Sibylline's (Lucy's) Quarterly Report 2021: Winter

La Belle Dame Les copains

This is "my" chair near the wood stove. Guess how often I get to sit in it?

♬♬

Currently Reading in March
✔ ROOT Forerunner Andre Norton classic sf
new A Moveable Famine John Skoyles lit essays
new The Dark Archive Genevieve Cogman fantasy
✔My Struggle: Book Six Karl Ove Knausgaard contemp fic
♬ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (5th of 6) Arthur Conan Doyle Read by Stephen Fry mys classic, mys british

Read in March.
28. ♬ The Something Girl Jodi Taylor mys ***1/2
29. new Resurgence C.J. Cherryh sf *****
30. ♬ Death Comes to the Rectory Catherine Lloyd hist mys ***1/2
31. ✔ ROOT The Book of English Magic Philip Carr-Gomm&Richard Heygate
32. new Divergence C.J. Cherryh sf *****
33. E In Your Dreams Tom Holt ***1/2
34. ♬ In Farleigh Field Rhys Bowen mys ****
35. ✔ ROOT A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace essays
36.♬ Little Donkey & Joy to the World (ss) Jodi Taylor fantasy ***1/2



Books Dropped in March 2021
4.

2020 Round up ------ 131 books

Officially the year of The Binge
My main method of bingeing is to listen, but I also indulged in E binges and even several shorter or catch-up binges with print books.
Audio Binges:
Georgette Heyer (pretty much all, though I started in 2019!) Such a pleasure!
Catherine Lloyd Fun
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (four of six) Fab
E Binges
Paul O. Williams Really Intriguing
(catch-up, mostly novellas) Steve Miller Sharon Lee
(more catch-up, also novellas Lois Bujold
Print Binges
Elizabeth Moon the second portion of The Paladin, starting with Oath of Fealty --Solid
James White Entire oeuvre -- Fantastic!
Mini Print Binges
Ian MacDonald's Luna series (3), Sherwood Smith's Inda series (3) Jasper Fforde's new Dragonslayer series (3), Alastair Reynolds Revenger series (3).

Standout reads
Castle Freeman Go With Me and All That I Have -- real Vermont
Rachel Cusk's Outline series (3) Just GREAT! Unflinching.

Other thoughts . . .
I don't have high expectations of suddenly reading tougher stuff again yet somehow I don't have the strength to make a clean sweep of the books I've been dragging through all fall and early winter either. A developing situation. Stay tuned. The suspense is high.

series Series Tally 2021

Currently reading 2021
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle (6) Reading Book Five
The Chronicles of St. Mary's (12 plus 20 stories) Jodi Taylor Next Up (not released yet) Book 12 Stories completed.
The Invisible Library(7) Genevieve Cogman NEXT UP (7) The Dark Archive

might continue in 2021
Lady Hardcastle mysteries (4) T. E. Kinsey NEXT UP (3) A Picture of Murder (Audio)
Galaxy Outlaws (16.5) Listening to #2
Cass Neary(3) Elizabeth Hand NEXT UP (2) Available Dark
The Craft Sequence(6) Max Gladstone NEXT UP: (2)Two Serpents Rise

Finished/Caught Up in 2021!!
Kurland St. Mary Mysteries (8) Catherine Lloyd

Probably won't continue?
Constable Evans (6) Rhys Bowen READING (1) Evans Above A bit too cosy for me?
Oxford Medieval Mysteries (1 of 6) Ann Swinfen A bit slow?
Roma sub Rosa (12) Steven Saylor NEXT UP (2) Arms of Nemesis Don't like Audible narrator. Too ponderous. So may switch to E format.

Read in January

1. ♬ Hope For the Best Jodi Taylor fantasy time travel *****
2. E The Price of Ransom Kate Elliott/Alis A. Rasmussen sf sp/op ****
3. ♬ Plan For the Worst Jodi Taylor fantasy time travel *****
4. ♬ Why Is Nothing Ever Simple? Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
5. ♬ When A Child is Born Jodi Taylor sf time travel****
6. new The Secret Chapter Genevieve Cogman fantasy librarians ****
7. ♬ Roman Holiday Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
8. ♬ Christmas Present Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
9. ♬ Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
10. ♬The Great St. Mary's Day Out Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
11. ♬My Name is Markham Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
12. ♬ The Battersea Barricades Jodi Taylor sf time travel
13. ♬ The Steam Pump Jump Jodi Taylor sf time travel
14. ♬And Now For Something Completely Different Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
15. ♬Christmas Past Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
16. E Thornyhold Mary Stewart contemp fiction ***1/2
17. E Madam, Will You Talk? Mary Stewart ****
18. ♬ The Ordeal of the Haunted Room Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
19. ♬ When Did You Last See Your Father Jodi Taylor sf time travel ****
20. E Touch Not the Cat Mary Stewart fiction british

Books Dropped in January
1. The Gods Arrive Edith Wharton fiction american
2. The Ivy Tree Mary Stewart fiction british

Stats
Total: 20
Men: 0
Women: 20
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 0
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 0
SF/F: 17
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 3
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 0
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 15
New (to shelves): 1
e-book: 4
Off Shelf/ROOT:0
Pearled: 0

Books In Jan:
8 physical
4 E-books
18 audio

Books Out Jan:
18 physical

Read in February

21. ♬ Doing Time Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
22. new Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming Agnes Callard philosophy *****
23. E The Portable Door Tom Holt fantasy ****
24. ✔ ROOT Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom Brenda Maddox bio ****
25. ♬ Hard Time Jodi Taylor sf time travel *****
26. ♬ The Nothing Girl Jodi Taylor mys/rom
27. new Emergence C.J. Cherryh sf *****

Books Dropped in February
3. (for year) White Silence Jodi Taylor mystery, too creepy, not funny

Stats
Total: 7
Men: 1
Women: 6
M/W writing together: 0
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 0
SF/F: 3
Mystery/Rom (inc hist mys): 1
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 3
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 3
New (to shelves): 1
e-book: 1
Off Shelf/ROOT: 1
Pearled: 0

Books In in Feb:
physical
E-books
audio

Books Out Jan:
physical

March.

Happy New Year Lucy!

Best wishes for a better 2021!

Welcome back, Lucy.

Dropping a star, Lucy.

Hi Lucy, and a happy 2021 to you and all yours.

“Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”
— Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, 1987

Hi Lucy, I'm thread-visiting today, so here I am to wish you and yours a very happy new year. I look forward to keeping up with your reading and, of course, the antics of your furry housemates.

Dropped my star and looking forward to following along with your reading, pets, family, etc. in 2021.

Happy end of 2020, Lucy.
I'm going through to star some 2021 threads, like many others.

However...
Hello/Farewell !

I started a new thread ~ for 2020 *giggle*.
My 8th thread was going to be my final one of 2020, then I thought why not use the 'continue' function? It announces my intentions for 2021.

Just saying, in case you wonder if I did join the 75-ers on the 2021 tour.
As you know, I just don't plan to overwhelm my brain this coming year.
Happy immunizable 2021!

Happy reading in 2021, Lucy!

And keep up with my friends here, Lucy. Have a great 2021.

Happy new year!

Starting the new year on your doorstep. Hi, howdy new year! Be seeing you around.

Hope you have a great year of reading!

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

fantasy time travel *****
Hope For the Best Jodi Taylor

I'm close to the end of this series and what a ride! I know there is another one coming out in a couple of months, so that is a comfort. This one packed a big wallop--just when you thought everything was going to work out . . . . But that isn't really Max's karma, is it? As ever the juxtaposition of the relationships of the St Mary's crew and the history itself is an achievement.*****

I love a thread with cute doggies! And I detected a book that waits for me on my shelves as well - the one about Nora Joyce! Looking forward to your opinion!

Happy New Reading Year!

Thank you everyone who has stopped in! A Happy New Reading Year to all of you!

Hi Lucy! Happy New Year and new thread. I have started the Taylor series in audiobook format - enjoying it so far. It slightly reminds me of the Connie Willis time travel stuff, just in terms of premise. I've also been listening to the Catherine Lloyd mysteries and enjoying them but have had to divert to Kindle as not all of them are available to listen to. All good fun so far though I have noted your warning about the Taylor series being quite hard hitting in places.

