Susan's Books for 2024 quondame #2

Recovering from a fever and cold at 75 isn't the fun experience of staying home from school or work I remember from the really bad old days. Even with a daughter and husband to take care of the dogs and other necessities of house care. And why have I convinced myself I'm 77. Where did that come from? Clearheadedness is unsurprisingly not a thing just now.

I have been reading, haven't been playing with fiber, even skipped an entire day and 1/2 of online activity. A couple of dolls have been ordered, a couple have arrived, some avgolemeno and some barley soup have been consumed, though I lost my appetite for longer than I stayed off the internet. That almost never happens and did not last past reading about food.

Women in F&SF - no progress at this time

Sprang

I joined the Zoom meeting in Feb and was entirely overawed by the professional levels displayed. I didn't even pop my nose out to ask about the Renaissance hose that Carol James was demoing for a conference!

The HotE Discord server I'm on is currently hosting 4 book club threads/voice chats, of which I am currently in 3:

The Goblin Emperor - Finished re-read March 17
All the Hidden Paths - Finished March 11.
Den of Wolves - Finished March 29
The Road - finished March 31 to complete Book Bingo Blackout

So I'm 1/2 through the first two, but the 3rd is a single meeting on the 5th Saturday, so I'm not going to start it for a bit.

I am also reading At the Feet of the Sun, not to mention numbers of fanfics based on Victoria Goddard's books, though I've branched out a little. (finished AtFotS 240320)

240331
I've been adding words to my fanfic for 2 day, 1450 or so. Not sure if I'll want to keep any of them but the story is inching in a direction I want to take, so that makes me feel a bit better.

April:
Book Club is The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories by Yu Chen

240411
Fanfic has been accumulating words - but I went sideways on April 5 and now have over 7K words about becoming a (Cirith) god on Zunidh. I hope I can chop it up and slip in bits between difficult (character dealing with painful issues) section of my main story as lighter relief. Of course my baby-god just got betrayed, so maybe not.

40) The The Covenant of Water



A sprawling family saga set among the St. Thomas Christians of India's south west coast, in the mid 20th Century. At Parambil the family's history is profoundly shaped by the mysterious aversion to water and numerous drownings among it's members. Also entering the story is an illegitimate son of a Glasgow variety actress who wants to be a surgeon but must go to India because, somewhat ironically, he is essentially, in spite of his training, an untouchable to the British medical professionals. His crooked course does have important tangents with the genetically afflicted family at Parambil.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #11: Read one of the Times Must-Read Books of 202

41) Tuyo



A tuyo is a young man left as a sacrifice to appease a victorious army and signal a commitment to end current hostilities.
This is an adventure featuring a 19 year old nomadic warrior. The book is also a deep delve into trust and the ethics of power, pitting two powerful sorcerers against each other. The protagonist is on the squeaky clean side, and I'm not a fan of the emphasis on giving/accepting physical blows as discipline and dispute settling, but that seems to fit the culture of the nomads. The world is definitely not quite fantasy standard geography, seemingly banded into north steppe, grading to middle savanna and a strange southern desert with jackal headed djinn like inhabitants. The moon and sun seem to have some agency in their movements.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where there is at least one embedded word of 3 letters or more in the author’s name

42) Traveller's Joy



Though it starts in aftermath of Jemis' stoning at Marrowlea this is a sweet story of friendship told from Hal's pov as he and Marcan take Jemis on a walking tour along a pilgrim path among late spring flowers.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book written by a Canadian and published in the last 5 years

While I'm going to make an effort to sweep the TIOLI challenges this month, the issues, with my vision, migraines and general distraction have led me to give myself a break on all other challenges until further notice.

Happy new thread, Susan.

>6 quondame: I am so sorry to see that you are struggling this month - I have had bad headaches too in the last week or so which I put down to stress.

Happy New Thread, Susan. I have The Covenant of Water in my TBR. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Sorry you are having trouble with migraines and vision problems. Take care.

Happy new thread! Sorry to hear you've been having health issues and I hope they pass soon. I loved Verghese's Cutting for Stone and should really tackle The Covenant of Water at some point.

Happy new thread, Susan!
Sorry you are not well, being ill is indeed an other experience as one ages :-(
I hope you can manage a next sweep!

Hi Susan. Happy new thread.

>1 quondame: I’m so sorry you’ve been under the weather and hope you keep feeling better every day. I’m glad you’ve reversed time and are 75 and not 77. *smile*

I already tried and loved avgolemono soup. If I had barley in the house, I’d make a beef and barley soup, but I just found a recipe for beef and lentil soup that I may try today or tomorrow.

Happy new thread!

>1 quondame: >6 quondame: Being ill really sucks and I hope that this month brings you better health!

Happy new thread!

>7 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul

>8 vancouverdeb: Thank you Deborah. The Covenant of Water is long, but stays interesting and is altogether a worthwhile read.

>9 curioussquared: Thank you Natalie! See reply >8 vancouverdeb: above!

>10 FAMeulstee: Thank you Anita!

>11 karenmarie: Thank you Karen! I did have Mike pick up TJs Barley soup. It is great to have in the house when I'm ill.

>12 figsfromthistle: Thank you Anita!

>13 drneutron: Thank you Jim!

43) The Dark Lord's Daughter



Light but also not, a 14 year old girl is brought through a portal with her adoptive mother and brother. As the title declares she is the daughter of the last major Dark Lord. She is also his heir, and supposed to immediately take up the roll of Dark Lady, tacky outfits, murderous rampages and all. But Kayla is a good kid, though remembering my 14 year old self that is the least realistic portion of this fantasy. It is hilarious having the Dark Lady's mother ground her for leaving their rooms at night. I'm not quite the target for this mix.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #3: The “It’s My Birthday Challenge” - Read a book that has either the numbers 03, 14, or 62 (each in the respective order) in its ISBN number

Happy new thread, Susan. I hope you are feeling better.

>16 BLBera: Thank you Beth!

44) Grimoire of the Lamb



A book draws Atticus back to Egypt where he is very much not welcome, and into a confrontation with followers of crocodile god Sobek in a secret lair. The ease with which everything is accomplished is thinly disguised by a "close" fight at the end. Now why did I read this?

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where there is at least one embedded word of 3 letters or more in the author’s name

I'm sorry that you've been unwell, Susan. I very much hope that you will be back to your good self before the weekend is out!
I figured that you would read ahead of me and finish *Covenant/Water*. I'm just about ¾ through, and I still like it a lot but don't love it as I did *Cutting/stone*. I am fascinated by the Malayam setting though. As far as I know my hometown has had one Malayli family. I worked with the college-aged son one summer at Waldenbooks - smart, funny, handsome, all-around fine young man!

>19 LizzieD: Back in the 90s I worked with a young south Indian Christian, but was under the impression that his family were much later converts. He talked about family divisions over taking "reserved" positions in schools and government agencies - some being a job is a job and others holding that taking an "untouchables" job was a confirmation of their lower status. Once he got his visa normalized, which our boss did as a regular practice, he became quite well off and probably put up a Dubai mansion for his family. He also learned to play the violin, and my husband helped him find a teacher.

Happy new thread!

>21 foggidawn: Thanks Foggi!

45) All the Hidden Paths



Cae and Vel go to town - the capital city and the court in particular. Someone tries to kill them on the way. And when they get there, someone tries to seduce them. They have lots of doubts and dark nights but the pace of events pulls them past the deep troughs of despair. Some people are on their side and some aren't and telling which and why is a game. Good, not great.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #6: Saint Patrick's Day SHAMROCK rolling title challenge

46) Spear



A somewhat distractedly different take on Arthurian myth which introduces Pereture a self taught super strength young woman who slots into a Percival shaped opening of Arthur's companions. Lance fills the usual slot but there is also a Bedwyr, a name often used for Arthur's closest companion, but aside from coloring just a generic companion here. It's short and abrupt at points and holds the interest well enough to be worth reading.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book about fire or with a picture of fire on the cover

I'm mostly OK with the noise coming from the family room when Mike is watching TV or movies or listening to the stereo, but tonight he was listening to KPFC? anyway, classical music, and the announcer went on at length in a chirpy voice, and nope, I couldn't. Well, it's off now..... Marvel movies don't bug me as much and the can shake the walls.

Today we went and got our taxes filed. Pretty low stress as we've been going for over 35 years to the same woman. This year we got refunds from both state & fed.

We went to Brent's after and I am stuffed.

Tomorrow we'll go see Dune part 2 on the BIG screen. I expect to enjoy it.

I want to have a day of not being sick and not having to get anything done and not sleeping past 9AM. Everything has felt stuffed into too short days, with barely enough time to get all the online routine done before it's 11PM. If then.

>23 quondame: Hmm. That seems like a book where the title is better than the story. I will pass on that.

HAppy Wednesday

>26 figsfromthistle: If, and only if, you enjoyed A Strange and Stubborn Endurance would I recommend All the Hidden Paths. ASaSE is worth reading if you enjoy MM romance adventure fantasy.

