ThreadnSong Curls Up with Books in 2025

Hello and Welcome to my 2025 Reading list!

I use the name "threadnsong" to cover my interests in both needle crafts and music. I knit, do cross stitch and needlepoint, and occasionally venture into paper crafts and coloring in those new fun books for adults. And for music, I both play Irish music with others and solo, while learning more and more Irish tunes at a wonderful music school. And I venture to the Symphony on occasion, and enjoy prog rock and well-played modern songs by new artists.

Since I was able to accomplish my goal of 45 books in 2024, I'll aim for that same number in 2025. And the categories I chose have also worked well so I will continue them. Why re-invent the wheel??

Here are the categories and explanations for how I use them:

Category 1 - Quick Reads (reading a book that will take the current month to complete)
Category 2 - Longer Reads (anything from a door stopper to a biography to a book I wish to savor)
Category 3 - Group Reads (joining in with various LT group readings from this group as library availability or time allow)
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series (reading Vol. III, and hoping to finish this volume to move on to Vol. IV this year)
Category 5 - Classics (because what makes them classics, what story they tell, intrigues me)

Reading goal: 45 books
Read-to-date: 2 books

January Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads A Crafter Knits a Clue by Holly Quinn, London Bridges by James Patterson, A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton
Category 2 - Longer Reads A Chainless Soul by Katherine Frank, Somebody to Love by Matt Richards
Category 3 - Book Group Reads The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. III The Lays of Beleriand
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

January Current Count - 6
Yearly Count - 6

Ed: Even though it's a gripping story, to which we all know the tragic ending, "Somebody to Love" is also a bit of a door-stopper. As a result, I have moved it to the 2nd category to acknowledge that it will be next month before I finish it.

Happy Reading, Threadnsong!!

>3 genesisdiem: Thank you very much, genesisdiem!

1) January Category 2 - A Chainless Soul by Katherine Frank
4 1/2 ****

A very thorough look at the life of this bright, troubled woman who left the legacy of one of the greatest Victorian stories ever written. While the account of her life does drag in places (she did spend nearly all of her life in and near Haworth), it brings this passionate, strong, smart woman to life.

The story begins with her father, Patrick né Brunty, later Brontë, who grew up in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the late 1700's. He gained his parsonage in Haworth when he was 43, and by all accounts was a dashing, gallant young man who left Ireland to seek his place among the learned clergy of England. He courted and later married Maria Branwell in his mid-30's and their move to Haworth was to be the foundation of their young family.

And really, Emily's life was one of aloneness at a young age, starting with her mother's death soon after moving to Haworth parsonage. Her Aunt Branwell came to stay with the family, but both she and Patrick took to their own, comfortable rooms, leaving the children the coldest bedroom in which to sleep. Love and comfort during these earliest of years was non-existent from the adults, so the remaining sisters and their brother became the foundational family unit.

What Katherine Frank also explains is how Emily's writing, both the Gondal stories she made up with Anne, her poetry, and "Wuthering Heights" grew out of this solitude. She attended boarding school, took up a teaching position with Charlotte to help Charlotte's dream of opening their own school, and even attended a school for young ladies in Brussels for a year. Yet when she was separated from her moors, her kitchen, and her family, she pined and became a shadow of herself. When she was at home, she had her vigorous walks and unlimited time in which to dream and to write.

And because Charlotte had a biography written by Elizabeth Gaskell, much of what we know about Emily comes from Charlotte and her accounts of writing with her sisters, discovering Emily's writing box, and worrying (fretting) over Emily's state of mind when she was separated from her beloved moors. Frank also posits that Emily's obsession with food (she handled nearly all the cooking for the family later in life, as well as denied her body food when she was in locations far from home) might have rendered her a diagnosis as an anorexic in this modern era.

2) January Category 2 - A Crafter Knits a Clue by Holly Quinn
3 ***

I found this initial installment in a series to be a bit lacking in originality. Perhaps because I had just finished another knitting shop-inspired cozy mystery, the similarities between the two books were very glaring to rate more than 3 stars.

The plus for this book were its originality in the craftsphere: the main character, Samantha ("Sammy") returns to her hometown and takes over her best friend's craft store. So instead of knit shop wars, we have a general craft shop with a separate teaching room, woodworking in addition to knitting, and a town that prides itself on gardening and beautifying for spring. I liked that novel premise, and that Sammy's craft store is a creative hub for all the various groups that create things. Sort of a Maker's Space. Also, Sammy relies on modern platforms and electronic mediums for staying in touch with her customers and staff.

The annoying parts for me were the death of the unlikeable knit shop owner (borrowing a common plotline) and the attitude that Sammy "cops" with the lead detective on the case. Who takes a liking tp Sammy but whom Sammy continues to show animosity in their interactions. She's just so disagreeable towards him, I had to wonder why he didn't just turn off and find someone else in the first few pages instead of invite himself over for pizza. As part of his investigation.

Good Luck, Enjoy your Reading, threadnsong, ☺️.

Thank you so much, Sergei! And Happy New Year to you.

3) January Category 1 - London Bridges by James Patterson
4****

And now it all makes sense. I started this book out of order in the series and was wondering why all the characters and action seemed dis-jointed. So after reading "Big Bad Wolf" I went back to this volume, skimmed the portion I had read to catch myself back up on the action, and continued merrily on my way. So to speak.

Still a police drama with Alex Cross struggling to adapt to the changes in his life, especially with little Alex across the country, while simultaneously keeping his promises to his family to be there more often. This time, though, the world is turned upside down with new designs by The Big Bad Wolf, a former KGB agent brought to the US at the end of the 1990's who exploits his new country.

Four major cities are in the Wolf's sights and he is holding them hostage until his financial demands are met. His seriousness starts with a small Nevada town, evacuated of people, bombed from the sky in a unique fashion. Some days later, a small northern English town is destroyed in the same way, and Cross and his colleagues at the FBI are beside themselves trying to figure out the whys and hows. The timeframe is a matter of days before the Wolf will blow up the major cities.

We are brought into the darkness that is the mind of the Wolf, and he has allied himself with the Weasel from previous Alex Cross novels. They are in dark, dark places, and it takes all of Alex Cross's psychological background to figure out the motive that the Wolf has for targeting the cities he has (London, Paris, New York, and Washington, DC). And the kicker for all of this? No one from these cities can know that a bomb may go off at any moment, so there can be no evacuations. And when a bomb does go off, the devastation is tragic for the country and demoralizing for law enforcement.

I was captivated to the very end, especially when Alex began to recognize some of his allies and motivations for the Wolf and the Weasel.

4) The Language of Trees by Katie Holten
5*****

This book was not on any of my lists or categories, as I have read it over time as a bedtime sort of reading. Short stories are a good foil for my insomnia, though this one perked my interest more than it put me to sleep.

Anyway, here's my review:

A truly thoughtful book, and one that took time to read. Each snippet or story or discussion takes place around trees: what they bring us, what they mean, and how their destruction harms us as well as our planet. There is much food for thought and kudos to Kate Holten for pulling together so many diverse voices.

And the tree alphabet is a brilliant idea. I found myself being drawn to figuring out those words and letters while I read the corresponding essays and articles. The alphabet was an artistic masterpiece.

5) January Category 3 - The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry
4****

In a gripping portrayal of a very dark time in Poland's history, a young man witnesses the brutal beating of a math professor in Mokotów Prison. The beating, and the documents he is "invited" to sign, will forever change his life.

Fast forward to the modern day, to the city of Bruges, Belgium. What starts as a nice evening and tour of this historic city, complete with an after-dinner Dame Blanche, quickly turns into a dramatic save. Cotton Malone, in Brussels on business for his Danish bookstore, sees a couple of shifty-looking strangers entering the cathedral for the daily Veneration of the Precious Blood. Being Cotton Malone, he takes action.

And more action follows. It seems that the Precious Blood is one of seven relics of Arma Christi that are being stolen from around sacred sites. And we soon see the reason for these thefts: they are the entrance "fee" to a very private auction in a luxurious castle in Slovakia. The auction is to be held between seven nations who all very much want certain documents for their national gain. The very same documents the young man, Janusz Czajkowsi, signed to help the Communist government spy on his neighbors and friends.

And this same young man has become the President of Poland on the verge of his second term. Meaning that the documents could ruin his career and destroy any future he might have.

In true Steve Berry fashion, we soon see the auctioneer, Jonty Olivier, a broker in secrets and information, who has decided this auction will be his retirement. Add in his chief rival, Eli Reinhardt, the US government representative Tom Bunch and his boss, President Fox, along with the head of the (soon to be disbanded) Magellan Billet, Stephanie Nelle, Ivan and Sonia, and soon Cotton is on another international mission.

Much of the intrigue and action plays out against the backdrop of modern Poland, including its difficult history of governance as well as its invasions by the Nazis and Stalin's Communists. And within Poland are the salt mines of Wielicka, one of the first 12 places that became a World Heritage Site in 1978. These mines existed during the Middle Ages and for many centuries were the wealth of the nation. They are complete with chapels, staircases, pools of briney water, and the salt miners lived there for weeks at a time in order to harvest this vital mineral. They are still a tourist attraction, and seem to be as large as a city.

All in all, a good read and one that taught me much, as the Cotton Malone series tends to do.

6) January Category 1 - A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton
4 ****

The third in this fun cozy mystery series that takes place in fictional Fort Connor, Colorado. This installment features Kelly and her friend Megan at an art gallery show with their friend, Allison. Allison does fabric art and has gained the opportunity to be in a New York City gallery. This show is her final one in the area and while her friends are sorry to see her go, they are impressed by her artistry.

Megan promises to pick her up at her apartment to catch her flight at the airport, and shockingly finds her dead. Kelly is there as well and notices a set of beads that Allison had bought for her next project missing from Allison's apartment.

The police rule the death a suicide until Kelly intervenes and Megan points out some inconsistencies as well. A message on Allison's voicemail, a bad news ex-boyfriend, and a mysterious car near her apartment on the night of the tragedy all begin to fall into place for the amateur sleuths. And their professional counterparts.

While the drama (or lack thereof) of Kelly's love life continue to give her friends no end of amusement, since Steve is a pretty decent guy, and her telecommuting CPA job still pays the bills, we are beginning to see a shift in her personal life. How she manages to stay a part of the Lambspun family begins to take shape by the end of this book, making this book a pivotal one in the series.

February Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, Bride by Ali Hazelwood, A Middle Earth Traveller by John Howe
Category 2 - Longer Reads Somebody to Love by Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne, The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson
Category 3 - Book Group Reads Fire Strike by Mike Madden
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. III The Lays of Beleriand
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo, Cligès by Chrétien de Troyes

February Current Count - 5
Yearly Count - 11

Sure enough, as soon as I moved the Freddie Mercury biography to the "Longer Reads" category, I finished it on February 1! Since I read that rock biography, I figured I'd reach into the same bag and start John Lennon's biography by James Patterson. He's a favorite author of mine and he does his research. Sure enough, the first chapter opens with Mark David Chapman's arrival in New York City, complete with his .38 special. I'm sure I'll have to take this book in bits and pieces.

Also on the docket are some books recommended by several sources, one of which was a gift from Christmas 2023. Perfect opportunity to read it! And I'm looking forward to another group read with the Clive Cussler books.

Ed. Also started reading "A Middle Earth Traveller" which is a series of sketches (?) by John Howe. Amazing views that he has of this land and its locales and peoples.

7) February Category 2 - Somebody to Love by Matt Richards and Mark Langhorne
5***** ❤️

An absolutely fantastic book, covering not just this music idol of mine from way, way back, but also his early life and the AIDS epidemic. Queen were one of my go-to bands starting in the late 70's when I stayed up late for one of the midnight rock shows and saw the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video. I was hooked: Freddie Mercury was the most beautiful rock star I had seen, and his voice and piano playing were beyond measure.

This book is just as innovative in its approach to his life and music as he was. It begins with the modern theory (2016) on the rise of AIDS as an epidemic that begins around 1908 in the city of Leopoldville. Up to that time, any hunter who was bitten by an infected chimpanzee would have gotten the HIV virus but it would not have spread beyond his immediate village. By 1908, though, there is travel and commerce and ships and it spreads around the world.

Also covered in great detail, all at once and in one place (instead of bits spread around various magazines and interviews) is the early life of Frederic Bulsara. It includes his initiation into his community's Zoroastrian religious faith and his family's life in Zanzibar. How they lived, then how quickly they had to flee was much more detailed and involved than anything I had known.

Like a recent autobiography by Charles Spencer, the authors also delve into boarding school and the impact it probably had on the rest of his life. Freddie was shipped to his boarding school in India from Zanzibar at the age of 8, and the impact of boarding school that is felt among the generations of British upper classes is becoming more documented. However, he also joined his first bands at school, and there are some pictures from those early musical days.