>26 HanGerg: Yes, the history hits hard--very real, very vivid. The personal stuff does too -- but she has a deft hand so . . . you needn't worry too much, although, if you are like me you will sit up late now and then unable to stop listening until you find out WHAT HAPPENED!!!

And Happy New Year to you!

Here we are again! I'm looking forward to what you read and what you say about it in 2021. Enjoy!!!!!

2. E sf sp/op ****
The Price of Ransom Kate Elliott/Alis A. Rasmussen

Book Three was excellent -- the pieces coming together nicely but not too nicely. Elliott left plenty of room to continue the series too, but she hasn't as far as I know. Here and there some things seemed--too easy or unexplained--as in, how did the League get to the point of giving up violence (or . . . have they really????) and how did some of the intra-human prejudices in Reft space get so bad? These, to me are part of the unanswered, unexplained that could have been explored a little more further down that Highroad. ****

DROPPED
1.
The Gods Arrive Edith Wharton

Just can't go on. I've been dragging on and on through this since last September or so but I must stop. Wharton's understanding of her parents' and her own generations' struggles socially and ethically, were spot on, but this foray into another generation flops. The great novels of the twenties by women invariably explore "the next step", pushing boundaries of relationship and career and everything in between. Halo is the crux. Vance is pretty typical, really, of men at the time, still totally self-absorbed, oblivious and entitled (leading me to wonder how much that has, really, changed? -- Some, yes, but not enough.) but Halo is so trapped in the past, so frozen by convention, ultimately, that she cannot see herself as having any purpose or meaning beyond serving as Vance's muse and enabler. If there had been even the slightest spark of something, I could have read on, but I did, eventually flip to the end and just about vomited at Wharton's feeble resolution. What was she thinking!!!??? If she had had a daughter? Think of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway -- her daughter, clearly tussling with new ideas -- or Lily the painter in To the Lighthouse. Other women writers of Wharton's generation did OK with what was happening, at least, acknowledging and noticing even if tacitly admitting they knew they couldn't follow. In fact, I feel kind of that way these days myself, that I can see the changes and somewhat "get" most of it, but fluidly being a part of the changes? No, too hard at my age, beyond simply being as supportive as I can be. Anyway, truly, don't bother with this unless you are a literary scholar of some sort or a total Wharton fan (which I thought I was).

>30 sibylline: OMG Lucy, what a coincidence. I just read Wharton's Hudson River Bracketed which was adequate at best (here's my review). Only at the end did I realize there's a sequel and it's ... wait for it ... The Gods Arrive. Although I have it on my shelves, after *HRB* I was pretty sure I would never get around to reading it and your comments clinch it for me. Sounds like more of the same but worse.

I also consider(ed) myself a total Wharton fan. But these were Wharton's last two novels before the also dreadful The Buccaneers, and it shows. Her early stuff is dazzling.

>30 sibylline: Heh! It was hard enough being part of the changes over my generation, my daughter's on her own to deal with hers, though I allow her to educate me as to appropriate interactions.

Hi Lucy and Happy New Year! I have lost track of you around here over the past year or so but I have enjoyed your election countdown on FB. I hope 2021 brings good things for you and for all of us!

>31 lauralkeet: Wonderful! I have spared you!

>32 quondame: It does feel that way -- my own daughter, at 24, has fossils for parents but she makes allowances for us.

>33 EBT1002: Ellen! I lurk around now and then on your thread. Something about this year has made it hard for me to make any but the most banal comments on threads half the time, so I decide not to say anything. Let's hope that changes.

>23 sibylline: I listened to a quickie in the series related to the holidays and loved it. Have to get back to this series!! Christmas Present by Jodi Taylor.

>23 sibylline: Even though I have read and listened to the whole series many times, and know what happens, I still have to psych myself up to read And the Rest is History.

>35 Berly: Go for the series!

>36 CDVicarage: I know what you mean! I was practically levitating, just sat and listened and listened and listened, heart pounding.

3. fantasy time travel
Plan For the Worst

Well. This one is . . . absolutely riveting. I was stunned! Loved it!
*****

4. fantasy time travel
Why Is Nothing Ever Simple? Jodi Taylor

Answer: Because. Loads of fun as ever. I'm into reading the bits and bobs -- a mix of very short stories and novellas. This one introduces two new characters! Comes right before Plan For the Worst.

5. fantasy time travel
When A Child Is Born Jodi Taylor

Very slight, a Christmas story, charming. Sometimes History has its own ideas about what must happen. ****

I feel a bit naughty counting these as books, but the fact is, I read some tomes that are so ridiculously long that I expect it averages out just right.

I drifted off of this series after the fourth book and the novella above. I guess I need to get back to them. The library has book 5 so I've just ordered it.

>39 sibylline: If you read The Time Police series too you will find more links.

I noticed the short stories get longer as the series goes on, so I think you are right to count them!

>41 ronincats: The history parts can be hard to take, but so well done -- but as say over and over, Zara Ramm is incredible as a narrator. Flawless and so so much fun.

>42 CDVicarage: I can't wait to start those! But first, the stories. Glad they get longer.

6. fantasy librarians ****
The Secret Chapter Genevieve Cogman

No sooner do relations between the three groups: human (and librarian), dragon and fae improve than a new twist is set in motion when Irene takes on a task of locating and securing a rare book that will save the world where she received her schooling (which she is very grateful for) from falling into chaos. Stay tuned! ****

7. sf time travel
Roman Holiday Jodi Taylor

Very amusing, very slight. Markham saves the day! ****

>45 sibylline: Again, used for a link between this series and The Time Police.

8. sf time travel ****
Christmas Present Jodi Taylor

Red-head from the future glimpses fabulous red-head, Boudicaa from the past while retrieving some missing persons. Fills in a part of a long-running St. Mary's side story. ****

9. sf time travel ****
Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings Jodi Taylor

One of the rescued missing persons, Miss Gray (from the previous short story) more traumatized than she will admit, does a big no-no and Max, Petersen and Markham go to the rescue -- in ancient Egypt. As always it is the night before Christmas . . . ****

10. sf time travel *****
The Great St. Mary's Day Out Jodi Taylor

>49 sibylline: My very, very favorite shortie.

But Plan for the Worst, now. THAT is a TALE!

Are you ready for The Dark Archive? It's a doozy, too.

Fabulous weekend's reads *whammy*

>50 richardderus: Yes, yes-- the Day Out was wonderful! Markham is so so engaging!

And Plan for the Worst what an unflinching darkening of the story. -- Taylor, as she has Max say repeatedly of historians, puts risk and death front and center of her work as well. Few others I've read can bring a historical moment to life as she does.

And I did love King Alfred burning the bread. Just finishing this one. I adore Markham, more than ever after the last novel!

>51 sibylline: I have to say it never once crossed my mind that Markham was who he is. Man of Mystery was always enticing enough...though I often thought he might be connected to the kid from the Trojan episode who caused Leon¹ and Max to separate in book 3.

>52 richardderus: I hadn't thought of that, but I did have moments of wondering -- thinking that M must have one heck of a backstory.

11. ♬ sf time travel ****
My Name is Markham Jodi Taylor

A different reader! Being Markham! But he did all right. Nice to see those goofy historians from the pov of the security section. ****

>54 sibylline: I've listened to this once but couldn't cope with the different voice or - even worse - some different pronunciations. I've since bought the collection of short stories - The Long and Short of It - and that has Zara Ramm reading all the stories.

>55 CDVicarage: I'm tempted to buy those -- probably will for the second go 'round. What were they thinking?

12. sf time travel ****
The Battersea Barricades Jodi Taylor

This time we learn a backstory from 'real' time: How Mrs. Mack and Mrs. Shaw and Mrs Enderby ended up together in London on the last day of the infamous civil war. Lovely. ****

>57 sibylline: Isn't it comforting to re-experience these stories? And to know, after Why is Nothing Ever Simple?, a major and very interesting detail about this story, is *chef's kiss*

I had no idea that there were so many St Mary's! Oh well.

Happy Belated Thingaversary to you and me on the 5th. I used to keep up with this religiously, but not this year.......

