Benita's Big Bad Book Pile - 2016

Once again I will attempt to rid my shelves of books that have been sitting around for a very long time. My goal for this year is 45 books off my shelf. The books I will be reading will be anything purchased or added to my list before December 31, 2015. The eligible books can also be recorded books. I will add titles to this posting when I finish them and a short review below as I get time to write it. I will be joining in the Hillerman/Johnson mystery challenge and the British Author Challenge this year and hope to use both of these Challenges to get some books off of my shelves. I will also be participating in the American Author Challenge on an intermittent basis for this next year. I will use this first spot to index my ROOTS for the year.

1. Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski - recorded book - January 3, 2016
2. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake - recorded book - January 11, 2016
3. Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman - January 11, 2016
4. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas - January 15, 2016
5. Crete by Barry Unsworth - January 19, 2016
6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth - January 22, 2016
7. Red Necklace by Sally Gardner - recorded book - January 23, 2016
8. Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham - January 25, 2016
9. Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake - February 3, 2016
10. Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland - recorded book - February 10, 2016
11. Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson - February 14, 2016
12. White Shadow by Ace Atkins - February 26, 2016
13. Winter by Marissa Meyer - March 5, 2016
14. Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search For the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner - recorded book - March 12, 20016
15. Hounded by Kevin Hearne - March 16, 2016
16. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman - recorded book - March 18, 2016
17. Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig - recorded book - March 20, 2016
18. Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman- March 23, 2016
19. Black Reckoning by John Stephens - sound recording - April 2, 2016
20. White Cat by Holly Black - sound recording - April 10, 2016
21. Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God by George Weigel - April 13, 2016
22. As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson - April 12, 2016
23. Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson - April 15, 2016
24. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - sound recording - April 20, 2016
25. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - sound recording - May 4, 2016
26. Ratking by Michael Dibdin - May 4, 2016
27. Vendetta by Michael Dibdin - Ma 10, 2016
28. Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlin - May 10, 2016
29. China Dolls by Lisa See - sound recording - May 14, 2016
30. River of Stars by Guy Gaveriel Kay - May 14, 2016
31. Talking God by Tony Hillerman - May 18, 2016
32. Black Water Rising by Attica Locke - sound recording - May 23, 2016.
33. Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa - May 26, 2017
34. Smiley's People by John Le Carre - sound recording - June 3, 2016
35. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - sound recording - June 8, 2016
36. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - sound recording - June 12, 2016
37. Allegiant by Veronica Roth - June 14, 2016
38. Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern - June 17, 2016
39. A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson - June 20, 2016
40. Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook - June 29, 2016
41. Hammered by Elizabeth Bear - July 2, 2016
42. Scardown by Elizabeth Bear - July 11, 2016
43. Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman - July 17, 2016
44. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo - sound recording - July 27, 2016
45. Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin - August 3, 2016
46. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - August 18, 2016
47. Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff - August 28, 2016
48. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo - sound recording - September 7, 2016
49. Any Other Name by Craig Johnson - September 11,2016
50. Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski - sound recording - September 14, 2016
51. Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly - sound recording - September 23, 2016
52. Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear - September 24, 2016
53. Scared Clowns by Tony Hillerman - September 29, 2016
54. Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature by Ira Flatow - October 5, 2016
55. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee - October 20, 2016
56. America America by Ethan Canin - sound recording - October 24, 2016
57. Martha Inc. by Christopher Byron - November 4, 2015
58. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore - November 5, 2016
59. Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - sound recording - November 6, 2016
60. Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman - November 17,2016
61. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - sound recording - November 22, 2016
62. Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch - sound recording - November 26, 2016
63. Child of A Hidden Sea by A. M. Dellamonica - November 27, 2016
64. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes - sound recording - December 4, 2016
65. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick - sound recording - December 14, 2016
65. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - December 13, 2016
66. An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson - December 17, 2016
67. Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh - sound recording - December 18, 2016
68. Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - December 23, 2016
69. Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan - December 29, 2016

Welcome back, Benita! Happy ROOTing.

Welcome back & Happy ROOTing!

Good luck with your ROOT reading!

Welcome back and a Happy New Year of successful ROOTing!

Happy Rooting!

Welcome back! Nice to have around here again, I'm trying to follow your reading again this year. Happy and successfull ROOTing!

My first ROOT of the year was a recorded book Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski. I listened to it on the drive back to Alabama from my Christmas break. This is a new book, but it is a continuation of a series that I started reading last year so I am counting it toward my goal for this year. I am a person who likes to read a series from start to finish and I don't like to have to wait for the series to finish. I forget too much about the story if the plot gets put on hiatus. However, this recorded version was on the shelves at the public library and I knew that I had a long trip planned, so thought it was worth getting and listening to.

This is the middle book in a trilogy and it suffers from the middle book syndrome. At it's heart it is a romance novel and I confess that, even though it was a very good recording with a good reader, I got bored with all the back and forth of does he love me?, and I must lie to protect him, etc. etc., that is found in the typical romance novel. This novel had the makings for a good spy story, and it just lost its way in the romance novel genre. I will read the last entry in the series when it comes out next year just so I can finish the series, but it had better get past this silliness or I won't make the time for it in my reading life.

Welcome back and good luck with the book pile this year!

Middle books have that syndrome, indeed. I hope part three is much better.

>8 benitastrnad: ans >10 connie53: I also hope no 3 is better again. I actually also like to read series from start to finish and don't like when they stop somewhere.... and to wait for the end....

I am changing my goal for the year and upping it to 45. I think that is doable.

>12 benitastrnad: Brave choice, Benita!

Yeah, you can do it!

I started listening to Antigoddess by Kendare Blake while on the last leg of my trip back to Alabama on January 3, 2016. This was a short YA novel, but I also was interested in this enough to spend an evening listening and knitting to this novel. I had an ARC of the book from the ALA meeting in Chicago - June 2013.

This is essentially an updated and spun version of the Trojan War story. All the gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines are there. They are just in an updated version. For instance, Athena is a smart bitch goddess punk goth road warrior type while Hermes is a Tommy Hilfiger wearing preppy snob who looks and acts like a runner. Cassandra is a typical upper middle-class trendy teenager in love who just happens to be psychic. The re-creations of the characters is very well done. The author manages to make them into something new but retains their essential character traits that are straight out of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The novel starts out well with lots of action and development of the traits and character of the characters. However, it ends with a whimper. No big bang with no surprises. The action scenes at the end were not that well written compared with those earlier in the novel. The climatic battles was less than climatic, with the lead-up to it being more suspenseful than the battle itself. Even with that let down, the author as set up the trilogy nicely for the next book and I will probably listen to it at some point. I listened to this novel and the reader, Kate Reading, is a veteran who did a great job of narrating. There is no doubt in my mind, that her narration added to the experience with this novel. It was a great way to pass the miles so I will probably listen to the next installment.

I read Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman while sitting in airports and on the plane going to ALA midwinter in Boston. I managed to complete the book on the trip.

