forms a mental image of the passage and meditates upon it. This in turn leads into a conversation with Christ about the consideration, before bringing the prayer to an end. The author gives a step-by-step introduction on how to achieve mastery of this style as well as two alternative variants. He also discusses things that can make meditation difficult (distraction and aridities) as well as things that can aid mediation (recollection, detachment, and spiritual reading). It's an incredibly useful book for anyone who has wanted to try mental prayer but did not know where to start.

Highly recommended for anyone who has considered meditation or has heard their priest mention it and wondered what the fuss was about.

First Line: A good deal of the confusion surrounding meditation results from a failure to recognize its basic, fundamental purpose.

>213 inge87: Interesting! A book I recently read The Relaxation Response had a chapter about this explaining how meditation isn't just an Eastern spiritual practice, but there are forms of meditation found across all religious practices.

>214 Tara1Reads: Indeed. I have to admit I always thought of Eastern meditation whenever I heard the word, and didn't realize that Western meditation was so different (or even really existed) until I read this book. I imagine that most cultures oriented towards some form of mysticism (something the dominant American Protestant culture definitely is not), probably do have some form of meditation.

This should have gone before Conversation with Christ, but I didn't realize I hadn't reviewed it yet. Oops . . . :)



Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Mercy Thompson (3/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, werewolves, coyote shifters, fae, family, pack, secrets, neighbors, Washington State, murder, favors, magical artifacts, kidnapping, mind control, rape, sexual assault, guilt, love

Iron Kissed finds Mercy investigating fae murders after Uncle Mike calls in a favor that she owes him from the end of Blood Bound. When Zee gets arrested and accused of the murders, Mercy suddenly finds herself unwilling to quit even though everyone tells her she should (including Zee). Her quest leads her to an anti-fae group and acquires her a fae enemy who thinks her flesh would be quite tasty. Mercy also finally chooses between Samuel and Adam (not that it was much of a choice as she realizes when she actually thinks about it). But the murderer is still at large and he's decided that Mercy knows too much. Will her werewolf neighbors be enough to protect her or has she finally gone a step too far for her own good? Either way, she's about to find out.

Another interesting installment in the series. Recommended for fans of the previous books.

Trigger Warning (I normally don't do these but this is important): As you can guess from the keywords, the plot's climax involves Mercy being kidnapped given a mind-controlling magical potion, getting raped, and dealing with the consequences. It's not done in a graphic, exploitative way, but I could see how this may disturb some readers.

First Line: "A cowboy, a lawyer, and a mechanic watched Queen of the Damned," I murmured.

The Golden Specific by S. E. Grove

Categories: Frances Hodgson Burnett, SFFKIT

Series: The Mapmakers Trilogy (2/3)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, middle-grade fiction, fantasy, alternative history, travel, time, family, secrets, dark ages, lost ages, future ages, politics, conspiracy, murder, plague, friendship

The Golden Specific finds Sophia and Theo separated and Uncle Shadrack jailed for a murder he didn't commit. Sophia has discovered a lead in the case of her missing parents, but it requires her to travel to Granada in the Papal States. Her Uncle is too involved with politics to help her, but Theo says he'll come. Only to miss the boat when he witnesses her Uncle's arrest while hiding in a wardrobe. Sophia, meanwhile, spends a lot of time avoiding sea sickness by exploring maps, while Theo is doing his best in Boston to exhortation his unjustly accused friend. Both make new friends and discover that the past is closer than they think. Faced with a deadly plague, Sophia must journey towards the Age of Ausentinia, which disappeared into the mists of a Dark Age years ago. In the process she makes important discoveries about Lacrimae and Ages. Theo, meanwhile, uncovers new levels of conspiracy and corruption and must face down an figure from his past he hoped he had left behind. Cue the cliff hangers, because this arc won't be done until the next book.