Dune part 2 was OK. Good but not great visuals. Nothing as daringly offensive as what was done with Dune, or as pretty or as impressive. The sandworms were masked by sand. A lot of monochrome and an effective but not all that effective B&W sequence. And we did go for the big screen. Stuff happened, one thing after another, blah. And Paul's super thinness just jarred.

I think that's how Timothee Chalomet actually looks though.

>29 reconditereader: That's fine, but it is such an insubstantial look silhouetted as it so often is in this movie, and insubstantial isn't a great look for a prophet. I was constantly feeling his draperies would sail him away.

>1 quondame: I hope your recovery is going well.
>3 quondame: I took a couple of intro sprang zoom classes in 2020 and want to do more but haven't circled back.
>5 quondame: Tuyo looks interesting. Can't say anything else you've listed inspires me.

Take care!

>31 justchris: Tuyo is a bit of a stand out. If The Covenant of Water isn't of interest and you haven't gotten into Victoria Goddard's Nine Worlds then yes, it's the one to pick.

I've stocked the fridge with chocolate cream pie for 𝜋 day.

>32 quondame: Your discussion of Victoria Goddard's writing in your previous thread interested me enough to look her up. I think I put one of her books on hold. Thanks for the encouraging response.

>34 justchris: I hope you enjoy it! The Hands of the Emperor is the one I recommend. I've purchased multiple e-copies as gifts for people I think might enjoy it.

47) Over Sea, Under Stone



It's possible I would have liked this in my pre-20s mad for anything Arthurian days. It's also possible that the plodding tale and the complete acceptance of her brothers' belittling her for being a girl might have made me less than enthusiastic. At one point, middle child Jane gets picked up and carried during a chase. Now the ever so 60s emphasis on good vs evil doesn't go over with me at all. Arthur was fighting for law and land, not for abstract good, though it's easy to frame it that way, just not really meaningful or interesting.

That last, the heavy handed good vs evil was in stark contrast to Spear in >24 quondame:, where those Arthur is fighting against are described as no different from his subjects, just having different art and customs that discomfort him.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book that is set or was published in the 1960s

Hi there! Sorry you are under the weather, too. This past month has been rough! Unlike you, I didn't get younger though, I got older; but at least I had a great surprise party. : ) I have The Covenant of Water waiting for me and your review definitely pushed it up the the TBR pile -- thanks. Let me know if you have any leftover chocolate cream pie. ; )

>37 Berly: As if. Becky finished of the Chocolate Cream Pie in short order.
We are all feeling much better now. Maybe it was the pie. Thank you.

Hiya Susan! How are ya today?

48) The Goblin Emperor



No one expected Maia, fourth and unwanted son of the Emperor by an unwanted wife, to become Emperor or even to take a place in court. Nor, when at the prompting of a harsh and hostile guardian he rushes to the capital and insists on a near immediate coronation, does anyone really welcome him there. In a crisp, unsentimental but not unhumorous telling we observe the young half-goblin find his own way into the duties and deal with the dangers of his new position. He deals with the cause of the airship crash that killed his father and older brothers, the search for an Empress, the problems of complete lack of privacy, along with the difficulties heading a government he by no means controls. And that's not counting those trying to use or depose him or his Goblin grandfather coming for a holiday visit. We learn watching him of a world and it's fairly subtle magics.

(Re-)Read for the Discord HotE Server 2nd book club for March.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with the common name of a fish or the word “fish” in the title or subtitle

49) An Exchange of Hostages



The "origin" story of a young man trained as a surgeon and heir to a noble house of an interstellar empire, compelled by custom to become a torturer, the primary duty of Fleet Inquisitor/Chief Medical Officier. The training course is a set 10 levels, starting at verbal abuse and quickly escalating to physical and potentially fatal violence. This is often ugly, but not ugly enough to entirely convince and while the pace and interest level pick up, there is a discouraging grim despair, not inappropriate, pervading the initial chapters, interleaved with a telling of the standard markers for "this character really isn't the typical dregs, this one is" that have become, though they may not have been in 1997? when it was first published. There is a twist in the character development which adds interest and tension, but is more buried under plot that satisfactorily addressed or developed, and huge hooks for future conflicts aside from the core one left bandaged over.

A contender for the truly awful cover category, but it does depict the contents, if not the characters. The original cover seemed to be generic space opera, which this is not at all.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book where the author shares your first name or mine

I still need to get to The Covenant of Water. Hopefully I can bookhorn it in this year. I really enjoyed Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid books, but never followed him after that.

>42 msf59: The Covenant of Water moves pretty well and the important characters are pleasant to read about though they do have some very real problems. It's not at all a chore.

50) The Stand-in



Romance which includes but lightly traverses issues of mental health, multi-racial identity and self-worth, the last being the one bearing the most weight. Fun and well paced with some satisfactory glam wardrobe moments.

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book connected to "the movies"

>43 quondame: I agree, Susan -- it's very long but not a chore

>45 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba!

What a day. I mean usually I get up, read at breakfast, get on my computer and come to sometime mid afternoon, eat while reading, maybe read or more online time, eat, read, more computer, read until I sleep. Simple, yes?

Today was get up and straighten things up before the plumber came, start breakfast (coffee essential) drop Becky off at work, finish breakfast, continue as usual until 1:30PM when I support Mike in taking Gizmo to the vet. As we left Nutmeg made sounds of dismay that no one should ever have to hear. Gizmo was totally well behaved, not even a hint of mess or trouble.
Nutmeg seemed fine when we got back.
At 5:00 my Spang meetup started and about 50min in Mike comes in searching for Nutmeg and expects me to be able to hear him. I'm not amused. Nutmeg is found.
I pick up Becky and when she gets home it apparent that Nutmeg isn't fine. At a minimum she's traumatized and she may have hurt her leg somehow in trying to get through or around the barrier. I had to be brought in as Nutmeg nursemaid when Becky decided she wanted to eat.

Oh, and I got some fanfic writing in after over a month of having hardly anything to say. I still don't feel comfortable just starting at point 1.c.2 and heading to 2-4, but I've got a few more x.y.z's filled in on the path....

So now I'm mostly back on schedule except for having to put my 3/4 of the bedding on my 1/2 of the bed. Accommodating my collection of dings is high maintenance.

51) Dear Future Boyfriend



Poetry from the viewpoint of a teenage, very early 20s woman who spent more time writing about the relationships than relating. Most of the poems are of some interest and a few are brilliant. But inept runs at sexual connection do wear a bit, especially from 50-60+ years ahead.

My favorite bit:
"there is a science to loving someone, and I have failed that course every time I've signed up for it."

A BB from PaulCranswick

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book whose author has three names (or initials)

Susan, You are reading some great books. I've added so many this month, but I will be back to add yours as well. I've been going to bed late every night, and sleeping during the day. Already it is 1:20. I want to break this habit, but it is so darn hard.

>47 quondame: Some good, some OK, a couple I could have done without. Actually I'm re-reading lots of Victoria Goddard in between everything else just for the ease of it and in support of my fanfic writing which seems not only a bit overwhelming, but also must be done before I can pick up any of the smaller more me pieces I had planned.

>46 quondame: Poor Nutmeg, sounds like a bad case of separation anxiety.
I hope today will be uneventful, Susan :-)

Happy new(ish) thread, and glad you’re feeling better. Pie can do that.

I’m with you: I love The Goblin Emperor. It is one of my constant comfort reads.

>46 quondame: Oh my! That sounds like quite a day. Hope today is going better.

>50 FAMeulstee: Exactly. We've leave Nutmeg and Gizmo in the house alone regularly, but this was Nutmeg's only time all alone and she had to watch Gizmo going out the door in full walkies harness. We have her mildly tranked today and haven't left her alone for a minute though Becky had to leave to run the 3rd & final day of her franchisers class.

>51 Storeetllr: The Goblin Emperor is so appealing, or maybe Maia is so appealing as the Goblin Emperor.

>52 RebaRelishesReading: It was a bit more than I'd planned. Today is very calm. Tomorrow is an across town appointment with an opthomolgist who specializes in muscle imbalance issues. I certainly had eye imbalance issues in my 20s, and I think my "shattered" vision may have as much to do with whatever causes migraines as eye alignment. Though those may be related.

52) A Mirror Mended



Long terminally ill Zinnia has been fixing versions of her own tale, Sleeping Beauty, but things are getting askew when she is hijacked into Snow White by a nameless evil stepmother queen who wants out before being forced to dance in hot iron shoes. Maybe evil queens have as little agency as narcoleptic princesses and Zinnia needs to reevaluate her own actions when confronted by the consequences.