13. ♬ sf time travel ****
The Steam-Pump Jump Jodi Taylor

14.♬
And Now For Something Completely Different Jodi Taylor

>59 LizzieD: Peggy -- If you go to the Chronicles of St. Mary's work page -- not the publication order but the second one, you will see there are 12 novels (with 13 coming out in April) and piles of short stories, some of which are collected in a couple of audio books. The last novel I read before tackling the stories was (I think??) Plan For the Worst although that doesn't seem quite right, but ANYWAY - if I had it to do over I would have bought the short story audio book collections.

And Happy Thinga to you too! These stories are my big indulgence, I'd say! I think I'm due 11 Thingas and I'm just about there if not beyond.

Also, I was feeling a bit guilty about counting these as "books" -- but the Knausgård is 1100 pages and then some -- so it really does all even out eventually.

Hi Lucy.
I'm so glad January 20th is done. I have been lurking here from time to time. It's peaceful. I can come back and feel I can acutally catch up. Not to say one *has* to, but I like to see what folks are reading.

Do come and visit me. Although I might be off reading/skimming threads and take awhile to be back there...

15. sf time travel
Christmas Past Jodi Taylor

Unusually sweet--Max and Matthew go on a very special Christmas errand/jaunt together.

16. E contemp fiction ***1/2
Thornyhold Mary Stewart

This was light and fun, with a bit of suspense and a suggestion of magic. ***1/2

I've realized, looking at the Mary Stewart author page that I have not read more than a few of her books! Delightful!

>63 sibylline: I bought a cheap ten pack of Mary Stewart books from The Book People a few years ago (I've just looked it - nearly seven years ago) intending to read them and pass them on to a charity shop but I liked some of them so much I've kept them all, converting some to ebooks when an offer appeared. Thornyhold wasn't one of my favourites but still a good read.

>63 sibylline: I found that one for 99 cents on Kindle the other day and purchased it to re-read later. I read it circa the 1970s.

I had no idea either that the St.Marys books were so plentiful. Are there certain points at which you have to break off from the main novels to read the short stories or can they come at any time? I do get befuddled with a shifting timeline... An especial problem with time travel narratives, I'm thinking.

>65 thornton37814: Well done! I think I paid 2.99. I should pay more attention!

>66 HanGerg: I read all the novels (a new one comes out in April) and then tackled the short stories. Provided you read the stories in the list order (as best you can) you will travel back up the time line to Max's present. It hasn't bothered me to do it that way and some gaps have been filled and explained. One reader (somewhere) said that in fact s/he felt that it would make no sense to read the stories that predate Max's arrival at St. Mary's until you know that landscape.)

There are, I think, two books of collected short stories at least I am certain of one and I wish I'd understood that when I started reading the short stories. As it was I got all the freebies off of Audible and then pay for the others independently -- they are generally quite inexpensive -- not with my precious monthly credit!

17. E contemp fic ****
Madam, Will You Talk? Mary Stewart

Very enjoyable twisty plot and there is nothing more I can say without spoiling, other than that the setting in Provence is really great. Spent quite a bit of time looking at the aqueduct and other roman remnants, the Pont in Avignon etcetera. ****

I think the binge factor is still looming large in my life.

>68 sibylline:, >63 sibylline: This is fun! A Mary Stewart mini-binge.

I haven't read many of MS's novels. I can remember reading and loving her Arthurian "Merlin" trilogy and several other more contemporary (as in the 20th Century) stories.
Madam, Will You Talk is "new" to me. I will make it a TBR/BB for me, in fact. Finding such an old copy in the library looks impossible so I guess it is a case of looking in the local second-hand market.

>68 sibylline: This was the first one I read - and enjoyed very much - I tackled my ten-pack in chronological order of publication. This meant that the first ones were, by then, historical novels but the ones at the end of the pack seemed dated rather than historical. Although for a younger reader they would all have been historical. I wonder where the tipping point is?

>69 SandyAMcPherson: Sandy -- my absolute favorite is Nine Coaches Waiting.

18.
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room Jodi Taylor

I can't remember why Max, Markham and Peterson were time traveling -- oh yes -- in order to observe late Victorian Christmas customs. They are near St. Mary's -- countryside on the other end of Rushford and it is 1895. Peterson falls over his feet and sprains and ankle and the three end up at Harewood Hall where . . . the master of the house is about to undergo a strange family ritual . . . loads of fun, this one. ****

Pearl-ruled
The Ivy Tree Mary Stewart

Nothing wrong with this one, just that I don't care for this particular plot or the characters.

>73 sibylline: I did like this one - a very good twist - partly because of the setting in an area I know well. So many of Mary Stewart's books have good or interesting settings and I find I'm more inclined to choose a book if its setting is known to me, which is another reason my reading is so Britain-based. Not, I hope, because I have a parochial or xenophobic outlook but because it's comfortable.

Hi Lucy,
I'm reading a Hilary McKay right now - delightful! A kid's book along the lines of Zilpha Keatley Snyder (of The Egypt Game fame).

The Time of Green Magic is reminiscent of Snyder's story The Headless Cupid, especially her main character, Amanda. In McKay's book, the character, Abi, is in a similar situation. I'm only half way through, but this is a great book. Easy-night-time-relax reading... I was pleased to find it on Overdrive as an e-book. Instant gratification.

>72 sibylline: That was the least probable reason to go a-wandering that Jodi's used yet, but the story was a delight.

The series is such a comfort-fest for me!

>74 CDVicarage: I totally understand. While I am interested in reading novels set just about anywhere, those set in places where I have spent a lot of time (especially in childhood) or know a lot about for one reason or another seem to resonate more. Frankly, we're (Americans) not very good at either comfort reads (they tend to be unutterably sappy) or being pure fun with heart (a la Pratchett, Jodi T., Dianna Wynne-Jones etcetera). Here The House of the Seven Gables or Moby Dick or The Fall of the House of Usher or The House of Mirth (notice all these houses, weird!) or some other gruesome morality tale is always lurking about behind everything even when someone is trying to be funny. Which isn't all that often.

>77 sibylline: Pratchett seems to pull off being very funny and very moral at the same time. I have no idea how he does it (or did :( ), it's quite a feat.

19. sf time travel ****
When Did You Last See Your Father? Jodi Taylor

Three stories, the one that makes up the title very satisfying, two others that are very silly and amusing.

I've been trying to think of American writers who can write novels that work for adults and for older children, can be extremely funny and also develop characters, explore ethical issues - - it's vanishingly rare. As in, so far, I haven't thought of a single one!

>80 sibylline: I can't really help you there either, Lucy, Pratchett and Tom Holt and Jasper Fforde and Douglas Adams all can do that though. Wonder if it is a British thing?!

>79 sibylline: Ha!! I loved that story so much. Never, ever piss off St Mary's!

>80 sibylline: How about Robert Munsch?
He is American, 'tho living in Canada now.

I mean how great are his kids' stories that in many ways sure poke fun at the adults who can get the kids into big problems? ~ Pigs?
And social issues~ The Paperbag Princess, David's Father?
Social Justice~ The Sandcastle Contest ?
And this one, because children's laughter is the best medicine ever ~ Angela's Airplane

20. contemp fic ***1/2
Touch Not the Cat Mary Stewart

As always the descriptions and settings are perfectly rendered. The story was adequate (the romance a no-brainer), the mystery fun and with a nice twist. ***1/2

I think my Stewart binge is, for the time being, concluded. Very enjoyable but not as a steady diet.

>81 PaulCranswick: -- Definitely Adams, Fforde at his best, Tom Holt I had to go find and now I am reading The Portable Door which is growing on me! Thanks!
>82 richardderus: Never!
>83 SandyAMcPherson: I'll have to check Munsch out. I'm including books that are seriously funny and also cross over entirely -- as enjoyable for an adult (who likes goofy stuff) to read alone as it might be for a kid. Books that are fun for an adult to read with a child, aloud or whatever, but that they would not pick up to read otherwise are not in this category! There are some exceptions -- I would put the Harry Potter oeuvre in the exception category.

The St. Mary's books, for ex.-- I would have loved them after age 12 or so and they would have fired an interest in history (well, fired it further, I already was interested). The violence is 'real' -- people really have done these appalling things to one another and are still doing them, and the St. Mary's historians, as witnesses, are tough to take, but so so right to put out there.

