rabbitprincess' 2016 challenge: "The one, the only, and the best" - Part 4

Welcome to Part 4 of my David Morrissey category challenge! Time for a mini thread to close out the year.

Category listing:

Doctor Who – SFF
The Other Boleyn Girl – History
Thorne – Mystery
The Hollow Crown – Plays + graphic novels + short stories + other miscellaneous books
Blackpool – Audiobooks
Cause célèbre – French
Sense and Sensibility – Rereads
Our Mutual Friend – Group reads + Geo CAT + RandomCAT
The Deal – Non-fiction + Dewey CAT
South Riding – General fiction
The Walking Dead - Abandoned / unfinished / partly read books

Doctor Who - Science Fiction and Fantasy



Doctor Who was my first exposure to David's work. He starred as the mysterious title character of the Christmas special “The Next Doctor” alongside then-Doctor David Tennant. To nobody's surprise, this is my favourite Who episode. In interviews DM has stated that he drew inspiration from the earlier Doctors for his role: specifically Hartnell, Troughton, and (Tom) Baker.

1. Doctor Who: City of Death, by David Agnew (audio, TV soundtrack)
2. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams (full-cast audio dramatization)
3. Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, by Terrance Dicks
4. Fear of the Dark, by Trevor Baxendale
5. The Sands of Time, by Justin Richards
6. Festival of Death, by Jonathan Morris
7. Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs, by Peter Davison
8. Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars, by Terrance Dicks (audio, narrated by Tom Baker)

The Other Boleyn Girl - History



Let us debate the historical value of this movie, based on the Philippa Gregory book, but we can all agree that David has a bit of a Richard III vibe with that hair. Bwahaha. And the FACE in this picture! I’m on the floor.

(Also, in a nod to my 2014 challenge, this movie features Benedict…)

1. Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses, by Sarah Gristwood
2. A Shameful Murder, by Cora Harrison
3. Frenchman's Creek, by Daphne du Maurier
4. 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion, by Morgan Llywelyn
5. World War Women: Canadian Women and Total War, by Stacey Joanne Barker
6. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, by Kate Summerscale
7. Fatal Passage: The Untold Story of John Rae, the Arctic Adventurer Who Discovered the Fate of Franklin, by Ken McGoogan
8. Under Enemy Colors, by S. Thomas Russell
9. A Burial at Sea, by Charles Finch
10. Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy and the End of the Edwardian Age, by Greg King and Penny Wilson
11. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson
12. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick
13. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing
14. Murder on the Celtic, by Conrad Allen
15. Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty, by Dan Jones
16. A Battle Won, by S. Thomas Russell
17. Murder on the Oceanic, by Conrad Allen
18. Take, Burn or Destroy, by S. Thomas Russell
19. Dead Ground in Between, by Maureen Jennings
20. Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn
21. A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death that Changed the British Monarchy, by Helen Rappaport
22. Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo
23. A Folly of Princes, by Nigel Tranter

Thorne - Mystery



David produced and starred in adaptations of two Mark Billingham novels: Scaredycat and Sleepyhead. Now that I've read both books, I should watch the adaptations.

Sub-challenge: Read a Tom Thorne book (done 3 Feb), watch the adaptations

1. The Dark Winter, by David Mark
2. Death of an Airman, by Christopher St. John Sprigg
3. Meltwater, by Michael Ridpath
4. The Black Book, by Ian Rankin
5. Scaredy Cat, by Mark Billingham
6. A Man Lay Dead, by Ngaio Marsh
7. The Blackheath Poisonings, by Julian Symons
8. Sea of Stone, by Michael Ridpath
9. The Case of the Vagabond Virgin, by Erle Stanley Gardner
10. A Little More Free, by John McFetridge
11. Last Seen Wearing..., by Hillary Waugh
12. God Save the Mark, by Donald E. Westlake
13. Gideon's Fire, by J.J. Marric
14. 1222, by Anne Holt (translated by Marlaine Delargy)
15. McGarr and the Politician's Wife, by Bartholomew Gill
16. The End of the Wasp Season, by Denise Mina
17. Dead Men and Broken Hearts, by Craig Russell
18. Black and Blue, by Ian Rankin
19. One or the Other: An Eddie Dougherty Mystery, by John McFetridge
20. The Troubled Man, by Henning Mankell (translated by Laurie Thompson)
21. The Falls, by Ian Rankin
22. Gideon's Art, by J.J. Marric
23. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, by Alan Bradley
24. Resurrection Men, by Ian Rankin
25. The Blood Strand, by Chris Ould
26. Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina
27. The Santa Klaus Murder, by Mavis Doriel Hay
28. Murder of a Lady, by Anthony Wynne
29. The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny
30. The Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny
31. The Red Road, by Denise Mina

The Hollow Crown - Plays, short stories, essays, graphic novels, other miscellaneous books



David appears in an Every British Actor Ever(tm) cast of Richard II, the first of the four plays presented in The Hollow Crown. Hail, Earl of Northumberland!

Sub-challenge: read a Hollow Crown play (either first or second set) -- completed 22 March

Plays

1. Henry IV Part I, by William Shakespeare
2. The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
3. The Guid-Sisters, by Michel Tremblay
4. Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh

The rest

1. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson
2. Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries, ed. Martin Edwards
3. Glyph: A Visual Exploration of Punctuation Marks and Other Typographic Symbols, by Adriana Caneva and Shiro Nishimoto
4. My Discovery of England, by Stephen Leacock
5. The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris, by Steve Martin
6. Heart and Brain: An Awkward Yeti Collection, by The Awkward Yeti
7. A Good Hanging and Other Stories, by Ian Rankin
8. Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh
9. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
10. Adulthood is a Myth, by Sarah Andersen
11. Photograph, by Ringo Starr
12. Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue, by Blll Watterson
13. Banting as an Artist, by A.Y. Jackson
14. Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, by Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy
15. Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie, by Anne Martinetti
16. Bit Rot, by Douglas Coupland
17. Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, by Sara Pascoe
18. Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, by Mara Wilson
19. Dear Leader, by Damian Rogers

Blackpool - Audiobooks



David stars as casino owner Ripley Holden who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation led by David Tennant (that GUY again!!) as DI Carlisle. Everyone periodically bursts into song, and it’s a hoot. The songs are all “existing” (i.e. they were not written specifically for the show, but are already popular songs) and it’s a great soundtrack.

Example: You Can Get it If You Really Want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDL0N4842MU

1. Doctor Who: City of Death, by David Agnew (TV soundtrack, with linking narration by Lalla Ward)
2. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams (full-cast audio dramatization)
3. Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars, by Terrance Dicks (narrated by Tom Baker)
4. Sad Cypress, by Agatha Christie (narrated by David Suchet)

Cause célèbre - Livres en français



Um, the title is French??? That’s the only connection I got. Also, super obscure! This is from the 80s. Helen Mirren and David Suchet also star in this adaptation of Terrence Rattigan’s play, in which David (Morrissey) plays the character of George Bowman.

1. Mon ami Maigret, by Georges Simenon
2. L'anglais n'est pas une langue magique, by Jacques Poulin

Sense and Sensibility - Rereads



I watch this one a lot. A LOT. I am probably committing Austen heresy by expressing a preference for David as Colonel Brandon, but I regret nothing.

As further evidence, I offer this Pinterest pin: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/467530005038710025/

1. Tales of the Greek Heroes, by Roger Lancelyn Green
2. Last Chance to See..., by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
3. The Best of James Herriot, by James Herriot
4. The Tempest, by William Shakespeare
5. No Great Mischief, by Alistair MacLeod
6. Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist, by Dorothy Gilman
7. McNally's Risk, by Lawrence Sanders
8. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
9. Black Bird, by Michel Basilières
10. Innocent Graves, by Peter Robinson

Our Mutual Friend - Group Reads, RandomCAT and GeoCAT



DM plays Bradley Headstone and garners way more sympathy than the book character probably deserves, from what I hear... well no kidding!

Group Reads
January:
February: Sad Cypress, by Agatha Christie (BAC)
March: Rogue Male, by Geoffrey Household
April: The Cornish Trilogy, by Robertson Davies (continues in May and June)
May: The Guid-Sisters, by Michel Tremblay (CAC)
June: The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad (BAC); The Orenda, by Joseph Boyden (CAC)
July: The Invasion of Canada, by Pierre Berton (CAC)
August: Oh Canada Oh Quebec, by Mordecai Richler (CAC); Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
September: The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett (shared with japaul22)
October:
November: Declarations of War, by Len Deighton (BAC)
December: Gallows View, by Peter Robinson (BAC)

RandomCAT
January: (Embrace Your Uniqueness) Doctor Who: City of Death, by David Agnew (audio dramatization) (shared with 1 other user)
February: (It Takes Two) The Wood Beyond, by Reginald Hill (a Dalziel and Pascoe mystery)
March: (Celebration) Trick or Treachery, by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain (murder at a Halloween party)
April: (Earth Day) Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth, by Terrance Dicks
May: (Colour Your World) All the Colours of the Town, by Liam McIlvanney
June: (I Do, I Do!) The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife, by Erle Stanley Gardner
July: (Good times) The Sands of Time, by Justin Richards
August: (Camping) The Viking Symbol Mystery, by Franklin W. Dixon
September: (Translation and Translators) The Fire Engine that Disappeared, by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (translated from Swedish)
October: (What Scares You?) Festival of Death, by Jonathan Morris
November: (Celebrating NaNoWriMo) The Crime on Cote des Neiges, by David Montrose
December: (Our Gifts) Happy Alchemy, by Robertson Davies

GeoCAT
January:
February:
March: Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd
April: Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell
May: The Guid-Sisters, by Michel Tremblay
June: No Highway, by Nevil Shute
July:
August: Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
September: Sharpe's Tiger, by Bernard Cornwell
October: South by Java Head, by Alistair MacLean
November: Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist, by Dorothy Gilman
December: We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen

The Deal - Non-fiction and DeweyCAT



David plays Scottish MP and eventual UK PM Gordon Brown in this fact-based drama. In addition to his excellent performance (and Michael Sheen’s smarmy Tony Blair), a lot of the fun comes from the old skool technology. FAX MACHINES and mobile phones the size of bricks! Hahaha.

Non-fiction
1. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, by Henry Marsh
2. Holy Shit: A Brief History of Swearing, by Melissa Mohr
3. Editing Canadian English (3rd edition), by the Editors' Association of Canada
4. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande
5. Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot, by Mark Vanhoenacker
6. Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, by Keith Houston
7. A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, by Kathryn Harkup
8. Adulting, by Kelly Williams Brown
9. Works Well with Others, by Ross McCammon
10. The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English, by Roy Peter Clark
11. The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue, by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman
12. How to Not Write Bad, by Ben Yagoda
13. The Violinist's Thumb, by Sam Kean
14. Coastlines: The Story of Our Shore, by Patrick Barkham
15. Naked Money: A Revealing Look at What It Is and Why It Matters, by Charles Wheelan
16. Fatal Flaws: How a Misfolded Protein Baffled Scientists and Changed How We Look at the Brain, by Jay Ingram
17. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, by Mary Roach
18. The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery, by D.T. Max
19. Brace for Impact: Air Crashes and Aviation Safety, by Peter Pigott
20. Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation, by David Crystal
21. The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head Is Really Up To, by Dean Burnett
22. The Bonjour Effect: The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed, by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau
23. Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David

DeweyCAT

Some months I will be playing the "fiction equivalent" card instead of reading a non-fiction work, because I am using only books I own.

