Humouress a decade on in 2020 - thread 2

I'm Nina. I'm from England but living in tropical Singapore surrounded by guys - my husband (who tolerates my reading but is starting to make comments about my book acquisition habits), my two sons and their 3 year old golden retriever, Jasper.

I've introduced my 11 year old to LibraryThing; he's firelion ; sadly, superboy lost the reading habit once he acquired a smartphone. Firelion just got his first smartphone for his birthday so here’s hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to him.

I lean heavily towards fantasy (preferably high) with a smattering of sci-fi (space opera), mysteries (pre-war), young adult and juvenile fiction and school stories - or whatever else catches my fancy at the time. I'm trying to read books off my shelf, since my reading hasn't kept up with my acquisitions (anyone else have that problem?). I try (try) to review and rate all the books I read (which doesn't help my reading speed) and I don't put spoilers in (I hope). If you want to jump to a review, click on the relevant number in my monthly lists (>2 humouress:, >3 humouress: & >4 humouress:).

I tend towards the lighter side of things (hence my screen name) - because if you look at the dark side ... but why would you want to? Life’s hard enough. I tend to lurk more than post on LT, but I'm around, so please don't feel shy about joining me and posting here.

I am still trying to reach that elusive '75 books read in a year' target, for the tenth eleventh year.

75 Book Challenge 2019 thread 1
75 Book Challenge 2019 thread 3

75 Book Challenge 2020 thread 1

Green Dragon 2019 thread

ROOTs 2020 thread

April update

Singapore will go into lockdown tomorrow to deal with the Covid19 crisis. Dear goddesses! it’s stunning that this has got the whole world shut down. Let’s hope something good comes of all this, such as re-evaluating our priorities and maybe even getting climate change under control.

Kids will be home learning after the school break; my eldest isn’t looking forward to that. Husband will be working from home; I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to that or not. ;0) Myself, I seem to be getting some of those left over projects done now that I don’t have to break off halfway through the day to chauffeur the kids around the country. So if you’re missing me, that’s where I am.

Stay safe and healthy. May all of us, our families and friends come out of this safely.

Isolate. Wear masks if you have to go out.

Wash your hands. (20 seconds of soaping, minimum.)

>4 humouress: May books read

June
42. 45. 46.

May
34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

April

27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

June

47) Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly (1998)
✔   46) Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (2012)
✔   45) The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (2019)
44) Hospital Station by James White
43) Esme's Gift by Elizabeth Foster
✔       42) Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

May

review posted/ rated/ written/ read

✔ / / (#) / Title

✔           41) The Phantom's Curse by Shelley Wilson (ARC)
✔       40) The Queen’s Secret by Jessica Day George (2019)
✔       39) Esme’s Wish by Elizabeth Foster (2017)
✔           38) The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler (2016)
✔       37) The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories (1990)
✔   36) Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan (2006)
✔           35) The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George (2018)
✔       34) The Icebound Land by John Flanagan (2005)

April

review posted/ rated/ written/ read

✔ / / (#) / Title

✔       33) The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan (2005)
✔   32) The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho (2012)
✔   31) Cabin Pressure; series 1 by John Finnemore (2008)
✔           30) Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis (2016)
✔       29) Lady in Gil by Rebecca Bradley (1996)
✔       28) The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan (2004)
✔       27) Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis (2018)

From my first thread:

(if it's got a tick, I've posted my review to the book's page; stars are self-explanatory; clicking on the number will take you to the post where I've at least put down some ideas; last is the book title. I hope you appreciate the alliteration)

review posted/ rated/ written/ read

✔ / / (#) / Title

March

✔       26) Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis (2019)
✔   25) Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis (2017)
✔   24) Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (2012)
✔       23) Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (2005)
✔   22) Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook (2006)
✔       21) Nevertheless She Persisted anthology (2020)
✔       20) Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook (2005)

February

✔       19) First Truth by Dawn Cook (2002)
✔       18) Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (2016)
✔           17) Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal (2018)
✔   16) How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason (2019)
✔       15) The Sound of Her Wings by Neil Gaiman et al
✔           14) Sound and Fury by Neil Gaiman et al
✔               13) 24 Hours by Neil Gaiman et al
✔           12) Passengers by Neil Gaiman et al
✔       11) A Hope in Hell by Neil Gaiman et al
✔       10) Dream a Little Dream of Me by Neil Gaiman et al
✔       9) Imperfect Hosts by Neil Gaiman et al
✔       8) Sleep of the Just by Neil Gaiman et al
✔               7) First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennet (2018)
✔       6) Forest Born by Shannon Hale (2009)

January

✔       5) The Lost Heir by Tui Sutherland (2012)
✔       4) The Book of Swords. Part 1 edited by Gardner Dozois (2017)
✔           3) The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (2018)
✔           2) Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (2018)
✔       1) Wings of Fire; the Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland (2012)

The constellation:

  You have got to read this one!                          
  Really good; worth reading                                
      Good, but without that special 'something' for me  
       Very nice, but a few issues                                   
           An enjoyable book                                                                        
           Um, okay. Has some redeeming qualities                  
                Writing is hard. I appreciate the work the author did    
               (haven't met one - yet)                                               
                     Dire                                                                            
                     Rated only as a warning. Run away. Don't stop.               

Purple stars, from Robin's thread:

5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5

Unfortunately, the coloured stars I usually use come from an insecure website and no longer show on LibraryThing, so I'll have to hunt down another source. Robin has made coloured stars for me (happy dance) so I'm back in business. The codes are now enshrined in my profile.

Reading at home :

‘Waiting for the boys to finish classes’ book :

Bedtime reading :Tashi series,

Kindle :

Downtime : Skulduggery Pleasant

Overdrive :



Book club Six of Crows

online story

e-book (other)

LT Early Reviewers

Libraries:

   

Reading inspirations

Ongoing series:

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
Chronicles of the Cheysuli - Jennifer Roberson
Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell (group read, started January 2018; thread 2)
Tashi - Anna Fienberg
The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold (2014-2017 group read - savouring it before I run out of these glorious books)
**Farseer (group read starting March 2018)
***The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan (relaxed group read starting January 2019)
{Tor read https://www.tor.com/2018/02/20/reading-the-wheel-of-time-eye-of-the-world-part-1...

Planning to read with the kids:
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snickett
Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan (group read starting January 2019)

Ooh, what about...

Miss Fisher mysteries
Cinder
Vatta/Honor Harrington
*Ready Player One
Earthsea book 1

9

10

11

12

27) Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis (2018)



{Prequel of prequel +3 Harwood Spellbook series; fantasy, romance, YA. Novella}

One enchanted evening to change the world!

I’ve just finished reading this, the prequel to the Harwood Spellbook series. It was a good point to time it; it was published between Snowspelled and Thornbound and I read it with the foreknowledge of the first two books. This novella sets in motion the events that lead to those stories.

Amy Standish is a wealthy orphan. Although she has always been treated well by her relatives, she has has been shunted from family to family all her life so she is determined that she will find her own place in the world and hold it hard. To this end she takes as her mentor the best politician in the Anglish Bouddicate, Miranda Harwood, and joins her household which includes her daughter, thirteen year old Cassandra, and her son Jonathan. This novella takes place in the underwater ballroom on the evening when all Amy’s ambitions (political and otherwise) are about to be realised.

The recurring themes that I especially I like in this series are the way Burgis incorporates a continuing romance rather than the first falling in love and how she shows the strength of a family standing together:

Amy had always known she would do anything to protect her family whenever and wherever she found them. But she’d never imagined just how much they would do for her.

A good addition to the series and just as well worth reading.

4 stars

Everything is a blank still in posts 1-13, but happy new thread anyhow!!!

Happy new thread!

>15 Berly: >16 quondame: Thank you!

I wanted to start a new thread in the new quarter and I wanted to put down my ideas about the latest book I read but then I had to rush off for lunch. I’ll go back and set it all up properly.

Happy new thread!

Have a wonderful Sunday

More new thread wishes from me. Love the hoover diary. Did it survive the time outside unscathed?

Happy new thread Nina. Glad your all safe and well.

Happy new one, neighbour!

How are you coping with ever more restrictions in daily life?

Happy new thread, Nina!

>1 humouress: We do wash our hands more often, keep the distance when we do our daily walk, not isolating (as Frank still has to work), and no face masks required over here (yet).

Happy new thread, Nina!

And I adore your Cleanerbot Diaries from your last thread - they left me with a grin! My cat would NOT tolerate a Cleanerbot, although we could use one. I gather up the fur and put it out for the birds to use for nests. It's either that or make my own yarn and take up knitting....

Happy New Thread, Nina~

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Nina!

HERE you are. Why, anyone would think you were an archvillainess attempting to hide or...something...
...
...oh yeah, well, carry on!

Hi Nina - love your cleanerbot diaries from last thread. Daisy has never encountered an robot vacuum but she has encountered a robot lawnmower at a friend’s house which she found deeply worrying. I don’t think she could work out if it was alive or not!

>18 figsfromthistle: >19 charl08: >20 fairywings: >21 PaulCranswick: >22 FAMeulstee: >23 Dejah_Thoris: >24 ronincats: >25 foggidawn: >26 drneutron: >27 thornton37814: >28 richardderus: >29 SandDune: Thank you Anita, Charlotte, Adrienne, Paul, Anita, Dejah, Roni, foggi, Jim, Lori, Richard and Rhian!

We had new bookshelves put into the study/ library when we were away on holiday in January but I’ve discovered through experience that we need dehumidifier tubes in our cupboards and they were, apparently, impossible to find. When we realised that our movements were going to be restricted (as of this week) I managed to hunt some down and get them installed last week. So one of my current projects is cleaning, polishing and reorganising the study; made more awkward by being cluttered up with husband and son when it’s normally exclusively my space.

And for fun I’m painting a mural on the boys’ bedroom wall so between the two I have less time for LT.

In more vital news, last night I narrowly avoided supergluing my fingers together. Although I managed to unstick them before they fused together, I’ve still got glue on my fingertips so everything feels a bit weird. :0)

>22 FAMeulstee: I’m a bit late in replying to you Anita so I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the virus may be airborne after all so they (WHO I think) recommend wearing a mask if you have to go out.

So weird that the entire world has shut down for this and we’re all in the same boat. At least even the politicians seem to be rowing together, finally.

>19 charl08: >23 Dejah_Thoris: >29 SandDune: The Cleanerbot has been a bit quiet lately. It had a break while the soil was cleaned off it and it seems to be mulling things over; the upshot is that there is less to report.

If I could knit we could make lots of money from things made from Jasper’s fur - there’s certainly a lot of it floating around. Hmm, nest material. I love it when birds nest in our small garden but I’m not so keen on the starlings under our roof tiles because they make the walls messy. Plus they occasionally get stuck inside the roof space and make a lot of noise about it.

Jasper seems to be used to the Cleanerbot now and seems to find it more of a nuisance than anything else. He’s turning into a split personality - a lazy old lump in the daytime and a silly puppy in the evenings when the boys are scheduled to be at home, even though they’ve been at home for the whole day for the past three weeks.

>28 richardderus: Innocent little moi?

I just ordered some Kindle books from Amazon UK because they were a bit less than Amazon US and discovered I have about forty e-books on my US account and another fifteen more on my UK account, most of which I’d forgotten about. I’m going to have to put physical markers on my bookshelves to remember I have them. In the meantime, I’m having fun reading them.

I’ve also just re-read The Ruins of Gorlan so I’ll just repost my previous review here.

28) The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan (2004)



{First of 11 (or 12); Ranger’s Apprentice series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}
Group read. Re-read

I picked this up to join the group read and was initially planning to read it aloud to my children. However, I decided the chapters were too long for me to be able to read aloud in one go and anyway my younger son (firelion) couldn’t wait and he’s gone ahead and finished reading the whole series by himself.

The prologue tells us that Morgarath, former Baron of Gorlan, tried to usurp the crown of Araluen fifteen years ago but was defeated and retreated into exile. Now he is planning his return and revenge.

The story proper begins in Castle Redmont in the kingdom where five of the castle wards are about to choose their life professions. It focuses on Will who unexpectedly (but not surprising to us, given the series title) becomes apprentice to a Ranger. Rangers protect the kingdom with one assigned to each of the fifty fiefdoms, so training focuses on agility and strength rather than the ‘bash and whack’ of Will’s first choice of Battleschool. And then, just as Will is hoping to be formally accepted into the Ranger corps, word comes of Morgarath moving for war.

I enjoyed the story. The action flowed at a steady pace and the characters were likeable and easy to relate to. There were some points, especially at the beginning, where the story was reminiscent of countless other fantasy adventures and a couple of places where it looked like a thesaurus had been used but overall I liked it. It didn’t turn out to be a typical ‘chosen one’ story (although each of the five wards seem rather precocious in their chosen fields), there are trials, tribulations and triumphs and friendships formed.

I liked the way those in authority crack jokes straight-faced and the way Baron Arald is disappointed when no-one dares find them funny.

He could see that the boy was hanging on his every word, and he added, jokingly, ‘You’re not an enemy of the Kingdom, are you, Will?’
‘No, sir!’ will said in sudden fright and the Baron sighed again. He hated it when people didn’t realise he was joking. Unfortunately, as overlord of the castle, his words were treated with great seriousness by most people.

There are no cliffhangers so this story could be read as a stand-alone - but my book has a sneak preview of the second book in the series which I plan to continue with.

3.5-4 stars

29) Lady in Gil by Rebecca Bradley (1996)

 

{First of 3; Lady in Gil trilogy. Fantasy, YA}

I have been wanting to read this series for years, decades even, tempted by the cover blurb All the dreams of the barbarously occupied kingdom of Gil depend on its greatest hero. Too bad only his brother is available... but I could never find the first book until I finally succumbed and ordered the whole series for my Kindle (my preference being to read physical books). May I say that the cover blurb is, in typical 90s fashion - sensational as it is - slightly inaccurate.

According to legend the island of Gil was converted by Oballef, wielding the power of the Lady, to a peaceful and prosperous paradise dedicated to beauty and the pursuit of the arts - and thus, seventy years ago, the first stop of the Sherank empire in their conquest of the world as they sought to stamp out its beauty and steal the power for themselves. Although the ruling Priest-king and his immediate successors were killed in the onslaught, some of the Scions of Oballef escaped to Exile together with many of the Flamens (the real power behind the throne) and a selection of works from the archives.