>84 sibylline: I recently downloaded that one to re-read sometime! I think we all loved it back in the 1970s when one of my classmates discovered it.

>68 sibylline: Hi Lucy, I have an author question: I borrowed a copy of Madam, Will You Talk? a couple days ago. It is written in a slightly different style to my more recently-read Mary Stewart's.

*Warning* for other LT members, slight insights that may be spoilers---

In this novel, Stewart promptly introduces the story by detailed forecasting of the gathering tragedy plus a storyline trajectory of the novel in the very first pages. You know? Along the lines of "Little did I know, but..."

Later within the first couple chapters she draws our attention to something that is innocent, (boy with dog that chases a cat), only to reference portending dire situations.

Now why would the author be all-telling rather than leading the reader to find out by stages? Was this an acceptable format back in the 1950's? I hadn't encountered such a writing style in Stewart's work before (except perhaps a little bit in Touch Not the Cat).

I was disappointed in this beginning, but will persevere since you do admit the delight of a twisty plot. And besides. It's very Winter hereabouts and I could do with some "Provence in summertime". With heat.

Edited to try and get the touchstones to show up. I hope they're pointing to the correct Mary Stewart titles.

I'm going to hazard a guess and say that all that early stuff is scaffolding from the earlier drafts that, for some reason, did not get edited out. Stewart 'talking to herself' as it were. She does drop all that, so go with it. It's just fun. What I find most annoying in her books is the clunky dialogue, but so, yeah, not her strength and I just move on.

I've decided to do my own little reading Teeny-thon to help me get a move on with the books I have been reading for-ev-er (it feels like). So --

Knausgård #6: from p. 360 (now) to 560 by Sunday
Maddox on Nora Joyce: from 160 (now) to 280 (end of section 2) by Sunday
Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming: from 210 (now) to 277 (the end) by Sunday

total of 387 pages.

It's ambitious, but I have nothing on, so why not?

>89 sibylline: ¡Suerte!

>90 richardderus: Thank you!

So I am reporting in at around 11 Saturday a.m. (oatmeal, chai tea)

1. Knausgård #6: from p. 360 (now) to 560 by Sunday
-40 pages, to p. 400
2. Maddox on Nora Joyce: from 160 (now) to 280 (end of section 2) by Sunday
-So far, nada
3. Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming: from 210 (now) to 277 (the end) by Sunday
-10 pages to p. 220

Good for you!!!!

Again with the funny Americans. My #1 remains Ferrol Sams's *Porter Osborne* trilogy (it may have a name, but I don't know it), which begins with Run with the Horsemen. Porter is "the Boy" growing up on a farm in Georgia red-clay country in the 1930s. It is laugh out loud funny while it also approaches racism from Porter's privileged but generous pov. I think older kids could read it although their parents might think it's sexually explicit. (They don't call Moo-Cow ____ - can't remember that last name - Moo Cow because he milks them.) It simply sounds like how boys think. My uncle said it was like his youth on the farm in NC, and I've always been sad that my daddy didn't live long enough to read them. My only caveat is that I hated his affectation of referring to "the Boy," "the Father," "the Mother," etc.
Sigh. Nobody ever pays the least attention when I recommend these. I may have to read them again now just because.
My other favorite funny book is W.P. Kinsella's {The Fencepost Chronicles, but he's Canadian, and I guess there's not a lot of YA appeal.

I think you recommended Sams before -- but I see no evidence that I followed up on it (confirming the fact that no one pays any attention!!!???). I PROMISE to rectify this scandalous inattention immediately!

Ok, so my teeny-thon is going rather teenily, many distractions yesterday, some good ones, some social (movie night). I'm so unrealistic! I don't really expect anyone to read what lies below, more for myself as a reminder!

But I did a little:
1. Knausgård #6: from p. 360 (now) to 560 by Sunday
- 40 pages, to p. 440
Total of 80 pages, 120 to go
Honestly, I don't know what is do-able today, Knausgaard has entered into a minute examination of a Paul Celan poem that goes for around fifty pages of which I have read maybe 15. It's interesting but so intense.
2. Maddox on Nora Joyce: from 160 (now) to 280 (end of section 2) by Sunday
- 10 pages, to 170
Total of 10 pages, 110 pages to go
Here the issue is my attention wandering off exasperated that it used to matter so much what some writer's wife wore! Or how she dressed her children? Or whether she was a good cook or not? The writer steps back here and there to make it clear she isn't totally on board with all this, but it is essentially the same BS that plagues whoever is First Lady -- who cares what the First Gentleman wears, eh? Although his daughter is buying in, taking on a modeling contract.
3. Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming: from 210 (now) to 277 (the end) by Sunday
-10 pages to p. 230
Total of 20 pages, 57 to go
Finally this is a tough book -- the author assumes some acquaintance with and caring about other philosphers and their theories many of which she has to debunk or take apart in some way in order to make room with her theory -- which in a way can be summarized as having an open door to the ineffable mystery of 'becoming'. She is edging the field away from even attempting to pin concepts down, I think, towards a more organic or fluid view of development. Very tricky and totally exhausting. I would love to finish it and move to something new, but . . . I would have to skim which would mean, frankly, not bothering to understand her argument.

I did however, finish listening to the first in the Time Police series by Jodi Taylor, which I loved -- thrilled to have a new/old setting and new characters.

21. sf time travel *****
Doing Time Jodi Taylor

Taylor embarks on a new side-series, exploring the Time Police from the inside. Three new candidates, one of which is our very own Matthew Farrell, son of Max. Good instincts on Taylor's part -- she has developed many of the St. Mary's characters, brought them a long long way, and except for Markham I can't see where she would go with any of them without straining. I like the three trainees and am plunging into Book 2, grateful that there is a Book 2 to plunge into. *****

Hi Lucy,
I can see (#94) why some of your books are taking "FOR-ever" to read. I would have DNF'd all 3 from the look of them. The LT website is very strange today, though. I tried 2 browsers and neither will activate the more link, so I can't read the publisher's summary.
I'm notorious these days for not wanting to read challenging stories full of angst, so not surprising that I my-own-self have a low bar for too-painful-too-chilling-upsetting.

I take it that one of Knausgård's My Struggle books is what you are reading? There sure were a wide range of ratings when I looked at the author page for #1. I could not get #6 to load.

The The Agency of Becoming actually looks interesting without hooking my angst-o-meter.

I'm 2/3 the way through Madam, Will you Talk. This novel had me galloping through the chase scenes and heroine-not-able-to-avoid (the other main character). I'm "in Marseilles" now...
I stayed up too late reading last night and had to 'make' myself turn out the reading light. Ha!

Edited to fix typos!

>92 LizzieD: The Fencepost Chronicles is a great book, Peggy. I haven't read it in awhile and the idea of humour is perfect for these times.

Are you looking forward to The Night Hawks? I'm unable to even get on a hold list right now. Our library acquisitions seem to have stalled out since the beginning of the pandemic.

Oh my! I didn't know there was a new Ruth out -- that will help me when I finish the last (for now) St. Mary's/Time Police audio edition. I listen to the Galloways!

Definitely going to go for the Kinsella too!

>95 sibylline: Oh my heck, I've never reviewed it! I loved the read, and am pleased to report #2 exists on my Kindle to be savored. Yours too, I hope.

>96 SandyAMcPherson: I am reading the last Knausgaard -- #6 where he is also launched, finally, explaining why he wrote the books the way he did. I continue to hold firm that this work is a masterpiece and, as I read this last volume and learn about the literary underpinnings, what his thinking was, why he made the choices he made -- to explore existence/human condition/etc the way he did, is becoming more clear, explicit, and it makes the whole thing even better as far as I am concerned.

See below about Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming

And enjoy Madam -- in some ways it is silly, but such enjoyable silliness!

>99 richardderus: Yes, Richard, and in fact I have already embarked! No self-control whatsoever.

Or maybe I have some -- I have managed, against all odds to achieve one of my teeny-thon goals! (Proof that it pays to read philosophy or any tough stuff at the time of day when you know your brain is at its best.) I finished the third book, a philosophical examination of Aspiration, by Agnes Callard It will take time to write a review that satisfies me, so I will bookmark it below without the review, which I will have to write off-line -- this is as much for me -- in fact, more for me so that I can pin the 'argument' of the book more firmly in my brain and also have a place to go to refresh my memory when needed. Could take awhile!

