drneutron's 2016 Read-o-Rama Part 2

Time to join the 2-thread club!

I've read 12 books so far this year; they are

The Bone Clocks David Mitchell
Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness Suzy Favor Hamilton
The Fifth Gospel Ian Caldwell
Mob Cop Fred Pascente
A Virtuous Death Christine Trent
House of Thieves Charles Belfoure
American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms Chris Kyle
The Bad Seed William March
Callander Square Anne Perry
Chapelwood Cherie Priest
Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them Nancy Marie Brown
Slade House David Mitchell

And some stats!

Total Read
12

Author Gender
Male: 9 (64%)
Female: 5 (36%)

Living/Dead
Living: 11 (79%)
Dead: 3 (21%)

Medium
Hardback: 4 (33%)
Trade: 1 (8%)
Paperback: 0 (0%)
eBook: 7 (58%)

Category
Fiction: 8 (67%)
Nonfiction: 4 (33%)

Source
Library: 10 (83%)
Mine: 2 (17%)

Other
ARC: 0
Reread: 0
Series: 3
Group Read: 0

Happy new thread, Jim! Nice stats! I love looking through those.

Happy new thread, Jim and thanks for putting up your stats nice and early - helps me do my own!

Only a point buddy and you are the scientific one amongst us but with 12 books read how do you have 14 authors and 13 of which are dead or alive?

Two books had two authors, but there's a typo in the living/dead category. Good catch!

A salute on your new thread, doctor.

Thanks!

Happy New Thread, Jim. And lovely stats as well!

Happy new thread!

Howdy Jim! You did some good reading in January. Look forward to what you have in store for this month.

Hi Jim, nice new thread my friend and a nice set of stats. I have put my January reading and stats on my thread also.

Hey Jim and Happy New Thread!

Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

Happy new one, Jim!

Happy New Thread, Jim! Hope you have a good week. If you have not read Winterdance, try to track down a copy. I can not praise it enough.

>14 scaifea: Thanks!

>15 msf59: I'll track it down!

Congrats on the new thread, Jim!

You're reading year is off to a great start. I liked those David Mitchell novels.

Congrats on the new thread! Stats really do furnish a room ...

Hi Jim - I love your stats.

Hey! New thread!

I did like those chessmen - saw them in the Museum of Scotland (or at least, I think I did. Maybe they were just ones that looked the same...).

>17 jnwelch: Yeah, I'm pretty happy with how the year's going so far.

>18 michigantrumpet:, >19 karenmarie: Thanks!

>20 charl08: Oh, wow, I'd love to see the chessmen. My biggest complaint about the book was the lack of pictures, except for at the chapter headings. With 92 found, it seems like it would be relatively easy to compile a photo record of at least most of them!

>21 drneutron: That does seem like a big oversight. Maybe hope for an illustrated edition? I have been tempted to get a replica set as part of my ever-growing chess set collection.

Oh, that would be cool! I'd go for a replica set. By the way, Wikipedia has some pics.

Happy new thread!

Thanks!

Happy New Thread, Jim!

Thanks! It seems like things in the group are picking up again - last year seemed awfully quiet sometimes. :)

WOW, twelve books read thus far. Congratulations Jim!

Happy second thread, Jim! I'm impressed by your stat-keeping.

I too am encouraged by your stats, so much so that I vow to return to my own thread right now and compile some of my own!
Bye for now :)

Jim--Second Thread Shoutout!! Woot, woot! And a 12-book January. You are on a roll! : )

Have a good one!

>29 tymfos:, >30 LovingLit:, >31 Berly: Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with how January turned out reading-wise. And I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - a 1000-page doorstop that was surprisingly quick and surprisingly good on re-read.

>32 DianaNL: Looks like my cat trying to navigate our deck when we had the snow... :)

Happy reading this weekend!

Happy New Thread and happy weekend, Jim.

Thanks for the good wishes to both of you!

Happy weekend Jim!

I am taking advantage of Superbowl Sunday to try and catch up with some threads. Happy new thread, Jim. Going back to your previous thread, I have made a note to add Chapelwood to my library request list (I know they have the e-book). I really enjoyed Maplecroft.

Great stats and well done on 12 books read!

Ivory Vikings is on the pile . . . I keep waffling about Slade House but you might have just tipped the balance in favor.

>37 The_Hibernator: Thanks! It was a pretty good one.

>38 lkernagh: Let me know what you think of Chapelwood - mrsdrneutron really likes it too!

>39 sibylline: Good!

Hey DrNue, just finished city of Blades wondering if you have plans read it.

I do, but haven't gotten to the library yet to pick it up. Did you like it?

Happy Mardi Gras! I liked the first one better, not sure why the second left me wanting?

And time for an update...

13. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Reread of this very good historical fantasy novel. Yeah, it's long, but it was a pretty quick read, and now I'm ready to hunt down the BBC series... :)

14. How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman

Worked well as Scottish history from the 17th century through the Scottish Enlightenment. Didn't work so well in convincing me the modern world was created by Scots. Still, it was a worth reading, and I learned some things about that era of Scottish history.

I've been meaning to reread Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell too. Have you read the book of short stories set in the same world?

Happy New Thread Jim. Congratulations on a great start! I look forward to seeing what you read in February.

>45 kgodey: Not yet. I hadn't made that connection that they are set in the same world until this reread. So the stories are on my list!

>46 Whisper1: Thanks!

>44 drneutron: 13. There's a BBC series? I should get around to reading the book, then.

