Benita's Big Bad Book Pile - 2017

Once again I will attempt to rid my shelves of books that have been sitting around for a very long time. My goal for this year is 47 books off my shelf. The books I will be reading will be anything purchased or added to my list before December 31, 2016. The eligible books can also be recorded books. I will add titles to this posting when I finish them and a short review below as I get time to write it. I will be continuing the Hillerman/Johnson mystery challenge and will join in the British Author Challenge and the American Author Challenge when I can. I will also be joining in on the Non-Fiction challenge hosted by Suzanne. I hope to use these Challenges to get some books off of my shelves. I will use this first spot to index my ROOTS for the year.

1. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - January 3, 2017
2. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini - Sound Recording - January 4, 2017
3. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch - Sound Recording - January 4, 2017
4. Lost City of Z by David Grann - January 8, 2017
5. Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore - Sound Recording - January 10, 2017
6. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - January 12, 2017
7. Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - January 17, 2017
8. Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - Sound Recording - January 26, 2017
9. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas - January 30, 2017
10. War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - sound recording - February 5, 2017
11. Stacked: A 32DDD Reports from the Front by Susan Seligson - Februrary 9, 2017
12. Underneath by Kathi Appelt - sound recording - February 14, 2017
13. Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan - February 19, 2017
14. Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins - sound recording - March 1, 2017
15. First Eagle by Tony Hillerman - March 1, 2017
16. Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin - sound recording - March 10, 2017
17. Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson - March 22, 2017
18. Magyk by Angie Sage - sound recording - March 23, 2017
19. Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin - sound recording - March 27, 2017
20. Audrey and Givenchy: A Fashion Love Affair by Cindy De La Hoz - March 31, 2017
21. Brenner and God by Wolf Haas - April 3, 2017
22. Jackie and Cassini by Lauren Marino - April 6, 2017
23. Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown - sound recording - April 16, 2017
24. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami - April 18, 2017
25. Baklava Club by Jason Goodwin - April 26, 2017
26. Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman - May 1, 2017
27. The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates - sound recording - May 12, 2017
28. Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman - May 30, 2017
29. Colony: the Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman - sound recording - June 1, 2017
30. Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas - June 3, 2017
31. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux - June 6, 2017
32. Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall - sound recording - June 15, 2017
33. A Writer's House in Wales by Jan Morris - June 17, 2017
34. Bone Man by Wolf Haas - June 27, 2017
35. Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - June 27, 2017
36. Map of Fates by Maggie Hall - sound recording - July 4, 2017
37. Assembling California by John McPhee - July 13, 2017
38. Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox - sound recording - July 15, 2017
39. Summerland by Michael Chabon - July 21, 2017
40. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - July 31, 2017
41. Gas City by Loren D. Estleman - sound recording - July 31, 2017
42. Sinister Pig by Tony Hilleran - August 10, 2017
43. Peace Like a River by Lief Enger - sound recording - August 12, 2017
44. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - sound recording - August 13, 2017
45. Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard - sound recording - August 22, 2017
46. Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Wills - August 26, 2017
47. King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard - sound recording - August 27, 2017
48. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - September 2, 2017
49. Flyte by Angie Sage - sound recording - September 4, 2017
50. Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard - sound recording - September 13, 2017
51. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear - September 14, 2017
52. Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman - sound recording - September 21, 2017
53. 52 Loaves by William Alexander - October 1, 2017
54. Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson - October 2, 2017
55. Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh - sound recording - October 8, 2017
56. Columbine by David Cullen - October 30, 2017
57. News of the World by Paulette Jiles - November 8, 2017
58. Carnival by Elizabeth Bear - November 10, 2017
59. Resurrection by Wolf Haas - November 26, 2017
60. Come, Sweet Death! by Wolf Haas - November 28, 2017
61. Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman - sound recording - November 28, 2017
62. Georgiana by Amanda Foreman - December 3, 2017
63. In the Shadow of the Ark by Anne Provoost - December 3, 2017 - Pearl Ruled
64. Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Richard Bowers - December 4, 2017
65. Murder in the Marais by Cara Black - December 9, 2017
66. Wait For Signs by Craig Johnson - December 13, 2017
67. Human Division by John Scalzi - Sound recording - December 16, 2017
68. Murder in Belleville by Cara Black - December 21, 2017
69. Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey - December 23, 2017

My first book completed was a Georgetta Heyer Regency Romance in Dragonland. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton was a winner of the a World Fantasy Award. It was entertaining and pleasant enough, but nothing that outstanding.