I hope to read a bit more in the two other books, but I consider the teeny-thon a complete success. Progress was made. There is hope.

21. philosophy *****
Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming Agnes Callard

I was deeply excited by Callard's analysis of this category of human endeavor--aspiration. To me, she makes a breakthrough or a 'breaking up' of the constant pressure to reject the fact that some aspects of human life are, at bottom, undefinable. The field has tended to force a tight definition of rationality on how humans do things -- that makes me think of the way too much ketchup on your hamburger bun, just leaks out and makes a mess, doesn't work. Aspiration -- the choice a person sometimes makes -- to better themselves in some way despite obstacles and pressures -- is both rational and mysterious.

Callard peels away the layers, always circling the question of why is it, how is it, that a person will, seemingly out of very little context, decide to push past their limits into something about which they know nothing. I had this happen to me at 47 when I was knocked sideways by the traditional harp and Irish music, I mean seriously blown away, and embarked on a journey I'm still on to learn to play the instrument, to learn about Irish music, to learn how to play with other people playing the music -- believe me there is no limit to the challenges involved.

Aspiration is a subset or side-set or whatever of that kind of inquiry into the hows and whys of the choices we make (including omitting to make choices) whether it is to learn Italian or have a baby. As she puts it in more complex form: 'it is the process of rational value-acquisition' which in ordinary English can be summarized as 'learning to become a better person' (e.g. by learning to recognize what is of value and moving toward it.) Callard's primary focus has been Greek philosophy, which, I guess one could say is centered around ethics and identity, ideas of the individual and choice (e.g. good and evil), that were then beginning to emerge. (We think so entirely inside the outcome of their thinking, we can't imagine how anyone lived before these ideas became so commonplace as to be unconscious.)

The book begins with a look at Alcibiades, a student of Socrates, both drawn to his ideas and repulsed by them as they conflict with his comfortable status quo. Alcibiades, handsome and arrogant, is only drawn 'to become better than he is' when directly in the presence of his mentor. Away from his mentor, he slides into his usual habits. The mystery, of course, is why, once we become even the smallest bit aware of a 'better' choice, we are sometimes drawn to move toward a greater understanding of that 'value' -- a value of which we don't, at present, have more than a smidgeon of understanding. Maybe no understanding, only a recognition that there is 'something' pulling at us. This lies at the heart of Callard's inquiry.

Many of the ideas Callard presents were momentous to me -- for example, extrinsic versus intrinsic conflicts and akrasia. An extrinsic conflict would, at its simplest be -- do you want vanilla or chocolate ice cream tonight? You may feel conflicted, but you know that the choice you make is not important to who you are, ditto what car to buy, or even what college to attend. An intrinsic conflict is when you are faced with a choice that can impact the course of your life: to marry, to go to college at all, to have a child, to conquer an addiction you have come to see is killing you. But intrinsic conflict can be smaller, say, if you aspire to learn to love music and are taking a class and a friend says, let's go to this cool movie, and you have tickets to Brahms . . . not some ordinary concert, but something once in a lifetime . . . One choice may not matter, but it may, as it was for Alcibiades, indicate that you may continue to undermine your own aspiration. Akrasia, or 'weakness of will' is the next concept she examines. That is a tendency on the part of people who know better, to make the poorer choice. Callard looks at this differently from other philosophers, that the poorer choice (which once might have been the only choice for this person) still has a strong hold over that person's thinking, exerting its own rationality (sure I'm on a diet, but I can have this cookie because it is so tasty). Eating something that tastes good is not irrational! Not for an aspirant who, as yet, has no real idea of the rewards of a successful diet. That makes sense to me. Less harsh, less judgmental, and less limited.

Here and there Callard has to directly address the ideas of predecessors and colleagues and for several pages things get pretty hard to wade through, but she always emerges into clarity.

Callard, in her conclusion, takes on something down-to-earth and different from anything I have ever encountered in a book of philosophy, something only a woman philosopher could bring to the field. She takes on the intrinsic conflict that a woman who has decided to become a mother who discovers she is infertile must face. There is a shift in young(ish) adults that happens (or doesn't) when the decision to become a parent is made. Women and couples (men who are entirely on their own do not decide to become fathers, by the way, a gay couple, yes, sometimes.) Once you aspire to become a mother, however, you are vulnerable in a new and profound way. Callard writes: "Aspirants often open themselves up to a distinctive experience of losing everything without seeming to have lost anything at all. . . Aspirants have, to various degrees and in various ways, put down roots in a possible world." Soon after that Callard makes the point about why it is profoundly cruel to say to someone who has to face infertility (or miscarriage) "Oh, but you can just adopt, can't you?" The potential for profound grief at the loss of an aspiration is, in fact, a distinctive property of it, and that gives aspiration a body, a reality, as well as a mysterious connection to our most inner selves, that say, ambition entirely lacks. Proof, if you will.

In a fascinating section on moral responsibility, Callard offers the possibility of viewing evil -- viewed through the lens of aspiratio-- may be primarily the outcome of the choice of omission of value acquisition, and therefore of aspiration in any form.

I feel this book has applications for helping people clarify and distinguish their aspirations (coming from within) from the stuff they have to do to live, from making poor choices, or no choices. Aspiration is what gets us out of bed in the morning, makes life worth living, and thus make the relative weight and value of decisions clearer-and intensely rational (while remaining mysterious!) *****

If, after reading my comments, you are interested, I highly recommend The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand as an introduction to this branch of philosophy which is distinct in looking to practical application to real lives--"American" in a way European philosophy isn't. I studied this stuff in college and it's been a long long long time since then, so I'm no expert. The University of Chicago is the magnet that draws these thinkers, and you may have heard of 'decision theory' for example, the attempt to figure out the steps, ethically, cognitively and linguistically, that people make.

Congratulations on your "teeny-thon" accomplishments, Lucy!

>102 lauralkeet: thank you Laura.

Now I am reporting my final achievements in my teeny-thon. I'm quite satisfied -- so much better than the snail's pace that had been going on:

1. Knausgård #6: from p. 360 (now) to 560 by Sunday
- 40 pages, to p. 440
Total read was 80 pages

2. Maddox on Nora Joyce: from 160 (now) to 280 (end of section 2) by Sunday
- Total read was 40 pages to 200

3. Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming: from 210 (now) to 277 (the end) by Sunday
Total read was 57 pages Finished!

Total read from Friday evening to Sunday evening=177 pages and 1 book completed!

I do, truly, feel better.

Of course I still have that review to write!

Congratulations!!!!! With those three on the go, I totally see why you wanted an organized, official teeny-thon. Sounds biggy to me!
You may have to read a chapter or two of the Sams, but I do hope that you'll give it a try someday.

ETA: Glad to see another *Fencepost* fan, Sandy, AND to know to look for the next Ruth!

Congrats on the teeny-thon, Lucy!

>103 sibylline: I think the teeny-thon idea was great for motivation.
Looking forward to that review of Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming.

Edited ~ found the review! Cheering for fabulousness.

>101 sibylline: Lucy, what an inspirational review of Callard's book. Thank you. I would up-thumb if you post this on the book page...

I copy-pasted your review into a word document and printed it out for my reading diary (I have attributed it, even though my diary is private). I so appreciate your adding some examples of the extrinsic versus intrinsic conflicts. I felt it was especially so true, the example of the decision to become a parent, being an especially powerful decision impacting a woman's life.

I'm not sure I could manage reading this book. It looks powerful for learning and change, but the challenge to draw out the overviews ... I think I would be overwhelmed.

>107 SandyAMcPherson: Thank you Sandy -- I have been back to copy edit and tinker with it, a few additions here and there, so you might want to update and keep an eye on it. Before I put it out there officially on LT I will likely mess with it a couple more times.

>108 sibylline: I will indeed check back. I've "favourited" the post and copied the link in my notes.