Also well detailed are Freddie's early years when he arrives in London, his choice of art school, and the ways in which the bands he was in and Smile (Roger Taylor's and Brian May's band) merged and coalesced and finally formed into Queen. But there were several years of the early band years that transpired, and the tours and locations are again very well documented. And in one place.

His years with Queen, his rise to stardom, and his grasping at love are also part of this book as one would expect. Those years include the tours and albums and the press they garner. Also covered are Freddie's times after Queen concerts when he went from one gay club or bathhouse to another, looking for a love that he only found with Mary Austin and Jim Hutton. There is the educated guess, based on performance and band schedule, as well as how HIV first affects its victims, that pinpoints the approximate time when Freddie probably acquired HIV/AIDS.

And yet, he kept touring and bringing music to so many people for so many years. He brought Live Aid to its collective feet, and even explored opera with the great Monserrat Caballé. His is a gift for songwriting, singing, and music that I am glad to have known during my lifetime.

8) February Category 2 - The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson
5*****

I have always been aware of the Beatles and I remember toasting John Lennon's 40th birthday in the high school cafeteria. And then the unbelievable news of his death so shortly afterwards. His genius and impact on the world still resonate and can easily eclipse his life story.

James Patterson continues to be one of my favorite author with his Alex Cross series, so when I saw this book at a chain bookstore I decided, sure, why not? Patterson writes about crimes and solving them, and this book is no exception.

Yes, we all know how he died. There were conspiracies throughout the 1980's about Mark David Chapman being affiliated with the CIA, or FBI, or just simply a deranged fan. Patterson examines the latter probability as the most likely and begins the book with Chapman's plane trip from Hawaii with his loaded gun in his luggage.

There is also ample room given to Lennon's childhood and early bands, culminating in his partnership with McCartney that grew into The Beatles. The details in these sections were well done, fleshing out otherwise quick mentions in newspapers or magazines, especially Pete Best and other early band members' names. And the German club scene - what incredible endurance the Beatles and every other band hired must have had in order to play for 12 hours at a time.

This book is also well-organized, so that one lives in the world of Lennon and the Beatles for a good bit, including their camaraderie, break-up, and John's struggles as Julian's dad. Lennon's activism is also detailed and put into chronological order. Chapman begins to take more space as 1980 draws to a close. Much of the thoughts and words in these pages are taken from interviews Chapman has given over the years, giving this part an authenticity and not just speculation.

In addition, Patterson gives pages of end notes at the end of the book to provide documentation for what he's written. I rather prefer this method, in case there is a section or quote without the bother of seeing a footnote throughout this volume.

9) February Category 1 - The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
4 1/2 ****

In many ways, this was a 5 star read for me, and in many ways it was a 4 star read. So the 4 1/2 star rating makes the most sense.

What is it about a book about chess that can be so gripping to a non-chess player? Well, it is also about a child who is orphaned at age 8 and sent to an orphanage in 1950's (or so) Kentucky. Her life is empty and her solitary nature takes over until she meets the school's janitor who teaches her chess. And then her solitary nature becomes a gift.

Over her years at the orphanage her abilities are honed until a fateful evening when she is cut off from all contact with her janitor/chess teacher and becomes even more isolated.

By the time she is 12, she is adopted by the Wheatleys, becoming an only child and eventually the only other person in the home when Mr. Wheatley leaves. Beth re-discovers chess and enters competitions that result in her earning her own way and finally joining the popular girls in school.

It is a coming of age story, with Beth earning a living through her chess playing, gaining a friendship with Mrs. Wheatley (never referred to as "her mother" or "mom" throughout this story), and the world of chess championships fictionalized for this book. What I did find both fascinating and mind-numbing were the intricate moves involved in the matches; Tevis must have spent hours on this research alone. He describes himself as a decent chess player, which lends authenticity to the book as a whole.

The subject matter was also pretty intense and is definitely not the stuff of "happily ever after." I found it worked best as a pick up and put down kind of read, absorbing what I could at a time and then moving onto something else.

10) February Category 1 - A Middle-Earth Traveler by John Howe

5***** ❤️

What's not to love? The ability that John Howe brings to envision things, people, events in Middle Earth is startling. It helps that this book is illustrated with (mostly) pencil sketches so that the eye is drawn to detail and not to color.

The swords and armor of the Rohirrim. The Hedge that surrounds the Old Forest, planted by the Bucklanders. The start of the destruction of Barad-Dur, just as the top of the tower is moving. All of these are brought to life by this artist's eye and his ability. Not to mention the Orcs/Uruk-Hai/Mumakil, Dragons, Elves, and Halflings.

I find it a gift to have this book, as I need that visual imaging to bring the words on the page to life. Perhaps that is why I loved the movies so much? And Howe's influence on the set design is clear from these pictures, as one would expect.

What I also like about this book is the bit of explanation he gives in the different subject. For Meduseld, Howe writes, "In Edoras, stands Meduseld, the Golden Hall. Built by Brego, son of Eorl, it was completed in 2569 of the Third Age, four centuries before the War of the Ring. Standing on the summit of the hill, when first glimpsed by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, in the company of Gandalf the White, its roofs seem to glow golden in the sun." Just that, nothing more is needed for a verbal description (because we all know *that* passage from the book), words that tie all the history of Meduseld into the greater history of Middle Earth. With an incredibly detailed giant hall, complete with roofs, windows, sections, all suggesting a large, intricate interior.

Cups and packets and pipes the Dwarves used on their journey. The dragons on their approach to destroy Gondolin. Dale. Towers in Numenor. It's all here, ready to be looked at again and again and again.

February Category 3 - Fire Strike by Mike Madden
4 1/2 ****

This is the first Clive Cussler book I've read (written post-humously by Mike Maden), and I read it as part of a group read. I knew there would be international intrigue and lots of guns and ammo; what I did not expect was the Prologue that centered on the backstory of the character named Maurice. His story was told with grace and compassion, even with the violent nature of events, and I was suitably impressed.

The team that works for Juan Cabrillo on his ship Oregon are called away from what they thought would be their mission to instead rescue the brother of an Israeli Mossad agent. Apparently Langston Overholt had a favor to call in and Cabrillo's crew are able to pivot seamlessly.

Their story overlaps with two other researchers' trip into the Amazon to collect blood samples from a native tribe. The trip does not end well, and their guards are certainly the ones to blame. In addition to doing their mission, these same guards seem to have physical and emotional changes that are not quite normal.

Various other events are mingled in as part of the plot, including those of Jean-Paul Salan in his hidden temple in Yemen, Dr. Heather Hightower on her specialized research vessel disguised as a mercy ship, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who is beset on all sides.

As a good international intrigue book should, all of these disparate threads are woven together in concise plot points while the tension grows. Will they find Sarai's brother? What is Dr. Hightower doing with her blood samples? And how on earth are the members of the Corporation going to get out of one dilemma after another?

March Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Bride by Ali Hazelwood, New Moon by Midori Snyder, Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. III The Lays of Beleriand
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo, Cligès by Chrétien de Troyes

March Current Count - 4
Yearly Count - 15

For once, I really, really don't know what else I will read for this month. I am enjoying "Bride" a great deal and keep promising myself some "quiet time" on weekends to journey back into the early days of Middle Earth or the medieval spell of Chrétien de Troyes.

Whatever choices I make, though, I will post them here!

Ed: I picked the first of a series from my shelves that was due for a re-read, "New Moon" by Midori Snyder. I'm devouring it which means that it has withstood the test of time, and have also added all 3 of "The Queens' Quarter" books to LibraryThing.

Also on for this month is a book I *hope* I can finish quickly called "The Facemaker" for a reading challenge. It's about a New Zealand doctor who began re-constructing the faces of the wounded men in the Great War.

And finally a long-term read is a book by Erik Larson, where he writes about the crucial 5 months between President Lincoln's election and the start of the Civil War. The research is astounding and Larson's style is very gripping and timely.

12) March Category 5 - Cligés by Chrétien de Troyes
5*****

What a truly amazing book, bringing in King Arthur and Constantinople, intrigue and courtly manners, and a knight worthy of all his accomplishments.

The story begins with Alexander, eldest son of the Emperor and Empress of Greece and Constantinople. He begs leave of his father to go seek his fame and fortune in Britain, even though his father would surely make him a knight in his hometown. But as Alexander sees it, he can only win renown by proving himself to Arthur in Britain, and not by staying at home and receiving his knighthood as a matter of inheritance.

Once there he travels with the court to Brittany and meets Sordamour, sister of Gawain and therefore niece to Arthur. And here is where Cligés shows a twist to the Arthurian legend: nowhere else is Sordamour mentioned, in any of the tales, including Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History."

Alexander returns to Greece and finds his younger brother, Alis, has taken the crown that should rightfully belong to Alexander. Words are spoken, and finally Alis agrees that he shall never marry to beget an heir: the crown will go to his brother's son, whoever that son may be.

When Alexander and Sordamour have a son, his name is Cligés and he, too, is a mighty knight of King Arthur's court. Yet he leaves his sighing beloved in Greece, a young noblewoman named Fenice. And Alis falls for Fenice's beauty and marries her, against his oath, but Fenice's honor is saved at the hands of her nurse, Thessala. Thessala knows about potions and crafts one to give to the ill-intentioned Alis. It tricks him into thinking he is laying with his wife when he is, instead, asleep.

Love and honor win out in the end, with a carefully hidden home and garden, though some intrigue comes to call and almost reveals the lovers to Alis.

Part of what makes this poem? story? resonate are the parallels with Tristan and Iseult, until it deviates from that well-known tragedy. There are also many quotes sprinkled throughout, along with rich descriptions of the courts and the journeys, and then, unexpectedly, there are the inner thoughts of the characters, especially the women.

13) March Category 1 - Bride by Ali Hazelwood
5 *****

I was a bit nervous to read this book, as Young Adult does not always translate to "of interest" to an older adult. And happily I was drawn into this world and the tests of courage the main character undergoes. The book takes place in a contemporary Western US that includes Vampyres, Weres, and Humans living in an uneasy truce.

The main character is Misery Lark, daughter of the leader of the Vampyres, given in marriage to the Alpha Male of a group of Weres, Lowe Moreland. Misery's early life was that of a Collateral among the Humans in order to maintain a fragile peace between the two groups. She has continued to live among humans with her best (and only) friend, Serena, into adulthood. Then two things happen (as we learn through the story): the Human presidential election chooses a new President and Serena disappears.

The book begins with Misery's wedding and her married life among the Weres. Given that the Vampyres and Weres are mortal enemies, there are many instances for confrontation and misunderstandings. And there is also space for Misery to learn how mischievous and smart little children can be as she finds herself adored by Moreland's very much younger, six-year-old sister, Ana. Misery learns the customs of the Weres, and Lowe the customs of Vampyres, as she and Lowe work to maintain a bit of peace given their difficult start.

As one would expect, conversations become deeper, love happens, and heads up: there are several explicitly sexual passages towards the end of the book which a reader can skip should a reader wish.

One of the most brilliant parts of this book is the insight the author has into the trauma that Misery has endured as a child growing up in the midst of Others who are not part of her Family. Her impulsiveness, her need to fight, her acerbic look at the world reminds me of a friend who lived for several years in the US foster care system as a teenager. I now have a better understanding of the front she puts up as a fortress to the world around her, hiding a vulnerable and loving heart.

And so I can say, this book deserves the accolades it has received!

14) March Category 1 - New Moon by Midori Snyder
5*****

A multiple re-read for me, going all the way back to the late 80's/early 90's, this book has stood the test of time. It takes place in Oran's capital city, Beldan, and mostly in that city's slums. For two centuries, children with certain elemental powers to earth, air, fire, and water face a certain death. So they take to hiding among the various Flocks or submit to the noddy noose.

Ruling over this land is Oran's Fire Queen, Zorah, who appears to be immortal. She is under the political influence of the Sileans who have promised their guardianship with promises of peace, prosperity, and longevity for her. But not necessarily for her people.

The story takes place from many different viewpoints: Jobber, a smith's apprentice; Alwir, a member of a Silean noble family; the Firstwatch, led by a woman whose job is to maintain control of the Silean guards; and the Flocks made up of street urchins. We also meet some of the leaders of these flocks, especially Kai who cares for her Waterlings.

The backdrop of the action is Fire Faire and all of Oran's folk arriving in Beldan. Yet when several street children are killed and Kai follows the killer through Beldan's streets, secret identities are revealed and Zorah knows that her throne is in jeopardy. The action is fast-paced and unrelenting, like life for many in this city, and it does not let up until the book ends. Which makes a great opportunity for the sequel!

