souloftherose reads and reads in 2016 - part 3

I’m Heather and this is my 7th year in the 75 Book Challenge Group. I'm in my midthirties and live in a small town to the northwest of London in the United Kingdom with my husband and our slightly nervous rescue cat.

I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction (including children's/young adult books) as well as a good spattering of crime/historical/other fiction. A fair number of the books I read are older books - I particularly enjoy 18th and 19th century fiction, golden age detective novels and women's literature from the first half of the 20th century.

Last year I read 236 books of which only 25 were non-fiction books. Given how many books I read in total I could probably squeeze a few more non-fiction books - we'll see.

Books read in April
#52 Avengers Assemble by Brian Michael Bendis (Marvel Unlimited)
#53 Tor.com Bundle 2 including The Last Witness by K. J. Parker, Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter and Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace (TBR)
#54 A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab (Library)
#55 The Hanged Man of Saint Pholien by Georges Simenon (TBR)
#55.5 The Bone Knife by Intisar Khanani (Free kindle)
#56 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (TBR)
#57 Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book Ten by Bill Willingham (Library)
#58 The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#59 Beyond the Glass by Antonia White (TBR)
#60 From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium by William Dalrymple (Library)
#61 No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War by Helen Rappaport (Kindle Prime)
#62 The Brontes at Haworth by Ann Dinsdale (TBR)
#63 Black Widow Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web by Nathan Edmondson (Marvel Unlimited)
#64 Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Library)
#65 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (TBR)
#66 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (TBR)
#67 How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman (Library)
#68 An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham (Omnibus)
#69 The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham (TBR)
#70 Indexing by Seanan Mcguire (Kindle Prime)

Books read in May
#71 Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (TBR)
#72 The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (Reread)
#73 The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor (TBR)
#74 Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People who Think Differently by Steve Silberman (Library)
DNF The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel edited by Deirdre David (TBR)
#75 The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (Reread)
#76 The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (Reread)
#77 Legion and the Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Library)
#78 Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (TBR)
#79 Avengers Assemble: Science Bros by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#80 Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (Library)
#81 The Man Behind Narnia by A. N. Wilson (Kindle Prime)
#82 A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#83 The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper (TBR)
#84 The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin (TBR)
#85 This Census-Taker by China Mieville (Library)
#86 Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (TBR)
#87 Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#88 Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Down by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)

Books read in June
#89 The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson (Library)
#90 Avengers: The Enemy Within by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#91 Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (Reread)
#92 The Grand Tour, or, The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (TBR)
#93 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (Library)
#94 A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (Humble Bundle)
#95 Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson (TBR)
#96 Jinian Footseer by Sheri S. Tepper (TBR)
#97 Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman (Library)
#98 Indexing: Reflections by Seanan McGuire (Kindle Prime)
#99 The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North (TBR)
#100 Dervish Daughter by Sheri S. Tepper (TBR)
#101 Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#102 Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Reread)
#103 Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold (TBR)
#104 Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (TBR)

Books read in July
#105 Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson (Library)
#106 The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston (Reread)
#107 The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (Library)
#108 Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Stay Fly by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#109 Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace (Humble Bundle)
#110 Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2015 edited by Ellen Datlow (Free kindle)
#111 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (TBR)
#112 Is He Popenjoy? by Anthony Trollope (Gift)
#113 Captain Marvel Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Marvel Unlimited)
#114 Mariana by Monica Dickens (TBR)
#115 The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively (Reread)
#116 Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England by Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins (Library)
#117 Lumberjanes Vol 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson and Shannon Watters (Humble Bundle)
#118 The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston (TBR)
#119 Ms. Marvel Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson (Marvel Unlimited)
#120 The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (TBR)
#121 Ms. Marvel Vol 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson (Reread)
#122 Ms. Marvel Vol 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson (Reread)
#123 Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart (TBR)
#124 Way Down Dark by James Smythe (TBR)

Books read in August
#125 Ms. Marvel Vol 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson (Marvel Unlimited)

Books read in January

#1 Courtiers: The Secret History of Kensington Palace by Lucy Worsley (Library)
#2 Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#3 Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#4 Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#5 The Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede (TBR)
#6 The American Senator by Anthony Trollope (TBR)
#7 Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay (Amazon Prime)
#8 The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke (TBR)
#9 Hawkeye, Vol. 2: Little Hits by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel Unlimited)
#10 Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald (TBR)
#11 The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff (Library)
#12 The Kingdom and the Cave by Joan Aiken (TBR)
#13 The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson (TBR)
#14 Hawkeye, Vol. 3: LA Woman by Matt Fraction (Marvel Unlimited)
#15 Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel Lina White (TBR)
#16 April Lady by Georgette Heyer (TBR)
#17 Maskerade by Terry Pratchett (Reread)
#18 Jack of Fables, Vol 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape by Bill Willingham (Library)
#19 Hawkeye Vol 4: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction (Marvel Unlimited)
#20 Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie (Reread)
#21 Mrs Tim Carries On by D. E. Stevenson (Library)

Books read in Febuary
#DNF The Black Prism by Brent Weeks (TBR)
#22 Charlotte Bronte: A Life by Claire Harman (Library)
#23 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (Library)
#24 Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold (TBR)
#25 Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints by James Martin, S.J. (TBR)
#26 Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book Nine by Bill Willingham (Library)
#27 Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear (TBR)
#28 A Dance With Dragons by G. R. R. Martin (Spousal unit's)
#29 Lumberjanes Vol 3: A Terrible Plan by Shannon Watters, Noelle Stevenson (Humble Bundle)
#30 The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (Library)
#31 The Traitor by Seth Dickinson (TBR)
#32 Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett (Reread)

Books read in March
#33 Sylvester by Georgette Heyer (TBR)
#34 The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude (Amazon Prime)
#35 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Reread)
#36 Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope (TBR)
#37 Timeless by Gail Carriger (Reread)
#37.5 The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar by Gail Carriger (Free kindle)
#38 The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Reread)
#39 Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd (TBR)
#40 The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua (Library)
#41 Among Others by Jo Walton (Reread)
#42 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (TBR)
#43 Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie (Reread)
#44 Heap House by Edward Carey (TBR)
#45 Black Widow Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmondson (Marvel Unlimited)
#46 The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow; and Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund by Mrs Oliphant (TBR)
#47 My Real Children by Jo Walton (TBR)
#48 Meeting God in Paul by Rowan Williams (TBR)
#49 Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (TBR)
#50 Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (Reread)
#51 Venetia by Georgette Heyer (TBR)

Paper books acquired




#1 Marriage by Susan Ferrier Abandoned
#2 A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden
#3 Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints by James Martin
#4 Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope
#5 Pure Juliet by Stella Gibbons
#6 Meeting God in Paul by Rowan Williams
#7 The Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens
#8 The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens
#9 The Rector's Daughter by F. M. Mayor
#10 Trollope: A Commentary by Michael Sadleir Reading
#11 Creed or Chaos? by Dorothy L. Sayers
#12 The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope
#13 Seasons of War by Daniel Abraham
#14 Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
#15 Trollope and Women by Margaret Markwick
#16 The River at Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston
#17 The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston
#18 Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James
#19 God, Where Are You? by Gerard W. Hughes
#20 Leaving Alexandria by Richard Holloway
#21 I Am With You by Kathryn Greene-McCreight
#22 Letters to Alice, on first reading Jane Austen by Faye Weldon
#23 Passing On by Penelope Lively
#24 Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively
#25 The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield
#26 As Once in May by Antonia White
#27 Jinian Footseer by Sheri S. Tepper
#28 The Grand Tour by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
#29 Jinian Star-Eye by Sheri S. Tepper
#30 The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
#31 Ten Pre-Raphaelite Poems by Ruth Robbins
#32 The Just City by Jo Walton
#33 The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped by Sheri S. Tepper

Kindle books acquired




#1 The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke
#2 The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
#3 Fear Stalks the Village by Ethel Lina White
#4 April Lady by Georgette Heyer
#5 Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
#6 The Traitor by Seth Dickinson
#7 The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter by Rod Duncan
#8 Sylvester, or, the Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer
#9 Heap House by Edward Carey
#10 The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien by Georges Simenon
#11 My Real Children by Jo Walton
#12 Tor.com Bundle 2
#13 Venetia by Georgette Heyer
#14 Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
#15 Way Down Dark by James Smythe
#16 The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
#17 Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson
#18 Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson
#19 The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
#20 Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
#21 Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold
#22 The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Humble Bundle: Small Beer Press
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller
Couch by Benjamin Parzybok
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
Meet Me in the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
The Entropy of Bones by Ayize Jama-Everett
The Fires Beneath the Sea by Lydia Millet
The Liminal People by Ayize Jama-Everett
The Monkey's Wedding and Other Stories by Joan Aiken
Trash Sex Magic by Jennifer Stevenson
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison
Tyrannia by Alan DeNiro

An idea borrowed from Liz (@lyzard), this lists ongoing series that I am actively reading. This doesn't include series where I have the first book in my TBR pile (i.e. series I haven't started reading yet aren't included). An asterisk indicates a series where I already have a copy of the next book and bold indicates an intention to finish the series soon(ish)...

Series I'm actively* reading (*for a rather lax definition of active)
*Barsetshire Books by Angela Thirkell: Reading out of order. Next up The Brandons (5/29 read)
*Black Widow (2014) Next up Black Widow Volume 3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson (3/3)
Fables: Next up Fables, Vol. 14: Witches by Bill Willingham (14/22)
*Gilead: Next up Lila by Marilynne Robinson (3/3)
The Fractured Europe Sequence: Next up Europe at Midnight by Dave Hutchinson (2/3)
The Girl Who: Next up The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente (3/5)
*Green Knowe: Next up: The River at Green Knowe by L. M. Boston (3/6)
Hainish Cycle: (Reading out of order) Next up Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin (3/8)
Hilary Tamar: Next up The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell (2/4)
The Iremonger Trilogy: Next up Foulsham by Edward Carey (2/3)
*The Kingkiller Chronicle: Next up The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss (3/4)
Lady Trent's Memoirs: Next up Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan (3/4)
*Land of the True Game: Next up Jinian Star-Eye by Sheri S. Tepper (6/9)
*Liaden Universe Publication Order: Next up Fledgling by Shareon Lee & Steve Miller (9/21)
*The Palliser Novels: Next up The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope (5/6)
Poldark Saga: Next up The Stranger from the Sea by Winston Graham (8/12)
*Roderick Alleyn: Next up Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh (2/32)
Small Change: Next up Half a Crown by Jo Walton (3/3)
Sorcery and Celia: Next up The Mislaid Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (3/3)
*Tales of a New Jerusalem: Next up Family Britain, 1951-57 by David Kynaston (2/5?)
Vlad Taltos: Next up Dragon by Steven Brust (8/14)
Wolves Chronicles: Next up Midwinter Nightingale by Joan Aiken (10/11)

Series I've stalled on but want to get back to
*Albert Campion: Next up Hide My Eyes by Margery Allingham (19/25)
*Allan Quatermain: Next up Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard (2/15)
*Arsène Lupin: Next up Arsène Lupin vs. Holmlock Shears by Maurice Leblanc (2/23?)
*Barsoom: Next up The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (3/11)
Bas-Lag: Next up The Scar by China Mieville (2/3)
David Wintringham by Josephine Bell: Reading out of order (2/12 read)
*Dolphin Ring Cycle: Next up Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff (5/8)
Dragonslayer: Next up The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde (3/4)
*Ebenezer Gryce: Next up That Affair Next Door by Anna Katharine Green (8/13)
Empire Trilogy: Next up: The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell (3/3)
*Father Brown: Next up: The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton (2/5)
Finishing School: Next up Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger (4/4)
*Fionavar Tapestry: Next up The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay (3/3)
Jimm Juree: Next up Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill (2/2)
Les Voyages Extraordinaires: Next up From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne (4/54)
*The Long Earth: Next up The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (2/3)
Maigret: Next up Maigret at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon (7/76)
Mrs Tim: Next up Mrs Tim Gets a Job by D. E. Stevenson (3/4)
The Penderwicks: Next up The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (2/4)
*The Prairie Trilogy: Next up The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (3/3) (Reading out of order)
*Revelation Space : Next up Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (2/7)
*Richard Hannay: Next up The Three Hostages by John Buchan (4/5)
Romantic Poets and Nephilim: Next up A Time to Cast Away Stones in The Bible Repairman and Other Stories by Tim Powers (2/3)
Ruth Galloway: Next up A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (5/8)
Dr. Siri Paiboun: Next up: Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (5/10)
*Turtle: Next up Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (2/2)
Young Pilots: Next up Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein (3/3)

Series I'm rereading
*Colonel Race: Next up Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (2/4)
*Discworld: Tiffany Aching: Next up Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (2/5)
*Hercule Poirot: Next up: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (17/39)
*Chief Inspector Armand Gamache: Next up A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (7/11)
*Miss Marple: Next up The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (3/13)
*Superintendent Battle: Next up Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (3/5)
*Thursday Next: Next up The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (7/7)
Tommy and Tuppence: Next up N or M? by Agatha Christie (3/5)