An enjoyable jaunt through Sophia's world of ages. I did think it was a bit too long for the split narrative to work—after a while I started skimming one and focusing on the other, because Sophia's journey was just that much more interesting to me. But hopefully they'll rejoin forces in The Crimson Skew, so that won't be as much of an issue. I'm particularly interested in the future ages that first reveal themselves in this book, who knows what secrets they hold. Recommended for fans of the first book and interesting alternative histories.

First Line: On the morning of May 31, Sophia Tims stood on Beacon Street, staring through a gap in the iron fence at the monolith before her.

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Mercy Thompson (4/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, werewolves, coyote shifters, fae, family, pack, secrets, vampires, ghosts, evil, imprisonment

Bone Crossed finds Mercy dealing with the consequences of certain actions she took at the end of Blood Bound—suffice to say Marsilia is not happy with her. Unfortunately, she appears to have taken her anger out on Stefan instead. She could really use a break right now because of everything that happened with Tim in the last book, but obviously she isn't going to get one. Because an old college acquaintance wants Mercy to help her with her house's ghost problem. Thinking Tacoma might mean a bit of a respite, it turns out that it will be anything but. Because there may only be one vampire in Tacoma, but he is called the Monster for a reason.

Poor Mercy, she only seems to get rest when she's unconscious. This isn't the strongest book in the series but it's still a lot of fun: especially if you like vampire drama. Recommended for fans of the series. Everyone else should start with book 1.

First Line: I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, Spanish non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, sermons, Christian living, Opus Dei

Friends of God is a collection of sermons given by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. The overall theme is how to live a Christian life and live it well. The sermons were given at various times over a period of over twenty years, but they are ordered in such a way that you would not guess they weren't given in a series, if the dates of delivery were not in the footnotes on the bottom of each first page. Escriva is a good homilist and there is a lot here to think about. One complaint is the pocket format, which is great for reading on the go, but means that almost every sermons is around thirty pages long and makes them seem longer than they actually are. But overall, it's an excellent set of sermons full of good advice for every Christian.

First Line: I remember, many years ago now, I was going along a road in Castile with some friends, when we noticed something in a field far away which made a deep impression on me at the time and has since often helped me in my prayer.

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Categories: The Inklings, SFFKIT

Series: Mercy Thompson (5/?)

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, werewolves, coyote shifters, fae, family, pack, secrets, kidnapping, magical artifacts, hostage situations, bargaining, fears, fairy queens

Silver Borne finds Mercy's life getting even more complicated (Is that even possible, yes, it is). She and Adam are finally dating and acting like a "normal" couple, but someone in the pack is using pack ties to sabotage their relationship. On top of this it appears that someone wants the book that Mercy borrowed for help with the fae situation in Iron Kissed and wants it badly enough to kill for it. Just what is so special about that book and who is crazy enough to try to kill Mercy and several others to get to it? Mercy needs to find out quickly, before anyone else gets attacked. Because the pack unrest is not going to go away without a fight, and it's much easier to focus on one thing at a time, right?

Another quality installment in a very good urban fantasy series.

First Line: The starter complained as it turned over the old Buick's heavy engine.

Mit brennender Sorge by Pope Pius XI^

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, German non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, history, Catholicism in Germany, papal encyclical, Pope Pius XI, Nazism, religious persecution

Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Concern) is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI written to the Church in Germany in 1937. Catholics in Germany were already feeling the pressure to abandon their beliefs and adopt National Socialist teachings. Pope Pius urges them to stand firm and hold to their faith in spite of official oppression, while making a plea for the importance of religious freedom. He makes it clear that it is not possible to be both a Catholic and support the official paganist line of the National Socialist regime. All of this without ever mentioning the National Socials Worker's Party by name.

The encyclical was dated Passion Sunday (March 14), but was smuggled into Germany and read from the pulpit across the country a week later on Palm Sunday. Hitler was furious and the German state cracked down hard: mass arrests and imprisonments, along with the seizure of printing presses and the closure of publishers followed. Seventy-nine years ago yesterday liturgically speaking (Monday of Holy Week), the offices of the Catholic Church were raided across Germany as the government looked for copies of the encyclical in order to seize and destroy them and the message the carried.