Only a Scion can wield the Lady’s power but the physical manifestation of the Lady has been lost in Gil, hidden from the Sherkin who would use it to expand their oppressive empire. Periodically the Flamens smuggle a Scion, raised in the Heroic Code, back to Gil to attempt to retrieve the Lady and restore Gil to its former glory; however the only hero currently of age has badly injured himself and is unable to go. The only other Scion of age is his brother, Lord Tigrallef, but he’s no hero - he reads, for one thing, and thinks, for another, and is happy working in the archives as a memorian as well as being rather sceptical about the Heroic Code. The Flamens don’t really have any confidence in Tig being the first Scion in seventy years to succeed but if they’re to stick to their schedule he has to go. Tig’s mother, however, does have complete faith in her son. …

The only note of hope was dropped by my mother, the Lady Dazeene, into the silence the delegation left behind.

“Strange,” she said, “I'd resigned myself to the thought of losing Arko, and now you're to go instead. Of course, it's better this way.”

“You mean, I'm not as much of a loss?” I asked, surprised and a little hurt. She had never given the impression that she liked my brother best.

“Don't be stupid, Tig,” she said. “I mean that now I might keep both my sons—and by the way, if you happen to find your father, you can tell him I'm still waiting.”

I sighed and kissed her. It was nineteen years since my father had taken ship for Gil, and she still refused to believe he was dead.

This is a solid story, well written and although I didn’t find the pace relentless (possibly more an effect of the format, for me) it was consistent and I did want to find out what happened next. It is narrated (five years afterward) in the first person by Tig with his slightly sceptical outlook on life and is a good depiction of a country held under the oppressive thumb of its conquerors for a long time.

This could be read as a stand-alone despite the bitter-sweet ending - but I have the other books in the trilogy waiting for me ...

4-4.5 stars

I wanted my message this year to be fairly universal in a time we all should be pulling together, whatever our beliefs. Happy Celebration, Happy Sunday, Nina.

Thank you Paul. I’ll have to check my calendar but I hear Ramadan is around the corner too.

>38 humouress: Yep it is starting later this month. The Government here is in a bit of a quandary because its support base is the non-urban Malays who will be insisting upon their traditions which means mass trips back to the kampungs at the start of Ramadan to break fast with parents, the Ramadan street markets and of course the mass return to the villages to celebrate Hari Raya at the end of Ramadan. They know this is a recipe to guarantee the spread of the coronavirus and they are toying with the idea of extending the lockdown until after Hari Raya in the very face of their support base. Will be interesting.

>39 PaulCranswick: Gosh! Let’s hope common sense prevails over politics.

What am I saying? Well, maybe Dr. Mahathir may have some say.

>40 humouress: I think he is too busy nursing the hand that bit him.

>41 PaulCranswick: Ah. Well, let’s hope for the best, as we’re doing in the rest of the world.

Myself, I’m happy to be hunkered down with my immediate family and know that the greater family spread around the world is relatively safe (though we do have some cousins and so on on the front lines). I do recognise that I am privileged to be able to do so and I’m grateful for that.

We’re lucky enough, in densely populated Singapore, to have a green area nearby so this week we’ve been going for family walks with Jasper - the first time we’ve ever all gone out together.

We’ve also been teaching our younger son (firelion) to ride his bike, finally, and he’s already got the hang of it within two or three days. Next up is teaching Jasper to cycle - or, rather, to run alongside someone cycling without getting his leash tangled up in the wheels and also to stop on command so the cyclist doesn’t run the danger of hurtling over the handlebars in an emergency if they have to brake suddenly. We certainly won’t be pairing the two of them for some time.

>42 humouress: It sounds as though you and your family are doing a great job staying sane in all the craziness - and I'm glad you've got some greenspace nearby!

Happy Easter!

>42 humouress: Thanks Dejah. We’re also lucky that the house is big enough that we don’t have to be constantly on top of each other if we don’t want to.

On Saturday night we had a Zoom call with my husband’s aunts, various cousins and their kids around the world. Last night we had one with my aunts, uncles, cousins and kids. My aunt always sends out birthday wishes to every member of the family with a little photo presentation but of course she doesn’t do one for herself - so one of my cousins organised a Zoom birthday party for her. It was great to see folks from North America, UK and Australia and my kids got to see some of their cousins for the first time.

>44 quondame: Thanks Susan. That’s an elegant and bookish wish.

>36 humouress: Never heard of her; it; or them. Fantasy from the 90s explains that, of course, those being years I wasn't reading fantasies at all (lasted into the Teens, that).

Too bad you insisted that these stories are so deeply interconnected that to leave of reading before completing them all will result in reliving The Ring. (I read between lines quite easily, La Overkill.)

>47 richardderus: Obviously ‘stand-alone’ means something different in Long Island from the rest of the world. No matter; I’ll keep aiming the book bullets in your direction in the hopes that something hits, sometime.

>48 humouress: The dark, nefarious corners of the mind of a supervillainess are, sad to report, plain as Easter Peeps to an old hand like me.

>49 richardderus: I doubt it. Even I don’t know what villainous deeds the darkest recesses of my mind will invent. Keep looking behind you.

Eurgh, I am so fed up with porridge for breakfast. I need something with taste and texture, cholesterol be darned.

Go for it, Nina! They say eggs are good for you in moderation.

How are you all surviving?

>52 ronincats: We had bacon and eggs for breakfast yesterday and I had two eggs instead of my usual one.

We’re surviving pretty well thanks Roni, all things considered. We have enough space so we’re not on top of one another. Of course, everyone is chafing about having to work/ learn from home but they’re getting on with it. I do think we’re all getting a little rounder by the week so we’ll have to do more exercise. Good intentions ...

Myself, I’m finishing off a few of my many half-done projects. One that I'm hovering on the edge of is reorganising my bookshelves now that I’ve got a couple of new ones. The plan is to take all the books down, wipe them down, polish the cupboards and redistribute the books so I don’t have to move everything if/ when I buy new books. It’s taking a while because of the other projects, my usual procrastination and because my workspace is cluttered up by all these work-from-home people :0)

But that’s also why I’m more absent than usual on LT. Thanks for checking in on me.

>53 humouress: Ooh, I need to tackle my bookshelves. I need to either free up some space or buy new shelves (possibly both). It's a daunting project.

30) Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis (2016)

 

{Stand-alone. Fantasy, historical fiction}

Having been hit by LT book bullets for Burgis's Harwood Spellbook series which I really enjoyed, I picked up this book from the library and read it soon after I had finished the Harwood books. I think I was expecting more of the same, but this story is set in a world that is closer to ours, being based on real historical events to some extent, but still has elements of magic. It is set in the Austrian empire at one of the palaces of Nikolaus Esterházy in 1779.

Prince Nikolaus's mistress, Sophie von Höllner, has invited her recently widowed sister, Charlotte von Steinbeck, to Esterháza; Charlotte nursed her older husband through his last illness and her grown-up step-children don't need her. In a coach on the road to the fabulous Esterháza Palace is the famous castrato singer Carlo Morelli, to rehearse one of Joseph Haydn's operas for the new opera house there, along with a couple of suspicious seeming passengers.

There are complex political and supernatural plots afoot as well as a touch of romance and an opera to be rehearsed. Charlotte, more mature and quieter than her much younger sister, becomes involved in palace life, indulging in her taste for music and - awkwardly - making the acquaintance of Princess Marie Elisabeth.

It was an interesting book especially with the historical characters woven through it. I think I would have appreciated it more if I had read it at a bit more distance from Burgis's other books as the ambiance is different.

3 stars

Litsy notes:
I’ve read most of the ‘Harwood Spellbook’ series because of LibraryThing book bullets and loved them. I borrowed ‘Masks and Shadows’ by Stephanie Burgis because I couldn’t find the series initially. I’m less than a quarter way in but it’s not scratching my itch. So far it’s looking like a historical fiction with developing elements of paranormal fantasy.
I shall persevere for now. Let’s see how it works out ...

Well, I finished it. Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as ‘The Harwood Spellbook’ Stories (which I really liked and read just prior to this one - I think that was part of the problem) it was a question of changing my mindset.

31) Cabin Pressure; series 1 by John Finnemore (2008)



Episodes: Abu Dhabi, Boston, Cremona, Douz, Edinburgh, Fitton.

{First of 4; Cabin Pressure series. Comedy, audio book/ radio play}

I got hit by a book bullet from (MickyFine) for this which I borrowed as an audiobook although it is actually six episodes of a radio play, from BBC Radio 4, about an airline called MJN ('My Jet Now') with a fleet of a grand total of one aircraft, called Gerti, running on a very tight budget.

Carolyn: I don't have an airline. I have one jet. You cannot put one jet in a line. If MJN is anything, it is an air dot.

It has a star cast (from British entertainment); the four regulars are Stephanie Cole (as the owner and stewardess), pilot Benedict Cumberbatch, first officer Roger Allam and steward John Finnemore, who also created and wrote the show, with guests coming on as passengers, air traffic controllers etc. Each episode features Gerti flying to a different destination (whether she reaches it or not) and issues with cargo, passengers, foreign paperwork, whisky, lemons ... not helped by Douglas's (Allam) attempts to belittle the less experienced Martin (Cumberbatch) by misinforming him (which tend to backfire on the whole enterprise) or by Arthur's (Finnemore) well meaning but often disastrous attempts to help.

Arthur: Aha, my signature dish. Behold! Surprising Rice.
Douglas: Good lord!
Martin: What are those bits?
Arthur: Ah, you see, Skipper, if you don't mind me saying so, that question is entirely against the spirit of Surprising Rice.

We listened to these episodes over a few family dinners; my husband and I really enjoyed them and even the kids appreciated the show. In this day and age, that's pretty high endorsement. My eleven year old giggled when Douglas described himself as calling from 'the pointy end' over the intercom. My sixteen year old liked Douglas's character while I had to do mental gymnastics compressing Sherlock down when Martin is described as a small man.

Martin: But I have always wanted to be an airline captain.
Douglas: Really?
Martin: Yes, ever since I was six.
Douglas: Oh, and before that?
Martin: I wanted to be an aeroplane.

Recommended. Short, sharp and sweet, like a good lemon meringue pie.

4.5 stars

32) The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho (2012)

 

{Stand-alone. Fiction, set in London, 1920}

This was a short, sweet novelette about a young Malaysian Chinese girl living in London in the 1920s because she wants to have adventures. It is written as a series of diary entries beginning in August and ending with a letter dated April 1921. As an expat currently living in Singapore I could relate to her. ('"I should have gone home and tried writing for the Straits Times' - that's our local/ national newspaper.)

It opens with an entry with Jade, whose Chinese name is Geok Huay trading barbs over afternoon tea with her rich but stingy aunt.

"No more absurd than Bee Hoon," I said. "I've always wished I could name a daughter of mine Bee Hoon."

A vein in Aunt Iris's temple twitched.

"It means 'beautiful cloud'," I said dreamily. "Why doesn't Uncle Gerald ever call you Bee Hoon, Auntie?""

Although the author's website emphasises that it does, indeed, mean 'beautiful cloud', in Singapore 'bee hoon' is rice vermicelli noodles.

Jade keeps body and soul together by writing articles for fashion magazines and reviews for the Oriental Literary Review which is run by her friend Ravi. When she writes a damning review about a book by well-regarded, well-connected author Sebastian Hardie, Ravi is worried about the backlash if he publishes it in his journal.

"But I shouldn't think anyone of importance will read it."

Ravi's mouth quivered.

"Thank you," he said. "It's good to know you're excited about being published again in the journal."

Jade is surprised to receive an invitation from Sebastian after the review is published. She decides to go to the party (on my birthday - if I had been alive then) and finds him 'good-looking, in the style of a Romantic poet living in the Lake District' and decides to be 'properly bad'. (At this point, I must admit, her adventures caused me some raised eyebrows. And I found references to 'the worm' a bit jarring; I thought she could have used a better word.)

I liked this book; the humour appeals to me and I highlighted so many quotes on my Kindle that I had to stop for fear of highlighting the whole book.

4.5 stars

There has been a spike in cases in Singapore so I heard; stay safe, Nina.

>57 humouress: Glad you managed to read The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo and enjoyed it :-)

Sorry to see Masks and Shadows didn't get a higher rating as it's one I was thinking of trying but I'll wait for you to gather your thoughts.

Hope you and your family stay safe Nina.

>57 humouress: >59 souloftherose: I'm looking forward to The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, admittedly as something short once I leave the Kingdom of Copper....

>57 humouress: >59 souloftherose: >60 quondame: I liked The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, too, although I wish there had been more of Ravi. In fact, I think I would have enjoyed an expanded version of the story overall.

Yay for Cabin Pressure!

Hi Nina. That is all.

>54 foggidawn: That was my problem too foggi. But having acquired the bookshelves I am now daunted, which is my next problem *sigh*

ETA: looks like I can’t count. A few of my post numbers are wrong

>58 PaulCranswick: The spike has been in the construction workers’ dormitories where isolation wasn’t possible. Now they’ve moved them out and are testing for cases so I expect the spike will last a few days.

We are staying safely at home, thanks Paul.

>59 souloftherose: I have to sit down and do my reviews sometime soon Heather. I think part of the problem was that I started reading Masks and Shadows expecting it to be like her Harwood Spellbook series and it’s quite different; the magic leans a bit more towards paranormal for one thing. It took me a while to find my feet with this one and I don’t think I fully settled in.

>59 souloftherose: >60 quondame: The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo was short, sweet and funny. It had me chuckling out loud at quite a few points. I gave up highlighting quotes in my Kindle because i would have ended up highlighting the whole story.

>62 MickyFine: Book bullet duly received, thank you Micky. I played it during dinner over a few days and though the kids didn’t always stick around for the ending of all the episodes and sometimes talked over the audio they enjoyed it too. It was a bit odd trying to think of the Great Sherlock Holmes as a small person and though I was a bit miffed that his character kept getting put down by Douglas, my older son admitted to liking Douglas.

I’ll get the other series(seses) at some point but I’ll give the kids a bit of a break first.

>67 humouress: I though it meant to be cleverer than it was.

>63 richardderus: Hi Richard.

>69 quondame: Oh; I didn’t get that vibe; I read it with a kind of Singaporean perspective. Jade is a Malaysian (Chinese) living in England so we’ve kind of swapped places.