15) March Category 1 - Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris
5*****

This is a fantastic book, describing the work of the New Zealand doctor, Harold Gillies, who pioneered plastic surgery on the faces of soldiers in Britain during the Great War. The author does a very good job detailing the people around Harold Gillies as well as Gillies himself, and the strides he made to give these massively wounded soldiers back their faces and their sense of self. It is an aspect of the Great War that I had not considered and I am very glad I took a chance on this book.

One thing I will mention here is that this book is not for the squeamish. There are pictures of some of the men Dr. Gillies treated; I am not sure if the descriptions of the men's wounded faces are more disturbing than the actual pictures.

Fitzharris describes the lethal combination of high-explosive shells and the bacteria-rich farmlands where many of the first battles were fought, such as the Second Battle of Ypres. Anesthesia was in its infancy, germ theory was often discounted, and the battlefield surgeons would often stitch together a face torn apart by a shell in an effort to stem the immediate blood loss.

When the soldiers finally came to Queen's Hospital, Sidcup, their battlefield wounds had nearly healed, forcing the surgical team to re-open the wound before beginning the multiple procedures of re-building a face. Dr. Gillies one of the pioneers of a technique called a pedicule to re-construct cartilage that would become part of a nose. He was among the plastic surgeons who used dentists to help re-create jaws, and even had the artist Henry Tonks on staff create sketches of the soldiers' faces to both help plan the surgeries and to document the progress of re-building their faces.

There soldiers with the most detailed steps of their plastic surgery are the ones who have pictures in this book. Private R.W.D. Seymour, injured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, eventually became Gillies' private chauffeur. And pages from the diary of Percy Clare give a personal look at fighting in the trenches, to his rescue off of the battlefield, to the field hospitals, and finally to life at Queen's Hospital as a patient.

April Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Sadar's Keep by Midori Snyder, Pardonable Lies by Jaqueline Winsper, Bronwyn's Bane by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Goff
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. III The Lays of Beleriand
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo, Electra by Euripides

April Current Count - 4
Yearly Count - 19

I'm so very glad that I am still enjoying the "Queen's Quarter" trilogy after all these decades! Not every fantasy series has withstood the test of time, but this one sure has. There's another book or two on my shelves that I will also grab this month, and hope that they will be a good balance to the series of events cataloged so well by Erik Larsen. He is a master storyteller, though his details also draw some chilling parallels within a divided country.

And since the past 6 weeks have been very hectic, I am going to schedule some coffee shop reading time to make some headway on Tolkien in April. His original writings are such an intense look at the formation of his Middle Earth, and I like to spend some time away from everything else to concentrate on his world.

My progress on "Les Misérables" is also proceeding well. I'm seeing some interesting parallels between young Marius and young me, including turning down a possible job/livelihood because it does not measure up to one's standards or beliefs of what a company should be.

Happy April, everyone!

Ed: Well, the next book in the "Queen's Quarter" trilogy, "Sadar's Keep," was very quick and it gave me a good chance to revisit this story. I also picked up the next Jacqueline Winspear book and decided that life is too short to wait for Christmas for a few more installments. My local bookstore will be seeing some orders from me soon!

I also started "The Vaster Wilds" which looked like it would be a quick read due to its size. Nope - it's a very, very rich chocolate ganache cake that needs to be savored a bit at a time. The writing is thick and dense, and as I read I realized that I would lose a lot of the feel of this book if I just read it to read it. And the subject matter is not the easiest.

Next weekend is my weekend to curl up in a coffee shop and get some more Tolkien reading in!

16) April Category 1 - Sadar's Keep by Midori Snyder
5*****

Following up on the events of "New Moon" and the remains of Beldan, the voyage that began onboard Faul's ship reaches its destination and we are introduced to the third member of the Queen's Quarter Knot. And the story culminates at the ruins of a fortress known as Sadar's Keep.

The sea voyage with former Firstwatch of Beldan's troops, Faul, aboard the Marigold is not the easiest thing for Jobber and her element of Fire. Her connection with Lirrel grows through Lirrel's element of Air and atunement to thoughts. When they sail to their destination, the town is much emptier of residents but full of Silean troops who have also seized Faul's family lands. The group escapes into the surrounding marsh.

Meanwhile, we meet Shedwyn and her paramour, Eneas, son of a Silean lord on whose lands Shedwyn works. They, too, face assault and possible capture by Sileans and they, too, escape into the marsh where Shedwyn's connection with the element of Earth keeps them safe.

In her palace in Beldan, Fire Queen Zorah is feeling the movement of these elements and inserts herself to cause dissension between Earth and Fire, Shedwyn and Jobber, just as there was friction between herself and her sister, the Earth element Huld. Fortunately in this group of young women, there is Lirrel, sworn to the peace of the Ghazali peoples.

The wanderers journey to the lands where the New Moon have come together in the Avadares mountains. As refugees and rebels, they must rely on what the land has to give them for nourishment and what they can teach one another about fighting. Eventually, the group heads to Sadar's Keep where the final battle with the Silean Guards takes place in the last few chapters.

17) April Category 1 - Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
5*****

I'm always amazed when I read from this series how much I like it. And I must start buying more in this series on my own, instead of waiting for birthday and Christmas to enlarge on it.

This book starts in mid-1930, when the Great Depression is making itself known and Maisie Dobbs is called to help with a young girl accused of killing her uncle. In order for this girl to receive the lawyer-ing she needs, Maisie takes a case from a recent widower. It seems that his son, Ralph, died during the Great War, yet his late wife insisted that Ralph was still alive.

Maisie goes to several of the mediums the late Lady Lawton contacted, only one of whom seems to have the Gift and who is the medium who assured Lady Lawton that her son still lived. Sir Cecil Lawton, who has agreed to help Maisie with the young girl's defense, never believed his wife and never was close to his son.

Intertwined as cases can be, Maisie is also called upon by her friend from Girton days, Priscilla, to see about her brother Peter's death in the war. Priscilla lost all three brothers to the War and both parents to the Flu Pandemic of 1918, but still managed to rebuild her life.

What Maisie must do to solve these cases and keep Sir Lawton as the defense of the young girl is to return to France and revisit scenes of both heavy fighting and picturesque holiday. Meanwhile, Maisie assigns her assistant, Billy, to go to the girl's hometown and research her life before she arrived in London. He does, with surprising results. And Maisie finds out that sometimes war brings both a new lease on life and strong friendships amid the carnage.

18) April Category 5 - Electra by Euripides
4****

The play "Electra" was my choice as a re-read, from way back in 2004, to fulfill a LT group challenge. It concerns events in the life of Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clymnestra and her desire for revenge.

Electra is be-moaning her fate, that of an unwanted daughter who is forced to marry beneath her station to a field worker. She has been separated from her brother, Orestes, for a decade; has seen her sister, Iphigenia, killed by her father, Agamemnon; and her mother, Clymnestra, marry Aegisthus in an adulterous affair. And oh yes, when Agamemnon makes it home with a second wife, Cassandra, Clymnestra has him killed so that she can continue her own affair/marriage to Aegisthus.

So Electra has no love lost for her mother and step-father, and a great deal of self-pity. In the introduction, Vellacott seems to point to her self-pity as her one indulgence in her life. I would posit her self-pity as a normal reaction to an extraordinarily traumatizing series of life events.

At any rate, she is re-united with her dear Orestes and agrees with his decision to kill Aeschylus as an act of vengeance. And once this deed is done, they also conspire to also kill their mother for the crimes she has committed. It seems that Orestes, while reluctant to commit matricide, has received a message via a Phoeban oracle to fully revenge his father's death. And it is Electra who urges him to commit this act of revenge and listen to the gods' words instead of to his love for his mother.

What Euripedes does with this final act of revenge is to point out the futility of their deed. They are both ravaged and wracked with guilt over the double murder, even though their anger at their mother (especially) was justified. And Electra is as much the instigator of their mother's murder as the Phoeban oracle was, and now both she and Orestes will have to live with this deed for the rest of their lives. And they will also be separated, so their longed-for reunion is quickly over.

19) April Category 1 - Bronwyn's Bane by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
2**

Oh. My. I think now I know that I heard the name of this author and why I did an impulse purchase of 3 books in this series. She is mentioned often in connection with Anne McCaffery, and I think I've seen her name on panels or in connection with other panelists at DragonCon.

Still, I'm going to send this book into the wild. The subject sounded like a good one: a tall girl with fighting abilities and a curse to only tell untruths is sent to a cousin's for safekeeping while her country is at war. The problem is, the interesting premise quickly goes off the rails at an attempt at farce? humor? too many plot elements?

I do love me some Terry Pratchett, who is able to frolic in his worlds. But this book and series are just not my thing and I definitely did not enjoy them.

April Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth, Vol. III, The Lays of Beleriand

Finally I found time to curl up in a coffee shop and finish the third chapter, "The Lay of Leithian" and boy was the effort worth it! It is 180 pages long, and as with the rest of the poems that Christopher Tolkien edited in this book, each section of the poem comes with notes and commentary.

The final sections that I read were "Beren and Luthien in Angband" and "Escape from Angband." As with other poems that he first wrote in this cycle, there is greater detail of conversations, the disguises that Luthien and Beren wore to meet with Morgoth, and much more detail about Morgoth's throne room when they enter it. Huan the Hound makes an appearance, and the song of Luthien that she sings to enchant Morgoth, as is the taking of the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. The poem ends with their escape from Angband; the later life together of Luthien and Beren is part of Tolkien's later work.

Again, the detail that Tolkien first wrote was much deeper than what became the published Silmarillion, and the depth and breadth of his vision are still awe-inspiring.

May Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Where Serpents Sleep by C. S. Harris, Guinevere by Sharan Newman, Bringing Home the Rain by Bob McGough, Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier, What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Goff, The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. III The Lays of Beleriand
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

May Current Count - 7
Yearly Count - 26

I finished both the next installment of C. S. Harris's "Sebastian St Cyr" series and "Demons of Unrest" this weekend, and reviews will be coming shortly. I'm also glad that "Guinevere" is such a good read, as it brings a combination of realism and fantasy to this oft-told story.

And that leaves some time to ponder my shelves for this month. I'm still sticking with the plan to keep "Vaster Wilds" on a pick up and put down kind of reading, as it is deep and slightly unsettling subject matter. The book by Bob McGough is a quicker read but my review will come with some heavy trigger alerts: the drug use in rural, southern Alabama is not an easy bit to read. I heard the author speak on a panel at DragonCon and was impressed with his honesty, so I bought his book.

Making some good progress on both Hugo and Tolkien, and I found a new coffee shop to hopefully complete the latter soon!

20) May Category 1 - Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris
4 ****

While I liked seeing more of Hero Jarvis and her efforts to reform her world, I found the number of ties between the murdered characters a bit confounding. There is the initial crime of burning down the Quaker reform house, the Magdalene House, and killing the inhabitants. And there are the prostitutes living in the Orchard Street Academy, who knew the main victim (Rose/Rachel Jones), but then we find out that several men who were killed, apparently at random, all have a part to play in these murders. Who was with whom, why they were killed, who is rescued and who is not all becomes a bit too over the top.

On the other hand, all of the investigative work that St Cyr does helps reveal more about the women's lives who go into prostitution via the various "houses" and "academies" in Regency England. He also begins to see how Hero is working to improve the lives of women trapped in these circumstances. But with both his friend Paul, the surgeon, and St Cyr's tiger showing up in bits of action and then disappearing, the storyline loses a lot of continuity.

The final bit of this book covers the assassination of the then-Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval and weaves it into the storyline. Seems that some skills learned on the battlefield are not just how to pull a trigger when killing the enemy.

21) May Category 2 - Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
5*****

A well-researched, well-written book into one of the most central times in US history. It is also timely and explores some of the forgotten plots that transpired during a deeply divided time in our country.

Drawing on only first-hand sources, Larson explores the crucial months between Abraham Lincoln's election as President in 1860 and the start of the US Civil War. Of course we all read those sentences in our history books: Lincoln won the election. He became President. Then a Southerner fired on Fort Sumter, and detail detail detail about the Civil War. The Battle of Bull Run. The burning of Atlanta. Pickett's Charge. The Gettysburg Address.

But this book is different. This book details the letters and writings of Edmund Ruffin, a secessionist who fires the infamous first shot. Who was he, and what did he believe? And Robert Anderson, who was the commander at Fort Sumter. He kept a diary and was in constant communication with the leaders in Charleston. While he grew up a Southerner, he knew his duty was to defend the US fort against the secessionists. Mary Boykin was married to a plantation owner and published a diary detailing what she saw in towns and cities during her lifetime.