14. But the title caught you, right? Even if you weren't convinced in the end.

>44 drneutron: Not convincing? But they did build the world (!) (Spot the Scottish heritage). If you wanted to be convinced, Tom Devine has written quite a bit on Scottish migration / significance as part of his history studies.

Scots do seem to punch above their weight in British history (compared to the size of the population) there is an argument that this can be attributed to the more egalitarian education system introduced long before free universal schooling was available in the rest of the UK.

Have a happy weekend.

Hi Jim, just passing by to wish you a very lovely and enjoyable weekend.

Happy Friday, Jim! Hope you have a nice weekend planned. I am really enjoying The Girl with All the Gifts. This might just be your cuppa...

Just dropping by after my return to Malaysia to wish you a great weekend, Jim

Stopping by to wish for you a weekend filled with fabulous, Jim!

Thanks, everyone! So far it's been a pretty good weekend!

>52 msf59: Already on my list... :)

Happy Valentine's Day, Jim!

>44 drneutron: - Wow, a re-read of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I have yet to read it for the first time, although your comment that it is a pretty quick read has intrigued me.

Happy Valentine's Day Jim!

It is still Sunday here...

>56 Crazymamie:, >57 Thebookdiva: Thanks! I love the Lego stormtrooper!

>58 lkernagh: Well, it *is* 1000 pages, but it took me quite a bit less time to read it than I expected. The story really carried me along. :)

>59 The_Hibernator:, >60 Berly: Thanks!

I've been reading an LTER book that I think has your name written in all over it. It's The Most Wanted Man in China: My Journey from Scientist to Enemy of the State by Fang Lizhi. He was a physicist, astrophysicist, and cosmologist. I believe he took quite a bit of blame after Tiananmen Square and spent months afterward hidden in the US embassy, although I'm not quite that far into the autobiography.

During China's Cultural Revolution, Einstein was denounced. Quantum mechanics were denounced. Cosmology was so denounced that all textbooks referring to it had to be rewritten. The expanding universe theory was seen as capitalistic propaganda with the hidden message that capitalism would expand forever.

It's a really interesting look at the dynamics when ideology trumps science; he compares it a bit to the church in the Middle Ages. I looks like it will be my first 4.5 star read of the year.

Yeah, I saw that one and it hit my TBR immediately. :) Glad it was good!

A friend highly recommended Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell years ago, and it's been sitting on my shelf just as long. I think I may put it on my "to read over spring break" list...

Great!

>66 DianaNL: Oh, I love that face! :)

15. A Very Dangerous Woman: The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia's Most Seductive Spy by Deborah McDonald and Jeremy Dronfield

Baroness Moura Budberg was born Maria Zakrevsky, a child of the landed gentry in the Ukraine - her father was a high-level lawyer for the Tsar. Early on she decided she liked the life of wealth and nobility, so she married into a large Estonian aristocratic family - the von Benkendorfs. Moura, though, loved the life in Petrograd, and because she was raised by an English governess, became intimately involved in the affairs of British diplomats and spies, even finding her lifelong love there.

But in 1918, the Russian Revolution brought all this luxury and privilege crashing down. Moura survived, often by playing the British and the Soviets off each other, spying for each side against the other. And here her seductiveness came into play as she used her sexuality to integrate into powerful society. And basically, that's how she lived her life from then on - always with a lover to take care of her, always surrounded by society people, always trading on the information and gossip she gathered.

McDonald and Dronfield have written a pretty good biography of a very interesting woman found at the intersection of some very interesting times. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call her a "very dangerous woman" - though this is a quote from a British intelligence report on her later in life - as she seemed to trade in gossip and rumor more than anything else. (In fairness, there's some indication she may have had her hand in at least a few deaths, including her first husband.) But for a different sort of view on the events of the early to mid-20th century Europe, this is highly recommended.

16. He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him by Mimi Baird

In her mid 50s, Mimi Baird received a box of papers written by her father some decades before. Now, her father had mysteriously disappeared from her life when she was a child - her mother divorced him and she married another man without ever really telling Mimi and her sister much about their father.

Mimi found out that her father was a promising doctor who suffered profoundly from bipolar disorder, was hospitalized multiple times,and eventually lobotomized as treatment for severely manic episodes. She also found that her father, before his manic episodes became too severe to continue, had begun research into the biochemical causes of bipolar disorder, even publishing a paper with some interesting results years before John Cade's experiments leading to lithium treatment for the condition.

He Wanted the Moon is part transcription of Baird's writing during his hospitalization (and a fascinating look into the mind of a person in the throes of a severe manic condition) and part her story of discovery as she learned about her father - good and not so good. Ultimately it's a tragic story, given the state of mental health care at the time, especially as his lobotomy was performed not so very long before lithium revolutionized treatment for bipolar patients.

Nice reviews, Jim.

That last book sounds really, really interesting, Jim! Great review!

>68 drneutron: A Very Dangerous Woman sounds wonderfully interesting - onto the list it goes. Great reviews.

Happy Saturday, Jim! Great review of A Very Dangerous Woman. Sounds terrific. Cheers, my friend.

I read a review of He Wanted the Moon on a thread last year that prompted me to wish-list it. Maybe I should move it up. Thanks.

Thanks, everyone! First time in a while I got two ER books in a row I liked.

Both sound fascinating - and what a great ER haul.

Sometimes when I'm reading fiction written as biography (I suppose I'm mostly thinking of William Boyd here) it seems so unlikely - life histories like these seem like a good reminder how crazy reality can be.

Yup, it was a good haul. Now I'm reading The Patriarch, David Nasaw's biography of Joseph P. Kennedy - also really good.