This was another good mystery that continues the Leaphorn/Chee series that Hillerman wrote starting in the late 1970's. This title was originally published in the 1980's and shows now signs of being out-of-date. Once again, this novel is more of a cultural anthropology title than it is a mystery, but that doesn't mean that the mystery is irrelevant to the story. On the contrary, the mystery becomes central to the story because it foreshadows many of the current health care problems with medicare and medicaid as well as the diabetes epidemic and highlights the problems these diseases have caused in poor and isolated communities, like those found on the Indian Reservations in this country. The relationship between Leaphorn and Chee was also central to the story and was made more interesting by the complicating issues their personnel lives and the intersection of those with the events in the story. It was also of interest that the older Leaphorn was the scientific methods policeman while Chee, who was younger was the policeman who wanted to uphold traditional tribal values and rights. It was clear that there were two contrasting ideologies at work between the two men, and yet they worked together and it will be interesting to see what direction the author takes them in the future.

Sounds like a couple of good listens/reads! :)
I've never read anything by Hillerman.. but he's such a recognizable name. Sounds interesting!

I finished reading Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas tonight. Wow! What a ride. I was totally immersed in this book for a week and stayed up far to late at night reading it. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment in this series.

I love this series - and no surprise here - the author has left the door wide open for the next novel in the series. I have some problems with this series.

1. It is not YA. It is an adult series masquerading as YA. Just because the heroine is 19 doesn't make a book YA. In this case a book full of blood, misogyny, sexism, sex, and sexual manipulation makes this series an adult fantasy series. I broched this subject with the Bloomsbury sales rep in the publishers booth at ALA last week. She was extremely uninsterested in my comments and simply told me that the series was selling quite well. Duh! I had guessed that, but clearly she did not care about the libraries that her publisher is supplying books to - especially public school libraries. Oh well! I will keep reading about the adventures of Celeana Sardothian. As an adult I can do that.

2. The romance novel part of this is just another older man/teenage Lolita story full of stereotypes and other anti-feminist nonsense. Why is it that young women have to be protected and initiated into the rites of love and sex by older men? What ever happened to falling in love with a man your own age? And - enough of the male strutting and marking their territory. Those parts of the book reminded me of the dance of the male Prairie Chicken. Come on - If Rowan is that old and experienced surely he is past all that, and so are the other men in the room. And while I am ranting about things in this vein - why are all the beautiful people blonde or white haired? Come on.

3. Those covers - who could fight tied up in an outfit like that? Also, if Aelin is as small and slight as the author has made her out to be in comparison with the males in the room how the heck can she wield that big of a sword? One swing and she would be dead because it would over-balance her completely. It is time that cover designers started getting real.

>18 benitastrnad: fun! I love finding a book that keeps me up late :)
and re your points...
#1 sounds like she really missed the point - how frustrating!
#2 ew :P I agree!
#3 lol ;)

>18 benitastrnad: Love the comment.

1. That's just stupid! Why ignore your remarks in such an uninterested way. I can understand if she doesn't agree with your points but she cold have been more polite about that.

3. Hey, you can. I do! (or my avatar can)

Love your comments on that last book you read!

I finished reading Crete by Barry Unsworth for the British Author Challenge 2016. I also chose this book because I am trying to read titles I already have at home and I want to reduce the stack of books I have checked out from the library. This title checked off all the above points.

This long travel essay is part of the National Geographic Society Directions series that I really like. I like them so well that I want to read all the titles that are available in this series ... eventually. This series is travel books written by well known authors who either live or have done extensive research in various places around the world. Unsworth has written several novels set in the ancient and modern Hellenistic world and spoke Greek well enough to get around in the area. He was a logical person to write about Crete.

This book is a long essay at 170 pages and, unlike others in this series, did not inspire me to want to travel to Crete. In fact, it did the opposite, as Unsworth wrote extensively in it about the overcrowded and over-built tourist spots and the poor state of the rest of the country. He did love all of the walking and hiking opportunities that the island presented and wrote about the role that the various conquerors of the island had in its history, but overall it did not seem to me to be an inspiring kind of writing.

I also noticed that Unsworth uses a unique sentence structure in this book. He writes, in what I call Yoda speak. He puts what most people would consider the ending clause of the sentence at the beginning. This results in a unique style but it also interrupts the flow of the prose. At first it was jarring and I thought that it was the result of poor editing, but since it was a pattern that repeated throughout the book it became apparent that it was not an editing problem. I will have to read the other two titles I have by him that are in my collection to find out for sure if that is his normal writing style or if it is something that he did only in this book.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth is a great bloated unweilding YA dystopian novel. It is full of poor writing and the good story line can't redeem all that purple prose.

I was warned by people who liked the first novel in this series that this second installment was a clunker. It was, but not for the reasons most people said. I think the reason why adults didn't like this novel is because it is so obviously a young adult novel. It is full of that purple passionate prose that young adults love. The will she - won't she, does he - doesn't he romance line is something that young adults would love. Adults would find it interminable and boring. I found it interminable and boring. I kept wanting to shout "Enough of this pulling petals out of daisies. Get over it and get on with the story!"

The strong point in this novel is the plot. It is a good one and ultimately that is what kept me reading it. I simply wanted to know where the author was going with the story line.

All the self doubt, self recrimination, and second guessing in the book is interminable, but again, teens would love that because they think it would accurately reflect how they think and feel. In short, this is a novel by a teen, for a teen audience, about teens. If I were a teen I would probably like it. I'm not, so I don't like it. In my opinion, the author ruined a perfectly good story line with all that teenage angst.

>23 benitastrnad: Interesting. My eReader had a sample of Divergent which read and enjoyed enough that at some point I might get the actual book. But one of my pet hates is purple prose, so thanks for the warning.

Red Necklace by Sally Gardner has been on my TBR list ever since I saw the cover. No matter my quibbles with the novel that cover is a winner! By itself it deserves to have 5 stars. It enticed me to listen to the book so whoever designed it should get a raise.

This is another YA novel that can't quite decide what it wants to be. Is it historical fiction? Is it fantasy? The historical fiction parts of the book are well done. The author says that she deviated from the historical record in several places and I don't have a problem with that. Sometimes authors have to do that in order to place the characters in the historical events when there may be no historically accurate way to do it. I can excuse that. However, this novel adds in elements of fantasy that don't seem to fit and come out of nowhere in the middle of the book. As a reader this sudden addition of fantasy elements just didn't seem to fit and created confusion for me as reader. I didn't appreciate that. Personally, I think that the historical novel portions with its shades of Dickensian Tale of Two Cities could have stood on its own without the introduction of the magic. But that is just my opinion. The author obviously had other ideas.

This is a novel that many YA's would like and perhaps could lead them to read the classics of this Scaramouche sub-genre. Titles like Scaramouche and the Scarlet Pimpernel. I suspect that they might want to read this title for the same reason I did - the cover.

>25 benitastrnad: I really loved that gorgeous cover as well (though her being a blonde when Sido was brunette bugged me a bit). But like you, I mostly enjoyed the historical angle and how deftly Gardner brought to life the fervid patriotism and idealism bobbing on an ugly undercurrent of violence. I too thought it was quite Scarlet Pimpernel-like. I have the next in the series somewhere on Mt. TBR. Perhaps I should come back to it soon!

Jeremy Poldark by Winston Graham is the third book in the Poldark series that I am trying to read through. Not that they are a chore - they are lots of fun to read.

This novel is set in 1790-91 on the coast of Cornwall. The French Revolution is heating up and smuggling along the coast of Cornwall is too. Ross is hauled before the court on a trumped up smuggling charge, probably at the behest of his arch enemies the Warleggen family. His marriage is going south due to a misunderstanding between he and his wife and his continued fascination with Elizabeth the wife of his cousin. All of this while he watches his tin combine company go down the tubes at the hands of the same family. And so the adventure of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution continues with a great cast of characters and good tight writing.