In an era in which religious persecution appears to be growing and in which some groups attempt to enforce their truths through violence and fear, Pius XI's words have just as much strength now as they did in 1937. Highly recommend.

First Line:Mit brennender Sorge und steigendem Befremden beobachten Wir seit geraumer Zeit den Leidensweg der Kirche, die wachsende Bedrängnis der ihr in Gesinnung und Tat treubleibenden Bekenner und Bekennerinnen inmitten des Landes und des Volkes, dem St. Bonifatius einst die Licht- und Frohbotschaft von Christus und dem Reiche Gottes gebracht hat.

(English: It is with deep anxiety and growing surprise that We have long been following the painful trials of the Church and the increasing vexations which afflict those who have remained loyal in heart and action in the midst of a people that once received from St. Boniface the bright message and the Gospel of Christ and God's Kingdom.)

Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

Categories: Robert Southwell, DeweyCAT, SFFKIT

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, dystopian fiction, Catholic fiction, priest hero, antichrist, second coming, religious persecution, suicide, politics, faith, apocalypse

Lord of the World is an early example of dystopian fiction, set in a world in which materialism and individualism have triumphed over religion in the West. The few remaining Catholics are condescendingly tolerated even as they are openly ridiculed by those who know better. Then, just when it seems like there will be war between Europe and "the East", an unknown American takes the world by storm. All of a sudden, the West discovers faith again—faith in humanity expressed as faith in Felsenburgh. Catholic priest Father Percy Franklin despairs of what is coming, even as he tries to help his flock withstand the coming persecution. From mob violence to official persecution, there is no relief in sight for those who differ with the official line. In return Felsenburgh has promised a new age, but as one of the main characters finds out, this new age looks a lot like the old one.

A very interesting take on the End of the World. Also, the cover of my edition is possibly the most effective use of stock footage in a book cover I have ever seen. Rio has never looked so apocalyptic. Highly recommended for fans of classic dystopian fiction, fiction of the apocalypse, or interesting Catholic fiction.

First Line: "You must give me a moment," said the old man, leaning back.

>197 inge87: I didn't like that one quite enough to continue the series, but I see you made it to the second and enjoyed it better.

>223 thornton37814: I actually only read Winter at the Door because I grabbed The Girls She Left Behind from the new arrivals shelf and then realized after I started that it was actually book 2 in a series. The first book dumps so much background information that the dumping almost becomes the plot, while the second book actually has a plot of its own. Suffice to say it's a much better book than the first.

Saint Germaine and the Sheep by Eva K. Betz

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, DeweyCAT

Series: Easy Reading Books of Saints and Friendly Beasts

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, Germaine Cousin, evil stepmothers, child abuse, sheep, shepherdesses, disabilities, miracles, France

Saint Germaine and the Sheep is an early reading book about the life of Saint German Cousin of Pibrac, near Toulouse, France. She was born with a deformed hand and a skin condition and was abused by her stepmother. Eventually forced to live in the barn with the sheep, she never let the hatred of others affect her. When she wanted to attend mass she would stick her staff into the ground and tell her sheep to say, and they would until she returned and removed the staff from the ground. Also, after a bridge gave out, she was able to cross a fast-flowing stream without being swept away.

All of this makes for a good read, even if the artist did not do a good job with St. Germain's face (she looks like she's forty even when she's supposed to be a young girl). For those who enjoy illustrated and interesting lives of saints.

First Line: "Germaine, tell us a story!"

It's probably becoming fairly obvious at this point, but I gave up secular reading for Holy Week. So stay tuned for interesting Catholic reading the next few days and then stuff like Anna and the Swallow Man and The Gates of Europe next week.