I finished listening to the last installment of the Christopher Paolini epic swords and sorcerers fantasy series - Inheritance. The title of this 800+ page novel was Inheritance. When I first started listening to this series I was not that impressed, but now that have finished them I will miss listening to them on my long trips back and forth to Kansas and will be looking for something to take their place. The narrator for this series is outstanding and it was listening to him that really pushed this series into being as good as it was. I would recommend this to anybody who has children. It is a great listening or read aloud book..

Welcome back, Benita! Are you planning on making a ticker?
Happy ROOTing.

I don't do an individual ticker since I keep a book diary for myself. I just report the number over on the monthly ROOT thread at the end of the month.

>5 benitastrnad: That's a good way too.

Welcome back & Happy 2017 ROOTing!

>3 benitastrnad: good to know about the narrator... I also wasn't all that impressed w/ the first in the series, but thought it was fun. Maybe I'll listen to finish the series... :) Or maybe I'll wait until the baby is a boy and we'll read it together ;)

I picked up the recorded version of Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch at the public library just in case I finished Inheritance before the end of my trip. It was a good thing I did. I listened to it and finished it while I was driving into my carport. Serendipitous.

I enjoyed this first novel in a trilogy. I think I did so because this one had a good narrator. She managed to make the main character likable so I stayed with it. This novel is also blessed with secondary characters who are as interesting as the main character and that only adds to the story. Otherwise, it is the standard orphan girl who is really a princess/queen who finds her power and saves her people story. Oh, and finds two guys to fight over her along the way.

Good luck with your rooting!

Best of luck with your 2017 ROOT goal!

Good luck with your ROOTing.

I finally finished Lost City of Z by David Grann. This one was started back in April of 2016. It has taken me months of reading to finish this book. I am not sure why it took so long except that I just didn't find it interesting. Others in the group did find it of interest, I just didn't. I did like all the stuff about the workings of the Royal Geographical Society and the biographical information about Fawcett but I didn't really like the author's story. I think that is why I didn't tear through this book.

I Pearl Ruled Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore after 5 CD's. It just wasn't worth my time. I liked the narrator, but even a good narrator on a recorded book can't improve on the quality of the novel itself and that is where the real problem is with this novel. Boring.

I enjoy CD books, too. And like you sometimes have to admit that a good performer can't save a bad book. But they sure can enhance a solid one! One of my favorite things is when the author is a good performer of their own works.

Toni Morrison is a favorite of mine when it comes to reading her own tomes aloud.

Best of luck with your ROOTing in 2017.

Book two of the Queen of the Tearling series Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen was just as thrilling as the first in the series. It was so good, that I decided to purchase a brand new, full price copy of the third one in the series from Barnes & Noble. I didn't want to wait for a copy to come via Inter-Library Loan. I would be clear on the end of the waiting list and since #3 was just published in late October 2016 I would wait weeks for the book. Now I own it.

Book Two - starts where book one ended. Literally. In this novel the author works with a split time-line. Present and far past. It works well, even if, in the beginning, there seems to be no connection between the present character and the past one. In the end they come together. I am impressed with the authors ability to bring something fresh and new to the dystopian fantasy genre. This series started out rather traditional and with this book it moved to a more unconventional writing style. There are more characters coming to the fore and developing in some unexpected ways. There is no shortage of excitement or thrills in book 2, so it is on to book 3 without a pause. Thank goodness for having a bookstore in the same town in which you live!

>15 benitastrnad: good to hear you liked the Tearlings, Benita. I have those books on my TBR list and they now move higher up.

There is no better way to spend a weekend than to read an exciting intriguing book sitting in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee at hand. Maybe some nice ambient music, but a weekend just doesn't get any better than that. Quiet, peaceful, with an air of suspense created by that special anticipation of turning the next page. That is what happened to me with the Fate of the Tearling. I have read three of these immense and intense novels in one month, and have enjoyed every minute of it. This was dystopian fantasy as it was meant to be.

This novel did not follow the dystopian fantasy model. The ending was a real twist. It was a good ending, but it was a real twist and precludes the possibility of sequels. But no matter, there is plenty of fodder to be mined in the form of spin-offs from the contents of the three novels. When those are published I will be in line to read them.