This novel comes out of the tradition of great sweeping epic historical fiction that was popular in the 1950's and 60's. Even though the scope is huge this is a prime example of good editing and the good sense to break this story up into manageable sized and readable novels. This is how epic novels should be done instead of 1,000 page wristbreakers. Or the equivalent in digitized books.

>27 benitastrnad: I've read the 1st book in the Poldark series, need to read the rest.

>23 benitastrnad: wow.
I was also warned the 2nd wasn't great... I think I can just skip it now :)
the movies satisfy my curiosity ;)

& Congrats on pulling so many ROOTs so far!

Mortal Gods is the middle book in a fun new YA series, The Goddess War by Kendare Blake. It is a pleasant surprise that this book is better than Book 1 in the series, Antigoddess. In this novel several of the main characters show humanitarian character growth and growing awareness of what being human is. That doesn't seem like much but when the characters are Gods and Goddesses it is a great deal.

The series is a brilliant take-off on the Iliad and the Odyssey. It’s about the Trojan war. The author has spun the story so that Athena is a punk rocker 21 year-old, Hermes is a Tommy Hilfiger poster-boy, Cassandra is still in love with Apollo (or he with her) and they all live in Kincaide, New York and go to High School. Calypso appears in this novel to complicate the growing relationship between Athena and Odysseus and when the bang-up ending comes it is a real smacker. What Marissa Meyer did for the Cinderella story in the Lunar Chronicles, Blake has done for the Trojan War. It is great fun to see how she has spun the story and in the process has made it so much fun. I have been reading them during my lunch hour and I keep trying to drag out the lunch hour so I can read longer. This was my "at work book" and by the time I got to the end I had to take it home so that I could finish it. I just couldn't wait another day to find out what the author did with the story. If you are looking for something fun to occupy your reading time – try this series.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland was a title that was highly recommended to me by a friend. She raved about it. I liked it, but I wouldn't rave about it. However, at this point in my life it is just the kind of historical fiction I need - something nice and gentle. While this novel did not enlighten me much about the lives of women from 1895 to 1910, it did provide me with a greater appreciation of stained glass art and the art works of the Tiffany Studio in particular. This part of the book was fascinating. Vreeland managed to get lots of art people from that period in New York City into the book, and did so in such a way that they fit into the story seamlessly. If the parts about immigrant life and the lives of working women were a bit stilted, the parts about the art and artists weren't. Another enjoyable read by Vreeland.

>31 benitastrnad: I have several of Vreeland's books, including Girl in Hyacinth Blue and really did just love them!

I finished Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson for the Longmire/Hillerman mysteries group read. I should also count this book as part of my Fantasy February reads. I think it was a reenactment of Dante's Inferno, but I haven't read enough of that book to know for sure how closely Hell is Empty follows the journey into Hell as described in the Inferno. The novel was leavened with bits of humor and camaraderie and that made it an enjoyable book to read. However, there wasn't much of a mystery to it. I would put it squarely into the thriller genre. It also had some mystical qualities to it, but nothing like the first book in this series. The best part of this book was that none of the faithful sidekicks get into the story. It is all Walt all the time, and it was a perfect weekend's entertainment.

I managed to add one more to the February list of ROOTS. White Shadow is by the Alabama native Ace Atkins. (Atkins now lives in Oxford, Mississippi) This is a fictionalized account of a Mafia murder in Tampa, Florida in 1955. Atkins discovered the story while he was a reporter at the Tampa Tribune. The stories he wrote about this murder and other organized crime murders that happened in the 1950's garnered him a Pulitzer Prize nomination. The guy can write, but the style of this novel was a bit convoluted for me. That may have been because I listened to it instead of reading it, so it took me some time to discover that the narrator was not one of the major characters of the story. Overall, this was a workman like entry in the Detective Noir genre.

I finished reading Winter by Marissa Meyer. This is the last in the Lunar Chronicle series. Or, I thought it was, but turns out that there is a book of short stories based on the series that will be released at the end of March. I may get to it sometime.

Winter was a good finish to the Lunar Chronicles series. Amidst all the teenage angst and Harlequin Romance romance concerns the author managed to tie up the plot line with plenty of action, thrills, and a few surprises that kept the novel interesting and very readable. This was a surprise, as most YA series novels have started strong and died in a bloated whimper. This last book in a series managed to go out with a bang. Kudos to the author on this accomplishment.

However, the novel was not without flaws. I got tired of reading all the Harlequin Romance trials and tribulations of the obviously paired off couples. There was the usual bloat. This book was about 50 - 100 pages to long. There were pages and pages of descriptive internal dialogue that were there to help readers who had not read the previous novels, but for the dedicated reader were just repeats of the contents of previous novels. This was especially true of the parts of this novel that dealt with Queen Levana. I wish that authors and publisher would just forget about trying to "catch up" new readers and just write the story. If the reader is interested they can go on and read the earlier novels in the series and "catch themselves up" to the current place in the series.

>35 benitastrnad: I always wonder why people start reading in the third or fourth book in a series. It could happen by accident of course. But I would stop when I noticed it and start at the beginning. Maybe with Fantasy it's more crucial than with thrillers.
Sometimes it's helpful if there is some 'catch up' because in fantasy the series are very long (Robert Jordan, Feist and such) and they are published with lots of time between the books. If you have to wait for another part to appear in the bookstore it's nice to have some 'catch up'.

>36 connie53: I can't start with book 2 or 3, even though most people say you can, they can be read as a stand alone.......

>37 Tess_W: Same here!

>37 Tess_W: >38 connie53: agreed! Although I have certainly done it (with early reviewers or accidents), I have always felt it would have been much better if I had started at the beginning and, in some cases, I went back to do just that :)

Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner. This work of non-fiction is part travelogue and part social science research. The mix of the two makes for an entertaining and enlightening book. The author starts out exploring the concept of happiness and ends up visiting ten of the happiest places on earth and one of the unhappiest in order to find out what makes a place, and consequently, the people who live there, happy. I am not sure he found out what made them happy, as there didn't seem to be a common thread, but he did find out what made them unhappy. In a word, that was, money. While the author found out that it is true that money can't buy happiness, he also discovered that the lack of money can make people unhappy. The only exception was the country of Bhutan. In that country money, more, or not enough, doesn't seem to make much difference in the way people feel and think about their lives. All-in-all, this was a fascinating look at the concept of happiness and all the components of a place that make it a happy place to be and live. I listened to this book and found it a very well done production. The author serves as the narrator and since he was also a NPR reporter and had much experience with the recording process, he did an excellent job. This was one non-fiction recorded book that I enjoyed and would recommend to other listeners.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne is the first book in a long series of books titled the Iron Druid books. This is urban fantasy, and it is a genre that I have not read much. I know it is very popular and so wanted to try out a title. Due to good reviews by people I trust I picked this series. It was OK, but not great. It is what I would call a guy book, even if it is urban fantasy. Lots of expletives, lots of sex, and lots of descriptions of T & A. Lots of action, and since the main characters best friend is a dog, it sinks to that level. It was a good travel book, in that it didn't demand much from the reader. It is the kind of book that I wouldn't mind leaving in the airport waiting area once I am finished with it, as it is a good way to pass the time, but not worth carrying home. I might read more in this series, but more likely not.

