Susan (quondame) trys tempering challeges with sanity round 1

I had a great 2018 on LT and in this group, reading lots of favorite authors and going out of my comfort zone on challenges - and since I read primarily for comfort that was a challenge! Maybe I went a bit overboard even, since my end of year book ratings seemed on the low side and I don't think I got anywhere near my usual quota of re-reads. So my plan is to have as much fun with the challenges as I can in 2019 and otherwise read what calls to me.

Hi Susan! Happy 2019 reading.

Welcome back! Is that top picture a set of Discworld books? If so, that’s really cool!

Hi Susan, just dropped my star off, hope you will be gentle with a new regular visitor my dear, lol.

>2 richardderus: >3 drneutron: >4 johnsimpson: Thanks for the welcome!
>3 drneutron: Yes, isn't it fun? I collect miniature tools and all sorts of miniatures catch my eyes.

Hi Susan! Happy new thread. Love the Discworld set up top.

Hi Susan- Are you planning to save The Consuming Fire for January, or will you try to get it finished for December? I'll try to match whatever you're doing....

January. It's due the 7th. Do you have a challenge to slot it into?

Nope - I just wanted to be sure I didn’t need to get it read this weekend if I wanted the shared read!

ETA: I'm not going for a sweep in January, so it can go wherever it's most helpful to you.

Happy new thread!
>1 quondame: Very cool miniatures!

Hello, Susan! I am so glad you have discovered our little corner of LT :)

>10 mstrust: Welcome! Various miniatures are a thing with me. Tools, and miniature dachshunds, and miniature people - dolls that is.

I collect miniature sewing machines! It's great to see other collections. Happy Reading!

Happy New Thread and New Year, Susan! Starred you.

Happy New Year Susan!

Hi Susan, we would like to wish you a very happy new year my dear and hope that 2019 is a very good year, sending love and hugs from both of us dear friend.

Happy reading in 2019, Susan!

Wishing you and yours a happy and joyous 2019, filled with peace, love, and great books.

#1) The Marvels



Beautiful book about lost loves and the power of stories and of making dreams real. 400+ pages of dramatic pencil illustrations, 200 of text which includes an poignant explanation of the illustrated story and so much more.

BB credit to @avatiakh and @souloftherose

Read for January TIOLI #9: Read a paper book thicker than your two smallest fingers

Happy New Year, Susan. Glad you started with a great read.

>7 Dejah_Thoris: I have slotted The Consuming Fire into TIOLI #1, for which you have an entry. So unless some one comes up with a vehicles on the cover challenge or something else blindingly obvious for this - it would be a stretch for #5 or #12 though somebody must have put it on a best list #13, I haven't found it, and all the other challenges are even worse, it looks like it won't help you toward a sweep. If you find another place to put it, let me know.
Moved to TIOLI #16

Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you, Susan, this year.

Happy New Year and happy new thread! Good luck with the challenges!

Dropping off my star, Susan!

#2) The Consuming Fire



Compact and amusing, the new emperox finds her feet among traitorous murdering schemers. This has the feel of a story setting the actors firmly in place before launching the main action. I love the names of the space ships. There is some backstory fit in about the establishment of the Interdependency area of space, but this is really a fantasy space political opera.

Meets January TIOLI #16: Read a book that has something 'slashy' on the cover

>25 quondame: All the politicking slowed my reading down, but the organization of the book into fairly short chapters made this a perfect bathtub book. I loved the showdown scene at the end!

>26 ronincats: That was fun.

Thanks for the New Year wishes >22 PaulCranswick: >23 foggidawn: >24 ronincats:!

>19 quondame: Ooo aaahhh pretty

>25 quondame: After Redshirts, which I enjoyed, I sorta...forgot...Scalzi. Maybe 2019's the year to pick him back up.

>28 richardderus: Scalzi was an author I didn't register until fairly recently - for most of this millennium I rarely added male authors to my reading lists - but I kept stumbling over his books when looking for a 1980s book featuring an old central American man who becomes a interstellar counter-revolutionary because of a sort of psychic accident. I've never found that book, but I've enjoyed a few of Scalzi's.

#3) The Sky-Blue Wolves



Episodic and sketchy, this final volume is a hasty farewell to a series that was dragging a bit. Sort of a highlight reel of the book it should have been, but which would probably have dragged a bit.
I like the Mongols.

Meets January TIOLI #3: Read a book with an animal in the title that isn't a real animal

Happy reading in 2019 Susan

Happy New Year, Susan! I see you are off to a great start - two books read already!

Hi Susan! You are off to a roaring start! The Marvels sounds rather tempting, the others not so much. The only Scalzi I have read is Redshirts and it didn't do it for me.

I actually had to pause in reading to de-tinsel the tree. Fortunately I had a secret weapon to deploy!

>21 quondame: >25 quondame: I'll be starting The Consuming Fire some time soon - I've been finishing a few other things that I needed to get back to the library first!

I've definitely become a Scalzi fan. Last year I read Lock In and Head On - I thought they were great,

>34 quondame: I keep a few of those around, but I favor the tradition use - there's no end to the cat hair.....

>35 Dejah_Thoris: It's a very useful item where critters abide - and I keep one near the ironing board when I'm sewing for all the thready bits. I didn't use it as much to collect the tinsel as to keep it contained once collected. I've only done 4 Scalzi's - Fuzzy Nation because Fuzzies, but the others are all since I joined LT late 2017.

>29 quondame: I have a Scalzi waiting for me, Redshirts. Is it good?

>37 Berly: I haven't read Redshirts. It's been rated 4 stars and several others from this group have discussed it, so I'd guess it has appeal.

Happy new year.
I wish, that you may find a good and solid path in 2019

#4) The Monster Baru Cormorant



Lacking the novelty of the setup in the first of the series, this volume has us follow a frequently drunk and dubiously out of control Baru as she does what she's directed to do on her way to bring down the Masquerade. She has lots of seriously bad sorts out to kill her and few friends and a bizarre hold on power.

Meets January TIOLI #1: Read a book where you take one letter from each word in the title to make a new word (heat)

Hi Susan and happy new thread.

>1 quondame: I love your topper - such wonderful miniature books.

and otherwise read what calls to me.

Have fun and good luck.

#5) New Atlantis



In the south seas our narrator comes to an nation unknown to Europe but fully informed about the past and present of all the worlds lands. This is a Christian nation by miraculous delivery of the gospels 20yrs after the Crucifixion which generously allows Jews and a few others to live there. Mostly tell rather than show, the narrator 'repeats' reports about the chastity of the people and the institutionalized pursuit knowledge and practical invention.
Women however are kept firmly in the background, standing at the edges of a man's feast or sequestered in a viewing room, listed as servants and attendants of scholars, but hardly elsewhere. "Every sperm is sacred" played in my head during the Feast of the Family report. I'm inclined to think Francis Bacon a hypocritical prig.

Meets January TIOLI #6: Read a book that has happy, new, or year in the title

>39 paulstalder: Thanks Paul!

Having had to actually leave the house for most of the day Sat., I found lots to catch up with and little time to read. My SCA friends and I attended a great viking period feast. Carrots & turnips, barley, lamb stew, pork roast, and lots of appetizers, we were very well fed.

>40 quondame: That is such a seriously creepy cover that I thought it would be a horror story.

>41 karenmarie: Thanks! My favorite miniatures are tools, but they all catch my attention.

>44 mstrust: It's more a horror of a story - and the body count is quite high.

Happy New Year, Susan!

Consuming Fire: a fantasy space political opera. Tempting from this author! Our son LOVES Scalzi, and has me reading Locked In next. (I've read the Old Man's War books and Redshirts.

>46 jnwelch: I've enjoyed the Scalzi's I've read, but wouldn't class them as hard sf, despite space ships and lack of romance. But then I wouldn't class 95% of pre-1990 as hard sf and less pre-1950, those being more space adventure travelogue stuff. Please note, there was a recent unpleasantness in the local SF community when a 'hard' sf author criticized N.K. Jemison for 'not getting the science right, honey' while sitting on a panel with a bunch of male sf authors who frequently rely on impossibilium and faster-than-light gobbledygook.

#6) Skyward



Lackluster account of a teen girl who needs to be 'space' fighter, gets into flight school by skin of teeth but without support of admin so she has to take care of herself. Lots of improbabilities and absurdities within a pretty contrived system, but of course she proves herself and justifies her existence in grand ways. Light on coupling, significant body count, but our guys are fighting drones, so that's fine. Way too long and detailed for the actual content and few whiffs of originality.

Meets January TIOLI #4: Read the first book of a series/trilogy or saga

>48 quondame: I think I liked that one a little better than you did, but Spensa really did get on my nerves.