And then there were the clandestine meetings in the end of Buchanan's government and the start of Lincoln's government. And the calls by the secessionists to march on Washington, D.C., to overthrow Lincoln, possibly even preventing him from taking office. And the states, one by one, that voted to remove themselves from the United States, happening in real time.

Anyone with an interest in history, in parallels between historical time periods, in political unrest and deep division, owes it to themselves to read this book. It will not take long.

22) May Category 1 - Bringing Home the Rain by Bob McGough
4 1/2 ****

This is a duo of detective novels with a twist: the amateur detective, Howard Marsh, is a drug-addicted magic maker who is reduced to living in a storage unit. And as someone who rented a storage unit for many years for an on-line business, I have seen my share of folks in those circumstances.

This book has the grittiness of the late Andrew Vachss' books: absolute honesty about how people live and no apologies for folks doing what they gotta do to survive. It is set in a rural Alabama county with mostly unpaved roads; the author is drawing from his own experience living here. And the narration and dialogue are both from this rural area which lends more realism to the book.

The first book, "Bringing Home the Rain" involves a seven-week drought that is threatening all of the local farmers, especially the newest farmer, with financial ruin. This last farmer is the one who tugs on Howard Marsh's heartstrings the most, since he just started the farm and has none of the sprinkler systems the older farms have. Marsh begins to investigate this drought through magickal means and finds that his own grandmother crafted a Pooka that is contributing to the crisis. And she's not someone Howard wants to offend, or even chat up to ask for her help.

The second involves a missing woman, Inez, who was Marsh's friend in high school before their lives went off the rails. She has been trying to get back on the straight and narrow and was last seen at an itinerant preacher's tent revival. Her eldest son is trying to raise his siblings through help from his grandfather and through growing food around their trailer. But he hasn't seen his mom in more than a week and enlists Marsh's help to try to find her. Which he does, though not in the way anyone expected.

23) May Category 4 - The Lays of Beleriand by J.R.R. Tolkien
5*****

A combination of a study of the craft of writing and the poetic origins of Tolkien's massive world of Middle Earth. Two of these poem groups have since been published as standalone novels, thus reaching a wider audience.

This book is divided into 3 chapters, "The Lay of the Children of Hurin," "Poems Early Abandoned," and "The Lay of Leithian." Each chapter contains the poem sequences that Tolkien first wrote in all their Edda-esque glory. There are characters who take shape and include details that Tolkien uses in later writings even when the name, such as Orgof, Turin's tormenter in the halls of Thingol, do not survive the world-building. And then there are elements, such as the friendship between Turin Turambar and Beleg the Bowman, that are created in this poem and continue into the published Silmarillion.

In "The Lay of Leithian," the longest section, Tolkien started in the summer of 1925 and finished later in 1931. It is the earliest telling of the love between Beren and Luthien, Beren's life story, and the forces that drove them to seek the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. Also included at the end of this poem are C.S. Lewis' notes on the copy Tolkien gave him for review, and Christopher Tolkien's commentary on what Tolkien did (and did not) change once he received his friends notes.

Throughout each section are Christopher Tolkien's notes on names, commentary, and comparison of later emendations to the original. And he also includes the correspondence between Tolkien and the publishers of Allen & Unwin, and the mis-communication that resulted in the heroic poems as well as "Silmarillion" being turned down for publication, when, in fact, Unwin's reader never read the pages Tolkien provided for "Silmarillion" despite naming this work in his review.

24) May Category 1 - Guinevere by Sharon Newman
4 1/2 ****

I think this is one of the best portrayals of Guinevere I've ever read. It may have been written for a young adult audience due to the point of view of the title character: we arrive at the end of the book when she marries Arthur, and do not go into Guinevere's queenship.

Guinevere is introduced as a child with an affinity for nature, and her parents, Leodegrance and Guenlain maintain their home in the style of the Romans who left nearly 200 years ago. But they also left behind a sense of order and running water, and Guinevere's parents know the value of both these things!

Making a prominent place in this re-telling are the incursions of the Saxon invaders as well as hints of an earlier religion. Flora, Guinevere's nurse is one of the practitioners of this Old Way, as are many of the house servants with their darker hair and slighter build. New characters are Geraldus, a traveling priest beset by an invisible chorus that only he can hear (though Guinevere can see several of them), and three older brothers to Guinevere: Matthew, Mark, and John. And Guinevere's mother, Guenlian, is mentioned by name and given a great deal of character. She is also cousin to Merlin.

As Guinevere grows, her affinity with nature includes her finding and bonding with a unicorn who is the most beautiful creature Guinevere has ever seen. It is while she is spending time with her unicorn that a young Arthur and several of his early band, including Gawain, come riding up. While the unicorn runs away from this armed band of men, Guinevere is still in her trance and the aura that surrounds her enraptures Arthur and he thinks he has seen the Virgin Mary.

Other adventures occur in Guinevere's life, fleshing her out as a whole person during her earlier years. It is well-written, full of detail, and describes this time in British history and develops this famous young woman's life.

25) May Category 1 - What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris
5*****

This installment of the Sebastian St Cyr mystery series involves a crypt beneath a church and the bodies of two murdered men recently found in it. The most recent victim is the Bishop of London, and he was next in line for the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Who, as it turns out, is known to Sebastian's Aunt Henrietta. And who can turn down a request from both esteemed individuals?

As Sebastian enters the case, he begins to puzzle why the local Rector of the village of Tanfield went first to London to advise the Archbishop before returning to his home church and local magistrate. Thanks to his young tiger, Tom, Sebastian also comes face-to-face with Obadiah Slade, with whom Sebastian served during the wars and whom he almost hanged for his wartime atrocities. Seems that Obadiah has lost none of his bloodthirsty ways.

Meanwhile, Hero is shocked by the murder of the Bishop of London since he was the only person who knew of her condition. She knows that it is only a matter of time before her pregnancy begins to show and she must act quickly to save her standing and her child. The Bishop had been arranging an adoption, but with his death her options become even more limited.

Dr. Gibson is invaluable in this volume as he begins to solve the mystery of the older body that is found underneath the Bishop's. His desire to study more about the effects of death in the crypt is key to the ending.

A fine, gripping, well-explained read and one I am glad I settled down with over a weekend.

26) May Category 1 - Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
4****

A re-read for me, and one that I liked more this second time around. It covers the journey to London of a chairmaker and his family who move from Dorsetshire after the death of a son. There are several ongoing POV as the events take place, and Chevalier combines them all well.

Jem and Maisie Kellaway are the two children of Anne and Thomas who stare agog at the great city around them. Thomas has been recommended to the circus owner, Philip Astley, because of his excellent Windsor chairs. While Philips Astley helps them find lodging, they meet young Maggie Butterfield, daughter of a laundress and a local wheeler-dealer (one could say con artist if one wished).

The novel gets its name from the proximity of the two Kellaway children to William Blake and his wife. They live next door and are soon taken into the Blake home as occasional visitors. Jem is very entranced with Mr. Blake's printing press. And he shows the two children not just his engravings but also his poems. They know their letters enough to pick out the sense of the words.

While Jem helps his father make Windsor chairs and Maisie helps her mother make Dorset buttons, Maggie's life is quite different and she is forced by circumstances to find a job in mustard then vinegar factories. Of the two, the vinegar factory is the better.

Their lives become intertwined with one another's and with the Astley circus with the backdrop of the French Revolution for the timing. Each chapter is a different month during that time, leading up to the day when the Lambeth Association forces the local publicans to sign a declaration in support of the King, and the Kellaways are caught in the aftermath. As are William and Catherine Blake. Both parties escape with their lives, and the aftermath of their lives are told from a much more personal POV.

June Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Beldan's Fire by Midori Snyder, Where Shadows Dance by C.S. Harris, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, Heir by Sabaa Tahir
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Goff, The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
Category 3 - Book Group Reads Who Buries the Dead by C. S. Harris
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

June Current Count - 5
Yearly Count - 31

I know that at least one of my "quick reads" will be the next C.S. Harris book, in preparation for our group read of #10 in the Sebastian St Cyr series. I have learned a great deal about Regency England from reading these books, and Harris does not disappoint in her characters or in their adventures.

And on to Vol. IV of Tolkien's "History of Middle Earth" series! It took me 2 1/2 years to find the time on my weekends to visit a coffee shop and read; I will endeavor to spend more weekends reading in coffee shops and enjoying the camaraderie and the coffee.

Lauren Goff's book is a tough one to read, so it may be a couple more months before I completely finish it. The writing is beautiful, the story is heart-wrenching.

27) June Category 2 - The Vaster Wilds by Loren Groff

4 1/2 ****

An amazingly written, superb, despairing book about a young woman in a much earlier era. She is simply referred to with "she" and "her" as we get to know more about her life. And until that point, she is just a young girl? woman? who is escaping an English colony where death and starvation reign supreme.

The story begins as she escapes through the colony's fence with supplies to help her survive: an axe, food, good boots, a bag for carrying, and a will to survive. And fear of what she will face if she is caught and returned to the colony. She knows that there is a branch of the river to her north and if she follows that river she will be in safe territory.

We accompany her as she makes her journey on foot through the snowy terrain, as she kindles fire to help her survive and finds ways to create shelter. One morning she even wakes up in a bear's cave. She finds a boat on the shores of the river and we learn about its maker: a maddened Jesuit priest who has lived alone for decades, looked after from a distance by the native peoples.

But her body demands food, and she must find ways to obtain it, and Groff's use of language makes living off the land into something desperately real: squirrels in their nest and ducks sleeping at night are what she takes in order to survive.

Interwoven with her story are brief glimpses of the native peoples in their daily lives. And here we learn that an herbal combination with grease was what one tribe used on their skin to keep the bugs and mosquitoes away. Or how warriors of another tribe kept the colonists in their sights and killed any who tried to escape.

And the language of Groff's writing is what struck me the most as I read this book. It paints the reality of this girl's life in lyrical and beautiful prose, describing equally her love of her young charge, Bess, to whom she was nanny, the sea voyage and what led to it, and her life before she was forced to endure the voyage. I had to read it in small stages until the last third, and then I could not put it down.

28) June Category 3 - Who Buries the Dead? by C. S. Harris

4 1/2 ****

A book that works as a standalone murder mystery, or as part of the series by C. S. Harris set in Regency England. And for any Jane Austen fans out there, she makes a couple of appearances, as does her brother Henry.

The book opens with a grisly murder, even by murder mystery standards: two young lovers are about to cross Bloody Bridge when they come upon a man's head stuck on a wall near the entrance. And his body laying nearby.

Naturally, Sebastian St Cyr is called in by his Bow Street friend, Sir Henry Lovejoy, to investigate not just this murder but the oddity of it. Seems there is a lead coffin wrapper with "King Charles 1648" inscribed on it, referencing the decapitated King Charles I. And it turns out, his tomb has recently been re-discovered (an actual event in 1813) and the King's head is missing. To make matters worse, the Prince Regent has asked his powerful cousin, Lord Jarvis, to give him a guided tour of the burial chamber. Jarvis is also Sebastian's father-in-law and he grudgingly asks Sebastian to help find the King's missing head.

Which brings in what I love about this series: the amount of historical research that C.S. Harris puts into her books. Not only was the coffin containing King Charles I found after long last, but it was in the burial chamber with King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour! And Hero, Sebastian's wife and Jarvis' daughter, interviews costermongers as part of her research on the poor of London. I had heard the word mentioned, but now I know more about them than I did before I read it.

Oh, and the victim, Stanley Preston? Turns out he avidly collected oddities. Including heads. And the shops that deal in oddities are the Regency equivalent of a comic book and collectibles store. They contain everything from an executioner's axe to a be-jeweled, wind-up nightingale.

The cast of characters is fairly light and nearly all are unsavory. They include a former governor of Jamaica as well as a plantation owner, the lurker Diggory Flynn, and Jane Austen's brother and sister-in-law. What brought down this book by a half star was the enormous running around London that Sebastian does that detracts from his interactions with several ongoing characters: Lovejoy and Paul Gibson, who form much of the basis of this series.

29) June Category 1 - A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

2 1/2 **

I'm guessing this book was not intended for me. I love young adult novels, I love novels with a smart, spunky heroine, and I'm happy to read about boarding schools and young folks relying on their own wits. Technically, this book had all those elements.

If it had not been for the fact that this book fit 2 challenges this month, I would have set it down after the first 40 pages.

The descriptions of the boarding school, Scholomance, are so convoluted as to make my head spin; while the illustrations at the back helped, they did little more than to show an outline of a multi-tiered object floating somewhere. And while I'm willing to suspend belief in Novik's other series, the Temeraire series ("dragons really exist in the world?! How cool is that?"), the premise of this book was beyond my abilities.