Saint Athanasius by F. A. Forbes

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, biography, hagiography, Athanasius of Alexandria, politics, persecution, heresy, rebellion, Arianism

Saint Athanasius is a rather straight-forward hagiographical biography of the great Alexandrian archbishop who battled the Arians and their Byzantine political allies for most of his life and somehow managed to outlast them. Beginning with the famous story of how a young Athanasius was spotted on the shore playing mock-baptism with his friends, the book continues to follow his carrier as a deacon defending the faith at Nicaea to his initial appointment as Archbishop of Alexandria when he was barely thirty. The rest of the book is taken up with his adventures as archbishop, opposing emperors and enduring persecution and exile for much of his reign. The book mostly focuses on his deeds and not on his writings, but it crams in a lot for a book under one hundred pages.

An inspiring work about an inspiring man. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a good biography of Saint Athanasius or inspirational biography in general.

First Line: The Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt was expecting company.

On Pascha by Melito of Sardis+

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Series: Popular Patristics (20)

Keywords: non-fiction, Greek non-fiction, religion, Christianity, early Church, liturgy, theology, Easter, Passover, Jesus Christ, Quartodecimanism, Popular Patristics, mooched

On Pascha (Greek: Περὶ Πάσχα) is an early text about the Easter liturgy by Melito of Sardis. Most sources say that it was probably written between AD 160 and AD 170, although this edition suggests a later date of AD 190. There are many things that make Melito's text significant, no one seems to agree on what exactly it is, whether it is a homily, a description of the Easter liturgy, or something else entirely. What we do know is that Melito lived in Sardis in Asia Minor, a major center of Jewish activity, that he himself was probably of Jewish ancestry, and that he was a Quartodeciman—that is, he celebrated Easter on 14 Nisan, the day the Jews celebrated Passover, not on a Sunday. This was apparently a widespread custom in the Eastern church at that time and it also meant that Good Friday and Easter were celebrated in a single feast. Luckily, the book has a very thorough introduction by the translator that helps put Melito and his text in context, especially his views about the Jewish role in Christ's crucifixion. The text itself has a particularly liturgical grace about it and the reader will catch many parallels to "traditional" Triduum liturgies, particularly to Easter Vigil. This means it makes for very good triduum reading.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in the early Church and its practices, Quartodecimanism, or Christian liturgies, or anyone looking for something different to read this Holy Week.

First Line: The Scripture of the exodus of the Hebrews has been read,
and the words of the mystery have been declared;
how the sheep was sacrificed,
how the people was saved,
and how Pharaoh was flogged by the mystery.

St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, DeweyCAT, WomanBingoPUP

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, biography, hagiography, Margaret Clitherow, Reformation, Elizabethan England, York, family, politics, persecution, martyrdom

St. Margaret Clitherow is a life of the so-called "Pearl of York", who was pressed to death in 1586 after she refused to enter a plea in court after she was arrested for harboring priests. While it provides all of the necessary biographical details, it is definitely hagiography, and the author is very much on Margaret's side. The daughter and wife of leading figures in the city of York, Margaret had it all, but decided that her faith was more important. Nevertheless, she tried to protect her family from her actions at all costs—part of the reason she refused to plead was to avoid making her children testify at her trial. But her faith was the most important thing of all, and we learn a lot about how Catholics struggled to get by in the first decades of Elizabeth's reign.

An interesting book about an interesting person. Probably for Catholics only, because of its essentially polemical nature. For those looking for a more academic study of her life, there is Peter Lake and Michael Questier's The Trials of Margaret Clitherow: Persecution, Martyrdom and the Politics of Sanctity in Elizabethan England, which I'm hoping to get to in the next few weeks. Highly recommended.

First Line: In the year 1530, a certain Thomas Middleton took up his freedom as a citizen of York.

A Short History of the Roman Mass by Michael Davis

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, liturgy, mass, Roman Rite, liturgical development, Church history, Christmas present

A Short History of the Roman Mass is a brief, fifty-page overview of the origin and development of the Roman Rite of the mass (the main form of the liturgy in the West). From the New Testament to today, Davies gives a thorough summary of how the mass became what it is today, including the form of the low mass. It should be noted that the author was famously anti-the new mass, so post-Vatican II developments are relegated to a couple of pages about how underhanded and a betrayal of previous processes it the mass of Paul VI was. But if you're interesting in the older forms of the mass, there is much to chew on here.