>49 foggidawn: It's not bad, but it spends a lot of time where most YA move quite quickly and I didn't find anything that was new to me. Brandon Sanderson's fantasy is on the mechanical side as far as the magical elements, but he seems to invest those characters and environments with feelings that resonate with me.

>50 quondame: I find that I enjoy his full-length adult fantasy more -- I think he needs the extra space to really develop his characters, plot, worldbuilding, and magic systems. I generally enjoy his teen books well enough, but not as much as, say, the original Mistborn trilogy.

>48 quondame: *skedaddles fast*

Hi Susan Bye Susan

>52 richardderus: So you won't be reading >42 quondame:?

>53 quondame: I've read >42 quondame:; it's >48 quondame: that breaks me out in bibliohives. I'm not generally interested in reading books about teens. I'm emphatically uninterested in gender-swapped retellings of Ender's Game.

>54 richardderus: It should aspire to such heights.

LOL That's a great burn, to me at least, since I dislike all things Card.

>56 richardderus: I've always had problems with Card, but I've liked enough of his books to continue to try them. Some really do stick in my memory, which is fairly rare. Although it's not always in a good way.

#7) The Mortal Word



A solid entry in the series which move Irene's career and relationships a bit and is filled with actions and dangerous situations. It is hard to believe the dragons as portrayed are creatures of order, but well the Fae are something else, not to mention the trouble Librarians can add to the mix.

The color of the book was too close to that of my sheets, I kept losing it among the pillows and it didn't stand out on other surfaces either.

I'd rather find a slot for it in another challenge, but for the sake of a shared read:

Meets January TIOLI #9: Read a paper book thicker than your two smallest fingers

#8) Hazards of Time Travel



The quality of the language and its flow save this read from disaster. The parallels with the self-repressions of 1959-1960 and the state repressions of the 2010s is good, but for a book which discusses free-will there is nothing but ambiguity to be found.

I wanted to pick a game I knew of from my early 19th century reading so I

Read for January TIOLI #14: Read a book where a word (or words) in the title is the name of a game

Hi Susan!

>59 quondame: Probably harder to find a book with Whist in the title, eh?

>60 karenmarie: Exactly. We know Faro was an option, but I'm not going for re-reads.

#9) The Furthest Station



A short, friendly sort of a ghost story, where disturbances on London's Metropolitan line lead Peter Grant and all the associates he gathers, willingly or not, into the hunt for the victim of a possible kidnapping.

Meets January TIOLI #18: Read a book where the author has a set of double letters in their name

It's Saturday morning and the wiki isn't talking to me. 🙁

>59 quondame: Oh dear! I’ve got this out from the library at the moment. Maybe I’ll give it a miss.

Hi Susan! I thought I had dropped by before, but it looks as though I hadn't.

Belatedly wishing you a Happy New Year! And happy new thread!



Wishing you and your family the best for 2019.

>65 humouress: Welcome and thank you for the good wishes!

Not quite the relationship I have to my books - and where does all that free floor space come from - but this is interesting!

>59 quondame: Oh dear...that's on hold for me at the library. I'm hopeful that the "flow of the language" will make the read worthwhile for me.

#10) The Bone Doll's Twin



Leisurely paced story of the childhood of the rightful heir to the throne of Skala which by divine decree was ruled by queens until the heir's uncle usurped the throne. Spelled by blood magic requiring the death of her twin brother to change her form to his, Tobin grows up isolated and surrounded by secrets.
The author does a decent job of making the material hers, but spends lots of time on tropes not new enough or rich enough to bear the weight gracefully. A better story for someone who hasn't spent 60 years reading about lost or hidden heirs and cross gender disguises simple and magical.

Meets January TIOLI #2: Read that nagging book

#11) The Prince and the Dressmaker



A sweet romantic tale of the necessity of being who you are in a society that pressures you to be what it thinks it needs.

BB from @avatiakh

Meets January TIOLI #13: Read a book which was recommended on a 'best of 2018' list - Washington Post, from their "10 Best Graphic Novels of 2018

#12) My Brother's Husband Volume 1



A manga which explores the reactions of a Japanese father and his daughter to the Canadian husband of his deceased brother. Kana's easy acceptance is contrasted to Yaichi's coming to grips with previously unexamined feelings of discomfort in acknowledging and understanding his brother's homosexuality and relationship with Mike and some outright homophobia. There is less stress on Mike as an individual than Mike as a sort of best case "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" guest. This manga departs from the style I'm used to in the rendering of the adult men, but otherwise the big eyed simple features of Kana and her mother are more typical.

BB from @richardderus

Meets January TIOLI #5: Read a book that contains (or is about) a first

>69 quondame: I've seen that book around a lot but I haven't picked it up because it looked a bit supernatural. But your review doesn't make it sound like that; out of curiosity, is it?

#13) All Systems Red



When I first read this I was delighted by the quirky take on being (in)human with a Murderbot who just wants to be left alone with endless media to peruse. The combination of media addiction and discomfort approaching the panic level at having to deal face to face with humans and human emotion is so identifiable and creates a strong resonance of irony for Murderbot's treasured inhumanity.
Now that I've read 3 sequels it is a delight to come back to this stunning miniature tour de force.

Re-Read for January TIOLI #4: Read the first book of a series/trilogy or saga

#14) My Brother's Husband Volume 2



While the first volume was about the in family impact of Mike on Yaichi and Kana, the second is also about how being homosexual affects relationships outside of the family and for members of other families, and the choices that are required.

BB from @richardderus

Meets January TIOLI #5: Read a book that contains (or is about) a first

I got *two* book-bullet credits!! Go me!

All Systems Red is a wonderful read. I got Artificial Condition recently, so I might back-to-back them.

>47 quondame: What an idiot! Not getting the science right - uh-huh, Mr. Make-It-Up. Did he really say "honey"? If so, we need to go TP his house.

I'm a big Murderbot fan, and can't wait for the next one to come out. I'm reading The Mortal Word right now, and once more having a blast with Irene and Vale and Kai and the rest.

>76 jnwelch: Yep, the quote, according to Jon Del Arroz:

In the context of the discussion, Bedford made an innocuous statement, not to anyone in particular, but talking to himself about what makes science fiction great. He simply uttered the words,”If you write sf honey, gotta get the science right.”

I don't buy the "innocuous statement, not to anyone in particular" but then Del Arroz uses the phase "the mantle of the greats like McCaffrey, Heinlein, and Pournelle", which I find a bit problematic.

#15) Goblin Market and Other Poems



The title poem is so overwhelmingly sensuous that it belies the restraint theme. I interpret it as closer to an addiction->withdrawal tale where Laura gets the high and Lizzie the withdrawal. As for the rest, there, right in the middle of flowery death, was

No, Thank You, John
(excerpt)
"Let Bygones be bygones:
Don't call me false, who owed not to be true:
I'd rather answer "No" to fifty Johns
Than answer "Yes" to you."

There was another moment or two, but nothing so memorable in the -when I'm gone- and -life is vanity, true living is in heaven- verses that follow.

Read for January TIOLI #10: Read a Book about sisters

I have to pack for what should have been a Thurs-Mon trip to the local mountains for feasting, crafts, gossip, games, but which I've delayed because it's raining today and won't (we hope) be raining tomorrow. I'll be reading some too, so even though it's unlikely I'll update anything until late Mon or even Tues, don't get complacent fellow TIOLI fiends. OK, so I'm not doing too well on the tempering bit....

Have a safe journey and a fun trip, Susan.

Have a fun time!

Safe travels, Susan! I love those Murderbot Diaries. You counted both of your last two reads as #14 - are they sharing credit? Either, way, you are off to a flying start this year!

>76 jnwelch: *gasp* Joe! Did you really suggest that? (Though I'll agree with the sentiment.)

When I'm reading, I have to admit that my mind glosses over the detail, whether it be futuristic science or magical fantasy since I haven't encountered either in my day to day life (never mind that I have a BSc). Well, some of the magical I have, thankfully.

>71 quondame: I have My Brother’s Husband on the bookshelf. I must get around to it at some stage.

I'm back. Thanks >80 richardderus: >81 mstrust: >82 Crazymamie: >83 humouress: >84 SandDune: for keeping my thread going. >82 Crazymamie: In cutting an pasting, I often fail to update and have to edit after the initial post.
>83 humouress: I consider internal consistency and tone more important than probability almost all the time, but the Martian military might of the Expansion series really irritates me.

Welcome back! I trust you had fun. : )

>86 Berly: Yes, indeed. I finished a bit of tape I had on a loom, realized I needed a beater for my finger loop braid and ate lots of food I didn't have to make or fetch for myself. I am glad to be back where I make my own coffee though. The brew at the lodge just didn't do it for me. My friend and I left just early enough to avoid the accident which closed the road we took behind us and caused, at best, a 2.5hr detour for those who left later.