23. E fantasy ****
The Portable Door Tom Holt

Paul, a twenty-something with very little confidence, needs a job. Paul goes to an interview. There he meets, in the waiting room, Sophie. Neither of them expects to get a job, at J.W. Wells and co. Indeed, neither of them really have any office skills or experience and neither of them have any idea what J.W. Wells does. To Paul's astonishment he gets the job and when he comes in to work, there is Sophie who will share an office with him. The book moves slowly at first because the author, instead of following the current trend of throwing the reader into the middle of the churning action without a clue, chooses to keep up the suspense slowly while Paul and Sophie are given boring and seemingly pointless tasks and wonder a) what does this company do? b) Why did they hire me -- or Sophie? c) What is happening with that long-handled stapler? d) I'd quit only I really need to have a job and I'll never get another one. e) Oh dear, I'm in love, help! f) Who made those scratch marks on the back of our office door? until, somewhere in the middle the situation comes into focus and the pace picks up. I'd say, enjoy the novelty of a gradual beginning. Paul is not quick to act, he thinks, and his process is enjoyable. ****

Thank you, LT Paul! I'll be continuing the series.

>110 sibylline: Lucy, The Portable Door sounds fabulous.
I love the idea of a slow build up. So intriguing. It was more than 20 years ago that I read and tremendously enjoyed Tom Holt's Here Comes the Sun. I do not understand why I haven't read more of his work. I can only remember how droll his stories are.

Yes, this is a BB.

24. literary bio ****
Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom Brenda Maddox

As I close the final page of any biography I usually feel a little melancholy, sometimes awe and gladness to have gotten to know a remarkable person. Sometimes too I wish I hadn't learned so much. In the case of the Joyces it was mostly the latter two, in an even mix of awe and dismay. I was glad to know Nora better, less glad to know Joyce (the person, not the writer). The two of them as a couple? Maddox builds a strong case that no one except Nora really had a clue about the man -- which he well knew and which, in some ways formed the bedrock basis of their marriage, that is, she knew he was a remarkable genius with language as well as who he was as a man. As well, he knew who Nora was and to him, she wasn't what other people saw (Nora was from Galway! Western Ireland was the back of beyond in a country that was already the back of beyond therefore she had to be rough and stupid.) Nor was Nora Molly Bloom. For one, she was utterly faithful to Joyce. She was intelligent albeit not well educated, a big difference. Joyce loved her voice, and loved the way she put words together, listened intently to her cadences but the most remarkable thing was that she was Herself. Grounded. Solid. Steady. After ten years on the continent, she spoke fluent Italian and German and later in life learned passable French, knew countless operas (which she adored) by heart. She dressed elegantly, could cook perfectly well --- a good deal of the time they lived in horrible rooms in mediocre hotels with no kitchen and so had to eat out -- others assumed they ate out because she couldn't cook. Not so. Joyce found her presence necessary to him to keep him from flying apart and Nora obliged because he never ceased to surprise her with his own wit and observations and she loved his singing voice and, as I said, agreed with him that he was something special. They loved each other. Ah well -- they were also spendthrifts and dreadful parents, really abominable, but clearly loved their children. Once the two reached young adulthood the Joyces couldn't accept it and made bad decision after bad decision to keep them both too close, tough reading. Through it all Joyce wrote and wrote. He died not long after finishing Finnegan's Wake as if once he had emptied himself, he had no further reason to live. Nora went on for another ten years or so, in part to care for her grandchild. I have to say that my vision of the Joyces is one of unrelieved chaos, disturbing and sad overall, but out of which, somehow, came the most remarkable literary work of the 20th century. ****

Oh, good good reading being done. I seem to remember reading that Holt title, but not sure when or whether I'm dreaming it.

Yes, the Joyces were seriously flawed people but he sure could write ("once upon a time, and a very good time it was" lives forever in my mind as a peak reading experience from that moment on) and she was *fascinating*!

Lovely weekend's read ahead.

>113 richardderus: Thank you Richard -- these long reviews are so unwieldy and I find as I write them that my ideas shift and clarify -- all to say I have done some revising here -- that perhaps moderates my response a little. Artists don't have to be 'good' people -- often are not. The Joyce's were good people, essentially, but really inept about many aspects of ordinary life.

Well, Lucy, you hit me with a BB on the Holt, which now rests on my Kindle. You review of *Nora* makes a lot more sense than mine, I think. Thanks for organizing my thinking about it.
Like Lord Peter, I find philosophy a book closed to me. Your review of *Aspiration* is as close as I need to come to it, but I'm glad to have read it!

DNF fantasy, sort of
White Silence Jodi Taylor

Absolutely nothing at all wrong with White Silence but after about an hour and half of listening and a quick pop to the end to make sure, I returned it to Audible, not a good listen for me -- a good deal too much of a menacing atmo plus not any humour. Elizabeth Cage has the gift of knowing people, or should I say Knowing -- knows if you are happy or sad, lying or truthful, evilly motivated or good. She can read your aura. That sounded fun. One review I looked at said it was funny, and perhaps it lightens up a little somewhere along the way, but the ending had the same dreamy quality as the beginning. I admire Jodi Taylor and believe that all writers should try anything that draws them, and I think, judging from the reviews, that many are enjoying Elizabeth Cage. I am likely to take this one out of the library or buy it for 99 cents as an e-book if that option comes up just to see, but not a good listen. I'm not disappointed exactly, just grateful Audible takes stuff back!

>116 sibylline: Despite my enthusiasm for Jodi Taylor's other books I've not tried these as reviews and descriptions made them sound too frightening for me!

>117 CDVicarage: Wise decision -- I read a bunch of reviews and couldn't figure it out -- I can't imagine who would find anything in WS that was funny. Slow, sad, dreary, moody, creepy . . .

I am trying The Nothing Girl and that is going pretty well. I like the reader very much.

26. mystery/romance/and a bit of magic ****
The Nothing Girl Jodi Taylor

Not sure how it would be just reading The Nothing Girl but it was perfect as an audio book -- lovely reader -- bringing the characters and situations to life, especially Thomas the golden horse, guardian of Jenny Dove. Jenny has been brought up by her aunt and uncle after her parents died. She inherited a lot of money from her parents, managed by her uncle. She has a terrible stutter and their way of helping her is a mix of coddling and imprisoning benignly but firmly, while paying no attention to her at all. Enter Russell the painter who has been obsessed with Francesca, their daughter and Jenny's cousin, a beautiful airhead, famous model. Francesca. The plot thickens when Russell, who needs money asks Jenny, who needs to get free of her aunt and uncle, to marry him and she agrees to -- in an equal partnership it would be, he promised. But . . . he immediately begins to act so inconsistently that Jenny begins to feel she has made a big mistake. Thomas, however, advises her to hang in there, so she does. The aunt is so awful that she verges on a caricature that is too much, but so what, it was fun. ****

Hi Lucy, just dropping by to say I have The Debatable Land in my sights now.
I was in a reading slump and thought a non-fiction like Graham Robb's book would be good about now.

27. sf *****
Emergence C.J. Cherryh

Cajeiri's three friends will be the first ones down to Mospheira -- soon to be followed by the 5000 other Reunioners, rescued earlier and sorely pressing the orbiting station's capacities. It's delicate and Bren is there to see it through. Meanwhile on the Mainland Cajeiri is sent to his Uncle Tatiseigi's in his first role as the heir, with real responsibilities, and then his mother and baby sister turn up. A claimant for a neighboring clan has come forward and his mother is the only person who can confirm he is who he says he is. Never a dull moment! *****

>121 sibylline: One more!