‘Bee Hoon’, Jade’s aunt’s Chinese name, is a type of noodle although it really does mean ‘floating on a cloud’ (or whatever) according to the author’s website.

ETA: to correct post numbers

Have a great weekend, neighbour. At least now the weekends are longer (like 5 days longer)!

Thank you everyone for dropping by. I really must get around and visit everyone but right now my iPad battery is dying and one of my projects-to-do-in-isolation is to sew coloured knots on my laundry care labels because I cannot read them without glasses and/or under artificial light so I need to get on with that and clear the clothes off my bed.

Weird, I know - but hey! I’ve got the time.

>72 PaulCranswick: Oh hi, Paul. Nearly missed you there. Enjoy your Ramadan period even though your family is scattered around the world. One of the blessings of technology is that we can still keep in immediate contact with and even talk to family ‘face to face’.

Stay safe!

(PS: I feel that, in light of the current circumstances, we should postpone our meet-up. What say you?)

>74 humouress: I don't think we have any say in the matter, Nina. Singapore wouldn't let me in and Malaysia wouldn't let you in either!

33) The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan (2005)



{Second of 11 (or 12); Ranger’s Apprentice series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}
Group read.

Although his preliminary manoeuvres have been stymied, Morgarath is continuing his preparations for war against the kingdom of Araluen. Will, the Ranger’s apprentice of the title, and his mentor Halt are involved in getting the kingdom and their home of Redmont fief ready for defence. Gilan, Halt’s former apprentice who is now a Ranger himself, comes to them to request that Will join him on a mission to the kingdom of Celtica to invoke the mutual defence treaty. A third member will be needed for the mission since the Celts live by the motto “One man may be deceit. Two can be conspiracy. Three is the number I trust.” so Halt suggests that Will’s old nemesis, Horace, would be a good candidate.

Once they cross the border, however, the three realise that something is very wrong in the land of the Celts and discover that Morgarath’s plans run deeper than anyone had realised and, in fact, have been in motion for some time already. And so a desperate race is on to warn the Araluen army before Morgarath’s forces are fully deployed.

This is a good sequel to The Ruins of Gorlan. It is well written, flows smoothly and the characters are likeable. Although the story revolves around Will, I like the way we are shown different points of view so we can see the bigger picture and it has been crafted so the change between points of view of different characters is logical and not confusing.

I liked being shown the training that Gilan gives both Horace and Will. The action scenes are compelling; I’m no Ranger or Battleschool apprentice but they seemed believable to me. And I still like the humour.

“Horace eagerly urged his horse forward, to ride level with the two Rangers.

‘Thank you, sir,’ he said gratefully. Gilan cocked an eyebrow at Will.

‘Polite, isn’t he?’ he mused. ‘Obviously manners are well taught in the Battleschool these days. Nice to be called “sir” all the time.’

Will grinned at the kindly meant jibe. Then the smile faded from his face as Gilan continued thoughtfully.

‘Not a bad idea to have a bit of respect shown. Perhaps you could call me sir as well,’ he said, turning his face away to study the treeline to one side, so that Will couldn’t see the faint trace of a grin that insisted on breaking through.

Aghast, Will choked over his answer. He couldn’t believe his ears.

‘Sir?’ he said finally. ‘You really want me to call you sir, Gilan?’ Then, as Gilan frowned slightly at him, he amended hurriedly and in great confusion: ‘I mean, sir! You want me to call you sir ... sir?’

Gilan shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think “sir-sir” is suitable. Nor “Sir Gilan”. I think just the one sir would do nicely, don’t you?’

Will couldn’t think of a polite way of phrasing what was in his mind

The two slight criticisms I have are that Will and his friends are still somewhat paragons of excellence and that unfortunately, the blurb on the back (of my edition) jumps right to the middle of the book which is a bit annoying (but hardly the author’s fault) because I spent the first half of reading the book anticipating those events.

The book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger - but, hey, there are ten more books to go in this series so it’s no big surprise.

4-4.5 stars

>76 humouress: That sounds like the perfect combination of swash and buckle for the present moment. I hope y'all're keeping well.

>76 humouress: I need to read the the Ranger's Apprentice books at some point!

>77 richardderus: Morning Richard! They are fun, you’re right. I’ve bought the whole series for firelion so I’m reading them before I pass them on to him - I use books as carrots for him :0)

We are all well at the moment, thanks. I hope you’re well on the road to recovery. I’ll have to make time to do the LT rounds again soon.

>78 curioussquared: Hi Natalie! I bought the books for my son but also partly so we could both join the group read - but that was for last year. I’m finally starting to get through them but they’re quite quick to read and quite well written so they’re easy to read, too.

I hope everything is well (or getting better, at least) in Seattle.

Aren't you going to post your challenge this month, Nina?

>81 Dejah_Thoris: Oops; I’ve been spending less time on LT and I haven’t even checked on what the birthstone for May is, yet. On my way ...

ETA: ... done 😅 Thanks for the reminder.

Birthstone book covers thread

34) The Icebound Land by John Flanagan (2005)



{Third of 11 (or 12); Ranger’s Apprentice series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}
Group read.

During the war against Morgarath, Will and one of his companions were captured and they now have to suffer a miserable journey sailing on board a wolfship to Skandia, the ice-bound land where a more miserable fate awaits them as slaves.

The first massive wave struck and the wolfship’s bow canted up at a terrifying angle. They began to rise up the face of the wave, then the ship faltered and began to slide – backwards and downwards! Svengal and Erak screamed at the rowers. Their voices were plucked away by the wind but the crew, their backs to the storm, could see and understand their body language. They heaved on the oars, bending the oak shafts with their efforts, and the backwards slide slowly eased. The ship began to claw its way up the face of the wave, rising higher and higher, moving more and more slowly until Will was sure they must begin the terrible backwards sliding motion again.

Then the crest of the wave broke and thundered over them.

Tonnes of water crashed onto the wolfship, driving it down, rolling it far over to the right until it seemed that it would never recover. Will screamed in absolute animal terror, then had the scream cut off as freezing salt water hammered against him, breaking his grip on the mast, filling his mouth and lungs and hurling him along the deck until the fragile cord brought him to a stop, swirling this way and that until the mass of water passed over and around him.

Meanwhile, Halt has sworn to find Will so he sets out with Horace by the land route traveling through an alternative Europe where Horace finds the customs very different from those of Araluen and that other people are a little bit more flexible than he is about the concept of knightly chivalry.

I found this a good continuation of the series and I like the way it expands on the original premise. It is a little bit darker but still (just about) within my comfort zone for my eleven year old to read (well, he already borrowed it last year from the school library). Our hero is downed shockingly quickly, but that can happen when circumstances turn against you.

As I’ve noted in my reviews for the previous books in the series, I like the writing style and the humour. (My reviews are getting shorter partly because I’m trying to avoid spoilers for previous books and partly because I’ve already covered the ground in the previous reviews.) One small quibble I have is the occasional pairs of adjectives that seem to contradict each other such as ‘an almost inaudible sigh carried clearly’ or ‘ringing hiss of steel on leather’; these have cropped up in all three books so far and usually give me a moment’s pause.

I’m still enjoying the series; they’re well written both for adult readers and the target age group (stated as 10+ on the back of my Corgi Yearling edition) but light enough that I can read them back to back - usually I have to have a break between books.

4 stars

Go to sleep neighbour it is almost 2 in the morning.

*sneaking away to pretend to sleep *

Morning/ evening Paul. I’m actually in bed - a bit early for me - so I thought I’d do some reading :0)

*smooch* just cuz I can

Hello! I haven't been here is a while. Hope the study is coming along well and hurray for the new bike rider! Your books seem to be pretty good lately--may the trend continue.

>86 richardderus: Well, that’s more friendly than last time ;0)

*Smooch* back at yer!

>87 Berly: Hi Kim! I haven’t been visiting much on LT myself. The study is progressing slowly. I’ve moved my computer back in so once it’s set up I should be able to navigate the web a bit more agilely. As I’ve been using my iPad I haven’t needed to rush to set it up.

firelion is now addicted to cycling and has been exploring the neighbourhood with his brother and/ or me. He’s pretty good for having just learned but I’m finding that both boys don’t quite grasp the concept of gears. Fortunately Singapore is fairly flat - though we live halfway up a decent slope.

I’m racing through the Ranger’s Apprentice series so I can pass the books on to him as he’s running out of reading material. He borrowed them from the school library last year, but that’s all I have for now for him.

35) The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George (2018)

 

{First of 3(?); Rose Legacy series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}

Anthea is an orphan who lives in Coronam where there are oxen and motor cars (for some reason, when I see motor cars in this story I imagine long, elegant open-top affairs) but horses are monsters of legend; it is her dream to become a Rose Maiden, as her mother had been, and serve the queen. However, she has been shunted from relative to relative all her young life until finally, as the story begins, she learns that she is to be sent to her father’s brother who lives beyond the Wall in the north of Coronam - a place where only exiles and reprobates live.

To her horror, once she is there she discovers that there are horses there - those monstrous animals that had carried a plague until they were killed off by it, or so she thought. Soon she finds that she has to rethink many of the things she has been taught to take for granted.

This story was somewhat reminiscent of The Blue Sword - although aimed at a younger audience - with an orphaned girl being sent to family far away and having fantastic adventures with animals and there are also echoes of Mrs Coulter (from His Dark Materials).

Although I liked the story and I’m curious about what happens next, I found the structure of this book a bit uneven. I felt that some aspects of the plot could have been fleshed out a bit more, such as Anthea’s change of heart about friendships and why she couldn’t remember more about her childhood. Being inside a horse’s head was an interesting aspect, although initially they came across as being a bit servile. I thought the ending, especially the point at which Anthea meets the Rose Matron, was a bit confused and a bit rushed. It’s sweet that this is a story that Day George has had in her head since she was a girl but I do feel that the writing is not up to her usual standard.

Having said that, I did enjoy the story and have already downloaded the next one to read.

3 stars

>90 humouress: Little girl on horse. Oh nay nay nay.

>91 richardderus: Was that a neighbor agreement? ;0)

Happy Wednesday!

>92 humouress: Ha! Touché!

Just parking a quote here for later:

‘Going to slow them down,’ Halt replied briefly. ‘Don’t stop to watch. Just keep going as hard as you can!’
Erik gritted his teeth as he came down heavily on the saddle. ‘This is as hard_as_I_can!’he replied. But Halt was already shaking his head. The Ranger had already unslung his longbow from across his shoulders and was brandishing it in his right hand. Eras saw what was coming, a moment too late to do anything about it.
‘No!’ he began. ‘Don’t you_!’

Carry on ...

>95 humouress: Longbow+horse!?! WTF.

Good point. I hadn’t really stopped to think. 🤗 Fantasy?

>96 quondame: Baad fantasy. That sort of sloppiness is why I DNF some fantasies, the authors just write from the hip under the assumption that anything goes in fantasy.

>98 quondame: Actually it's the Ranger's Apprentice series which is well written. The battle scenes are believable (in my vast battle experience).

Thinking about it, I don't think he fires while on his horse (although Google tells me it may have been possible although unlikely - except in a rout); he is trying to dissuade a pursuing enemy but he dismounts to fire from ambush.

36) Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan (2006)



{Fourth of 11 (or 12); Ranger’s Apprentice series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}
Group read.

Will and Evanlyn are trying to escape from Skandia and have been held up in the mountains by the winter snows. Halt and Horace are heading into Skandia by the land route, crossing from Teutlandt through one of the mountain passes, hoping to rescue them. In so doing, they discover a Temujai horde poised to invade Skandia. With their retreat into Teutlandt cut off by the Temujai and realising that once Skandia falls - and Halt knows it must, despite the Skandians' well-known prowess as fighters - the Temujai will look to invade the rest of the world, the Araluens decide to head back to the Skandian capital of Hallasholm to warn the Skandians and hopefully form an alliance with them to hold off the Temujai.

I like this series. The adventures are well written and while the outcomes may be resolved more easily than in the real world (so wars don’t drag out over many books, for example - but cliff-hangers are kept to a minimum) Flanagan doesn’t talk down to his readers and I’ve found the writing to be consistently solid and engaging. They are also light enough to keep me reading - I usually can't read two books in a series too close together - but well-written enough that I'm happy to read more.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers for the previous books. Points that I've made in my reviews for them that still hold true are the writing flows smoothly, they’re well written both for adult readers and the target age group (stated as 10+ on some of my editions), the characters are likeable, the action scenes are compelling and I like the humour.

‘Going to slow them down,’ Halt replied briefly. ‘Don’t stop to watch. Just keep going as hard as you can!’

Erik gritted his teeth as he came down heavily on the saddle. ‘This is as hard...as...I...can!’he replied. But Halt was already shaking his head. The Ranger had already unslung his longbow from across his shoulders and was brandishing it in his right hand. Eras saw what was coming, a moment too late to do anything about it.

‘No!’ he began. ‘Don’t you...!’

But then the bow whipped down across his horse's rump with a resounding crack and the beast leapt forward as if it had been stung. In a way, of course, it had.

The profanity that Erak was preparing for Halt was lost in a his drawn-out howl as he grabbed at the saddle bow once more to keep his seat.

I feel the writing is improving and some of my quibbles from the previous books have been addressed. Although the story revolves around Will, I like the way we are shown different points of view so we can see the bigger picture.

Erak opened his mouth to reply, but Olgak interrupted.

'The Ranger's right, Jarl,' he said. 'You'll be more valuable at Hallasholm. And besides, you're getting a bit long in the tooth for this sort of work, aren't you?'

Erak's eyes widened with anger and he started to say something. Then he noticed that Olgak was grinning broadly and realised that the younger man was joking.

(A young warrior talking to his earl/ war leader.)

Now I’m at an impasse. I’ve just finished Oakleaf Bearers (aka The Battle for Skandia) which is book four. Book five is The Sorcerer in the North but there’s a note after the blurb in my book that says:

Ranger’s Apprentice book 7: Erak’s Ransom takes place before the events of books 5 and 6. You might like to read book 7 first.

I plan to take advice from LT friends who have read them before and the Ranger's Apprentice website and read book 7 first.