Hi Susan...I needed a beater for my finger loop braid sounds like some sort of alchemists' code for something wildly immoral and/or illegal. *shiver*

>88 richardderus: As you probably guessed, nothing quite so interesting was happening.

>89 quondame: Ooo! Kinky Japanese weirdness!

#16) Nerve



I particularly like Rob Finn, the main & viewpoint character of this book, whose unusual choices are self accepted with so little fuss for all their intensity. The world of steeplechase racing and it's personalities come to life totally integrated into the action and tone of the narrative.

My copy certainly doesn't meet January TIOLI #9: Read a paper book thicker than your two smallest fingers, but as a shared read, it can go where it fits!

As a ROOT and part of a Dick Francis group read it gets a triple crown.

>90 richardderus: What is it with men exoticiseing the East?

#17) Ashes



Young woman with special-ness navigates a post-apocalyptic Wisconsin/Minnesota with teenage zombies and elders running murderous groups of raiders, where only a very few young adults have survived an ultimate EMP event. Hasn't everyone else also read this about 10 time already?

Read for January TIOLI #7: Read a book by a female author, in Rolling Alphabetical order

>91 quondame: Ask a manga-phile, I'm not among the aficionados.

>93 richardderus: My 26year old daughter down the hall wouldn't have an answer for that, I'm afraid. I can't even get a clear rational for her devotion to Yuri on Ice. 1 min of plot for 20 min of animated ice-skating.

>94 quondame: ...even the description makes me suicidally bored...

>91 quondame: Triple crown!! And lucky you making it out before that crash on the roads. Yikes.

>89 quondame: Oooh! That looks a heck of a lot simpler to set up, and to adjust distances on, than the ones I've seen (from medieval England, and possibly France) that have a long bench with a beater set in the far end and a foot-lever to activate it. I'll have to try it! Though I do wonder how she's holding one hand's worth of bowes...(on a comb, probably).

I once did a four-yard fingerloop braid (8-bowe spiral, in crochet cotton), by coopting my Baroness. She needed to hang around the pavilion for a while, so I got her to hit the junction when I called it for a while - and by the time she was terminally bored and could go somewhere else, the braid was up to where I could reach it with my foot. I did manage to wear through my skin at the knuckles doing it, though...neat little slits on either side of my first knuckles, on each finger.

Hi, Susan. Finally getting around to visiting the threads - I'm moving very slowly this year. I've been reading quite a bit of Scalzi lately - and I definitely consider myself a fan. I think I have a similar sense of humor, which isn't for everyone. Hope all is well with you.

>97 jjmcgaffey: With all my robot kits -from my Kickstarter addiction- I should be able to just push tap a button with my foot and have grabbers grasp and pull the yarns.
In the picture she's using holders for the strands rather than actually looping them on the fingers - it seems the Japanese did earlier technical development before they went to takadashi looms and kumihimo stands.
My husband will be competing in an archery contest for which he will get extra shots for submitting an arts entry - which can be made by his 'consort'. I figure I can either teach him fingerloop and produce points or use him as a beater.

#18) The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant



I can see it as charming, and find it disturbing.

Read for January TIOLI #8: Read a book originally published in French or German

Not Babar too! Oh dear.

#19) Old Filth



What is left to say. Beautifully written. It is about 20th century a British Raj-orphan who from birth to death in this book does little but let things happen to him and recovers from them. There are glimmers of interesting things lurking in the background, but on the surface this is another by&for Brits story of dull Brits, the which I gave up after Atonement, to the extent of not being able to watch Downton Abbey, no, not even for the costumes.

BB Fired by @weird_O but ricocheted all over LT!

Read for January TIOLI #12: Read a book which features a new beginning / fresh start

>91 quondame: I particularly like Rob Finn, the main & viewpoint character of this book, whose unusual choices are self accepted with so little fuss for all their intensity. Nicely put.

>102 quondame: More glimmers show up in The Man in the Wooden Hat.

#20) The Winter of the Witch



A solid, well constructed wrap up of the trilogy that did not quite capture the highlights of the first two volumes. Vasya has become somewhat of a force in herself and continues to consolidate her power and direction through the first two of the three challenges in this book.

Meets January TIOLI #10: Read a Book about sisters

#21) The Man in the Wooden Hat



The writing is once again gorgeous, and for me worth the time spent, but I didn't find Betty and her trials any more fundamentally engaging than I found Filth. What was actually a premarital affair really is made a big deal of and the book concentrates on a less than 3 year stretch of a 30 year marriage. And the end, except that Albert Russ survived Filth, is pretty much a repeat of Old Filth. Early sexual adventurism and it's later revelation is really thin material.

Meets January TIOLI #12: Read a book which features a new beginning / fresh start

>103 karenmarie: Well, they are even more well hidden in The Man in the Wooden Hat. I'm not inclined to find early premarital wanderings of characters very interesting and surely there is more of interest to mine in long lives than the avoiding of decades old traumas. I wasn't really expecting a geriatric Crazy Rich Asians, but some real (seeming at least) recreation of how living in the East was for the mid-century English, would have been more my thing.

I'm really enjying hearing your take on Gardam's novels as "geriatric Crazy Rich Asians," which made me howl like a monkey! "Beautiful sentences telling the quotidian tales of dreary slatterns" was my description of an Alice Munro collection called The Beggar Maid. Since everyone else loved it, that wasn't a popular opinion...and here I am on the other side this time.

Do you think you'll finish up the trilogy or have you used up your tolerance for the oldsters?

>105 richardderus: I may well complete the trilogy, as I do love the language, but really, though beautifully written, what is new or special about the story? As little mainstream modern fiction as I read in comparison to F&SF, all the bases have been worn thin, and rich Brits do not, in spite of infinite Upstairs Downstairs wannabees, make for an interesting cast if they are very dull people. We may be told they are clever, but if it is not on display for us it's just so much babble.

#22) The Dragon Scroll



The likable but not yet ept Akitada, is in way over his head but determined to do his best. He has a lot to learn, but being smart actually does, mostly. Not quite up to the Judge Dee mysteries I loved decades ago, but worthwhile.

I was going to sub this in as an "I" for January TIOLI #7 when I was full up on post-apocalyptic girl stories, and wanted to avoid Ashes, but then read that anyway.
Meets January TIOLI #10: Read a Book about sisters

#23) Going Postal



Moist von Lipwig is given the chance of a life time to get the Ankh-Morpork post office functioning again. Since saving his life requires saving the post office we get to see a con man reinvent himself and the institution in which he has been embedded, all with that delightful Discworld slant.

Re-read for January TIOLI #11: Read a Book where a word in the title starts with the same letter as one of the author's initials

#24) Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku 1



Narumi is otaku but wants a non otaku boyfriend. Hirotaka is her childhood otaku friend, apparently deeply in love with her, but since she believes being otaku is a major disadvantage, the relationship isn't going smoothly. Very much an in crowd volume, with jokes, puns, and visuals referencing anime, manga and games. Having been a 20 something fan in the long ago, I find these characters pretty tentative.

Read for January TIOLI #15: Read a book where the book revolves around a puzzle or game

#24) Redshirts



A meta Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for Star Trek (technically a bad imitation of ST) where the characters do become aware of their situation and peril and use the artificiality of it to rescue themselves - and incidentally help others. It had too few jokes for it length, but didn't quite get painful. Though the asteroid should have been left out or insisted upon.

It is hard to assign a shooter to this BB, as the first mentions I saw on @archerygirl & @Ronincats weren't favorable, but @brodiew2 & @Narilka made favorable mentions, so that's probably when I was hit.

In appropriately meta way
Meets January TIOLI #17: Read a book with a wall or barrier as part of the narrative

>104 quondame: Sorry that The Man in the Wooden Hat wasn’t a better read for you. What’s interested me was the Raj Orphan effect and the irony in their live life choices and secrets.

#25) Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story



A charming look into the life of one convinced she isn't charming and really doesn't want to be. Everything is so recognizable for anyone who would rather spend more time with books than with people.

BB fired by Kerry @avatiakh and ricocheted off Joe @jnwelch

#26) Happy New Year!/Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'ai!



This is really a plot-less, lifeless set of lists and descriptions, though the illustrations are appealing and energetic. This isn't the book I'd use to introduce my kid to Chinese New Year.

Read for #6: Read a book that has happy, new, or year in the title

I'm crawling around the threads to say I'm not dead but woefully unread, both books and threads. Happy polar vortex.

>114 richardderus: Wishing you warmer weather and good reads.

Thanks, Susan, I'll get the reads but the warmth...well...

#27) A Wizard of Earthsea



It's been such a long time since I've read this volume of the original trilogy that while everything was familiar, I still didn't know specifically what would happen next. It still asks difficult questions and doesn't claim the answers.