Recommended for Catholics of a certain stripe, Davies gets a bit bitter towards the end, so lovers of the new mass may want to stay away.

First Line: The first source for the history of the Mass is obviously the account of the Last Supper in the New Testament.

Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! Happy Easter!


"The Resurrection of Christ" (1499–1502) by Raphael

I hope everyone has had a great Easter. I was fasting from the internet from Good Friday services through Sunday, and then spent most of today either recovering from Easter Vigil mass (I got back home at 3 am) or cooking Easter lunch. We had lamb chops with apple-mango chutney from Marcus Off Duty with my favorite shallot fried rice recipe from Burma and sauteed kale with garlic. Dessert was almond cake. It was all very delicious (especially the cake), and this year's services were very beneficial spiritually, but I am glad Holy Week comes only once a year because it is exhausting.

The Seven Last Words by Fulton Sheen

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, American non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, seven last words, Holy Week, Crucifixion, Jesus Christ, meditations, Fulton Sheen

The Seven Last Words is a series of short meditations on the seven last words of Christ originally published in 1933. These are the last seven things that Christ is recorded as having said, and have long been the subject of Christian inspiration. Each of the "words" is given its own chapter and each chapter ends in a brief prayer. This is fairly early Sheen, and it's missing some of the spark of his later works, but there is still much here to chew on. The seven last words make for excellent Lenten or Holy Week reading, but they are also worth pondering the rest of the year as well. Recommended for Catholics interested in the last words or those who have enjoyed Sheen's other works.

First Line: It seems to be a fact of human psychology that when death approaches, the human heart speaks its words of love to those whom it holds closest and dearest.

The Sadness of Christ by St. Thomas More+

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, English non-fiction, Latin non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, scripture commentary, Jesus Christ, agony in the garden, betrayal, prison literature

The Sadness of Christ is a scripture commentary on Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and John 18 written by Thomas More during his final imprisonment. It was the last work he finished before he was executed. This makes the work's subject, an analysis of Jesus' agony in the garden up to his being taken into custody, particularly poignant. More knew first hand what it was like to be betrayed and beaten down. But the work is worth reading for its content and not just for the circumstances of its birth. For those interested in commentaries on Christ's passion or the life and works of Sir Thomas More.

First Line:

When Jesus had said these things, they recited the hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives. {Mt. 26:30}

Though He had spoken at length about holiness during the supper with His apostles, nevertheless He finished His discourses with a hymn when He was ready to leave.

Wishing everyone a happy Easter Monday! In the extraordinary form, today's Gospel is the story of Jesus' appearance on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32), which happens to be my favorite Bible story. It combines deep symbolism with a genuinely compelling plot.


"Der Gang nach Emmaus" (1877) by Robert Zünd

Elijah in Jerusalem by Michael D. O'Brien

Categories: George Mackay Brown, DeweyCAT, SFFKIT

Series: Father Elijah (3/3)

Keywords: fiction, Canadian fiction, apocalyptic fiction, Catholic fiction, end times, antichrist, Christianity, love, hate, Carmelites, secrecy, conspiracy, Israel, Jerusalem, politics

Elijah in Jerusalem is the sequel that fans of Father Elijah have been waiting twenty years for. I will be the first to admit, I thought the ending of the first book was perfect and didn't really want a sequel. Some parts of the plot support my initial reluctance, but overall it's a good book. There's actually not much apocalyptic going on during the narrative, as the Antichrist is busy creating peace in the Middle East and planning a big announcement on the Temple Mount. Elijah and his companion are laying low in Israel after receiving instructions from the Pope, they meet some interesting allies, including one woman who has known the President (aka the Antichrist) from childhood. All Elijah wants to do is fulfill what he feels is his mission, but God's plans don't always match up with ours.