Just checking in. You are reading some awesome books here! And they were free, too! Nicely done.

Thanks! Makes up for some of the clunkers I've gotten over the years from ER. :)

And now for a reading update!

17. Mort(e) by Robert Repino

Sebastian is a house cat, innocently living with his humans when the world changes - somehow animals are becoming anthropomorphic and self-aware - and Mort(e), Sebastian's new identity, becomes something of a legend. Telling too much here would seriously spoil things, so I won't. Suffice to say that it's fun, tragic, satirical, and bit of an odd piece of work. I ripped right through it.

18. Espedair Street by Iain Banks

The story of a misfit who became a rock star in the 70s, then transformed into a hermit hiding from the world. How he got there unfolds as we follow him in his later years. This one's got great characters and really good prose. Not so much on the plot side, but I don't think that's the point of Banks' work here. It's more about getting inside the head of a really interesting person.

>78 drneutron: I read Mort(e) last year and liked it a lot. Reviewing my notes, I see that my feelings were more mixed than I remember -- the good parts have stuck with me I guess.

>79 swynn: It was just odd enough that it clicked with me - I'm weird like that I suppose. :) Glad to know you remembered the good parts!

Happy Friday and Happy Reading!

Thanks! So far so good. :)

I am reading The Goblin Emperor. It is tagged "Dr N's" fault. That would be you. ; ) So far, I am enjoying it very much--thank you! And now you got me with Mort(e). Dangerous thread you have.

>84 Berly: Hmm; I wonder where that tag falls on the LT tag chart? ;0)

>84 Berly: The Goblin Emperor? wasn't that Tony Blair?

Have a great Sunday, Jim.

>85 humouress: It is climbing up the tag chart for sure!!

>86 PaulCranswick: Ha, ha, ha! You slay me!!

Awesome! I'm making my mark on posterity! :)

>84 Berly: Glad you're enjoying it. Mort(e)'s a different sort of animal (pun intended!), but still good.

>85 humouress: If it holds true to life, a day late and a dollar short. :)

>86 PaulCranswick: *snerk*

That's how I'm feeling today! :)

That's how I feel every Friday! Morning, Jim!

Happy weekend, Jim.

Thanks! Other than a lingering sinus headache, it's been a good one.

And for the latest update:

19. Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography by Ian Carr

Good biography of one of the best musicians ever. Carr gives an interesting view of Davis, his music and why it mattered, and his interactions with and influence on other musicians. It's a pretty sympathetic biography, so he does gloss over some of Davis' less appealing personal characteristics, but all in all, a good picture of the man.

Plus, I've been listening to Davis' studio albums as I go...

20. The Patriarch: the Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P Kennedy by David Nasaw

Let me just say up front that Joe Kennedy was a real piece of work. Don't pick this up if you want to read about a nice guy. In many ways, he was the Donald Trump of his day - ruthless in business, demanding, difficult. But he was also devoted to his family in his own way. And because of his Irish Catholic background, always worked to overcome his feelings of being excluded from society and power.

Nasaw really captured Kennedy and his times - he's a top-notch writer. Kennedy is a complicated subject, and the nuances are captured here. Highly recommended!

Yeah, I've read a little about Joe Kennedy.

The book by Mimi Baird looks terrific and sad.

>94 sibylline: Terrific and sad pretty much covers it...

21. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Rory's moved to London from Louisiana to attend a fancy boarding school, but gets there just in time for a Jack the Ripper copycat murder. Then she starts seeing people no one else sees. And one of them may be involved in the murders.

So I found this on Overdrive and thought I'd give it a whirl - it's free, right? The nice thing about stuff like this is that expectations can be low and there's little investment if it turns out to be a dud. In this case, though, it turned out very un-dud! Johnson's written the start of a pretty good YA series - good plot, good ideas, good characters - that gives a bit of a ghostly thrill. No I have to hunt down the rest, because of course, they're *not* on Overdrive.

22. Alice by Christina Henry

Wow. Nothing like a disturbing, horrific retelling of Alice in Wonderland to get the brain going! Here Alice's adventures are dystopic, possibly the result of madness, definitely violent. This ain't no kid's story.

Just checking up on you Jim as it has been quiet over here recently, but with four books done in the last few days I am not surprised.

Yeah, I've been dealing with things heating up on the work front - we're starting to get flight hardware in for our spacecraft and I'm playing whack-a-mole with problems. Plus, the nephew who's been living with us is going to move back home with his mom, so I've been working logistics.

Looking forward to having some time to catch my breath someday! :)

>97 drneutron: I was there a fair bit recently myself - keep on keeping on, buddy.

I know what you mean about overdrive - I recently waved goodbye to a crime novel that just wasn't working with so little guilt it was wonderful.

>97 drneutron: This is very cool. Major Tim is on daytime tv today. I have loved the news reports of his workshops with kids' groups. Lots of schoolchildren excited about science and space.

I'm sure it will slow down eventually, Jim. Once you get all those moles whacked!

This is a great article I think you would enjoy:
http://www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com/a-crash-course-in-the-history-of...

"Good biography of one of the best musicians ever." Amen to that, my friend. "Kind of Blue", baby!

Happy Friday, Jim! Maybe I'll try to dig out a few of my Miles Davis recordings this weekend. I have a lot of them.

>100 ronincats: Oh, good article! I've read some of the authors there: Butler, Jemisin, others. I've bookmarked it for a possible future challenge (most likely personal, but who knows, might be an interesting group challenge).