4.5 stars

So, for folks who have got that far, do you recommend that I read book 5 or book 7 next? I’m a girl who likes to read series in order so I can follow the time line - but now I’m confused 😐

Luckily, I have already read the Ranger's Apprentice series of books, so I can dodge those BBs. However, you did get me with the Zen Cho book. My local library does not have it though. It does have Sorceror to the Crown, so I will take a look at it in future. Have you read that one, Nina?

Have a wonderful weekend!

>100 humouress: Listen to those who have gone before you on the path: Read book 7 with a clear conscience. Club that ordinal freak inside you on the head.

>101 alcottacre: I haven't read Sorceror to the Crown Stasia although I've seen it and thought about it in the bookshop and I think it's had favourable mentions around LT. I was considering it too (again), on the strength of The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo.

>102 richardderus: That sounds awkward and painful (you don't have anything against me, do you Richard?) but otherwise I'll follow your advice to read book 7 first.

I'm sure I'll think of you when I do.

Fondly ... :0/

Hi neighbour!

Hope all is well in Singapore and that things there are vigilant but getting better. Happy Mother's Day, by the way, although my own mum celebrates with the Brits on another day!

Hi Paul!

Numbers are improving generally, if you take out the poor old workers who had been living in dormitories (now, of course, they've been moved out so they can be isolated). We are continuing with the new normal.The boys' school has decided to bring school holidays forward so they fall in the lockdown period so they'll have more class time on school premises when it's lifted. They'll still have a couple more weeks, since they just went back to school.

Thank you for the Mothers' Day wishes. Wishing the same to Hani. I do try to get the rest of the family to celebrate on both days but the impetus seems to be falling away. However I am expecting dinner tonight as prepared by my children (usually my husband takes charge of the celebrations). There's a tomahawk steak marinading somewhere and I've already been given a taste of their tiramisu (which we also showed off on a Zoom call this morning).

Well, the pandemic isn’t treating us too badly, all things considered. My kids made a delicious meal for Mother’s Day (we finished the tiramisu last night)

Double post - sorry; I was interrupted in the middle.

Well, the pandemic isn’t treating us too badly, all things considered. My kids made a delicious meal for Mother’s Day (we finished the tiramisu last night) and I wouldn’t mind seeing that happen more often.

Last weekend I gave the boys and my husband haircuts. They didn’t turn out too badly although my eldest grumbles that he was the guineapig. But the other two (fairly) willingly took the barber’s chair (or in our case, sat in the shower) afterwards. And they can all do their on-line meetings/ lessons without needing to wear caps.

My husband has been binge-watching a few series and I’ve joined him. He’s also discovered Amazon TV so I picked Good Omens which he enjoyed so much that he was disappointed there wasn’t a second series. We may have a convert - he was a Game of Thrones addict too. His latest is Jack Ryan but Ryan travels all over the world so he encounters different languages and for some reason, every other episode has subtitles in German. It’s stretching my schoolgirl standard a bit and I can only pick up about half - which isn’t bad for only studying the language for a couple of years three and a half decades ago.

But the kids can’t wait to go back to school because the workload will be easier (huh?) and even Jasper gets super excited at seeing other dogs when we’re out on walks. Mind you, that dog has always been super enthusiastic about everything since he was a puppy. He’s calming down a bit now; these days he applies that quality to napping. I can walk upto him and say ‘Boo!’ and make him jump.

Other than that, same old same old. The ceiling to floor mural I’m painting in one corner of the boys’ room has finally reached the floor (at one point). It took ages to draw it but the painting was going swimmingly until my son pointed out you could see the brushstrokes so now I have to go back and give each section a few coats. But it’s keeping me occupied.

We’ve done our share of zoom calls with different families and friends. We also did two sessions with my nieces in Seattle where the cousins cooked together; the first menu was quiche and doughnut muffins and the second session was moussaka and tiramisu (though tasty, the tiramisu weren’t as successful as the one I got this weekend; practice makes perfect).

And I am so SO thrilled to see the night sky when we go out on our walks. Usually in Singapore there haven’t been sunsets, just a lessening of daylight and the night sky was an orange haze. Even when there were cloudless nights you couldn’t see stars; the maximum I ever counted was 25. But now the night sky is dark blue and there must be at least a hundred stars. I even recognised Orion although you can’t see more that his belt and the four stars at the ends of his limbs. But it has nothing, of course, on Hawai’ian skies.

>108 humouress: Glad quarantine is treating you well! We enjoyed Good Omens, too, but Tim decided Jack Ryan wasn't for him about two episodes in. It's not really my thing, either, but I do like John Krasinski :)

>109 curioussquared: Thanks Natalie. Jack Ryan is very much my husband’s thing; he’s been force fed a diet of superhero films in recent years because that’s what we can watch at the cinema as a family.

Woo woo! My chair came today!

I’ve been eyeing an ergonomic chair for a few years and just before the lockdown was scheduled to hit, I bit the bullet and went to the shop and ordered it. It arrived a couple of hours ago but I’m going to leave it in a sunny corner for a while before using it. My previous chair has been donated to my son to use for his studies since he’s home-learning.

Currently my husband and I are sitting on stools to work so he’s ordered a chair for himself too (and he’s rubbing it in that he’s got two of his for the price of one of mine but I’m happy with mine); his is a gaming chair.

So now we have four chairs where we had one before. Hah! A couple of months before, he was trying to convince me to get rid of a couple of our work tables. Granted I’m a hoarder and we didn’t really need the old computer table - but now they’re all seeing full use. See, I was right!

>111 humouress: Next phase of hoarding: commenced.

"Of course we can reuse foil! Don't throw that away!"

>112 richardderus: You don't already?

>111 humouress: How marvelous to have your prescience and wisdom validated! And you probably haven't said "I told you so" even once!

>113 humouress:

>114 Dejah_Thoris: I would never do that!

(Every chance I get.)

>114 Dejah_Thoris: & >116 humouress: You are, after all, a lady. We gentlemen quietly defer to the infinite wisdom of womenhood.

>115 richardderus: Not recycling? You should run ;0)

>118 humouress: Not "not," can't...not under my control in this building. Physically incapable of traveling ~30mi/50km to the county facility.

Hi Nina, glad to see you are all OK!

>111 humouress: Mr SandDune has brought his work chair home and it is bright blue and clashing with the aesthetics in our dining room horribly. We are both working from home and I have the study (mainly on the grounds that I started working from home first) and he has the dining room with the horrible chair!

>120 SandDune: My daughter also brought her work chair home - I don't know what color it is because her co-workers had taken advantage of the perforated back to cover it in huge chenille yarn in earth tones. She says it's much more comfortable for the extra padding.

>120 SandDune: Thanks Rhian.

>121 quondame: That does sound comfy. :0)

I hadn't thought of bringing work chairs home (not that I go to work); mind you, the logistics of transporting a chair would have put me off anyway.

My chair is blue too (but not bright blue) and adds a nice splash of colour to the study (as my husband pointed out) which otherwise has wooden furniture. I picked it partly because it was ordered in anyway for the shop's stock; I could have chosen another colour but then it would have taken another month to deliver from Europe.

My husband's chairs are due in at the end of the month (one for him and one for our eldest); though they're black, gaming chairs will not really match the aesthetics of my (yes my - though it's now been invaded, since we have the two desks) study.

>117 PaulCranswick: Oh Paul! You sneaked in while I was posting and I nearly missed you.

Thank you.

(You did say 'quietly defer', right?) Hani has trained you well.

Too bad Firelion has stopped reading as much. That's really tough. I'll probably keep the kids away from their phones when they're supposed to be off screens when they get phones. I don't want to buy D a phone until high school, but we may buy one when she's 12 and in middle school. We'll see. Right now, I require some reading time during the day in order to earn their screen-time. I also reward them by giving them either $5 or McDonald's when they finish a pre-approved book. Otherwise they only read graphic novels - which are fine as a genre, but don't really increase their reading comprehension much. I make sure they're reading one nonfiction and one fiction, and that it's something they enjoy. (Which is difficult with D, as she is very, very picky. Especially difficult with the libraries closed!)

I hope Firelion picks up the habit again. Sounds like he actually read on his own, without needing rewards and requirements.

Mmm; screen time is an issue. Firelion got a phone for his birthday, as his brother had at the same age, since he went into Year 6 at the beginning of the year which is called a 'transition year' in their school and is considered the first year of secondary school rather than the last year of primary school. He also got a school-issued laptop, supposedly for school work, but ...

He still reads quite a bit in between (although, sadly, not as much) and normally he'd have access to the school library. We had thought about a Kindle for a present but I thought that would be too many devices. Actually, it may be partly my fault that his reading has slowed down - I'm certainly being blamed for it - but I have some books in a cupboard that I'm holding to bribe him with. I've asked for book reports which he reluctantly produces and I'm doling out the books. However, my supply seems to have dwindled suspiciously and most of what I have left are the Ranger's Apprentice books which he won't accept because he's already borrowed them from the library and finished.

So we're in negotiations. My husband claims Firelion gets his stubbornness from me ...

Maybe I should point him in the direction of the classics which I've been collecting for both of them and I'm pretty sure haven't been touched yet even though they've been sitting on a shelf in their bedroom for a good while.

37) The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories by Amos Tutuola (1990)

 

Tutuola was a Nigerian writer who lived at the end of the last century. This book was his last one, published in 1990; it seems to be based on Yoruba folk tales.

At one story into this short story collection, I’m guessing that this is a collection of folktales set in a Nigerian Village and you do have to read it in that ‘voice’ to get the best out of it.

Just a note on currency: naira is the Nigerian currency and 100 kobos make up 1 naira. Currently (May 2020) 100 naira is about the equivalent of 20p or 26 cents (USD); in 1990 it would have been worth about £8 or USD12.

1- The Village Witch Doctor

About the way the village witch doctor deceives his friend. I’m guessing that the author isn’t a fan of witch doctors.

3.5***

2 - A Short Biography of Tortoise

How the tortoise got his shell by tricking innocent people A long, long time ago, when the eyes of people were dark. But the story continues ...

3***

3 - A Short Biography of Yanribo, Tortoise’s Wife

How Yanribo became the Beetle-lady. Rather unfair on her, I thought.

3***

4 - Ajao and the Active Bone

A cautionary story; don’t take your gifts for granted, especially if they’re magical.

3.5****

5 - Don’t Pay Bad for Bad

What happens if others do unto you as you did to them?

4****

6 - Akanke and the Jealous Pawnbroker

Don’t push your luck too far, especially when it comes to seven-headed goblins.

3.5****

7 - Remember the Day After Tomorrow

Always ask (someone who actually knows), if you don’t understand.

3.5***

8 - Ade, the Traitor

Ade betrays his friend Adisa, who always believes in him. Not sure what the moral of this story is.

3***

9 - Rere, the Disobedient Son

This is why you should listen when your parents tell you not to go into the jungle.

3.5***

10 - The Duckling Brothers and their Disobedient Sister

The rewards for obedience and disobedience.

3***

11 - The Rich Husbandman and his Odd-looking Pawn

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

3.5***

12 - The Greedy Tortoise and the Orisa-Oko

Back to the story of Tortoise and Yanribo. Will he get his comeuppance this time?

3.5****

Averaging 3.375 stars

38) The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler

{First of :Kingfountain series. ...

This story is told in the the third person mainly from the point of view of Owen, an eight year old boy and the son of Lord Kiskadon the Duke of Westmarch, who is taken to King Severn Argentine's court as a surety for his parents' behaviour - the Duke having proved an uncertain ally of the king in the recent battle of Ambion Hill. Owen is taken back to the palace at Kingfountain, the capital of Ceredigion, where he finds that he has to have breakfast at a buffet (of smoked salmon, cheese and grapes) with the king every morning along with all the other child hostages whereupon the king only eats from the food trays that other people have served from.

The Argentine family is obviously based on the last of the Plantagenets/ Angevins of England at the end of the 15th century; crouch-backed Severn is a facsimile of Richard III who has ... um ... disposed of his brother Eredur's (Edward IV who lost and won back his throne) young sons on the way to the throne, his niece Elyse (Elizabeth of York) lives in the palace but her mother Lizzie (Elizabeth Woodville) resides in the abbey of Our Lady of Kingfountain.

I am only a third of the way through the book but at this point I am not invested in Owen's fate; the author tries to explain Owen's thinking but, as the mother of two boys aged 11 and 16, I don't feel that he gets inside a child's head. I think Wheeler would have done better to tell Owen's story from an observer's perspective. When Owen first gets to the palace he is described thus:

Owen had learned that there was a certain power in being the youngest. He was a strong-willed little boy who'd learned the power of tantrums in getting his way. He used this tactic judiciously, of course, for he was normally soft-spoken and gentle.

It also did not escape Owen's notice that adults fawned over him, especially his sisters. He had learned that being adorable, affectionate and quick to give hugs and smiles and little kisses earned him treats and stories and attention. By being quiet, especially at night, he could stay up longer because they would forget he was there.

Power. There was power in being able to control how others reacted to you.

This immediately characterised Owen to me as a manipulative brat which made me feel less invested in him. However, up to this point, Owen has neither thrown any tantrums - despite having been driven to fury a couple of times (and then done absolutely nothing about it) - nor tried to deliberately manipulate anyone so this description serves no positive purpose.

Despite Owen being the youngest of nine children and the author constantly telling us that he is homesick, he makes no attempt or shows any interest in talking to or making friends with the other child hostages that he must see every day. They just show up to breakfast en masse (whether it's two or twenty we aren't told) stand around nibbling food and vanish. Although we are told that Owen explores the palace, we don't encounter any of them. He is, however, petted by the princess Elyse whom he reminds of her lost younger brothers, and the cook - but why him and none of the other children? His favourite occupation is to sit in a corner of the palace kitchens to set up and topple dominoes, which he does every day.

The strongest part of the book (so far), I feel, was the first chapter which described Owen's mother waiting anxiously to see if her husband would return from the battlefield and her feelings about Owen, who was waiting with her. As a mother, I could empathise with her feelings about her son, but even that was a little overdone. If I had read it before becoming a parent I suspect I would have found it a bit mawkish.

The chapters are interspersed with notes by Dominic Mancini, an Espion in the king's service. After Owen gets lost a couple of times, Dominic is set to watch him. At the point I have read up to, Owen is upset because he has been hauled back to the castle so he remains in the kitchen while everyone, including the Espion, retires to bed. And so he meets the queen's poisoner of the title whose existence, but not identity, Severn knows of. This brings up two points; Dominic is obviously a terrible spy who lives only for food and Severn must only ever eat breakfast.