Up to date series
Binti: Latest book Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (1/3)
The Cinder Spires: Latest book The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (1/?)
Corta Hélio: Latest book Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald (1/2)
Empire of Masks: Latest book The Traitor by Seth Dickinson (1/?)
Every Heart a Doorway: Latest book Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (1/?)
The Gentleman Bastard Sequence: Next up The Thorn of Emberlain by Scott Lynch (4/7?)
Matthew Shardlake: Latest book Lamentation by C. J. Sansom (6/6)
Mistborn Latest book Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson (7/8)
Old Kingdom: Next up Goldenhand by Garth Nix (4/5)
Peter Grant: Next up The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (6/6)
Shades of Grey: Latest book Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (1/3)
A Song of Ice and Fire: Latest book A Dance with Dragons by G. R. R. Martin (5/7?)
Sorcerer Royal: Latest book Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (1/3)
Vorkosigan Series: Latest book Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold (17/17)
Wolf Hall: Latest book Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (2/3)
World of the Five Gods: Latest book Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold (5/5)

Series completed
Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart (3/3)
Discworld Witches by Terry Pratchett (6/6)
Frost in May Quartet by Antonia White (4/4)
Hawkeye (2012) by Matt Fraction (4/4)
Indexing by Seanan Mcguire (2/2)
The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham (4/4)
Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede (2/2)
Ms. Marvel 2014 by G. Willow Wilson (4/4)
Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (5/5 + 1 short story)
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (2/2)

Group reads/Tutored reads with Liz (@lyzard)

This was the planned schedule but we are currently taking an impromptu hiatus. Probably not a bad thing as I never finished Ferrier's Marriage

February: Marriage by Susan Ferrier (Virago chronological read)
March: The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope (group read)
April: Emma by Jane Austen (tutored read)
May/June/July (TBC): Camilla by Fanny Burney
August: The Midnight Bell by Francis Lathom

To schedule:
The Wanderer by Fanny Burney
The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope

Oh my! I'm first and you're in the middle of set-up! Looking through your series list reminds me I have the one last Gardam in the Old Filth series to read!

Back to add that, I also LOVE The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne conveys something the other two did not about women and independence, or it is blunter or something, and I liked it. Robust. And more down-to-earth? And observant and funny sometimes, if I remember right.

And I'm glad to see you are reading The Long Price Quartet - that is one of my top favourite fantasies.

Happy new thread, Heather!

Happy New Thread from me too, Heather. Read on!

Happy reading, Heather!

Happy New Thread Day, Heather! I continue to be amazed at the amount of reading you're able to do. Carry On!

Hello to Lucy, Susan, Peggy, Nancy and Lynda and thank you for visiting :-)

>8 sibylline: I was finished but fiddling with my lists as the touchstones were being a little troublesome. I have been really enjoying The Long Price Quartet - it has taken longer than I intended to get round to the third book but I am hoping to read that this month.

Definitely agree about AB being more down to earth - I don't think it's insignificant that she was the only Bronte child who really seemed to cope with the outside world and although she clearly found being a governess very difficult she was making it work until Branwell ruined it for her (by becoming a tutor to the same family and then being dismissed for, most probably, having an affair with his employer's wife - way to go Branwell). I'm looking forward to rereading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall now that I know she was probably writing about her experience with Branwell's alcoholism when she writes about Helen's marriage.

April has had a few books I was pretty meh about so far:

Book #52: Avengers Assemble by Brian Michael Bendis - 2.5 stars



This is the first collection of a rebooted Avengers series which was started to tie-in with the recent Marvel films (which I love). Really I was interested in reading the collections by Kelly Sue Deconnick in this series as I've heard good things about her but I thought I should start with the first collection which was by Brian Michael Bendis. There was lots of action but so many characters that there was no character development and the plot (which pulled in the Guardians of the Galaxy) didn't really seem to make sense.

Not recommended.

Book #54: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab - 3 stars



I really liked the concept of this one: it's an alternate history where there are several parallel worlds, all linked by London. Black London, which has been consumed by magic and cut off from the other worlds; White London, hungry for magic which is ruled by whoever has fought and murdered their way to the top; Red London (the nice London), where magic is used and honoured; and Grey London (our London) with mad King George III and little to no magic. Of course, there are one or two people who can travel between the worlds.

But (and unfortunately it's a big one), apart from the concept I felt very uninterested in anything else in the book - characters, plot, worldbuilding - I was actually quite bored by it all and I don't really know why. A lot of people loved this so it's quite likely to be me not the book but I couldn't see what the fuss was about and I am probably not going to continue with the series (which is a shame, because it's such a good idea!)

Book #57: Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book Ten by Bill Willingham - 2 stars



I'm clearly not having a good month for graphic novels. This contained Fables, Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover and Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland.

The Great Fables Crossover brings together the main Fables storyline and the Jack of Fables comics. I was pretty meh about Jack of Fables and I was pretty meh about the crossover. It seems to do nothing for the main Fables storyline and the Jack parts annoyed me.

Werewolves of the Heartland is a Bigby story which I usually enjoy but used a couple of different illustrators to the main series and the story was too pointlessly filled with gore and nudity for me (very pert breasts all over the place - if you're a female werewolf, why would you have human breasts in werewolf form?)

Maybe I've just been really grumpy this month?

Happy new thread, Heather!

Happy new thread, Heather.

Happy new thread!

....finally caught up ...

Happy New Thread, Heather!

Happy new thread :) Love you're series updates up top. Don't know if I ever noticed them before.

Happy New Thread, Heather! Keep up the good work.

Hi Heather! Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Heather!

Happy New Thread! I am on Fables #8. Bigby is a player and I like the illustrations. Not overly fond of Jack myself.

Happy new thread.

I must get to the tenant of Wildfell Hall. I picked up a copy recently with good intentions...

Happy new thread, Heather!

Happy new thread, Heather!

>15 souloftherose: I was also underwhelmed by the Fables Great Crossover. >14 souloftherose: I haven't read any of Kelly Sue Deconnick's "superhero" comics but I loved Pretty Deadly and I thought Bitch Planet was well done.

>4 souloftherose:, >5 souloftherose: is that books acquired this month or year?

>14 souloftherose: A Darker Shade Of Magic does sound like an amazing concept, shame it didn't live up to expectations

Happy New Thread, Heather! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy A Darker Shade of Magic more. I've got it loaded on my iphone as a possible shared read with you this month, but not so keen now I've read your review. Mind you, Fantasy in general isn't really my favourite, but I'll still try to fit in in sometime, in case it actually works for me.

Interesting comment on Branwell. I recently listened to the BBC adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm (which I've read in full previously) and was amused by the references to him there. Haven't read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but it's on the tbr and ready to be picked up at any time.

Hope you have a restful weekend.

Happy new thread, Heather. There, I'm caught up! That is reason enough to love new threads.

Happy Sunday, Heather.

Thank you to all my visitors: Katie, Barbara, Nina, Roni, Melissa, Darryl, Carrie, Harry, Kim, Charlotte, Mamie, Amber, Roberta, Jo, Ilana, Beth and another visit from Barbara for the weekend :-)

I have pretty much gone flop this weekend - this last week seems to have been very tiring - so not much has happened except for finishing a couple of books.

>24 Berly: I like Bigby and generally enjoy his stories. Jack was alright as part of an ensemble cast but not someone I was interested in reading about in his own comics.

>25 charl08: I am always picking up books with good intentions :-)

>28 luvamystery65: I haven't tried either of those - I'd heard they were both quite violent which is something I struggle with in graphic novel format. I think I'll see how the Avengers stuff goes before trying her other work.

>29 eclecticdodo: Books acquired this year. I had a mini-splurge of paper book acquisitions in February and I'm still trying to catch up. But as of today I have now read the same number of books from my TBR as I have acquired this year :-) So I'll probably celebrate by buying some more books...

>30 Smiler69: I'm not really sure why A Darker Shade of Magic didn't work for me - I couldn't put my finger on anything specific so it might just have been my mood or something.

It's been so long since I read Cold Comfort Farm that I'd completely forgotten it mentions Branwell.

Two books finished for the Reading Through Time: Women and War theme read.

Book #61: No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War by Helen Rappaport - 3.4 stars



This was a wide-ranging look at women in the Crimean War from Florence Nightingale and her nurses, to Mary Seacole, a Jamaican woman who set up a 'British hotel' close to the front lines. Also covered were the rich officers' wives and lady tourists (yes, people actually went on tours to the battlefields whilst the war was still on) and the wives of the ordinary soldiers, some of whom were allowed to travel to the Crimea as camp followers. The conditions were terrible and although a small number of women were offically allowed to accompany their husbands to the front, no provision was made for them in terms of food or places to stay. Similarly, no financial provision was made for any of the wives and families who stayed in the UK whilst their husbands/fathers were fighting in the Crimea. Interestingly, there seems to be some debate over whether women being allowed to travel to the Crimea as nurses was a step forward for feminism or not as it arguably just reinforced the gender stereotyping (women are caring etc) prevalent at the time. But my (probably not very informed opinion) is that it probably made it easier for women to play more of a role in WWI. I felt a bit lost in all the detail sometimes but this was an interesting read.

Book #64: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - 4.2 stars



This is a sequel to Code Name Verity and has some of the same characters, but the main character, Rose, is new. Rose is an American pilot who comes to the UK in 1944 to work as a transport pilot. On a flight to liberated France she gets off course, runs into the Luftwafte and is forced to land in Germany where she is taken prisoner. She ends up at Ravensbruck concentration camp - a concentration camp solely for women. There she meets the Ravensbruck 'rabbits' - a group of Polish woman subjected to medical experiments by the doctors at the camp. This was very good and a very emotional read and I spent a lot of time on wikipedia afterwards reading about Ravensbruck, the prisoners there and the trials after the war. I was particularly impressed with Wein's handling of the events after the end of the war and the impact on Rose of her time at Ravensbruck. At first people thought the stories from the concentration camps was just anti-German propaganda - how difficult must it have been for survivors of those camps to talk about their experiences to people who had no concept of the sort of suffering that they'd experienced? And Wein makes the point that not all the survivors felt able to testify at the subsequent trials - for some reliving those experiences in public would have been just too much to bear.

Although a sequel to Code Name Verity you don't need to have read CNV to enjoy this (although it will give you spoilers for CNV).

Although a sequel to Code Name Verity you don't need to have read CNV

Oh Heather. Not you too :-(

Nice review of No Place for Ladies, Heather. That's surprising to read that people attended battlefronts as tourists during the Crimean War!

I'm listening to Rose Under Fire so I skimmed over your review. It's great so far, but not quite as good as Code Name Verity.

>33 souloftherose: I'm seriously impressed with your book purchasing restraint!

>34 souloftherose: Those books sound fascinating. I'm constantly embarrassed by my ignorance about history.

I hope you enjoyed your floppy weekend. I'll try to call soon.

I didn't know Wein had written another book. It sounds good; I loved Code Name Verity.

I took a book bullet on the Lovelace and Babbage book from your previous thread - my library even has it already, so onto the hold list I go!

I've had Code Name Verity on my wishlist for ages. Must push it higher :-)

Great reviews. I am trying to avoid the bbs! I read a good short bio of Mary Seacole - she had such an interesting life.

I haven't read Code Name Verity, but have heard very good things about it. I'll have to add it to the list.

Beth, I've had Code Name Verity in my list for months, since you read/reviewed it. Now, if I could just read everything I'm trying to get to. But then I'd have to stop working, eating, sleeping, etc. and just read, LOL!

>35 susanj67: But Susan, I did read Code Name Verity first! I'm a good girl, I promise!

>36 kidzdoc: I couldn't quite believe it either, Darryl! There's a whole wikipedia page devoted to war tourism but it seems like the Crimean war was the first war it ocurred in.

>37 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie. I preferred CNV but thought the ending of Rose Under Fire was really powerful.

>38 eclecticdodo: I've definitely got more into reading about history over the last few years, especially social history about the daily lives of ordinary people, which I didn't even realise existed when we were doing history at school.

>39 BLBera: Yes, and there's a third book Black Dove, White Raven about female pilots again but set in Ethiopia during Mussolini's invasion. I've added it to my library list.

>40 archerygirl: The Lovelace and Babbage book is really good - I hope you enjoy it!

>41 charl08: The Rappaport book only covered the time she spent in the Crimea but even from that Seacole sounded very interesting. What was the biography and would you recommend it? Not to take away from what Florence Nightingale achieved but I was left feeling that of the two, Seacole would have been the one I'd have been more likely to enjoy spending time with.

>40 archerygirl:, >42 Thebookdiva:, >43 lit_chick: Code Name Verity is really, really good. Just saying.