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman is listed as a companion book to Seraphina. I take that to mean that it is not a sequel. However, it reads like one even if it doesn't exactly move chronologically right behind the first book. This is a complicated set of novels. The characters are definitely nuanced and the plot is complicated. This is a children's book, but like so many of the British fantasy imports, this book does not talk down to its audience. In fact, it layers things on in complex weaving's. The book is full of characters who have complex lives and life styles. As a result the book is full of diversity. There are handicapped people, trans-gendered people, people with psychological disabilities, and good people and bad people and some who are good sometimes and bad sometimes, including the heroine. This is going to be a book to hand to kids and let them take from it what they will. I did.

I listened to the recorded version of this book, and the narrator does an excellent job of providing voice interpretation of the characters and the events in the story. My only complaint about this book is the length. It is long. This might have been a case where splitting it into two smaller books might have made sense simply in order to give the reader time to digest all of the people and events covered in this story.

Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig. This is book 12 in the Secret History of the Pink Carnation series. It is to be the last. I am sorry to see this series go as, unlike so many series, this one never got boring for me. It managed to maintain its edge throughout the series and this last one was just as sharp as ever. It was full of puns - both literary and historical. It did not lack for humor or farce, but kept a serious grounding, even though it was all tongue-in-cheek. In this last installment of the series the mastermind of the Pink Carnation spy ring found her man, and a way to maintain her career. The novel was full of daring-do and skulduggery - just as a Pink Carnation novel should be. I have to say that I have enjoyed the way this author has managed to skewer the Regency Romance novel, pick it apart, make fun of it, and still make them fun to read and listen to and thereby enjoy over many miles. If I ever meet her I will congratulate her on a job well done.

Like all of the previous titles in this series Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman was a winner. This entry in the Leaphorn/Chee series is much more complex than the previous novels. While this is not a lengthy novel, compared to what is being published currently, it is longer than the previous books in the series by about 50 pages, and it has more in-depth characterization. I find that the passages that delve into the heads of Chee and Leaphorn are more reflective and complex than what is found in the previous novels - For instance, Leaphorn's doubts about Chee and his abilities as a detective being clouded by his belief system. The question was, how could a Navajo Singer be objective enough to do the investigative work that is required of a policeman/detective? It was also noteworthy that some of Leaphorn's methods and ways of thinking are rubbing off on Chee. There is that passage when Chee finds himself thinking "What questions would Leaphorn ask? And how much would Leaphorn tell Nakaii?" All of this makes the novel much more developed and personal while still maintaining the anthropology lessons for the "belaga" reader.

Black Reckoning by John Stephens was a very good conclusion to the Books of Beginning series. Once again the theme was death and separation. My only quibble with this novel is that by the time the author brought the parents back they were totally superfluous to the story, and in effect made the novel longer than it needed to be. Still it was a satisfying ending to a well written series for those hard to find good books for grades of 4, 5, and 6.

White Cat has over 1,000 readers listed on LT. Why? Young people love Holly Black books. I have now read two of them and don't quite understand why. The premise of the books she writes is almost always intriguing, but the delivery is much less than stellar. There is so much missing out of this book. It seems to me that the plot is incomplete and that it sacrifices plot and character development for overwrought teenage angst, poor-poor pitiful me, and nobody understands me plot. At the end of the book, I still was trying to figure out why Cassel would even want to be around a manipulating spoiled girl like Lila after he had been manipulated all of his life by his own family. And the masochistic overtones weren't sexy, they were scary. This is a boy who wants to be punished and loves those who do it. If this is the modern day cool among teens - forget it. As for the author and me. Her writing better get better or I'm done. You can bet that I won't bother with the other books in this series.

I've read only one book by Holly Black Tithe, but I think you've nailed it on the head... premise is intriguing, but delivery is much less than stellar!
Well, at least now you know ;) Hope your next book is much better!

>46 benitastrnad: is the delivery not so good because you are an adult reader?

#48
I am sure that is the reason. I have no doubt that teens would love all the angst in Black's books because they feel like that themselves. There is lots to relate to for them in the books. Like I said, the plots are great but the writing and character development gets lost in all the teenage angst. I think there are other books out there that do a better job of dealing with these topics and still create believable fantasy worlds. Kristin Cashore and Rae Carson come to mind. But maybe those book series were really adult books that got marketed as YA?

I finally managed to finish one of the non-fiction books I have had on my list for a very long time. However, Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God by George Weigel wasn't really a book. It was more like a long essay that was written by a crotchety old man. The best part of his essay was the population statistics. The worst part was his quotations of another crotchety old man - Nial Ferguson. What I wanted from this book was insight. What I got was borderline polemic and glorification of John Paul II. The former I didn't expect and the latter the Catholic church seems to be doing just fine on its own with and doesn't need Weigel's help. I first heard the author speak on BookTV and found him interesting to listen to and so wanted to read the book. However, this is one author who proved to be a better talker than writer.

Is the book worth reading? yes. Is it's viewpoint still valid? Maybe, as that depends on the readers point-of-view going into it.

I completed another in the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson, As the Crow Flies. This was the best book yet in this series. The reason - no Vic, and lots more Henry. The introduction of a new character Lolo was also welcome. Favorite characters from past novels make significant appearances, but best of all - no Vic. Henry finally gets a chance to play a better role than Tonto, and the reader begins to get some hints of why Henry and Walt are friends. With the minimization of Vic, (did I say the best part was - no Vic) and the creation of a female character who has a right to be tough, this was a very good mystery novel.

You're more than halfway done w/ your goal - congrats! :)

Good job, Benita, getting past the halfway point.

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson has been on my TBR list for some time. This biography won the Pulitzer Prize back in 2008 and a couple of years later I managed to drive out to Concord when I was in Boston for ALA. While there I did a tour of the Alcott home "Orchard House." It was a wonderful tour and it was at that point that I became interested in the Alcotts.

There is no doubt that both Louisa and Bronson Alcott had an influence on the society and culture of this country, but this biography does not do them justice. It is a dry academic tome written by a psychoanalyst wannabe. That said, I learned more than I wanted about the Transcendentalists and the literary figures of Concord. If learning the details of the life the Alcott's lived is the goal this is the biography for you. If what is needed is a readable biography - look elsewhere.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford was a book that I had decided not to read, then when I found the recorded version at the public library it called to me. I picked it up and started playing it. I was hooked. This was a wonderful story about growing up second generation immigrant. It was set in the "International" section of town where the Japanese and Chinese lived in the 1940's and in the Seattle of the middle 1980's. This was a story of growing up and of what kind of craziness happens in war. It was also fun to read about Seattle and places and neighborhoods in that town.

>55 benitastrnad: I have that book on my TBR pile. I think I will move it up!

>55 benitastrnad: I initially read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet ages ago, but remember really enjoying it. I'm glad you liked it, too!

>55 benitastrnad: interesting.. I keep seeing that one. Maybe if it's at the library clearance sale next weekend I'll snag it....