The combination of El's (our heroine's) destructive self-image that narrates this book, coupled with destructive malefica rampaging in Scholomance's dorm rooms, cafeteria, hallways, and showers was a train wreck of Ender meets Hogwarts.

Plus, parents who send their teenagers to hone their magical skills to Scholomance knowing that many of them might not make it out alive - really? Expecting never to receive word from them for 4 years? Not knowing if they were going to live or die? Unless one wants to put a sheen on this premise as a way to explain real life neglectful parental abuse in a safe space, this basic premise is jaw-dropping in its lack of a foundation in reality.

June Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth, Vol. IV - The Shaping of Middle Earth

The first chapter, prose fragments, and the first half of the second chapter were my introduction to this volume. These earliest fragments show the foundations of Tolkien's work, such as Turgon the hero and Ulmo, Lord of the Waters. Also we see a jotting of notes for Fëanor and the Two Trees of Valinor, almost as though Tolkien were trying to get the thoughts down on paper. Thank goodness for paper!

The second chapter is a series of short stories? Story sketches? that later became "The Silmarillion." The sections are in clear, concise sentences, but they have no continuation nor any central character. Rather, we see Tolkien setting down an idea of characters and events that are going to go into a larger work. The tragedy of the Two Trees of Valinor, the different kindreds of Elves, the cunning and manipulation of Morgoth in Valinor, the journey of the Noldor from Valinor to Beleriand, all are here in sequence. We also (as so often happens with Tolkien's earliest ideas) see the evolution of names: Finweg, Finrod, Fingolfin, Fëanor and his sons.

I'm glad I finally grabbed some time to sit in a coffee shop and begin this book. It is a) an accomplishment that I've long put off, and b) a brilliant look at an author's creative process. And I wish more publishers would realize that sometimes a book idea is not done when the author lays down her/his pencil. Sometimes a book idea needs to go in another direction to become a masterpiece of world-building.

30) June Category 1 - Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris

4 ****

A very fine installment in this series, we are now at the point in the characters' lives where Hero agrees to marry Sebastian. For a woman in Regency England who knew all too well what the marriage laws were, even for women of her social class, this is a huge decision. But her realization that her mother needs her around causes her to see that marriage to Sebastian will keep her close by and give birth to their child without becoming "fallen."

Oh yes, and there is a mystery. Several, in fact, that involve a young man thought to have died of a heart condition. Except it was a stiletto through the back of his skull, and was a similar method of killing to another corpse that Paul Gibson, former war surgeon, discovers.

Add to this a connection between the two corpses that causes Sebastian Bow Street friend, Sir Hyde Foley, to request an examination of young Alexander Ross' body. Turns out, Alexander Ross has already been exhumed, examined, and parts sold off, leaving Gibson and Sebastian (and Sebastian's excellent valet) to have to do some late night grave un-robbing so as not to run afoul of the law. These events seemed to be a bit of humor to lighten what is often dark and somber in this series.

The events are set around the start of the War of 1812, and Harris gives some details about dates that are different in Sebastian's "time" and our real world calendars. The addition of England's shipping trade and the men pressed into it come to play a part, as does the shadowy world of intrigue from a number of different embassies.

The ending came a bit rushed, almost as if there were more strands to twist together quickly into a workable rope for the mainsail. But I appreciated a bit of humor, and Sebastian proved to be a gentleman worthy of his title when he creates a marriage contract that addresses all of Hero's justifiable concerns as a married woman of her time.

31) June Category 1 - Beldan's Fire by Midori Snyder

4 1/2 ****

A realistic ending to this series involving the city of Beldan and the Fire Queen who wishes to retain her hold on power. While she senses that Chaos is about to overtake the land of Oran, she is more interested in her aging body (after 200 years) than she is at reining in the Sileans who are only too happy to terrorize the Oran farmers and poor of Beldan's streets.

The book opens with the 4th young woman, Tayleb, who represents the element of Water, and her home on an island. She is friends with the Namires, similar to mermaids though without the full fish's tails. When Lirrel, element of Air, guides the ship from Beldan to Tayleb's home, Tayleb is only recently come into realization of her abilities and what Oran is calling her to do.

Jobber and Shedwyn are back at Sadar's Keep during these winter months, trying to pull together the rebels to help them for the ultimate fight at Beldan against the Fire Queen. But that same Fire Queen's loss of her grip on the power of the 4 elements is causing the Chaos to manifest as earthquakes and destruction. Including the sudden destruction of Sadar's Keep and the loss of a few members of the New Moon.

What helps keep this story moving is the changing POV of the storyline, so that as each character takes a more prominent role, that character becomes the narrator of that part of the action. It is not a technique that often works, but in Midori Snyder's deft hands, it does.

When I first read this in my mid-20's, I was confused the different places, characters, who was allied with whom, and what the different factions are. Fortunately, my life and reading experience have expanded, and I enjoy this book a lot more all these years later.

July Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Heir by Sabaa Tahir, Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear, The Night Travellers by Elizabeth Spencer, Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
Category 3 - Book Group Reads The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

July Current Count - 4
Yearly Count - 35

Well, I guess my count was off in June! I fully expected to finish "Heir" last month, but it is massive and I had 2 Sebastian St Cyr mysteries to finish. Or at least catch up to closer in the series.

And when I took some time off of work in late June, I decided that the Jacqueline Winspear series were some must-haves. I've enjoyed the first three, and really, life is too short to only read these books when I receive them as Christmas gifts 2 at a time. So the next 2 are on the shelf and I need to add them to LT as well.

I'm looking forward to another group read here and also catching up with Marius as he navigates his feelings for his mysterious beloved (Cosette), and with the details of the last four months of Anne Boleyn's life in Alison Weir's detailed history.

And now that I've opened Vol. IV of Tolkien's "History of Middle Earth" series, I am glad to have that book as an excuse to beat the heat with some lovely iced coffees in a couple of cozy chairs in my local coffee shops.

32) July Category 1 - Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

4 1/2 ****

Traveling between the worlds of her own independence and those of the highest classes of British society, Maisie Dobbs is called upon to help a journalist who has lost her twin. The police, including Detective Inspector Stratton, put the death down to the artist working late and falling off of the scaffolding. But Georgina Bassington-Hope knows in her heart and spirit that Nicholas was murdered.

On the personal side, Maisie must resolve her feelings towards Andrew Dene and their courtship. And due to the lack of work for carpenters, Billy Beale's in-laws have moved into the Beale's two-up, two-down home. In the crowded conditions, little Lizzie has caught a bad cold but the money for the doctor is too scarce to take her for medical care.

The glittering world of inherited wealth is at play here, with parties, gambling debts, and art galleries. Nicholas B-H's pieces are collected by a rich American, all except for the final triptych that he was hanging in secret at the time of his death. Maisie journeys to Dungeness in Kent to try to learn a little bit more about this gifted artist while she also struggles with seeing the abject poverty of Billy's family and the aftermath of the Great War on families of survivors.

33) July Category 3 - The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths

4 ****

The last book in this series featuring a memorable cast of characters ends with the murder solved, a creepy professor getting his just desserts, and the future of the Archeology department at the University looking bleak.

Ruth is called in to investigate an intact human skeleton bricked up behind a wall in a neighboring town's pub that used to be The Green Child. Cathbad, Ruth's druid friend, remembers this family-owned café and its locale in King's Lynn as a gathering place for students. But then he disappears, and Judy, as well as everyone else, hunts frantically for him.

While Ruth navigates both the discovery of this young woman's body and the closing of her department, David comes up with a hashtag to try to save it with a petition. Or to shame the decision-makers into keeping the department intact. Ruth realizes how many hundreds of lives she has touched and the many archeological societies have relied on her expertise.

The murder investigation leads to Cambridge and a rather creepy professor who brought both Emily, the young victim, and several of her classmates to the Neolithic flint mines twenty years before for a camping weekend. This weekend is the last time anyone sees Emily alive and Nelson's investigative team of Tanya and Lucy interview the remaining classmates and Emily's parents. Leo, the professor, has counseled them to "look to the sister," a phrase that opens up a whole lot of families and their dynamics.

While I loved the modern setting playing on the events of this book, there were enough instances of timing, decisions, and Griffiths trying to get every last string spun and measured that it all felt rushed. I salute her long series and the relationships between the characters, but the retrospectives from past cases seemed forced in their intrusion into this book's plot.

34) July Category 1 - The Night Travellers by Elizabeth Spencer

3 ***

In a style reminiscent of Toni Morrison, this novel tells the life of Mary Kerr Harbison, a young dancer from North Carolina. She is a sensitive girl child who knows that her mother would rather be in her laboratory, testing products and chemicals for the US government on animals than being a loving presence at home. When her father dies of an apparent heart attack, Mary Kerr centers on her dancing to deal with being the only child of an abusive mother.

Mary Kerr meets Jeff(erson) Blaise, another child of the segregated South, and he becomes her life-long love. He is already on the outskirts of society due to calling out the hypocrisy of the Establishment with word and deed, including possibly being responsible for blowing up the laboratory where Mary Kerr's mother works and costing Kate her career.

Jeff's actions in the burgeoning movement against the Vietnam War force the young couple to flee to Canada, as so many young people did then. Mary Kerr gives birth to their daughter, and then Jeff continues his anti-war work in the US, leaving Mary Kerr alone. She makes friends, money and letters are sporadic, and she works as she can.

The story is told pretty chronologically at the beginning of Mary Kerr's life by Mary and Kate, her mother. Once she and Jeff are in Canada, however, the observational way of recounting events supersedes the narrative: multiple POV recount different aspects of the same event. I find this storytelling not one that I like and seek out as I've come to learn over the years. The star rating is a reflection of this book's over-reliance on observation and imagery, rather than creating a storyline with images to bolster it.

35) July Category 1 - A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay

5 ***** ❤️

To my original review below, I would also add these words:

The language, descriptions sometimes rich, sometimes sparse, interwoven from several different points of view, are able to tell a story that is how we wish the Albigensian Crusade had gone. The importance of music at the Court of Love and those who make it is woven into the story from the very first to the very last page.

And also the heartbreak of many of the characters, starting with Bertran de Talair, are so well-described, as is the freedom to change how one views the world like Blaise de Garsenc. What Guy Gavriel Kay shows again is the destruction of those with absolute certainty that their way is the only way, and all other ways must be destroyed, embodied in the High Priest of Corannos, Galbert de Garsenc.

Musicians and troubadours and joglars create beauty in the southern kingdom of Arbonne. Their Queens of the Court of Love, both former and current, encourage their music, and while Signe de Barbentian has handed this title to her niece, she is no less capable than her late husband of handling affairs of state. The Priestesses of the Goddess Rian are aware of the politics in the world and what part they can play in the larger picture.

A much loved, much read favorite of any number of motifs and characters and a time that is as much medieval as fantasy.

-------------------
Such beautiful, rich language! I re-read it over the past few weeks, and all of the questions I had reading it the first time through just fell into place. The tortured love of two people that changes the dynamics in a country, the twisting of religion into a reason for invasion, all are elements that Guy Gavriel Kay masterfully brings to the printed word.

August Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Heir by Sabaa Tahir, The Nevaris Chronicles by Josh Hayes, The Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth A. Lynn
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

August Current Count - 4
Yearly Count - 39

I truly do not know where this reading month will take me. DragonCon will start at the end of the month, through the US Labor Day holiday, which will be a time of book buying instead of book reading. I may reach into my DragonCon book bag and pull out one of the books I bought in the past from one of the many book sellers at the Con, just to get a better feel for which authors I want to buy more of. Or attend their panels.

Ed: Well, it worked. I pulled out "The Nevaris Chronicles" set in a world of machines and buildings with a re-telling of Peter Pan for adult types. It is an effective re-telling, with twists and turns that set the familiar children's tale on its proverbial ear.

Ed Ed: go me! I finished both "Heir" and "Lady in the Tower" and am just blown away by the ending of the former.

36) August Category 1 - Heir by Sabaa Tahir
5*****

What a fantastic, ingenious, cool book! It takes the fantasy trope of young people defying odds, living lives they really didn't ask for, riding on horseback, dealing with tragedy, and whirls it and twirls it and turns it on its ear.

Tahir uses several different narrators, each delineated by chapter, so that the chapter on Aiz is told from Aiz's POV and recounts her memories, her struggles in the streets of Kegar, while the chapters narrated by Quil recount his life and his struggles to become, well, the heir his aunt grooms him to be. And this changing view brings a freshness to their stories and helps explain why this book did not become stale in its tropes.