January: 000s: The Marsh Madness, by Victoria Abbott (fiction equivalent = series about a collector of rare books)
February: 100s: Never Saw it Coming, by Linwood Barclay (fiction equivalent = protagonist is a psychic)
March: 200s: Lamb: The Gospel of Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore (fiction equivalent = Christianity)
April: 300 - 354: The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli
May: 355 - 399: Scotland Yard, by Sir Harold Scott
June: 400s: For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection, by David Marsh
July: 500s: Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
August: 600s: No Highway, by Nevil Shute (fiction equivalent = aviation)
September: 700s: The Game: A Thoughtful and Provocative Look at a Life in Hockey, by Ken Dryden
October: 800s: Henry IV Part I, by William Shakespeare
November: 900 - 939: Nation Maker, by Richard Gwyn
December: 940 - 999: The Great Fire of London, by Samuel Pepys (Penguin Little Black Classics series)

South Riding - General fiction



This is an excellent book by Winifred Holtby, and David is compelling as Robert Carne, the male lead of the story. And Anna Maxwell Martin makes an excellent Sarah Burton.

1. Red Arctic, by Richard Rohmer
2. The Friends of Eddie Coyle, by George V. Higgins
3. David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
4. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
5. Get Carter, by Ted Lewis
6. Runaway, by Peter May
7. The Blue Ice, by Hammond Innes
8. The Damned Utd, by David Peace
9. A Demon in My View, by Ruth Rendell
10. End of Watch, by Stephen King
11. HMS Ulysses, by Alistair MacLean
12. The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing
13. Twenty-Six, by Leo McKay Jr.
14. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston
15. Each Man's Son, by Hugh MacLennan
16. The Gospel of Loki, by Joanne M. Harris
17. Poor Caroline, by Winifred Holtby
18. Poles Apart, by Terry Fallis
19. Wenjack, by Joseph Boyden
20. Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood

The Walking Dead - Abandoned / unfinished / partly read books



I seem to be abandoning books with a vengeance this year, so let's have a separate category for them.

1. Sharpe's Tiger, by Bernard Cornwell
2. Trick or Treachery, by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
3. A Small Death in the Great Glen, by A.D. Scott
4. The Night Manager, by John le Carré
5. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore
6. Come Quick, Danger: A History of Marine Radio in Canada, by Stephan Dubreuil
7. Gallows View, by Peter Robinson
8. Down to the Sea in Ships, by Horatio Clare
9. Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
10. The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern
11. Coffin Road, by Peter May
12. Rogue Heroes, by Ben Macintyre
13. The Crime on Cote des Neiges, by David Montrose
14. King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England, by Marc Morris
15. Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd

Dammit! I miscounted the number of intro posts I would need. Ah well, not about to waste this photo! It's a screenshot from a YouTube video where DM talks about Macbeth (in which he plays a very beardy Macbeth).

As predicted, last weekend's train ride provided a solid basis for my finishing the book on Sunday. And this meant I could leave the big fat omnibus at my parents' place and free up shelf space here!

The Lyre of Orpheus, by Robertson Davies
Category: Our Mutual Friend (as part of the Cornish Trilogy group read)
Source: gift
Rating: 4.5/5 (for this installment)
Review: full review pending

The lyre of Orpheus is said to open the gates of the underworld, at least according to E.T.A. Hoffmann. The composer plays a key (har?) role in this book, the third and final volume of the Cornish trilogy. The Cornish Foundation is planning to make a big splash with its first major patronage project: sponsoring a PhD student of music as she completes the music for an unfinished opera by Hoffmann ("Arthur of Britain, the Magnanimous Cuckold") and works with the Stratford Festival to mount a production of the opera as her doctoral thesis. Along the way we follow Simon's quest to complete his biography of Francis Cornish, as well as the lives of Arthur and Maria and their families. And strangely enough, life starts imitating art as well.

This book wrapped up the whole trilogy very nicely. Structurally, it continues the idea of ending each chapter with an otherworldly character commenting on the action that has just unfolded. In this case, it's Hoffmann, coming to us from Limbo, where he has been cooling his heels because of that unfinished opera. He hopes that the composer will be able to complete the opera and release his spirit. In the meantime, he provides amusing 19th-century commentary on the 20th-century people bringing his work to life. I found the idea of artists with unfinished business hanging around in Limbo to be an interesting one. Another thought occurred to me: what happens to, say, authors with series that are continued after their deaths (e.g. Robert Ludlum, Robert B. Parker, Mickey Spillane, Lawrence Sanders)? Do they get dragged back to Limbo because of someone resurrecting their work? That would not be much fun for them, and would be painful to witness in the case of Ludlum.

And as a former theatre volunteer, I loved the story of the opera being put together. The nuttiness backstage, the learning of lines, the personality clashes between the various actors and the director and the production crew... lots of memories surged forth with this storyline.

The only thing I wasn't entirely comfortable with was the scenes involving the music professor supervising the PhD student where the professor (a woman) seduces the student (also a woman). It is in the context of the student, who is a bit feral and unhygienic, being given a proper bath for the first time in a very long time. The power dynamic of student and teacher made the scene particularly awkward (I am already uncomfortable with erotic scenes in novels to begin with). That being said, it is much less cringe-worthy than some of the scenes at the end of The Rebel Angels, which made me VERY glad I hadn't finished reading that book as a teenager.

Overall, if you've made it this far through the Cornish trilogy, you may wish to read this one to see how everything wraps up.

Ah, shiny new thread! So happy to revisit the pictures.

Happy new thread!

Onward, ho! A new thread we go!

Boy, RL interferes with my keeping up with LT and I've missed one whole thread and you're on a new one. Busy, busy, busy!

Happy new thread! I'm already wondering who will be the subject of next year's challenge :)

Happy new thread! And I too am curious about next year's star...

Happy new thread! Isn't it strange how we start thinking about next year as soon as September arrives?

Yea, Happy New Thread! And more reasons for DM pics!

>14 MissWatson: Indeed! I enjoy revisiting them too.

>15 VictoriaPL: Thanks, Victoria!

>16 andreablythe: Onward to adventure! :D

>17 mamzel: Darn that RL! I hope it is a good interference though, and that it is treating you well. I probably could have squeaked by with three threads, but things do pick up a bit in the fall so I thought I might as well have another one.

>18 Jackie_K:, >19 leslie.98: Haha! Surprisingly, my theme will NOT feature a specific person next year.

>20 VivienneR: Yes! I was thinking about that the other day, because I think Eva put up the new group around Labour Day weekend last year. The group seemed to be clamouring for the new group sooner at that time ;)

>21 mstrust: Yay! Always reasons for DM pics!

****

Today in reading I hope to finish my second French book for the year and shuffle the library stacks around. I worked from home so I really need to be more diligent about carving out reading time, in the absence of a bus commute to provide it for me. Later on I hope to put together a "summary review" of the Cornish trilogy as a whole.

Happy New Thread! It's nice to revisit pics and books read on anew thread.

>23 dudes22: Thanks! It is nice to reboot the thread too.

****

I've been feeling very distracted this week and haven't been reading or reviewing up to my usual standards. But I finally managed to persevere and bring my reviews up to date.

The Cornish Trilogy, by Robertson Davies
Category: Our Mutual Friend - Group Reads
Source: gift
Rating: 4.5/5 (for the trilogy as a whole)
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/70475019

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this trilogy. Many thanks to @mathgirl40 for organizing the group read!

L'anglais n'est pas une langue magique, by Jacques Poulin
Category: Cause célèbre
Source: borrowed from a friend
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/128116066

Mostly enjoyed this, especially for the ease with which I was able to read it (I read almost half of it in a single day, which is unusual for novels in French), but there were a couple of weird bits that had me knocking off half a star.

Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
Category: The Walking Dead
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/133588466

I ended up skimming this book toward the end. The idea behind the book is a good one, but the tone came across as hectoring at times and some of the argumentation felt thin. It did give me a lot to think about, though.

The Great Fire of London, by Samuel Pepys
Category: The Deal - DeweyCAT - December
Source: Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/121627536

The bit about the fire is more interesting than the bit about the plague, which seemed to be added in to boost the page count of this Little Black Classics book. Good for a couple of days' worth of reading in bits and pieces.

I enjoyed your review of The Lyre of Orpheus. About your spoiler comment:
I find student-teacher relationships awkward to read about too. On the other hand, I suppose one involving a Ph.D. candidate is not quite as cringe-worthy as ones involving younger students.

I'm very glad you joined in the group read. It was great discussing Davies with other fans as well as seeing new readers' reactions.

>26 rabbitprincess: Yes, that's true! Schnack was at least past the age of majority. And I suppose the Doctor wasn't threatening to fail her if she didn't do certain things, as can happen in some student-teacher relationships (there was one such case here involving a female teacher and a male student). I think I was more creeped out because Schnack really has no experience dealing with people and is therefore more vulnerable.

It was fun to discuss the book with my uncle, too, because he was the one who picked it out. It is a gift that has been an investment and has matured very nicely!

Happy new thread! I for one am not minding the gratuitous photo in >12 rabbitprincess: :)

Oh, a nice new thread. I love getting the refresher of the categories when new threads go up.

>27 -Eva-: Yay! I also like that there are tons of books in the background :)

>28 Roro8: Thanks, me too! It's easy to forget the bigger picture of the challenge as the thread gets longer.

Ah ha! I caught up on your new thread before it had 200 messages. Love the pictures.

Looking forward to lots of bookish stuff and, of course, there can't be too much David Morrissey - EVER!!

>30 mysterymax: Yes, it is scary how quickly the threads can advance... she says, adding another post :D

>31 DeltaQueen50: Agreed! Even DM is shocked at the thought of too much DM.

Congrats on the new thread!

I'm a bit late, but happy new thread!

>33 inge87: Thanks! :)

>34 tymfos: Thanks! Always happy to have visitors! :)

****

Now I can FINALLY watch Season 4 of Wallander.

The Troubled Man, by Henning Mankell (translated by Laurie Thompson)
Category: Thorne
Source: Waterstones Strand, London, England
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/85167509

I liked the storyline about Wallander coming to grips with his own mortality more than the actual case. Only slightly, but still. I think the main issue with this book for me was that it ran to nearly 500 pages in my edition and felt much longer than necessary. My parents have a different edition and it is much thinner. Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read that edition instead.

Still feeling restless with my reading, but I did enjoy this Rebus novel.

The Falls, by Ian Rankin
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/133213313

Some really great quotes in this one, and also a cameo appearance by the town of Moffat, which I visited in 2013 on a trip to Scotland. Nice coincidence :) And because there is discussion of Burke and Hare in this book, I immediately placed a hold on Resurrection Men.

****

In other news, on the weekend I had a Black Books marathon with a friend. In honour of the occasion we decided to do some boozy baking, and we tried out a recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker called Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. Guinness chocolate cupcakes + Jameson ganache filling + Baileys icing = yum.