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See was not on my list of books to read for this month because I wanted to devote the month to murder and mayhem, but while pursuing the recorded books at the library I spied it there and it called to me. Even though this is not a mystery, there is plenty of murder and most certainly lots of mayhem. This novel is about two sisters from China who manage to make the journey to the U.S. from Shanghai during World War II. They soon sense that they are in the U.S. as illegal immigrants - wives of "paper sons" so they both spend the rest of their adult lives trying to be under the radar and out of the view of the authorities. The strength of this novel is the way it portrays the lives of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. throughout the 20th Century and the ways that world events affect them. This novel wasn't as strong as some of the author's other novels, but it was still worth reading due to the interesting plot lines an history intertwined in the lives of the major characters.

Michael Dibdin is my go-to traveling author. On one of my first trips to Washington, D.C. I purchased one of the Aurelio Zen novels at Kramer's Books on DuPont Circle and read it on the plane trip back to Alabama. Since then I have taken one of those books with me when I go on long trips. This time I took the first title in the Aurelio Zen series Ratking and read it in one day. I started it in the Birmingham airport and finished it in the air between Salt Lake City and Bozeman.

Dibdin does a good job of introducing his police detective Aurelio Zen. I learned what happened to his father and about his traditional relationship with his Italian mother. I also learned why he has a hard time climbing the promotions ladder in the police force. Along with a great plot this book is full of cultural and social mores and ethics that made me want to go to Italy and experience this for myself. While I am glad that this is on series that doesn't have to be read in order, I do have to say that this was a great way to start this series and reading it is a wonderful gateway to the rest of the series and to Italy.

I started Vendetta by Michael Dibdin while in the sky somewhere over Utah or Montana and finished it over North Dakota a week later. It made excellent travel reading. This is book 2 in the Aurelio Zen series and in it Zen's character continues to come out. He is a straight honest person who wants to just stay under the radar so he can collect his pension and become a pensioner. It seems the cosmos is against this because he keeps getting assigned to high publicity cases. Yet, he manages to muddle through, all the while not finding his future Mrs. Right, which he is desperate to do. Well, maybe not Mrs. Right, but at least some steady mistress, and that tells the reader all they need to know about his mate hunting. Once again it is the Italian culture and social aspects that are the stars of the novel. Reading these just makes a person want to go to Italy and meet Zen. Or his real life counterpart.

>60 benitastrnad: >61 benitastrnad: I like the idea of an author as a favourite travel companion!

My real-life book discussion group is doing a travel book for the month of June. Each of us picks the travel book of their choice and will present it to the group. In the last year I have enjoyed reading the National Geographic Directions series. These are books about places that are written by well known authors, but they are not strictly travel books. Each book takes a little different angle on the place than that of "go see the famous sites, and here is my list of favorites" kind of book. These are really long essay's and rarely go beyond 170 pages in length. Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen was part of this series. Her angle on London was that of literary lover and author. She tells the reader about the Grocho Club and the townhouses of Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga." She takes us to the home of Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes and other famous streets and literary sites. Of course, she also goes to Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, but the book doesn't dwell there. It is about the streets and living places in London, which gives it a unique and fresh look at the city. This is another fine entry in this series and one I highly recommend.

I noticed that I read Crete by Barry Unsworth earlier this year. That book is also part of the National Geographic Directions series. I hope to read all of the books in that series - eventually.

The recorded version of China Dolls by Lisa See was very well done. It is the story of three different Chinese American women and their careers as show girls at Chinese nightclubs in California and their paths to stardom on the Chopstick Circuit in the 1930's though the late 1940's. The characters were well drawn and there were plot twists and turns that kept the novel moving along. Like all of See's novels this one excels at telling the history but making it palatable y wrapping it in a fictional novel. The narrator of this recorded version of the novel was excellent. She kept things rolling with great pacing and was not distracting or overly dramatic with her narration. If you see this one on the recorded books section of your library pick it up.

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay is is an excellent blend of fact, fiction, and fantasy. As with "Under Heaven," Kay is light on the fantasy and heavy on the storytelling. This novel is a sequel of sorts to "Under Heaven" but by the time the events of this novel take place the Tang Dynasty is long buried. Imperial China is faced with a new threat - the Mongols, and this novel is all about how they deal with that threat. Kay has created memorable characters that stick with you. You like the heroes and hate the villains, but the reader also likes those in the book who fail, because Kay helps you to understand why they have failed. Like "Under Heaven," this is a work of fantasy, but the fantasy elements are light and are almost missed. They are not the main focus of this novel. This is just plain great adventure reading on the same scale as the work of Bartle Bull. Even at 630 pages this is a great ride!

I will confess that I waited for this book to be published and then hesitated to read it due to its length, but it was worth the ride in every since of reading. I am not an expert on Chinese history, but just as "Under Heaven" did, this novel made me want to read more about Imperial China and all of its dynasties. When a work of fiction does that it has succeeded. I cannot wait to read more of this author and hope that he is not done with this series on Imperial China.

>65 benitastrnad: I noticed that some tags for this was fantasy. Do you feel that is a good tag is it more of a historical fiction?

#66
Kay is primarily a fantasy author. All of his work has some element of fantasy in it. Ghosts, premonitions, visitations by the Gods, etc. etc. I think it is fair to class it as fantasy, but be aware that the fantasy elements are light, and while they are significant when they appear, they are lightly done, and could also be classed as religious experiences or conversions of a kind. They are not, by any means, the traditional "swords and sorcerer" novel.

The group read of the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee books has provided me with hours of enjoyment and Talking God was no exception. I thought it was a good installment in the series. Others in the group read did not like it as well. The character of Leaphorn and Chee continues to develop. They are two different character types - Chee the younger but more traditional policeman with Leaphorn the logical and more willing to use modern ways of thinking to solve the case. This novel took both of them out of the Southwestern U. S. setting and moved them to the urban Washington D. C. museum setting. Leaphorn has done this before in Thief of Time but this was the first time the reader got to see Chee outside of his home environment. I thought it was a good way to bring in the fact that their are outside influences at work even on a remote reservation due to the demand for artifacts on the part of collectors, as well as the political pressures that result from such conduct.

I listened to Black Water Rising by Attica Locke on my trip back to Alabama. This was Locke's first novel and it won an Edgar award for Best Debut. I wanted to like this novel because it is written by a woman of color and about a black lawyer in a Southern City - Houston, TX. It had lots of things going for it, but it just didn't quite deliver. The major problem was the main character. He just didn't capture or hold my sympathy. The plot was good, the setting was good, but Jay Porter made me so angry with his childish stubbornness that there were several times that I almost quit listening. I am not sure that sticking with the book to the end was rewarding, but I did finish it, so it adds to my ROOT total.

Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa is the last installment in the Iron Fey and the Call of the Forgotten series. In this novel the author neatly ties up all the loose ends to her story in a neat way that offers no surprises for the reader. This entire series is a teen romance and it shows. That is not a bad thing and overall the series is inventive and lively. This last book, however, was not as novel as earlier entries in the series. It ties things up a little to neatly after the stunning climax of the previous book. Still it was a fun ride.

You did a lot of reading, Benita!

#71
There was a lot of traveling. That equals lots of reading and listening time.

I finished listening to the third book in John Le Carre's Karla series. The sound recording of the book Smiley's People was purchased at the Petrol Truck Stop in Salina, Kansas for $20.00. It was on a stand of recorded books that would appeal to travelers - especially truck drivers. Recorded books at a truck stop was such an appealing idea to me that I had to purchase one' And such a bargain!