>101 DianaNL: Thanks! We're hoping for a quiet one. I've been working to recover the nephew's PC this week and I think we're back to where we were before a Windows 10 update crashed. So he'll probably be gaming most of the weekend. If the weather holds, maybe I'll get to some outside work.

>102 msf59: Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool. Plus, I really like his earlier fusion work with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

And in other news, I headed down to DC last evening to have dinner at Kramer Books with Nora (norabelle) and Marie (rosylibrarian) who was in town for a conference. We had a great dinner, great conversation, and I picked up a new book on maps and the history of mapmaking. A picture will be posted at some point...

>99 charl08: Did I say the wrong thing? Is Major Tim a sore subject?

>104 charl08: Oh, no! I just didn't scroll back far enough to see who I'd responded to - I've only had half a cup of coffee and the brain hasn't engaged yet. :)

I've had a chance to meet a few astronauts, though usually after they've been up there and are now NASA managers. They're usually pretty cool folks with a great love of what they do and it's fun to watch them interact with the public, especially kids. I get to do a little of that as well - my sister teaches in a small school in rural Louisiana and every time I visit my folks, she ropes me into talking to their science classes about my latest mission. I always get a kick out of it.

Happy Friday, Jim!

You've got me interested in that Miles Davis biography. I've got a lot of his studio cds, and I just picked up his CD set "Miles Davis at Newport: 1955-1975", which is supposed to be really good. The band members he played with over the years is mind-boggling.

>105 drneutron: I've thought more than a few times that I wished you lived closer to us so that I could try to rope you into talking at Charlie's school. Those kids (and the teachers) would LOVE it!

>106 jnwelch: I have put some Miles Davis on the player having read the posts. A Kind of Blue - what else?

Have a great weekend, Jim. Nice to hear tell of a meet-up but no pics?

>106 jnwelch: yeah, everything from Bird and Diz to Hancock and Shorter and beyond. The bio really made me realize just how widespread his influence was. That box set sounds great!

>107 scaifea: you wouldn't have to rope them in, though. I'd be happy to do it! We're about to get in our first batch of swag for Solar Probe - stickers and patches, etc. I'll let you know when we get them and we can try to get a packet together for Charlie and his class.

>108 PaulCranswick: Birth of the Cool, Round Midnight, Jack Johnson, Bitches Brew, almost anything from the late 60s and 70s are faves of mine.

Marie has a pic or two on her phone of us in the restaurant. She was flying back home yesterday, so I imagine she'll have it up on her thread soon.

>105 drneutron: Thanks Jim. I was kidding - appreciate that it's easy to miss a post or two. I like a science podcast 'the infinite monkey cage' and they sometimes have had astronauts on as contributors. Glad they're as keen on what they do as they seem via the airwaves.

I'm not into Miles Davies but I do enjoy the pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. So many of these jazz legends seem to have lived, er, very full lives...

Hope you're having a great weekend.

>108 PaulCranswick: I have a picture of our bright and smiling faces on my thread. :)

>109 drneutron: Oh, man, you are cooler than cool, Jim! Those kids would LOVE that!! Thank you!

Waving Hi!! So far behind...slowly catching up. : )

>110 charl08: Full lives - yup. So now I gotta go listen to Ibrahim... And check out The Infinite Monkey Cage.

>111 rosylibrarian: Yeah, me before the haircut. It's considerably shorter now... :)

>112 scaifea: Aw shucks. :) I'll PM you when we get stuff.

>113 Berly: I feel your pain. :)

>109 drneutron: I actually got to meet Herbie Hancock in NYC many years ago. (A friend worked for Columbia). Then I sat near him at a Jackson Five concert in Madison Square Garden. (Kate Hepburn was a couple of rows up). Seemed like a very nice guy. We talked about Chicago a bit.

As I am sure you know, Doctor, it is Pi Day all around the world. So I found this special apple pie at the MIT.edu website. Have a slice.

Hearing about the Mars orbital gas tracker on BBC WS and thinking of you.

>115 jnwelch: Oh, that would be so cool. He seems like one of the nicest guys.

>116 weird_O: Yep, we celebrated all day! My department catered in pies for us. :)

>117 humouress: Yup, I was happy to hear the launch went off successfully!

23. Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

When 10 years old, William Bellman killed a rook in an impulsive action. This seemingly minor act has consequences through his life. Setterfield's novel is one of obsession and madness, and how we interpret life - whether it needs interpretation or not.

I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would - and that may be my fault for anticipating what the book wasn't.

24. The Explorers Guild: Volume One: A Passage to Shambhala by John Baird, Kevin Costner and Rick Ross

A mix of prose and graphic novel, this attempt to recreate the adventure and world conspiracy stories of the past (think Conrad or a darker Verne) is both a really good book and a somewhat difficult one. If you like these sort of stories, you'll probably enjoy this one. But the startup is slow and can be a bit confusing until you get caught up in the plot. And the switch between prose and graphic storytelling can be a bit jarring for newcomers to the format. Having said that, it's an interesting ride, and I'm eager to find out where the story goes!

Oooh I still haven't read Bellman & Black. I love love loved The Thirteenth Tale when I read it back in grad school and have been meaning to read her "new" title even though I heard it wasn't as fabulous as the first...

>102 msf59: >103 drneutron: >108 PaulCranswick: Also a big Kind of Blue fan. Being a sax player, John Coltrane and "Cannonball" Adderly add to my enjoyment!

Hi, Jim! I nearly DNF'd Bellman & Black. A total misfire for me. I also really liked The 13th. Glad it worked better for you.

>120 bell7: As long as your expectations are reasonable given what you've heard, I think you'll enjoy it.