Book #53: A collection of novellas from Tor that I bought in a bundle (Tor.com Bundle 2)

The Last Witness by K. J. Parker - 4 stars



'Think of that. If there are no witnesses, did it really ever happen?
You know, of course. Even after the last witness has died, you still remember what you did.
That’s why you need me.'

A darkish fantasy novella about a man who has the power to take people's memories - they no longer remember then but he then has to live with the memories as if they were his own. He has made a career of sorts out of taking peoples memories away for money - generally unpleasant memories that people want to get rid of. It's a good, twisty story and works really well at the shorter length.

I'd heard of K.J. Parker before but hadn't read any of his books. He's recently been revealed as a pseudonym of Tom Holt, a British comic fantasy author, whose books I've tried several times but never got on with at all. It seems I do enjoy his writings as K. J. Parker very much so I will look out for those. There's another novella length work just published by Tor: The Devil You Know

Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter - 4.3 stars



I read this partly because I love the cover so much (although all the novellas Tor have been publishing have really good covers) - this is another darkish fantasy novella about a witch living in a small village. It's difficult to say more about the plot without giving too much away but I was completely enthralled throughout this story and found the writing and characters compelling. Apparently Slatter is a short-story writer (she has published several collections of short stories but no full length works) and the Tor publications have convinced me short stories can really work for me so I will definitely follow up with one of her collections.

Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace - 1.5 stars



I've had a very good success rate with the recent Tor works and this is the first one that completely failed to work for me - I didn't even finish it. It's an urban fantasy novella about a catering company who provide catering for 'alternative' clients. In this story they're asked to serve up an angel to a company of demons and decide they can't in good conscience agree to do this and decide to try and fake it - serve something that tastes like an angel so the demons are fooled. After this it just got too weird for me and I gave up. Others have found this really funny though so... *shrug*

Some more ebook reading (lots of short ebooks this month):

Book #55: The Hanged Man of Saint Pholien by Georges Simenon (aka Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets) - 3.4 stars



After quite a long break it was good to return to the moody atmosphere of the Maigret novels. This one has a bit of a strange plot: Maigret is travelling by train when he notices another passenger behaving strangely and travelling with a new suitcase. On a whim, Maigret purchases the same suitcase and swaps them at one of the stations (surely this is stealing?). He follows the man to a hotel and observes from a keyhole as the man discovers the suitcases have been swopped. Unfortunately this precipitates a suicide which Maigret does not have time to stop. Apparently Maigret doesn't have any other police work to do because despite being in a foreign country he decides to investigate why this man killed himself based on his hunch that there must be something more to this than meets the eye. Not my favourite of the series but I like Simenon's writing and the gritty 1930s Europe.

Book #55.5: The Bone Knife by Intisar Khanani - 4 stars



A free short story I saw a recommendation for - the description of the story as domestic fantasy intrigued me. It's about three sisters with a secret and a visitor who may mean their secret gets exposed. Apparently the characters in this are going to feature in a later full-length work. As a hook it worked as I am now interested in reading her other books

Book #56: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - 4 stars



Another shorter work I really enjoyed - this is a very original look at portal fantasies and the children who travel to them and then return to the real world (think Narnia etc.) How do they cope back in the real world and how do their families cope with them? Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children is the solution for many families - a boarding school to help these children and teenagers readjust so that they can go back to their normal lives. If anything this was too short but I'm very pleased to hear that follow-up/prequel novellas are planned about some of the characters.

Happy relatively new thread, Heather.

>46 souloftherose: The plots of the Maigret novels aren't quite as integral to one's enjoyment of the piece as say Christie's books, I am sure you will agree. You can almost smell the Gauloise ciggies and taste the absinthe while leafing through the pages.

>46 souloftherose: The plot of that Maigret book sounds completely wacky. It must be a testament to Simenon's writing that he managed to pull of a hugely popular series despite that deficiency. I should see if the library has these, as I've never read any and they are classics.

Heather--Can I bother you again for your suggestions on starting Discworld? I can't find that really cool graphic you had that showed all the books. Rosalita and I are going to dive in later this year!!

>47 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

'You can almost smell the Gauloise ciggies and taste the absinthe while leafing through the pages.' Yes, they're so atmospheric which I love. So far I've read the first six in the series and they were all first published in 1931 so I have been wondering if Simenon was running out of steam or plot ideas that year.

>48 rosalita: The atmosphere was good enough that the plot absurdities only really struck me after I'd finished but I think it's one of the weaker ones that I've read. According to LT there are 100 books in the series which is terrifying but hopefully means there's a reasonable chance your library will have at least one! They are all being reissued in new translations by Penguin as I think they've been out of print for a while. I don't think the series needs to be read in order (but don't tell Liz I said that).

>49 Berly: Sure!

This is the graphic although I disagree slightly with some of their starting points.



My recommended starting points are:

For the Witches - Wyrd Sisters (you can skip Equal Rites) - great female characters and lots of literary references.

For the City Watch - Guards! Guards! - this is a good place to start if you like crime fiction.

Tiffany Aching - The Wee Free Men - excellent young adult series

Small Gods - for a very thought-provoking look at religion/faith.

>51 souloftherose: Thanks for that Heather. I must read something of his soon and that will definitely help.

Have a great weekend.

>51 souloftherose: You are the best!!! Thank you. Talking with a few others before choosing a starting point. : ) Happy weekend!

>52 PaulCranswick: & >53 Berly: You're welcome!

Book #58: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett - 5 stars



Following on from my reread of Pratchett's Witches series, I decided to reread the Tiffany Aching books starting with The Wee Free Men. These books are some of my favourites - in some ways they're a sequel to the Witches books although you don't need to read the Witches before the Tiffany Aching books - as they continue some of the themes and ideas from the Witches books but perhaps have a slightly simpler structure reflecting the fact they are children's books. In some ways I think this makes the Tiffany Aching books better as they are a purer distillation fo the ideas Practhett was exploring in the Witches books. And Tiffany Aching is quite simply an awesome character and one of my personal favourites.

A couple of quotes:

“Zoology, eh? That's a big word, isn't it."

"No, actually it isn't," said Tiffany. "Patronizing is a big word. Zoology is really quite short.”

and this one (by Tiffany):

“Yes! I'm me! I am careful and logical and I look up things I don't understand! When I hear people use the wrong words, I get edgy! I am good with cheese. I read books fast! I think! And I always have a piece of string! That's the kind of person I am!”

I do love the Tiffany Aching books as well, yes, even more than the Witches!

Have a great long weekend, Heather.

>55 ronincats: They are great books, Roni.

>56 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

It's the first of May which reminds me that I am behind on my April reviews, but first the Arthur C. Clarke award shortlist was announced this week and the shortlisted novels are:

Arcadia by Ian Pears
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Europe at Midnight by Dave Hutchinson
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
Way Down Dark by James Smythe
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

I've read (and loved) the Becky Chambers and yesterday bought The Book of Phoenix and Way Down Dark for kindle (£1.99 each in the UK). I'm a bit disappointed that Ian McDonald's Luna: New Moon didn't make the shortlist but otherwise feeling quite excited about the shortlisted books. The winner is announced in August and I am going to try to read the shortlist by then.

Wow, Discworld looks like a fascinating adventure. One could almost make it a lifetime goal! I'm kind of glad it doesn't ring any bells for me, though.

Have you made it through all those books, Heather? Actually, Small Gods does appeal to me, especially if it is anything like Good Omens. I loved that book! Can one "cherry pick" a few of the Discworld books or is it better to read the entire series?

>58 Donna828: I have read them all, but I have been rereading and rereading his books since the 1990s so I have had quite a bit of time to do so :-)

Most of the books stand alone so you definitely can cherry pick and I do recommend Small Gods if that appeals.

Book #59: Beyond the Glass by Antonia White - 4.1 stars



The conclusion to Antonia White's autobiographical quarter of novels - in 1920s London Clara moves back in with her parents whilst waiting for her first marriage to be annulled. She falls in love but the stress of the last few years takes its toll and Clara finds herself admitted to a mental hospital. It's an emotional book - made more so by knowing that this was based on White's own experience of a stay in Bethlem - but it ends on a hopeful note with Clara recovered and released from hospital. Apparently White intended to write more about Clara's life but never managed to do so.

Book #60: From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium by William Dalrymple - 3.9 stars



In 1994 William Dalrymple set out on a journey through Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt following in the footsteps of the seventh-century monk, John Moschos, as detailed in his book The Spiritual Meadow. This took me a while to read, not because it wasn't a good book, but because it's often a very sad book. Dalrymple writes about Christians and Christianity in this part of the world and talks to the remaining members of Christian communities, monasteries etc. Their lives have often been affected by war, many are refugees and those that aren't are living in vanishing communities. Reading this in 2016 it also struck me that things are really unlikey to have got any better for the majority of these communities in the intervening 20+ years. Most of the Christians in this part of the world are Eastern Orthodox which is a spiritual tradition I know very little about and it was fascinating to read about this today and in John Moschos' time.

Thanks for publishing the Arthur C. Clarke award shortlist. I've read and enjoyed Arcadia and had The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet out from the library, started and read a little way before taking it back. I was sort of finding it ok, but just having a bad reading month so thought I'd try it again when I'm feeling more like a reader.

I also started From the Holy Mountain back in February, another I haven't stuck to, and as it's an e-book from the library, on a platform I tend to ignore more often than not. I'm determined to read it by mid-year.

Good Morning Heather. Congratulations on reading so many great books!

Hey Heather! I've really got to get my hands on Dalrymple! I haven't read a bad review of his books yet.

I love the title of the Becky Chambers book. I want to read it for the title alone.

I preferred Rose Under Fire to Code Name Verity. It's long and not easy reading sometimes given the subject matter, but Sarah Helm's If This is a Woman on Ravensbruck is highly recommended.

>60 avatiakh: Yes, I think I remember you enjoying Arcadia last year. From the Holy Mountain was definitely not a fast read - I think I find paper books a better format for those kind of reads.

>61 Whisper1: Thanks Linda! Lovely bookshelves :-)

>62 Carmenere: Hi Lynda! Me neither, not sure which of his books I'll try next but I'll definitely read more by him.

>63 Fourpawz2: The title is a good one Charlotte :-)

>64 elkiedee: Thanks for the rec Luci - I'll bear that one in mind.

Book #62: The Brontes at Haworth by Ann Dinsdale - 3.6 stars



This is a beautiful set of photos and pictures of the Bronte family and Haworth and its surroundings with biographical information on the family. Having already read Claire Harman's Charlotte Bronte: A Life earlier this year I didn't find the biographical information in this book added anything but it would make a good introduction to the Brontes. I did appreciate all the photographs and the information on Haworth and the moors.

Book #63: Black Widow Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web by Nathan Edmondson - 3.5 stars



The second volume in the Black Widow series - this builds on the tension and questions of morality from the first volume and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger regadring Natasha's place in the Avengers. There were a few too many stories featuring cameos from other Marvel characters for my liking.

Book #65: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 1.5 stars



Ugh. I seem to struggle with a certain kind of military science fiction (inter-species war between humans and aliens where both sides are trying to wipe the other out) and despite the very high rating on the LT page I think Ender's Game is my least favourite example. It was a readable but slightly disturbing 3 star book until the end where a couple of plot twists left me feeling really angry - not so much because of the actual plot twists but because the author failed to do anything with them - they're just dumped in and then suddenly end of book. On the plus side, the writing was serviceable and it kept me turning the pages. I would say not recommended except everyone else loves this book so possibly I've missed something.

Happy super-hot Sunday, Heather! The Dalrymple book sounds like an excellent read. I must find one!

Too bad you didn't like Ender's Game. I'm not a fan of space operas either, but I loved that one, as well as some of the rest in the series. But then Card just started to get all preachy. It became a lecture on abortion and other conservative values. (Not that I mind conservative values so much as I don't like lectures.)

>68 susanj67: Thanks Susan. I have enjoyed being able to sit out in the garden this weekend (in the shade of course). The Dalrymple was really good - I think I'll try one of his books about India next.

>69 The_Hibernator: I love space opera in general, it's just a particular kind of military science fiction I struggle with (generally where the human race has decided to completely wipe out an alien race because it's the only way to survive). I'm torn about whether to go on and read Speaker for the Dead which I've seen people say is better and also won a Hugo award.

Book #66: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - 4 stars



Happily, this cleared the bad taste in my mouth left by Ender's Game. I feel like everyone has already read and reviewed this - I found this to be a pleasantly optimistic story about a post-apocalyptic world - I really enjoyed Mandel's writing and would like to try her other novels at some point.

Book #67: How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman - 4.3 stars



This was an excellent look at daily life in Victorian England - as well as being well-researched, the author is a practical historian and has lived the life of a Victorian person at various points for TV and research purposes so as well as telling the reader what sort of undergarments the Victorians wore she can comment on what it feels like to wear them. I also appreciated that this book covered working-class, middle-class and upper-class life and distinguised between the way things would have been at the beginning, middle and end of the Victorian period. Fascinating stuff and a book I'd like to add to my own collection.