This novel was a much different kind of book than the previous books in the series - much more contemplative and less of a thriller. It was much more of thinking kind of spy novel and could have used some editing. While not the best entry in this series (Honorable Schoolboy takes that honor) it provided a satisfying ending to the career of George Smiley and the series.

I listened to Brisingr by Christopher Paolini while driving back to Kansas/Nebraska on a quick trip. This is book three in the Inheritance Cycle by Paolini. This is a great kids book, but it is also one of the most bloated over written, and under-edited books I have listened to in a long time. The fact that the last quarter of the book is exciting and a great adventure doesn't make up for the totally boring three-quarters of almost mind numbing self-indulgent introspection that has been unfortunate enough to make it to the best seller lists. While Paolini has succeeded in the great endeavor of world building he leaves the reader bored to tears with long passages full of various characters, including the dragon, indulging in long passages of introspection. To add insult to injury the sound recording includes an interview with the author done by the editor of the books that extolls the virtues of this extensive "character building." They can call it that - I call it superfluous. The high quality of the narration is what rescues this novel from the totally boring pile to discard. It is first rate and a great way for families to pass the miles while trucking on down the road. My sister says this is the best one in the series. Surely not?!

>74 benitastrnad: goooood info. I've been curious :)

I listened to Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. This is the first in the Grisha Trilogy. The book was a best seller and I had heard good things about it, so I guess that I expected more. This is one of those novels that starts with the kernel of a good idea and just doesn't quite deliver the thrills that I expected. The novel is set in a land much like Russia and finds its inspiration in Russian folklore and fairytales as well as its history. There is the evil Rasputin character, the weak King, the uninformed Queen, and even Baba Yaga, as well as the power hungry Grand Duke of Spies. Combine all of this with magic and magician like Summoners and a ruined land covered by darkness and mutant beings that prey on humans, and star crossed lovers and there is the plot and setting for the novel.

For a YA novel this one is just about on target in content and plot. For an adult fantasy novel it falls short. I will probably listen to, or read the other three in the series because I own them, but this is one series I would not recommend to adults.

I finally gave up on Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I just couldn't take anymore of this overwrought teenage angst. This is one series that went one book too long. I don't think I will read the short stories associated with this series. There aren't any of the characters about which I want to read the back story.

I finally read Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern. I have had this novel checked out from the library for years - literally. I knew I wanted to read it because it is set in the Nebraska Sand Hills, but it kept getting bumped by other books. The attraction for this book is the setting. There isn't much exciting in this plot and much of it is predictable, but the writing is good and solid and the descriptions of small town life are very good. The descriptions of ranch life are sketchy and concentrated on the tourist aspect of ranching - like an old fashioned branding - and that irritates me. In short, this was no Kent Haruf novel, but it wasn't a total waste of tim either.

In June my LT mystery group read of the Hillerman and Johnson western mysteries read Craig Johnson's Longmire novel A Serpent's Tooth. This was a solid action mystery that moved along easily and wasn't demanding of the reader. I still don't like foul-mouthed VIc and don't get the attraction between her and Walt and I am honestly getting irritated with the author for not explaining the relationship with Henry Standing Bear and making that much clearer. However, the mystery moved along at a fast pace and that made this a fast read. I may have some problems with the character development of this novel but I will read another, even if I like the Hillerman novels better because the character development is better.

>68 benitastrnad:, it has been a long time since I read any of Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee books, but I always really enjoyed them. My dad used to get the audiobooks from the library for long car trips, and I remember one of the narrators (Gil Silverbird) was really amazing.

I read Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by Barry Estabrook for Suzanne's Non-Fiction Challenge. The theme for June was natural history. I thought this was going to be a biography of the tomato, but it turned out to be more social commentary and expose than biography. Most of the chapters in the book were about how the pursuit of the perfect red sphere for year-round purchase in the grocery store resulted in fruit with no taste and a system in which the farm workers were exploited and in many cases reduced to states of slavery. There were portions of the book that touched on genetics of the fruit and the history of the fruit, but most of the book was about current social and cultural issues. At the end of the book the author tells the reader that some of the worst conditions for workers are now, finally, being addressed, and that because of the popularity of farmer's markets the good tasting fruit is making a comeback. A good portion of this book was made up of chapters that appeared as articles in some well known food magazines. The kernel of this book was an article written for Gourmet under the editorship of Ruth Reichl. This book is well worth reading, just don't expect it to be about the tomato or how it is grown. Only a small portion of the story is a natural history biography the rest is social, political, and cultural.

I finished a fine science fiction novel Hammered by Elizabeth Bear. I am on a science fiction reading jag ever since I read the Ancillary series by Ann Leckie. I had not heard about Bear until I got a blurb about a new novel by her that is published by TOR. I did some research and found out Bear has a substantial list of works. She is Canadian and so I decided to try one of her novels. I picked her first novel Hammered and I can only say it WOWed! me. If you liked the Ancillary series read this series. The first novel in the "Jenny Casey" series was great escapist reading.

Part of the reason I picked this series to start with is that the heroine is a 50 year-old ex-combat soldier with a metal prosthetic arm and eye. Officially the Canadian military classes her as a cyborg. The time is in the future - 2062 to be exact and Global Warming has happened and the world is full of wars about water and land.

I loved the idea of an older woman heroine and just had to read it. I have already started book two in the series Scardown.

>82 benitastrnad:, that sounds really fun. On my last sci-fi kick, I came across A Confederation of Valor, which made me realize that I actually kind of do like military scifi, and I loved the no-nonsense heroine, so Hammered sounds like a BB for me!

I zipped through book two in the Jenny Casey series by Elizabeth Bear. Scardown was a continuation of the story started in Hammered only with more characters and the revelation of more of Jenny's backstory. Some people have complained that this novel has too many useless threads. I can't address that as I have not read the third and final book in this trilogy. However, I can say that this book brings some threads to conclusion and speculation about the ending (?) of others, so that there will be plenty of action and discussion in book three. Like the first book in this trilogy, this novel abounds in thrills, spills, and some decision making that is costly. I will be reading book three soon, as I can't wait to find out how this author resolves this woman's story.

#83
I have the Expanse series by James S. A. Corey in my sights now as well. Starting with Leviathan Wakes. That series by Tanya Huff looks good. I will have to check them out.

I finished listening to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo this afternoon. My CD player in my car went kaput and so I finished listening to this book at home and at work. I learned one thing - I don't like listening to books at work because I can't concentrate fully on just it. It breaks up the story too much.

In this novel the story of Alina and the Grisha continues with a climatic lost battle and miraculous rescue ending the book. Like all Listening Library titles this one was nicely produced and I now want to see how the author finished the series so will have to read book 3, or, if I spring for the money to fix the CD player I will listen to it.

Just popping in and saying 'Hi' to you, Benita!

I read another of the Aurelio Zen books, Dead Lagoon, by Michael Dibdin, while on my trip to Seattle. There are several reasons why I set aside my current novel in favor of this mystery. The first is that Dibdin retired to live in Seattle, which is where he wrote most of the Aurelio Zen books. The second, is that I try to read a Dibdin book whenever I fly somewhere on an airplane. This started back in the late 90's when I purchased my first Zen book at Kramer's Books and read it on the way home from Washington, D.C. Since then this mystery series has become my go-to travel read.