Although the barrier between the world of the dead and the world of the living wasn't near as prominent as I thought I recalled, it is there and is pivotal.

Read for January TIOLI #17: Read a book with a wall or barrier as part of the narrative

#28) The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant



The plot is very like Damn Yankees, The feel isn't. Being inside Joe Boyd/Hardy isn't fun and while, yes, it's a Faust story, it's a Faust story for midcentury baseball fans. Lola is such a non-person it is almost physically painful.

Read for January TIOLI #6: Read a book that has happy, new, or year in the title

#29) Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore



I've been re-reading this book since it first came out, once I even recorded it for a blind co-worker, who made it into an entirely different book for me, even better. This time I read it for a challenge on barrier/wall and it became a book about barriers. It is subtle, and supple, charming and terrifying, and by the way, moves right along. The cover, regrettably features a chimera, which at least does get through the wall into the story and is delightful.

Re-read for January TIOLI #17: Read a book with a wall or barrier as part of the narrative

#30) King's Blood Four



Much more the classic fantasy than many of Tepper's works, this still has a freshness and identity all it's own, as the young gamesman-to-be Peter is expelled from the safety of Schooltown into the lands of the True Game, with real enemies and few known friends.

Re-read for January TIOLI #15: Read a book where the book revolves around a puzzle or game

>117 quondame: I meant to reread this last year but never got around to it. I really must find time. One of my favourite books as a teenager.

Sheri Tepper, my personal proof that fantasy by women was not always aimed *for* women.

>121 richardderus: Sheri S. Tepper often seemed to aim pointedly at the patriarchy, but I admit the first three volumes of The True Game seem more suitable to the classic fan-boy base.

Hi Susan!

>118 quondame: Surprising. Damn Yankees is one of my absolutely favorite movies of all time and it's surprising to hear how different the feel is. I'll pass.

I did read a baseball book I really liked that was also turned into a movie - Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella/Field of Dreams.

>112 quondame: I was also hit by that BB!

>124 rretzler: It was a shotgun blast!

#31) The King's Evil



Dense and layered with obscurity, this is literally a tale told by a madman, the mind broken protagonist hopeful of resuming his radio position to produce a series on art forgery, returns to the question of what is the difference between original and forged art while immersed in the search for proof that documents he has found indicate that Charles I escaped execution. There is a constant heavy physical awareness of the loss of his wife and his discomfort in his own body. For me this was like being served Pastichio, a dish I can appreciate but not enjoy, too much bloody white sauce.

BB from @richardderus

Meets February TIOLI #2: Read a book which has the word "library" or "lover" somewhere within the first 5 chapters

>110 quondame: I have Redshirts lying around here somewhere. Someday when I need les intellect and more other-world adventures.

Happy weekend.

#32) Die Erfindung der Hose



Great Pictures, the English is cursory, but adequate. With a couple of lacuna almost enough to recreate the item - more detail of measurements and waistband detail should be included.

And, the full glory of the pants:



The reason for February TIOLI #18: Read a book featuring clothing

#33) The Wonder Engine



A fast moving fantasy adventure that delivers what it promises, though grown ups shouldn't be weighted down with teener hesitations. Novel enough not to be just more of the same, but too stuck to some conventions to be over the top good.

Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

#34) Knife Children



A return to the world of the The Sharing Knife in which Barr, the bad boy of the second two books is all grown up and now has to deal with the daughter he engendered as a youth. Although there is some attempt at giving Lily a character, temper and some signs of intelligence just weren't enough for me, nor were the just a nice guy here internal musings of Barr. A fun read, and not a bad visit with old friends, but not much punch.

Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

#34) All the Plagues of Hell



Once again Flint & Freer get out the historical character dolls and play nice. Not like real kids who insist on bloodily executing everything over and over, but then these dolls have to last for the next book. The body count is high, but not among our friends, of whom we now have an expanded cast, while the old cast is walked through minor, but key!, rolls for the most part. The new active dolls include Carlo Szora, assorted Medici's, and an old antagonist, Count Mindaug.

Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

#35) The Mouse and the Motorcycle



Sweet and silly, I love that the motorcycle goes when the noise is made.

Meets February TIOLI #6: Read a book whose title includes at least two 4+ letter words starting with the same letter

>126 quondame: Literary pastitsio! Great image. I appear to have more of a taste for bechamel than you do.

>130 quondame: Oh dear...I really enjoyed The Shadow of the Lion, the first one in that series, and somehow lost the thread shortly thereafter. St. Hypatia gave me a big chuckle for a minute, Czernobog's chilling eating habits were interesting once, and...well...the series doesn't have all that much for my tastes after we're done with that.

>132 richardderus: My favorite bits of The Shadow of the Lion were mostly retreads from Merovingian Nights, and the series never did reach that level again, but well, potato chip books.

>133 quondame: Not unworthy things, potato-chip books. Those of us without a TV habit need something for our brains to chew on. But the issue of "...and why am I investing in this again...?" arose too often for me re: this series. Like so many other series, it's built for other eyes.

>135 quondame: Eric Flint very kindly answered a long series of emails from my ancient pater about the Belisarius series he did with David Drake, so I'm inclined to view him in a favorable light.

>135 quondame: Plus I strongly approve of his small-s socialist politics.

>136 richardderus: Well, that too.

#36) Last Friends



In her usual hypnotic prose Gardam sketches in the last side of the triangle, and we find out some of Veneering's past, but again nothing much between 30-70. Yes, what happens in the first decades of life is immensely important to you, but what you do between 30-70 is most of what is important to the world, what makes your mark on the world (Mozart and mathematical geniuses excepted). Dulci and Fiscal-Smith don't bear much weight, and looking over a summary of Old Filth makes it clear how little is in this book. Jane Gardam gives us the youth and old age of her protagonists, so salad and cheese, but I'd feel more satisfied with a good pudding and a slab of meat.

Meets February TIOLI #3: Read a book by an author who has written both fiction and nonfiction books

#37) Can I Keep Him



Arnold wants a pet. His mother has reasons for why each one is wrong. The real reason is that she is a compulsive clean freak - she sweeps, she dusts, she puts away groceries, she vacuums, she does dishes, she puts away laundry, she scrubs the floors. I saw my stay at home mom do all these things - but except for dishes, not all on the same day and not even with more than 1 kid enough to keep her from having most of the day to spend with her kids or socialize with other moms. I'd have to say there is an aspect of this charming little tale with it's whimsical illustrations, that does not wear well. Letting the neighbors dictate whether you get a dog is, from personal experience, not valid. Arnold should have a dog or two.

Meets February TIOLI #1: Read a book whose title appropriately captions the posted hamster picture

#38) Foundryside



Do we really need yet another girl++ thief, abused background, navigating a (not)steampunk urban blight? The pace of the tale is a sprightly cascade as the initial theft for hire turns into a fusillade of deadly threats. The 'magic', technology that re-writes reality is pretty interesting, and the characters work, but aren't really put through their paces. It didn't drag, but for me was a bit too long for the content.

Like much of what I expect to read this, or any, month -
Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

Sometimes I think more about clothing than books. Well, not really, but I have always loved clothing and costume and a couple of years ago found a source of lively comfortable clothing. Including these boots. Which are lovely soft leather, so I am doomed to visit NY again and trod through salty snow goop, as with my last two pairs of over the top fabulous boots. Or maybe I'll be smart enough not to bring them along....

I love that they're purple!

>142 richardderus: I know, right. I do hope they have a happier fate than the glove leather chocolate Cole knee boots or the teal suede princess heeled ankle boots. Finding interesting shoes even, not to mention boots, to fit wide duck shaped feet supporting generous calves is a challenge. Now I'm connected to a source, I'm in real danger.

Oh, I LOVE that purple!!! (What's your source?)

>144 ronincats: Gudrun Sjödén. And I got them ½ price!

Purple is my favorite color. I approve!! : )

I had to buy galoshes for my last November trip to NYC, and that was the right call. I bought them online and could wear them over street shoes or with just extra thick socks.

>147 mstrust: The first time was ignorance - I'd never been in city snow before, and rarely in snow at all. The second time was enemy action. I wore the boots to breakfast at the Plaza Hotel the day after my brother's second wedding and my new sister-in-law dragged us out for a walk in central park. She's long gone now, ran off with her dentist or gynecologist or something.

#39) Six Moon Dance



20 years ago something in this book really annoyed me. I can't even imagine what it was now. Instead I feel this is Sheri Tepper's most mature work, deliberate, sly, full of great 1 liners sprinkled into lessons and conversations. It is mythic fantasy dressed up in SF rig, as a quite motley cast is assembled over years in a quest to save the world. Tepper's brutal clubs and alien interventions are used more subtly and rather charmingly.