♬ 28. mystery and a bit of magic
The Something Girl Jodi Taylor

My guess is there won't be more in this 'series' of two. The story relies on Taylor's swift characterizations and wit, but the plot in this second book is barely enough and the underlying theme of Jenny's tentative sense of self too is pushed too hard. There are moments, of course, that are very funny -- Patagonian Attack Chickens -- but not quite enough. I liked the reader very much or I would have quit. What makes the St. Mary's books work is the back and forth between the St. Mary's crew and the actual historical escapades they get into, without that, there just wasn't quite enough for me. ***1/2

sf *****
Resurgence C.J. Cherryh

Dowager-aiji Ilisidi, her nose slightly out of joint having missed the schemes in the previous book has come up with a very daring scheme of her own, to bring in the Southern Marid, to rid them of the last of the Shadow Guild Assassins. Cajeiri is growing up, questioning many attitudes and behaviours that he never thought he would. As usual Bren never gets to catch his breath. Some great new characters being developed and slyly brought into play are also wonderful. *****

30. ♬ hist mys ***1/2
Death Comes to the Rectory Catharine Lloyd

This series is reasonably good, I like the dynamics between the Curlands, Mr and Mrs. The mysteries are generally a little on the overly stretched side and this one fits that bill. I did figure out 'whodunnit' but it was more like, who had to have dunnit and I wasn't quite sure how to get there until close to the end. One trope that Lloyd employs too much is people not listening to one another when they ought to, especially the men of the women -- but I suppose male condescension was on another scale altogether back then and not as far-fetched as it would be now (and stretching back a few decades at that). I have been struggling a bit with the reader, but I looked her up and she is Australian, so now I know where 'drawering room' for 'drawing room' and a few other definitely not-quite-England-English quirks are coming from and I mind them less. She does less posh accents just fine. ***1/2

Hi Lucy.
Wanted to delurk so you'd know I've visited. Been enjoying your reviews. Mostly dodging book bullets as best I can.

I'm reading The Debatable Land at the moment. I was looking for your review but I can't find where you posted one on the Talk thread. It was last Fall wasn't it?

I'm feeling I need some encouragement to keep reading and I think your review was the impetus in my borrowing the book. It was a longish time before I got around to requesting the title (and then there were previous holds).

>123 sibylline: There are two "between stories" in the series, Little Donkey (Marilyn as the Ass in the Manger) at 1.5 and Joy to the World (Golden Horse-jinks) at 2.5. They're 99¢ apiece.

Just in case, y'know.

Hooray! Visitors! My only excuse for my absence everywhere was the combo of a writing deadline (article for a harp magazine) and a strong reaction to vaccine #1, mainly fatigue and headaches.

>126 SandyAMcPherson: I found that review and posted it on the book's page. For some reason I sort of remember flagging a bit in the middle, but then perking up again for the last third. It was book 100 sometime in October last year! About the only book I read that wasn't a bit fluffy.

>127 richardderus: I have them both! Kind of hoarding them.

Just catching up, Luci, to wish you a lovely weekend.

31. magic history ****1/2
The Book of English Magic Philip Carr-Gomm Richard Heygate

The Book of English Magic has languished for several years on my shelves, I picked it up once and began and put it down, who knows why. This time I persevered and I'm glad I did. Nowhere does this book plumb the depths, but that is not their purpose. The authors visit every kind of magic ever practiced in England (this is exclusively England, not Wales, not Scotland). Gradually one begins to see a country that has only ever uneasily accepted either pure religion or science (and the never the twain shall meet mentality). (Neighboring Wales and Scotland and Ireland too are similar, but they have their own traditions and histories re magic.) From pre-history to the Middle Ages the authors lay out the progression, from the scant leavings of the first residents, then Druids, Anglo-Saxons, the Arthur legends (which begin as a slender shoot, hardly more than a suggestion and grow and grow and grow until you have an immense many-limbed tree of myth and story). Around then practices of magic begin to take shape, black and white, herbal, alchemy, the quest for power, scrying, dowsing and on until you get to the late nineteenth century which blossomed with societies and factions and dramatic characters like Madame Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley and ending with mention of some of the modern societies and some of their own words from practitioners, living or long gone. After each chapter the authors offer further reading, often fiction, and also places you can visit, things you can do, a way to make a charm, or the first steps of tarot reading . . . tastes. They make the point that magic as it is practiced today, attempts to (or seems to) fill the void (chasm?) between the bloody-mindedness of the pure scientific method and the rigidity that plagues (most) religions (I'm the right one, all you others have it wrong). Magic, too, offers so many choices to the person who is looking for a route to transformation -- there is no one right way, indeed, some are gifted in one area, not another, and for some of us there is choosing to be an armchair magician -- that is the person (like me!) who, while interested, is not drawn to any practice or any one mode but fascinated nonetheless, particularly by magic as a spiritual practice and route to transformation and to explore the dimensions of the human mind. For us, there is a huge bibliography. So this will be a reference work for me. Anyone interested in writing fantasy should avail themselves of the book and get busy reading the book and then the books in the bibliography. You can bet your booties that J.K. Rowling and Susannah Clarke did their homework.

I'll be back to tidy up, but for now, here you go!

>128 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy.
I wrote up my thoughts on this title today (on my thread).
In response to your visit there, which was nice to see.

I didn't read/post LT threads much this past week. A lot of angst as I realize this lap top of mine is really fading. And I *only* bought it in 2012. So I did a slog of reading about 'what's new' and have to gird my loins. Apple products are so over-priced in Canada, probably double what the cost is in the 'States.

32. sf ****&*
Divergence C.J. Cherryh

Oh how I have come to love the Foreigner saga. Not for everyone I understand but for me the way Cherryh shows Bren's thought processes as he struggles to grasp the Atevi way of being, feeling, and thinking is marvelous--and it takes time, so there isn't always a lot of slam-bang action happening, (in fact a lot of tea-drinking while assessing. . . ) totally fine with me. Anyway, Ilisidi the dowager-aigi is making (what is likely) her final moves on the chessboard--to take down a rogue lord of a rogue clan who have hosted the Shadow Guild and caused endless trouble. The Shadow Guild's goal is to turn back the clock, exterminate all the humans, destroy all the technology they brought into the Atevi world and 'go back' to simpler times (albeit, in reality to create chaos and anarchy.) Sound familiar? In a way it is an inevitable human thing, the conservative mind shrinks in terror from the unknown and, the arrival of the human on this planet two hundred years earlier did put an unnatural pressure on the Atevi people. Yet, as it turns out the pressures in the universe, other space-faring races--not necessarily friendly ones--have turned what might have been sure annihilation for the Atevi into a fighting chance to find a place for themselves, sharing the space station, learning the technology which will enable them to enter that arena in strength when the time comes. In the meantime, however, Ilisidi is intently focused on her own lifetime goal of securing peace on the planet. As always lovely to watch Cajeiri growing up. *****

>130 sibylline: I've always confounded my sciency friends with my happy embrace of tarot as a means of divination. "bububut there is no gawd" doesn't in the least diminish the role of chance in human life; and what is a game like cards if not accepting chance as the ruler of one's fate?

Same with the religious nuts who quibble with my certainty that reincarnation, ghosts, and souls are factual: "science can't find them, so you shouldn't believe in them!" 1) don't "should" me ever about anything; 2) does science know what it's looking for? no? then how can it find it? 3) absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

I know plenty of people who say they agree with "you get back what you give out"; now how is that materially different from magic?

>132 sibylline: Conservative minds demand Answers. I like questions a lot better myownself. They go more places and have more fun.

That's just what I mean, Richard, - for you the Tarot loosens up your mind in some way that is useful for you, so it works.

And nicely put for >132 sibylline:.

Thank you for stopping in, I truly appreciate it.

33. E urban fantasy ***1/2
In Your Dreams Tom Holt

Second in the series about Paul Carpenter, a very unwilling wizard and hero. Much to enjoy here, but ultimately not quite enough something-or-other for me, hard to say what that is. Yet quite fun and there are some wonderful ideas, such as The Bank of the Dead, Monika the wizard-turned-into-a-car and the goblins are great. The corporate angle on wizardry is also entertaining. ***1/2

Here for a bird report -- I'm kind of flabbergasted. Today is the first official day of spring and the spring equinox and all those good things, but then on my walk, I saw lots of robins (they do this thing where, just like a Dr. Seuss book, the all sit about five yards square apart and everybody hops about in a kind of aggressive synchrony. Then a grouse flustered up, then on the way back a half hour later I saw a bluebird (in the thicket/area where they spend the summer) and THEN after I got home and was making coffee, a cardinal at the birdfeeder! (An annoyed cardinal since our birdfeeder caters to the little guys. -- But plenty of seed is on the ground.) S.U. confirmed that he saw the bluebird hanging around the feeder yesterday.

Anyway, that's a lot and rather sudden! And a tad early. The big robin influx is usually about two-three weeks down the road with the wood frogs etcetera. But we have a week of warmth and sunshine and don't they know it.