A BB from alcottacre

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Pisces - cover w/ two (2) or more fish OR a mirror image/reflection)

I'm so glad I don't have to think about getting a boyfriend or that sort of thing anymore, Susan. When I was in my teens I used to think about who might be my future husband. I'm glad those days are behind me. So I'll skip Dear Future Boyfriend . ;-)

Also read,
Petty Treasons
Aurelius, called Magnus
The Saint of the Bookstore
At the Feet of the Sun from the middle of chapter 53 to the end and from the beginning to the end of chapter 53. For those who've read AtFotS 53 includes the not thinking about kissing scene

>55 vancouverdeb: Isn't it great to not worry that whole area of life? When I hear about sex at retirement communities, I'm like why ever do the women bother? But I heard the venereal disease rate is quite high among community dwelling seniors.

Nutmeg is still showing PTSD symptoms. She didn't greet Becky when she came home and wouldn't settle in her arms, which is so unlike her usual behavior. Normally she's happy to be held so she can lick Becky's face or rest her head against Becky's shoulder, no matter what she was doing before being picked up.
At least she's moving somewhat better than yesterday evening.

I heard about Vernor Vinge's death today both on FB and here.
I last read through his books in 2009, and remember almost nothing - which is pretty much the same as how much I remembered after I first read them, except that I recalled the counting of time in seconds because it was an article mentioning that quirk that got me to re-read them in 2009.
I remembered a little bit more from the books of Joan D. Vinge, not much, but more.

>58 quondame: I had True Names and Other Dangers on my bookshelves for lots of years, in part because an SCA friend of mine named herself after a character in one of the stories, and I found the social theory of "The Ungoverned" interesting. It was decades later that I read A Fire Upon the Deep as part of my Hugo read and was fascinated by the concept of pack sentience and the constraints on societal development created by fuzzy psychic boundaries between "individuals" requiring personal bubbles. A Deepness in the Sky also impressed me in terms of how biology defines society and culture and the impacts of transgression. I'm a huge biology SF geek, and these books really nerded me out. Did not love his more recent Hugo win, Rainbows End. Interesting concepts again but such an asshole protagonist who really was not redeemed, and not much biology-based SF.

In terms of Joan Vinge's writing, Catspaw is still one of my favorite books that blew me away and made me really upset in terms of illustrating privilege and oppression and bigotry as experienced by Cat, the biracial telepathic protagonist. And The Snow Queen and The Summer Queen were also standout Hugo reads for me. The worldbuilding and Moon's heroine's journey to save not just her own world and its mers being hunted to extinction but interstellar civilization as a result and lots more biology SF to nerd out on!

>59 justchris: Your memory for what's in the books far exceeds mine. I remember enjoying Verner Vinge's books, but that's about it. I wouldn't have recognized Vernor's books from your descriptions, is how poorly I remember them. I also enjoy bio-SF, but it's characters, if anything, that make a book stick with me and great character development that pushes it into 4.5 & 5 territory.

I also remember loving Catspaw and wishing Joan Vinge would be well enough to continue the series. And I do recall the aspects of The Snow Queen and The Summer Queen that you mention.

Well, Nutmeg seems to be in a much better emotional state now she's had Becky to herself for an entire day. Her leg is still not 100% so we're keeping a close watch on her, but she now is back to delivering thorough face lickings instead of a single insipid lick, or worse, turning away.

53) Qualify



A competently told teen life&death competition story, with a 16yr old protagonist, 2 of 4 siblings all of whom are in the competition. She has the requisite two guys and is absurdly good in the crunches - she always has some solution and in her group no one else seems to. Recommended only to those who really love a Hunger Games type plot and don't care at all if there is any sense to it.

Selected for February TIOLI Challenge #1: Initial of userid

Read for March TIOLI Challenge #4: One word, many syllables: Read a book whose title has only one word, but the word is polysyllabic

Hi Susan! Happy Sunday to you.

>25 quondame: Oh my goodness. KPFC. That was my NPR station once I figured out NPR and got away from KFI after Bruce Wayne died and Lohman and Barkley broke up. I’m a fan of quite a bit of baroque and classical music, always and forever excepting opera, and loved their format. Our format here in NC at WUNC was lots of classical music for a long time but that changed over time and then they got rid of Bob Edwards and I stopped listening as much as I used to.

>33 quondame: *whimper* Chocolate cream pie.

>44 quondame: As you may know, I’m mostly reading MM romances lately, and they, too, lightly traverse issues of mental health, multi-racial identify and self-worth, along with the issues relating to being gay in mostly hetero world.

>46 quondame: Having commented on French Bulldogs on my thread just now in response to what you wrote, I can totally believe As we left Nutmeg made sounds of dismay that no one should ever have to hear. Just reading about your day is traumatizing, although the fanfic writing is good.

>55 vancouverdeb: Although it will mean that Jenna moves out and eventually away, I’m so glad that she’s got a girlfriend.

>57 quondame: When I hear about sex at retirement communities, I'm like why ever do the women bother? But I heard the venereal disease rate is quite high among community dwelling seniors. Ugh. Squicky.

Hi Susan my dear, Happy New Thread. I hope all is well with you and Mike and that the reading is going well. Sending love and hugs dear friend.

>63 karenmarie: Hi Karen! I kind of wish Becky would find someone special, but hey, it's not something I can do anything about and I did provide the example supporting other young women in not sticking with relationships they were substantially questioning - nothing on the order of mental or physical abuse, just dudes that settled so far into comfort zones they couldn't be dragged out for fun socialization. Though Becky might have settler into comfort zone sort tendencies - I sure do. But in my 70s, not my 30s, oh no!

Do check out >66 quondame: below if you can. M/M romance and smashing humor.

>64 johnsimpson: Hi John. Good to see you!

54) World Ain't Ready

Fanfic on AO3

You don't have to be a Les Misérables fan to like this story of love within the ABC club at a Midwestern high school.
You don't have to be a fan of M/M romance, though homophobia is probably a bar.
You can even have a strong distaste for fake dating narratives, because the Grantaire & Enjolras as juniors are such a delight to spend time with, and deal with so many deeply real problems, most of which are just our shit culture but some are pointedly self generated. And fortunately no one is actually shooting them on barricades.

Read for the hell of it, though I could stick it in March TIOLI #5: Read a book where there is at least one embedded word of 3 letters or more in the author’s name either for the AO3 user id or because I happen to know the author's first name begins "Jess"

55) House of Open Wounds .75



This is sort of Mash by way of Perdido Street Station, or a dirty dozen of conscripts and criminals deal with what comes out of the grinders of war waged by the purifying army of Pall. Pocket Gods down to their last worshiper give service in the hospital tent of the Butcher in an army that consumes Gods to fuel the weapons and machines of its wars, deals with demons and herds ghosts. An army which has no place for a healed soldier who, according to the rules of the God who brought them back from the brink of death, can do nothing to harm another person without being immediately un-healed. It takes the length of a rather long book to work it's way through to a significant conclusion, but no reader can say it wasn't telegraphed.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book where there is at least one embedded word of 3 letters or more in the author’s name

56) Ocean's Echo



Space opera in which the troublesome Tennalhin, rich boy nephew to the Legislator is caught and sent off not just to involuntary military service, but to a permanent roll as the synced reader (mind reader) to the young architect (mind writer) Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a stickler for rules. But Surit is such a stickler for rules that he and Tennal fake the sync because it is not voluntary. And then then things start to go very wrong.
The story is interesting, mostly well placed, the characters have appeal, but do not entirely convince. The backstory timeline of 20 years seems too short for the events it covers. And for a culture in which gender rolls seem to be entirely voluntary, they don't seem to mean anything and yet we are absolutely in a M/M romance. Since genitals are not mentioned and secondary sexual characteristics are not described, everything but events are up to the reader's imagination.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #6: Saint Patrick's Day SHAMROCK rolling title challenge

I can't find the exact messages where you mentioned them, but The Stand-In by Lily Chu and A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow looked so interesting that I immediately put holds on them in Libby and read them when they came in. Enjoyed them both (though I started with A Spindle Splintered).

Well, Susan, my eldest son Daniel is 39 and he has had the same girl friend for ??? 5 years or so. She is quite a bit younger at 26 , I think it is. But he says he never plans to marry nor live with anyone and he lives at home. I think as my brother recently said of his own 4 kids - they get older and you are just glad if they are happy. It's true. I think our son Daniel is happy to back living with us, not just for financial reasons, but I think he was lonely living alone.

>69 justchris: Hi Chris! I did read A Spindle Splintered last year, and thought it well done. I hope you enjoy the other two!

>70 vancouverdeb: I can understand my daughter's desire to move out - neither her father nor I are the easiest people, and while 2500sqft of house isn't small, the split level floor plan means all the spaces are at most a short hallway away from where someone else is doing their thing. Her bedroom is adjacent to her dad's office, and the sound from the family room directly below flows freely past the living room kitchen level and into the bedroom floor.

But who knows what will happen?

57) Den of Wolves .25



3rd and final book of the Blackthorn & Grim books.
Grim accepts a building job an hours ride from Blackthorn and Grim's cottage, It is conditional on keeping secrets and following the directions of a seeming madman who is despised. Meanwhile the daughter of the house, Cara is sent to the prince's household at Winterfalls for an unspecified length of time. Of course things are fishy. Only it gets worse, Blackthorn's nemesis attacks the prince's father-in-law, and strange warrior intercept her apprentice in the nearby woods.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #3: The “It’s My Birthday Challenge” - Read a book that has either the numbers 03, 14, or 62 (each in the respective order) in its ISBN number

Congratulations on reading 57 books thus far this year!!!