The author has recently published a similar book on Tudor times (How To Be A Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life) which has gone on the list.

Glad you liked Station Eleven, Heather. Me, too.

How to Be a Victorian sounds really well done. Adding it to the WL.

>71 jnwelch: Yes, Station Eleven was very good - I think I first tried to read it when everyone first started getting excited about it, couldn't get into it then for some reason but it worked this time.

Hope you enjoy How to Be a Victorian :-)

Book #68: An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham - 4.4 stars
Book #69: The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham - 4.5 stars

US covers:


Published in the UK as an omnibus called Seasons of War which has a very boring, generic fantasy cover:


These are the final two volumes in Abraham's Long Price Quartet (the first two are A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter published as one volume called Shadow and Betrayal in the UK). And yes, this is a series that really does need to be read in order. I read the first two books last year and then for some reason left it a whole year before getting round to the second two. That worked ok but it would have been better to read them closer together and given how much I enjoyed the first two I feel slightly silly for letting myself get distracted...

What I particularly like about this series is that this is definitely not a typical good vs. evil fantasy narrative. While there is a little bit of a magic system (there are beings called andats with great powers that certain poets control) the main focus is on politics, economics and the hard decisions the main characters are forced to make. There are no 'good' characters because there are no clearly 'good' choices - there are several main characters who are all trying to do the right thing but their decisions about what would be the right thing vary greatly and in some cases lead them into direct conflict with each other.

The other thing that sets this apart from other fantasy series is that whilst each book follows on from the previous books a significant amount of time passes between each book (normally 15 or so years) so although you follow the same characters throughout the series, events in the world have moved on for each book and this is a great way of showing the reader these characters having to live with the choices they'd made (or had forced upon them) in earlier books.

Other things I like are the understated look at gender and gender politics, the fact that the magic system is linked to poetry, the non-mediaeval non-Western setting, body language being a fundamental part of the language of one of the countries. I'm really pleased I found out about this series on LT because if I had seen the hideous UK cover in a bookshop or library I would definitely have assumed this would not be something I was interested in.

>70 souloftherose: Ooh, I didn't know it was that Ruth, the one I watched on shows like Tudor Farm, who wrote How to be a Victorian and it is on my shelves. I better crack that cover soon!

Glad you liked Station Eleven. I read Ender's Game when just a pup, so can't excuse my liking it, but I liked the thoughtful sequels even better (books 2-4). I need to try the Abraham series again; I started the first book once as a library book but ran out of time.

Hi Heather! I would love to peruse the pages of The Brontes at Haworth. I've always been intrigued by "The Moors" so I'll check to see if my library has it.

>70 souloftherose: And here's me thinking I was the only person on LT who had not read Station Eleven yet! I really need to get to that one soon.

>76 rosalita: - Ditto - on both counts!

>77 katiekrug: You, too?? I feel so much better. At least I'm in good company.

Another BB for How to Be a Victorian here!

I only just read it - for the CAC.

I liked it well enough.

Hi Heather, I've been doing a terrible job at keeping up with you this year and have been falling back into my lurking ways. I have just started Station Eleven and can tell even after five or so chapters that this is going to be a good one! I have the Daniel Abraham Long Price Quartet on my Kindle so was really stoked to see your high rating for the first two books. I note that we both are hoping to read The Republic of Thieves this month as well, another favorite series of mine.

Happy weekend, Heather.

>70 souloftherose: Well, you'll find that the later books are a little more sympathetic towards alien species, if that was your only problem with the book. The next couple books are really good, but the series deteriorates after a while.

How did I lose you, Heather??? I think I came in when the thread was new but didn't write anything. That shouldn't have kept me from coming back ------- ?????
Sorry you didn't like *Ender*. It has pretty much stayed with me, but I don't love and adore it. Glad you enjoyed *Station 11* too. You remind me that I don't know WHAT I've done with my copy of Shadow and Betrayal. LT says that I got a copy in 2013, but it's certainly not where I tagged it to be, and I don't see it or remember it. And I want it NOW!!!!!!!
I'm another who thanks you for the ACClarke nominees. I haven't heard of even one of them.
I'll be back!

I haven't lost you....I am just...behind. But now I am caught up. Here. For the moment. ; )

>73 Familyhistorian: Yes, it is that Ruth and having read the book, I'm now kicking myself for missing all her TV series back in the day! I've added Victorian Farm to my DVD rental list. Hope you enjoy the book!

>74 ronincats: You definitely don't need to excuse your liking it Roni :-) Hearing that you found the sequels more thoughtful I might try book 2 someday. The Abraham series is really good.

>75 Carmenere: I hope you can find a copy Lynda - the pictures were a lovely addition to the book.

>76 rosalita:, >77 katiekrug:, >78 rosalita: I think it's a good book and hope you enjoy it - I didn't absolutely love it as some did so I am glad I waited until the hype had died down a little and I wasn't reading it with such a weight of expectations.

>79 cbl_tn: Hope you enjoy that one Carrie!

>80 Fourpawz2: Hi Charlotte. If I'd been organised then I would have checked when it was being read for the CAC and probably joined you all this month :-)

>81 DeltaQueen50: No worries, Judy. It was actually the final two books in the Daniel Abraham quartet that I just read but the first two books were nearly as good. Make sure you start with A Shadow in Summer for the story to make sense.

I finished Republic of Thieves this morning and enjoyed it more than book #2. I saw on Amazon that the release date for The Thorn of Emberlain has been pushed back until autumn now...

>82 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

>83 The_Hibernator: After yours and Roni's comments I am leaning towards trying Speaker for the Dead later this year. I've remembered I had read and enjoyed OSC's Enchantment some years ago so it's probably worth me trying another Ender book.

>84 LizzieD: Glad you found me again Peggy and I hope you can find your copy of Shadow and Betrayal. I'm definitely on a fantasy kick at the moment.

>85 Berly: Lovely to see you Kim :-)

-------------------------------------------------------

I am off work this week (and next week - woo) but underestimated how tired I would be. I have been mainly binge-reading Brandon Sanderson's books and resting. Will try and get some reviews written up later today or tomorrow.

>86 souloftherose: binge-reading Brandon Sanderson's books
Sounds familiar, Heather ;-)
I will be back to that when the next books come available in Dutch.

>87 FAMeulstee: Yes, they are very readable - just what I need at the moment. I brought home Shadows of Self from the library today.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My final book for April:

Book #70: Indexing by Seanan McGuire - 3.9 stars



This was a fun, urban fantasy take on fairytales and the agency that monitors people who could potentially get caught up in them - reminded me a bit of a cross between Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series and the Fables graphic novels. Just enough snark and not too much romance for me - there is a sequel, Indexing: Reflections which I'm looking forward to.

I'll remind you again about Tad Williams and his swords trilogy. I'm about to start the last half of the last book and have found them as good as before.

Morning, Heather (well, it's morning in Canada land, LOL!). How to be a Victorian sounds like one I would really enjoy.

McGuire is always a good read!

>89 LizzieD: Thank you for the reminder Peggy :-)

I do want to try the Tad Williams but I'm leaning towards making my next epic/high fantasy series (as opposed to urban fantasy) one written by a woman - I was just thinking yesterday that my reading in that area as been heavily skewed towards male authors recently. Maybe Robin Hobb or the Michelle Sagara series Roni has been streaking through.

>90 lit_chick: Hi nancy. How to be a Victorian was really fun - my brain seems to have stalled on anything else non-fiction at the moment. I'm hoping some time off work will reboot it.

>91 ronincats: Yes, this was a fun one. Perhaps I'll pick up the sequel sooner rather than later...

May seems to have turned into a bit of a Brandon Sanderson marathon:

Book #71: Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson - 3.8 stars



I downloaded this novella to my kindle because it made the Hugo short list this year. At some point in the future, humans spend their whole existence in virtual worlds - each person is given their own unique world with setting and challenges specifically tailored to their individual personality. Everything else in that world is an AI construct. Kai is god-emperor of a generic fantasy type world and has conquered all of this world - his only remaining challenge is his ongoing battle with his nemesis (another human from a different world). Until Kai is required to go on a date with another human (again in another VR world) which leads him to question many of the things he's taken for granted.

This was a good mix of though-provoking and fun with a good twist at the end. The only bit that didn't really work for me was the slightly clumsy requirement for Kai to need to go on a date - it was necessary for the story but I wasn't convinced it really made sense in the science fiction world Sanderson had imagined.

Book #72: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson - 4 stars
Book #75: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson - 4.4 stars



I can never decide how I feel about the UK cover art for Sanderson's books - they're certainly very distinctive covers but I'm not sure if I really like them.

Finishing my reread of the first Mistborn trilogy - I still love these books. So much detailed world-building, plotting and characters I love. On my reread I did notice that the second book was occasionally a bit slow-moving and, throughout the trilogy, the allomantic fight scenes could get a little too detailed for me but still very enjoyable.

I do have to get to the Mistborn books one of these days! Anita has just finished reading them for the first time and loved them.

Hope you're having a good time off work Heather. That birthday present is still sitting here....

I'm trying to catch up, Heather. The Bronte book looks interesting.

I'm glad to see another fan of Station Eleven; I have Last Night in Montreal on my shelf and would like to get to it this summer.

Indexing sounds fun. I liked the Fforde books I read. I want to continue, but it's been so long, I feel like I should start the series over again; it was hard enough to keep track of everything when I read them as they were published.

I like the Sanderson covers.

Enjoy your time off from work, Heather. It's a good time to rest and recharge your batteries. Will you be doing any traveling? Staycations are a lot of fun, too, especially when you have some good books to read.

>93 souloftherose: They're better covers than the U.S. ones, as far as I'm concerned, Heather. I've always thought the sci-fi/fantasy genres have the largest percentage of bad covers. I can think of times when I was a bit uncomfortable with people seeing what I was reading for that very reason.

Time off work? How wonderful. Can't remember it though, myself.

Have a lovely weekend, Heather and well done for whizzing by the 75 with your usual alacrity.

Hi Heather, you've definitely got me interested in How to be a Victorian, and I've added Goodman's Tudor book to the wishlist as well. Glad you have some time off to rest up and recuperate. Take good care of yourself! xx

>94 ronincats: Roni, I hope you enjoy them. I am happily working my way through the next mini series set in that world at the moment (starts with TheAlloy of Law) and enjoying these too.

>95 eclecticdodo: Thanks Jo.

>96 BLBera: I'll look forward to your thoughts on Last Night in Montreal - I have good intentions about trying her other books.

>97 Donna828: Thanks Donna. Yes, we are away this week staying in the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire. We went out for a walk (and a meal) earlier and now I'm catch-up on LT whilst DH has a nap (I had my nap before our walk). Still can't believe how tired we are but hopefully a week away will help.

>98 jnwelch: I quite like the US covers, especially for the later books. I agree fantasy/SF covers can be awful and often seem to use the same themes over and over (swirly cloaks, swords).

>99 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Sorry to hear you haven't been able to take time off for a while though :-( I know it's often harder to do when you're the one in charge rather than just one of the employees.

>100 Smiler69: Hope you enjoy How to be a Victorian, Ilana.

Indexing sounds like my cuppa since I like both the books you compared it to. And Perfect State has distinct possibilities! Enjoy your VK!

Some of OSC's books are fantastic, and others are pretty mediocre. I think it depends on whether he is "just" writing for the story or if he has decided to preach. Mormons are supposed to dedicate at least a year of their life to religious evangelism, and he used his year writing.

Hi, Heather! I've just been catching up on your threads - lots of great reading I was sorry I didn't have the chance to comment on at the time. I gather you never did finish Marriage?? Ah, well, another time, perhaps... :D

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall is an amazingly important and courageous book, a real taboo-breaker. Some people find Helen unsympathetic but she had to be written as a bit of a prig to allow Anne to get away with the rest of the book. I always say that Anne is my favourite of the Brontes...partly because she always gets overlooked, but also because of the realism which I really appreciate.

And because any mention of Anne gives me an excuse to do this again (which, by the way, pretty much sums up my attitude towards the sisters):

>104 lyzard: *SNORK!!*

Morning, Heather!

>104 lyzard: "Like" :-)

>104 lyzard: I was really, really surprised by the forthright way in which alcoholism and spousal abuse was portrayed in Tenant of Wildfell Hall. When I read it years ago I remember looking for information on whether this was especially atypical for the era and being disappointed that I couldn't find much of anything that addressed the subject.

Hi, Heather! I haven't read any Brandon Sanderson yet and really should rectify that...

Not just atypical but almost non-existent, particularly coming from a female writer: "nice" women weren't supposed to know about such things (ha, ha).

>102 Berly: Thanks Kim!

>103 The_Hibernator: Thanks for the info Rachel - I think I'll give Card one more try.

>104 lyzard: Hi Liz. No, I still haven't made any further progress with Marriage and was considering officially abandoning it.