>121 rretzler: Trombone here - with enough jazz band experience to know how hard it is to play right... :)

>122 msf59: I briefly considered DNFing it, but stuck with it and am glad I did. It wasn't my favorite for the year, but not too bad.

>123 drneutron: Jim, my older son is currently playing the trombone and enjoying jazz band. Unfortunately, when he goes to high school next year, since he will hopefully be on the soccer team, he cannot be in the HS jazz band, as unfortunately you must be in the marching band to also be in the jazz band. Is that unfair or what? He would much prefer jazz band (we've taught him right!!)

Finished The Goblin Emperor, which was added to the pile on your recommendation. Thanks! I thoroughly enjoyed it. : )

Happy Weekend!

>124 rretzler: Yeah, my son's high school band about 10 years had similar rules - we're in an area where most kids play some sport, and the band teacher had real problems getting kids to commit to marching band practices. I didn't buy it... :)

>125 Berly: Awesome! I'm glad you liked it - I need to check to see if the author's writing a sequel.

>126 DianaNL: Thanks! We've got a few daffodils poking up in the yard, so spring's on the way!

Happy Friday, Jim! Chiming in on the school band topic: I played French Horn in high school, which I deeply liked, but I hated it when out of the blue we had to start marching outside. I was a nervous wreck the whole time because marching with a french horn is hard, and they are very expensive. I also wished we could've picked our own pieces from time to time, as I was dying to learn the Star Wars theme music.

>127 drneutron: >128 Thebookdiva: High school band...can't help myself since I just spent time reminiscing with at my high school reunion with other band geeks. I played oboe in the concert band which meant I got to play drums in the marching band. It was the one time I was able to hang out with the cool kids even though all I did was beat the tom tom!

>23 drneutron: Bellman & Black is sitting on the shelf so maybe I'm better prepared to read it now. I loved The Thirteenth Tale!

>127 drneutron: My high school in Alexandria had the same rule, but they had an exemption for varsity-level fall sports. There were a couple extremely-devoted students who were both in the marching band AND on the varsity football team or cheerleading squad!

>128 Thebookdiva: I played French horn too! All the bands I was in had us march with a mellophone, though. I didn't like it as much as sitting down with a French horn, but it was way better than marching with one!

Um...I played the piano, which was challenging for a marching band. LOL

And from an interview with Sarah Monette, author of The Goblin Emperor:

"BP: Now that The Goblin Emperor has been published, do you have any other projects that you wish to pursue in the near future? Will The Goblin Emperor see a sequel?
SM: Right now, I'm working on the third Iskryne book, An Apprentice to Elves, with my marvelous co-author Elizabeth Bear. After that, I don't know. There won't be any *direct* sequels to The Goblin Emperor--the novel was always intended as a standalone--but it's possible I might write more stories set in that world."

Hmmm..we will have to wait and see!

Woot for marching band!! I was in the drum line and it was the best part of of high school by far.

>128 Thebookdiva:, >129 witchyrichy:, >131 norabelle414:, >133 scaifea: Wow, a ton of band people here. I wonder if there's s correlation somewhere! :)

>130 witchyrichy: Let me know what you think!

>132 Berly: We'll let you in with the cool kids... Mrsdrneutron is a piano player too - she's our church accompanist.

Thanks for the info on a sequel. I'd love to have more set in that world!

>134 drneutron: Kim totally belongs with us cool kids! (Have I mentioned that I'm a pianist, too, of sorts, and used to the be accompanist for my parents' church?)

Yay! I am in with the cool kids. Thanks! With a shout-out to Mrsdrneutron. : )

Can't keep a beat, no sense of rhythm. Took piano lessons and can read music but that's as far as I go.

Yay for band geeks!

It's really a shame I didn't keep it up. I regret that now. My french horn sits with frozen keys in the garage, the poor thing.

>135 scaifea: Cool! Do you still play?

>136 Berly: :)

>137 ronincats: No worries - you make really cool jewelry!

>138 Thebookdiva: I've had a few opportunities to play trombone over the years - it wasn't pretty... It's amazing how fast the lip goes. :)

>135 scaifea: I do! My parents always ask me to play for them when we visit, and I'm also giving Charlie lessons.

I played clarinet, in the marching band. Very few recollections of the time - it was an awful school and we were only there a year, but I did get to play clarinet. I'd had lessons before (and after), but no band in the other places. Now I play (more accurately, attempt to learn to play) guitar - since I prefer singing to any other form of music, switching from a wind to a string instrument made a good deal of sense.

>140 scaifea: Cool! now that mrsdrneutron's mom has moved up to Maryland with us, she gets to hear her play on a regular basis. It really means a lot to her.

>141 jjmcgaffey: I taught myself guitar after giving up band for physics in college - still playing after all these years! My present to myself after the New Horizons launch was a nice Taylor acoustic. I've also recently decided to pick up ukelele. The missus got me one made from an old Cuban cigar box from a local craftsman - gonna try to get it down to Florida with me when I go for the prelaunch period for Solar Probe. Nothin' finer than sitting on the beach at night after a hard day playing a bit of uke and drinking a bit of beer. :)

25. The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins

11th in Rollins' Sigma Force series - science-y thrillers featuring Special Ops folks associated with DARPA. Yeah, so don't go into these expecting realism. :)

Actually, I really like 'em for brain candy - they make for fast airplane rides. The science gets stretched pretty thin (think a mix of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy), but the action's non-stop. This was a pretty good one, with some new characters featured.