This whole series was very well done. Lengthy, but not bloated. Plots twists but not out of character for the world that was created. Characters that were lovely and hateful. Romance, adventure, and philosophy all in one series. That makes this series rank right up there with the Ancillary Justice series by Ann Leckie. This series is my first Best of 2017 entry.

>17 benitastrnad: That's good to hear, Benita! I've just started in part 1. Own part 2 and hope they will translate part 3 as soon as possible. I'm enjoying this first book very much.

>17 benitastrnad: oh you did it! You finished the series... I'm so glad you enjoyed the series so much!!
I loved the first 2, and I am waiting (which you smartly did not do ;)) for the 3rd from the library... I've actually *listened* to this series, so I'm waiting for the 3rd to be available on audio. Fortunately, as of today, looks like I'm next up! :)

AND now I want to read the Ancillary Justice series even more, again! I have the 1st 2 just waiting on the shelves....

>19 avanders: >17 benitastrnad: I too like the Tearling series and started book 2 yesterday. But I did not finish Ancillary justice part 1. I did not like it at all.

I listened to the recorded version of Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. This novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize when it was published and it was very good. Not all of the violence of the Irish Civil Wars was with guns and guerrillas. Some of it was more subtle than that. This novel concentrates on that subtlety. In this case the violence was aimed at a Protestant woman living in a predominately Catholic area who runs afoul of the Catholic Church. The novel illustrates the power the church wielded in the lives of the ordinary Irish population and how this power was misused to further the cause of the church. It seems that the misuse of the religious club might have been more egregious in Ireland due to the fear of reprisal either politically or socially and the recent exposure of the misuse of this power (the laundry scandals and the forced or coerced removal of babies from mothers) means that it is more than fiction. This novel is about how this misuse of power changed forever the life of a beautiful young woman leaving her institutionalized for most of her life for no reason.

>21 benitastrnad: Sounds like a great read! On to my wish list it goes!

>20 connie53: interesting -- once I get to it (Ancillary Justice), I'm sure I'll have questions as to what about it you didn't like :)

>21 benitastrnad: it does sound interesting!

Empire of Storms is the fifth installment in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. The adventure continues. What else can I say? I like this series so much that I was not content to wait until the library got it, so I went out and purchased it at full price from Barnes & Noble.

I still think this series is not a YA series and it should be published as an adult series, but again ... not my decision. There is to much sex in these books for them to safely be in a school library, but they sure are great reads. In this installment the heroine turns out to be the self-sacrificing national hero that the reader knows that she is but who the people of her country still think is the selfish bitch she always was. Plenty of sex in this book, and now in the next one there will be plenty of S&M to add to the romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. First of all, the narrator is outstanding and makes listening to this novel a pleasure. This is a novel that has great potential as a read aloud and is a great introduction to historical fiction and the facts of life about war and what it means to be a refugee. It is also a great book about child abuse and poverty and neglect. The concept of child abuse is never spoken about in the open, but its presence is a real thing in the lives of the children and adults in the novel. As the narrator of this novel, Ada Smith, says early on in the book, there are many kinds of war. Ada is caught up in two of them. How she manages to survive and even thrive, with the help of some loving and caring people, makes for a great story.

Set in London on the eve of World War II, this novel explores the life that Ada Smith lives and the possibilities of a life other than the one she has. It is all about her courage to grab for the gold ring, and learning how to navigate the complex world of adults who mean her no good and those of the adults who do want to help her. All-in-all, this is an amazing story, and so well narrated by Jane Entwhistle, that this novel will stay with me for a long time.

I fiinished reading Stacked: A 32DDD Reports From the Front by Susan Seligson. I had given this book to my sister when it first came out and when she finished reading it she gave it back to me because I had expressed an interest in reading it.

The book is a series of chapters that deal with the cultural obsession with breasts, their size, the surgical industry that has grown up around them (generally to make them bigger), the porn industry, and last the cross-dressing and what breasts mean in that context. The author tries to be humorous throughout the book and generally the jokes are so corny that for a woman reading the book, they are a distraction. Even so, I like her approach and I liked the book. However, it is incomplete and the author acknowledges that fact because she concludes there are no easy answers as to why breasts are such an obsession.

Hi Benita. Greta to see that you already made such good progress in this year's challenge! And even better that you already found one of your Best reads for 2017!