>104 lyzard:, , >107 bell7:, >108 lyzard: Thanks for the comments on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and the comic - love it! I think *Tenant* will probably be my next Bronte reread.

>105 scaifea:, >106 jnwelch: *waves to Amber and Joe*

And we're back from our week away - I am going to try and do some very quick and brief comments on books read in May over the next few days because I am fed up of being so behind with reviews :-(

We continued our holiday tradition of finding some very good second-hand bookshops and I brought back quite a haul:

Talking about Detective Fiction by P. D. James
God, Where Are You? by Gerard W. Hughes
Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt by Richard Holloway
I Am With You: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2016 by Kathryn Greene-McCreight
Letters to Alice, on first reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon
Passing On by Penelope Lively
Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively
The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield
As Once in May by Antonia White

I also came home to find that Humble Bundle's latest books offering is a collection of books published by Small Beer Press (independent publisher of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror) with a particular focus on short story collections). You can find the bundle here. The way Humble Bundle works is you can pay varying amounts to get different numbers of books - they can be downloaded in all ereader formats and are DRM free. I went for the whole collection and got:

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller
Couch by Benjamin Parzybok
Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
Meet Me in the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge
Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
The Entropy of Bones by Ayize Jama-Everett
The Fires Beneath the Sea by Lydia Millet
The Liminal People by Ayize Jama-Everett
The Monkey's Wedding and Other Stories by Joan Aiken
Trash Sex Magic by Jennifer Stevenson
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison
Tyrannia by Alan DeNiro

And I ordered the following from ebay today:

Jinian Footseer by Sheri S. Tepper
Jinian Star-Eye by Sheri S. Tepper
The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

So, that's my reading sorted for the next few months........

Book #73: The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor - 3.5 stars



From this year's Arthur C. Clarke shortlist. This is an unusual mix of science fiction and fantasy elements. It's set in a near future earth and the main character, Phoenix, has been genetically engineered by a US organisation and kept captive in Tower 7 in New York along with other people who have been subject to experiments. She escapes and comes to understand her powers which are almost superhero like and uses these to bring down this organisation. There are also a lot of allusions to African mythology and folklore. It's often an angry book (understandable given the US' history of ethically questionable studies and experimentation on black people) which occasionally made for uncomfortable reading but although this isn't the book I'd choose to win the Clarke award I enjoyed this.

Apparently this is an expansion of a short story of the same title and then a novelette called African Sunrise - I haven't read either of these but I would guess that the short story comprised the first chapter of this novel which I could see working really well as a short story. I've also heard this book is a prequel to Okorafor's Who Fears Death which I haven't read (because it still hasn't been published in the UK) - Phoenix seemed to work fine as a standalone to me.

Book #74: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People who Think Differently by Steve Silberman - 4 stars



I picked this up because I know several families affected by autism and wanted to understand more about it. Initially I was disappointed as Silberman has written a history of the illness and I was expecting more of a medical analysis of autism but the net effect of reading the history is that I did get a full understanding of the condition by the end of the book and I think it ends on a hopeful note.

DNF: The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel edited by Deirdre David - 2 stars



I've enjoyed some books in the Cambridge Companion series before but this was too academic and technical for me so I ended up abandoning this.

Book #76: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson - 4.2 stars
Book #80: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson - 4.2 stars



Books #4 and #5 in the Mistborn series - these are set c. 300 years after the events of the original trilogy and have more of a wild west/mystery/fantasy feel than the epic fantasy of the original trilogy. Although the writing style is very different these reminded me a little of Terry Pratchett's City Watch series as these books contain a similar mix of fantasy, crime/mystery and humour and are set in a partially industrialised city.

The Alloy of Law is an introduction to the characters and I think would work as a standalone. Shadows of Self starts what is apparently going to be a trilogy featuring these same characters and draws on some knowledge of the original trilogy. I enjoyed these a lot and have already picked up the next book, The Bands of Mourning.

Hey Heather! You are really into Brandon Sanderson! You rate them so highly, I think I may have to look into these.

>110 souloftherose: There are some amazing books in that bundle from Small Beer Press. I own too many of them in print to make it worth adding the bundle to my kindle. but I am envious of you getting to discover them for the first time!

>112 souloftherose: I really liked Alloy of law and want to read the rest of the trilogy, but annoyingly my library only has Bands of mourning, not Shadows of self. Who makes the purchasing decisions?!

Woo! Congratulations on that major book haul, Heather! I was surprised and please to see you reviewing Neurotribes, which doesn't seem to be your typical fare somehow, but I'll note down you recommend it, as I got the audio version from the library not knowing much about it.

What a great haul, Heather. I loved the P.D. James and the Weldon books. Neurotribes sounds good, too. I have been light on the nonfiction lately.

>113 Carmenere: Hi Lynda. Brandon Sanderson's books seem to be really suiting my mood at the moment - they are definitely worth a try if you enjoy fantasy.

>114 Sakerfalcon: Glad to hear you are a fan of a lot of the Small Beer Press books Claire. Initially I only recognised 4/5 of the titles (A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar, Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace, Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link, Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison, The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman and The Monkey's Wedding and Other Stories by Joan Aiken) but after spending some time looking the other titles up in LT it looks like a really good selection.

'annoyingly my library only has Bands of mourning, not Shadows of self'

That's a frustrating and baffling purchasing decision by your library - don't they check whether books are part of a series?! I wonder if they would let you make a purchase request for Shadows of Self - there would probably be other borrowers who would be interested in this if they've read Alloy of Law.

>115 Smiler69: Thank you :-) Yes, I don't often read non-fiction relating to science or medicine but this was a good read (once I got used to the idea it was a history of the condition). Some parts were hard to read - the treatment of people with autism and other learning difficulties (as well as people with mental illnesses) was appalling under the Third Reich. That shouldn't have been a surprise but somehow that hadn't registered with me before.

>116 BLBera: Thanks Beth - I had dimly thought you may have recommended the Fay Weldon to me at some point.

>117 souloftherose: >113 Carmenere: that's the thing, Heather, I like fantasy and I don't. Game of Thrones fantasy, for sure! Western fantasy? maybe. I'll have to take a gander to see.

Book #77: Legion and the Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson



More Sanderson - this time two novellas that have been collected into one book for UK publication.

The first, Legion, I was pretty meh about. Stephen Leeds has hallucinations however each hallucination is a different person with a different skill or technical knowledge. With the aid of his hallucinations Stephen Leeds becomes a genius and can solve impossible puzzles. I thought the concept could have worked but none of the hallucinations felt like they had different personalities to me and it seemed a bit of a cheat that any time Stephen needed a new piece of knowledge (e.g. fluency in Hebrew) a new hallucination immediately appeared. 2.5 stars

The second, The Emperor's Soul was much better. This is set in the same world as Sanderson's full-length novel, Elantris - I haven't read Elantris yet and there's no need to read it for The Emperor's Soul to make sense. Shai is a master thief and forger who is caught when trying to replace one of the Emperor's paintings with her forgery and expects to be sentenced to death. Instead she's offered her freedom if she can forge a new soul for the Emperor who has been left brain-dead by a terrible accident. The story is told entirely from Shai's point of view and is set in her prison cell over a period of several days. As a novella it's beautifully crafted and as you would expect from Sanderson, the magic system is unusual and intriguing. 4.3 stars

>118 Carmenere: That makes it more tricky to know whether you will like these :-) His books are definitely not as dark as Game of Thrones.

The first three Mistborn novels (starting with The Final Empire) are more like standard epic fantasy (world in peril, heroes (and heroines) needed to save it) but Sanderson enjoys playing with the standard fantasy tropes. The Western feel only comes in with book 4, The Alloy of Law.

Maybe (if you can get hold of it) try The Emperor's Soul first - it's short (which most of his books aren't) and that way you'd know whether you like his writing style?

Thanks for the info, Heather. I'll take your advice and give The Emperor's Soul a shot.

Catching up - several of your reads have caught my eye and have to go on the WL, particular the Angela Slatter Of Sorrow and Such. I have a lot of Sanderson on my shelves already . . . so those will have to wait.

Nice book haul! And congrats on whizzing past 75!

>121 Carmenere: Hope you enjoy it Lynda!

>122 sibylline: I really enjojed Of Sorrow and Such so hope you do too, Lucy. I've been meaning to try some of her collected short stories.

>123 cbl_tn: Thanks Carrie!

Returning to work seems to have fried my brain this week (even though I only worked 3 days) so a few books have been put on hold whilst I switched to some lighter fare and picked up Sorcery and Cecilia for a reread.

Back to books read in May:

Book #78: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch - 3.5 stars



The third book in Lynch's Gentleman Bastards series - I liked this more than #2 (Red Seas Under Red Skies) but less than #1. In this book we finally get to meet Sabetha, Locke's one-time paramour and true love but I was left unconvinced by their relationship and very frustrated by the way Locke kept trying to persuade Sabetha into having a relationship with him. The book ends with Locke realising he needs to respect her decisions but.... Also, I was pretty freaked out by the return of The Falconer at the end.

Book #81: The Man Behind Narnia by A. N. Wilson - 3.8 stars



The area we were holidaying in (Malvern) had some links to C. S. Lewis so I impulsively downloaded this Kindle single. It wasn't really what I expected, rather than a brief biography of Lewis this is A.N. Wilson's thoughts on the process of writing a biography of Lewis in 1990 and then making a TV programme about Lewis in 2013. It also includes a lot of musings on Wilson's own faith (formerly a Christian, converted to atheism whilst writing his original biography of Lewis and has now returned to his Christian faith but from a more liberal viewpoint. I enjoyed Wilson's writings and musings a lot - he was willing to be open about both his own failings and Lewis' - and would like to read more about him and Lewis - I may try Wilson's original biography of Lewis, C. S. Lewis: A Biography.

Interesting book about Lewis. I need to find it...

>126 drneutron: Hope you enjoy it Jim.

Book #82: A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett - 4 stars



The second Tiffany Aching book sees the return of Tiffany, the Nac Mac Feegle and Granny Weatherwax - I didn't find this quite as strong as the first book but still very good.

Book #83: The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper - 4 stars



A bit of backstory to why I read this. I was browsing in our local Oxfam's fantasy and science fiction section (very limited) and came across a small paperback copy of Dervish Daughter by Sheri S. Tepper. I've read one of her books before, liked the cover and felt in the mood for some 1980s fantasy so brought it home only to find out that Dervish Daughter was the 8th book in a series (grr - no mention of this anywhere on the book itself). So, I went online and clickety-clicked on an omnibus edition of the first 3 books in the same series (same cover design).

The True Game is an omnibus of the first three books which were published separately in the US in the 1980s as King's Blood Four, Necromancer Nine and Wizard's Eleven. Each book is fairly short (very unusual for fantasy now) and is set in a world where most people are caught up in an elaborate game similar to chess. Over the course of these three books more details about the world are revealed and we eventually discover that this is not strictly fantasy but science fiction as what seems to be a quasi-mediaeval other world is actually a far future world colonised by humans who have then forgotten or lost their technology. This trilogy follows the perspective of Peter, a young man who is coming of age and discovering what his particular power or role in the game is.

Tepper is known for being a feminist author and although I wouldn't describe this trilogy as overtly feminist there is more consideration of the restrictions a quasi-mediaeval fantasy world places on women than I think is typical of other books from this period.

I really enjoyed this trilogy and will shortly be starting another trilogy set in this world which I think tells part of the same story from a different viewpoint (Jinian - a female character we meet in Wizard's Eleven and which will mean I finally get to read Dervish Daughter.

Book #84: The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, edited by Susan Wood - 4.4 stars



A collection of essays and talks written or given by Le Guin during the 1970s on the subject of science fiction and fantasy - very, very good. As well as being a great writer I also think Le Guin is a great critic and thinker and I would happily read anything she writes. I think there are other collections of essays and talks from later decades which I will have to hunt down.

Book #85: This Census-Taker by China Mieville - 4 stars



A new novella from Mieville - as I've come to expect this was really well written and it was quite difficult to understand what was really going on. There's not really any resolution or ultimate explanation of what happened - it's hard to say whether this makes this short book brilliant or a case of the emperor's new clothes but I was left wanting to reread it so ended up giving it 4 stars despite not feeling that I'd really understood it.

Another review on the book page says: 'Um...I'm not sure what I just read, but I liked it?' That's pretty much my reaction.

Woohoo! You are getting a lot more reading done than I am recently, Heather. You've piqued my curiosity with The Man Behind Narnia. It sounds excellent, as does Wilson's original biography.

>128 souloftherose: "'Um...I'm not sure what I just read, but I liked it?' That's pretty much my reaction"

You are not alone there .....

Congratulations on reaching and surpassing 75, Heather. I've yet to read Mieville. One day...

I own the Teppers, and they are among the few of hers that I haven't read. You make me want to push them up. I love Miéville but haven't tried this latest. I'll have to wait until it falls in my lap, I think. Anyway, I always read your reviews eagerly; you've guided me to lots and lots of good stuff!!!!!