This mystery novel is set in Zen's hometown of Venice. It involves many of his childhood playmates and various neighborhood characters, as well as the Bosnian war, and Venetian Nationalism. Of course, Zen eats and loves, only to find that his love is a two-timing twat. In the meantime, he has solved the crime and lost his one real girlfriend because he treats her like ... Well you know. He is a man who can't see the forest for the trees. Or in this case the spaghetti for the sauce.

I finished reading Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman on August 7, and forgot to record the title in this thread. I will remedy that with this entry.

Like all the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee books this was an excellent cultural lesson wrapped up in a ho-hum mystery. Nevertheless, I love these mysteries and intend to keep reading them until I run out of titles.

On August 18, I met my goal of reading 45 books from off my shelf. I think this is a little behind last year, but since my CD player in my car quit I haven't been able to listen to books while traveling. That cuts down on the number of titles I can get through in one month.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was a big book. At close to 500 pages it did not read as one of those huge bloated books. In fact, I thought it ended rather abruptly and left me wondering what happens to Ifemelu and Obinze. Do they decide to marry? Or just keep having their long term affair?

Is this a chick lit novel? Or is it a social commentary novel? It is both. This was a book that managed to cross genre lines with aplomb and panache. There is much to think about while reading the book. It raises the specter of how immigrants are treated, and why people choose to immigrate. The book toggles back and forth between the story of Ifemelu an Obinze. Ifemelu in the U. S. and Obinze in the U.K. The immigration experiences are similar but at the same time very different. Then there is the race commentary and questions that the author raises for the reader. The magic is that the reader laughs and cries along with the characters while being made to think about some aspects of the culture in the U. S. and in the U.K.

My book discussion group read this book and aside from the timeliness of the topic it was a great read with lots of fodder for discussion.

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

Yes, congratulations! 45 is really impressive!

Congrats!

Congrats on rooting 45!

Yeah, you reached your goal!

Congratulations on meeting your goal!!

I finished Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo last night. I had the recorded version and it was so good I couldn't wait for my morning commute to find out how the story ended. I stayed up until midnight reading the novel in bed.

This is one series that does not suffer from the second book let-down, or the wimpy ending. This one was a banger all the way! In fact, the weakest of the three novels in the series was the first. Now this is the way to end a series. The Darkling makes everybody around him suffer and the Sun Summoner barely wins the day, and then turns her back on all of it and walks off into the sunset with the guy. How that happens is quite a story. Read it and for yourself.

Read Any Other Name by Craig Johnson. It is another good Longmire mystery. This one is centered around the coal trains and the coal industry in Wyoming. Many of the folks over on the Longmire/Hillerman comparative read didn't like this entry in the Longmire series, but I did. I think that part of the reason may be the lack of understanding about the modern coal industry and the logistics of transporting all that coal back to where it is needed to run power plants. If they had ever seen one of those trains that stretches for a mile it might change the perception and lead to a better understanding of the story.

I finished listening to Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski. This was the last one in the Winner's Trilogy and while it had flashes of good thrills, it suffered from a common aliment with series, it ended this trilogy with a whimper. Since this was the recorded version part of the problem was the narrator. The accents used were so fake that by the end of the novel they got on my nerves. I have to admit that I had noticed this problem in the previous novels because I listened to them as well, but I found it really annoying with one. I think it was because the storytelling wasn't good enough to make me forget about the narration problem.

Happy Sunday, Benita!

>99 benitastrnad: I hate it when that happens!

>97 benitastrnad: ooooh, I'm looking forward to that series!

I listened to another children's fantasy this last week. Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly is the first in her Waterfire Saga series. This is aimed at middle school and tween readers and as such it might have a following. For me, as an adult reader, it just fell flat. It was preachy and heavy handed in its approach to the message about conservation of the oceans and the wildlife in it. The plot was simplistic and the characters were stock. Given the audience for this book I would bee willing to overlook those deficiencies because I think that children would like this novel, even if I found it to be a lightweight in the genre. This was not at all what I expected from a novel by Jennifer Donnelly.

Another annoying thing was the fake accent the reader used. It didn't manage to convey anything to the reader because it was so obviously fake. When the reader read the book with no accent it was a descent recorded book, but with that accent it screamed fake in a great big way.

Finished Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear and loved it. This is the third book in the Jenny Casey series and what a thrilling ending. This series could qualify as a spy thriller as well as Sci/Fi because it ended with thrills and solved mysteries aplenty. It was also a very prescient book. It was published in 2005 and it was filled with references to nanotechnology, quantum computing, and space elevators, as well as First Contact with alien species. What was also neat was that I am reading another science book, this one by Ira Flatow and in that book I read an essay on space elevators and nanotechnology as well as quantum computing and low and behold I am reading about the same things in a fictional future world. I also still love the idea of a "woman of a certain age" as heroine, and Jenny did nothing to disappoint me in this final installment. The author left plenty of room for expansion on the story and I hope that someday she will write about Jenny and her "family" again.

Finished Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman for the Hillerman/Johnson group mystery read. Like its predecessors it was good. Fortunately for me there are more books to read in this series and I am looking forward to reading them.

Like the other books in this series this one was full of culture, religion, history, and character growth. Hillerman has added those personal touches that make a novel like this worth reading. These set the novel down firmly in the territory in which it trying to put the reader and that is the sign of a good author.

Ira Flatow's book Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature is a book of popular science style essays. All the essays come from guests on the author's radio talk show, NPR's Science Friday. It was amazing how prescient a ten year-old book could be. When it was written some of the essays bordered on prophecy and now some of those things are real. These are light and easy-to-read essays meant for a general audience or an introduction to a topic. They are not in-depth and make no attempt to be. They are enjoyable reading that give the reader a good background and will allow the reader to explore more on their own if they wish to do so.

>106 benitastrnad: That's a BB for me, it sounds exactly like the level I like for science!

Finished reading As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee. This one was for the BAC hosted by Paul. The title is one I have wanted to read for some time, but kept putting off until a book bullet from Joe got me. Since the author was also a featured author on the BAC it was a win/win for this title. The writing in this book was exceptionally good. The walkabout took place in 1935 & 36 just as the Spanish Civil War was starting. Except to describe a bygone era the writing and the descriptions did not feel dated, and while it was very good at describing the restless unfocused ambitions of youth, those too, did not feel dated, but very modern in their sensibilities. This was a very good piece of travel writing and a very good autobiography as well.

I have had the recorded version of America America by Ethan Canin for several years and finally decided to listen to it. It turned out to be very apropos for this election season. It is a retelling of the Edward Kennedy Chapaquidic episode that resulted in the death of Mary Jo Kopeckne. The novel is told from the point-of-view of sixteen year-old Cory Sifter who is the driver/handyman for the man who is the campaign manager for a potential Presidential candidate in 1970's America. The novel was well plotted and the characters engaging. What was an unexpected surprise was the narrator. Robinson Davies had a perfect voice for this novel and it greatly enhanced the experience of reading/listening to the novel. There were a few places were the novel dragged but listening to Davies was a pleasure.

>109 benitastrnad: Ohhhhhh, that looks to be right up my alley---BB for me!

#110
I thought it was a well told story with lots of class and culture overtones. I really thought the narrator made the listening to the book better than it might have been reading.