The Kegari have no resources of their own and turn to trading via their airships and alliances with other lands. The Jaduna are trackers and one of them, Sirsha, is on the trail of a foul thing that is killing children. And the Empire has existed with its nomads and cities and art for generations, and its guards, called Masks, wearing living steel on their faces that molds itself to their features. And all of the peoples are suddenly caught up in a war of Kegari against the Empire, and an imprisoned spirit is calling for release.

I will say that I put this book down for a couple of months while I re-read another YA trilogy, "The Queen's Quarter Knot" by Midori Snyder. I wanted to not have the "young girl living as a street urchin in a city that doesn't want her" motif going on simultaneously in two books so that it did not become stale. And that was a great decision for me, because when I picked the book back up halfway through, I realized the other deft way that Tahir was spinning her story. Or stories.

And the ending! I never saw that coming. It was a fastball coming straight from the pitcher's mound at 100+ mph! Zowie! While it's easy to say "I can't wait for the sequel," I also have to add I'll be happy to wait as long as the sequel is as good and readable as "The Heir" was.

37) August Category 2 - The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir
3 1/2 ***

For her historical research, and her idea to devote a book to these last 4 months of Anne Boleyn's life, I give Weir 4 stars. For her writing style I give her 3 stars, bringing my rating down to 3 1/2 stars. And for the love of all that is good in books, can there please be a map or two that shows, if not the City of London, at least a layout of the Tower of London at the time Anne Boleyn stayed there?

Enough ranting. This book fills a gap in British monarch history, in women's lives, and in pulling together the events leading up to her death. It started with a jousting tournament on May Day, where Henry VIII got up without a word and left his wife's side. And it evolved into a political intrigue that involved Thomas Cromwell pulling together a plausible idea, as long as one did not look too closely, that would allow the King to off-load a Queen who was no longer useful to him and whom he no longer loved, and marry a new woman.

Parts of this book that had historical brilliance were the miscarriages and stillbirths (probably 3) after she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth. All of the fetuses were male, one was near term, and Weir brings in a scientific reason for this number of her, and Catherine of Aragon's many miscarriages: the possibility of these women having rhesus negative blood and the physical effect this has on any future fetuses. Another observation Weir notes at the end is how, if Elizabeth had not ascended the throne, her mother may well have been forgotten in the annals of history.

Weir also brings to bear the enormity of the trials and the burden that the defendants had to content with. Under Tudor law, they were not allowed a lawyer to contest the charges brought against them, nor bring any proof of their innocence. She entitles this chapter "Fighting Without a Weapon" and includes the speeches that were recorded during the trials.

But, unfortunately, Weir uses "he" to refer to one of 2 or three men involved in the activity of that particular paragraph, and loads too many commas and asides as she elaborates on a particular point to make the work flow. Further, her lack of continuity in naming the men caught up in this intrigue (with the exception of Mark Smeaton, the hapless musician) a well as the men and women who encouraged it, caused enough confusion and re-reading, and really pointed to a lack of editorial control over an otherwise brilliant author.

38) August Category 1 - The Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth A. Lynn
4 1/2 ****

Trigger Alert - Torture, Sadism, Themes of Incest

And yet somehow, with a book that opens with the main character undergoing horrifying, sadistic torture at the hands of another main character, I was pulled into the world of this book. Or the otherworld, as the case may be. On the world of Chabad, in the Sardonyx Sector, Dana Ikoro tries to smuggle the illegal drug dorazine and is captured. Instead of a court and trial, he is handed over to Zed, scion of the Yago family, who run the illegal trade of dorazine as a drug to clear the minds and emotions of the vast network of slaves traded on Chabad every year. For Dana, his adventure has just begun.

Dana becomes the pilot and slave for the head of the Yago family, Rhani, older sister to Zed and Zed's first love interest. It is never explicit whether they engaged in physical incest, but the passion the two siblings felt for each other was never in question. When their mother finds them in the garden as teenagers, she suddenly separates them for the next few years and as a result, Zed's love for his sister becomes a sick and twisted sadism.

The story is gripping and told without shame or apology. Which, given the social standing of the Yago family on this world and the wealth and power they represent, is understandable. Dana finds himself a member of this household, all too aware that any infraction he makes in his new-found role will result in another round of torture. And he undertakes his new duties, becomes Rhani's bodyguard, and does everything he can to survive on a barren, treeless world where even the fruit has to be brought in by ship transport.

Again, the themes are harrowing, though they are an undercurrent to the book, and Lynn is such a brilliant writer that the story, and Dana's survival, are the main focus of this book.

39) August Category 1 - The Nevaris Chronicles by Josh Hayes
5*****

Given that Peter Pan was my very first crush (he could fly!), I took a chance on reading this book. It helped that the author was there to explain to me that he took quite a chance on re-telling this classic story. And he re-told it in fine, flying style. And yes, there is Dust that allows the characters to fly! We also have the story told from the multiple POV of the beloved characters: Wendy, Pan (who is not a beloved character till the end), Michael, Bell, and twins Tim and Tom. Even Lily is here, a fierce warrior of the Crik. Hook is a psychopathic despot, something the Disney movie failed to convey.

The main protagonist, John, comes into this story from his airplane and is swept into some form of space vortex in the very first chapter. And finds himself on a planet full of flying skiffs and transports with buildings reaching high into the sky and lots of chaos and desolation below. There is some greenspace in this world (a far cry from the map of Neverland) though it is far beyond the inhabited areas.

This books works well in blending the characters from the children's story with a more modern and futuristic setting. Bell is the crafty techno wizard who loves to tinker and creates harnesses that channel the Dust and allow people to fly. Hook has a destroyed arm because of a fight with Peter, and he exacts his revenge by turning Peter into a mindless, hate-filled version of himself. The Crik are an interspecies humanoid who have travelled to Nevaris, but Hook drives nearly all of them off-planet. Wendy also came from Earth and is drawn to Pan's charisma and derring-do, and she takes over the Lost Boys when he is overcome by Hook's evilness. Oh, and the names of Hook's main flying ships are Revenge and Pride.

What also works well is the backstory that is told starting part way through for several chapters, and then continued a couple of times more. This catches up Wendy's story with what happened before, who Pan was (the Pan we all love and adore), how Michael joined in the Lost Boys, and the utter desolation and hopelessness of the people on this planet. The Regency is the government that has, by degrees, taken over leadership of the planet, and when Hook assumes control of the Regency it becomes an authoritarian, all-watching regime. What also helps this book for a more modern audience is the adult to near-adult age of the characters, and also that none of the Nevaris characters have ever heard of the book "Peter Pan" and do not understand the references. It helps with the crossover.

September Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey, Out of Circulation by Miranda James, Return to Auschwitz by Kitty Hart
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Burning Time by Virginia Rounding, Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

September Current Count - 3
Yearly Count - 42

Yikes! Where did this month go?? I'm usually on LT early in the month to get myself set up for my reading goals, and I think I just figured I'd be back on in time to play catch up. Nope, not this month!

So yeah, I've pulled in some serious reading this month, as well as a cozy mystery and the next installment in the Dragonriders series. Have to say, I didn't like it this time around as I did before; it was a book of its time, and, well, all deference to Pern and its grip on the sci-fi fantasy genre, but it shows.

For some reason, I was drawn to re-reading "Return to Auschwitz" and found myself gripped by Ms. Hart's experiences and descriptions. It is a miracle both she and her mother survived. And after reading about the last 4 months of Anne Boleyn's life, it was only natural to pick up "The Burning Times" to see the dark side of what happened concurrent to and after her life ended.

40) September Category 1 - Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
3 1/2 ***

I was not taken with this follow up book to Dragon Flight, a book that seemed to get bogged down in so many details that the storylines got lost. And the unconscious sexism! Holy moly, what a reminder about how far we (may) have come.

The book has different characters narrating, starting with Masterharper Robinton, moving to dragonrider F'nor, and also Brekke, Weyrwoman of Southern Weyr on the Southern continent of Pern. And while Robinton is struggling to compose a fitting song for an upcoming wedding, F'nor is eyeing women and reminiscing on his various conquests. And Brekke just wants to do a good job without being belittled and harassed by the dragon riders of her Weyr.

Concurrently, Thread is falling sporadically and not according to the timetables that F'lar has worked out from the charts of the Old Ones. And young Jaxom, heir to Ruatha Hold, sneaks off with F'lar and Lessa's son to see the Hatching Grounds where Ramoth's next batch will hatch. And the Oldtimers who came forward 400 years in the last book have now lived for 7 Turns on modern Pern and are causing dissension and animosity between Weyr and Crafters and Hold.

Any one of those storylines could have been its own book. But instead, McCaffrey wanted to write about her world so much that they all get jumbled together, the wedding becomes an episode that needs to be mentioned as an "Oh yeah! There's a wedding, so let's put this person/event in alignment with the wedding" and also provides a backdrop between the leader of the Oldtimers and F'lar. And then poof! The Oldtimers get banished to the Southern continent and no more mention happens of them. Or the wedding. Or, whatever.

I was sorry to see this mad jumble of things, especially when the Impressing of Fire Lizards was an important strand that changes how the hierarchy of Pern is aligned: no longer are the Dragonriders the only humans who can impress one of the giant species of flying dragons. Now, ordinary Crafters or Holders can have a small fire lizard Impressed to them for life.

I was really sad at how this book turned into such a porridge, though I was glad to know it wasn't just my 16 year old brain that couldn't grasp the plot.

41) September Category 1 - Out of Circulation by Miranda James, Athena, MS
4 1/2 ****

This was a fun read, full of Diesel (the Maine Coon assistant to the college archivist) and Charlie (college archivist) and a growing cast of characters. We get to see more of the relationship between Azalea (Charlie's housekeeper) and Kanesha (her daughter). Kanesha is the top investigator on the local police department but she is also answerable to Sheriff Tidwell who is not thrilled with having an African-American woman on his team.

The story opens with the planning for a fund-raiser that involves a costume contest as one's favorite fiction character. The committee includes the Ducote sisters, Miss An'gel and Miss Dicke, as well as Vera Cassity who is not a highly placed in the Athena old families as she would like. Miss Vera stomps off in a rage and a few days later visits Charlie at work, demanding she be allowed into the Ducote family archives. Which is a bit of a "no, ma'am" for Charlie.

During the fundraiser the costumes are fun for guest and board member alike. Both Hercule Poirot and Amelia Peabody make an appearance, as do Vera and her husband as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. And as happens in mysteries, a mysterious death occurs and Azalea is a prime suspect. Which ups the tension even more.

Yet during the investigation, Charlie as the archivist begins to go through the papers of the Ducote sisters, thinking that the animosity between Vera and the Ducotes has its origins somewhere there. And he is right as he begins to read the diary of one Mrs. Cecilia Ducote that puts many family secrets onto the page. The tenor of the book becomes much more real, the animosity between the women much more tragic, and Charlie does the right thing by handing it to them to process in their own time.

42) September Category 1 - Return to Auschwitz by Kitty Hart, Poland
4 1/2 ****

This was a re-read for me; whether I read this book first in high school or college escapes me. It was grim reading then and it is grim re-reading it though very much worth the effort.

Kitty has a happy, adventurous life with skiing in the winters, beautiful mountains and a comfortable life in Bielsko, Poland. She is on vacation in August, 1939 when her father, a retired Austrian captain from the Great War, contacts his family to urge them to come home immediately. They are forced to flee to Lublin and the train containing their household goods was bombed in Cracow.

Once the Nazis invade Poland, on September 1, the Jews are eventually forced into the Lublin ghetto, and somehow Kitty's family survives intact. As time passes they decide to make a run for the Russian border (the Russians being less of a threat at the time than the Nazis). They are nearly across the frozen river when they are forced to turn back and go into hiding in the small community of Zabia Wola.

After a year, the family decides to split up for safety: her brother enlists in the Red Army, her father stays in Zabia Wola, and Kitty and her mother go into Germany as Polish-German workers. They are fluent in German as well as Polish, Kitty's mother taught English to young children, and for a while they work in Dresden.

In March, 1942, they and the other Jewish workers are betrayed, rounded up, and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her mother is assigned to the hospital, and Kitty does whatever she can to stay alive. She is able to figure out the unspoken camp rules, and she and her mother make a pact never to take food from a living prisoner. Kitty describes the horrible conditions in which she is now living: the mud, the constant bargaining for food, or better clothes, or clogs, the rolls calls, and how the anonymity of being one more shaved prisoner helped her survive.

Kitty is assigned to the Kanada Kommandos, the women who must sort through the belongings of the dead from the transports. Her recollections are especially necessary to Holocaust scholarship because before Auschwitz-Birkenau were liberated, the Kanada Kommandos were rounded up by the prison guards and shot. Kitty's mother was able to beg one of the camp guards to let her daughter stay with her on the train out of the camp, and he allowed it.