I starred your thread and hope to pop in from time to time. And I also started my own thread for this year, hoping to do better than last year.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt was a Newbery Honor Book back in 2011 and I managed to snag a recorded version of it at a used book store a couple of years ago. It is a very well done recording. The narrator manages to have different voices without distortion or sounding corny. She did a great job and that makes this a very good recording to use in a classroom or to listen to on long trips. It will intrigue adults and children alike.

The story is a mashup of various folktales from several cultures. And it works. The novel is set in the border country of Texas and Louisiana along the bayous of the Sabine river. That in itself, make this novel unusual, as this is a rare area about which authors write. It is a brother-sister story, a mother-daughter story, a revenge story, and a hero villain story. The only thing that bothers me is that young children might find the story scary without some explanation from parent or teacher. However, they will hang on every word of this novel. This was certainly worth the time it took to listen to it.

Book three in the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan was Woken Furies. This was one of those novels with flashes of brilliance space far apart by excessively lengthy plot. That is a fancy way of saying that, while this book was interesting, it was not the thriller that the previous two novels in this series would have led me to expect.

This novel was set on Takeshi's home world and lead him to participate in a replay of the failed Quelist Revolution. It was full of the usual hard-boiled detective turned mercenary and then revolutionary operative action that is standard for this kind of novel. The new idea introduced in this book was the AI learning in the machines and then transmitting that to the people via their digital connections. As interesting as that concept is, the glory be! technology could not transcend the mediocre editing and writing of this novel. It moved along at a snail's pace with just enough happening to seduce me into staying with it for the long haul. And it was a long haul.

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was the hit book of a few years ago. It was so interesting that I almost quit listening to it because there wasn't a character in the book that was likable. Since I was listening to it in the car, I stayed with it, and finally the last quarter of the book became something that piqued my curiosity enough to make me understand why people were reading it. I ended up liking it much better than I did Gone Girl because some of the characters in this one redeemed themselves. Neither of them in Gone Girl did. With this novel, I ended up liking the main character, and I wanted her to live and get her life straightened out. One major plot failure was what happened to Kamil and how did the police learn of his part in the murder? The author never answers that question, even if perhaps she didn't need to do so.

I listened to this novel, and it was very well produced. There were three different narrators and they did a great job. It also added interest to the listening.

First Eagle by Tony Hillerman is another entry in the fine Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee series. This one shows Jim Chee's flaws and the patience and reason that Leaphorn uses to find the criminal. I love the local color in these books, and all the detail about the land and the culture of the various tribes that live in that area.

Snake Stone is the second Yashim the Eunuch mystery by Jason Goodwin. Like the first it is full of detail about life in early modern Istanbul. 1840's. This one also has detail about the Greek Revolution of the 1820's and the involvement in that war by Lord Byron and other romantics. It is also full of engineering and archeological detail about the city that I found fascinating. This one has incredible detail about the water system. Today there are tours available about the Roman cisterns and aqueducts.

I don't really care for the narrators voice but I like these mysteries. They are set in an exotic place and involves a way of life that is gone. They are so much more than mysteries. The series is all about culture and social customs as well as full of unique history that brings a far distant place and its past alive. There will be more of them in my car in the future.

Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson was the April selection for the book discussion group. I read it on the plane ride home from Berlin. It is a work of non-fiction about the man who figured out that cholera had to be a water born disease. He did so by using statistics and mapping - both of which are methods of discovery frequently used by modern science but in 1848 were considered suspect. Most of the book is about the epidemic and the struggle to figure out what caused it. The other half of the book is about how the discovery of how the disease spread lead to the rise of the modern mega-city and a discussion of the density of modern life in the modern city. This part was interesting but I am not sure that it was relevant to the topic of the book. Somehow it seemed to be far afield of the topic of the cholera epidemic and how that disease was stopped. It was a short book and that enabled me to get it read in all one sitting. Even if that sitting included 8 hours on an airplane crossing the Atlantic.

Magyk by Angie Sage is the first in the Septimus Heap children's fantasy series. I have been wanting to read this series ever since Diane Sekeres recommended them to me and I figured that the long drive home for Spring Break would be just the time to do it. I got the recorded version of this title from the Tuscaloosa Public Library and as soon as I finished the Yashim book I popped it into the CD player and settled in for the long haul.