My friend is a much better baker than I, so she directed operations and told me what to do within my limited range of baking skills. My primary role was to bring the booze and to drink the leftover Guinness. ;) I also iced the cupcakes.

The icing looks great, plus you put Baileys in it YUM! How did they taste?

Wow, those are beautiful cupcakes- you did a great job with the frosting! I expect all that booze made extra happy eaters.

I think that icing is wonderful. Much fancier than just slapping it on. What's a "Black Books" marathon?

>37 Roro8: They were great! We did find the ganache had solidified into a little ball resembling a truffle, and became dislodged from the middle of the cupcakes when we tried to eat them, but all of the components tasted good anyway.

>38 mstrust: It took a couple of cupcakes to get into my stride. And yes we were pretty happy with the results! It is probably also the only way I can consume three different types of alcohol in one sitting :)

>39 dudes22: "Black Books" is a TV show starring Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig, and it's about a cantankerous used-book seller named Bernard Black (Moran), his assistant Manny (Bill Bailey) and his friend/neigbour Fran (Greig). It ran for three seasons of six episodes and is available on Netflix. Dylan Moran is doing a stand-up show here next month so we decided to watch a bunch of Black Books beforehand as a warmup.

Those cup cakes look glorious! I'm on my way! (I wish)

>41 Jackie_K: That would be awesome to have a transatlantic meetup ;)

>36 rabbitprincess: Looks delicious! I would be happy to have your role (especially drinking the leftover Guinness!)

>36 rabbitprincess: Wow! Your frosting job is very well done.

>40 rabbitprincess: "And yes we were pretty happy with the results!"
With all that booze, yes, I'll bet you were!

A baking meetup! Just how good is that?

>43 leslie.98: It was a most useful role! The Bailey's was a Christmas present and we use it only for baking, and the whisky I bought after our trip to Ireland (which included a trip to the Jameson distillery) for use in ginger ale and whisky cocktails.

>44 VivienneR: Thanks! Of course, the best ones are closest to the camera ;) I don't feel like we got that tipsy, mainly because we were eating so much other food as well (veggies and dip, various snacks, tea, and St-Hubert chicken dinner).

A baking meetup would be delicious!

****

Decided to indulge in a reread, because that category was looking a bit thin.

McNally's Risk, by Lawrence Sanders
Category: Sense and Sensibility
Source: library book sale
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/72318788

I always enjoy visiting Archy and the fam in Palm Beach, and this book even contained a reference I would never have picked up before last year, as well as an inadvertent earworm (he mentions Al Jolson singing "I'm Sitting on Top of the World", so of course I think of the Proclaimers...).

I finally joined Pottermore just to find out what my Patronus was... turns out it is PRETTY AWESOME.

>46 rabbitprincess: :)

I did mine yesterday and got a dragon!

>36 rabbitprincess: The cupcakes look amazing! My daughter made Guinness chocolate cupcakes recently that were delicious. I'll have to suggest she try the Jameson and Baileys additions next time.

Nice on the patronus. I think I saw that one friend's was mangy dog.

>47 leslie.98: I am honoured to be sharing a Patronus with James Potter! Good old Prongs.

>48 mamzel: Named Smaug? ;)

>49 mathgirl40: Guinness tastes really good in chocolate cupcakes! And yes, definitely at least do Bailey's icing. I found the whisky ganache a bit more work than I would otherwise do, but if she likes to bake, she should go for it. We used Lindt chocolate that was maybe 65% or 70%. My friend always uses the good stuff when baking.

>50 andreablythe: Ouch! I have a friend who is very much a dog person and somehow got a cat as her Patronus! Not sure how that worked.

****

Another busy weekend around these parts. Went to Toronto on Saturday with a friend (she of the cat Patronus) to see The Proclaimers. It was a great show! They played a lot of the hits and a couple of new tunes, and the audience was lustily singing along (some with cod-Scottish accents) and attempting to clap along as directed. I've been on a big "I'm On My Way" kick so was glad to hear that one especially. "Letter from America" was notable for the cheering at every chorus: "Take a look up the rail track / From Miami to Canada" "WOOOOOOO!!!!" And of course how could anyone be a grump after "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"? One notable omission from the setlist was "Oh Jean", but really they have so many hits that whichever ones they choose to play are fine with me ;)

On the train ride home I managed to finish off two books.

The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad
Category: Our Mutual Friend -- BAC
Source: Project Gutenberg
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/114311013

This was easier for me to read than Heart of Darkness (I struggled mightily with the five levels of quote in that one), but the action felt muffled and distant. Still, I managed to finish the book, which is an achievement for Conrad with me.

Gideon's Art, by J.J. Marric
Category: Thorne
Source: BMV
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/112440875

Art heist mysteries always seem so "classic" to me for some reason. I liked that this particular art heist mystery involved London's National Gallery. The only thing is that I now want to go back ;)

>51 rabbitprincess: Nope - Temeraire

I'm a wee bit envious of your seeing the Proclaimers. Glad you had fun, though.

>52 mamzel: Another excellent name choice! Do people actually name their Patronuses? It has been a while since I read the books...

>53 RidgewayGirl: It is strange how often they seem to have come to Canada, or at least my part of the country. I've seen them three times in the past ten years, four if you count the Q&A they did at the Toronto film festival, which seems like a lot considering how far they'd have to travel to come here.

****

The art theme continues with this curiosity:

Banting as an Artist, by A.Y. Jackson
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/134093783

I was recommended this book by a friend who admires Banting greatly. I did not know he was an artist, and looking at his pictures you can really see the Group of Seven influence -- this book was written by GoS member A.Y. Jackson. Very interesting.

>51 rabbitprincess: Sorry that you didn't enjoy The Secret Agent -- I think it is one of Conrad's books I like best but maybe I was helped along by having previously seen the Hitchcock film based on it. I am a big Hitchcock fan!

>54 rabbitprincess: No they didn't, but since you asked ...

>51 rabbitprincess: I love the Proclaimers - I've seen them a couple of times at festivals. I think they're brilliant live. My favourite song of theirs is "Life with You" - you can't not belt it out!

>56 mamzel: Fair enough! ;)

>57 Jackie_K: They played that one as an encore! My belt-it-out song was "I'm On My Way", with a surprising amount of gusto for those choruses on "Letter from America".

****

September is over and that means it's SEPTEMBER RECAP time.

The theme this month was not reading as much! I had a lot going on this month and not enough attention span to read. And of course, I kept wanting to start big books! Sigh. I ended up getting through "just" 11 books:

The Lyre of Orpheus, by Robertson Davies
L'anglais n'est pas une langue magique, by Jacques Poulin
Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, by Elissa Stein
The Great Fire of London, by Samuel Pepys
The Troubled Man, by Henning Mankell (trans. Laurie Thompson)
The Falls, by Ian Rankin
McNally's Risk, by Lawrence Sanders
Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue, by Bill Watterson
The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad
Gideon's Art, by J.J. Marric
Banting as an Artist, by A.Y. Jackson

My favourite book of the month was The Lyre of Orpheus, by Robertson Davies. It was a great end to a great trilogy. Very glad for the group read to finally bring this trilogy to my attention.

My least favourite book was The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad. It took me forever to read and the story felt hazy and distant. Not a thriller at all.

The library shelves have a lot of holdover from last month. I have had to become the master of strategic renewing in order to keep things in the house long enough for me to read them.

I read all of my RandomCAT-appropriate choices, as planned, and am still working on The Game of Kings. I enjoyed the discussion on our shared reading thread (https://www.librarything.com/topic/231015) and plan to keep it updated as I go through the rest of the book, so be sure to stop by and chat.

Currently reading

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson -- borrowed from my BF's dad aaaaages ago and finally begun. I have two other books of his to read as well. He reads interesting non-fiction.
The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett -- Still working my way through it. The trick is carving out afternoons for it. I brought it with me on the train last weekend but didn't touch it at all (of course).
South by Java Head, by Alistair MacLean -- my bus book and the October GeoCAT choice (it is set in and around Singapore in WW2). The cover is really cheesy.
Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn -- borrowed after reading The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. Very interesting, and I've written down a few quotes.
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, by Alan Bradley -- NEW FLAVIA DE LUCE YAAAAY!!!!

October plans

For the RandomCAT (theme: "what scares you?"), I chose The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern, because being trapped in a burning high-rise sounds pretty terrifying. Also, this is the sort of book I might never otherwise get around to reading. I also plan to continue the theme with Malcolm MacKay's Every Night I Dream of Hell (scary title!) and the Doctor Who novel Festival of Death, by Jonathan Morris.

And as mentioned, I will be finishing the GeoCAT in the appropriate month this month, with South by Java Head, by Alistair MacLean.

On my library shelves this month:

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo
Inward Journey: The Life of Lawren Harris, by James King
A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy, by Helen Rappaport
Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, by Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates, by David Cordingly
Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie, by Anne Martinetti
Resurrection Men, by Ian Rankin
My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind, by Scott Stossel

In the realm of DVDs I just watched a documentary about the submarine warfare during the Cold War, and tomorrow we plan to watch The Shop Around the Corner, starring Jimmy Stewart (it's on a TCM four-pack of Jimmy movies). I also have a PBS documentary about Earth's Natural Wonders: Living on the Edge.

I read Dark Tide a couple of years ago, and found it very interesting. Hope you enjoy it.

I will definitely keep up with the Dunnett thread so keep posting!

>59 dudes22: I think that one was a BB from you! :)

>60 japaul22: Will do!

****

So I have a new favourite Pink Floyd song...

http://www.openculture.com/2016/09/watch-benedict-cumberbatch-sing-pink-floyds-c...

This must have been an awesome experience for him. And he has the right voice for it, too! Great stuff.

He fits right in! And it's one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs. Thanks for sharing that.

Friday night I shared the trailer for Doctor Strange with my family after dinner. It looks soooooo good! Last night Monsieur asked me if I saw the trailer for Doctor Strange. Shows how well he pays attention to me, right? BC looks amazing in this movie. I can't wait!

>62 VivienneR: This is now my favourite version of the song ;)

>63 mamzel: Benedict does look amazing! I'm not sure what it is about the character, but everything just looks SO RIGHT. I will be interested to hear what you think of the movie. From the trailer and press it looked dark and moody, which is not really my cup of superhero tea. I might just end up collecting the merchandise rather than watching the movie ;)

****

I had a most productive reading weekend. Went downtown both days of the weekend, which meant lots of bus reading time and more motivated home reading time. (If I have less time to read at home, I enjoy the time I do have more.)

South by Java Head, by Alistair MacLean
Category: Our Mutual Friend (GeoCAT - Southern Asia)
Source: somewhere in Ireland or Scotland, from our 2014 trip
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/109001330

Another thrilling WW2 adventure with lots of boats and a great deal of disbelief to be suspended, which is sometimes just the ticket. My cover is also deliriously pulpy (I had to lay the book flat when reading it on the bus). Not his best (I knock points off for the cringey descriptions of the Japanese troops), but better than his worst.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, by Alan Bradley
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/134591639

I spent the whole book worrying that Haviland was dead and then he WAS actually dead at the end :(. The worst part is that I can't feel anything about it! I cried most of the way through The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, but with this one I feel nothing. So that plus the seeming convolutedness of the mystery made me give the usual 3.5 to Flavia books that leave me with no regrets but still kind of meh.