>73 Whisper1: Thank you Linda!

58) The Road



A father and son walk through devastation with no hope of better and certain danger of worse. Lots of meaning, but what does anything mean when there is no future and mushrooms and men are all that's left, and not many mushrooms.

I read this for the Fantasy Book Bingo to get a blackout. It was my TBR.

Meets March TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book connected to "the movies"

And I just submitted my Reddit Fantasy Bingo card!

Belated happy new thread Susan! Somehow I missed you starting a new one.

- Nina

>77 humouress: Hi Nina! Good to see you!

So, today I didn't get much reading done, but I wrote about 1400 words, including a letter home from someone who believes he will never go home. The Discord site has 15 minute writing sprints and I've tried them out yesterday and today for a total of 2900 words.
It seems to help get words/ideas out without pre-thinking too much and I react as I am writing to words rather than ideas.
For me there seems to be a big difference.

>76 quondame: Congrats on finishing your Reddit bingo :)

>79 Narilka: Thank you! I started over half way into it, but felt caught up pretty quickly from reads since March. This year my challenge is to do all new authors with as many LGBTQ+ & POC as possible.

Has there been a Green Dragon thread for Book Bingo?

April 2024 - March 2025
r/Fantasy Book Bingo


Recommendations Welcome!

>80 quondame: Ooh, I like that bingo card! Saving it for later.

>80 quondame: Ooh, I've never been one to turn my nose up at a bingo card...

>67 quondame: I will definitely pass on that one as I was not a big fan of Perdido Street Station.

>76 quondame: Congratulations! (at least I assume congratulations are in order since I have no familiarity with this at all, lol)

>81 foggidawn: >82 curioussquared: Enjoy!

>83 alcottacre: House of Open Wounds is certainly one I'd only recommend with caveats.

Thank you. Condolences also, due to some difficult going, but over all it was a good run.

59) The Saint of Bright Doors



Let's start from weird. This is dark, gritty, contains plenty of state sponsored violence and some individual violence. I think it is a discussion of the dangers of remaking the story of the past to suit the ambitions of present powers, as well as how unreliable our stories of the past are. And inaccurate, unreliable stories are very dangerous, as are people displaced in memory or disposed of in a past present.

I may use this for the 2024 r/fantasy Book Bingo as 5C, Eldritch Horrors. I got the title from Jo Walton and it is a 2024 Hugo Nominee.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book by an author whose first name and last name ends in the same letter

Good luck with your new bingo card, Susan. You have an ambitious month of reading planned!

>86 BLBera: Thanks Beth! That for April 2024 - March 2025, so I'm not going to go for all 25 in one glup! By 3/2025 I should have a good selection of 2024 books from which to choose!

>85 quondame: Hmm, this sounds intriguing. *scurries off to check the library for a copy*

60) The Magpie Lord



A raunchy M/M romantasy in 19th England when the dispossessed wastrel son of an earl returns from exile to take over a property not so much encumbered by debt as by malign magic and finds himself dependent on the son of a family his father and brother ruined. And likes it. Mostly. Except for the death magic parts. This pair spend a bit of time circling each other, then read signals and blast ahead.

I may use this for the 2024 r/fantasy Book Bingo as 2A, Entitled Animals or 2E, Romantasy.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Aries - has a word on the first page from the ram-related list)

61) And What Can We Offer You Tonight



The brothel at the end of the world. In an endless city the beautiful resourceless are saved from culling to be courtesans, trapped in interminable debt to their owners and at the mercy of the clients, deadly in itself. One returns from death seeking revenge and the narrator's ambivalent connection to the returnee and to her own life is a tale not of a heart of gold, but of a heart, as stained and tattered as her world, but still beating. It is a bit softer really than it should be, this conclusion a bit less pitted than the body of the story.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with 150 pages or less

>80 quondame: I don't recall seeing a Green Dragon thread for bingo. I'm not sure anyone else participates.

>90 Narilka: I can't imagine that no one does, but then I only follow a couple of GD threads. I don't have much feel for it as a group.
I'm filling in a spread sheet from suggestions over on HOTE Discord.

62) Poor Deer



This is a strange confessional memoir of a very young woman who bears a burden of guilt from the death, when they were both 4, of her next-door friend. Had she alerted adults, her friend most likely would have survived, but at 4? Old enough to remember, too young for any perspective. Her mother's entanglement with the friend's mother, and her denial that her daughter had any culpability, are the start of an intense dis-association. Told in a scaled form where she has to backtrack, denying the last page or so, and restart "with what really happened" sometimes more than once.
There are moments of astounding beauty and offhanded cruelty.

I would not classify this as fantasy. It seems closer to magical realism, but all non-natural elements seem more probable attributed to delusion and retrofitted reality still, it

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #14: April Fooler: Read a book with magical realism, fantasy, alternate history or humor as a tag

And there. I've caught up a couple of books I'd half read, and some that were hanging on my Kindle, but past due at the library. I need to load some new books, so I'm feeling quite accomplished!

DNF We Have Always Been Here

A planetary exploration mystery. Almost every statement was either logically or emotionally at odds with every other statement from the start, and nothing was offered that either interested or involved me.

I've started The Warburgs and for the online book club I'm reading The Way Spring Arrives, discussions of which will be spread out over 4 voice chats. Neither of which I expect to read straight through, so I'll probably pick up one or more other titles before I complete them. I have a couple of overdue real-books, so maybe I'll go for the shorter of those before returning it.

>95 quondame: Not the book I was thinking of, which was a queer history in Wisconsin. I see it's a popular title for the histories or memoirs of different marginalized peoples. Makes sense. Your DNF doesn't sound so interesting.

>96 justchris: I also have We Have Always Been Here checked out.

>97 quondame: That definitely sounds like the more interesting read.

>98 justchris: I hope to find it so. It would be hard to be worse.

63) What Feasts at Night



Sporadically creepy gothic stay in a remote hunting lodge. The humor is wry and dark and delightful, and the horror is biting. Alex Easton is a new favorite main character and I will have to backtrack to What Moves the Dead forthwith.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #5: The “Many Words, One Syllable Each” Challenge: Titles that have only 1 syllable words in them, but must have more than 1 word

I read What Moves The Dead, and, though it was lot less than a favorite from last year 2022, will look for the sequel. Perhaps I’ll save it for Spooktober.

Good for you, Susan, challenging yourself to read as many POC and LGBTQ books as possible this year. I tend to challenge myself with Prize list books, like the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist right now, and The Booker later in the years, and sometimes Canadian Lit prize lists.

Our place is even smaller at 1500 sq feet, but luckily Daniel has a bedroom downstairs, and we have upstairs living and two more bedroom upstairs. So he does get the privacy of being downstairs most of the time. We have our desktop computer downstairs, as well as our laundry room , a bathroom , a small family room.

>101 Storeetllr: There are many books which I am happy to have read which fell short of becoming favorites of the year.

>103 quondame: Am I? I do read a fair number of BIPOC | LGBTQ+ authors, and all other things being equal (they never are) go for those who don't present as cis-men.

My bingo challenge this year is to go for authors I haven't read, with, only as a secondary goal, as many as possible are BIPOC & LGBTQ+ with extra points for women, afab or trans. So, western pacific rim and hyphenated-American lesbians are likely to show up a bit more on my bingo card than in the general population. Provided there are some I haven't read whose books I can get through.

We grew out of our 1500sq ft when Becky was 6. Yours sounds like a much better layout. All the bedrooms in the condo were upstairs and the downstairs layout made at least 20% fairly useless. Still it was better than the layouts with a split level downstairs though a bit higher ceilings would have been a plus.

Have fun with the Bingo card and your new authors and BIPOC and LGBTQ+ reads. I think you will be a busy woman! (What else is new? LOL) Happy reading.

FYI, I read The Bride of the Blue Wind and The Warrior of the Third Veil as my first foray into Victoria Goddard's writing. They were lovely!

>104 Berly: Thanks!

>105 justchris: Pali is something of a polarizing character.
Spoilers for The Hands of the Emperor, Redoubtable Pali Avramapul, The Return of Fitzroy Angursell I find that her difficulty being at peace with others, particularly Fitzroy, is part of her own internal unresolved issues. But reading the Pali books does give a more balanced weight when encountering her in HOTE and when she's giving Fitzroy grief in ROFA. And she's definitely got some tangle of feelings displaced in her hostility toward Kip.

Of course I'm living and breathing Lays of the Hearth-fire these days.