This was an excellent recorded version. The narrator was perfect and used different voices for many of the different characters. There was even music at the beginning and the end of of each CD. The copyright date for the book is ____ and that means that Listening Library was still learning how to do recorded books. Even so it was a great production that helped the miles go by faster. This is the kind of book that parents and kids would enjoy on road trips that are for long distances. It will keep both age groups entertained for hours.

>33 benitastrnad: That sounds really interesting - I'm going to add it to my wishlist.

Audrey and Givenchy by Cindy De La Hoz is the first one of a series on fashion designers and the muses. Audrey Hepburn was the muse to Givenchy's genius. They were a team and as the book makes clear, they were friends in real life. The book is an elegant little coffee table type book that concentrates on the costumes and ensembles designed for the movies in which Hepburn starred. The years covered are 1953 through 1970. It is more pictures than text, but the text is valuable in putting the designs that are featured into context.

This is a book for those who love movies and haute couture. It would make a perfect gift all tied up in a very pretty scarf just like Audrey would wear. I can't wait to get started on the second book in this series, which I also have in my collection.

>36 benitastrnad: I would love this. My library doesn't have it but I can probably get it through inter-library loan.

I started reading Brenner and God by Wolf Haas while vacationing in Berlin. It isn't a big book (200 pages) but it took me a long time to read it. The style is a bit different. I think it is that weird German sense of humor. The book is written in third person, and I am not certain who the narrator is. This is a hit series in Germany and Austria, but I think the style puts people off here in the U. S. However, once the reader gets past the stylistic difference the book is quite funny and full of that self-depreciating sarcasm that Germans just do naturally about themselves and their country.

I heard the author talk at an ALA summer conference where he was one of the featured mystery writers at the Pop-Talk Stage. He was very interesting and as a result I purchased all four of the translated books in his Melville House repertoire. This is certainly an interesting series, and I will read the rest of this series during the rest of this year, as it is one of my reading goals to get some of my mystery series whittled down to manageable proportions.

I finished reading Jackie and Cassini: A Fashion Love Affair by Lauren Marino. This is the second in a series about famous haute couture designers and their muses and models. (The first book in this series was the one on Audrey Hepburn and Hubert Givenchy discussed in post #36.) This book has more text than the first and more pages of photographs. It is organized chronologically and the last chapter discusses the fact that after Jacqueline Kennedy was out of the White House her wardrobe became much more casual. She never was the fashion plate after 1963 that she was before. Therefore, it was clear to the author that Jacqueline Kennedy used her wardrobe to further the career and place of her husband in the hearts and minds of the people of the world. It was "clothes as power" and "clothes as image." People bought into the idea that the clothes projected of a smooth sophisticated young couple, but it was clear that the post-Camelot Jackie didn't care much for clothes or her image. The photographs used in the book clearly showed the clothes to their best advantage, and while this wasn't a construction or tailoring book, it did discuss the fashions in terms of design more than did the first book in the series. There was less about Oleg Cassini in this title than I would have liked, but there was more about the designer than in the first book. Over all, I think this was an improvement over the first title in the series, and this is a series that I will definitely continue to look at in the future. The binding on this small elegant coffee table type book is not up to the standards of the first title in the series, but this is still a fun, light, elegant, and interesting take on fashion.

>39 benitastrnad: sounds like an ideal gift for a fashion fan! Very topical too as the current FLOTUS is being criticised for wearing an Italian designer (Dolce & Gabbana) for her first official photographic portrait - I'm sure plenty of First Ladies wore clothes by foreign designers down the ages. Jackie obviously did. She was certainly iconic - the big sunglasses I wore in the late seventies were always referred to as 'Jackie O's'.

#40
Oleg Cassini was an American citizen. His parents were Italian immigrants of Russian ancestry. Isn't that a combination to have, but so typical of the U. S.? It was important to Joseph Kennedy that the designer for Jackie be an American designer. His younger brother was a gossip columnist for the New York Herald Tribune. It was Igor's connection to the Kennedy family that got Oleg his "in" as a designer for Rose Kennedy. Cassini was one of several designers that Joseph Kennedy selected for Jackie, and according to the book Jackie and Oleg hit it off, so he got the job. He got to put that he was the official designer for the First Lady on his stationary. Whoot! Whoot!

>41 benitastrnad: wow, I didn't realise Joe Kennedy's reach stretched so far as to control Jackie's wardrobe. Lucky Cassini!