However, I am willing to continue reading. I am irritated but not enough to throw my Kindle across the room - just enough to rant through a partial review.

TBC

Upon meeting Owen for the first time, the poisoner takes him to their secret hideout that just about everyone else is unaware of. I know he's a tongue-tied eight year old but still. And now Wheeler has started scattering random italics about the place.

However, at not quite the halfway mark, he's showing us that perceptions can be wrong (although the spies are still incompetent) - a clever twist that has caught my interest.

TB further C

>127 humouress: *sigh* It may be that the ongoing situation is actually getting to me and I'm more grumpy/ critical than usual.

We're currently watching The Night Manager, based on John le Carré's book. It has a star cast - Olivia Coleman, Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddlestone amongst others - and has apparently been nominated and won numerous awards but I found it full of plot holes, especially the set-up in the first episode. Why would a hotel manager not linked to any secret service act as a spy? Why whisk away the informant for her safety, have a one night stand with her and then, on being denied help sending her into hiding because 'it would be an admission of their guilt' bring her back again to be killed? (Excuse slight spoiler but it's not really a surprise.) And then years later, based on that one night, compromise their character and career for revenge? And so on ...

*grump*

>127 humouress: You're not the only one by any means! Many people are just mired in depression and can't read at all (yes, it's a recognized symptom) and others are scattered to the four corners by the Situation. Or should I say The Situation?

*skedaddles*

Well at least I can still read; in fact my numbers are on track to reach 75 by the end of the year (for the first time). Not that that'll mean anything come December; I'm sure I've been here before.

My thread seems to be giving you a lot of exercise. So glad I can be of service.

I've been watching jealously while everyone reads and loves Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric books in e-format but I want all my Chalion books on my physical shelves to complete my collection. I've waited so long and then I started to worry that they might not come out in paperback at all, so I wrote and asked her. This is what she replied:

'Yes, mass market paperbacks will follow from the two recent Baen collections Penric's Progress and Penric's Travels, which collect, in chronological order, the first six Penric & Desdemona novellas. They are both now just out in hardcover, and very pretty books they are. You can get them through regular bookstore channels right now, insofar as one can get anything through regular bookstore channels right now. (Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore and Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis are doing mail orders.)

Unless the hardcovers tank utterly, which I don't think they will, mmpbs usually follow in about a year. I don't know if Baen plans a trade paperback edition in between or not.

Should I write a 9th novella or equivalent word count, there could be a third paper collection, but that won't be happening soon. Also, don't overlook the audio editions from Blackstone/Audible/Downpour, among other places available as downloads from a lot of public libraries.'

So I'll hold on just a little bit longer for my paperbacks. Just letting you know, in case anyone else is waiting for them too.

>126 humouress: I was amazed that this was published in the 90s: I thought he was only active in the 60s. Every day's a learning opportunity!

>132 charl08: It's certainly a learning opportunity for me Charlotte. As you probably know by now, I rarely venture out of my fantasy comfort zone.

>131 humouress: Thank you for this info, Nina! I just read your post on Roni's thread and had to head right over. I bought the first 3 Penrics for my Kindle, but I realized that I was going to end up spending much too much money if I continued in that format. I'll check out the possibility of used hardcover collections, but will likely wait for the mpbs too.

>134 LizzieD: You're welcome Peggy. I posted on Roni's thread because I knew there'd be folks over there who'd be interested.

38) The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler (2016)

 

{First of 6:Kingfountain series. Fantasy, YA)

This story is told in the the third person mainly from the point of view of Owen, an eight year old boy and the son of Lord Kiskadon the Duke of Westmarch, who is taken to King Severn Argentine's court as a surety for his parents' behaviour - the Duke having proved an uncertain ally of the king in the recent battle of Ambion Hill. Owen is taken back to the palace at Kingfountain, the capital of Ceredigion, where he finds that he has to have breakfast at a buffet (of smoked salmon, cheese and grapes) with the king every morning along with all the other child hostages whereupon the king only eats from the food trays that other people have served from.

The Argentine family is obviously based on the last of the Plantagenets/ Angevins of England at the end of the 15th century; crouch-backed Severn is a facsimile of Richard III who is widely suspected of having ... um ... disposed of his brother Eredur's (Edward IV who won, lost and won back his throne) young sons (the 'princes in the Tower') on the way to the throne, his niece Elyse (Elizabeth of York) lives in the palace but her mother Lizzie (Elizabeth Woodville) resides in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Kingfountain.

I am only a third of the way through the book but at this point I am not invested in Owen's fate; the author tries to explain Owen's thinking but, as the mother of two boys aged 11 and 16, I don't feel that he gets inside a child's head. I think Wheeler would have done better to tell Owen's story from an observer's perspective. When Owen first gets to the palace he is described thus:

Owen had learned that there was a certain power in being the youngest. He was a strong-willed little boy who'd learned the power of tantrums in getting his way. He used this tactic judiciously, of course, for he was normally soft-spoken and gentle.

It also did not escape Owen's notice that adults fawned over him, especially his sisters. He had learned that being adorable, affectionate and quick to give hugs and smiles and little kisses earned him treats and stories and attention. By being quiet, especially at night, he could stay up longer because they would forget he was there.

Power. There was power in being able to control how others reacted to you.

This immediately characterised Owen to me as a manipulative brat which made me feel less invested in him. However Owen neither throws any tantrums - despite having been driven to fury a couple of times (and then done absolutely nothing about it) - nor tries to deliberately manipulate anyone so this description serves no positive purpose. Later when Owen is finally reunited with his family it happens offstage but, despite the first chapter telling us how affectionate he is and his homesickness at Kingfountain being mentioned once or twice, he doesn't appear to care much about them after just a few months. It feels as though the author is describing a child in his own life but then he doesn't follow through and apply those traits to his fictional character.

Despite Owen being the youngest of nine children and the author constantly telling us that he is homesick, he makes no attempt nor shows any interest in talking to or making friends with the other child hostages that he must see every day. They just show up to breakfast en masse (whether it's two or twenty we aren't told) stand around nibbling food and vanish. Although we are told that Owen explores the castle, we don't encounter any of them. He is, however, petted by the princess Elyse, whom he reminds of her lost younger brothers, and the cook - but why him and none of the other children? His favourite occupation is to sit in a corner of the castle kitchens to set up and topple dominoes, which he does every day.

The strongest part of the book (so far), I feel, was the first chapter which described Owen's mother waiting anxiously to see if her husband would return from the battlefield and her feelings about Owen, who was waiting with her. As a mother, I could empathise with her feelings about her son, but even that was a little overdone. If I had read it before becoming a parent I suspect I would have found it a bit mawkish.

The chapters are interspersed with notes by Dominic Mancini, an Espion in the king's service. After Owen gets lost a couple of times, Dominic is set to watch him. At the point I have read up to, Owen is upset because he has been hauled back to the castle so he remains in the kitchen while everyone, including the Espion, retires to bed. And so he meets the queen's poisoner of the title whose existence, but not identity, Severn knows of. This brings up two points; Dominic is obviously a terrible spy who lives only for food and Severn must only ever eat breakfast.

However, I am willing to continue reading. I am irritated but not enough to throw my Kindle across the room - just enough to rant through a partial review.

TBC ...

So I read to the end of the book. At around the halfway point the duke of North Cumbria, who had brought Owen from his home to the capital, brings his granddaughter to be his companion (although why would anyone willingly put a child in the same situation as the other hostages?) and in narrating their adventures and explorations of the castle, the writing does improve.

King Severn is a puzzle. His public face is one of cruelty - he doesn't hesitate to have his perceived enemies dispatched and fuels his magic by taunting his breakfast audience - but in his unguarded moments he seems vulnerable and even kind. The first time his private face was revealed I assumed it was a plot twist but nothing materialised. Neither aspect seems to be a façade but they don't sit believably together.

This looks like two books fighting for the same characters and the author would have benefited from my son’s primary school teachers’ advice of ‘show, don’t tell’, especially at the beginning of the book; tighter editing would have helped. I would have said it was a decent first effort but it looks as though Wheeler had at least three books published before this. Looking ahead to the synopses of the following five books it looks as though the story comes into its own whereas this book sets up the world and follows our world’s history quite closely. It looks intriguing but I don't think I'll be rushing to read them.

2.75 - 3 stars

I suspect that the Tower of London with the Shard behind it (Ankarette's tower) is the inspiration for the setting of the Kingfountain palace.

 

>136 humouress: The Tower of London + shard picture are really cool.

Back in 1967 I went looking for cuticle scissors and seem to have found the Tower nestled in what seems in memory like a deep bowl of green lawn with a clutch of white at the far side. I couldn't believe the Tower could seem so low. I never found the vantage point again, since my next visit to London was decades later and we took guided tours, but it has remained a powerful memory and a lesson in perspective.

>136 humouress: It’s quite striking, the juxtaposition of ancient and modern, isn’t it Susan? The Shard is actually on the opposite side of the river from the Tower. It may be that your vantage point doesn’t exist anymore; I grew up in London but buildings like the Shard came up after I moved away.

Of course, living in London, we never visited the Tower (unless we were taking out-of-country visitors to see it) but I did take the kids when we went back a couple of times. The moat around the Tower is now a huge lawn; I believe it would have been water back in the whatever centuries. If memory serves, the whole complex is a bit lower than the road (these days) so I can imagine it looking like it was set in a deep, green bowl.

The first time we went we didn’t go inside but they had started installing poppies for the Remembrance Day centenary of the start of WWI so that the moat was flooded with waves of red; the effect of the completed installation was pretty stunning.

>138 humouress: I just did google maps and am pretty sure my memory has been out of order on that one forever. When I was even younger, some dreams were recorded as memories and I had fights on my hands. It's been ages, but that could have been one of them.

>139 quondame: Well my memory is always accurate; it's other people's recollections at fault. Actually, in my case it's more about existence than accuracy; my husband often starts off by saying 'You won't remember this but ...' (which is then, of course, self-fulfilling).

Your description does resonate though, even if it may not be totally accurate. Or it may be accurate for the time you remember it from - as I said, the surrounding landscape has changed a lot in just the past twenty odd years.

 

39) Esme’s Wish (partial review at two thirds of the way through)

I’m going on to ‘Esme’s Wish’, received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Though it’s YA fantasy, it starts off with a perfectly normal (well, almost) wedding in a church. The premise (one chapter in) is reminiscent of Sarah Zettel’s ‘A Sorceror’s Treason’; a daughter of a lighthouse keeper, a mysterious mother lost to the water.

Published in 2017 but set in 1988

Fifteen year old Esme misses Ariana, her mother, who went missing, presumed lost at sea, seven years ago. She used to tell her daughter stories about a city called Esperance which existed in another world where magic and dragons existed. But other people thought she was strange and Esme feels that they’re hiding something about her disappearance.

When her dad remarries and it looks like her new step-mother is planning on changing everything, Esme feels that this is her last chance to find out what really happened to her mum. Then she discovers that Esperance is real when she accidentally travels there but instead of finding her mum, the mystery only deepens.

I’m really enjoying this story. Esperance is a delightful place with a summery, Mediterranean feel to it: or rather Venetian, given the canals and gondolas. The YA mystery and adventures are compelling. Friendships and trust

The resolution was just a bit rushed/ confusing - I may have to read that bit again. I’d like to know what happened when Esme got back to our world - or maybe that’s in book 2 which, fortunately, I have.

4-4.5 *****
(Phew; it was just a one-book slump)

Two quibbles; a map of the outer islands too would have been helpful and, on a personal note, the past tenses of sing and sink are sang and sank respectively.

{having issues saving changes}

Daniel, Lilian. Pre-industrial culture similar to ours (1988), doesn’t suffer from lack of electricity. Magic integrated casualty into everyday life. School holidays, T-shirts.

Portals at sea save days of sailing (a good thing!). Why not if you can have them in space & time? Flat patches amongst the waves.

More detail in resolution. Would love to visit - easier than 2nd star on the right.

>140 humouress: That is much closer to my memory. Maybe my expectation of something I would look a long way up to converted that to a low huddle of white buildings.

>142 quondame: See? You weren't wrong. :0)

39) Esme’s Wish by Elizabeth Foster (2017)

 

{First of 3(?): Esme trilogy. Fantasy, children's}

I’m going on to Esme’s Wish, which the publisher kindly included when I won the second book Esme's Gift through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Both LibraryThing and the author's website say it is/ will be a trilogy but only these two books are listed so far. Esme's Wish was published in 2017 but set in 1988. Although it is fantasy, it starts off with a perfectly normal (well, almost) wedding in a church. The premise (one chapter in) is reminiscent of Sarah Zettel’s ‘A Sorceror’s Treason’; a daughter of a lighthouse keeper, a mysterious mother lost to the water.

Fifteen year old Esme misses Ariane, her mother, who went missing, presumed lost at sea, seven years ago. She used to tell her daughter stories about a city called Esperance which existed in another world called Aeolia where magic and dragons existed. But other people thought she was strange and Esme feels that they’re hiding something about her disappearance.

When her dad remarries and it looks like her new step-mother is planning on sweeping away her old life, Esme feels that this is her last chance to find out what really happened to her mum. Then she discovers that Esperance is real when she accidentally travels there but instead of finding her mum, the mystery only deepens.

I really enjoyed this story and found the YA mystery and adventures compelling. Esperance (formerly called Ephyra) is a delightful place with a summery, Mediterranean feel to it: or rather Venetian, given the canals and gondolas. It is a pre-industrialisation culture that is otherwise similar to our world (of 1988), in that they wear T-shirts and dresses (amongst other items) and go to school for example, but as it has magic (and dragons) it doesn't suffer from lack of things like electricity. The magic is casually woven into everyday life and Esme easily adapts to using it.

Esme hunted through the kitchen cupboards for a jigger. On a high shelf, she found a whole school of them, perched upright on their splayed tails. She tore a sheet off the pad beside them, and penned a note to the professor.

After rolling up the letter, she slid it into the message bottle and hurried out to the stone steps that led down from the courtyard to the canal. She leaned down and lowered the jigger toward the water, not sure what to do next. It flipped out of her hand of its own accord, dove into the canal, and sped off along the waterway.