64) Finders



There are the recently, uncomfortably reunited trio of salvagers, two layers of Ancient space civilizations, the remnants of 2 dark times and a baddy who is after the same relicts as the good gang, but for civilization destroying purposes. Just over the edge of interesting enough except during the too frequent navigational sequences which are burdened with techno-garble.
Physically, the trade paperback that had been bound for library use with clear stiff covers was difficult to hold, sharp edged and pointy cornered.

>106 quondame: I liked the stories well enough to look up the chronology and place holds on additional books. So it will be interesting to see Pali in other contexts, and meet other characters and places.

>108 justchris: I hope you enjoy the others at least as much. The style and tone varies markedly among the sub-series.

Lens of the World by R. A. MacAvoy is available at discount today. It is stunning, imitated so frequently that its original impact may be blunted, but its style and verve remain.
It is the start of a trilogy, but stands alone.

I've been married 37 years today. In four months I'll have been married as long as I was unmarried.

I am pleased with my fanfic progress, see >4 quondame:. It turns out that I enjoy the writing sprints after joining one and having all sorts of weird words flow in 15 min bursts.

Dinner was amazing. I chose a restaurant I remembered from when I was in my late teens and early twenties, though I think Mike and I also went there in the late 80s. Dan Tana's. I remembered the food as good but not superlative. Mike and Becky kept going on about how wonderful everything was and I just kept nibbling away and sipping my wine.

For dessert I ordered the cannoli and it was the first time at a restaurant that the filling was almost as rich as cheesecake but much smother, the shell was deepfried rolled sweet noodle-like dough, and the filling had been added just before serving so the shell crunched. The shells still weren't as good as the ones I rolled out for my mom, but the filling was better, so that evened out.

65) What Moves the Dead



A retelling of The House of Usher, without the baroque language with a cast of characters rather than place holders and a mycologal motivator for the deceased sister. It gives a different set of worries to the original's horror, less of a family curse and more of a genus loci. And the sworn soldier with the Gallian proliferation of pronouns is picante.

This book jumped the queue because of >100 quondame: and because didn't have my Kindle with me when we went out for dinner last night (the book I'm reading is overdue) and I thought it would be a quick read. It would have been much more of one if I didn't stop and read Fall of the House of Usher 50% through it.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book in honour of my dad in which you learn something

>110 quondame: Belated Happy Anniversary. 37 years is an impressive number, Susan. Hani and I have just reached 28.

>110 quondame: Happy anniversary to you and Mike, Susan!

(You made me stop and calculate. Next month will be 26 years for us, which will be two years short of my being unmarried as long as we'll have been married. Curses woman! Now I'm going to be paranoid about it.)

Happy Anniversary, Susan. My daughter's is today, but not quite as many years...

>113 PaulCranswick: >114 humouress: >115 BLBera: Thank you Paul, humouress, and Beth!


Victoria Goddard has released a new Nine Worlds story, Terec and the Wall(link, as the touchstone isn't live yet).

Susan

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far this year!

>117 Whisper1: Thank you Linda!

66) Terec and the Wall



It just came out today. I had no choice.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book with 150 pages or less

67) Stars, Hide Your Fires



About as deep as a dewdrop. Young thief plans a solo job heisting the jewelry at the most exclusive party every. The party at the palace which is a space station orbiting a planet where she's never been. But she gets their and through "co-incidence" is at the party with pockets full of lifted jewelry when the emperor's death is announced. And...
Nothing remotely probable happens, nothing anyone who hasn't read 5 YA LGBTQ+ books hasn't seen before. Unless you need some very silly W/W non-action in a space opera milieu, it's got nothing to offer.

Well, I know one person (not on LT) whose recommendations I will have to examine cautiously in future.

I would have DNF'd this, but was already over 50% and it

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book where there are at least two of the letter “s” in the title

Congratulations on 37 years, Susan!Dinner sounds delicious! I got married when I was 22 , so at age 44 I thought, I've been married as long as I was unmarried.

>120 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah! There are all sorts of interesting calculations of marital endurance.

Today, or rather this afternoon, did not go as planned.
The plan was a mid-afternoon appointment at the special optometrist for adding prism to my glasses prescription.
We were on our way in thick traffic when I noticed a voice message - the appt. was canceled. So, turn back and discuss if we need to pick up anything on our way home. I needed coffee beans so we stopped at the Peet's a couple of miles from our house, and while I was in the shared parking lot, ordered a dim sum lunch. But. The car wouldn't start. I called texted Becky to pick me up while Mike called AAA. AAA got there first - Becky was in the one meeting she can't skip out on because she chairs it. But eventually she does pick me up.

Now we'll see how long it will be before the Car is working again.

68) The Warm Hands of Ghosts



A young Canadian nurse, wounded out of WWI service and orphaned by the explosion in Halifax harbor, relieves her brother's effects. Because two tags are returned and he is reported missing, she knows that information is being withheld. Her brother is experiencing the entire hell of war and then some, as we follow his viewpoint in tandem. The grim toll of war saturates this book, so it is the characters and their involvement that provide motive through the chapters of this Tam-Lin adjacent story. A new dark mythos for the dark age ushered in by mass warfare.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book whose title includes one, and only one, adjective

68) The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet



A serviceable retelling of Pride and Prejudice, with some character deletion or re-arranging, but which include the standard P&P plot beats. With the exception of the central 'main characters (first) vblog is successful enough to base a business on" the modernization choices worked fairly well, though lack of Austen-like distance in the Lydia's resolution was not a strength.

As it happens, the title also
Meets April TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book by an author whose first name is a nickname

69) High Times in the Low Parliament



A short foray into a very alt-Britain, in which fairies, repelled by wars have held Europe in peace for 250 years, subject to the Low Parliament. Which has stopped being able to reach decisions and which the fairies will drown Lena, newly seconded as a scribe for the Parliament, doesn't want her girl chasing ended by drowning and bestirs herself, as no one else seems to be doing, to understand and prevent this.
An unusual facet of the world building is that there are no men or male fairies.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #14: April Fooler: Read a book with magical realism, fantasy, alternate history or humor as a tag

Last night I set a 6:15 AM alarm to give me a chance to attend a 7 AM Zoom meeting. I woke at 5:33. I did attend the meeting which was a bit thin on content. Sprang, but while I was the only non-participant as far as I could tell, the usual suspects all seemed to have been glaringly busy with other matters since last month. The meeting is scheduled anywhere from 9AM-7PM CDT, which is 7-5 for me. Mostly fine, except the 7.

After that I picked up some thyme at the SM Farmers' Market and joined a few writing sprints. 1265 words today, but rather dull ones. I think I have some shiny ideas, but the words aren't ready to wrap them up right for me.

>110 quondame: Belated happy anniversary, Susan!

In a few years I will be twice as long married as I was unmarried ;-)

>126 FAMeulstee: Congratulations! It is not a mark I am likely to reach, as I misspent a good deal of my youth. Not sure if I'd enjoy reaching 114 after watching my aunt and uncle past the 100 mark. Mike only has to reach 93 but that would still put me at an unlikely 101.

>127 quondame: I am sure you spent your youth well enough, marriage itself isn't that important, relationships are. I don't think I would want to get that old.
I couldn't help myself to count married and unmarried years as well. I only did the similar before with years spent with my parents and living somewhere else ;-)

>128 FAMeulstee: Oh I really did misspend! And enjoyed some of it, best as I can remember. Being married is about the relationship, of course, but it is also very much a social institution with sets of expectations to be managed, if not always met.

I left home to go to school at 18, spent 2 summers and one fall at home after that and then 8 years on my own and 6 years with various sorts of apartment sharers, a couple of whom were boyfriends, and once a mother and her two children at my landlady's request. The apartment had two bedrooms and an almost private 3rd room - folding double doors - as well as a largish living room area, so it was only a bit of a squeeze.

Happy Belated Anniversary, Susan. 37 years? Nice. We will hit 35 next month. Glad you enjoyed an "amazing" dinner.

Fanfic +1336 words today. I feel like I have to write my way through the landscape and events so I will know what to turn into or include in an actual story I want to tell. Nobody wants a day by day journey down a long road, but you can't tell stories about the journey until you've taken it.

>131 quondame: Good philosophy :0)

Alas, my indifference to domestic felines is seriously hampering my efforts on the 2024 TinyCat Birthday Hunt.

Not that every question is cat-lit, but I'm not much on cataloging knowledge either.....

>133 quondame: Ah oh! I think I have gotten 7 of the answers so far, and google is my friend. I like cats, but I don't read cat - lit either. Best of luck!

>133 quondame: >134 vancouverdeb: I have the same handicap plus the Pond divide thrown in. Yesterday I discovered that you won't find haberdashery in an American haberdashers :0) But, with help from Google (and I may have absorbed information from the hints as I was copying them across), I just have one left to find now.

>134 vancouverdeb: >135 humouress: Well that was a struggle. One I just hadn't paid quite enough attention to the clue - well more than one. And the other two were just not places I'd ever considered going. I shudder to think that in future the honorable treasure selectors will have us going into even more obscure corners of the site.