Hi Lucy, just stopping by to wish you a lovely day! I haven't got to the latest Foreigner novel yet - I guess I'm saving it up. I think if there is going to be a long wait for the next it might be time to do a series re-read - that will be a nice project to immerse myself in!

>136 sibylline: Here there suddenly seem to be loads of robins singing their heart out. I know it’s not exactly the same species ... We were walking back home this afternoon after taking Daisy out and each tree seemed to have a robin in it singing for all it was worth. I find it incredible that such small birds can be so loud.

>136 sibylline: That was a lovely sketch of your birdy visitors. Lucky! We see mountain bluebirds (I think that's the species? Mark can correct me...) but only out in the bushy areas in rural settings. They love old fence posts to make nesting in the rotton wood (it seems).

I wondered if >138 SandDune: (Rhian) realizes "our" robins are thrushes and at least a third larger than English 'robins'? Here in our area, we won't expect Robins until late April.

>139 SandyAMcPherson: Normally Sandy we don't see robins until say, the second week or so of April. There are only a few so far, so let's call them outliers. Our bluebirds like a very particular place on our property, hard to describe but it offers a great deal of habitat variety -- it is where field and forest meet, but somewhat unusually with a small brook running through it.

Today there were a bunch of LBB's that flitted off before I could find the binocs (an LBB is a little brown bird), small enough to use the (mostly) chickadee feeder. First I've seen of a true migrating flock. They looked thin, but no one looked bedraggled.

141. ♬ ****
In Farleigh Field Rhys Bowen

I was very taken with this wartime mystery story involving the young adults in the 'county' set of Surrey village, a few titles, mostly bright young things. The two leads, Ben and Pamela are really likable and the situation/plot that evolves, while patently obvious and predictable, was accompanied by unusually good character development, so entertaining and involving. I don't require a mystery I can't figure out if I like the characters enough. I wonder if she will write more about these folks. I wouldn't mind. ****

>141 sibylline: I enjoyed that one too. I don't remember if you have read the Royal Spyness series. I really enjoyed those too.

>142 RebaRelishesReading: Me too -- which is why I picked up Farleigh Field.

Got vaccine 2 yesterday at noon and I am a total basket case today -- started in the wee hours of the night and if I let up on Tylenol it all starts up again -- like having every flu symptom simultaneously. What is unusual too is that once the T starts working, nausea goes away (although I can't really eat more than a bite of anything). Unpleasant as this is, it makes clear just how bad having a medium to severe case of Covid 'for real' has to be.

Anyway -- I had loaded a couple of other Bowen's -- the Evan Evans Welsh police fellow. Although I liked the book well enough I wasn't thrilled with book 1 --too much plot revolves around women chasing the bachelor Evans -- but this is the level my brain can manage for the time being, which says something. I lie here and listen and fall asleep, then wake up then try to figure out where I lost the thread. This book has added a third woman for the other two to get in fits about.

In other news before i put this away -- the pond is thawed and I just saw Mr and Mrs Mallard swimming about.

35. essays - the good ones are *****'s
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace

I suspect that if all the topics DFW takes up in these essays interest you: tennis, academic literary philosophy of the last forty years, state fairs in the midwest (Illinois in this case), more tennis, and spending a week on a luxury megacruiser . . . then you would be in a state of ecstasy and wonderment. I wasn't sure I was interested in any of these topics, and that proved to be true for tennis and also for the deconstructionists etcetera, which has always struck me as the kind of foolishness that (appropriately) gives academia a bad name. However the two on 'human folly' are brilliant, beyond brilliant. In both cases Harper magazine paid DFW to investigate these phenomena in person, to give his unvarnished unblinking take. In the state fair piece, he wanders the fairgrounds in 90 plus degree heat for six or seven days, watching people, among other things, eat, show off farm animals, dance, throw batons, and take rides guaranteed to make them throw up. Throughout, both the fair and the luxury cruise, he exists mostly in a state of uncomfortable bafflement and shame that he can't understand not even one tiny bit why anyone would want to go the a huge fair or on a cruise, to the degree that no doubt he couldn't help wondering if he wasn't some kind of alien being. The operant word in the cruise was 'pamper' -- and I expect that overlap of diaper and being taken care of like a baby -- got fixed in his mind then and used later to such effect in IJ. The writing is sublime and there is humour, pathos, startling insight, brutally clear description and always the kindness to the foibles of humanity that DFW is known for .. all the qualities that made him so amazing. I found myself missing his presence among us terribly. We could use his insights now. ****1/2 (five stars for the Fair and the Cruise)

36. & ss fantasy ***1/2
Little Donkey & Joy to the World Jodi Taylor

Short stories in the Frogmorton Farm series. I like the reader and Taylor always creates amusing domestic interactions and scenes. If you are in need of a comfort type listen or read, the two novels and two short stories in the series should work nicely for you. ***

>144 sibylline: I've not read much DFW, really just a couple of essays and I think they're both ones you reference. The cruise essay (the eponymous essay of that collection), was so spot on. The other essay I've read is "Consider the Lobster," but I think that is in a different book. The writing, humor, pathos, etc. are all amazing, as you said. My hubs, who has read much more DFW than me, credits him for getting a few things right (like about the grip of technology on society), and often wonders what he would make of our current world.

>143 sibylline: I sure hope your vaccine side effects have abated. It sounds most unpleasant but, as you said, not as bad as having the virus itself.

And mallards! Spring has sprung! Have a great day, Lucy.

>146 lauralkeet: I do feel better today albeit totally washed out. By the end of this morning's (much shorter) walk (mainly around the pond to admire its ice-free-ness I was wobbling. I'd been thinking I might be better enough to go to a music thing but that showed me otherwise!

I'm sure your spousal unit and I are among the many who wish he was here. And tell him I say hi from The Concavity! (he'll know!) Movers tomorrow? Oi!

Yes, tomorrow is the day, Lucy. We're at sixes and sevens today, with things to do but not enough to feel busy. It dawned on me yesterday that once upon a time we would have done something fun -- visited the zoo or a museum, seen a movie -- to make the waiting easier.

Sorry to hear you're having such a strong reaction to the vaccine but glad you're feeling better this morning. Take care of yourself and say "hi" to Mr. and Mrs. Mallard for me :)

Lucy, your descriptive reviews are so thoughtful and interesting. I didn't care for the Royal Spyness books but In Farleigh Field sounds engaging.
I'm big on characters their development and credibility, so agree with your sentiment ("I don't require a mystery I can't figure out, if I like the characters enough").

So sorry the vaccine made such inroads on your feeling unwell. I hope you are taking care and letting yourself be lazy so recovery is not slowed.
We (as in our area) have run out (one assumes/hopes) momentarily, so I still don't know when we will have our immunization. And dose 2 is predicted to be delivered months out from the first dose, which seems a foolish arrangement.

>145 sibylline: Pretty much everything Jodi writes is "comfort reading" because it's so...complete. I'm always confident she's got the whole craft under control and we're going where she's aimed us. Now I can relax and go on the ride!

Happy week ahead's reads.

>145 sibylline: I really need to move the Jodi T titles up to the top of my TBR requests at the library. I had a hold on Book 1 of the St. Mary's saga and it got away on me before I collected it.

>152 SandyAMcPherson: The St. Mary's opus requires a real willingness to suspend disbelief! And the first book is . . . not the best. And at this point since I listened to them after book 1 and Zara Ramm, the audible reader, was a perfect fit, I'm can't say how I would have taken the books had I kept on reading them in print. All to say, I'm worried you will be disappointed!

>153 sibylline: Thanks for that insight. Should I look for a later title? What would be a good one? I don't do the audio versions, however. Not that I'm short of reading material. Heh!

>152 SandyAMcPherson: >153 sibylline: I've liked the St. Mary's books from the beginning, but I treat all Time Travel as fantasy anyway and am a bit of a history geek experimental archeologist follower, and the history bits are better done than 97% of historical novels, so it's kind of my thing.

>154 SandyAMcPherson: Best to read the books in order -- my warning was only that, if you are liking the 'voice' and set-up of the story but overall think it is moving a bit slowly, you can be pretty sure you will enjoy the later books. I'm forgetting overall your relationship to SF -- and things like time travel.

Off to start my April, Spring into Summer thread!