They survive the death march and are finally re-united with Kitty's maternal aunt who fled to Birmingham, England in 1938. Kitty then details her life after her Holocaust experiences, her studies to become a radiology technologist, and her marriage and two sons.

October Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads The Silence of the Library by Miranda James, Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter, The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft, Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Burning Time by Virginia Rounding, Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash, Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
Category 3 - Book Group Reads
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

October Current Count - 5
Yearly Count - 47

OK, so along with some of the grimmer reads I've had last month and this month, I also decided to re-read a book about Helen Keller's life. "Helen and Teacher" posits that without Annie Sullivan Macy, there would be no Helen Keller, and Lash does a great deal of research into Annie's terrible childhood. She was the daughter of post-Famine Irish parents and was among the poorest families in her Irish-American community. How she managed to climb out of that poverty and become able to guide a brilliant young mind is a gripping, wonderful read of this dual biography.

I'm also reaching to cozy mysteries, as I do, to lighten the reading list. And I'll look on different challenges and groups to add to my October reading. Or simply scan my shelves to see what needs to be read or re-read!

Ed - Added 2 more books to this list, one that I am taking my time to savor (Juliet Marillier, of course!) and one that I read for a challenge. It was recommended by a local author in a local bookstore and I can't believe it's been so long since we had our buying tour together.

Ed Ed - Added a book to fit one of the challenges in Dusty's group for October. "Siddhartha" was a quick read, and a high school favorite.

43) October Category 1 - The Silence of the Library by Miranda James
5*****

This was a fun read, especially as it centers around an enthusiastic fanbase and collectors. In this installment, the fanbase is that of Electra Barnes Cartwright, or "EBC" as she is known to her adherents. She wrote about a plucky, young Veronica Thane who solved many mysteries. Similar to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, though EBC's books went out of print and her books became harder to find. And in the world of enthusiastic fandom, EBC was a maligned author who deserved much more than she got.

As Charlie's late aunt had the entire collection of her Veronica Thane series, and the Athena public library decides to hold a celebration of Ms. Cartwright and her writings, Charlie learns that she lives close to Athena. He and Teresa go to meet this reclusive author who lives with her daughter and grandson, to come to the library to do an author signing for her fans. It is an odd meeting that is at first put down to an older, eccentric, forgotten author's personality.

As one would expect with an enthusiastic fanbase who refer to their beloved author by her initials, there are collectors. I mean, those collectors, who have multiple re-prints and editions, and who demand that Ms. Cartwright (who's nearly 100 years old) sign all of them. Pronto. A confrontation also ensues with the publisher of Ms. Cartwright's fan-based newsletter who meets the collector at the library, and the reader gets a glimpse into another side of fandom.

In Charlie's story, his son Sean is being pushed by his girlfriend's father to propose marriage in order to inherit the father's law firm in town. Sean has passed the Bar, making him a true lawyer, and his lawyering skills are used during the investigations of this book. And Charlie and Helen Louise continue to see one another which bodes well for both of them and for the series.

44) October Category 1 - Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter
2 1/2 **

Yes, I think my time with this series has come to an end. I liked the idea at the beginning, of a tough-as-nails woman who is also a member of the Cherokee tribe and a Skinwalker and not afraid to go for a weapon when she needs it.

But by this installment, the novelty of the main character has worn off, the plotline wandered too far from its start, and there's just too many vampires, grindys, were-creatures, blood servants and blood slaves, and so forth. I just got tired of it all.

Plus, Jane Yellowrock's self-loathing oozes from every pore, several times on every page, and I just want to take her into a therapist's office and pay for some sessions. And the worship of heavy guns is more than I can take these days.

45) October Category 1 - Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
4 1/2 ****

What an extraordinary book! It is part personal quest, part spiritual guidance, and part American road trip, all rolled into one novel. The basic premise is that the narrator, Otto, is living his life in a good publishing job with a wife and two teenagers and a slightly estranged sister. Then their parents suddenly die and Otto and his sister, Cecilia, are left with their home and farmland in North Dakota.

Problem is, Cecilia has always been a New Age sort of spiritualist, and she doesn't like to fly on planes. Which means that when it's time to go from suburban New York to North Dakota to sort out their parents' home and estate, Otto is all geared up to drive out there with Cecilia, sort out the details, and then drive home. Until Cecilia decides she needs to stay at home and asks Otto to please bring her houseguest, Rinpoche, in her place. Because he wants to set up a spiritual center in the US and she wants Rinpoche to have the house and her portion of the land.

Otto is polite enough to his unexpected passenger, and as they drive through the US conversations ensure. And expectations loom large, while realizations happen quietly as Otto sees Rinpoche's spirituality manifest in a bowling alley. With a couple of biker dudes. With a good outcome, and then Otto does not know what to believe.

The books explores Otto's burgeoning self-awareness with their drive across the US, including a Chicago Cubs baseball game, yoga class, and several seminars. Otto by turns pouts, thinks, eats, and talks, all the while learning from what Rinpoche has to teach. Rinpoche gains much from his travel through the US with all the variations in land, towns, and surprises that are in store for this mis-matched duo.

46) October Category 1 - The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
2 1/2 **

Oh. My. I just wish I could have loved this book more. I was a bit ambivalent about the subject matter, that of translators, having dreamed of being one in my younger adult years. And I liked how the book began, with translators coming together for their author's gatherings at the advent of her newest book. The named author, Irena Rey, lives just outside an environmentally sensitive forest that lies, still intact, between Poland and Belarus.

So with all of the different languages as the translators' names and the beginning, and a narrator who describes well the ritual of how they all gather at the author's home in Poland to begin their translation of her newest book, I was intrigued and continued to read.

But then the author disappears after the first day, and the rest of the novel devolves into interpersonal mush and in-fighting. A former translator shows up hale and hearty, then clues start coming over internet messaging formats, then more in-fighting, then a visit to a cemetery, and I just lost track of the whole "why" behind this book.

47) October Category 1 - Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
5 *****

I read this in high school as an assignment and its message of quest for the self resonated with me during the 80's, that decade of self-indulgence and overwhelming wealth.

As Siddhartha seeks to learn and discover all that life teaches him, he finds that denying his body what it seeks is only one way. And it is a way that leaves him questioning what he must do to attain Enlightenment. Then he follows the Buddha, only to have a conversation with him the next morning and declare his intent to leave Buddha's community and continue to seek Enlightenment.

Right there are two ideas that continue to show life in all of its search for truth: what one group or person teaches is only one way. If they do not fulfill your need, your soul's need, for Enlightenment (whatever that means to you), you must remain true to yourself and continue on your search.

Siddhartha's next journey is into a large town/small city, where he serves as a consultant for a rich merchant by providing insight into the merchant's decisions. He thereby gains riches, and a lover, and lives for several decades in the pursuit of more money, gambling it away, having more food than he needs, a spacious home, and losing his inner wisdom. He realizes the unhappiness that still resides in his core and leaves to join the river ferryman.

At each step of the way, Siddhartha gains knowledge about himself, the world, and what resonates with his core and his true nature. While living the purely ascetic life is not one that is realistic for the modern world, the idea of living with less, having comfort rather than great riches, and listening to others as well as one's inner self are good lessons and ones that can help provide wisdom and happiness to the world.

November Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Burning Time by Virginia Rounding, Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash, Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
Category 3 - Book Group Reads The Kaiser's Web by Steve Berry
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

November Current Count - 3
Year to Date Count - 50

I really must find some quicker reads for this month to fill in Category 1, although the Juliet Marillier is going quickly now that I've had some time to spend on it. And I find that "The Burning Time" is easy enough to read chapter by chapter. Ms. Rounding does a good job tying in all of the religious burnings to the ruling monarch; we've buried both King Henry VIII and King Edward VI and are currently in the reign of Queen Mary. It's still very grim reading.

While I have several weekends filled, I also have several weekends free, plus some evenings, so I will see what challenges are there and what books are on my shelves calling to me in order to build out this month's reading list.

Ed: Because there's always the end of the month that comes along! I have been re-reading, in order, the Lambspun Knitting Murder Mystery series that take place in "Fort Conner," Colorado. It seems that I checked them out of the library based on what the library's website had placed them, rather than running back here to LT to make sure I read them in order. So even though my reading goals have slowed down from their normal numbers, I've re-read 4 very short, very fun reads without logging them. Because that would seem like cheating. And I'm above my goal of 45 books anyway. This re-reading has been great, too, and has made a huge difference in knowing the overarching plotline of Kelly and her knitting friends. Thank goodness a head librarian is also a needlepointer and knows how important needlework and knitting are, especially in the cozy mystery genre!

48) November Category 3 - The Kaiser's Web by Steve Berry
4 1/2 ****

This was an intriguing book despite the underlying subject matter: Hitler and Eva Braun and the fallout from the Nazi regime. In this book, Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt are sent to investigate a home in Chile that is linked to Nazi artifacts. And in Germany, Chancellor Marie Eisenhuth is in a close race with Frederic Pohl.

Pohl is able to stoke underlying embers of anti-immigrant sentiment in a way that dances towards, but never actually embraces, Germany's Nazi past. Eisenhuth wants to continue to pull together the same populace with remembering, but not embracing, that same past.

What Cotton and Cassiopeia find in Chile is the remnants of the fleeing German citizens in the late 1800's who were later joined by fleeing Nazis. Whole towns in Chile resemble Alpine villages more than communities in this country, and they also find an old woman, Ada, who was a correspondent of Eva Braun. In perusing Braun's letters they learn that Braun survived Hitler's suicide bunker and instead left Germany first for Chile and later for Bloemfontein. She also was married to Bormann, Hitler's assistant who was a sneaky political climber.

Berry is very detailed in his Writer's Note at the end of the book to separate fact from speculation from unverified history. I salute him for this, as there are enough conspiracy theories about Hitler and Braun and the Nazis to fill multiple volumes.

49) November Category 2 - Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
4 1/2 ****

I am giving this book a solid 4. The language and interweaving of the various stories was Juliet Marillier brilliance. I caught myself referring to "Son of the Shadows" early on to recall the story of Niamh and Cíaran and their fall from the families of Sevenwaters. Bringing back the Lady Oonagh into the trilogy was a stroke of brilliance. Except.

There were probably an extra hundred pages of too much self-flagellation that I had to endure to read through this story. I wanted to say to Ms. Marillier, "I get it. Fainne thinks herself trash and the cause of everyone's misfortune and she slaps away the man who loves her. But let's move the story forward and watch Fainne regain a sense of goodness within herself." She does eventually, but every single page filled with this ongoing despair and self-hatred should have been edited out.

The story begins with young, happy Fainne, daughter of Cíaran and Niamh of Sevenwaters, living with just her father in a cave in Kerry. Her mother has died from a fall and Fainne has only a few wispy memories and a treasured doll to remember her mother. Cíaran, trained from his youngest years as a Druid, is the son of Colm of Sevenwaters (the father in "Daughter of the Forest") and his second wife, the sorceress Oonagh who turned her stepsons into swans. Niamh was born to Sorcha, from Colm's first marriage, who wove the shirts for her brothers and saved them from their half-life of swans.

As Fainne grows she learns she has ways of making fire happen, and her father teaches her from his craft of Druidry. His mother, the Lady Oonagh, returns as Fainne enters adolescence and teaches her the dark side of the craft while Cíaran seems to sicken and leave off of his teaching.

Fainne chooses (or is forced, it's a bit ambiguous) to leave Kerry with the Travellers who come by every summer and leave in the fall for parts north. A son of the traveling people, Darragh, is her best friend growing up and they are beloved of one another, yet Oonagh promises Fainne that she will destroy both Darragh and Cíaran if Fainne does not do Oonagh's bidding: throw into chaos the negotiations and consequent battle plans that will return the Lost Islands to Eire and the Tuatha de Danaan.

So Fainne returns to her ancestral lands of Sevenwaters, meeting Sean of Sevenwaters, his brother Conor, and Eamonn who played a prominent role in "Son of the Shadows." Sean has several daughters who pull Fainne out of her shell and teach her the meaning of love despite herself. And as one expects, adventures and interweaving of stories lend depth and breadth to Fainne's life and this re-imagining of ancient Eire.

50) November Category 1 - Dyer Consequences by Maggie Sefton
3 1/2 ***

Another installment in the knitting mysteries surrounding the Lambspun fiber family. Our dear Kelly has been a part of Fort Connor, Colorado, for nearly a year and continues to work on her projects and solve mysteries.

In this case, a young woman who worked in Jennifer's real estate office is a college student studying chemistry. Of course motherly Maggie invites her to come to the class on dyeing of yarn! She would learn so much.