>135 humouress:
>136 quondame: Number 10 was really a tough one for me. But I finally got it thanks to a clue on the talk page. Whew! Now I am finished the hunt. I really enjoy LT Treasure Hunts.

>136 quondame: Well, that's why they created the hunts - to familiarise us with areas of the site we might not have visited/ features we might not have used :0)

>137 vancouverdeb: Yay! Until next time.

>138 humouress: Sure, but one or two cat questions is about my limit. Allergies, you know.

70) Smut.

71) The Way Spring Arrives



These stories and essays are mostly more serviceable than excellent, and for all that the authors are women and non-binary, not overtly, overwhelmingly, feminist or feminine in tone - which may be one of the points, that writing not done by men is still writing not feminine writing. Whether intrinsic to the stories as written, or an artifact of translations, there is often a self-consciousness in their subversion. A couple of them are startling, a couple of more very interesting in themselves, most are peculiar viewed with western gaze and leave a sense of non-shared context even as the included essays pointedly announce the accommodations for our lack.

Meets April TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a title that makes you think of the spring season

72) Reread Game of Courts I love Conju time.

>133 quondame: I got 8/15 and called it good.

>140 quondame: I acquired this book earlier this year but haven't read it yet. Despite the lukewarm review, you gave it 4 stars, I see.

>141 justchris: Some of the stories were above average, some interestingly different, but what gives it the additional are the essays.

>142 quondame: Thanks for the additional explanation! I'm a fan of a good essay.

>139 quondame: Ah, makes sense. Maybe next time it'll be cakes or penguins or something you'll enjoy hunting down.

>144 humouress: One can only hope.

73) dancing like we did last night

Fanfic

What were Cliopher and Fitzroy doing between returning to the Bee at the Border and the Epilogue of At the Feet of the Sun?
Getting to know each other better, of course. Kip forms a most productive committee, and Fitzroy is, of course, pleased with the results.

Also smut, lite, wry, and teasing mostly. Mostly.

This appeared in the HOTE Discord group yesterday afternoon, by a published author I've read. I like it better than the one of her "official" books I've read, but really, 14 chapters in Cliopher's boggled head. Fun.

74) We Have Always Been Here



What is included is well written, though only the details and the intersectionality of Muslim/persecuted sub-sect/LGBTQ+/POC/Woman makes it stand out from the find yourself while Muslim in NA or Messianic sub sect or Lesbian in late 20th cent Canada or POC/ibid or Woman/ibid. There's so many non-standards, and all the beats are 4/4. So competent, but not impressive.

Meets April TIOLI Challengev#3: Read a book in honour of my dad (helenliz's dad, to be specific)

>147 quondame: That's good or you to read a book in honour of your dad, Susan. It sounds interesting. I hope you enjoy The Night in Question if you are able to find it.

>148 vancouverdeb: I've read many books due to my dad, but this was for helenliz's dad.

>149 quondame: Thanks for the clarification, Susan. Now I must ask you, what is a mail library ? Just what it sounds like - a library that lends by mailing you the book ?

>150 vancouverdeb: Facepalm. Main library. Main... Of 3 library systems one is much the largest, so while the one near me is quite small the system is my main library. As opposed to the Main Library branch downtown or the Main Library branch in Santa Monica a few miles west. I don't know if the county library has a main branch. It probably does, but I've never heard anything about it and never even thought of its potential to exist.

75) The Unspoken Name



Twice as long as it should be, though it kept throwing plot around it was mostly the same plot. I was entirely uncompelled by the characters whose trauma and changes were mostly plot service. And it has a sequel, which, no thanks.

I'm leaning heavily on suggestion, because I took the cover image for a horn (it's a tusk) and by that it
Meets April TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book with something suggesting music on the cover

>119 quondame: "About as deep as a dewdrop." Cracked me up!

The Way Spring Arrives and other stories sounds kind of interesting.

76) Happiness Falls



Compressed and claustrophobic due to 2020 COVID isolation, a family stressed past any expectation of endurance when the father's sudden disappearance is potentiality blamed on the nonvocal 3rd child who has multiple cognative conditions. The family does hold together but their views of each other require substantial re-evaluation and living with numerous uncertainties. The characters are bilingual and all very language oriented, a linguist, and two students, and the missing father's philosophical and pragmatic efforts to decode happiness absorb the daughter who narrates the story

I spent at least 7 days of reading hours trying to get through The Warburgs but wrecked my self on the reef of the lead up to WWII so I asked a librarian for a book that I could
Read for April TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with the word 'family' or 'families' on the cover

>153 EBT1002: Yes, The Way Spring Arrives is interesting, the stories aren't top-drawer and the most competent is a distasteful decoration of body horror, but the context and essays and intent as well as instantiation of non-western mythos and sensibilities and make it worth of attention.

>152 quondame: Congratulations on reaching 75, Susan!

>156 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

77) Cartucho



Cartucho means cartridge and this is a belt of 56 fired straight at mind, heart and gut, as a young girl's impression of the deaths during Pancho Villa's Mexican revolution occur right outside her window or have been related by others with similar proximity. To the observing child, the brave fighters of 18-22 whose bodies are fallen before her are men, though the older writer knows we may not think so.

I wanted to pick a book with as little cultural resonance with my life as I could

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book about a war that divides a nation, name the war

78) I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871



Oscar arrived in Chicago the afternoon of the Great Chicago Fire. He does get singed and has an adventurous and uncomfortable escape. But more interest is put into describing the fire that the impact of it on Oscar.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book in honor of Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary in April

79) Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticor



From 2019:
I've been re-reading this book since it first came out, once I even recorded it for a blind co-worker, who made it into an entirely different book for me, even better. This time I read it for a challenge on barrier/wall and it became a book about barriers. It is subtle, and supple, charming and terrifying, and by the way, moves right along. The cover, regrettably features a chimera, which at least does get through the wall into the story and is delightful.
2024:
This reread emphasized how deeply the imagery and ideas of this book have become part of how I evaluate other books, particularly F&SF. It is about the struggle for identity and tripping over imperfect knowledge of oneself and others. It is about the value and flaws of building internal protections.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book you've owned for more than 10 years or that's been on your TBR list for more than 10 years

80) The Song of Mavin Manyshaped



Mavin keeps her new ability to shift a secret from all but her man-beleaguered elder sister which gives her just time enough to plan and escape that fate. This compact adventure is a gem, only hampered a bit by being trimmed to precede the original 3 novels of The True Game.

Read for April TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book with something suggesting music on the cover

>160 quondame: I have a vague recollection of seeing that book back in the day but not sure that I ever read it.

>161 quondame: OTOH, the 3 trilogies starting with The Song of Mavin Many-Shaped and going through Jinian Star-Eye are among my all-time favorites. For a while in my youth, my sig file said Lolly duro balta lus lom.

>162 justchris: I'm rather a hard core fan of The True Game, but the Marianne books especially the first has an entirely different level of interiority, which suits the modern - late 20th cent. setting (despite the cover). The conflicts are more internal/personal and with a subtlety entirely lacking in Mavin's books.

>163 quondame: Might have to look them up then. Yeah, most of Tepper's books lack subtlety. I really wanted to like The Fresco but couldn't. But love, love, love True Game stuff.

>164 justchris: We have somewhat* similar tastes in F&SF so I feel save in recommending them. The third is different in tone than the first two, but has its charms. The Buttercup sequence is an enduring delight to me when I've forgotten so much of so many other books.
*I don't think any book by Lois McMaster Bujold Rates less than a 3.5, just out of pure craftsmanship, but Memory and A Civil Campaign are so good and the first books so fun that I can see some suffer by comparison. But still.

Happy May Day, Susan.

>166 vancouverdeb: A belated thank you!

I'm off to a slow start in May! My reading list is heavy with 400+ page books and I'm sort of deficient in attention.

81) Hild



Hild imagines the early life of a historical woman who seemed to defy the norms of her time. The resulting portrait of Hild, her family, her times is of an intelligent and informed person of good will, closely enough related to the ambitions and insecure king, Edwin, that any carelessness was immensely dangerous. She lives with secrets that must be kept and, in assuming the position as a seer, must give only answers that the King will use to his benefit. I liked the realistically portrayed social circle with limitations and joys so different from our own, and the very different value systems that are still comprehensible.

The choice to use Byzantine for Roman jarred and the frequent descriptions of tablet weaving are not consistent with what I've learned, nor does the brief description of turning a gold ring into gold thread sound quite right. But these do represent the constant work in producing fabric and decorative fabric and self-conscious manipulative status displays through clothing.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with a girl's name in the title

Congrats on reading past 75 books!

>165 quondame: Memory and A Civil Campaign are fantastic and my two favorite Miles stories. What could top that dinner scene? But otherwise I prefer Cordelia's stories, I confess. I'll have to see if I can find copies of the Marianne books somewhere.

>168 quondame: Did you like Hild well enough to read the sequel? It sounds moderately interesting, if only to see what you mean about the tablet weaving narrative.