I can't tell if O'Brien is planning to spin off another series from this one (the last time he did that the results were awful), but it does seem at that times like he us up for future volumes in this world without Elijah. Overall it's a good book that will get you thinking about the role of Christians in the world. But it's probably best to start with Father Elijah first.

First Line: Look closely.

Saint Pius V by Robin Anderson

Categories: Élisabeth Leseur, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, biography, hagiography, Pope Pius V, Inquisition, Holy League, Lepanto, politics, diplomacy, war, nepotism, Venice, France, Turkey, Vatican

Saint Pius V is a short biography of one of the great popes of the early modern era. Pope Pius V is known for a wide variety of things, from cleaning up the Vatican to excommunicating Queen Elizabeth. This book tries to touch on all of them, so there is a chapter about his life growing up and joining the Dominican Order, and then various chapters detailing different aspects of his papacy. Whether it dealing with matters at the Vatican, organizing the Holy League that will defeat the Turks at Lepanto, or standardizing the mass with the 1570 edition of the Roman missal, Anderson manages to cover it somewhere in the book's one hundred pages. An excellent short biography of a very influential figure whose influence lasted long after death. Highly recommended.

First Line: Michael Ghislieri was born in the township of Bosco, not far from the Piedmontese city of Alesandria, on January 17, 1504, during the reign of Pope Julius II.

The House of Gold: Lenten Sermons by Bede Jarrett, OP

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, British non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, homilies, Lent, Holy Week, marriage, family, children, power, solitude, seven last words

The House of Gold collects a brilliant series of sermons and lectures that the author, an English Dominican, gave in New York during Lent in 1930. The book is divided into three sections: homilies given at Sunday masses during Lent and Passiontide that deal with the Gospel readings of the day, weekly lectures about marriage and the family given on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays in Lent, and homilies for Holy Week, plus a discourse on the seven last words of Christ given on Good Friday. Jarrett's writing is highly readable and incredibly informative, which probably made his homilies highly listenable to as well when they were given. I particularly enjoyed the sermons in the first section, which gave me additional insights to the readings I had heard at mass that day (note that this only works with the extraordinary rite). Highly recommended. It is the perfect book Lenten reading.

First Line: It is good to realise that one of these various temptations, my dear brethren, to which our blessed Lord was made subject by the Spirit of God, was the temptation of power.

Just catching up on your thread - Hi!

Easter: The Passion and Resurrection by Géraldine Elschner

Categories: Beatrix Potter, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, German non-fiction, juvenile non-fiction, picture book, holiday picture book, Easter picture book, Jesus Christ, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Fra Angelico

Easter is a retelling of the final days of Jesus' life from Palm Sunday to the Ascension, with a focus on the events of Good Friday. The book uses a fresco series by Fra Angelico as illustrations. Elschner has done similar treatments of the Nativity and the story of the Three Kings, and I am a great fan of the concept. Besides the amazing art, the book's text is also good, managing to be both readable and informative. An excellent addition to anyone's Easter book collection.

First Line: She had always watched over her son, born on a cold winter night on a bed of straw in a stable.

>240 VictoriaPL: Hi! You've caught the very end of it, as I'll be setting up a new one for April on Friday (I'm pretty sure this one is setting my personal thread length record). But there will be around four more reviews and maybe another pretty picture or two before that time comes. I don't plan to go out with a whimper. :)

>242 inge87: I'm planning to set up a new thread myself for April. It's a good time. :)

The Dawn of All by Robert Hugh Benson

Categories: Robert Southwell, DeweyCAT, SFFKIT

Keywords: fiction, British fiction, dystopian fiction, Catholic fiction, Church triumphant, amnesiacs, socialists, London, Rome, Lourdes, Boston, Berlin