Meets February TIOLI #13: Read a book about a bad mother
but I'm moving it to February TIOLI #5: Read a turn-of-the-century book (1998)

>149 quondame: At $3.99 for a Kindlebook, it's worth a shot. Sounds very interesting indeed.

>149 quondame: Oh, that's one of my favorite Teppers!

>151 ronincats: I'll still go with the Marianne books, but SMD has certainly grown on me.

#40) Legion



Combining the super-detective with the multiple personality yarn and giving it a good twist does yield something out of the ordinary way here. And the spooky chapter headers are a good touch.

Meets February TIOLI #15: Read a book for the Marvel comic character alphabetical rolling challenge

Today was the first day I was out an about while rain was really falling. And I saw my second Lamborghini in 2 days. I know this is West LA, but even around these parts sightings of the exotica of the car world aren't daily events. Maybe Beverly Hills & adjacent, but between the ocean and the 405 south of the 10, nope.

#41) Temper



The pacing is problematical in that everything is so unfamiliar that the reader rarely can know where she is and if she is moving. In fact there is a lot of incident and action, though the last portion makes sense in itself it seems tacked onto the book that preceded it.

I think there is a good case for blaming everything on the mother so:
Meets February TIOLI #13: Read a book about a bad mother

#42) Swordheart



Fun and silly as if Lawrence Watt-Evans was challenging Georgette Heyer to entertain friends. A bit too much of the same jokes repeated, but not to the point of hard wear. A romp through the world after the Clockwork boys are gone, with a new problem growing but not yet at the general crisis stage while our protagonists are just trying to settle a bit of inheritance.

Meets February TIOLI #14: Read a book that begins with a one-sentence paragraph

#43) The Undateable



This is a perfectly fine light romance that moves right along and lets the reader enjoy the quirks. It is also not my thing. And I got very little feel for SF except Bernie's friends theatrics and the quirky soMa restaurant. Not heavy on the sex, but it's there.

BB from @foggidawn
Read for February TIOLI #12: Read a book where the title refers to a woman

>155 quondame: I'm really pleased that you enjoyed Nicky's book as much as you did. She's an old friend whose career gives me great pleasure.

>158 richardderus: I mostly enjoyed how very different it was from so much of what I read. I know a number of authors and don't always enjoy their latest, or don't think their latest is quite up to the rest of their work, and am not sure what to say. None of them are close, well I guess my brother could be considered close, though family is different, so I'm rarely called upon for an opinion.

>159 quondame: It's always hard to know what to say to creative people about their creations. I end up offering platitudes or going into too much detail. Balance Я'nt me.

>160 richardderus: I try to have questions lined up before I go to parties or conventions where I expect to see them. The one I've gotten the best responses to so far is "Which of your worlds would you like to live in?" If I knew mainline writers I'd guess I'd ask about which of their characters they'd like to spend time with.

#44) Through Darkest Europe



Sort of dull for a Turtledove alternate history. And the title implies a tour, which this is not really. Two officers Tunis police are sent to Italy to see what they can do about Christian Aquinists terrorists. Reversing the Christian and Muslim approaches to modernization could produce something more interesting, but just changing the labels and locations doesn't do it and giving the main characters a vague mandate and leaving the two overt advisors to decide their own missions isn't satisfying.

Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

#45) Wintersong



A tale which composes a different symphony from Labyrinth, Goblin Market, every Mary Sue fantasy ever, with a touch of Rumpelstiltskin and other tales we've known in many re-workings. Music is the challenge and desire and form of expression employed to name the desires. As to pacing, it doesn't flow smoothly because each section uses the short form of the fairy tale, so as one section ends we are dropped into the next. It's better than I've described it, but not as good as it aims to be.

I know I reserved this book because it was mention in one of the treads I follow, but it must not have been as a touchstone, because it doesn't show in Conversations.

Meets February TIOLI #10: Read a book whose title makes you break into song.

>162 quondame: That's really disappointing. I always look forward to new Turtledoves and this doesn't make me want to dive right in. Boo hiss.

>164 richardderus: I like his fantasy, and ancient historical novels, but his alternate history post 1600, not so much, the little I've tried. I mostly dislike alt-20th, since it's heavy on Hitler won, so in that I'm not singling him out.

>165 quondame: I liked his "War that came early" cycle of novels...WWII starting in 1938. Hitler's calculation was that he could win more easily by starting early as none of the democracies were as well armed as Germany. Not so much....

That said, I'm almost always going to refuse a WWII retelling because *yawn* so this series was very much an exception to my rule.

>166 richardderus: I guess you could call his World at War alt-WWII, but dragons sort of make the difference. It wasn't a favorite, that Prince of the North and sequels.

>167 quondame: ...utterly unknown to me...Gerin the Fox is not one of the series I have encountered. Hm....

>168 richardderus: You would be in for some fun then.

>163 quondame: I read it last year, but felt about the same as you did about it. My 14-year-old cousin adored it, so I guess it works for the target demographic.

#46) Alliance Rising



No doubt this is C.J. Cherryh in the Alliance-Union universe, but without the most common view point of the displaced, disadvantaged core character. What is displaced is the past reality giving way to an unknown new one. The pushers in a ten year cycle between Sol and Alpha and the FTL ships of the trading families between Alpha, Bryant, Glory and Venture in what the rest of Beyond calls the Hinder stars are overshadowed by the Earth Company's huge Rights of Man building at Alpha and monopolizing all the resources from Sol. Into this mix come 4 FTL ships from Beyond, including the legendary leviathan of a Merchanter, Finity's End, the plans of which were stolen to build Rights. Nobody does exposition as adroitly as Cherryh, but after 100 pages of it, the engagement with the main characters is quite welcome, even if the usual anxious self-searching is almost absent. Those of us familiar with the A-U books know how tenuous the hopes of the main characters are, but we are also used to ambiguous endings.

Meets February TIOLI #16: Read a work by an author you read in 2018

Over on richardderus the topic of gowns made from saris came up in relationship to The Expanse series, and @humouress asked to see my version - so this is me, the bride and my attendant Julia all done up in what once were once saris.

>172 quondame: Lovely, lovely garb! Outfits! Costumes! (What the heck am I supposed to call wedding get-ups anyway?)

>173 richardderus: Bride gowns. Mine was done up Victoria Ridenour and her partner Adrian Butterfield, the best costumers I've ever known, whose real job was bridal wear in the days before the great garb explosion - Victoria went on to do the dressed up western/gun show circuit before steampunk and Wasteland got all geared up.

#47) Shadowsong



It's not easy to tell a first person narrative about depression without the story dragging or the depression minimized, and this book doesn't so much manage it as hint at it. The resolution seemed to simple and bloodless, despite the high off-camera body count.

#48) The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight



A young girl on a flight to London for her father's wedding finds comfort and distraction in a boy she meets at the airport. How will she deal with meeting her father's new wife and will she ever see the boy again? Not to be taken seriously, but things seem go so much more smoothly and effortlessly than any believable scenarios.

Read for February TIOLI #17: Read a book which was listed by the same challenger who started any of the previous February TIOLI challenges
---which was---
February 2013 TIOLI #3: Read a book with a school subject in the title @raidergirl3

#49) A Winter's Promise



This has the least feel of a YA book of any with such billing that I've read lately. Well, except for the breakneck pacing, and the girl with something extra pulled from her safe surrounds and pummeled soundly into a different shape and well, there are so very many standard elements in this book which doesn't feel standard at all. Rather bracing actually. I may actually buy the second book, but there are still two more waiting, I think, for translation, so maybe I'll hold off and re-read when the series is all available.

BB fired late last year by Kerry @avatiakh on @souloftherose's thread though later reviewed on her own. I felt Ophelia's agency issue was well handled, given the near total level of her unfamiliarity with the Pole culture and court.

I think I reserved this for January TIOLI #8: Read a book originally published in French or German, but it

Meets: February TIOLI #9: Read a book where the chapters have titles.

You're going full steam ahead with the reading, Susan! Whereas I seem to have stalled.

>172 quondame: Beautiful outfits (and, of course, beautiful bride). Thank you for posting the photo for me.

>25 quondame: I have not read that one by Scalzi. I will have to get to it!

>73 quondame: I am currently making my way through both the Aaronovitch and Wells' series and enjoying them both.

>102 quondame: I will have to try the Arden trilogy. Looks like a series I would enjoy.

>112 quondame: I really want to read that one!

>119 quondame: The Tepper book looks awesome. Into the BlackHole it goes!

Too many BBs on this thread for me! Happy Wednesday, Susan!

>177 humouress: Thanks! & You're Welcome. If I didn't read, I'd be stuck online all day and even with LT, I am glad there are so many universes in which to wrap myself.

>178 alcottacre: Since I caught so much fire, it's only fair to pass it on.