>170 justchris: I am not eager to spend more time with Hild. Mostly because I have a lot more books stacked for soon and I felt the resolution at the end was off the narratives path in a couple of serious ways.

The issue I had with tablet weaving was the implication that the tension was held between two people, not backstrap or two fixed poles. Metallic remnants of 7th cent brocade bands have been found in England, but I don't know about tablets or the tools to make gold thread.

I like Cordelia, but don't think Bujold did her best work with the character. And GJatRQ I find the idea of 6 simultaneous daughters absolutely wrong. Not to mention a sprinkling of 1/2+ brothers likely to share the same domestic milieu. Nope, just nope. I would have hoped that Cordelia would have had a more one-on-one parenting in mind, or at least significantly staggered births. And Mark's "fountain of middle age" could have been a feature in that.

>172 justchris: I forgot about Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. You make valid points there. I was thinking strictly of the prequel pair of books. I recall that one of the key themes of the Vorkosigan series is the profound societal changes provoked by the introduction of the uterine replicators, almost as a subtext on Miles and his generation. I wonder if that last book was a stab at kinda the next step of that kind of social implications in terms of the constraints of parenthood or something.

I have never heard of tablet weaving as a two-person sport. Interesting idea. Everyone I know has co-opted inkle looms to hold their tablet weaving projects. I preferred a drop weight or otherwise single fixed anchor for the far end of the project. I could just unhook my project, roll it up and stuff it in a bag when I wasn't working on it. Inkle looms are a little awkward to tote around. Of course, I couldn't guarantee consistent tension, which is the tradeoff.

>172 justchris: I have worked on a few of the peg looms which are appropriated the name inkle loom and they are fine for null twist patterns, but only of use for short bands otherwise. The small one I bought first good to use as a passenger while being driven to events. My first warp weighted loom was made from metro shelving and quite a variety of office, hair, and sewing notions to space and tension. I have tired more traditional box style inkle looms as well. Never belt strap - because that makes getting up do deal with dogs or doorbells a real pain.

These days I'm more interested in sprang, but recent hand pain as well as back pain have kept me from more than auditing the sessions I'm signed up for.

>173 quondame: I had lots of tablet weaving ambitions but never managed more than my first project. I too have switched to sprang, though again I haven't gotten past my first failure and first kinda success. But definitely want to do more. My two attempts were related to 2 pandemic classes. I should sign up for more classes.

Sorry to hear about the pain issues. I hope they are temporary.

Congratulations on 75 books Susan! (I did lurk past at the time but didn't notice the number.)

>160 quondame: >161 quondame: >162 justchris: I don't think I ever did manage to get ahold of any Sherri S. Tepper books though there were some (middle of series) books in my libraries. Let's see if I can find one now.

>170 justchris: >171 quondame: Cordelia (and Aral) is my favourite character too. Miles stories are different but always fun. I haven't read Gentleman Joel and the Red Queen yet so I avoided the spoiler.

>174 justchris: By all means take Carol James intro class. She offers resources and covers aspects that aren't every even brought up in other classes - and even books - but are very important. Since covid she's got a group of disciples that probably are teaching the same things but you have to know who they are to find them.

I haven't done many projects and kind of burned myself out working out how to duplicate a simple leaf design in 3/1 twill only to have books of patterns come out a couple of years later. But I have a lovely belt and a trimmed tunic, and made some lovely award cords for my barony.

>175 humouress: Thank you.
I wonder why the Marianne & True Game Tepper books weren't made available digitally. I would buy them in an instant and think they are interesting enough that word would get around.

>176 quondame: Thanks for the rec. I had flagged Carol's website. It's always a question of follow through.

>175 humouress: I was fortunate that I stumbled over omnibus editions of The True Game (Peter's story) and End of the True Game (Jinian's story) after first reading Jinian Footseer, and then was able to find Mavin's trilogy to complete the set. I had read one or two Tepper stand-alones (like The Revenants) back in the 1980s and mostly thought they were weird. I finally read the Grass trilogy last year and was not that impressed. I have yet to give The Gate to Women's Country a try.

>177 justchris: The Gate to Women's Country is a bit too much of a polemic, which isn't unusual for Tepper. I think that made it popular for a couple of decades, but she does better storytelling elsewhere. Not always, but often enough to have been very much worth following. Have you read Six Moon Dance? Also weird, but more amusing than Grass.

Only one of my Libby libraries is showing any books by Sherri S. Tepper: The Gate to Women’s Country, Grass, Beauty, Plague of angels, fish tails, waters rising, family tree, gibbon’s decline, companions, visitor, fresco, margarets, six moon dance, singer from the sea, shadow’s end and sideshow.

(Sorry, I’m typing on my tablet and can’t be bothered formatting properly.)

Any recommendations from that list?

Trying to catch up a bit, Susan!

>168 quondame: I have already read that one so I get to dodge that BB. I am still debating on whether I am going to read the follow up book though.

Have a marvelous Monday!

>179 humouress: My favorites of that list: (groups are order by my reading preferences)

Beauty takes subversive bitterly witty aim at fairy tales
The Margarets is an exercise in alternate possible lives
Six Moon Dance is weird but entrancing

These are a series and the last one brings in characters from The True Game
Plague of angels
waters rising
fish tails

Grass and Sideshow are with Raising the Stones part of the same universe, with Sideshow rather sadistic and none of them at all comfortable.

Mankind - stress on man - is fucked up
family tree
gibbon’s decline
singer from the sea

We can be even worse with aliens:
shadow’s end

Aliens are better than us:
companions
visitor
fresco

If you like anti-patriarchy and bad genetics
The Gate to Women’s Country

>180 alcottacre: Thank you. I got an earlier (5:30AM) start than I would have liked, but so far so good.

>181 quondame: Beauty was the first Tepper I read, and I liked it enough to buy a copy. I’ve also got Gate to Women’s Country (which I like more than you) and Grass (ditto). I’ve read all her stuff, though. I’ve also got your favorite (Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore). I never read it, and now, because it’s in paperback, I can’t read it (old eyes).

>183 Storeetllr: Ah, my old eyes are viciously nearsighted and I dread losing my close vision. It's very handy.

>184 quondame: I hear you. I can actually see pretty well far away, even without glasses. Close up, not so much. Words are like scurrying ants without glasses, and other things are blurry.

>185 Storeetllr: Right now I need somewhat stronger glasses for use with my computer, and I'm supposed to get expert input on prisms to even out my eyes, but that got put on hold so the computer glasses are on hold too.

82) To Shape Dragon's Breath



Well paced, if a bit deliberate, alternate world with both dragons and pagan Norse takeover of Europe. Set in the central northeastern western continent, all scientific language is Norse based. A young native woman from a remote island is chosen by a dragon hatchling she found and required to attend "white" boarding school where the she is expected to fit in and adopt their values. She is not what they expect and what she wants isn't what they expect her to want. The incidents of the story are all familiar, but the approach and resolution are creative use of a strong minded but not irrationally foolhardy young woman as a main character.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book where a 4-legged animal is mentioned in the title

83) Jewel Box



Savory tales that do not satisfy in the way western fairy tales do, but stitch their lessons to bloody stumps. Well written, many are open subversions of well know stories one deftly combines Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss and Boots, the Pied Piper and possible one other, without harming any beanstalks.

This was one of Jo Walton's recommendations.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book whose title suggests something a person would like to achieve

So my Victoria Goddard obsession struck again when a writing challenge idea intersected with an alternate universe involving Conju so I re-read

Game of Courts
Terec and the Wild

So Conju and Terec were 19 when Terec left and Conju was 28 at the Fall. Terec had been to court and seen Artorin Damara, but Conju, son of a duke had probably been as well, but it isn't mentioned.

>110 quondame: Congratulations on your long-term marriage!!!

On another topic, I know that you, like me, enjoy collecting dolls. I found a beautiful little chair that was very well made. I had dolls in mind, but not a specific one. Then, looked at my favoriet Annette Himsteadt dolls, and she fits just right. When my neighbor came into the house and saw this she remarked how charmingly beautiful the combination of doll and chair went together!

>188 quondame: Because I am reading many illustrations books that are fairy tales, this book is one I simply have to add to the TBR list.

>190 Whisper1: Thank you. The perfect chair is hard to find. For me or for my dolls.

>191 Whisper1: Only read Jewel Box if you want very troubled, very un-jewel like stories. These are obscure gems.

Wishing you a happy weekend, Susan!

>193 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah, you have a good one too!

Saturday is a short visit to an SCA event - I've commissioned some Mala necklaces and one of them should be ready and there may be co-coordinating earrings, which isn't usually a thing, but I'm not usually Buddhist.

This is a picture of a portion of the mala I picked up today.
It is extremely long, in that I could wear it bandolier style and it would still be loose. And I love every bead of it. Each is different and the emeralds and amethysts feel fabulous.

>195 quondame: Lovely.

Congrats on reaching and passing 75, Susan. Happiness Falls and Hild are two that call to me.

Have a lovely Mother's Day.

>196 BLBera: Thank you Beth!