Apparently, many people felt that Benson's first novel of the future, Lord of the World was too negative, so in reply he wrote The Dawn of All. Presented as the dream of a dying apostate priest, in this book we encounter a world in which the Catholic Church has triumphed instead of materialism. Indeed some might find this book slightly scarier than the first one. In this world Monsignor Masterman wakes up from a dose at Speaker's Corner with no memory of who he is. He has to learn the world anew. In place of his memories linger only a kind of vague knowledge of how the world was decades earlier at the turn of the century. This literary device allows the protagonist to engage this new world heads on instead of blindly accepting it. Indeed, he feels that its victories have caused the Church to forget how to suffer and he finds that it has become hard in ways he doesn't feel comfortable with. But other aspects of the world amaze and awe him. Meanwhile, there is a secret socialist underground conspiracy with roots in Germany that has decided to fight back, and sudden news pushes them to the brink. Will they be able to bring down the Church? Will Masterman find a way to help the Church improve its trouble spots? And what about that apostate priest, what is happening to him? All will be explained, if only you survive to the end of the book.

A very different book than its predecessor, but a very interesting one as well. I especially give Benson kudos for predicting a European War in 1914. Recommended for fans of early twentieth-century dystopian novels, Robert Hugh Benson, or interesting Catholic fiction.

First Line: Gradually memory and consciousness once more reasserted themselves, and he became aware that he was lying in bed.

>243 VictoriaPL: Indeed it is. :)

The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous

Categories: Beatrix Potter

Keywords: fiction, American fiction, children's fiction, picture book, holiday picture book, Easter picture book, family, traditions, egg painting, Easter Bunny, Easter egg hunt, egg tree, Pennsylvania Dutch, grandparents, grandchildren, Caldecott Medal

The Egg Tree is a cute picture book about a bunch of grandchildren visiting the family farm in Pennsylvania for Easter. They can't wait for the egg hunt, but then it looks like the youngest won't find any eggs. Then she uncovers some beautiful ones in the attic. Soon all the grandchildren want to paint eggs like those and hang them on the egg tree. The next year they tell all their friends about their egg tree and visitors come from all around to look at the beautiful tree.

A sweet story about a Pennsylvania Dutch folk tradition. It won the Caldecott in 1951, and the illustrations are still worth a look. Recommended for those looking for a non-commercial secular Easter book.

First Line: It was very early on Easter morning.

The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

Categories: The Venerable Bede, GeoCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, history, Ukrainian history, migration, war, conquest, politics, Ukraine, Crimea, Poland, Russia, Ottoman Empire, Cossacks, Austria-Hungary, revolution, Soviet Union, Holodomor, famine, genocide, repression, corruption

The Gates of Europe is a history of Ukraine from the very dawn of written history through 2015. The very name "Ukraine" means borderland, and the one constant throughout the thousands of years of history documented here is the constant shifting of borders—whether it is Greek and Barbarian, Russian and Polish, Catholic and Orthodox, or simply East and West, Ukraine is where they met. Therefore, the history of Ukraine is a history of turmoil, which at least guarantees that it is never boring. And luckily, Plokhy has a very readable English style, which makes it accessible as well.

The only downside is that because he is dealing with so much time, the author has to dedicate a small space to everything, so nothing gets covered in complete and total detail. I personally would have liked more about Western Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, because my little Catholic Austrophile heart finds those topics interesting, but I'm sure others will say the same about other parts or aspects of the country as well. But everything that needs to get cover gets covered, from the Cossacks to Panslavism to the Holodomor to the Russian Proxy Wars of today. So if you're at all interested in Ukraine, you'll want to pick this one up. It's probably the best general book on the topic in print right now.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Ukraine, Eastern European history, or good history books.

First Line: The first historian of Ukraine was Herodotus, the father of history himself.

Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe

Categories: Dominic de Guzmán, DeweyCAT

Keywords: non-fiction, French non-fiction, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, freedom, interior freedom, prayer, suffering, God, love, faith, hope, selfishness, selflessness, self-love, spiritual growth

Interior Freedom is a short, but deeply satisfying volume about finding interior freedom. Mostly, it's about accepting suffering and coming to love yourself, because God loves you no matter how inadequate you might feel about yourself. This means that you are worth much more than you think you are. Philippe is focused on helping his readers navigate the hardships and realities of the modern world. His two great sources of inspiration here are Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who needs no introduction, and Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman who was killed in Auschwitz in 1943. In order to achieve true freedom, you have to grow in faith, hope, and love and begin to put God first. While not always easy, these steps always provide great rewards to those who persevere. In short, it's the perfect work for those struggling through hard times or those looking to increase in spiritual growth and closeness to God. Highly recommended.

First Line: This book is about a basic theme of Christian life: interior freedom.

March Record-Breaking Round-Up!

Books Read: 42 (compare to 22 in 2013, 21 in 2014, & 17 in 2015)

Category Challenge

87 of 192 read - 45.31% done (true total 93 books)

3 of 16 categories completed - 18.75% done

Individual Categories
1. Robert Southwell: Classic Fiction (pre-1920) - 3 - 25%
2. The Inklings: Fantasy - 12 - 100%
3. Mary Chesnut: General Biography/Memoir - 2 - 16.67%
4. Naoko Takeuchi: Graphic Novels and Non-Fiction - 4 - 33.33%
5. Gertrud von Le Fort: Historical Fiction - 1 - 8.33%
6. The Venerable Bede: History - 2 - 16.67%
7. Dorothy L. Sayers: Mysteries - 8 - 66.67%
8. Fra Angelico: Other Non-Fiction - 1 - 8.33%
9. Beatrix Potter: Picture Books - 17 - 100%
10. George Mackay Brown: Recent Fiction (1970 onward) - 9 - 75%
11. Dominic de Guzmán: Religion - 13 - 100%
12. Élisabeth Leseur: Religious Biography/Memoir - 8 - 66.67%
13. Mary Stewart: Retro Fiction (1920-1969) - 3 - 25%
14. Gregor Mendel: Science - 3 - 25%
15. Herodotus: Travel - 1 - 8.33%
16. Frances Hodgson Burnett: YA/Juvenile Fiction - 6 - 50%

Challenges
DeweyCAT - 23
SFFKIT - 11
GeoCAT - 4
BingoDOG - 2
RandomCAT - 2
WomanBingoPUP - 1

Genre
Fiction - 21 - 50%
Non-Fiction - 21 - 50%

Sources
Me (other) - 11 - 26.19%
Corsicana PL - 9 - 21.44%
Irving PL - 6 - 14.29%
Austin PL (e-book) - 4 - 9.52%
Me (last month) - 4 - 9.52%
Work - 4 - 9.52%
Me (TBR) - 2 - 4.76%
Free Online E-Book - 1 - 2.38%
Me (this month) - 1 - 2.38%

Authors
Male - 20 - 60.6%
Female - 13 - 39.4%

Edition Language
English - 41 - 97.62%
German - 1 - 2.38%

Original Language
English - 34 - 80.96%
German - 2 - 4.76%
Greek - 2 - 4.76%
French - 1 - 2.38%
Latin - 1 - 2.38%
Russian - 1 - 2.38%
Spanish - 1 - 2.38%

Series
Stand-Alone Books - 25 - 59.52%
Series Books - 17 - 40.48%

Ratings Distribution
1 star - 0 - 0%
2 stars - 1 - 4%
3 stars - 23 - 60%
4 stars - 14 - 32%
5 stars - 4 - 4%

Average Rating
3.5

Discovery of the Month



On Pascha by Melito of Sardis

Best of the Month



Fiction: Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Non-Fiction: The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

Congratulations on a stellar month of reading!

>250 DeltaQueen50: Thanks!

>248 inge87: I read Interior Freedom this month as well and LOVED it! It was definitely a case of the exact right book at the exact right time for me.

>252 christina_reads: It's a remarkable book. I'd read one of his other books on the subject (Searching for and Maintaining Peace) and thought it was alright, but Interior Freedom is in another class altogether. There's a lot in it that I'll be trying to apply to my life, both now and in the future.

I've got a new thread for April, so come and join me there!