I would love to visit Esperance; apparently there are a few portals between our worlds so it would be rather easier to get there than to find the second star to the right, especially as I don't have a ready supply of pixie dust.

In our world Esme has had difficulty making friends since her mother disappeared but soon after her arrival in Esperance she bumps into Daniel (literally) and then meets Lilian, who knew her mother; they are both a similar age to Esme and since they are on school holidays they help guide her around Esperance in her quest to find more clues as to what happened to her mother. Esme surprises herself when she realises that she has made friends that she can trust.

Two quibbles; a map of the outer islands of Aeolia too would have been helpful and, on a personal note, the past tenses of 'sing' and 'sink' are 'sang' and 'sank' respectively. I suspect I'll be accused of being pedantic but those words kept snagging my concentration.

I thought the portals at sea that save days of sailing (a good thing, from my point of view) were a clever idea. If you can have portals in space and time, why can't you have them at sea as well? I've always wondered what those flat patches amongst the waves were caused by. Beam me - um - across Scotty!

The resolution was just a bit rushed/ confusing - I may have to read that bit again. There were a couple of spots were it jumped and it could have done with a bit more detail as to how those events connected.

I’d like to know what happened with her father when Esme got back to our world - or maybe that’s in book two which, fortunately, I already have.

'Don't touch that,' Sage called out to Lillian, who was investigating a plant on the other side of the room. 'That flower looks innocent enough, but it can balloon out to twice its size in an instant, and it rather likes ... how shall we say ... finger food.'

'Why is it even in here then?' Lillian exclaimed, snatching her hand away.

'Because it's rather excellent at warding off uninvited guests. And keeping them from coming back. As you can imagine, some of these artefacts are priceless.'

The flower burped.

4-4.5

>144 humouress: How nice that you enjoyed your ER book so much! Or, at least, the book before your ER book - close enough.

Enjoy your weekend!

>144 humouress: Good to have the mojo back, isn't it? Happy that a Duty Read is so rewarding.

Happy weekend Nina!

>145 Dejah_Thoris: >146 richardderus: >147 The_Hibernator: Thanks Dejah, Richard and Rachel. I hope your weekends are going well. Nothing exciting happening here; just getting on with some sewing/ mending.

>145 Dejah_Thoris: >146 richardderus: The story had a delightfully summery ambiance. I'm happy to recommend it.

Woo hoo! I've crossed the halfway point on my ticker!

I've just finished reading and reviewing The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories by Amos Tutuola at >126 humouress: which is a collection of short stories based on Yoruba folktales and set in Nigerian villages which was a BB from Paul C.

Coincidentally this week I received an e-mail from StoryBundle inviting me to buy The African Speculative Fiction Bundle curated by Ivor W. Hartmann and if you get the more advanced bundle the ten books includes a short story collection by Nnedi Okorafor.

I'm tempted.

At this time of the end of Ramadan I want to give thanks for your friendship in this wonderful group, Nina, my dear near neighbour.

Have a lovely long weekend.

That’s very sweet, Paul. Thank you for your friendship.

Enjoy your celebrations in these strange times.

ETA: thanks for the Witch Doctor BB

40) The Queen’s Secret by Jessica Day George (2019)

 

{Second of 3(?); Rose Legacy series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}

Set in a world that is parallel Victorian/ beginning steam-punk with only trains and a few motorcars, this story seems to take off some months after the first book, with Anthea riding through Coronam in a horse brigade that has been set up under royal auspices so as to get the population used to seeing horses. Somewhat presciently (I'm reading this in May 2020) an unknown plague - much like the one that wiped out horses in Coronam years ago - sweeps the country and the horses and riders are recalled north of the border as scientists race to try to find a cure.

The queen does have a secret which is quite important but it doesn't come into play until later on in the story.

So it had been shocking, and more than a little hurtful, that the queen had chosen to tell Finn her secret. The fact that she had authorized Finn to tell Anthea and Jilly, Andrew and Caillin MacRennie only softened it a little. Why did Finn get to be the first one?
...

But things had turned out a bit differently, she had written. Because she had risen so far, so fast, she had never found any friends that could be trusted with her secret. In person the dowager queen, her mother-in-law, was far from the grandmotherly lady she had seemed to be at official functions. And the king? All Queen Josephine would say was that she had never summoned the courage to tell her husband ...

I found this sequel better written but there are some weaknesses where the set-up from the first book is lacking; for example, Anthea notices a barn for the first time, even though she's been living and working on the farm for a while, and more characters have materialised in this second book although they are written in as though they've been there all along. There are some deaths in the story but I didn't feel a connection to them as we hadn't met them before, so I think this book still falls in the YA/ children's category as it wasn't traumatic.

I liked the characters - except, of course, for the villains; but even they have several facets. People who seem good may not be and those who seem unlikeable have their good points. I am intrigued by what I've seen of the history of the land and I hope we get to explore that further.

There are a couple of chapters where we’re in the head of one or other of the horses. I found that these didn't work for me, especially the ones from the herd stallion's point of view which I felt didn’t add to story. (Probably because they didn't feel like the horses I'm used to - but then, I confess that I have limited experience with horses, only knowing those from Riding for the Disabled stables - who may have a different outlook on life.) It made most of the stallions feel a bit subservient and I felt that the names given to humans by the horses (like 'the soon king' and 'beloved Anthea') were a bit awkward-sounding.

These are small quibbles; overall, I enjoyed the story and I'm looking forward to, hopefully, seeing some of the mysteries resolved and fairness prevail. This book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Fortunately I’ve just checked author’s website and next book (The Rider’s Reign, which is not listed on LT yet) is out on 2nd June; I hope library picks it up soon.

Notes:

For some reason, the books in this series keep reminding me of other stories that they have similar elements to. I’ll just keep a list:
Green Rider (Britain)
Arrows of the Queen (Lackey)
Dragonquest (McCaffrey)
His Dark Materials (Pullman)
Stardust (Gaiman)

3.5

I'm reading the Phantom's Curse which I received as an ER and it's come through as a pdf. The awkward writing and the tiny font, which I can't adjust on my Kindle, are making it a slow read. I'm going to try reading it on my screen and see if things improve.

ETA: Much better. I kept falling asleep before but now it's (the reading, not the writing so much) flowing more smoothly.

So the bat is still making determined efforts to invade the house. I'm guessing it came in through the downstairs doors (we usually have them open all day because of the heat) rather than trying to come in through the balcony doors this time. It flapped into the study but did an U-turn when I screamed; goodness knows where it's gone now.

Oh; I've just looked up and seen what must be a different bat suspended from the balcony fan.



Mother Nature is really making herself back at home these days. Normally I'm in favour, but ...

41) The Phantom’s curse by Shelley Wilson (ARC) (2020)

 

{Stand-alone. Fantasy, YA}

I received this through Early Reviewers but it has come through as a pdf so I can’t change the font size on my Kindle without having to scroll. I thought, at 130 pages, that it would be a quick read but I struggled with the font size as well as the rushed descriptions. Halfway through I switched to reading it on my computer screen which helped a lot.

The story is narrated in the first person by Marianne who is a sixteen year old girl living in the Link which is a run-down town outside the city of Obanac. She goes to the city for her blessing where she catches the young lord's eye but she feels uneasy about him and would rather return home. Events conspire against her and she ends up having to enlist the help of outlaws, led by Robbie, to rescue people from the lord of Obanac. (Is this a play on Robin Hood and Maid Marian? It's not taken any further other than Marianne's precocious use of a bow.)

The prologue feels rushed and much of the book has the events crammed in so you read it at a breakneck pace instead of having it paced out; within one page, they rescue Marianne’s brother from his prison cell, attempt to escape downstairs to the secret passage, kill the guard blocking their way, hide from other guards, escape up the stairs to the courthouse, realise they can’t go out through the main entrance, find a hidden door and run through the streets to the church. Phew! *breathe* This leads to holes and gaps in the plot as the narrative jumps straight from one event to another. At one point I was a bit confused when I realised that days were supposed to have passed whereas I had the impression only of hours passing.

It's a decent outline of a story, which falls under the 'chosen one' trope, but the whole needs polishing and filling out with more detail. It is uneven; there is too much physical description (especially of men’s muscular bodies - Marianne seems to be attracted to all the young men her own age, none of whom are over or underfed despite the stated difference in wealth and she even notices the muscles on the phantom) and there is not enough set-up description. The vocabulary Wilson uses veers occasionally between overuse of a thesaurus ('the energy from the burning star had been absorbed by a swirling mass of black fog' describing matte-black helmets) contrasted with slang ('full-on freak-out').

There was a lot of giggling and chuckling which was vaguely irritating. The few times Mage Hall appeared, I was always a bit confused until I realised/ remembered that they were a character, not an institute; a name change would really help.

To be honest, I didn't work out what the phantom's curse actually was even though it was mentioned a few times through the book.

There is an extra chapter at the end called 'Black Riders' which would be better integrated into the relevant part of the main book (with any necessary changes) even though it is told (in the third person) from Robbie's point of view rather than Marianne's.

However, this is an ARC and not the final proof so hopefully it will get that polish before it is published.

2.5-3 stars

>155 humouress: One bat is too many bats to have in your house. Two bats is way too many bats.

>157 curioussquared: *sigh* Well, tell them.

Ooh, the bat is back in the balcony (it announced itself by dropping a fruit on the deck); it's grooming itself - as far as I can tell in the dark - and looks quite cute.

When we first moved in to our house, about twelve years ago, we used to get something coming in whenever we had people over; bats, birds, frogs. The house had been empty for a while before we bought it but then we had it renovated so there would have been lots of people and noise in between.

We often had fruit bats roosting (is it 'roosting' for bats?) in the car porch for a week or two at a time before they moved on to other pastures. I didn't mind them too much - it wasn't so eerie if I reminded myself they were fruit bats - but apparently their droppings aren't good for car paint jobs.

I’m getting jealous of everyone posting pictures of there beautiful gardens and abundant vegetable patches so - since I finally seem to have managed to get orchids to survive - I’m going to post some of mine. The trick seems to be to put them outside, ensuring they have enough shade, and let them get on with it. I lost so many orchids over the years trying to have them as pot plants indoors.



If you want to, you can turn your head to look at it; that’s the fence along the top of the picture which should really show on the right. But since it doesn’t make much difference to the flowers I’ve left it as it is because I can’t be bothered to wrestle with trying to rotate the picture.

Orchids are pretty.

Bats are perfectly fine in caves and suchlike places. But they're disease vectors and a colony of bats is likely the source of COVID-19. Time to step up the eviction proceedings lest the blighters take a shine to your balcony. Leaving lights on and buying some bug zappers worked in Austin (called, due to its million-strong Mexican free-tailed bat colony under a major downtown bridge, the Bat City).

>160 humouress: Beautiful! I have one inside now that's living, but not thriving. I need to do a little more research on their care....

I like bats (except for the disease factor) - because they eat mosquitoes (yet another disease vector).

Link is up for the Sector General summer group read--check it out!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/320907

>161 richardderus: >162 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you re the orchids. I can't really claim credit; I'm happy they're surviving and producing flowers. So I'm afraid I can't provide you with any tips. I did join the orchid society of South East Asia last year (partly on the strength of the two volunteers having their birthdays one day and two days before mine - a fact we discovered when discussing the date of the next monthly meeting) but I haven't actually made it to a meeting yet.

I'm not too fussed about bats but I do object to them swooping too close to my head. I'm cautious about them because I am aware of them being disease vectors. I think most of the ones we have around here are fruit bats. Our neighbour planted a fiddler fig tree and we hear quite a few thunks as they drop the fruits around the place; we have sheltered decking so we can get around the house to the back. There's also a covered walkway from the car porch to the house (it rains a lot here, monsoon-style) with a wall on one side and creepers on the other so it's a bit tunnel-like and occasionally we have to duck as a bat flies through (and sometimes turns around and flies back).

Hmm - they eat mosquitoes? I assume not the fruit bats but maybe the swooping ones? Mossies love me; I don't love mossies.

Yesterday my husband said a bat flew in through one door and out of another. But then it came back in through the first door - fortunately it found the second door again. We have lots of lights on downstairs but they still manage to sneak in; often whoever is downstairs - where the doors are open - won't see a bat but then we suddenly discover it upstairs. Well, from past experience they'll move on again in a few weeks. Fingers crossed.

>163 ronincats: I thought I evaded that but you followed me home :0)

Let me see if I can find it on Overdrive.

>164 humouress: Well shoot - you're probably right that fruit bats aren't helpful with mosquitoes. Apparently most, but not all, species of bats in the U.S. eat mosquitoes. When I was active with the Girl Scouts and a summer camp counselor, that was the line we took with kids who were scared of bats - "But they're so helpful! They eat mosquitoes!" I grew up in Florida were anything that ate mosquitoes was a good thing, lol.

Ecology/habitat/species protection groups pushed this line of thinking. Until this discussion, I had not realized how thoroughly inculcated that idea was in my brain. Mind you, another firmly inculcated idea is "Don't touch that oddly acting bat, it may have rabies!"

Have you considered some sort of ultrasonic bat repeller, given that lights aren't terribly effective? Of course, that may give you canine troubles....

I've just checked and Google says that no bats have ever been reported to have rabies in Singapore but grounded bats may bite in self-defence; not that I'm planning on testing either statement.

The bats haven't been too much of an issue - it's just been a problem of encouraging them to fly back out on the nights that they've come in so I'm planning on waiting them out.

Japer might not be too keen on the ultrasonic repellant (although I have one that's supposed to discourage birds that never worked) but he was a very naughty boy last night so he's out of charity with me. He's allowed to be in the house overnight if it's rainy weather, like now, and now he's older we don't tie him up because he generally behaves. These days he's indoors a lot since we're all at home; he's supposed to stay downstairs but he's been creeping higher and higher up the staircase. Fortunately for me, I had a lie-in this morning because he'd apparently left several gifts around downstairs ...

>167 humouress: Oh no! How fortunate, indeed, that you weren't up with the larks this morning.

>168 Dejah_Thoris: I may contemplate a strategic lie-in for tomorrow morning too ...