Congrats on reaching 75 :-)

>112 souloftherose: Good to see you enjoyed the next Sanderson books, I will certainly read those when they are all translated :-)

You are reading up a storm, Heather! I can't quite decide if I want to read the Mieville or not. Guess I'll see if the library has it. The Man Behind Narnia sounds interesting, so I'll have to check on that one as well.

Hoping that you week is full of fabulous! Please give Erica my love.

>127 souloftherose:, >132 LizzieD: I too have the True Game books on Mount Tbr. Your praise makes me realise that I really should get around to reading them. I adore the Marianne trilogy; have you read that?

>129 lit_chick: Thanks Nancy. Hopefully those might be a good accompaniment to your enjoyment of the Narnia series!

>130 roundballnz: :-D Good to hear it wasn't just me, Alex.

>131 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

>132 LizzieD: Hi Peggy. I consider you one of the recommenders for Tepper's books so I'm sort of surprised I've managed to read some you haven't :-) It's a very good series and I'm looking forward to reading more of Tepper's work.

>133 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita - it is a shame you have to wait for the translations but hopefully they will be out soon.

>134 Crazymamie: Thanks Mamie!

>135 Sakerfalcon: Hi Claire. No, so far the only Tepper I've read is Beauty but I am enjoying her early work now and will add the Marianne trilogy to the list for after I finish The True Game.

Book #79: Avengers Assemble: Science Bros by Kelly Sue Deconnick - 3.4 stars
Book #87: Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue Deconnick - 4.3 stars
Book #88: Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Down by Kelly Sue Deconnick - 4.3 stars
Book #90: Avengers: The Enemy Within by Kelly Sue Deconnick - 4 stars



Work has been quite challenging lately so I have been binge-reading Kelly Sue Deconnick's Captain Marvel comics (and it's helped a lot).

Avengers Assemble: Science Bros is a standalone collection - it contains 3 independent stories about the Avengers teaming up. I thought the first two were good fun but the third seemed to require too much knowledge of this history of some characters.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight, Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Down and Avengers: The Enemy Within are a complete story-arc about Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, and I loved them. Whereas the Hawkeye and Black Widow comic series give us flawed heroes struggling to maintain relationships and friendships and generally being pretty screwed up, Carol has friends and a life outside being a superhero. Yes, it's a struggle for her to juggle everything but she takes her responsibilties seriously (both superhero and non-superhero). It was very uplifting to read about a superhero I might actually want to be like. Plus In Pursuit of Flight has this awesome time-travel, 1940s, girl-power vibe which reminded me of the Agent Carter TV series. Lots of fun. I liked the Avengers cross-over, The Enemy Within, slightly less but the ending was soo good.....

Deconnick went on to write another Captain Marvel series starting with Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More which is next on my list.

My word you have been adding books faster than you have been reading them and you have been getting through plenty of those too.

Have a lovely weekend, Heather.

Oh! Those Captain Marvels look like fun! I am betting Abby, Birdy and I would love those.

The True Game books were Tepper's first books, and it does sometimes show. They were published at a time where a take-off on D&D type gaming was really big. That said, they were still entertaining. The middle trilogy, about Mavin ManyShaped, used to be hard to find, but it looks like Amazon has plenty of used copies. And the final trilogy stars Jinian. I still have all nine books in the original paperback publication.

I loved The Language of the Night!

Is this your first time through the Tiffany Aching books? They are well worth completing.

Popping in to say Happy Sunday!

>137 souloftherose: Must...read...immediately.

>136 souloftherose: Beauty is the only novel of Tepper's that I can't reread and didn't keep a copy of. It was just too grim (and I do read some pretty dark things). Her later books can get preachy, but as I generally agree with her opinions I don't mind it. Grass is rightly believed to be one of her best books.

>138 PaulCranswick: Hopefully it's not turning into a habit Paul - I'm not planning any more acquisitions until I've read some of these but who knows.....

>139 Crazymamie:, >141 Thebookdiva: Sounds like Abby agrees with you Mamie :-D Hope you both enjoy them!

>140 ronincats: Now you've mentioned the D&D influence that makes sense, Roni. I've started the Jinian trilogy (I know the Mavin trilogy comes next by publication date but I read that it didn't really matter which order you read the latter two trilogies in) and am really enjoying this one too.

Nope, it's a reread of all the Tiffany Aching books with the exception of The Shepherd's Crown which I haven't read yet. I love Tiffany. And agree that The Language of the Night was so good. The next collection of her essays, Dancing at the Edge of the World is now on my wishlist.

>142 Sakerfalcon: I'm relieved to hear you say you found Beauty the darkest of her novels, Claire, because I also found it very dark and I'm not sure I could cope with anything darker.

I have also been reading children's/young adult books (unusually for me all by American authors):

Book #86: Charlotte's Web by E. B. White - 4 stars



I'm not 100% sure if this was a reread or whether I just knew the story by osmosis but this is a lovely tale of friendship, a cute piglet and a (non-scary) spider.

Book #93: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg - 4.1 stars



A story about a brother and sister who run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - I know I would have loved this if I'd read it as a child and it was still very enjoyable to read as an adult. I loved Claudia's logical sense and planning abilities.

Book #91: Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 3.9 stars
Book #91: The Grand Tour, or, The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 3.7 stars



For me these books are perfect comfort reading - they're epistolary, historical fantasy of manners with a dash of romance set in the Regency period. Sorcery and Cecilia was a reread for me and is the stronger of the two - it's made up of letters exchanged between our two female protagonists, Cecilia and Kate, as Kate experiences her first season in London and they uncover a magical plot. I'd been warned that The Grand Tour was less good and I agree, but with lower expectations it was still very enjoyable: Cecy and Kate are now travelling Europe together with their husbands so the book is made up of their diary entries rather than letters and there's another magical plot for them to unravel.

Weaknesses: as others have said, in the second book the diary format doesn't work as well as the letters in the first book and in both books the girls don't really have distinct voices. Which is strange in a way as I understand each person's viewpoint was written by a different author. But if you can overlook those things these are a lot of fun.

I would go straight on to read The Mislaid Magician, or, Ten Years After, which concludes the trilogy, but I don't have a copy (yet).

From the Mixed-up Files was one of my childhood favorites. I always thought it would be soooo excellent to live in the museum like they did.

>146 lauralkeet: And I loved the way Claudia very practically decided that it would be far easier to live in the museum than hiding out anywhere else. And picking the brother to accompany her who had the most pocket money saved up. I'm pretty sure if I'd read this as a child I would probably have started making (imaginary) plans to run away and hide in the Natural History Musuem in London - it would be so much fun!

Glad you enjoyed Charlotte's Web, Heather. I'm presently adventuring in Narnia!

I love Charlotte's Web. It's the first novel I ever read as a child and it's the first movie my nephew ever saw (when he was around 2yo). Such a wonderful story.

>144 souloftherose: >146 lauralkeet: Yes, what Laura said! I LOVED the Mixed-Up Files when I was a kid! And Charlotte, too!

Heather - You make me want to go to the shelves of my kids' books and reread Charlotte's Web and From the Files. Both favorites here.

The Avenger comics sound like fun.

Happy weekend, Heather. I see some wonderful readings here.

Hi Heather, I'm in London till the 13th. You mentioned a Forbidden Planet meet up? Unfortunately my weekends are all booked up. 9th may be possible, but I'm waiting for a friend to get back to me on timing.

happy Monday, Heather!

Howdy Heather. Lots of good reading going on. I also need to jump on the Captain Marvel bandwagon and read those.

From the mixed up files sounds great. I had dreams of running away to the science museum (which I thought had real sci-fi style food making machines....) so it would be right up my street.

Hi Heather, you haven't posted here in a while—here's hoping all is well for you. xox

Hi Heather! I'm not sure I ever read Charlotte's Web as a child either. It would be hard to top the audio read by the author. I don't think I ever read From the Mixed Up Files either. I'll have to do something about that one of these days!

Thank you to Nancy, Rachel, Amber, Beth, Barbara, Nina, Lynda, Roberta, Jo, Ilana and Carrie for your visits and keeping my thread warm for me!

I have been a bit absent from LT lately - work has been really difficult for a variety of reasons (and is sadly unlikely to improve for the next few months) and there have been a couple of other small RL bits (we had a broken computer for a week) which have meant I've been feeling like I'm running as fast as I can but not really managing to even stay in the same place.

On the positive side I have been learning to crochet thanks to a local beginners' course run by a lovely lady. My course is finished now but I have signed myself up for a couple of one day additional courses now that I am officially an intermediate crocheter! She's also going to start a monthly crochet club in September (with goody bags!) which I'm planning to sign up for. Learning to crochet also inspired me to get back to my knitting and finish the fiddly bits of a knitting project which had been on my needles for a while.

Items from my crochet course (granny square, mobile phone cover and rose brooch):



My finished knitting project - an old-fashioned tea cosy:

>148 lit_chick:, >149 The_Hibernator:, >150 scaifea:, >151 BLBera: & >159 cbl_tn: And lovely to see all the enthusiasm for the children's books! I've decided that each time I visit the library I'm going to borrow one older children's book as a mini summer project because I've been enjoying them so much. This time I borrowed T. H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose.

>152 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara.

>153 humouress: Nina, sadly I don't think I am going to be able to make it to London mid-week for a meetup due to work. And I already have plans on the 9th even if you are free :-( Sorry to miss you but hope you and the family have a lovely trip.

>154 Carmenere: Thanks Lynda :-)

>155 DianaNL: Thank you Diana. The weather was awful on Monday so it didn't feel very summery here (it was raining so much that it took me until lunchtime to dry off) but there has been a bit of a sun today and yesterday.

>156 luvamystery65: Captain Marvel is fun Roberta! I definitely recommend them.

>157 eclecticdodo: Sounds like you would enjoy it Jo!

>158 Smiler69: Thank you :-)

I love that tea cozy, Heather. Lovely colours and pattern you've put together. I know exactly what you mean about running and feeling like you've barely staying in place. I used to feel like that about my job all the time, but at least the tradeoff is I loved it... most of the time. Crochet and things to do with your hands sounds like a good way to relax let off some steam.

Boo to real life issues. But I'm glad you're enjoying the crochet. I find it is more transportable than knitting, and (depending on the pattern) easier to put down and pick up if you are interrupted. That reminds me, I have a number of projects on the go that I've not picked back up again for a while, time to dig one out.

Thanks for the pictures, Heather. I love crocheting but haven't done any for ages. You are inspiring me to pick up my hook again.

Good for you for picking up your knitting and moving right along in the crochet business, Heather! I admire the tea cozy too - a lot! I don't do either any longer and certainly won't start this summer. I used to wake up and think, "Oh boy! I can knit today!" That excitement has somehow disappeared.
Sorry that work continues to be problematic. Here's hoping for better days!

Hope RL behaves in the near future. And love the crochet projects!! Your thread is filled to the brim with books, books and more BOOKS! Whew! : )

I'm glad to see you back in the fiber arts! I noticed some updates from you recently on Ravelry. Good for you learning something new as well. I learned crochet as a child but don't remember a bit of it.

Hi Heather, I'm sorry it looks like I'll miss you this time. Actually, because we had to postpone our flight from last Thursday to Sunday (due to sick child - very inconsiderate) I missed a couple of meet ups including one with all the relatives in one place. As a result of which I now have to do them individually, and it looks like a lot of them will be happening on the 9th, it being our one free weekend day. It seems to be working out that I've invited myself to breakfast, lunch and dinner on the day {80o

I hope RL improves for you. I like your craft projects. As I've said before, I've never managed to knit more than about 20 lines and always picked up stitches (for fear of having dropped some). I have a few craft projects of my own I ought to get back to - they've been waiting for more than three years now. I'll get around to them once I've finished spring cleaning the house, which seems to go backwards rather than forwards, especially when I do the boys' room *sigh*

I think that is exactly what my spousal unit said about the Mieville!

work has been really difficult for a variety of reasons (and is sadly unlikely to improve for the next few months) and there have been a couple of other small RL bits (we had a broken computer for a week)

Ouch! That's all too familiar. :(

which have meant I've been feeling like I'm running as fast as I can but not really managing to even stay in the same place

Great minds: that's exactly the reference I used to use to explain how I felt!

Love that tea cozy, even though knitting isn't my thing. Love the colors! And the texture!

Sorry to hear about the issues at work, Heather, and coinciding with a broken computer at home ... gah!

Love your knit and crochet projects! My mother taught me to knit as a child, but I taught myself crochet a few Christmases ago when I made some decorative snowflakes with fine crochet thread. They were so lovely!

Hope you've had a relaxing weekend, Heather.

>162 Smiler69: Thanks Ilana. I'm quite proud of the tea cosy :-)

The last few days have been a bit better at work - when I'm not ridiculously busy I do like my job and the people I work with but circumstances are quite difficult at the moment.