#50) Speak No Evil



The internal journey of two young people, Niru and Meredith, who were high school classmates at a private school in DC, he the Harvard bound son of rich Nigerian immigrants and she the daughter of ambitious white DC wannabees. Best friends suddenly brought up short by his realization that he is gay, the climax what today's front page requires. Which is the weakness as well as the strength of the book. Meredith's section deals as much with her post college day adjustment and doesn't seem as real, which may be the point, but doesn't strengthen the book.

Read for February TIOLI #1: Read a book whose title appropriately captions the posted hamster picture

#51) Indigo



Seriously weird and not very special. Two half-siblings are caught up in their dead father's obsession with Indigo, a sometimes "literal" sometimes metaphorical alternate to normal perception. As one of the characters blurts out the obvious interpretation a few pages before the end, all the reader's judgement is handed back. The strongest thing in this is the book within a book that must be published in 200K copies for the will to be satisfied. What actual gains of achieving Indigo are is the biggest mystery.

Read for February TIOLI #4: Read A Book That Was Published At Least 10 Years Ago

DNF The Imperfectionists Blech! An impotent ex-lecher reporter who endangers his son's career for money, well, no, I don't need to go there.

#52) The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter



Two interleaved stories, one based on the early 19th century Grace Darling whose help rescuing several shipwreck survivors catapulted her to an unwelcome celebrity, and one fantasized about a descendant of a woman she saved 100 years later. It was a good read, but I feel overly manipulated.

Read for February TIOLI #11: Read a book whose cover has an image relating to the sea

>183 quondame: Huh. I'd be interested in reading about Grace Darling (it's a story I know a little about, but not much), but I'm not sure about the other story.

#53) A Darker Shade of Magic



A few interesting notions, yet another young girl urban bandit, this one burdened with fanciful notations of being a pirate king that would make her too stupid to live if there was any sense to the novel at all. Since there isn't, and not more than a few crumbs of a good story, it makes no difference. The closer to the end I got, the harder it became to read further.

BB from @SandDune

Meets February TIOLI #9: Read a book where the chapters have titles.

>185 quondame: Sorry you didn’t enjoy it more! Virtually everyone else seemed to rate it higher than me, and I did enjoy it, despite finding certain aspects irritating.

>186 SandDune: See >140 quondame: #38 I think that put me over the top on special-girl-thief. The coat isn't special enough to clothe this whole book.

I wish you a blessed weekend - soaring like this jackdaw

>188 paulstalder: Thanks Paul! Great picture.

>185 quondame: Ruh-roh Raggy. I sense a DNF in my future.

>183 quondame: Manipulated is a fairly unusual perception of a book; but I don't think I want to suffer that.

>185 quondame: Oh dear; I bought that one because so many people liked it. The completionist in me may need to get the whole series - but I'll wait and see how well I like this one.

#54) The Book of Illusions



Masterful. Hypnotic and absorbing. Stories within a story, but the transitions are like falling from one dream into another. David's life has been broken by the death of his wife and sons and what healing he has done was in giving himself to the 12 silent films by Hector Mann which have recently re-surfaced - his book about them resulting in contact from someone who claims Mann is alive and wants to talk to him. Eventually Mann's life is described to him by Alma and it too has been broken by tragic death. Both David's and Mann's life are hinged on dual unconnected violence.

Read for February TIOLI #7: Read a book with a four word title

#55) The Girl in the Spider's Web



I hate when good characters - or even historical people - are clumsily reused by sequel writers, but to take two of the best characters of modern crime fiction, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, and use them as labels on paper cutouts in a mediocre spy-vs-spy, yetch! I found nothing of Stieg Larsson creations in this silly tale.

Read for February TIOLI #8: Read a book about news reporting.

#56) Dolly and the Doctor Bird



A somewhat gimmicky setup with out bifocal'd boat owner doing both catch up and counter plot in the Bahamas while assisting in the love life, previously nonexistent, of Dr. B. Douglas MacRannoch. The natives, mostly unnamed, suffer a large share of, the casualties.

Meets February TIOLI #11 & February TIOLI #12 but

Read for February TIOLI #6: Read a book whose title includes at least two 4+ letter words starting with the same letter

Hi Susan!

Looks like you've had a series of mostly 'meh' or even bad books recently, especially >193 quondame:. I totally agree with your assessment. The book lacked soul.

>195 karenmarie: I wouldn't, except with that one, have called a book I rated 3 or above bad, just not special to me. If I had read it before others similar to it, it might have interested me a lot more. Even if I rate it 2.5, which is middling, I'm open to see how others can rate it much more highly, just that something about it annoyed me at the time. 2 means that it was well enough written not to throw across the room. I reserve 4s for books that fascinated me and higher for ones I think are really special, though of course everything is subjective.

#57) Black Leopard Red Wolf



I didn't like this book, but then it wasn't written for me. The landscape through which the protagonist, the Tracker/Red Wolf moves are not the least appealing, being more dangerous than Australia at it's worst, or attractive. The mechanism used to jump long distances is neither explained nor consistent - 19 paired gates, really? (an unnumbered one is off the map, but all must be used before any can be re-used). Tracker works through smell, but rarely smells anything I'd want described. Still it's readable, different, interesting from time to time, until the last section which is all revenge for death of family, as if no other motivation could have Tracker moving again. The songs were the best part.

Challenge #10: Read a book that completes this sentence: (Title of Book) is/are complete madness!

#58) In An Absent Dream



This is the first novel of Seanan McGuire's that I have read, at least since I've been recording what I've read, though I've encountered a number of her short stories. Not a comfortable story at all, and heavily foreshadowed, it nevertheless startles with it's sharp sadness. The writing is compelling and the characters singular and strong.

Challenge #10: Read a book that completes this sentence: (Title of Book) is/are complete madness!

Well, I've plonked the Katherine Arden Winternight series on the WL --

Paul Auster is a writer I can't quite stay away from . . . I see you got a lot out of this one, sigh, onto the WL it must go.

I've caught up! Many of your book images did not come through here for me. About half, don't know what that's about but thought I'd mention it.

Too bad that that Dunnett hasn't aged well -- it is interesting to me how hard it can be to read some of the older books now, it makes me realize how thoroughly my thinking and feelings have changed.

#59) Becoming



Worth reading, Michele Obama's early life is not nearly as interesting as the woman herself, and the known results do hinder any suspense. The current moment pretty much requires a certain blandness, whether or not there is anything beyond what is said. The isolation of University of Chicago and the idea that Princeton was more accessible was interesting as was Michelle Obama's work there.

Originally reserved for December 2018 #3, Moved to February #1 I've survived being 600+ on the wait list

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book you had to wait for

>199 sibylline: The book image thing is a result, I believe of the covers not being local to LT, but being on servers which are blocking some accesses. Short of loading each image, I really don't think there is much of a solution as I always use the URL of the image on the LT book page.

The Winternight series really is one of the delights of modern fantasy. A less popular series is Melanie Rawn's Glass Thorns, which is a bit uneven but a different type of fun than retellings or more standard fantasy plots.

Dunnett's historicals have done better than the mysteries, that's for sure, just like the side characters in historical movies often look much better than the stars 15+ years later as they were done up more historically and less a la mode.

#60) A Bride's Story Volumes 1-10



These romantic tales of young women along the silk road in the 19th century as encountered (or not) along the path of a young English man, Mr. Smith, as he travels from East of the Aral sea into the Ottoman empire, taking his time and lingering, sometimes longer than he likes, in settlements and towns. But these aren't about him, but the young women and their connections, the lushness of their dress and textile heritage, and their relationships with their husbands, new or intended. And the landscape within which they live.

I was trying to get to Vol 10 in time to do a shared read for

February TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where the chapters have titles.
and put the first 4 into
February TIOLI Challenge Challenge #12: Read a book where the title refers to a woman
but #10 although arrived at my branch on Feb 28, wasn't ready for me to check out, so 5-10
Meet March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book by a woman who is born in the 20th century

#61) Heart Berries



A memoir of moving through madness and it's roots by a Native American woman. Not at all an easy read, and possibly containing some triggers, certainly I had to keep my own emotional history from raveling my attention from each sentence as it sliced into me during the first two sections. Then I had to wonder what sort of man left messages on his computer and phone to be found by the lover (he implied) he wanted to keep. Perhaps I was distracting myself from the real pain on the page. Not a feel good life with those close to nature yarn.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book by a woman who is born in the 20th century

>202 quondame: So, you read them all in one go? The story was okay but the drawings were remarkable, I liked them very much. I also liked the representation of some cultural events and relationships.

>202 quondame: Nope. Glad it was a powerful read for you, but not something I'll ever pick up!