Jasper gets heat-rash, poor dog, and when he starts scratching he goes on forever - you know the sort, when you know you ought to stop but you just can’t. In the last couple of days I’ve been trying to discourage him from sitting on the rug to scratch (and realised in the process that he seems to always move to a rug for that purpose) because he sheds dreadfully - see Cleanerbot Diaries. I suspect he took advantage of everyone having a Sunday morning lie-in to ... um ... retaliate.

Hopefully he’s learned his lesson, having been forced to spend most of the day outside as punishment.

Hurray for the orchids!!! They are gorgeous. I have lots of them inside my house, but we have lots of gray skies, so kinda like putting them in the shade. ; ) Love them.

Bats. Ugh.

Poor Jasper. Poor rugs. Poor Nina.

>155 humouress: I had a bat make its way into our house for a couple of days. I couldn't get him out so I named him Harry. Eventually I called the police (I was looking through the phone directory for animal control late at night and saw the police in town actually had a phone number for this) and they sent a policeman over, ostensibly with experience in bat catching. He showed me how an empty pizza box could come in handy during bat catching moments. He was, however, unsuccessful in finding the bat even though I could have sworn I had locked it in our bedroom. He advised me to just leave our windows in that room open for the night, and the bat will probably head out on its own and then close it in the morning.

We eventually called a pest control company, and they came and discovered we had a colony of bats living between our walls! Arrghhh.... So they set about putting one way doors on the eaves, which would allow them to leave at night to feed, but then they wouldn't be able to come back in. And 4 months later, they came back and sealed off the eaves altogether and we haven't had a bat problem since.

When I asked him where the bats would go if, after going out, they found they couldn't come back in, he said they'd go to our neighbor's house. Umm.. ok. :-)

>171 cameling: Ah; the original Harry’s Bar. ;0)

I haven’t come across any bats roosting indoors yet (touch wood) and our walls are concrete so hopefully we’ll avoid that problem - although we’ve already suffered through bird’s nesting under the roof and creating a racket in our bedroom.

Did you send the bats over? *casts suspicious eye in Caroline’s direction*

>170 Berly: Ah, a successful orchid-grower. I shall point Dejah in your direction then since I’ve never managed to work indoors.

I assumed all orchids are tropical epiphytes but apparently you can find ground orchids in Scotland, too, which turned all my ideas upside down. Some are just better suited to cooler weather.

Thank you for the sympathy. Jasper was let back into the house today (even though there was no thunder). :0)

42) Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

 

This series comes highly recommended by a lot of other LTers so (despite my first book by this duo not being my best experience - partly due to being from the middle of a series and partly my discomfort with the narrator of the audiobook) I thought I would give it a go. I'm glad I did and I've already borrowed the next book on Overdrive.

Dina is an Innkeeper which means that she maintains an inn for guests from other planets. As an innkeeper her first priority is the safety and comfort of her guests for which she employs her magic (which is sometimes indistinguishable from technology) which is strongest within the property boundaries of the inn. The inn itself contributes its own magic and she has a small shi-tzu called Beast.

When something obviously not of Earth starts killing the neighbourhood dogs, Dina feels obliged to investigate even though the crimes occur beyond the inn's boundaries. And so she has to deal with stalkers, vampires and werewolves among other alien species.

Although there are action sequences, the parts that had me gripped were the ones where the characters exercised their brains rather than their muscles.

Dina is obviously comfortable with the alien worlds; her parents were innkeepers too so she has grown up with them. Although we are occasionally left wondering what something meant, we're not left wondering for long and the information is fed to us logically in bite-size pieces.

There were a few funny moments too, which I appreciated.

(Litsy notes:

"House of Krahr!" the vampire with the banner barked quietly.
"Krahr," the other four vampires exhaled and glared at me.
Usually they roared their house name at the top of their lungs, trying to intimidate... Oh. They were trying to be inconspicuous. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I'd never had an attempt at intimidation whispered at me before.)

("Yes, Your Grace." Arland smiled and took a big swallow from his mug.
"I believe I've met your grandfather, the Bloody Butcher of Odar."
"That's correct."
"I remember now. A delightful man, wonderfully dry sense of humor."
Arland blinked. "My grandfather has been called many names in his lifetime. Delightful was not one of them. He remembers you also. You tried to poison him.")

(In the foyer Arland sat on the loveseat, sipping mint tea. The vampire wore a full set of armor; the breastplate and the raised pauldrons made his shoulders and chest appear enormous. His weapon, a giant blood mace, lay next to him on the floor, its head solid black and crossed by glowing red lines.)

I will come back tomorrow and finish this review when my brain is more awake. G'night ....

>174 humouress: I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Nina! I appreciate the humor, too.

What middle of a series book did you try by them before?

>175 Dejah_Thoris: It was lots of fun.

I don't remember the other book at the moment and I don't seem to have added it to my library although I thought I had written a review; maybe I didn't post it. I think it had to do with shape changers - probably werewolves - and the narrator used a very breathy voice which was a bit irritating discomfiting.

ETA: found it. I read it in September 2013

'57) Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Narrated by Renée Raudman

My first audio book. Did find the narration distracting & took a while to get over that. Southern drawl (appropriate) but anxious, where I would have read her as strong.

Don't mind reading the next in series. Would like to unravel the mystery of Kate's heritage.'

>176 humouress: I didn't instantly love all of Ilona Andrews' work, but at this point I'll read anything they publish. The Kate Daniels series gets to be very good indeed - it just takes a few books for them to hit their stride (in my opinion). I also like their The Edge and Hidden Legacy series. Yep - I'm a fan.

43) Esme's Gift by Elizabeth Foster

Litsy notes:

I love the summer-holiday, Mediterranean ambiance of these books. I sometimes pause my reading to savour the feeling. I‘m only a fifth of the way through the second book but I‘ll risk saying: LOVE it!

If you could escape to a parallel world where you can breathe under water, people have magical gifts and you get to ride dragons wouldn‘t you want to live there? Especially if you had a wicked stepmother at home and everyone thought you were losing your mind in your own world.

Excuse me - I need to get back to Aeolia ...

(BehindthePages I love this book! I can barely put it down!)
humouress @Letora I‘ve finished it now but I did keep putting it down - just so I could lengthen my stay there.

>160 humouress: Beautiful!

>177 Dejah_Thoris: Well, I did enjoy Clean Sweep so I'm happy to try more of their work. But maybe I'll stick to printed books instead of audio books.

>179 The_Hibernator: Thank you!

44) Hospital Station by James White

{First of 14 Sector General series; sci-fi, adventure, alien medicine}

Introduction by

This is the first book in Beginning Operations, which is an omnibus editions of books 1, 2 and 4 of the Sector General series. These were originally published in magazines.

Chapter 1: Medic

This is set when what will become the first hospital to cater to hundreds of alien species is being built and is the aftermath of an accident involving two Hudlarian parents. O'Mara has to take care of an infant Hudlarian whose home planet has much denser gravity than ours.

It took me back to the days when my second son, especially, was a newborn. A baby is still a baby, with feeding demands and so on, no matter the species or physiology.

The process of being painted with food seemed to be a pleasant one for the young FROB. It ceased to cower in the corner and began blundering excitedly about the small bedroom. For O’Mara it became a matter of trying to hit a rapidly moving object while practicing violent evasive maneuvers himself, which set his injured leg throbbing more painfully than ever. His furniture suffered, too. Practically the whole interior surface of his sleeping compartment was covered with the sticky, sharp-smelling food compound, and also the exterior of the now-quiescent young alien, when Caxton arrived.

4.5 stars *****

Chapter 2: Sector General

The hospital is now well established and O’Mara has found his niche but this story is about Conway, a young doctor who has to counter his own prejudices against the Monitor Corps while rescuing a being whose ship has crashed deep into the hospital.

3.5-4****

Chapter 3: Trouble with Emily

Conway is chosen to assist a doctor of a telepathic, ethical species with a patient of yet another species who is perfectly healthy, whom the hospital staff name 'Emily' (a groan-worthy pun). Despite the doctor's brusque manner and mysterious manner about Emily, Conway finds that he quite likes him(?)/ her(?).

They were an old, wise and humble race, O’Mara concluded; intensely humble. So much so that they tended to look down on other races who were not so humble as they. Conway would have to be very tactful because this extreme, this almost overbearing humility might easily be mistaken for something else.

4.5*****

Chapter 4: Visitor at Large

Dr. Conway acquires a new assistant from another species, Dr. Prilica who is an empath, to help him in the Nursery wards. They also help track down a runaway juvenile delinquent whose parent is a patient in critical condition.

4****

Chapter 5: Out-Patient

The Monitor Corps brings in an urgent case; the wreckage of a ship of unknown origin and buried within it, a sole survivor. Dr. Conway has to tread carefully with this first contact of an advanced species who seems to disagree with his proposed treatment plan.

Conway approached the patient again and switched on the Translator. He knew before he spoke what the reaction would be so it was probably an act of wanton cruelty to say the words, but he had to test this theory once more for his own reassurance. He said, “Don’t worry, young fellow, we’ll have you back the way you were in no time ...” The reaction was so violent that Dr. Prilicla, whose empathic faculty made it feel everything which the patient felt at full intensity, had to leave the ward.

4****

I like the way that White has thought about other alien species and that they are non-humanoid - in fact, our nearest 'relatives' in his classification scheme, fellow DBLFs, look like furry caterpillars - and I appreciate the way that Tralthans and not humans are the best doctors (even though his main protagonists are, necessarily, human). I like the idea of his classification scheme itself, which quickly separates species into vital characteristics such as water/ oxygen/ chlorine breathers, telepathic abilities and so on which also helps the medical staff in identifying potential treatments.

I did find the way he builds suspense by getting his main characters to withhold information from their superiors for the good of the patient to be a bit repetitive. But as a magazine series (the stories' original format) that wouldn't have been so obvious and its real purpose is to keep the reader in the dark. For example in 'Outpatient'- medical issues aside - the resolution of the first-contact problem seems obvious in hindsight.

Averaging: 4.1-4.2****

The other two books in my omnibus edition of Beginning Operations are:

Star Surgeon
Major Operation

>181 humouress: It's one of those stories, isn't it, that uses universal experiences to make a wonderful point: A baby is still a baby.

Please tell me how a parent could do what these vile persons do to someone else's kids and not think of their own.

>182 richardderus: I do not know, Richard. :0(

Reminder to self. Group read commitments for June:

Sector General ✔ Hospital Station
Dragonsbane
Codex Alera

So the kids are back on campus for school - sort of. Because of social distancing measures, it's one week on, one week off. Having complained about home learning and stating that they couldn't wait to get back to school, it was nothing but complaints on Monday. They didn't have the stamina to climb the stairs or last through a whole day of lessons any more. Another week and then they'll be back on holiday, but social distancing measures are being eased again later this week so it looks like they'll both be back at school full time after that.

We've all got used to being tucked safely at home. April was a bit sad, with the anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings and my cousin's little girl's birthday; she would have been ten this year. We did lose a couple of elderly relatives but not to covid and it wasn't unexpected.

So it looks as though we're heading back to normal and it'll be a rush to get back into the old routine. I just hope we don't forget any valuable lessons we've learned from this, like slow down and smell the roses and the environment could really take a break from us humans once in a while.

I used to weigh myself every day but I realised that I haven't been doing that recently so I stepped on the scales last night. Now I know why I was avoiding them.*sigh*

And last night I gave in to my youngest's yen for testing out his new bike riding skills so we ranged further afield than even I've been before, which was fun. Singapore has been creating a network of 'park connectors' so that eventually you can walk from one end of the country to the other on 'green' paths - if you so desire. Lots of other people had similar ideas, though, so we had to dodge around them a bit but it was still a good ride. Until, on the way home, I stopped to take photos of lilies which were closed on our way out but had opened after dark and then I discovered my bike had sprung a flat, so I had to wheel it the rest of the way home. No snarky comments, thank you - my husband has already made them.

>185 humouress: I wonder how I'm going to get used to walking to and from work every day. I've gone from at least an hour brisk walking each day to, er, considerably less.

Hope the young ones enjoyed seeing their friends? There must have been a lot to catch up on, never mind the school stuff.

>186 charl08: My 'brisk pace' slackened dramatically when I moved to Singapore; it's just not possible in this climate. Not to mention that once we had kids I started driving everywhere with them. Now they're old enough to take public transport by themselves and the public transport system here is undergoing a dramatic upgrade, so I'll have less excuse. There's a brand new MRT (Tube equivalent) station 10 minutes walk from us which was due to be completed before the end of the year.

The kids enjoyed being back with their friends; they said they'd go back to school to see them but otherwise they prefer home learning. Having been vociferously against it at the beginning, they're almost crying now that it's due to end. :0D

>187 humouress: I can second that, Nina. This climate really saps.

Have a great weekend.

>188 PaulCranswick: Long life Paul! I was over on your thread reading through all the posts I've missed while you were posting here.

Enjoy your weekend.

Shops and restaurants have opened up here and next term it looks like the kids will be back in school full time (oh, the cries of anguish I've been hearing). I'm not sure I'm ready to go out and about though; I'm a bit of a lazybones homebody and I've liked being tucked up at home with my immediate family around me.

It'll be a while before I can see my parents and sis in person although my mum's been rousting me out of bed in the mornings for the family Zoom tai chi sessions; no more lie-ins for me since they're two hours ahead. Eheu.

>189 humouress: Happy untubbying, La Overkill! Can't rely on those supervillain rocket-powered corsets for everything. Mum has the correct idea.

*evil unsympathetic chortles*

>190 richardderus: I say! Did you not read the last sentence of >185 humouress:? You've been remarkably short-sighted around the place recently Mr. Mcgoo. Please see your optician as soon as they open up.

>191 humouress: Hahaha RD, I read it!

>190 richardderus: >192 PaulCranswick: See, Richard?

Although - does that mean you had a comment in mind Paul? *peers suspiciously across the Straits*

45) The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (2019)

 

{First of 3; Camelot Rising trilogy. Fantasy, YA}

I got hit by a book bullet for this book and I am not happy.

Sixteen year old Guinevere is on her way to Camelot to marry the eighteen year old king Arthur - but she is actually a changeling witch put in place by Merlin to protect Arthur against the danger that is coming. Unfortunately Merlin, who lives across all times, has not been specific about what type of danger it is or when it will arrive and so the girl - who deliberately loses her name to magic so as to be more convincing in her role - does not know what to protect against or for how long she will be required to play her part. Merlin helped Arthur defeat the Dark Queen - the embodiment of chaos - but Merlin and all other practitioners of magic have since been banished from Arthur's lands so that, should she return, she should not find a foothold within Camelot. So the girl will have to practise her tricks, which she feels have nothing like Merlin's power, in secret so that she neither undermines Arthur's position nor has to leave Camelot and be unable to protect him.