>64 rabbitprincess: I love the title of Bradley's latest Flavia installment. Sorry it was "meh."

>65 thornton37814: It is a great title. I love that it comes from my favourite Shakespeare play! Ah well, I suppose I'll just have to go reread an earlier installment in the series.

****

This book was more intended to satisfy a craving, so I'm not sure how well it would work for others, but it certainly worked for me.

Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, by Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/134364684

I LOVE the show Moone Boy, which is about a young boy, Martin Moone, growing up as the youngest of four (and having three older sisters) in the west of Ireland in the late 80s/early 90s. It was written by Chris O'Dowd as a semi-autobiography of his own childhood, and I love the absurdity of Martin's adventures with his imaginary friend, the Irish accents, the realism of the parents' relationships with their children and each other...and I must admit I also love the father, Liam :D

Anyway, this book is a prequel of sorts that explains how Martin and his imaginary friend Sean "Caution" Murphy got together. The book is intended for a younger audience, as evidenced by the copious footnotes that explained several things that would be obvious to an adult, but the story itself is good craic if you've seen the show. And if you haven't seen the show, watch it! It should be on Hulu.

The library has the audiobook of this as well, and I've requested it to have on hand for whenever the next Moone Boy craving strikes.

A long weekend is here, so I expect to be getting a lot of good reading done over the next few days. I'll need it to recover from this one:

The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern
Category: The Walking Dead
Source: EVM
Rating: 1/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/88387512

You'd think a book about a bomb exploding in a newly constructed 125-storey skyscraper would be interesting. Not this one. I pitched it after the gratuitous inadvertent spouse-swapping on the part of two couples associated with the building construction. I have no time for tawdry affairs in my thrillers.

****

I also tried out Serial Reader, an app I heard about through another app (Litsy). Serial Reader delivers daily installments of Project Gutenberg-type books that are designed to be read in about 10 to 15 minutes each. This would be a good way to tackle the big classics. I tried it out with The Captain of the Pole-Star, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This gets a 3/5 from me for being a solid story, not too creepy, but a bit predictable. The best part was trying out the app, which I think I'll continue using from time to time.

****

Weekend reading plans:

The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett -- I'm on Part 3, The Play for Samuel Harvey. This is my primary objective for the weekend.
Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn -- this would also be nice to finish.

And if I have time I want to crack some more non-fiction, with A Magnificent Obsession, by Helen Rappaport, being top priority, because it's scandalous how many times I've had to renew it.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to the Canadian LTers!

The Thanksgiving weekend was a success on the reading front -- both of the books I wanted to finish have been finished :)

Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn
Category: The Other Boleyn Girl
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/133511111

This made a great follow-up read to The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston. My only complaint: needs more photos! But then I always complain about photos.

The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett
Category: Our Mutual Friend (group read - shared with @japaul22)
Source: Christmas gift
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/114932800

I enjoyed reading this as a buddy read; it guaranteed I got to it a lot faster than I would have normally! I'll definitely be looking for more in the series. Also hoping that this Scottish history momentum will help me get back into the Nigel Tranter I wanted to read this year (A Folly of Princes).

And now I'm working my way through a big stack of non-fiction books from the library... easier said than done! I got a Fitbit as a very early Xmas present, so I have to figure out a way to read and walk at the same time to get lots of steps :)

A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy, by Helen Rappaport
Category: The Other Boleyn Girl
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/133165623

A pretty good (and relatively short) book that covers the immediate aftermath and the first decade or so following Prince Albert's death.

The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, by Dean Burnett
Category: The Deal
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/134936400

Dean Burnett writes a science blog for the Guardian, which is where I first heard of him. He was interviewed on CBC Radio about this book, so I was all over it once the library ordered it. Very chatty and friendly but not skimping on the science.

>69 rabbitprincess: " I have to figure out a way to read and walk at the same time to get lots of steps :)"

Audiobooks.

:)

(In fact I see you have discovered audiobooks already... so just more of these!)

>70 sirfurboy: It is true that I have a lot of audiobooks in the stash. The hard part is finding a quiet place to listen to them, or getting headphones that will keep the sound in but also leave me free to listen for passing cars if I am out and about. Maybe I should go mall walking or something :P

****

A couple of reviews ahoy!

Resurrection Men, by Ian Rankin
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/134713808

Rebus goes to Tulliallan on a remedial course of sorts, with four other reprobate cops. Enjoyed this but will probably hold off on more Rebus until my next visit to my parents, when I can borrow Mum's copies instead of relying on well-worn library copies.

Festival of Death, by Jonathan Morris
Category: Doctor Who
Source: BMV
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/116825078

Really good. Funny in places and featuring some very creepy monsters (ew, Arachnopods). Features the Fourth Doctor and Romana and K-9.

****

It's been raining all day, but it let up just enough for me to go out to the post office and pick up my copy of Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs, by Peter Davison (aka the Fifth Doctor). So far I've flipped to the photo sections and read David Tennant's foreword, as well as Peter's own introduction and a bit of the first chapter. So far, so awesome. There's a priceless photo of PD in a Fair Isle knitted pullover! LOVE IT.

>36 rabbitprincess:
Resurrection Men is my favorite installment in the Rebus-series - the dialogue is just so spot on, it's amazing. Great cupcakes - did you do the icing before or after the leftover Guinness...? :)

>51 rabbitprincess:
I just saw this now!! They are the best, aren't they? I couldn't pick a favorite song to save my life - too many to chose from! One of my category challenges was Proclaimers-themed. I may try that again next year...

>71 rabbitprincess: It's a Sirdar knitting pattern! Must have been before he became famous. He looks even younger than he was as Tristan Farnon on the tv series All Creatures Great and Small.

>72 -Eva-: It was pretty good! And haha we did the icing after the leftover Guinness! :)

Ah yes I remember the Proclaimers challenge! That was a good one! Would love to see them again.

>73 VivienneR: I think it must have been around the time of All Creatures, because he says in the caption that this was inspired by a demand for "Tristan-style" Fair Isle sweaters ("primarily from the girl on my right"). Would love to have a copy of this pattern. Maybe I'll just try to re-create the chart and transpose it onto a plain stockinette vest pattern I have ;)

****

I've been busy over the past couple of days getting books read and reviewed. Making up for my lacklustre September.

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo
Category: The Other Boleyn Girl
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/133636594

This was recommended by a couple of people in the group, namely @dudes22, who may have been the originator of the BB. It reads well and is really interesting. Wonder if Boston will do anything to commemorate the 100th anniversary in a few years.

Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs, by Peter Davison
Category: Doctor Who (obviously)
Source: Book Depository
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135400916

I slipped this one into my sci-fi category because (a) it is named after Doctor Who and (b) it was looking a bit empty. Peter doesn't just talk about Doctor Who -- his whole life and career are visited here. Some lovely photos, a great foreword by David Tennant (which I could hear in his voice as I read), and interesting stories. The copyediting is a bit wince-inducing in spots, which is why this is a 4 rather than a 4.5 or a 5. Still, the content is good.

Poor Caroline, by Winifred Holtby
Category: South Riding
Source: Berry and Peterson, Kingston, ON
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/82818705

This is one of those books that focuses more on character sketches than a plot, or at least that's how it seemed to me. I was not in the right mood to appreciate such sketches, and perhaps I am not the right audience for the satirical aspects. Holtby does write well, though.

>71 rabbitprincess: Peter Davison was a Sirdar pattern model? That is a very cool photo!

>74 rabbitprincess: - Glad you liked Dark Tide. Hmmm - commemoration - more molasses in the streets? I'm pretty sure I took it as a BB here too - maybe from mysterymax. It was before I kept track of where the BBs came from.

>74 rabbitprincess: - I really enjoyed Dark Tide too - such a fascinating part story.

Stopping by to say hi, and got hit with a BB for Dark Tide. I love a good disaster.

>75 mathgirl40: I think maybe just for that one pattern, but yes it is pretty cool!

>76 dudes22: It was a good BB, wherever it came from! As for commemoration, maybe a plaque at the site where the tank was constructed? Or a museum exhibit or a speech or something.

>77 LittleTaiko: And even the background leading up to the event was interesting! He did a good job of making that context relevant instead of just including it because he happened to find it in the course of his research.

>78 mstrust: A unique disaster at that! I hope you like the book.

****

Terry Fallis was in town recently at one of my local library branches (but not at a time or branch when I could easily visit). So I decided it was high time to read his latest novel, which has been stockpiled for a little while.

Poles Apart, by Terry Fallis
Category: South Riding
Source: Chapters
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/122405071

This was light and entertaining, but perhaps a bit "speechier" than some of his other books. So I would recommend this more for people who have read at least one other book of his. (Up and Down is probably my favourite.)

Spooky how quickly October passed, leading us to the October recap. I read a lot of non-fiction this month on a variety of topics. In total I read 17 books (or if you're getting picky, 16 books and 1 story).

South by Java Head, by Alistair MacLean
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, by Alan Bradley
Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, by Chris O'Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy
The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern
The Captain of the Pole-Star, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary, by Richard Gwyn
The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett
Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie, by Anne Martinetti
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard
A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death that Changed the British Monarchy, by Helen Rappaport
The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, by Dean Burnett
Resurrection Men, by Ian Rankin
Festival of Death, by Jonathan Morris
Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo
Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs, by Peter Davison
Poor Caroline, by Winifred Holtby
Poles Apart, by Terry Fallis

My favourite book of the month was SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard. It took me several months to read in both physical and digital format, but it was well worth waiting for the e-copy to come around again.

My least favourite book was The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern. I gave up after 60 pages in because of the gratuitous spouse-swapping plotline and a total absence of thrills.

Still strategically renewing (or returning and re-requesting) books from the library. One book I ended up returning and then immediately borrowing as an e-copy to keep it in my reading orbit. Feeling a little panicked about all the holds coming in for things I can't renew. Obviously I need to stop socializing ;)

I ended up changing my pick for the RandomCAT and read the GeoCAT for October in the appropriate month.

Currently reading

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson -- no progress since last month.
Dear Leader, by Damian Rogers -- I took this poetry collection to work to read on my lunch breaks. This collection feels a little more "poemy" than the previous collection, with fewer narratives I can latch on to.
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson -- a reread via the Serial Reader app. Very enjoyable. I think I'll be a pirate for Halloween next year ;)
A Folly of Princes, by Nigel Tranter -- after reading the Dorothy Dunnett, I thought I should try reading this book again (I stalled out on page 90 last time). I'm past where I got stuck and it's going better, although the writing isn't as good as Tranter normally is.
Bit Rot, by Douglas Coupland -- his newest book, a collection of stories and essays. Very good so far.
Backs to the Wall: The Battle of Sainte-Foy and the Conquest of Canada, by D. Peter MacLeod -- this is due back tomorrow and I can't renew! Eep! Will read as much as I can and re-request.

November plans

My RandomCAT selection for "celebrating NaNoWriMo" with debut works is The Crime on Cote des Neiges, by David Montrose. This is the first book in his series featuring Montreal-based private eye Russell Teed.

I also have two long-standing Pool books in the on-deck pile: Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd; and Nation Maker, by Richard Gwyn.