>163 eclecticdodo: Perhaps it helps that crochet only has one stitch on the hook at a time? I am finding it a bit more difficult to keep track of the number of stitches but I think that's just because they look different to knitting stitches.

>164 BLBera: Happy hooking Beth!

>165 LizzieD: Thanks Peggy. I definitely go through 'seasons' of being more or less interested in my various hobbies - for whatever reason crochet is hitting the spot for me at the moment.

>166 Berly: Thanks Kim!

>167 lauralkeet: Hi Laura - it's been nice to get back into ravlery again.

>168 humouress: I hope you enjoy your stay in London. I did think of you at the end of last week with all the flooding - did you manage to stay dry?

>169 sibylline: Glad to know it's not just me!

>170 lyzard: It's a very good phrase but not a good feeling. I've been feeling a bit less frantic re work for the last few days though so hopefully the Alice feeling will pass.

>171 ronincats: Thanks Roni!

>172 lit_chick: I have lots of plans for crochet Christmas decorations Nancy!

>173 Smiler69: Thanks Ilana. I had a cold (just going now) so was pretty zonked but did go out with my Dad for a late Father's Day celebration.

And that (cold) is my excuse for no book comments - perhaps a blitz through them this weekend?

Because I am clearly not going to get caught up with last month's reviews:

#89 The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson 4 stars
#94 A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar 3.4 stars
#95 Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson 3.4 stars
#96 Jinian Footseer by Sheri S. Tepper 3.8 stars
#97 Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman 3.3 stars
#98 Indexing: Reflections by Seanan McGuire 3.3 stars
#99 The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North 4 stars
#100 Dervish Daughter by Sheri S. Tepper 3.5 stars
#101 Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue Deconnick 4 stars
#102 Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold 4.2 stars
#103 Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold 4 stars
#104 Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley 3 stars

The Bands of Mourning was just as much fun as the other Wax and Wayne Mistborn novels and I'm very much looking forward to the next book, The Lost Metal, although not sure when this is due to be released. There's also a new Mistborn novella which fills in some of the gaps between the original Mistborn trilogy and the Wax and Wayne books. It also seems to draw together the other fantasy series Sanderson has written which all take place in the Cosmere universe. As I still haven't read any of these I did find this novella a bit confusing at times and would probably only recommend this if you're up to date with all of Sanderson's Cosmere series.

A Stranger in Olondria is one of my Small Beer Press acquisitions. It's an unusual, slower paced fantasy novel with very lyrical writing - almost picaresque although I tend to think of picaresque novels as having a comic element and this doesn't. I think I probably wasn't quite in the right mood for this but Samatar's writing is beautiful and I would happily revisit the world she's created. She has another novel, The Winged Histories, set in the same world.

With Jinian Footseer and Dervish Daughter I returned to Tepper's world of the True Game, this time travelling with Jinian, who intrigued me when she featured in the final book of the Peter trilogy. I really enjoyed Jinian Footseer but didn't enjoy the middle volume, Dervish Daughter quite so much. Not sure whether this is a problem Tepper has with middle volumes of trilogies (the same thing happened with the Peter trilogy) or whether it's because I find Peter annoying and childish when seen from Jinian's point of view. I have the final volume, Jinian Star-Eye, lined up.

Then I finished off a couple of fuologies with Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman and Indexing: Reflections by Seanan McGuire. Both were enjoyable although not as good as the first book in the series.

Next I treated myself to the latest Claire North novel, The Sudden Appearance of Hope, which was just as intriguing and twisty as The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and Touch.

Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More kicks off another Captain Marvel series by Kelly Sue Deconnick and this time Captain Marvel is in space and meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the last series but this was still fun.

Then I reread Penric's Demon before diving in to the new Penric novella, Penric and the Shaman - both very good.

And my final book of the month was Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley which is a young adult novel set in Virginia in the late 1950s during the forced integration of the local high school. This won the inaugural Amnesty CILIP Honour as part of the Carnegie Medal and I was looking forward to reading this but whilst I thought the themes of the book were worthy (civil rights and LGBT issues) the book puts us inside the head of the two main characters in what's almost a stream of consciousness style and this didn't really work for me.

Wow, that's a lot of reading. You're wise to skip the reviews and move on!

>176 lauralkeet: It didn't feel like that much until I listed all the books out like that!

In other news, I'm reading and enjoying my first adult non-sff book for goodness knows how long: Mariana by Monica Dickens which was a very pleasant read in the garden earlier.

I loved The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, so will definitely look for the new North. Thanks for the comments, Heather. What a lot of reading you manage despite being busy at work. Impressive.

>178 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I hope you enjoy The Sudden Appearance of Hope. Touch is another of her books that I've also enjoyed a lot.

July reading:

#105 Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson 3.5 stars
#106 The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston 4.3 stars
#107 The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness 4.8 stars



Europe in Autumn is an unusual science-fictional espionage novel which I tried because this book and its sequel ended up on most of the UK sff awards in their year of publication. It's been described as Le Carre meets Mieville meets Kafka which I think is fairly accurate. I liked it but I was also a bit confused by it: the first 90% of the book feels like a series of unrelated spy stories (enjoyable but I couldn't work out if there was supposed to be a connection between them) and then suddenly there's a big and very weird reveal in the last 10% of the book. I did like the setting: a post-EU Europe where countries are fracturing into smaller and smaller polities and the focus being on Eastern Europe rather than Western Europe. I would like to see where Hutchinson takes his ideas in the sequel, Europe at Midnight.

The Children of Green Knowe was a reread because I finally got hold of copies of the next two books in the Green Knowe series. It's an old-fashioned children's story with the sort of timeslip elements that I only seem to find in mid-century British children's literature (e.g. Tom's Midnight Garden, Charlotte Sometimes, A Traveller in Time). Green Knowe is an old house where Toseland (Tolly) is sent to spend his school holidays with his grandmother which also seems to be inhabited by ghosts of the children who lived there in the 17th century. Really lovely and beautifully illustrated by the author's son, Peter Boston.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here I read because it was on this year's Carnegie Medal shortlist and the premise intrigued me: a fantasy novel about those who aren'tThe indie kids, huh? You've got them at your school, too. That group with the cool-geek haircuts and the charity shop clothes and names from the fifties. Nice enough, never mean, but always the ones who end up being the Chosen One when the vampires come calling or when the alien queen needs the Source of All Light or something. They're too cool to ever, ever do anything like go to prom or listen to music other than jazz while reading poetry. They've always got some story going on that they're heroes of. The rest of us just have to live here, hovering around the edges, left out of it all, for the most part.

So whilst the Chosen Ones save the world in the background of this story (and you get fun little chapter summaries explaining how the Chosen Ones are fighting the Big Bad) Mikey and his friends are just trying to survive all the usual stuff being a teenager throws at you - mental illness, friendship, love, family problems And although I wasn't sure that mix would work it really, really did. I read the whole thing in a day, cried and then realised I needed to read more Patrick Ness and reserved More Than This at the library. Definitely on my best of list for the year.

Okay, Heather, you just pushed The Rest of Us Just Live Here right onto my wishlist!

And I have The Rest of Us Just Live Here on my audio tbr, and had considered picking it up when I saw you list it on the TIOLI wiki, Heather, but considering how much you love it, I think I will upload it to my smartphone so I can listen to it sooner than later.

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend!

>180 ronincats: & >181 Smiler69: I hope you both enjoy The Rest of Us Just Live Here (although, Ilana, I saw you'd rated it and it looked like not so much?) I'm being a very idiosyncratic reader at the moment and that just hit the spot for some reason.

In other news, I feel a bit like work and other bits and bobs of life are taking over at the moment but of the books I am 'currently reading', I am particularly enjoying a recent collection of short stories by Ken Liu: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. Some have a touch of fantasy or science fiction and some don't but at just over 1/3 of the way through all have been very enjoyable. A siginificant number of the individual stories have previously won or been nominated for awards.

>182 souloftherose: Yes, I didn't make very much noise about it, but TRoUJLH wasn't quite the hit with me it was with you. Maybe it's because I'm nowhere near the fan of fantasy that you are, I found the combination didn't work so well for me. Still, glad I read it and found it enjoyable all the same.

Waving Hi!!!

I have just bought a Ken Liu fantasy novel, Heather, The Grace of Kings which also looks interesting.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Saturday, Heather!

Ken Liu, Ken Liu, that name sounds so familiar. I'll have to Google him and see what else he's done.
Have a lovely weekend, Heather!

ETA: No, as it turns out, I haven't read anything by him but some titles intrigue me. I'll see what my library has any of them.

Happy Sunday, Heather.

Hi Heather, I'm sorry to have missed you in London.

Some tempting books there - but having just got home with full suitcases and depleted credit cards, I'm feeling quite sated and somewhat bullet-proof.

Have a great week ahead!

Hi Heather.
I'm taking time to visit threads. For too long I didn't have the energy, but now there are some days when I can reach out. I am so impressed with all the books you read -- many of them very good!

In particular, I've added The Brontes at Haworth. This is a book that would really hold my interest.

All good wishes to you. Thank you ever so much for your visits to my thread, and your kind words. It means a lot to me.

>183 Smiler69: It was a strange combination - I'm glad you found it enjoyable overall (and that I managed to snag some shared read points on TIOLI as a result!)

>184 Berly:, >186 kidzdoc: & >188 Ameise1: Thanks for stopping by Kim, Darryl and Barbara!

>185 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. I've heard of but not read The Grace of Kings. Given how much I am enjoying this collection of short stories I'm sure I'll go on to try his novels. I like the way he incorporates Chinese culture and mythology into science fiction/fantasy/magical realism.

>187 Carmenere: Hi Lynda. I think his books are available in the US but not sure how common they are. The collection I'm reading was published fairly recently.

>189 humouress: Hi Nina. Sorry we didn't get a chance to catch up this time. I know that bullet-proof feeling from my own book splurges - trouble is the feeling doesn't last as long as the time it takes me to read the books I just bought!

>190 Whisper1: Linda, lovely to see you visiting and thank you for that beautiful image. I do think you'd enjoy The Brontes at Haworth - the photography of Haworth and the surrounding moors is stunning and really gives a feel for the place the sisters lived in.

Still not as much time for LT or reading as I would like but I finished a book today and I am going to try to write some brief comments:

Book #114: Mariana by Monica Dickens - 3.3 stars



I liked but didn't love this coming of age tale about a young girl growing up during the interwar period. Perhaps because parts of it reminded me of Antonia White's Frost in May quartet (although in fairness Mariana was published first) which I recently finished reading and it just felt too similar? Other parts did really capture my interest but overall I found it a little too long and slow-moving.

>192 souloftherose: I was bought that book as a present a couple of years ago and it is on the shelves along side the same title as I already had it. Haven't read either of them yet.

Have a glorious weekend, Heather.

Hi Heather - I LOVED The Children of Green Knowe. I have to put it on my Scout list.

The Ness also sounds good, as do the Liu stories.

What a lot of great reading you're doing this year.

>193 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

>194 BLBera: The Children of Green Knowe is lovely Beth. My excuse for buying and keeping a collection of children's books is that they're for my nephews and godchildren to borrow and read when they're old enough. But really they're for me :-)

I am officially not keeping up with commenting on what I'm reading so another brief list (I have some time for LT because I only had to work half of my non-working day this week!)

#108 Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Stay Fly by Kelly Sue Deconnick 3.4 stars
#113 Captain Marvel Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis by Kelly Sue Deconnick 3.3 stars
#117 Lumberjanes Vol 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson and Shannon Watters 3.5 stars
#119 Ms. Marvel Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson 4 stars

Lots of graphic novels because I am just soo tired at the moment my brain needs something easy to relax with. The two Captain Marvel comics finish the second Kelly Sue Deconnick series. Both were enjoyable but there was one comic in each collection which fell a bit flat - I think these were part of some wider Marvel Universe storyline that I'm not following - otherwise I really enjoyed further adventures of Captain Marvel and her cat in space (the cat gets a starring role in Stay Fly).

Then I caught up with the Lumberjanes series and decided to start rereading the Ms Marvel series by G. Willow Wilson. Just because.

#109 Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace 4.2 stars #
#110 Some of the Best from Tor.com 2015 (anthology) 3.5 stars
#111 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 4.4 stars



Archivist Wasp is an unusual fantasy novel that's quite hard to categorise. I would say it's a young adult post-apocalyptic fantasy but that description immediately brings to mind something like The Hunger Games and AW has a very different feel. The protagonist is a young woman who has the responsibility for capturing and tracking ghosts - she's one of a long line of such archivists and traditionally has to fight off other contenders for her role on an annual basis (again, sounds like The Hunger Games but it's really not like that). The story starts after our protagonist, Wasp, has narrowly fought off another contender and this time, refused to kill her opponent after beating her. Wasp is wounded both physically and emotionally - she's incredibly weary of the world she lives in and the role she's forced to play. Just as she is going through the motions of getting back to her role and capturing another ghost one of the ghosts speaks to her which she's never come across before. As Wasp decides to try to help the ghost rather than capture it she begins to question her character, her world and her role. It's a coming of age story which isn't exactly atypical for a young adult novel but it's well done and done in a really fresh way that avoids most of the tropes found in other young adult novels.