And so the new Guinevere, who has grown up in the forest, must navigate the city and make new allies while not giving away her true nature and trying to discover what dangers she has to protect Arthur against. Meanwhile, as she wields her magics, she discovers gaps in her memories - maybe Merlin did not tell her the whole truth?

“Did Merlin teach you this?” Arthur asked, curious.

“No, he—yes.” Guinevere paused, trying to remember. Merlin would never stoop to knot magic, even to demonstrate it. It was far too human. Frail and temporary. She tried to conjure a memory of Merlin explaining it to her, teaching her. It would have been at their sturdy table. Or in the forest? She remembered her neat bedroll, the cottage she kept tidy. The trees and the sun and the birds. Staring at her own hands in wonder. Night and day, sleeping and waking, hunger and food and everything swirling and obscured as though she were searching through fog…

Merlin, frowning, pushing his fingers against her forehead. “This should be enough,” he had said. “Do not look for more.”

She rubbed at the spot on her forehead. He had pushed the knowledge into her brain. Willed it to be there, rather than teaching her himself. He could be very lazy.

“Yes, he taught me, in his own way.” She finished the knot.

Satisfied, she turned and almost ran into Arthur. He had come up behind her to watch her work.

“Sorry!” Her hands were on his chest. She pulled them back quickly. “I am sorry. I should go. I am tired.”

He walked her to the tapestry, pulling it aside again and holding it for her. “Thank you. I am glad you are here, Guinevere.”

“Me, too,” she whispered, surprised to find how much she meant it. And surprised by how much she wished she had told him her name after all.

As the door closed behind her, leaving her holding a candle in the dark passageway, she closed her eyes and leaned close to the flickering light. She whispered her name directly into the flame.

And then she blew it out.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Guinevere is a very capable young lady but she has to discover the ways of her new world as much as we, the reader, do as well as uncover what may be missing in her own past. And she has to work out what her place is at Arthur's side as his queen. Arthur is charismatic and tries to be all things to all people so it’s no wonder that they all love him. His knights have come to Camelot because they share his vision of what it can be, a beacon for justice.

She and Arthur both come across as very human, facing the uncertainties that come with their huge responsibilities while having to present a strong facade to those around them despite their young ages. I appreciated seeing them able to be themselves with each other. The people around them have lives and personalities too, such as her lady's maid Brangien and Arthur's nephew Mordred.

I must confess that the romantic in me is hoping that the cautious attraction between Arthur and Guinevere develops into something a lot stronger. I devoured so many versions of the story in my youth (partly because I wanted to be a knight) in the hopes that the shining dream that was Camelot would not be destroyed until I finally gave up in despair and refused to read any more of them. However, reading this book, I am hopeful again.

At the end of the book, although Guinevere is starting to find her place in her new life, the mysteries of the past are still mysteries. I can't wait to find out what happens next - but the second book in this trilogy isn't due to be published until the end of this year. Thank you so much whoever it was that shot that book bullet in my direction.

5 stars

>194 humouress: That might have been me... 😬😬😬 So glad you enjoyed it! At least it's coming out this year, right?? Haha.

>195 curioussquared: I suddenly remembered that I might have listed it on my wiki wish list so I looked it up and, yes, it is all your fault. :0)

*wails* But it's a trilogy, so then I'll have to wait for the third book 😢

>194 humouress: Well, if you work out how to wait patiently, all advice gratefully received!

>191 humouress: Husband-snark does not signify, you see; snark from The Outer Limits is required. It Is Written. Someplace. Bound to be, every other damn thing is.

>194 humouress: *ow*ow*ow*

AND an incomplete series! No further moaning allowed.

>198 richardderus: Book bullet? Good. I hope it hurt.

46) Palace of Stone

Looked it up to review it and ended up re-reading. Better make notes this time.

Gentle story, easy to re-read. Similar feel to Heidi (which I read several times as a child but not since). Emphasises family & friendship. Not epistolary but lots of letters.

First time through, there were indicators of doom with rumblings of revolution and two suitors for Miri - but Hale does my kind of happy ever afters. So it's more comfortable reading this time :0)

I like the way Katar's and Miri's relationship has developed from competitiveness in the first book through grudging respect to teasing friendship. I like the way a lot of the girls from the Academy end up finding new non-traditional life-paths that suit them.

We learn incidentally about the history of Danland, some royal secrets and more secrets about linder - the stone quarried on Mount Eskel - are revealed.

Takes place within 5 months. Starts within/ about a year after the end of Princess Academy, with the arrival of the autumn traders.

Miri and some of the other girls from the Princess Academy travel from Mount Eskel to the capital of Danland, Asland, to help the prince's fiancée prepare for her wedding. Pedder goes with them to learn stone carving. Marda stays behind so Miri can only write letters to her and collect them to be sent with the next trading caravan in spring.

46) Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (2012)



{Second of 3; Princess Academy series. Fantasy, children’s, YA}
Re-read

Following on some months after the end of Princess Academy a couple of the Academy girls have gone to Asland, the capital of Danland. Prince Steffan is to marry his chosen bride next spring and she has invited her Mount Eskel friends from the Academy to help her get ready for her wedding. There is a place for Miri at the Queen's Castle, the foremost institution of learning in Danland, and Peder, Miri's childhood friend, is set to accompany them to Asland to learn more about carving linder. However Marda, Miri's sister, stays behind so Miri can only write letters to her and collect them to be sent with the next trading caravan which will travel up to Mount Eskel in the spring. This is not an epistolary but letters do play a large part in the story.

At the beginning of the book Miri receives two letters; one from Katar

Addressing Miri Larensdaughter, Lady of the Princess,
Mount Eskel

Miri,

This is a letter. A letter is like talking to someone who is far away. Do not show the others in case I am doing it wrong.

and one from Britta

Miri Larensdaughter, Mount Eskel

Dearest Miri,

I am delighted to write to you! Though I would rather talk to you in person and sit in the shade of the princess academy, watching the hawks glide. At least I have good news to share.

I love the contrast between the two styles, which encapsulates the personalities of the senders perfectly.

This was a gentle story and was easy to re-read although it hadn't been very long since I read it the first time. It has a similar feel to Johanna Spyri's Heidi (which I read several times as a child). It emphasises family and friendship; the story revolves around the different types of friendships Miri shares with those around her and her quest to find a non-violent way to balance them all. I like the way, for instance, that Katar's and Miri's relationship has developed from competitiveness in the first book through grudging respect to teasing friendship.

'So ... did she just agree to sponsor the charter?' asked Katar.

'I thinks so,' Miri whispered.

'You think so?' Katar grabbed the paper from Miri. 'If I present this in session and {she} doesn't offer her sponsorship, "I think so" isn't going to save my head.'

'Your head will be fine,' said Miri. 'It's your neck you should worry about.'

'Miri!'

As well as personal friendship the story addresses the love of country and the determination to do the best for it - although different people have different ideas as to the best ways that can be achieved and so there are serious rumblings of revolution which brings danger to Miri and her friends. The first time I read this I felt some forebodings of doom - but Hale does my kind of happy ever afters. We learn incidentally about some of the history of Danland, some royal secrets and more secrets about linder - the stone quarried on Mount Eskel - are revealed.

And it's not just about the differences that Miri finds between the capital and her home on Mount Eskel; I like the way a lot of the girls from the Academy end up finding new life-paths that suit them, that they're passionate about and that they plan to use to benefit their community on Mount Eskel.

Although there is some romance in the story (after all Miri is 'of an age to be betrothed'), it is not a focus and (almost) all the attachments are grounded in friendship and genuine affection.

This one tugs at the heartstrings and there were a few moments when I was cheering on a person who seemed to be a background character until then. You go girl!

4.5 stars

I have to catch up on my reviews; at least that's March done now.

>202 humouress: Congratulations on completing your March reviews! I can say that with all sincerity because I've flatly given up on going back and catching up - I just occasionally start up again whenever the mood strikes. I appreciate your diligence. And your reviews.

>203 Dejah_Thoris: Thank you!

It's my ambition to read and review all the books in my library - but you know what that TBR pile is like.

ETA: taking a quick look at my library, it looks like I've rated 152 of 522 books; but that's not allowing for discrepancies like duplicates or if I've rated it without reviewing it. I shall persevere on. Such a hard life ;0)

>202 humouress: Erm......March?

Hope you have a good week trying to remember what your reading was like in April! xx

>205 PaulCranswick: I ended up re-reading my outstanding March book, Paul; but I’m not planning on doing that for all of them.

Dragonsbane (1998) notes

Gareth of Magloshaldon arrives in the Winterlands from court in the teeth of winter to ask Lord John Aversin, the only living dragonsbane, to come to the capital to slay a dragon that is harassing the lands near the capital, making it impossible to prepare against rebels threatening it. While Gareth, John and the witch, Jenny Waynest (who is 37 and the mother of two - my goodness!), agree that the dragon will have to be slain they all view it differently; Gareth as a creature out of ballads that should be challenged to an honourable duel, John as a thing of beauty that could be studied and Jenny who grieves for the dragon she helped John slay.

I kind of identify with Gareth who is horrified but politely tries not to show it when he meets his hero knee deep in the pigpen. Hambly really turns expectations on their heads. (Two of our protagonists wear glasses - which seem a bit anachronistic to me, though it shouldn't. But ... heroes.) The Winterlands in winter that she describes seem scruffy and a bit depressing; very atmospheric.

Further notes:
Though it's relatively short - like most fantasy of the era it comes in at (just) under 300 pages - the pace is slow and thoughtful.

Hambly does deal in gloomy atmospheres and unprepossessing heroes; her Darwath and Windrose series were snapshots of a civilisation under siege with no end in sight. I think that is one of the reasons that Sorcerer's Ward is my favourite of her books because (despite the gloom and unprepossessing heroes) it has a HEA ending.

I had a good chuckle at Morkeleb, oldest and wisest of dragons - those alien-like super-beings - having a spat with John, a mere human and not even mage-born at that.

Distractingly, my copy (Voyager) does have some typesetting errors with missing or wrong letters or spaces, at a rate of about one or two every chapter.

So I just watched an ad (by a company that makes plastic storage boxes etc etc) where a young man, watching his mum limping along with the washing basket, remembers her being sprightly in her younger days. Feeling sorry for her, he —- takes her on a shopping expedition to the plastic outlet where he buys her a new laundry basket with wheels and a pull up handle. Fast forward and we see the young man in front of the TV watching his mum do the laundry with the new basket and congratulating himself on what a good son he is.

Somewhat Asian-centric, that one, I feel.

>207 humouress: I am very fond of Dragonsbane - it definitely pokes a bit at high heroic fantasy!

>208 humouress: Seriously? Snort. What a guy.

>208 humouress: LOL. What an ad.

And now that I've managed to write my last review for April, I think it's time to start a new thread for the second half/ third quarter of the year.

May reviews are done, too. I may even catch up with myself.

42) Innkeeper Chronicles, Volume One by Ilona Andrews (2020)



1 - Clean Sweep (2013)

 

{First of 5; The Innkeeper Chronicles. Fantasy, sci-fi}

This series comes highly recommended by a lot of other LTers so (despite my first book by this duo not being my best experience - partly due to being from the middle of a series and partly my discomfort with the narrator of the audiobook) I thought I would give it a go. I'm glad I did and I've already borrowed the next book on Overdrive bought the first four books as an omnibus for my Kindle.

Dina is an Innkeeper in Red Deer, Texas which means that she maintains an inn, which is neutral territory, for guests from other planets/ worlds. As an innkeeper her first priority is the safety and comfort of her guests for which she employs her magic (which is sometimes indistinguishable from technology) which is strongest within the property boundaries of the inn. Dina is working to reinstate The Gertrude Hunt Bed and Breakfast after it had been unused for a time; to do so she must maintain the inn and have guests staying there. The inn itself contributes its own magic (such as avoiding potential guests from the local planet) and she has a small shi-tzu called (deservedly) Beast.

In the foyer Arland sat on the loveseat, sipping mint tea. The vampire wore a full set of armor; the breastplate and the raised pauldrons made his shoulders and chest appear enormous. His weapon, a giant blood mace, lay next to him on the floor, its head solid black and crossed by glowing red lines.

When something obviously not of Earth starts killing the neighbourhood dogs, Dina feels obliged to investigate even though the crimes occur beyond the inn's boundaries. And so she has to deal with stalkers, vampires and werewolves among other alien species.

"House of Krahr!" the vampire with the banner barked quietly.

"Krahr," the other four vampires exhaled and glared at me.

Usually they roared their house name at the top of their lungs, trying to intimidate... Oh. They were trying to be inconspicuous. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I'd never had an attempt at intimidation whispered at me before.

Although there are action sequences, the parts that had me gripped were the ones where the characters exercised their brains rather than their muscles. There were a few funny moments too, which I appreciated.

"Yes, Your Grace." Arland smiled and took a big swallow from his mug.

"I believe I've met your grandfather, the Bloody Butcher of Odar."

"That's correct."

"I remember now. A delightful man, wonderfully dry sense of humor."

Arland blinked. "My grandfather has been called many names in his lifetime. Delightful was not one of them. He remembers you also. You tried to poison him."

Although from Earth herself, Dina is obviously comfortable with the alien worlds and visitors; her parents were innkeepers too so she has grown up with them and she is fully capable of meeting any challenge thrown at her. Although we are occasionally left wondering what something meant, we're not left wondering for long and the information is fed to us logically in bite-size pieces.

The book comes to a logical conclusion but there are some questions left unanswered such as 'What happened to Dina's parents' inn?' that intrigue me so I will continue with the series.

I will come back tomorrow and finish this review when my brain is more awake. G'night ....

Phooey; I read this at the beginning of June and forgot to rate it back then. Hmm ...

4-4.5****

NB: I see that the narrator for Clean Sweep on Audible is the same as for Magic Bites and the comments for her reading of Clean Sweep mirror mine for Magic Bites (assuming that she read the edition I listened to) although the comments for her reading of Magic Bites were much more positive.