Oh, and I *almost* had a meetup today. I'm in Berkeley, California, for what was supposed to be a half-day meeting. I was hoping to get to the Computer History Museum to meet Stephanie (AuntieCleo) who works there, and who's been very patient with me for missing a couple of opportunities. But the meeting wound up being all day and I didn't make it. :(

Instead, a coworker and I went by Moe's Books - a really fine bookstore - where I picked up Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy and The Three-Body Problem. So now I have some reading material for the trip home tomorrow!

Sorry about the missed meetup but you've picked some excellent in-flight reading. I look forward to your thoughts!

>144 drneutron: Phew! I'm glad you managed to find the Ann Leckie books somewhere (independent)! I hope you like The Three-Body Problem! It was my favorite book I read last year.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Jim, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

>145 swynn:, >146 norabelle414: yeah, I'm looking forward to them. Flight went well, but I decided to go with Fingersmith on the iPad after finishing The Dakota Cipher. Convinced our project manager (who's taken to joining me on bookstore crawls) to try the Leckie books - taking the first to him today, once the fridge repair guy finishes.

>147 PaulCranswick:, >148 Ameise1:, >149 DianaNL: Thanks for the Easter wishes. This is always a busy time for us since mrsdrneutron is our church pianist - plus she works for a tax accountant and they're in between corporate and personal deadlines. But it's a good time for getting together with friends an family!

Happy Easter Jim.

Wishing you a happy Easter weekend, Jim.

>151 johnsimpson:, >152 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks! Same to you and yours!

Um, I play the radio really well. :-|

Hi Jim and Happy Easter to you and mrsdrneutron. I hope you have a lovely, if busy, weekend ahead.

And, just to say one more time before the first quarter of the year escapes us, THANK YOU for all you do to keep the 75ers alive and kicking!

Catchup from my trip this week:

26. On the Map: Why the World Looks the Way it Does by Simon Garfield

A decent collection of stories on maps and mapmaking I picked up at a recent meetup at Kramer Books in Washington, DC. Nothing new here - most is well documented by previous authors - but if you don't know much about the history of maps and mapmaking, this would be a good jumping off point.

27. The Dakota Cipher by William Dietrich

Third in the Ethan Gage series. Gage is an adventurer, wastrel, and all-around scoundrel. He's also a former mentee of Benjamin Franklin and a decent sort of guy under it all. Dietrich imagines him at the heart of world events around 1800 - beginning with Napolean's war in Egypt.

In this volume, Gage has returned to the US to act as a messenger for Napolean to Thomas Jefferson (yup, Louisiana Territory...) and also reluctantly partners with a semi-crazy Norwegian looking for evidence that the Norsemen were in the New World first. This results in a sort of pre-Lewis and Clarke tour of the headwaters of the Mississippi, and of course, being chased by an evil offshoot of the Freemasons. Ridiculous, engaging, and deeply entertaining brain candy for me.

28. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Carl Morck is a Danish police detective recovering from an investigation gone bad - one partner killed, another paralyzed - when he's put out to pasture by making him the head of a new division investigating cold cases. With his new assistant Assad, Carl winds up deep in one that may not be so cold after all.

Good plot, interesting characters, a story arc that pulls to the next in the series, this is one to look out for. I had to wrestle it out of the mother-in-law's hands to get it back so I could read it, but thankfully she's 87 and I can take her... :)

>154 EBT1002: Radio's good enough for me! :) Thanks for the good wishes for the weekend. It's been fun being the man behind the curtain for the group! :)

I enjoyed The Keeper of Lost Causes too. Your comment about your MIL made me snort - has she got fist dibs on the second book in the series or will there be a grudge match?

She can get her own... :)

Got me with The Keeper of Lost Causes.

Stopping by to wish you a Happy Easter Jim. It has been a while since I read the first Ethan Gage book, but do still remember it being a fun bit of escapism reading. Glad to see the series continues to be entertaining brain candy.

Happy Easter!

Dr N--I am reading Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and loving the fifth chapter on Loop Quantum Gravity. Mind-blowing stuff and I love it! I thought you, of all people, might appreciate this. : )

>159 EBT1002: Excellent!

>160 lkernagh: Thanks! Rah, still good. :)

>161 Berly: :) Love that one!

>162 Berly: Oh, awesome LQG is the primary alternative to string theory (which seems to be in some trouble these days) to unify gravity with quantum mechanics. It is indeed mind blowing stuff!

Happy Easter, Jim! Glad you finally got to The Keeper of Lost Causes. I thought it was a fantastic start to this series.

Yay Peeps!!!

>164 msf59: yup - on to the second!

>165 weird_O:, >166 EBT1002: unfortunately, I'm one of those people who likes to do things to the like microwave them to watch 'em blow up! :)

My daughter took great joy in doing the microwave thing last year, LOL. I didn't buy them this year. Too messy. ; )

>168 Berly: That's for sure! :)

29. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Been meaning to dip into some Waters for a while - this one popped up on David Bowie's top 100 list and our group read gave me the nudge I needed.

I loved the twisty plot, and the characters were so rich. It's hard to say more without spoilers, so I'll leave it at that - plus a high recommendation. I'll be reading more of her stuff soon.

30. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Memoir, travelogue, commentary by Bryson as he attempts to rediscover America by walking the Appalachian Trail. It's funny, a bit biting, occasionally off the wall, and a great little book. Made me want to throw on the hiking boots and hit a trail!

Happy New Thread, Jim! How that plutonium tea cup invention going? I won't be blowing up anything in my microwave because then I have to clean it up. How about another invention for that problem?