Some of the Best from Tor.com 2015 is their annual collection of the best short fiction published on their website. Overall I didn't enjoy this as much as their 2014 collection (there were a few stories I started and then gave up on without finishing) but memorable stories for me this year were:

Waters of Versailles by Kelly Robson - nominated for the Nebula - historical fantasy set in Versailles during the time Louis XV.
The Language of Knives by Haralambi Markov - very gruesome but compelling story of the bond between a child and a parent as they prepare the body of a relative after death.
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman T. Malik - incorporates Pakistani myths and heritage into modern day American life - nominated for several awards.
Damage by David D. Levine - a sentient spaceship with PTSD - Nebula nominee.
Schrödinger's Gun by Ray Wood - quantum noir.

The Name of the Wind - I think this is one of those series which I may regret starting because it's unfinished and another of those epic fantasy series where the author is taking a long time to write each book. But I started, and although at first I wondered what all the fuss was about, this really grew on me as I was reading it and I am going to download the second book this week (so far there are two books and a novella published with a third (and final?) book to be published). But with a first person narrator (who I strongly suspect of being unreliable) I think this is a series I would be quite happy rereading to refresh myself whenever Mr Rothfuss does manage to finish the third book.

#112 Is He Popenjoy? by Anthony Trollope 2.8 stars
#115 The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively 4 stars
#116 Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England by Roy and Lesley Adkins 3.2 stars
#118 The Chimneys of Green Knowe (aka Treasure of Green Knowe) by Lucy M. Boston 4.3 stars



Is He Popenjoy? was a bit of a disappointment. It's one of Trollope's later novels and includes class issues (her grandfathers were in trade!), adultery and alleged illegitimacy. But the characters felt like pale copies of the characters in the Barsetshire or Palliser series. There's the bad girl who's not as interesting or as exciting as Lizzie Eustace. There's the slightly brash clergyman who's not as good at upsetting people as Archdeacon Grantly. There's the 'good' girl who is quite bland compared to someone like Mary Thorne. And what's particularly telling is that I can remember the names of the characters from other books I've just mentioned even though I read the books months if not years ago. I am already struggling to remember the names of the characters from Popenjoy. And the plot: we never find out if he was Popenjoy or not.

Having said that, even though I was aware of all of those issues I still kept reading fairly happily. Probably one for Trollope enthusiasts only.

And now I'll just wait for Liz to point out all the complexities and social commentary that I missed.... :-)

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe was a reread of a book I read as a child but never had my own copy of. It's a children's ghost story but not a scary one as 1o year old James finds the ghost more annoying than scary as James ends up taking the blame for the ghost's misdemeanours. Reminds me of DWJ books - this won the Carnegie Medal and Lively also went on to win the Booker Prize with Moon Tiger.

Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England is a social history covering the 1790s and early 1800s (broadly life in England during the Napoleonic Wars). It was interesting but occasionally a bit dry. I much preferred Jenny Uglow's In These Times which covers the same period.

The Chimneys of Green Knowe (aka Treasure of Green Knowe) is a sequel to The Children of Green Knowe. Tolly returns to Green Knowe for his spring holidays and uncovers another part of the history of the house - this time the late eighteenth century and life of Susan, a blind girl, and Jacob, a former slave her father rescues and brings home to be her companion.

I have the next book in the series, The River of Green Knowe, on my bedside table but was a bit distraught on reading the back to see that this has completely different characters in it. What happened to Tolly and his grandmother?

Ha! I have but have refused to read The Name of the Wind until the series is finished. And I thought Archivist Wasp was very interesting and original as well.

You may count me as a great fan of *Wind* but a little less enamored of whatever the second was called....oh yeah - Wise Man's Fear. I liked it, mind you, but not as much.

I'm also sitting on The Name of the Wind.
I really liked The Children of Green Knowe, I have a feeling that I've seen the film and really liked that as well. I read a blog post recently about someone's visit to the home of Greene Knowe, probably a children's writer.
http://www.greenknowe.co.uk/history.html

There's the bad girl who's not as interesting or as exciting as Lizzie Eustace

But could anyone possibly be as wicked as Lizzie Eustace? :-) Thanks for the warning, though. I don't have this one, but I have a few others on the Kindle for when the library books run out *hysterical laugh*

It's good that you're still reading even if you don't feel like commenting much.

Just catching up here! Hope you have a great weekend. : )

Oh, you've done some fabulous readings recently. Happy Sunday, Heather.

>198 ronincats: & >200 avatiakh: I think your approaches to the Rothfuss saga are very sensible, but I am enjoying The Wise Man's Fear so much that I'm quite happy I dived in.

>199 LizzieD: I think I'm enjoying TWMF a little more than TNoTW but I'm only half way through. I also borrowed The Slow Regard of Silent Things from the library to start after that.

>200 avatiakh: I have heard about the Green Knowe house but never got organised enough to arrange a visit. Was it Dovegreyreader's blog post you were thinking of (dovegreyreader.typepad.com/dovegreyreader_scribbles/2014/06/the-manor-at-hemingford-grey.html). Not a very recent blog post but lots of photos. I should also watch the film but I might leave it a little while so I'm not upset that they've changed things from the book (which they always have).

>201 susanj67: 'But could anyone possibly be as wicked as Lizzie Eustace? :-)'

Good point :-) So far in my random Trollope reads (i.e. not part of the Liz led tutored/group reads) I've had one excellent novel (The American Senator), one less good but still enjoyable (The Three Clerks) and then this one which was a bit disappointing. However, a friend and fellow Trollope enthusiast passed the book on to me and did warn me that it wasn't one of his best.

>202 Berly: & >203 Ameise1: Thanks :-)

Book #120: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu - 5 stars



Ken Liu is an American-Chinese author who's reasonably well-known in the sff world for winning lots of awards for his short fiction, translating last year's Hugo winner The Three Body Problem from Chinese and recently releasing his first novel, The Grace of Kings. I hadn't read any of his works before so was excited to hear he was publishing a collection of short fiction and even more excited when it came up as a kindle offer.

I loved every story in this collection - Liu's writing is lyrical and I thought the range of stories was really good. Science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, magical realism - there's a bit of everything and I really liked the Asian/Chinese flavour that infused the collection. It certainly made me realise how little I know about China or Chinese history and inspired me to borrow a tome on Chinese history that I'd been eyeing at the local library for a while (China: A History by John Keay).

>205 souloftherose: Oh good, this is heartening to hear, Heather. I just started The Paper Menagerie on Mark's recommendation.

And I just put it on reserve at the library on Mark's warbling!

I really like The Name of the Wind. I have the novella and The Wise Man's Fear but I need to re-read the first book before I can carry on, since it's been a while. It is quite epic and heading towards doorstopper-ness so I've been putting it off; but if there's (at least) another one to come, I might do as Roni and Kerry are doing and wait a bit (!) longer.

>205 souloftherose: I have cast a few glances at that one in the bookstore recently and don't expect I will leave it on the shelves there much longer having had the benefit of your positive review, Heather.

Have a lovely weekend.

>196 souloftherose: Every time I read a review here of Name of the Wind I think, "Oh yes, I read that and liked it a lot," only to then be confused by the plot description. It turns out I cannot keep this book straight with The Shadow of the Wind which is of course a completely different book! Hopefully your excellent review has finally set my brain straight once and for all.

>206 jnwelch:, >207 drneutron: & >209 PaulCranswick: Hope you all enjoy The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories!

>208 humouress: Having just read the first two books back to back I completely agree about the doorstopper-ness but do think it's worth reading them close together as they are one continuous story. I think the third book might be coming out next year so may not hurt to wait until you can read through the whole thing.

>210 rosalita: Ha! I do that with books with similar names too...

I have some reviews to write up but I feel like I have been fighting off a bit of a cold this weekend so with my fuzzy brain I am just going to list some recent acquisitions:

Paper books (the library had a sale, I ordered some online and I went to Oxfam):

The Just City by Jo Walton
The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped by Sheri S. Tepper
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Lonesome Dove by Larry McNurty

Kindle (a discount and a gift card):

Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

Hi Heather - The Liu books sounds great.

Nice book haul, too.

>211 souloftherose: Nice haul! Rendezvous with Rama was the first science fiction book I ever read, and I loved it then (I think I was in high school) and I loved it last year when I re-read it. Just don't be tempted into reading any of the sequels; they get progressively worse and worse.

Hi Heather, hope you're having a nice and relaxing weekend. Congrats on your latest book haul. I'm a big fan of Mary Wesley, have you read anything by her before? Have had Flowers for Algernon for a long time and not sure what it'll take for me to pick it up. Probably a shared read on TIOLI?! Speaking of which, I just finished The Tenant of Wildfell Hall last night, which selection I owe entirely to you and TIOLI. I hope you end up loving Lonesome Dove at least half as much as I did. It ranks among my all-time favourites.

Hi, Heather! Just wanted to let you know that while cleaning up I unearthed those two Roger Sheringham books by Anthony Berkeley I promised to send you {*cough, cough* ago---I'll drop the into the mail this week, I promise! I hope you enjoy them. :)

(Although come to think of it, maybe 'enjoy' isn't quite the right word. I hope you find them interesting!)

I've had a friend who's been trying to get me to read Name of the Wind. I should really try it some time.

>216 The_Hibernator: You really should, Rachel.

>212 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

>213 rosalita: Thanks for the tip about the Rama series Julia. It sounds a bit like the Dune series in that respect. The completist in me does struggle not to carry on with a series if I've enjoyed the first book but I will try to bear in mind your warning :-)

>214 Smiler69: I haven't read anything by Mary Wesley before, Ilana, but I remember you read quite a few of her books at one point and really liked them and I have been meaning to try her books since then. I have both The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Lonesome Dove on my list for August but I don't seem to be getting that much reading done this month so not sure if I will manage to get to either of them. LD in particular is quite a chunkster.

>215 lyzard: Thank you Liz!

>216 The_Hibernator:, >217 humouress: What Nina said :-) I'm really glad I started this trilogy.

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I don't seem to have been getting that much reading done this month (4 books finished so far, although one was nearly 1,000 pages long) as I have been distracted by the Olympics coverage and teaching myself a new crochet technique called overlay crochet. Here are a couple of pictures of a crochet square I spent most of yesterday working on which I'm feeling particularly proud of (not quite finished - it will eventually become a square rather than a circle):



I was just going to use this pattern to practice the technique as I was planning on joining in my first Crochet Along (CAL) to make this Peacock Tail Bag by the same designer using a similar technique.



But I'm enjoying the square so much that I may go on to make a set (there are nine different designs - you can see other people's squares on ravelry here) and combine to make a cushion cover afterwards. For the square, I have just been practicing using some spare yarn and I think the colours work fairly well but if I'm going to make a cushion I may tweak the colours slightly as I'm not sure about the turquoise/teal combination. Also, the yarns I'm using for the square are different materials (some acrylic, one wool and one cotton) and I'm not sure if mixing the yarn type will backfire at some point.

About 8 book reviews behind so some catching up to do:

Book #121: Ms. Marvel Vol 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson - 4 stars
Book #122: Ms. Marvel Vol 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson - 4 stars
Book #122: Ms. Marvel Vol 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson - 4.3 stars



A reread of the Vol 2 and Vol 3 in preparation for reading Vol 4 for the first time - I think I enjoyed these even more on a reread and Volume 4: Last Days was the best of the series so far and drew several plotlines together in a very satisfying way including a Captain Marvel guest appearance - squee! and Kamala finding out that her Mum knew all along that she was Ms Marvel.

Last couple of books read in July:

Book #123: Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart - 3 stars



This is the final book in Hughart's Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox - a humourous, historical fantasy series set in Ancient China. I read and loved the first book, Bridge of Birds back in 2012 but was then disappointed with the second book, The Story of the Stone, and left the third book languishing on my shelves for several years. With such a large gap it's difficult for me to compare the final book with the earlier ones - I thought Eight Skilled Gentlemen was ok but if it had been the first book in the series I wouldn't have picked up the others. I found the mystery element too complicated to follow and there was something I found slightly disturbing about the underlying humour (I remember the latter was what put me off The Story of the Stone).

Book #124: Way Down Dark by James Smythe - 2 stars



Perhaps I've burnt out on YA dystopian trilogies but I really struggled with this story about life on a generation ship called Australia. I couldn't generate much interest in the main characters or what was happening to them and found all the violence and fighting decreased rather than increased my interest. Not going to continue with the rest of this series.

As you probably know, Heather, I love the Ms. Marvel series. The new one, Ms. Marvel Vol. 5, is another great entry.

>221 jnwelch: Good to hear Joe, I started reading Super Famous last night and am enjoying it so far.

Please come and join me on my new thread!