On my library shelves this month:

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind, by Scott Stossel (ebook, via Overdrive)
The Blood Strand, by Chris Ould -- Faroe Islands #1
The Pigeon Tunnel, by John le Carré -- this might go back unread because I haven't the time
Rogue Heroes: A History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, by Ben Macintyre -- have to make time for this!
Coffin Road, by Peter May -- new standalone novel of his (I haven't read any of his series, oddly enough)
Wenjack, by Joseph Boyden -- MUST read this
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, by David Eagleman -- one of three yellow books I had about the brain (the others were The Idiot Brain and My Age of Anxiety)
Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina -- Alex Morrow #3
Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, by Sara Pascoe
Black River Road: An Unthinkable Crime, an Unlikely Suspect and the Question of Character, by Debra Komar -- from the author who wrote The Bastard of Fort Stikine.
The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny -- Gamache #10
Stormbird, by Conn Iggulden -- Wars of the Roses #1

And there are four holds ready for pickup, apparently...

The curse of library holds! I determined on my return to the US, and the unpacking of most of my tbr, that I would keep my physical books from the library at two. So I've got those two out, am halfway through one of them, and a hold has come in. How quickly my vows are broken! Another book, one which had me at 83rd in line for a copy when I joined the queue, now shows me at being the next person to get my hands on it. So that will be four. Do I just give up and start a teetering stack on the floor of library books?

>81 RidgewayGirl: Is there any way to postpone the book? I think our system allows that for cases like vacation. I know how hard it would be after waiting out 82 other people! One doesn't want to let that chance slip.

I don't know. I just picked up the one book and I'll go get the next when it comes in. I should finish the one I'm reading tomorrow, so I'll at least be close to my two book limit.

Oh, I can't wait to read Wenjack by Joseph Boyden and also 'The Secret Path' a graphic novel based on the same subject matter by Jeff Lemire in collaboration with Gordon Downie!

>81 RidgewayGirl: Two! I am lucky if I can keep my library checkouts below 10. I usually have about 50 holds at any given time, from trolling the On Order section of the catalogue every day. Lots of holds stay on my list for months and months, and then suddenly five show up at once. Usually all the meaty non-fiction likes to arrive in waves.

>82 mamzel: >83 RidgewayGirl: I do suspend holds, but I've had to learn to be strategic in when I reactivate them, otherwise they still all come in at once!

>84 DeltaQueen50: Wenjack is a must-read for me. It's so short it would be a crime to not read it.

****

This evening I volunteered at a book fair, which is a bit of a fox guarding the henhouse situation! The fair itself is this Friday and is AWESOME (I attended last year as a patron), and my task was to sort and price books to store in overstock boxes that could be used to refill the shelves throughout the fair. My friend and I were in the cookbooks section, which ended up being quite interesting even if cookbooks aren't really my thing. There were some gems and some hilarious ones too. (There was one devoted to MAYONNAISE.)

The best part was that, for every hour I volunteered, I was allowed to buy one book in advance. We were there for two hours, so I bought two!

The Blackhouse, by Peter May
The Ghosts of Belfast, by Stuart Neville

These are both on my to-read list, which is good, and both are firsts in series that I've been meaning to start. My mum will also want to read these, so I am definitely getting $6 worth of reading out of them.

And on my way to the book fair I stopped by Chapters and picked up Linwood Barclay's latest, The Twenty-Three, which is the third of the Promise Falls trilogy. Now I can finally start the first book in the trilogy! I wanted to have all of them on hand in case bingeing became necessary ;)

That sounds like a nice deal for a little work. And really - looking through books isn't really work even if they aren't quite your thing. I assume you'll also be attending as a patron?

It is hard to help set up for a book sale without bringing home a few books!

And I hadn't realized you could see which books the library had on order. My world has just expanded.

>85 rabbitprincess: Excellent! Were you were running reconnaissance for when you go back to shop?

>86 dudes22: I did enjoy laughing at all the 70s ones and exclaiming over some I recognized from my parents' and grandparents' places. And yep, definitely attending as a patron. The fair runs Friday to Sunday, and a bunch of us from work are going Saturday morning, then having lunch afterward at a nearby pub. Should be a lot of fun!

>87 RidgewayGirl: I like that they build that in as an incentive to volunteer! I am definitely going back to do more next year.
Some libraries might not show their On Order items, depending on how their catalogue is configured. And they may not be timely about updating the listings. But if your library uses Bibliocommons as the basis for its catalogue, you'd look under Explore --> New titles.

>88 mstrust: Only a little. Namely confirming where the mysteries and thrillers will be. They had some great finds last year!

It's T-minus 1 day until the book sale! In the meantime, I'm reading library books.

Bit Rot, by Douglas Coupland
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135203667

This collection contains stories and essays, many of which have been previously published, but they are collected together for the first time. Difficult to stop reading at just one. I liked the essays a bit better than the stories, mainly because I haven't really read Coupland's essay work. Favourite of the collection: "Black Goo". Very timely.

>89 rabbitprincess: Ha! I already have added several books to my requested list. It was fun going through the orders.

>91 RidgewayGirl: Excellent! It is fun to see what the library's been ordering (and sometimes wondering "Who the heck requested THAT?! And why does it have 30 holds on it?!").

****

Today was the big book sale. Despite our bus being 20 minutes late (and us nearly missing it anyway, if you can believe it), we still got to the sale in plenty of time to find books. I was travelling with two friends and met up with three others over the course of the morning. It is a popular place!

Here's what I walked away with:

Arctic Assignment: The Story of the St. Roch, by F.S. Ferrars
Lieutenant Hornblower, by C.S. Forester (Hornblower chronological #2)
Designs on Life, by Elizabeth Ferrars
Happy Alchemy, by Robertson Davies
Attack of the Video Villains, by Franklin W. Dixon (Hardy Boys #106)
Vampires of Ottawa, by Eric Wilson (Tom and Liz Austen Mysteries #6)
The Green Gables Detectives, by Eric Wilson (Tom and Liz Austen Mysteries, #8)
Mourir sur Seine, by Michel Bussi
Les Scrupules de Maigret, by Georges Simenon (Maigret #52)
McNally's Alibi, by Lawrence Sanders / Vincent Lardo (Archy McNally #11)
The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence
Othello, by William Shakespeare
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Queens' Play, by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles #2)
The Ringed Castle, by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles #5)
Checkmate, by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond Chronicles #6)

Arctic Assignment is one of those old-school Canadian books that I like to collect. Apparently it's non-fiction AND it's about boats.
Was happy to find Hornblower as the library no longer has this book. They were supposed to be re-ordering it, but it took them two years to do so and my hold on it expired before I could even get the book! So now I own my copy.
The Ferrars is a short story collection that I had my eye on when one of the volunteers was pricing it on Tuesday -- it's a Collins Crime Club hardcover and very nice too.
The Davies was an interesting-looking collection of essays. Didn't think I'd see it anywhere else so snapped it up.
The Hardy Boys is a cheesy 90s one that I don't think I read (but totally would have) in elementary school.
The Tom and Liz Austens I did read as a youngster. This series involves them travelling around Canada solving mysteries. The cool thing about the series is that sometimes Tom is featured, sometimes Liz, and sometimes the both of them. These two happen to be Liz mysteries.
The Bussi is about boats on the Seine so naturally I was intrigued.
The Maigret is a beautiful Presses de la cité paperback in red and blue.
The McNally book is one of the few I don't have -- only two left to find! (I've read them all, but don't own them all.)
I finally remembered that it was The Diviners I'd put on my to-read list -- apparently it was up for consideration on Canada Reads, because I've tagged it that way on Goodreads.
The Shakespeares are Folger Shakespeare Library editions and are replacing the Signet Classics editions of the plays. I prefer Folger because the notes are on the left, the text is on the right, and the notes themselves aren't excessive.
And the Lymond books are all the same edition -- big fat Time Warner (!) paperbacks with kind of trippy 70s-looking covers. Now I need books 3 and 4.

Not a bad morning's work!

I took a library book with me to read on the bus travelling to and from the book sale. I was finished with it well before I arrived at the book sale. And when I say "finished with it", well, that doesn't necessarily mean "completed"...

Coffin Road, by Peter May
Category: The Walking Dead
Source: library
Rating: 1/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135329376

I've read and enjoyed other books by Peter May, so I was excited to read his new book. However, I gave up about 60 pages in. The "selective amnesia" plotline strains credulity to breaking point, particularly with my recent reading of The Idiot Brain (which I think explains why this plotline is implausible). The device of having the protagonist stand in front of a mirror to describe himself nearly made me groan at the book in public ("Oh, COME ON"). And the sex scenes, plural, in the first 50 pages were gratuitous.

On the plus side, abandoning this gives me more time for the other eleventy million books on my TBR.

I am glad to see you liked The Game of Kings enough to invest in some others in the series -- I think it gets better and better as you progress along!

The Hornblower series is one I have been eyeing as I like nautical adventure stories -- I look forward to hearing how you like it.

Seems like you had a successful day!

I love that you brought a book to the booksale! :) Great haul!!

Yay for your book haul!
I too read your message and admired that you brought a book to read to the book sale. Commitment!

>93 rabbitprincess: That one sounds painfully bad.

>94 leslie.98: I'm looking forward to following it as it progresses! As for the Hornblower, I've only read Mr. Midshipman Hornblower because I had it in my head to read in chronological rather than publication order. Then of course the library didn't have a copy of the second one! For what it's worth, I liked Midshipman and considered it almost like a collection of short stories. Fun to dip into and out of.

>95 -Eva-: Well yes, I was in the middle of other books! I like to be fair to the older books on my shelves (or the ones I've already borrowed) ;)

>96 mstrust: In retrospect I should have chosen a paperback rather than a hardcover, even a thin hardcover like Coffin Road was.

>97 thornton37814: The frustrating part about it was that I've enjoyed other books by this author. That made it even more annoying. And mine seemed like the only negative review, or one of very few. When I'm so far away from popular opinion I do wonder whether there's something wrong with how I'm reading it :-/

****

Feeling restless again. Had to reboot the library books shelf again. Decided to take care of a couple that were due back soon.

Rogue Heroes: A History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, by Ben Macintyre
Category: The Walking Dead
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135329342

I liked what I read of this book, but I'm really not in the headspace for it at the moment. I do still recommend it.

Wenjack, by Joseph Boyden
Category: South Riding
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135835628

Oh, Chanie. This is heartbreaking.

A couple more reviews! I am visiting family again until the middle of next week, so my whole routine is thrown off. Only just getting around to posting now.

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, by Sara Pascoe
Category: The Hollow Crown (as a humour/essays book)
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135539574

I know of Sara through QI, so I was intrigued that the library ordered her book. It is not quite as funny as Caitlin Moran, but I still found it entertaining.

A Folly of Princes, by Nigel Tranter
Category: The Other Boleyn Girl
Source: Abebooks
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/118713725

The second volume of the House of Stewart trilogy. It was a struggle, but I am glad to have finally conquered it.

>92 rabbitprincess: What a great haul! That Davies anthology looks interesting. I've not seen it before.

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of Linwood Barclay's new trilogy. I've read the first two and am anxiously awaiting the third. I'm near the top of the library waiting list so I expect to get it within the next couple of weeks.