#62) Red Bird



An examined life in natures lens. A couple of dings for at DC&co. Percy wags his tail.
I am grateful to Mary Oliver when poetry is required reading.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book of poetry

>204 paulstalder: #1-4 my daughter owns and insisted I read a year or so ago. I re-read them and yes, the art is what makes these special, and the love the author has for her vision.

Oh good, nice to see A Bride's Story up there, Susan. Ive really enjoyed that series. I just read #10.

>208 jnwelch: But the BB goes to @susanna.fraser, who read #10 for Challenge #9 in Feb. I tend to skip over lists of books, which would embarrass me if I weren't having to return unread books to the library much more often since joining LT.

#63) Forfeit



Not as easy a like as many Dick Francis's mysteries, the people in this novel are under some pretty sever constraints. Ty works at a scandal sheet because the money is needed to pay for help caring for a paralyzed wife, and the young woman he meets Gail, has to work within boundaries she encounters because of her mixed race parentage and her requirement for financial rewards. The story is well done and very hard to forget.

I'm doing the Dick Francis read along, so this

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book somebody else picked for you

#64) The Silence of the Girls



Well done, but dragged a bit. I much preferred Lavinia as a tale of women in the background. Without utterly wallowing in degradation it's hard to realistically recreate months in the life of women war captives. It is a story of survival when there is next to no control over what happens, but I found it significantly less interesting a read that The Illiad, which had an excess of groin wounds for my taste.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a job/occupation in the title or author's name

I got a bit more reading done today because my local Internet is on and off all day. Probably tomorrow too. Withdrawal symptoms are noticeable....

#65) The Elephant and the Kangaroo



If you want to maintain a good opinion of T.H. White and are not a complete Hibernophobic (phobic doesn't seem accurate, but mishibernic is just weird) DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. Mr White, an Englishman living in Kildare country, is instructed along with his hosts. Mrs an Mr (Mikey) O'Callaghan to build an Arc by the Archangel Michael hanging before chimney. What follows is every anti-Irish slur imaginatively elaborated with occasional sly digs at the English and every one else.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #5: ROLLING CHALLENGE: Read a book with a significant connection to the countries of the United Kingdom

>213 quondame: As an Englishman proud of his Irish roots (my maternal family name is Walsh), I guess I should avoid that one at all costs.

Have a lovely weekend, Susan, complete with bolster and wagging tail!

#66) Peasprout Chen



This story just dragged for me, plodding until the last couple of chapters. Peasprout really is unattractively self-centered, not bothering to learn the names of fellow students she doesn't see as competition and while knowing her survival is on the line is deficient in observational and listening skills. Of course it turns around, but more mechanically than credibly.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose title starts with the last letter of the author's last name of the preceding book

>211 quondame: I'm joining with you for the read of The Silence of the Girls! I'm finding the story really compelling; I can't wait to find out what happens next. It reminds me a lot of The Song of Achilles, partly because some of the main characters are the same, probably!

Karen O.

>216 klobrien2: Well, knowing most of what happened next may have dulled the suspense a bit, though I don't remember more of Briseis than that Achilles went into his big snit when Agamemnon took her. As reading the classics aloud was, for some time, a family activity, I grew up knowing the basics of the Illiad and Odyssey, though when I read the former for myself not so long ago when my husband brought home a newish translation, I was surprised at the number of groin & butt wounds. I guess the armor didn't protect that area.

#67) A Secret History



It's hard to believe that the Ash books were pretty much my introduction to early renaissance Burgundy, which became much more detailed after reading Dorothy Dunnett's House of Nicolo. I found this one less compelling than I did originally, though I enjoyed the the characters quite as much and found the situations fascinating.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book of alternate history written by a woman

#68) The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle



A very clever book, involving without quite being likeable, you know you are being played as well as being shown a rather dreadful story with a sorry cast. The shift in focus among the later incarnations left a sort of fuzzy quality to my appreciation.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a Book that is in the "Recommended" section on your home page (either LT or member)

#69) Early Riser



A story about an naive set loose among harsh people inhabiting a harsher reality who not only survives but unravels the mesh entangling them, though the body count is pretty high.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book you had to wait for

#70) Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit



An Arthurian re-telling that keeps far away from Arthur until the final section and doesn't make meeting him pleasant. Mostly, this is a novel about a young woman becoming a warrior in her father's kingdom with mostly unfortunate interactions with the traditional characters of the legends. It works very well until our heroine is forced to become the third Gwenhwyfar after which her lack of agency is just not credible in the context of the rest of the book until she makes her escape But I'm upping the rating on this because it does come up with new, at least to me, takes on the characters and their actions. Infinite as Arthurian space is, any one element is bound to have come up more than once, but this book had a nicely balanced mix for the most part.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose title starts with the last letter of the author's last name of the preceding book

#71) The Last Good Kiss



Quirky and a bit run-on this very pre-HIV, pre-Herpes 70's post sexual revolution Odyssey through the NW US chasing a writer, a woman, CW Sughrue somehow doesn't end up in wrecked car while mostly drunk. The rode hard and put up wet characters are the best feature, other than the alcoholic bulldog, the plot signaling yet another twist by the number of pages left.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book where you find an article of clothing in the first sentence and so get fully dressed

>1 quondame:, I have been lurking and enjoying your thread!

Recently, I re-read your top post and I think I should embrace your wise philosophy: ...and otherwise read what calls to me. I'm attempting to widen my reading tendencies. However, as I tackle other genre, I realize that I've had more DNFs in the last 2½ months than I've had in that many years!

I think it is a good thing to enlarge my reading repertoire, but not to the extent this exercise becomes a chore. I have spoken elsewhere of a desire to enlarge my reading categories. Now I've realized that above all, I need to have an enjoyable time. I did discover new-to-me authors, so that was a plus. And I've gotten over feeling like I am a reading-sloth!
Rogue Heroesis my latest "outside my comfort zone" read, which is actually quite engaging even if sometimes mentally devastating.

#72) The Poppy War



This poor orphan girl wins place in elite military academy tale starts out well enough and then gets bogged down and completely blows credibility in a horrific war and reprisals of staggering (mid-20th century++) levels. And worse it gets tedious with no particular flavor or value.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #14: PECAN PIE rolling challenge (word in title or author's name starts with letters in rolling order)

>223 SandyAMcPherson: I wish I could relax into that attitude. Well, there's always next month.

>224 quondame: Well, I have this one home from the library--because it's nominated for a Hugo. But yours is the second not-positive review I've read and it doesn't sound at all appealing. Perchance I shall pass!

>226 ronincats: I think the author has tried for a level of gravity that she doesn't have the chops for but which may have impressed some readers.

#73) Ragtime



The lush and lyrical language somehow encompasses the ironic distanced view of mortal follies and the syncopated switches in story flow disengage us from the passions of characters. Little of the interior of any character is available, though their actions are the ripples giving indications. The women are mostly described by appearance, Emma Goldman being the only one who comes forward and actively converses in close up. This is an amazing novel, and if the other women were provided with even as much as the vacancy of Younger Brother, I'd have rated it higher.

Why ever did Modern Library think that a 1917 painting was a good cover for this book?

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book that starts with a quote for the semi-rolling alphabet challenge

Oh, it’s nice to see a review of The Last Good Kiss, Susan. Many years ago a now-departed friend gave me a copy of it as “his favorite book ever”. He was a rode hard and put up wet character himself. I did enjoy it - James Crumley is a good writer, isn’t he. I ended up reading all of his books; if I remember correctly, Sughrue shows up in at least two others.

>228 quondame: I'm glad that you mostly liked that one, Susan, as I put it in one of my best-of lists yesterday.

(Still not seeing your pictures - but then again, when I go back through my own threads, a lot of my pictures are missing. Hoping/ assuming LT gets it sorted out soon.)

#74) The Witch Elm



With the once lucky protagonist, middle class, charming, good looking, straight Toby with the perfect girlfriend, now the victim of an almost fatally violent burglary, the reader is borne as if by an army of ants slowly and deliberately through his beloved uncle's cancer, a literal skeleton in the closest into the real turmoil of who his dearest cousins, smart sedate Susana, and flamboyant gay Toby, really are and who he was, is, and might become. This book never lets up and never goes easy, and it goes on for quite a bit.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book that starts with a quote for the semi-rolling alphabet challenge

#75) Brat Farrar



Speak of getting over rough ground as lightly as possible, this book covers imposture, murder, orphan hood, and life threatening injuries, with the minimum possible angst. There wasn't much of a mystery, but the real question would be what decisions would be made, when, and why.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a Book where the author or a character has the name of "Joe" or a variation thereof

I love Brat Farrar - and I keep having to reread it, to see where things that perfectly obviously meant _this_ actually meant _that_...love it. One of my two favorite Teys, the other is The Daughter of Time.