And then, the worst happens. It is a murder mystery, after all, and this one has a bit of a twist that has something to do with the murder but not as much as you might think. You see, Kelly wants to buy the nearly-abandoned ranch house, with alpacas, that has had buyers since Geri Norbert was arrested for a couple of murders. But for some strange reason, each of the buyers pulls out and it goes back on the market.

Kelly loves this place and is debating whether to give up her cozy cottage near Lambspun or try to be one of the buyers. And she finally makes an offer, has another young college student, Bob, stay on-site to take care of the alpacas, and finds more and more incidents of vandalism that she has to deal with. Including one that might have cost her her own life if she weren't paying attention.

The ending was almost predictable, though I did like how the vandalism around Kelly and her home were more the central focus. And it Sefton is able to add in the life of a knit shop, with all of its many layers, in a quite believable way to the story.

December Reading Log

Category 1 - Quick Reads The Mother in Law by Terence, The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters, Lily of the Tower by Elizabeth Hart, The King of the North by Gordon Noble
Category 2 - Longer Reads The Burning Time by Virginia Rounding, Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash
Category 3 - Book Group Reads Ghost Soldier by Mike Maden
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series, Vol. IV The Shaping of Middle Earth
Category 5 - Classics Les Misérables, Vol. II by Victor Hugo

December Current Count - 6
Year to Date Count - 56

Long winter evenings just lend themselves to long reads! I hope to finish Virginia Rounding's book this month, and the next LT group read promises to be at the local library. I'll have to check some other reading challenges to add to these categories, or maybe just spend an evening looking through bags and TBR shelf and select some that I've meant to read.

Please check back once or twice this month! I'm sure there will be additions to this list.

Ed: Well, did some reading and updating both my books read and book lists. I am looking forward to the group read, and am enjoying a bit of lighter reading with Elizabeth Peters. And reading one of the Greek classic dramas is a personal feather in my cap.

51) December Category 1 - The Mother in Law by Terence
3 1/2 ***

Though there are other plays in this volume, the one I chose was "The Mother-in-Law." It was a play in which the families are neighbors, the son of one family is married to the daughter of the other family. While the son is absent on a trip to oversee some supplies on a ship, his new wife flees to her home and will not come out.

The son has confessed to his servant that he has never had marital relations with her, yet when the play opens she is in her own home giving birth 7 months after their wedding.

Though we never see her, we see each mother-in-law blaming herself for what has transpired. And their husbands heap more blame on their wives until the wives turn it back to the husbands.

The son returns, he hears from his mother that his wife has had a son, and more words and back-and-forths ensue between the fathers of both families. Finally, a ring that the son has worn for 9 months, since he came home late one night, is found to be the ring that the young wife and mother wore for many years. It was taken off of her finger during an assault (in this translation) in a back alley one night.

For this modern reader, I was appalled by the misogyny, the cover-up the young wife has to go through regarding her pregnancy, and of course her rape that resulted in a pregnancy. I salute the scholars who are able to read and translate these plays, and I hope that new compendiums and translations make it easier to absorb.

52) December Category 1 - The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
3 1/2 ***

Taking us a little further in the life and adventures of Amelia Peabody, she is still happily married to Emerson, still loves the pyramids and longs for a dig, and see a good fit with keeping her son to be raised by close friends when she is traveling the globe.

Which are all refreshing takes for a woman living (fictionally, it's true) in the late Victorian era. She is also a good foil to Emerson who can be a real cad and I grew tired of his over-the-top scoldings of just about everyone. We learn about Amelia's adventures almost when this book starts and once again, she and her family are off to Egypt but not to the dig they thought they would have.

Sadly, though, the book became more about verbal exchanges between Amelia and Emerson, Amelia and their son Ramses, and just about everyone else whom their group encounters. The setting was informative, near a Coptic Christian burial ground that might have had a pyramid above it at one point. They are also near a village with two warring religious leaders, and a cast of characters introduced early on, the rich amateurs who play at archeology, almost never recur again. Instead, we hear about them as possible suspects of thefts while also keeping track of the villagers, the American leader of a small group of missionaries, and M. de Morgan who grabbed the coveted spot at the Black Pyramid for the digging season.

I will probably continue with this series off and on as reading challenges present themselves. I hope Emerson tones it down in later books and that I don't have to read too much of Ramses' childish speaking as he grows with the times.

53) December Category 3 - Ghost Soldier by Mike Maden
3 1/2 ***

Juan Cabrillo and his crew (corporation, really) in this book are fighting against a mysterious technological warlord called the Vendor. We meet the Vendor at the beginning of the book through early chapters about several countries (Niger, North Korea) whose fighters are completely wiped out in brutal attacks. In Niger, there is even mention of Blackhawk helicopters flying towards the group, making the leader think the Americans were coming to help out. They were Blackhawks, but their aim was not to help.

As these strange attacks continue, his "boss," Overton, calls him in to solve them. Juan dons a superb disguise and the persona of a Russian general and makes his way to a village leader in Afghanistan. This "general" wants to see more of the American arms, ammunition, and gear that was left behind in August of 2021 when the American forces pulled out. He finds not just huge warehouses full of this equipment, but also himself on board an aircraft with pallets of these armaments heading who knows where.

Juan is (of course) able to escape, the plane crashes into the sea, and the Vendor realizes someone is onto him. And the story keeps building and events occur, including a mole at the CIA who is pretty darn upset that no one is recognizing her talents and work expertise. The action takes place mainly at sea for the crew of the Oregon, while a Pacific island called the Island of Sorrows becomes the location of a cunning set-up from the Vendor. Seems the Vendor wants to sell armaments to the highest bidder, and he recruits a group of skilled mercenaries, presumably to play a relatively harmless war game that will make them all rich men. Instead, the Vendor has set them up as examples of what his technological firepower can do to the human body. While his buyers look on with interest.

I found this to be a not great read for the series. There was page after page of similes, describing everything from the crew of the Oregon, to the tech they used, to munitions, that it ceased to serve a purpose. Simple explanations still work. And the over-reliance on technological wizardry grew stale after a while. I get that tech is fascinating, but when tech puts itself as the point of the story, instead of Juan and Linda and Max and all the characters, then it's time to create a story.

Happy New Year Threadnsong 🎇🎉 Hope you have a happy and healthy 2026.

How is the Les Miserables read going? I just finished that yesterday, having g been reading it throughout 2025.

>73 Andrew-theQM: Hullo Andrew! So far, yes, we are healthy, and happy having just been to neighbors' homes delivering (late) Christmas presents. Getting out and about and visiting is a neglected thing and I'm glad we have friends among our neighbors.

How have yours been?

For "Les Miserables," I am about halfway through Vol. II of the three-volume series. Part of why it is slow going is that I read it usually on weekend afternoons since it is in French and I want to make certain that I, well, don't fall asleep when I'm reading it.

I am at the point where Marius learns that the man who saved his grandfather on the battlefield at Waterloo is the same con man who is holding hostage Jean Valjean. None other than M. et Mme Thénardier who have fallen from their previous heights into slums and con men and criminals.

It is a fascinating look at the class system, about deceit, and the tale of Marius' grandfather is just so very, very tragic. As is the story of Jean Valjean, and the early encounter between Bishop Myriel, at the very beginning, where he has to aid a member of the Révolution when his family was impoverished due to their status was completely unexpected.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

54) December Category 1 - Lily of the Tower by Elizabeth Hart
2 1/2 **º

Meh. This is Elizabeth Hart's first book and she didn't quite know how to tell her story. Unlike the back cover that mentions "Jane Eyre," this book is definitely not a re-telling of Rochester's wife in the tower. Not even close.

It tries very hard to deal with the British class structure, and LGBTQ issues, and the daughter of a rich family who has a passionate love affair with her maid servant and almost gets sent to a madhouse. Adventures ensue, and I always wondered "what happened to the maid servant?" That was the most cohesive passage and it was the introduction.

What disturbed me most about this volume was the ways in which the affairs, between Lily and her maid servant, Zona, and later Agnes and Lily, were more predatory affairs than true love affairs. Lily at the beginning could of course take advantage of Zona, because what was Zona to do? And then Agnes, when she decides she is in love with Lily, pushes herself onto Lily without hearing the word "no."

Having searched on other book sites to make certain that I was not the only one who was troubled by this book, I also learned about the trope "bury your gays." And this book has several disturbing instances of this trope. They may have been intended as a reality check on how members of the LGBTQ community were treated in the 1830's and 1840's, but those instances came across more as damaging to the theme than necessary to the plot.

55) December Category 2 - The Burning Time by Virginia Rounding
5*****

This is a fascinating and well-written work, a surprising statement given the subject matter. Yet Rounding is able to take this time in England and provide a year-by-year detail of the hundreds of burnings at St. Bartholomew's Cathedral in London. This book begins with Henry VIII and the easy way he had with consigning people to death, and ends with the death of Mary Tudor that ends her queenship.

Part of what makes this book work is the clear, concise way that Rounding writes. She is just as deft at working in the historical context as Alison Weir while also crafting a story that is easy to read. Rounding takes the lives of the women and men who were burned at the stake and tells their stories. Yes, some people were left out; not everyone was documented in the 16th century. But she has still done her research, and having the number of victims she does name makes the act of reading much easier.

The irony she points out is the ambiguity of the times in which many of these martyrs lived. If one supported the changes in the church that Henry VIII instituted to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, then one could still be burned as a religious martyr if one fell out of grace with the same King. And then there was Mary Tudor, sweeping up all of the supporters of her father's religious changes in a horrible period of retribution.

Rounding also points out the reality that many of these women and men faced when they were brought to trial: if they recanted their confession, they could not live with their conscience nagging at them. It was a different time when one's death led to heaven, or eternal torture. For the victims whose stories are told here, they chose to go to the stake to be burned, knowing that they would see their Heavenly Father.

The book also contains a chronology with dates of what happened at Court, who was burned when (including Thomas Cromwell), the brief reign of Edward VI, and the also brief reign of Mary Tudor. I found myself referencing it, especially when I picked up and put down this book, reading it after a period of time.

Sometimes, during difficult times, it is important to read books about troubling and other difficult times. This is not a book I might have read 3 years ago, but just like with COVID and the lockdown, I found solace in reading about the Black Plague and the London Plague. We are in difficult times and this was one outcome.

56) December Category 1 - The King in the North by Gordon Noble and Nicholas Evans, et. al.

5*****

A fantastic book of the archeology of the ancient kingdoms of Fortriu and Ce, complete with maps, more maps, typographical maps, and photos of items retrieved during the course of archeological digs.

And a quick note: I picked this book up solely because I am a huge fan of Juliet Marillier, and her book series "The Bridei Chronicles" takes place in these kingdoms. Bridei is mentioned by name in several of the chapters which made me very happy. Several of the sites that were excavated point to their use as maybe a royal residence or a fort, and then there is a deep underground pool that is mentioned in Marillier's "The Dark Mirror."

Reading this book was also fairly pain-free. The style is readable and aims to appeal to readers and scholars who are fascinated with this area or this period of history. The authors are blunt about what was and was not found, due to 19th century archeological practices, modern agricultural practices, or just generally age. Again, this is a close look at very tiny bits of bone, metal, and standing stones that are in a farmer's field with carvings that have rubbed off.

What the boar on the front cover stands for, whether the post-Roman Picts used symbols as a sort of Ogam alphabet, all these are things we just do not know. And none of the authors speculate into the realm of historical fantasy what these symbols and carvings might mean, which gives the research of this volume much more authenticity.

And that, my LT reading friends, is that!

I read (gulp) 56 books this year, helped a great deal by curling up with some cozy mysteries that go quickly, and also some books towards the end that were well-written enough to read through in a short time despite their subject matter.

Still pending are Helen and Teacher by Joseph P. Lash, Les Misérables Vol. II by Victor Hugo, and The History of Middle Earth Vol IV, The Shaping of Middle Earth. The end of the year was much busier than I expected, so no time to dart off to a coffee shop for an afternoon to delve into Tolkien, and I read Hugo in its original French for many reasons, so I read sections of it on a long afternoon or an evening where I know I can concentrate on the story without dozing off.

I will set up my 2026 Category Challenge at another time, and look forward to seeing all of you and your reading adventures in this, the new year!

>78 threadnsong: Even one lonely book is better than NO books at all! I actually feel sorry for folks that don't read at all. Looking forward to seeing your list for 2026.

>78 threadnsong: A great achievement, threadnsong, 👏.
Here’s to the next 12 months… Happy Reading!

>79 Carol420: My thoughts exactly! I used some waiting time in the vet's waiting room this week to start a new book I Am a Cat that seemed appropriate.

>80 Sergeirocks: Thank you so much! And a Happy Reading to you.