I couldn't hold off any longer and have picked up a Kindle copy of Wenjack now I just have to fit it into the reading list.

>100 mathgirl40: I'm looking forward to reading it! If I'm quick about it, maybe I can lend it to you in 2017 if we both end up at Bouchercon ;)

Hope the third installment of Linwood's trilogy comes in for you soon! I'm visiting my parents and will add the first book to the on-deck pile as soon as I get home :)

>101 DeltaQueen50: I hope you find the right moment for it! It is a quick read but very affecting.

****

Decided to call time on this book.

The Crime on Cote des Neiges, by David Montrose
Category: The Walking Dead
Source: Paragraphe Books, Montreal, QC
Rating: 1.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/126834504

I like the premise of this series, but this first installment didn't do much for me. Overly repetitive to the point where I stopped caring whodunnit. Check out the third installment instead (The Body on Mount Royal).

I do mean to read Wenjack soon. I loved The Orenda.

And I'll have to look for Sara Pascoe's book. She's very funny.

>93 rabbitprincess: >98 rabbitprincess: When I'm so far away from popular opinion I do wonder whether there's something wrong with how I'm reading it :-/

It sounds to me like your recent non-fiction reading material had given you knowledge and insight as to the plausibility of the plot which other readers probably lacked.

As for not liking the gratuitous sex scenes, that's a matter of personal taste (and I wouldn't like them, either).

It's always a bummer when an author you've enjoyed in the past writes something you can't stand.

>103 RidgewayGirl: Wenjack and The Orenda are very different reading experiences, but both are raw and real. I hope you enjoy Sara's book! I laughed out loud in places. And one page in particular made me very glad I was reading at home and not on the train!

>104 tymfos: It did help that I had read The Idiot Brain very recently, rather than say a couple of years ago. And I imagine other people would be prepared to overlook implausibility in some areas but not others. I've done that myself in the past. (Some reviews of Runaway found the story implausible, but I enjoyed it.) On the plus side, this has convinced me I need to get my own copy of The Idiot Brain!

I still have reasonable hopes for The Blackhouse. More hits than misses with Peter May so far!

****

A fun reread!

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Category: Sense and Sensibility
Source: physical copy, probably a gift; this reread came from Serial Reader
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/70476280

I've been using Serial Reader to revisit a classic I read many years ago (and the physical copy of which was at my parents' place when I wanted to read it). The story is so thrilling that I was constantly reading ahead ;)

I look forward to your comments on The Blackhouse when you get to it. That one is on my list.

The Blackhouse is on my list as well, I have only read a couple of Peter May books but I really liked both of them - so high hopes!

>106 tymfos: >107 DeltaQueen50: I'm thinking I should add this to the 2017 Pool! (I want to keep it to 50 or fewer books, and as of this morning it was 34 books, so there's still a bit of room.)

****

Because of all the library holds I had coming in, I nearly returned this book to the library to request for a later date. Glad I didn't!

The Bonjour Effect, by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau
Category: The Deal
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135787145

This was an LT rec and a very good one too. I especially liked the contrast between France and Quebec with regard to language preservation, and all of the interesting France-French expressions (e.g. a celebrity playing the media game = un pipole, from People magazine). Might be worth reading if you plan to visit France, so you can see for yourself how true the authors' observations are! (I can't attest to their accuracy myself; it would be an interesting exercise to compare the book with reality though.)

I'm super behind on the threads this year. Looks like you have been doing a ton of reading.

>109 luvamystery65: Thanks for stopping by! Yes, reading has been good. Just popping in with a few more reviews.

Also, I will be putting up the Murder Mystery Xmas thread tomorrow :D

****

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... we had about 15 to 25 cm of snow over Sunday and Monday, and another 4 cm or so today. Strangely, people seemed to have more trouble with today's snow than the previous snowfall. The buses were late and by extension more crowded than usual, but I eventually managed to catch one and grab a seat.

****

Snowy weather means staying in and writing reviews!

Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars, by Terrance Dicks (audio, narrated by Tom Baker)
Category: Doctor Who, Blackpool
Source: iTunes
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/132059895

Classic Doctor Who, classic Doctor, classic story. Made short work of it, which is most impressive for an audiobook.

The Blood Strand, by Chris Ould
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135203610

Pretty good first in series. I will continue. Great setting.

King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris
Category: The Walking Dead (for partly read)
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135714804

I think I've burned out on the Plantagenets for a while. Despite this being well written, I ended up not finishing it.

After I posted the last set of reviews, I realized I'd forgotten to post my latest reread!

Black Bird, by Michel Basilières
Category: Sense and Sensibility
Source: Friends of Library and Archives Canada book sale
Rating: 5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/work/203097/reviews/78161831

I first read this in 2010 and decided to reread it this year. It's a somewhat surreal take on the events leading up to the October Crisis of 1970 through the eyes of a family called the Desouches. Occasionally macabre, sometimes darkly amusing, it is a book that those who are familiar with Montreal and the history of the period may get a lot out of.

****

Also, on Friday I put up the 2016 Christmas Murder Mystery Thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/241520
(this is the successful thread; I accidentally posted in the 2017 group first, which is what happens when I try to set up threads before I've had my morning caffeine.)

A bit behind on my thread... I have two reviews prepped and will post my November recap shortly. I was out at the movies yesterday to see Doctor Who and the Power of the Daleks -- an animated restoration of the Second Doctor's first story! It was the first time the Doctor had regenerated, so this was totally new territory for the show. The actual film of the show has been lost (save for a few fragments of film), but fans had recorded the audio of all the episodes off the TV, so the animators were able to create visuals to go with the soundtrack. It was great! Possibly even better than the original in that all six episodes were strung together into a single feature-length film. The pacing was still slower than modern Doctor Who, but at least it didn't keep taking a break for credits. It was released last month in honour of the story's 50th anniversary of broadcast. Well worth watching.

****

And now for some reviews.

Innocent Graves, by Peter Robinson
Category: Sense and Sensibility
Source: apparently a gift.
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/70475243

I came across this when reorganizing my mystery paperbacks following my huge book sale purchase, so I decided to pull it out to save room on the shelf. The intent was to reread it and give it away, and I haven't changed my mind.

Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135058234

My favourite in the Alex Morrow series so far. It is also set in the lead-up to Christmas if you're looking for a Christmas mystery ;)

November recap

Despite a month that did not have much in the way of routine, I still managed to at least attempt 16 books in total:

Bit Rot, by Douglas Coupland
Coffin Road, by Peter May (abandoned)
Rogue Heroes: A History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, by Ben Macintyre (partly read)
Wenjack, by Joseph Boyden
Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body, by Sara Pascoe
A Folly of Princes, by Nigel Tranter
The Crime on Cote Des Neiges, by David Montrose (abandoned)
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson (reread via Serial Reader)
The Bonjour Effect: The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed, by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoît Nadeau
Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars, by Terrance Dicks (audio, narrated by Tom Baker)
The Blood Strand, by Chris Ould
King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta, by Marc Morris (partly read)
Black Bird, by Michel Basilières (reread)
Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina
Innocent Graves, by Peter Robinson (reread)
Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, by Mara Wilson

My favourite book of the month was The Bonjour Effect, by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau. It gave me a few personal epiphanies and had very interesting information about the French language and culture.

My least favourite book was Coffin Road, by Peter May, which had a hard-to-believe amnesia plot line and multiple gratuitous sex scenes. Very disappointing.

I ended up having to return a bunch of books to the library unread; not only did I not have time to read them, but also having them too long probably made them lose their pall. Most I re-added to the to-read list. Some I requested as ebooks. I've started doing that, placing holds on both the print and ebook editions in case I run out of time with the print one.

My RandomCAT pick ended up being abandoned because I found it dull, but at least that got it off the shelf.

Currently reading

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson -- STILL no progress since last month.
Dear Leader, by Damian Rogers -- Still at work, still not being read. I will probably end up abandoning it.
Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd -- I'm determined to finish it this year! Got some good momentum going in the middle of the month; long train rides will do that.
North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell -- Reading this via Serial Reader because I want to watch the miniseries starring Richard Armitage. It's going slowly because I read it only at suppertime.
Happy Alchemy, by Robertson Davies -- A collection of essays, lectures and other writings related to the theatre. Really enjoyable so far.

I also have library books that need to get started, but haven't picked one yet.

December plans

My RandomCAT selection is Happy Alchemy, based on the fact that my uncle gave me a copy of The Cornish Trilogy as a Christmas present when I was in high school, and it was a gift that has appreciated in value. It took me a decade to get around to it, but I really enjoyed it when I did.

I've borrowed a copy of The Long Way Home from my mum; I hope to arrange it so that I read it on the train home for Christmas and then can return it once I'm finished.

On my library shelves this month:

Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David -- BB from @RidgewayGirl.
Exploring Old Quebec: Walking Tours, by Maude Bonenfant -- Something to flip through. I wanted to visit Quebec City this fall but it didn't end up happening. Maybe this spring or summer.
Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood -- MUST READ
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande -- I think I requested this because I've also placed a hold on Complications, which is taking forever to arrive.
Why We Make Mistakes, by Joseph T. Hallinan -- This came up in my Goodreads feed when someone else read it, so I used the reminder to request it from the library.
Scottish History for Dummies, by William Knox -- We'll see whether I get through this or have to re-request.
Honni soit qui mal y pense: L'incroyable histoire d'amour entre le français et l'anglais, by Henriette Walter -- Borrowed in a fit of optimism. French is very slow reading for me.
Murder of a Lady, by Anthony Wynne -- Another British Library Crime Classic.
The Expendable Man, by Dorothy B. Hughes -- A Persephone Books edition! At the library! I couldn't NOT borrow this.
The Red Road, by Denise Mina -- Seriously, Denise Mina is one of very few authors where I feel the need to binge on her books. This is #4 in the Alex Morrow series.
London Falling, by Paul Cornell -- The first in the Shadow Police series, requested following a review by @AHS-Wolfy.

Exciting plans for December reading! I hope you do make it to Quebec City sometime. I've enjoyed every visit I've made there. I've not braved a visit in the winter time, though.

>112 rabbitprincess:
What a great way to recreate the lost footage!

>112 rabbitprincess: There was a radio interview a few weeks ago with one of the people involved in animating the film - it sounded fascinating!

>114 mathgirl40: The last time I was there was a February, and it was for work, so I didn't have a lot of time to sightsee. And when I did have time, it was in the minus 20s before windchill or something ridiculous like that, so nobody would have wanted to go out and about with me. I've been there before too as a kid, but I was a brat and didn't fully appreciate it at the time :P

>115 -Eva-: It was! I like what they did with the visuals.

>116 Jackie_K: They had a little featurette after the movie, but they didn't get into too many details of the actual animation technique. It reminded me of a 1990s cartoon called Angela Anaconda, in the way that the characters blinked and moved. They did talk about how easy or difficult it was to capture various characters.

****

Spending the weekend catching up on books, DVDs and reviews.

Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, by Mara Wilson
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136110451

I devoured this in a single sitting. Lots of great quotes, too, which I am collecting via the library's Overdrive copy. (Good thing I requested the ebook AND the print copy!)

I have @RidgewayGirl to thank for this book bullet!

Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David
Category: The Deal
Source: library
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136110495

This book is a companion piece to an exhibition of the same name that ran at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto from June 2014 to June 2016. Sadly, I missed the exhibit, but the book stands alone well. Recommended for those who like to read about chemistry in everyday life or who appreciate new ways of looking at medicine or occupational health and safety.

I'm glad you liked it. Also recommended for people who love beautifully photographed historical clothing.

>119 RidgewayGirl: Yes! I loved the green dresses especially. It's not surprising that people wanted them so much, if they were that rich-looking.

Fashion Victims looks awesome. I love the mix of informative and dark history that it implies.

Andrea, the illustrations are what makes this book really special. It's glorious.

>121 andreablythe: That is an excellent description of it!

>122 RidgewayGirl: Very well chosen, too.

****

I just realized my Christmas vacation starts in two weeks and I haven't done any shopping for the people I'm going home to visit! Ack! Part of that is because my brother was supposed to get back to me about what things HE wanted to buy, and he hasn't yet :-/ I will have to nag him again because I need to go out this weekend! The more I do now, the less I have to do in a mad scramble at home in the days just before Christmas.

One thing I *am* doing is getting through books.

Dear Leader, by Damian Rogers
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: Chaptigo
Rating: 2/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/123104255

I'm declaring this one done, but I haven't the heart to put it in the TWD category even though I abandoned it. I abandoned it more because I am not much of a poetry person than because of any lack of quality on the book's part.

Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood
Category: South Riding
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136140988

This was awesome! The theatre setting really makes this Shakespeare retelling work and reinforces the parallels. I did think some of the dialogue veered a little into "really?", but overall I greatly enjoyed this and may need to get my own copy.

For princess, and you don't have to share if you don't want to.

Ugh, I ask everyone around October what they want, and I've learned to add "...because if you don't tell me soon, you'll get what I want you to have." My dad was famous for waiting until two days before Christmas, then whispering to his daughters that they'd better help him come up with something for Mom. : )

>124 mstrust: Mmmmm!!! Thank you! That reminds me I have holiday peanut butter cups in the cupboard. They're Reeses peanut butter cups, but in the shape of bells rather than cups.

We have ideas for everybody (me, my brother, my mum and my dad), so for my brother and me it's just a question of us deciding who's buying what. I don't want to go out and buy a book, for example, only to find my brother's gone and bought the same thing.

I have a giant candy bowl filled with Hershey Kisses, which are too small to contain calories.
My sister and I used to go through the same conversations, because Mom would tell us both the same things that she wanted for Christmas. It took a couple of years of those "She told me to get her that..." on Christmas day to get her to give us two separate lists.

>126 mstrust: said: "I have a giant candy bowl filled with Hershey Kisses, which are too small to contain calories."

lol! I love this idea :)

>123 rabbitprincess:, >126 mstrust: I have gone through several holidays with the frustration of duplicate gifts (especially for my parents) so I can appreciate the annoyance of wanting to buy your gifts but being unsure which to get. Hope that you & your brother get it all straightened out!

>126 mstrust: I think the Reeses bells operate on the same principle ;) Same with the little bars of Hersheys chocolate.

>127 leslie.98: We've got a good email thread going and a Word document with a table in it saying who's buying what, so I have my plan of attack for the weekend. Hurray!

I am up far too early on a weekend, but I've been doing laundry and writing a review, so that is pretty productive.

Happy Alchemy: Writings on the Theatre and Other Lively Arts, by Robertson Davies
Category: The Hollow Crown
Source: RPPS Book Sale
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/135780540

Recommended if you're on a Robertson Davies kick or enjoy the theatre. Better as a bedside book, because the themes and examples do recur somewhat frequently.

It's back to winter again in Ottawa; we received nearly 20 cm of snow over the past 24 hours or so. It's light and fluffy, so it's easy to shovel, but there's a lot of it. The commute was slow both to and from work, but the commute home was more bearable. I was carpooling to an off-site work function today and my ride got stuck in traffic caused by snow and a stalled car on the Champlain Bridge, so she was an hour later than expected. Going home I just got a ride downtown and took the bus home as usual. It was slower than a clear day, obviously, but it was much less stressful because I could at least read without checking my watch every couple of minutes, as I do when waiting for a ride!

Yesterday I hunkered down and finished this festive book:

The Santa Klaus Murder, by Mavis Doriel Hay
Category: Thorne
Source: Xmas gift 2015
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/124491643

Not bad, not amazing. The cast of characters is helpful. There's also a great pun.

Wow, 20cm of snow!

Since we've been in Scotland my mother-in-law is convinced that we get 20cm of snow all the time in winter. Every time there's a feature on the news about skiing in the Cairngorms she phones to ask us if we're snowed in! And every time I have to point out that we're not on top of a Highland mountain! We're lucky if we get an inch, once or twice over the whole winter. The last time I remember really heavy snow and everything ground to a halt was in 2010.

>131 Jackie_K: Ha! And there aren't Highland cattle roaming the streets where you are either ;)

****

Happiness is receiving two jars of homemade goodies (salted caramel sauce and salsa) for Christmas.

Sadness is the sound the jars make when they fall out the bottom of the bag and smash onto the ground outside your front door.

>132 rabbitprincess: That's so sad! Both salsa and caramel sauce are items to be treasured, but also items that would be less than pleasant to clean up.

>133 RidgewayGirl: Fortunately the jars didn't smash into too many pieces, and the whole mess mixed together into something easily scooped up with a spoon. Ironically, I had just given this friend a couple of really nice preserving jars for Christmas -- for her own personal use, not to be broken by clumsy friends.

>132 rabbitprincess: well you say that, but when I lived in Glasgow the Highland cattle in Pollok Park were quite famous for break-outs and causing havoc - there were a couple of escapes while I lived there. One ended up in a car showroom before it was caught, and another one brought much of the suburban train network to a halt as it ran up and down the tracks!

>132 rabbitprincess:
Oh no, a salted caramel disaster! Truly a sad moment.

>135 Jackie_K: Aw! Cute and destructive at the same time! I found a couple of articles about a breakout a few years ago, but neither showed actual footage of the rampage. Lots of other excellent photos in general though. Will have to keep that in mind as a destination on our next trip to Glasgow.

>136 -Eva-: It was. I mourned all the toast I wasn't going to be able to spread it on :(

Awww, what deliciousness lost! Maybe if she's a really nice friend, you'll get some replacements and a stronger bag.

>138 mstrust: She did say she had some extra salsa I could have. I'll go over and pick it up in the new year, probably, and I will bring my nice sturdy lunch bag to carry it in, and wrap it in some cloth bags as well.

>132 rabbitprincess: What a loss! Caramel sauce and salsa, to say nothing of the preserving jars.

>140 VivienneR: Yes, I'm going to buy new jars to replace the ones that broke. My friend is also partial to the Classico spaghetti sauce jars, so I'll make a point of getting those next time we plan to have spaghetti.

Taking the morning to play catch-up on all the threads in the group.

Now caught up will all your reading and your very busy life! Echoing the envy that your were able to attend a Proclaimers concert and those boozy cupcakes look decadent! Fashion Victims is already on my future reading list but still happy to see you found the book fascinating.

>132 rabbitprincess: - That is truly a "happiness/sadness" story. ;-(

>124 mstrust:
That sounds like a good plan. I haven't started any of my shopping this year, so now I'lll be trying to pull off some gifts down to the wire.

>143 andreablythe: Wow, living on the edge. But some people do well with that pressure to move them along. Good luck!

>132 rabbitprincess: - I'm so sorry for the loss of the salted caramel - that is truly a sadness. Good luck with the replacements!

I'm not the biggest salsa fan, but the loss of the caramel is sad indeed!

>142 lkernagh: Great to see you! It's funny, my life doesn't seem all that busy until I write down all the things I've done! Hope you like Fashion Victims when you get to it.

>143 andreablythe: >144 mstrust: Every year I think "NEXT year I am going to keep a running thread of ideas and then just buy from them when the time comes", and it never happens. Hope your shopping goes well, Andrea!

>145 LittleTaiko: Thanks! I at least had twice-baked shortbread and candied grapefruit peel to console me. Those didn't break!

>146 dudes22: It was! Ah well, lots of lessons learned, namely that I should make sure bags are very sturdy when carrying fragile items.

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I'm on the early shift for Christmas vacation: taking the rest of this week off and working between Christmas and New Year's. I need the time beforehand at home anyway, to help with last-minute shopping and making my parents' place presentable for Christmas dinner (it's their turn to host this year). Trying to pack light in terms of books, and I have only two, both of which I intend to finish and leave with my parents. That should free up room for what I hope are the inevitable book Christmas presents.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up books and writing reviews!

Murder of a Lady, by Anthony Wynne
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 3/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136451783

Another British Library Crime Classic. Not bad, not amazing. Some weird continuity errors and jumps in action that made me think they'd forgotten a page or two.

Declarations of War, by Len Deighton
Category: Our Mutual Friend (group read - BAC)
Source: London, England (probably Waterstones)
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/85167363

This was a neat little collection of short stories, primarily because all of the pieces were intended to be a part of this collection. You could try it if you're new to Deighton, or you could read Bomber first (one of the stories plays with memory in a similar way).

Fingers Xed for inevitable Christmas books!

>129 rabbitprincess: I'm a fan of both Davies and the theatre, so I'll have to look out for this one.

>148 -Eva-: Thanks! If I don't get any book presents, I'll borrow some other books from my parents ;) I've already pocketed The Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny.

>149 mathgirl40: It was really good! If I see another copy of it I will pick it up for you. Then maybe I can hand it off at Bouchercon!

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Getting a fair bit of reading done with the Christmas music going in the background. It's an interesting mix: classic carols, surf-rock instrumentals, opera, R&B, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll. You never know what you're going to hear next.

The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny
Category: Thorne
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 4/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136110649

I went into this with lowered expectations and I think that helped. I liked the discussion of Clarence Gagnon (we have a few prints and books of his work).

Have a Merry Christmas, RP. Will catch up with you in the New Year on our new threads!

Great review of The Long Way Home. I haven't been able to warm to Louise Penny but I'm still hoping.

Your music mix sounds excellent. A couple of years ago my son bought me Rob Halford's Winter Songs, which is surprisingly good for a mix such as yours.

Have a wonderful, merry Christmas! See you in 2017.

>150 rabbitprincess: Thanks for the offer. Either way, it'll be great to meet up at Bouchercon, if not before.

>152 VivienneR: About the only things that aren't in this mix are Michael Bublé (too cheesy for my pa the DJ) and Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime". This year's big discovery was the Rebel Cats, a Mexican rockabilly group. We also have a Sharon Jones album in the mix.

>153 mathgirl40: Yes! I've got the vacation already blocked off on my calendar ;)

Merry Christmas to you rp:

>155 dudes22: Thanks, Betty, and a Merry Christmas to you as well!

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Very pleased to report that three new books were waiting for me under the tree:

Mystery in the Channel, by Freeman Wills Crofts
The 12.30 from Croydon, by Freeman Wills Crofts
1921, by Morgan Llywelyn

All of these were on my list... I pulled a few suggestions from my massive tbr list that I wouldn't mind owning ;)

Hope you are all having lovely Christmases or Sundays!