>169 drneutron: You just read Fingersmith? Dang, you could have read it with Megan and me. We had a thread going to discuss it. You can read it quickly and laugh at our comments. So many twists and turns!!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/219758

Good to hear your enjoyed Fingersmith. One of my favourites of hers. She seems to take on a new style every time she writes which sometimes works for me and sometimes just makes me wish she'd just write the way *I* like (ha!).

Wishing you a elaxed weekend, Jim.

>171 Berly: I was avoiding the thread since I was behind everybody else, but am planning to add my thoughts once I get a moment.

>172 charl08: Sounds good! I've got a couple of others on the Overdrive wish list - but I'll have to put them on reserve. They don't ever seem to show up as available.

>173 Ameise1: Thanks! I hope yours is good too!

>169 drneutron: Waters is a great writer. I think that one is her best though Tipping the Velvet is also very good.

>169 drneutron: I enjoyed A Walk in the Woods too (it's been several years though). Have you read Down Under: In a Sunburned Country? That one made me laugh out loud several times. It's still one of my favorites.

>175 scvlad: Yeah, I think that's my next one.

>176 RebaRelishesReading: not yet, but it's on my Overdrive list.

Happy Saturday, Jim! It looks like you are doing some fine reading. I also loved both Fingersmith & A Walk in the Woods.

I also think you would like one of my recent reads: Dodgers. Keep it in mind.

Requested that one, didn't get it. But yeah, on my list!

I loved A Walk in the Woods, too, Jim. I want to try his new one at some point.

Was away in Florida this week doing rockety things so I got a bit of reading in...

31. Zero World by Jason M. Hough

Technologically enhanced spy/assassin Peter Caswell is sent to investigate a spacecraft lost years before - along with the murder of all the crew members except one. And that one appears to have escaped through a hole in the fabric of space to another place where a planet strangely like Earth exists.

A mix of hard sf and Jason Bourne spy thriller, Hough's Zero World is a pretty good thrill ride with some interesting ideas about memory and identity and technology as an aside. While the conspiracy behind the plot was a bit weak and there was one monologuing scene, the action was good enough to drive us to the end. And the end offers the potential for a sequel!

BBs like this are why I *love* LT! :)

I wish I could do "rockety" things!

Have a great weekend, Jim :)

>181 drneutron: Okay, you got me with that one, Jim. Adding it to the list. Happy Friday to you!

>181 drneutron: Me, too, Jim. Sounds like a fun one. Added to the WL.

>181 drneutron: Glad you liked it Jim! I am also hoping for a sequel.

Happy weekend, Jim.

>182 katiekrug: well, I'll keep everyone posted on how Solar Probe is going!

>183 Crazymamie:, >184 jnwelch: Cool!

>185 swynn: Keep me posted if you hear about one.

>186 Ameise1: thanks!

>179 drneutron: Have been on a Bill Bryson binge myself recently. Enjoyed his Walk in the Woods. Just finished Notes From a Small Island. On the wait list at the library for The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain. An entertaining author.

Happy weekend!

Zero World sounds great. Glad you had fun being sciency in Florida!

32. We the People: The Modern-Day Figures Who Have Reshaped and Affirmed the Founding Fathers' Vision of America by Juan WIlliams

Juan Williams' We the People is a nice group of essays covering some of the great social and political changes in the US over the last century or so. He tackles this by introducing the topic with a brief history, naming a key player or two, then giving a brief summary of the changes that happened. Mostly this works as an introduction - no intention to provide in-depth analysis here - and could easily be used as a jumping off point. Unfortunately the approach by necessity glosses over lots of history and lots of people who made important contributions; by way of example, confining the civil rights discussion to Martin Luther King, Jr and Jesse Jackson, while providing an interesting perspective, is way too simplistic.

Still, I recommend this one to folks who want to dip into the subjects.

>188 michigantrumpet: Yeah, I'm looking forward to Little Dribbling too!

>189 Berly: It was fun! And yeah, Florida was great!

>188 michigantrumpet: I love Bryson too, but found that reading The Road to Little Dribbling too soon after At Home was not a good idea. All of his travel books share the same basic format and everything tended to blur after a while.

Hi Jim, wishing you a lovely weekend.

>193 johnsimpson: Thanks! I hope you have a great one too.

Happy Sunday, Jim.

33. Let the Old Dreams Die by John Ajvide Lindqvist

A collection of short stories by the author of Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead, which by the way, includes sequels to these two books! Lindqvists' stories are superbly written, with the best kind of horror - creepy, building rather than in-your-face. Oh, and the sequel to Let the Right One In was simply fantastic!

34. Philosophy of Mind by Jaegwon Kim

Most people would agree that we have minds. But what is a mind? What's it made of? how does it interact with the brain and the body? What is this thing called conciousness? Kim's overview/text is a relatively dense (at least for a non-philosopher like me) discussion of these issues, with chapters on various attempts to understand the mind from a philosophical (ie, nonreligious, logical framework kind of way) standpoint. He mostly keeps the technical language well defined and to a minimum, but I was a bit disappoiinted with the number of arguments left as exercises for the reader, given that this is not my field of expertise. Still, I learned a lot!

Some of the folks here may have seen my facebook post from yesterday...

I've managed to bang up my knee by standing. Yeah, couldn't come up with a better story than that! Anyway, it's a bit swollen and sore, but otherwise fine and should be back to normal in a few days. The pain meds I'm on are keeping the soreness down, so I didn't even get to miss work!

Oh dear, take care and get well soon.