A long time ago I purchased a used copy of Martha Inc.: the Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia by Christopher Byron for $3.00 and finally got around to reading it. I read one celebrity biography a year and this was the one I picked for this year. I ended up admiring Martha Stewart for her drive and her business acumen, even though this was clearly not a biography that was friendly to her. There is no doubt that she played the celebrity game right and parleyed that into a wonderfully large pile of money for herself and her heirs. You go girl! Beat the boys at their own game.

I read Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore for my real life book discussion group. This book was on best seller lists and was the topic of conversation at many a college and university around the country for several years. I was disappointed in this book. The quality of the writing and the content did not live up to my expectations. Several of my colleagues at UA have said that this book was powerful, but I found it deficient and incomplete in its arguments. In fact, I am not sure what its arguments were. It read more like a comparison memoir. (if there is such a genre.) As a work of non-fiction on the topic of race and class in this country it seems to have started some conversations about the subject, but in terms of substantive solutions to the problem of accepting responsibility for ones actions and of poverty, education, and envy, it fell flat. It might be a good conversation starter but it offers no solutions.

I listened to the recorded version of Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. This was an excellent recording. It might be that the narrator made the book better than it was, but I think it was just a jewel of a novel. It was translated either from the French or the German - I am not sure which - but it was a very nice automobile listening experience. I have been trying to read more translated books because I think that there are great stories done in many countries and I need to be reading more of them. This was one of my choices.

The novel was about grief and how we handle grief. It was also a travel book about traipsing through the central part of France via the cannel system using a converted commodities barge. It is also a literary novel as it is about a book seller and why he sells certain books to his customer and not others. It was literary, in that it literary references to books and authors were liberally sprinkled throughout the text.

Highly recommended for literary readers and those who want a nice gentle story.

>114 benitastrnad: Interesting that you you have been trying to read more translated books, because that's my goal for 2017.

>114 benitastrnad: Okay.. I'll listen to that one instead of reading it. ;)

Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman. I read this for the Leaphorn/Chee and Longmire challenge her in LibraryThing. Like all the Hillerman novels this was a good one. It featured the basalt column "Shiprock" located in the Navajo reservation and the sport of rock climbing. Most of all it featured the complicated relationships found among policeman and native americans and whites.

The novel dealt with the viewpoint of the Navajo to Shiprock. To them it is sacred. To whites, it is a sheer column of rock that they want to conqueror. Climbing it is disrespectful. Several times it was mentioned in the book about how much this bothered the navajo. They kept saying that it was the same as a Navajo climbing one of the cathedrals. Sad, but I think that has been done many times and nobody even noticed. Reading this series is always an education and this entry in the series was no exception.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - what a ride! This is a fast paced SciFi thriller.

This novel was recommended by Nancy Pearl on a list of novels that were under appreciated and needed a wider audience. I am embarrassed to confess that this novel had been on my TBR pile for almost ten years. It is a good thing to get it off, because it was too good of a novel to have been put on the back burner that long.

It was a little on the long side, but it was worth it. I listened to this novel and generally liked the reader but his voice was a lower pitch and at times it made the novel hard to hear and understand. Even so there were many driveway moments with this one. The plot was not easy to follow so I almost wish I had read this on instead of listened to it. It amazes me how prescient SciFi novels can be. This one was published in 2003 and it is all about artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, cloning, and digital downloads of people and virtual reality. The novel is written in the mold of the hard-bitten, hard-boiled detective noir novel. If you don't like Dashell Hammitt or Raymond Chandler you won't like the style in which this novel is written. This is the first of three novels in this series, and I plan on reading the others.

Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch is a somewhat average YA fantasy novel with a great cover. The artwork alone is enough to sell the book. The book has a good premise but doesn't quite deliver in the plotting and storytelling part. There is a great supporting cast but the main character is not that sympathetic which makes it hard to stay interested in the novel. On-the-other-hand, this is one of the few age appropriate YA novels I have read in the last year. For that alone, the author deserves some praise.

Finished one of the books I have been reading for some time. Child of a Hidden Sea by A. M. Dellamonica is the book I have been reading at work since August. I took it home over the Thanksgiving break to finish it because I wanted to read something that would not tax my brain muscles. It didn't, but it was a fun good book.

This sea-faring alternative world fantasy starts out in modern day San Francisco where Sophie has gone to meet her birth mother and ends somewhere else. Just exactly where that is, is unknown. It seems like Earth, but it isn't the same. The plants are similar, but not the same. The animals are similar, but not the same, and some of them are so very different as to make Sophie think that she isn't even on Earth anymore. The plot is full of action and deeds of daring do, and the characters are sympathetic. Family appears and parents and children are united for the first time. It isn't a tear-jerker, but it is hopeful and engaging. The author doesn't spend too much time in world-building and gets right on with the story, making this an easy book to in which to become involved.

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes was a mediocre entry in the fantasy frenzy that young adult fiction has become. It never ceases to amaze that such good and imaginative plots can be messed up with such mediocre, trite, cliched, and predictable writing. This book is one of those. Hearing some of the lines given to the heroes and heroines in this novel was painful at times, with the words straight out of a 1930's B adventure movie. This was really sad and the plot was well done with some unexpected twists and turns that made it somewhat interesting. If the predictable dialog hadn't ruined the novel, the plot alone would have rescued it from the middle of any pile of young adult novels. This is one series that I won't be reading the next novel - unless the public library happens to have it in a recorded version and I don't have anything else handy to listen to.

I rated this book at 2 1/2 stars just a little below average.

I finished My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I did not expect this book to take as long to read as it did. I liked it and will continue with the series, but I found the style of the book a bit choppy. I think that is a function of the translation, but some of it could be the narrative writing style employed by the author. What this book excels at, is bringing the reader into the world of post-world war II Italy, and in particular the poverty stricken southern half of Italy. The world is seen through a child's eyes, and the narrator is very innocent. She begins to notice things as she grows older, but even at the end of the book her world view, which is limited to certain neighborhoods of Naples and a close seashore resort she visits, is very naive. Naivety has its charms, and therefore, so does this novel. A series to continue - at some point.

Finally a Walt Longmire mystery with an interesting character. In An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson, Henry Standing Bear plays a major role in the novel, and that obnoxious Vic tones it down to a barely tolerable screech, making this one of the easier books to read. The setting for this entry in the Longmire mysteries takes center stage and Johnson has the event and the place nailed accurately. There is a good supporting cast of good guys and bad guys and many literary and historical references that keep the novel interesting and entertaining. This is one of the better entries in this series.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick was a Micahel Printz award winning young adult novel and I can't understand why. It wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't the barn burning attention holder that I expect from a book that wins this prize. It is one of those books that is made up of short stories that the reader then finds is connected. The problem for me is that other authors have done this literary trick much better - David Mitchell come to mind. The novel starts out dark and disturbing and even though it is advertised as a love story that lasts through the ages, it is hard for the reader to understand why. Not my favorite book.

I listened to this novel, and I thought the narrator did a good job. But that didn't improve the novel any.

I am counting Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan because this is book two in the Takeshi Kovacs series. This is quit a trill ride and I will be getting book three in the series from ILL as soon as I can put in a request.

This is still the hardboiled Raymond Chandler type novel but this time it is more Sci/Fi than it is PI. Kovacs is a mercenary working for the corporate side during a nasty civil war when an archeological discovery is made. He finds a way to steal it and make some big bucks. He also keeps his virtuous morals and ethics while all around him others lose theirs. But that is what Takeshi Kovacs is all about.