Back from Christmas vacation already with a couple of reviews in hand:

The Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny
Category: Thorne
Source: borrowed from parents
Rating: 3.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/137142599

I had intended to take this back with me and read it later, but I was so bored with Russka (see below) that I ended up tearing through this instead. Got lots of fun Beauvoir quotes out of it. Strangely, I think I liked The Long Way Home a bit better, maybe because I had lower expectations for that one. At any rate, looking forward to the next one (whenever it comes out in paperback).

Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd
Category: Our Mutual Friend, The Walking Dead
Source: bought with a gift card
Rating: 1/5 (DNF)
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/70474112

After a month and a half I barely made it to Chapter 6. Too many macho men for my liking and one icky plot point. So I'm calling it done (and was able to leave it at my parents', whew!).

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Edit to add bookish meme I took from @casvelyn's thread in the 2017 group: The Year in Books.

Describe yourself: The Idiot Brain

How do you feel? Grunt

Describe where you currently live: The Idea of North

If you could go anywhere...? Treasure Island

Favorite form of transportation: Down to the Sea in Ships

Your best friend is: Dear Leader

You and your friends are: The Rebel Angels

What's the weather like? The Dark Winter

Your favorite time of day is: Silent Nights

What is life for you? A Magnificent Obsession

You fear: Shady Characters

Best advice: Do No Harm

Thought for the day: Where Am I Now? or Is There Life Outside the Box?

How you would like to die: Never Saw it Coming

>157 rabbitprincess: Great meme answers. I must remember to do that before the end of the year.

I've been working on my meme for this year too. Hope to post in a couple of days along with my stats for the year.

>158 thornton37814: Thanks! I had a good crop of titles this year.

>159 dudes22: You had great answers too! Also I realized I missed out on the "Your soul's present condition" one. Might add it later if a title jumps out at me.

>160 mstrust: and >161 VivienneR: Thank you for the New Year's wishes! Happy New Year to you!

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Can't believe it's already time to pack up 2016. The yearly recap will come later this afternoon. But first, I have to finish up reviews for the month, then do a monthly recap.

Sad Cypress, by Agatha Christie
Category: Blackpool, Our Mutual Friend
Source: ripped from library
Rating: 2.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/106522451

Two stars for the story, an extra half star for David Suchet's narration (there was a bit of accent slippage).

The Red Road, by Denise Mina
Category: Thorne
Source: library
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: http://www.librarything.com/review/136423818

Remember how I said Gods and Beasts was my favourite Alex Morrow book? Correction: this one is. So good. It is shocking and tender and makes you think. And the scene in the Red Road flats made me wish I had some Gravol on hand. Mina's descriptions were particularly effective there.

And yes, I've placed a hold on Blood, Salt, Water, because Mina is one of the few authors I unashamedly binge on.

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December recap

The 12th month of 2016 saw me read, appropriately enough, 12 books.

Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David
Dear Leader, by Damian Rogers
Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood
Happy Alchemy: Writings on the Theatre and Other Lively Arts, by Robertson Davies
The Santa Klaus Murder, by Mavis Doriel Hay
Murder of a Lady, by Anthony Wynne
Declarations of War, by Len Deighton
The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny
The Nature of the Beast, by Louise Penny
Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd (DNF)
Sad Cypress, by Agatha Christie (audio, narrated by David Suchet)
The Red Road, by Denise Mina

My favourite book of the month was Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood. I was (and still am) skeptical of the idea of retelling Shakespeare's plays, but Atwood's retelling of The Tempest really worked for me.

My least favourite book of the month was Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd, which I DNF'd after five very long chapters (and with many more long chapters to go).

Having unexpected travel in November had a knock-on effect on my library holds in December: had to do a lot more strategic renewing or just returning to the library unread. I also started a couple of big books that I won't finish for ages and ages, because I'm smart like that ;)

I greatly enjoyed my RandomCAT pick (Happy Alchemy) and appreciated the theme for allowing me to get to it fairly quickly (a month after purchasing it!).

Currently reading

The Sagas of Icelanders, by Jane Smiley -- Finally started this one. It's been on my "currently reading" shelf since April, when it was first assigned to me by Go Review That Book! The person who picked it suggested just reviewing one saga, which makes sense. Foolishly I decided to keep it at the office, so it may take all year to finish.
Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson -- Made a bit more progress. It's on the bedside table, and I have read a couple of chapters before bed some nights.
North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell -- Still reading this on Serial Reader. Got a bunch of issues read over Christmas.
Honni soit qui mal y pense: L'incroyable histoire d'amour entre l'anglais et le français, by Henriette Walter -- I started this, thought it was really interesting, then lost momentum. Hoping to chip away at it a bit more today. It will be done in early 2017 and that will be a great boost to my French category!

I don't have a new bus book yet, but it will likely end up being Help Me, Jacques Cousteau, by Gil Adamson. It is one of the remnants of my 2016 pool.

January plans

My RandomCAT selection is Franklin's Lost Ship, by John Geiger. It has two levels of searching: people are searching for the ships of the Franklin expedition, and the ships themselves were searching for the Northwest Passage.

I'm also hoping to read all the library books that I've had to renew multiple times. Why We Make Mistakes, I'm looking at you...

On my library shelves this month:

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are Pretty Sure We Are All Above Average, by Joseph T. Hallinan -- This continues my theme of reading books about the brain and the stupid things it does.
The Expendable Man, by Dorothy B. Hughes -- a Persephone Books edition, no less! I had to borrow it when I saw it at the library. Might start it over the New Year's weekend.
The African Svelte: Orthographic Mistakes and Misspellings that Often Make Sense, by Daniel Menaker -- This looks like a very light, easy read, which I might need because I've got a cold :( And this book is illustrated by Roz Chast, which is a nice bonus.
The Pigeon Tunnel, by John le Carré -- borrowed via Overdrive. Sounds interesting!
The Frozen Shroud, by Martin Edwards -- Lake District Mystery series, #6.
Death in Dublin, by Bartholomew Gill -- McGarr #16. Involves the theft of the Book of Kells!
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly -- this just came in a couple of days ago and I am really excited to read it.

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Year-end recap coming up later. Stay tuned!

I'm eying The Expendable Man as a possible choice for January's CATWoman.

I'm glad you're loving Mina as much as I do. She writes with such empathy, even for the worst criminals, that it's impossible to enjoy mystery novels where the bad guys are just one-dimensionally evil.

Happy New Year's Eve!

>163 RidgewayGirl: I really liked Hughes' In a Lonely Place, so I have reasonable hopes for The Expendable Man.

Yes, she does that very well indeed. And I don't feel like Glasgow is a grim place from her books. There is still heart and hope.

Happy New Year's Eve to you as well! I am ringing in the new year with a cold, as I did last year. I'm on my second company-sized pot of tea and have been puttering around on the Internet and watching The Lady in the Van, starring Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett and Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd, the lady in the van.

2016 recap

Total books read: 184

Category totals (these may add up to more than 184 because I posted a few in multiple categories):

Doctor Who -- SFF -- 8
The Other Boleyn Girl – History -- 23
Thorne – Mystery -- 31
The Hollow Crown – Plays + graphic novels + short stories + other miscellaneous books -- 23 (4 plays, 19 "other")
Blackpool – Audiobooks -- 4
Cause célèbre – French -- 2
Sense and Sensibility – Rereads -- 10
Our Mutual Friend – Group reads + Geo CAT + RandomCAT -- 30 (10 group reads + 8 GeoCAT + 12 RandomCAT)
The Deal – Non-fiction + Dewey CAT -- 34 (23 non-fiction + 11 DeweyCAT)
South Riding – General fiction -- 20
The Walking Dead - Abandoned / unfinished / partly read books -- 15

Non-fiction had a banner year this year, both in quantity and in quality; many of my best reads for the year were non-fiction. It may have helped that we had the DeweyCAT to keep non-fiction in my mind. And I had a lot of fun reading language books to research recommendations for the 400s section of the DeweyCAT (which I hosted in June).

This was my best year yet for audiobooks! I doubled my goal. I've discovered that having an audiobook on my phone while I do the dishes is a great way to chip away at them.

It was also a "good" year for abandoning books, although I prefer to think of it as making time for books that DO hold my interest.

Now for my favourites of the year, the top five in each quarter.

Picks of Q1 (Jan-Mar)
Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, by Henry Marsh (review)
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (review)
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps, by Kelly Williams Brown (review)
Death of an Airman, by Christopher St. John Sprigg (review)
Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, by Keith Houston (review)

Picks of Q2 (Apr-Jun)
For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection, by David Marsh (review)
The Finest Hours: The True Story of the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue, by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman (review)
The Orenda, by Joseph Boyden (review)
The Cornish Trilogy Volume 1: The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies (review of this volume) (review of full trilogy)
Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh (review)

Picks of Q3 (Jul-Sep)
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, by Mary Roach (review)
Brace for Impact: Air Crashes and Aviation Safety, by Peter Pigott (review)
The Cornish Trilogy Volume 3: The Lyre of Orpheus, by Robertson Davies (review of this volume) (review of full trilogy)
Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation, by David Crystal (review)
Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue, by Bill Watterson (review)

Picks of Q4 (Oct-Dec)
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard (review)
The Bonjour Effect: The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed, by Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau (review)
Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood (review)
The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head Is Really Up To, by Dean Burnett (review)
Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David (review)

Thank you for playing along with my David Morrissey category challenge. Next year's theme is ships, specifically those of the Canadian Coast Guard. And amazingly, I found an appropriate picture of DM to send off this thread and usher in the New Year. It's from The Water Horse.

Hag-Seed made my top 10 list. Glad to see it was one of your favorites of the last quarter.

>165 rabbitprincess: Wow, 184 books -- congratulations! I've been meaning to read SPQR, so I'm glad to see it's one of your top reads of the year.

What a wonderful reading year you had! Love the picture for next year and I love sea stories so I will make myself check-in more often.

>166 thornton37814: It worked so well! I was quite impressed.

>167 christina_reads: It's a big book but well worth the time it takes to read it. I had to read it in both print and ebook format at the library, and it took a while to have the holds come in, but the book was great.

>168 mysterymax: I'm hoping to read a lot of sea stories to fit the theme! :D

Nautical and sea disasters is one of my favourite catagories - one I'd highly recommend, a non-fiction one, is Fire on the Beach by David Wright. Excellent story.

You did remarkably well this year and I look forward to following your 2017 thread. But I'll miss David Morrissey. : D

>170 mysterymax: Ooh, that does look good! Added to the TBR list.

>171 mstrust: Oh, I'll probably find a reason to sneak him in to the 2017 thread ;)

I enjoyed seeing your top reads of the year. I'm glad Hag-Seed was one of them, as my library hold for it has just come in.

Wonderful recap and 184 books read is a great achievement! I'll be interested in your thoughts on Hidden Figures since it's on my wish list and I'm probably going to see the movie.

Je profite de l'occasion pour te souhaiter une excellente année 2017 avec beaucoup de belles lectures :)

>173 mathgirl40: I hope you like it! The politicking in the theatre world reminded me a little of Slings and Arrows :)

>174 paruline: Merci beaucoup! Je te souhaite une bonne et heureuse année. Nous devons penser à un lieu pour notre prochain "summit"! ;)

Hidden Figures is high priority for me this month. I'd like to see the movie as well.