>234 jjmcgaffey: I probably read Brat Farrar long ago, but for sure I read, more than once, The Daughter of Time. There are more books like the former in the world than the latter. Since I just finished The Witch Elm which has a few of the same elements in it, I was very much struck by the complete difference in emphasis and tone.

Just trying to keep up with all the reads here. Brat Farrar look like someone I need to keep an eye out for...also I like Tanya French.

>233 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 75, Susan!

Congrats!

#76) Tempests and Slaughter



Very much a first book of a YA fantasy series, a perfectly good one, with it's own take on a magical education and boarding school bonding, with the nice guy talented but not privileged protagonist. But having read enough of these, this one doesn't stand out for characters, magic, plot, setting, or well anything.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a Book that is in the "Recommended" section on your home page (either LT or member)

>239 quondame: Heh. And reading it after the Daine series (which starts with Wild Magic), I had trouble reading the story in front of me rather than spending all my time recognizing "Oh, that's who that is!" and "That's why they did that (in the later book)!" and... Wild Magic and its sequels have a grown-up Numair as a major character - and he re-encounters quite a few people he met for the first time in Tempests and Slaughter. She's also written...um, 11? No, at least 14... other books in that universe, though at different times - some set in close succession, some generations earlier. This is, by the way, the first one with a male protagonist - all the other sub-series of Tortall feature a female. I love her books - Tortall and Circle of Magic and others; it's very odd seeing someone encountering her for the first time.

>240 jjmcgaffey: It's not quite my first Tamora Pierce. My dad rather liked Protector of the Small which I didn't take to either, though I think it was better than Tempests and Slaughter

Hi Susan, I am back from a short spell away, Karen has had her last few days holiday and we went off for one of our days out to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales to visit the Stripey Badger bookshop and café. the last couple of days have been pottering about now the weather has picked up a bit with taking down the old wooden greenhouse and sorting out the window at the back of the garage before the Robins begin nesting. I will put a couple of nest boxes for them which will be better than then taking over the garage again.

Hope you are well my dear and that you are having a good weekend dear friend.

#77) Standing in Another Man's Grave



I remember now why I stopped looking for Ian Rankin's Rebus novels - I can only take so much of a mature man who hasn't matured. The resolution of this was therefore rater annoying. I'd have liked it much better if the local police had found evidence where it seemed most likely. Not a bad read, especially for those who enjoy Reboid antics.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #5: ROLLING CHALLENGE: Read a book with a significant connection to the countries of the United Kingdom

>242 johnsimpson: Like most weekends that I'm not at an SCA event, this one was quiet and comfortable - aside from Gertie's getting shut in the kitchen for 20 min - and my freeing her to find a few flour containers desecrated in the breakfast area. Sorry that your pen was flawed - I hate when I get bitten when desire pushes aside prudence.

>239 quondame: >240 jjmcgaffey: It's been a while since I visited Tortal (I read the first eight books, starting with Alanna way back when) except for a foray last year into the 'Weaving' quartet. Tempests and Slaughter might be a good one for me to read now.

>241 quondame: That's right - we were talking about it before. Well, she may just not be your cup of tea.

#78) Munmun



Inequality takes the form of size with the littlepoor being as small as rats and the bigrich as big as whales. Scaled by logarithmic amounts of munmun for each doubling of size. Warner and his sister seek to better themselves in a world were stepping on a little causes no consequence and attacking a big gets a little sentenced to a decade in a rat cage of a prison. This is a quirky dark, angry book with flashes of spiky humor. There was no good way to end the story, is the main problem - after Warner survives one semi-self-inflicted disaster after another.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book somebody else picked for you (list who picked)

#79) A Bachelor Establishment



This is mostly light mostly lively regency romp with a whiff of raunch. Only a misstep or two from being almost Heyer, in fact the closest of any I've encountered, bar the raunch and the fact that Lord Ryde just didn't jell as a Heyero, though his wit was appreciated.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #14: PECAN PIE rolling challenge (word in title or author's name starts with letters in rolling order)

Well Susan, you're on an interesting-read roll...Munmun aside...all I've got is that I can breathe out of both nostrils, haven't hacked a lung up yet, and almost hear without greatly increased volume. Oh yay, I'm well.

Still not going outside. The temptation is great...50° and sunshiney...but the word "relapse" cycles through my brain as I put on socks, and everything stops for tea as the old song has it. (PS: the "Heyero" pun/coinage is the snake's garters!)

>249 richardderus: It's not so bad reading-wise - I consider 3.5 a good rating, just not special for me. It might well be special for someone who has not read 100 similar things or likes that sort of thing in particular. Though so far this year there have not been any top rated books that are new to me, though a couple printed last year were up there.

I'm relived to hear you are somewhat improved and glad to know you are determined to protect that improvement. There will be balmier days ahead!

#80) A Pocketful of Crows



This pretty bowl of bitter fruit salad doesn't quite jell. Why should the traveler girl call out dates using saint's days? Did Harris want to avoid using the more familiar Irish terms now current? What happens with Fiona doesn't work either, not really.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #14: PECAN PIE rolling challenge (word in title or author's name starts with letters in rolling order)

#81) Zahrah the Windseeker



A tale of a quest into the (almost) unknown to obtain a cure for a friend. The setup is artificial in the extreme, the girl with something extra given a hard time by her age mates pretty standard, the world building a bit more interesting and at least not overtly dystopian.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #14: PECAN PIE rolling challenge (word in title or author's name starts with letters in rolling order)

#82) Blood of Ten Kings



This book is so badly written in so many ways, it makes me wonder if I hallucinated my enjoyment of the earlier two books. The characters are decent and if there were any flow the plot would just be a riff on the normal fantasy heir regains throne with loyal retainers and attack helicopters, the twists were fun, but not worth the effort.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #14: PECAN PIE rolling challenge (word in title or author's name starts with letters in rolling order)

#83) Decider



Lee Morris studies what makes people decide to buy a house or patronize a pub and uses that to build attractive pubs and houses from ruins. He also turns his vision on himself and others and it is his unusual decisions that give this book unique qualities.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #5: ROLLING CHALLENGE: Read a book with a significant connection to the countries of the United Kingdom

Oops, wrong cover for Decider, Susan!

>255 ronincats: Thanks, fixed.

Congratulations on surpassing 75 books :)

#84) When my Brother was an Aztec



Disturbing and powerful. Diaz disembowels the ravages an addict subjects the family to - the hopelessness of even achieved love when need is near infinite - the sustained rage at arbitrary inequalities - and spills the guts some times clearly, frequently with haunting obscurity.

BB shot by @jnwelch

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book of poetry

>1 quondame: I love these "bookcases". I frequently admire them when I visit your thread (and don't jump immediately to 'first unread').

Are these your creations or did you take a photo of them somewhere? I'd love to convert some old luggage if I knew how to make the conversion. It would be so fun to store the gr-children's books like this and then set it up in the play area, when they visit.

>259 SandyAMcPherson: The miniatures are from Maks Viktor Antiquarian Books FB page. I collect miniature tools, but not books or furnishings though I find them very appealing.

>260 quondame: Oh! Miniatures of the Corgi editions of Discworld books. I hadn't realised.

>259 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks for bringing my attention to them. I'm sure you could just put some drawer dividers into a suitcase and then stand it on end?

I enjoyed re-reading Decider, Susan. Glad you liked it. The Dick Francis group read has inspired me to even re-read ones that aren't part of the group read. He sure knew how to keep the pages turning!

>261 humouress:, I have a "handy" Man so I just might see if I can appeal to his better self. Homemade cinnamon buns ought to do it *grin*

#85) The Thirteenth Child



Mostly a quiet contemplative novel of the thirteenth daughter in a magical family, twin to the seventh son of a seventh son, whose pre-judged status as doomed toward trouble is only partially alleviated when her family moves to the frontier away from aunts, uncles, cousins and enough siblings so that her birth order is obscured. It comes to a clever conclusion, and manages to stay interesting and engaging all the way through.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book of alternate history written by a woman

>264 quondame:, Oh goody! Another BB for my list of TBRs.

Oh Boo, neither The Thirteenth Child nor the author is in our library system.

No wait, it's a Patricia Wrede book! I just clicked the link for The Thirteenth Child in the foregoing, and it took me here:
https://www.librarything.com/work/11290406

I'm ready to have a nap, I guess...

#86) Conan Doyle Detective



Neither compelling nor dull, this is a well written and exhaustively (the ~12-15% at the end of the book is composed of references) researched account of the actual crimes and mysteries that either interested or involved the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Gives interesting views of criminal justices, in the UK, US and South Africa.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book with a job/occupation in the title or author's name

>264 quondame: I love the Frontier Magic series - I reread all three late last year. There's some lovely twists to it, including ones set up in the first book that mature in the second and third. I do like Wrede...