84) Liberty's Daughter



Briskly paced story of a 16yr old girl, daughter of a "big man" on sea platform where law is minimal and only enforced within agreed boundaries. The action is in two parts, a finder/detective portion that sets the scene and later resources and a epidemic portion that changes the game. Significant plot elements require a minor to be the character of agency, but don't make the level of competence entirely convincing.

This was one was a recommendation from someone on the HOTE Discord server

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book that you acquired in 2024

>110 quondame: Congratulations on your anniversary! Ours was just days before yours and we are at a happy 33. : )

>188 quondame: Jewel Box sounds very intriguing -- noted.

>195 quondame: Beautiful jewelry! Wear them in happiness and in health.

>199 Berly: Thank you, Kim!

The beads are magnificent to play with, but if I'm courteous I refrain when my husband is nearby. He says they are high pitched, which I can't hear, but I do admit they clack a bit.

I got directed to a YouTube video of a tablet device because the text was from Victoria Goddard's books. It is the Supernote Nomad. I fell in love. I did check comparison on a couple of web sites and did not fall out of love.



Reader, I ordered it.
Now I'll be waiting, and waiting, and waiting......

85) The Mars House



The deliberate pace of this novel is necessary to keep it from being another poor girl/boy gets taken in by the super rich. January was a principle dancer with the Ballet in a flooded out London and is a refugee on Mars, where the "earthstrong" live under strict limitations to minimize the physical harm they can do to "natural" Martians. The problems are indeed often ones with no good answers, but the characters, and the whimsical touches such as snide matriarchal mammoths give it sufficient lift not to bear down too heavily.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book whose title, subtitle, or author's full name begins or ends in the letter "Y"

86) The Adventures of Isabel



When a recently laid off social worker is asked to check into the death of a friend's granddaughter, she goes about it with a diverse group of associates, a sarcastic attitude, and no idea what she's in for. The quirks of the telling were half amusing and half annoying and very, very present and included fourth wall demolition.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book with first person narration or a title featuring the word "I", "me" or "my"

87) Loot



A detailed personalized view of the impact of class and colonialism on an artisan, a young carver seconded to a local ruler, taught by an involuntarily expatriated Frenchman, who goes through war and the perils of serving on a ship to find a place where he can learn what he needs approach his aspirations.

BB from PaulCranswick

It somehow isn't on the list, but I'm hoping it
Meets May TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book from the list that shows what other LT members have read so far in 2024

>201 quondame: I'm intrigued by The Mars House -- onto the list it goes!

>204 foggidawn: I hope you enjoy it!

Mumble.

I have started at least 8 books on my Kindle - a couple of which have been reclaimed by the library - and am deep in Monsters and The Olympian Affair, and just got caught up after looking up something and dove into The Hands of the Emperor yet again until I fell out the far end this morning.

One day I hope to read Loot as I have heard so many good things about it.

>206 vancouverdeb: It fit very well into my interest in subcontinent characters and their interactions with Europeans.

Welp, my day got gut shot.

I had an afternoon appointment to see Physical medicine for some mild neuropathy of the outside edge of my left hand and arm. The internist thought it was a neck issue but - after more than a 2hr wait! - the phys. med Dr. says it's my elbow. But too late today to pick up the pad that's supposed to protect my elbow. It all seems a lot of fuss for something so mild when I have some actual pain issues which seem to be being skipped over.

I is a good thing I keep my Kindle with me.

Sounds similar to what I have, which is a wee touch of cubital tunnel syndrome.

>209 reconditereader: He may have said something of the sort, but with my hearing and his mask it wasn't very clear. It's been ages since I routinely put much weight on my elbows - I hated the peeling sores that resulted and broke myself of the habit.

88) The Hands of the Emperor

Again. I doubt it will be the last time. It just feels so good to get lost in this world.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: The "In Honor of My Mother" Challenge - My mother turns 85 in May and Mother’s Day is celebrated in the U.S. this month as well, so I present a rolling challenge to spell out MOTHER.

89) The Olympian Affair



Alas, this is a very middle book. Lots of action, not all to the point. Real baddy bad, honor splattered all over, and cats without character development. If cats are active characters why are they simply rote roles? For an action book it isn't paced quite right either - and ends with a partial cliff hanger.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: The "In Honor of My Mother" Challenge - My mother turns 85 in May and Mother’s Day is celebrated in the U.S. this month as well, so I present a rolling challenge to spell out MOTHER.

90) Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma



What are we to do and think about art we love produced by artists who have done what we abhor? Dederer goes through a number of cases of men who abused sexual partners or raped under age girls. The central figure is the monstrous man, overwhelmingly the most common artist-monster in our culture, but also spends time on the child abandoning mother - the woman's entrée to monstrosity. She examines but does not prescribe in what form the reader should find resolution. The examination of the self as a monster and the monsters we nonetheless love were introduced more than dissected, real issues but tangential rather than central to the relationship to the works of monstrous artists.

BB from EBT1002

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book for the Zodiac challenge (Taurus - with an original published date between April 20th and May 20)

91) The Map and the Territory



Interesting world building and a decent attempt in the creation of one of the main characters, though the second lead is more a collection of capabilities. The side characters are decent and well embedded in the world building. The story keeps moving in fits and starts but that it gets anywhere is more formulaic than developed.

For Reddit Fantasy Bingo Judge a Book by Its Cover

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a paper book

Books I have started and put down for over a week:

The Bookbinder
The Fraud
A Half-Built Garden
The Middle Kingdoms
Under Cover of Darkness
The Warburgs

Books I'm currently reading:
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years 240527
The Witch's Heart 240526
The Jataka Tales I & II 240527
Splinter in the Sky 240525
The Merciful Crow
Valdemar
Beasts of a Little Land
Of Books and Paper Dragons

[240527]

So what do I read now, any of the ones in the first list. Naw. I think I'll go with At First Spite

92) The Splinter in the Sky



Lame. Young woman keeps getting in physical fights she really shouldn't survive yet does, in the most improbable of set-ups.

I only finished this because it was May's Book Club selection for HOTE Discord

93) The Witch's Heart



A deft work deeply set in the Norse mythology and, though the central character is a giantess witch aggregated from multiple witches within the mythology, the story follows Loki's offspring and misadventures. What is impressive is the way the legendary figures become real characters, with daily lives, passions, weaknesses, drives and each having different ways of responding to the boundaries and bindings of fate.

BB from scaifea

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book mentioned in one of the Five Books Lists

94) Jataka Tales I & II



Fanciful moral tales featuring animals, overlapping ones familiar from Aesop, Kipling, and Br'er Rabbit, but with more humans - especially Kings, mixed in, and occasionally, more ambiguous. All very short and plainly told.

Read for May TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a collection of religious or spiritual texts

95) The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years



A competent example of a plot structure with two connected time periods and the later learning from the former with dark secrets. The setting in South Africa is not particularly well invoked nor the Indian culture of the characters other than the names of the food and spices, which is somewhat of a let down. But the lurking Djinn who is only, active in one sequence engineered for it to be so, is a disappointment.

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book that you acquired in 2024

I'm really loving the Greenwing and Dart series, now waiting on Plum Duff. I read The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul, and she's really a bit of a jerk with no emotional intelligence. I get she sustained an existential shock, but to take it out on her dearest friend because he's not the same person she used to know and because she's ashamed of her personal failure...

>220 justchris: Oh yes, Pali is a bit of a jerk. Too close to real - especially in RPA.

I've got a wee bit of cubital tunnel syndrome as well. Back in my late 40's, I saw a ? some sort of doctor, and he did some nerve testing. He told me that surgery was more risky than just leaving it be, as sometimes the surgery causes more problems that it fixes. It doesn't bother me much, just a bit of pins and needles while sleeping , and occasionally during the day. I have a bad habit of leaning on that elbow, and I also need to put moisturizer on it more often.

>222 vancouverdeb: It doesn't seem much of a problem. But I didn't know that before it got diagnosed. Pins & needle symptoms have heralded more sever problems for others.

96) At First Spite



There are a lot of laughs in this book, a good many of them hang on the multitude and flexibility of the monster pricks of the Sadie Brazen books within the book, as the ex-fiancé connects with the brother of the man who dumped her - on his insistence, has some interest and heat on its own, but not quite enough to make a soufflé of a set of relationships that ought to shipwreck.

BB from MickyFine

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book that you acquired in 2024

97) The Merciful Crow



The Crows are the bottom caste of 12, required by their immunity to the Sinner's Plague, to remove and burn the bodies of plague victims lest everything close is blighted. An endangered prince hires the crows to convey him and his body guard double to safety - but nowhere is safe for Crows. Spoiled prince and bodyguard learn lessons in what doesn't seem a well thought out fantasy world, no one about which there is much worth saving.

BB from humouress

Meets May TIOLI Challenge #4: The "In Honor of My Mother" Challenge - so I present a rolling challenge to spell out MOTHER.

OOOPS WRONG THREAD

Oops, wrong thread again...