Hope you're fully recovered soon, doc. Too bad about not having an excuse to miss work! :)

I'm sorry to hear abou your knee injury, Jim, but glad that it's only a temporary problem.

Here's hoping your knee is already feeling better, Jim!

Shame about the knee not giving you a chance to put it up and ring a little bell. Hope you're feeling recovered soon. Have you resorted to a stick?

Knee's somewhat better today. I'm down to one crutch and for short distances not bothering with that. Still swollen, though.

Have you resorted to a stick?
Unfortunately, mrsdrneutron won't let me have a cane with a sword in it. She did offer one with a flask, though... :)

Sorry, to hear about the knee, Jim. Glad it is getting a bit better. R & R might help. It usually does.

>181 drneutron: Oh, that sounds interesting!

>197 drneutron: So sorry about the knee, I hope it heals quickly.

I'm re-reading The Martian and it made me think of you, so I needed to stop by and say high.

Too much Bryson is not a good idea - A Walk in the Woods is his best anyway. I went on a kick of listening to them when I was first getting into audiobooks.

Keeper of Lost Causes looks like one for the WL for the spousal unit.

So sorry about your knee, the can be tricky.

At my irish session practice last night one of our musicians was asking the librarian (we practice at our local library) if they had Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, they didn't but they will be getting it now!

Sorry to hear about the knee. Mine has been giving me a bit of hassle once in a while -- usually when I've been standing too long . . . what's with that?

I just checked and made sure I had Keeper of Lost Causes on my list. Liked your comments on it.

Just swinging by to see what's up. Not surprised that you might put peeps in the microwave to watch them, um, expand.... :-)

I hope your knee improves quickly. Clearly, you should sit down to read rather than trying to read while standing. Heh.

Have a great weekend, Jim!

>204 msf59: Knee's quite a bit better today - drove to/from work without pain. Still wearing the brace, though.

>205 Thebookdiva: Zero World's worth checking out! I need to reread The Martian sometime...

>206 sibylline: Yeah, I'm doing Bryson in small doses. You should give Seven Brief Lessons in Physics a try!

>206 sibylline:, >207 tymfos: I need to get the sequel to The Keeper of Lost Causes and this time not let the mother-in-law abscond with it! :)

>208 EBT1002: you should hear about some of the fun I had in chem lab in high school... There's this stuff called ammonium tri-iodide that you make as a liquid. When it dries, the crystals pop on impact making a nice little bang. We, um, made a batch and painted the floor in the school hallway with it. Let's just say the times when we switched classes were interesting... :D

My Dad says red wine fixes everything...! : ) Happy Friday. LOL on the hallway trick!!!

35. Maryland Curiosities by Allison Blake

A quick, little tour book of Maryland attractions - mostly quirky, off-the-beaten-track places to see and things to do here in my home state. I knew about most of them, but one or two were new and interesting and merit a visit.

36. Saint Odd by Dean Koontz

Finally got to the last of Koontz's Odd Thomas series. It nicely wraps things up and returns to what I loved about the first - Odd, his quirky ability, and his deep goodness. This one's Koontz's penance for that God-awful Frankenstein thing he did...

>210 Berly: And mrsdrneutron picked up a Malbec today with my name on it! :)

You should definitely keep her around!! And I haven't read Saint Odd...yet! Glad it returns to Odd.

I have had knee pain on and off for the last year or so due to overweight IMO. Started drinking lemon juice every morning and the pain has mysteriously disappeared.

Have a great weekend, Jim.

Last update for this thread...

37. The Shadow Revolution by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith

Better than average pseudo-Victorian urban fantasy - lots of action, snappy dialog, interesting world-building. It's an easy, fast read that would work well on a beach or an airplane ride. Don't look for originality in plot here, or for deep character development, but then that's not really the point of this sort of thing. I'll finish the other two in the series.

38. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

It became available on Overdrive when I needed something interesting to get my mind off recent stresses. Its lush prose and over the top characters are a good distraction, but well, a distraction from the story too. Still, it served it's purpose, and I'm debating whether to continue rereading the series.

>215 drneutron: Good to know about The Shadow Revolution, Jim. Abby and I both really liked their Greyfriar, which is the first book in their Vampire Empire series.

I actually got that one from the library with The Shadow Revolution, but it was falling apart so I took it back. Gonna try a different copy!

>211 drneutron: Hi doc. I, too, was happy with the last book of the Odd series by Koontz. "deep goodness" - I like that.

>218 DianaNL: doing well! Nephew and I had a great day visiting a WWII-era battleship (he's a big fan of naval vessels of that era).

>219 karenmarie: thanks! Best description I could come up with. :)

Hi! Love the Rice series. It's good fun.

After a too long hiatus - catching up around here

I was also pleasantly surprised by The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson I have the next book already and am looking forward to continuing with that series.

I'm with Mark regarding Bellman and Black - I only stuck with it hoping that there would be some big payoff to change my mind before the end but never found it.

As for the band conversation - the only musical instrument I play is the iPod.

I've got On the Map on my shelf too - purely an impulse purchase from the sale table.

I've enjoyed most of the Department Q series - Assad continually cracks me up. I've found the series to be a bit uneven though - it seems to alternate very good with very meh.

Hi Jim. Thank you for visiting my thread. Now I'm returning the favour and starring yours.

>221 Berly: Yup, debating on whether to keep going - but I made the mistake of getting some stuff from the that are shiny and pulling me in!

>222 SuziQoregon: Thanks for stopping by! Wow, we've been overlapping our reading quite a bit.

>223 connie53: Glad to have you here!

And the new thread's up...