Hi Benita, I've been away from LT for some weeks. So now I'm trying to catch up with all starred threads. You really have been reading a lot. And some interesting ones too!

I finished listening to my latest commuter book. Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown turned out to be a surprisingly good book. I don't usually read chick lit and so had put of listening to this one for a long time and, honestly, had set the bar quite low for this title. This was a pleasant surprise when I did get around to it.

This is a story of three sisters who love each other, but don't want to spend the rest of their lives in close proximity. Circumstances, however, have other plans, and the sisters find themselves all back at home living with their parents due to one thing or another. All of them use their mother's cancer and subsequent illness as the excuse, but all of them are back because they have unfinished business with their siblings. How, this quandary is resolved is the story, and the author does a bang-up job of telling it. The narrator for this recorded version was also very good and did a great job of bringing this twist on the genre to life. It was a great commute book. And, I loved all the Shakespeare references.

>44 benitastrnad: This was a book club pick for me but I didn't read it, I think I was out of town during the week of the meeting and didn't push myself to get it read before I left. I ran across it about an hour ago and was wondering if I should donate it, but your timely comments have made me decide to hang on to it and hopefully will get to it soon.

I finished reading Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. This work of magical realism, or maybe just plain fantasy, or it could be Sci/Fi, was certainly not of the same quality as some of the other Murakami works I have read. I don't know if I would recommend this book to others or not. It has many of the typical Murakami elements, but it isn't as plot or character driven as are some of his latest works. The total message in this novel is obscure and I am not sure I know what it is. This one is really hard to decipher but full of wacky characters and weird situations that are typical of Murakami.

>46 benitastrnad: that's interesting - I read that Murakami changed his writing style in his more recent books to appeal better to a western audience but I still find them difficult to engage with fully! But maybe that's just me - I've never really 'got' magic realism ever since I struggled with Isabel Allende's 'The House of the Spirits' in the 80s.

Baklava Club by Jason Goodwin is the fifth and final book in the Yashim the Eunuch series. The author had announced on his web site that it was time to say goodbye to Yashim and this was a good novel with which to end the series. This novel was full of international intrigue and tragedy, as well as love and friendship. This novel was very good at setting the place of the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the European schema. By that, it illustrated how much these two powers were actually on the fringes of the European diplomatic scene, and yet how integral they were due to the constant jostling and pushing for more influence and power on the world stage in which both countries were engaged. All of this would explode into the Crimean War in the next decades, and this novel sets the stage for this mean little action.

Aside from that, it is also an intensely personal story. Yashim falls in love, the valide learns she isn't a world player, and Palewski continues to have his hopes for a Poland to be on the map of Europe. The plot starts gently and then explodes into a cover-up that ends up horribly for all the participants. It is just the kind of climax that should end a series that educated its audience and elucidated a little known part of the civilized world during the Victorian Age.

Another good solid mystery by Tony Hillerman. This time it was Hunting Badger. This mystery reflected the rise of extremist terrorism and even environmental terrorism in the rural U. S. The basic plot was centered around a robbery and the mystery of where the robbers disappeared. The modern day robber was caught due to the sleuthing of late 19th and early 20th century stories and myths recorded by Leaphorn's academic friend.

Two things of interest for me in this story. 1. How academic sleuthing is as methodical and painstaking as is Leaphorn's detective sleuthing. 2. I am starting to identify elements of the culture through these novels. For instance, I deduced from the title that a badger being a ground animal probably meant that the plot had something to do with the ground, or digging in the ground. It did. This tells me that the author is doing a great job of introducing me to the culture and its icons.

Can't catch up, but will start anew here! Happy reading!

Finally, a Joyce Carol Oates book, The Falls, that I could finish and not hate the characters. Finally Joyce Carol Oates creates characters that handle their grief and shame in ways that many people do. Finally a Joyce Carol Oates book that has women characters who aren't weirdos.

I have read a couple of JCO titles in the past and had come to the conclusion that she was an author of overwrought prose who secretly hated women and needed to write fiction in order to vent her spleen. This novel was different. At first, I thought, here I go again, down the only road JCO knows, but as soon as Dirk Burnaby came into the novel things changed for the better and then the history and story of the early days of the Love Canal catastrophe captured my attention. From there it was a book that I couldn't wait to get to on my daily commutes. I believe that the author uses Niagara Falls as a way to explore suicide, unexpected death and its accompanying shock and grief. Even though the novel also explores environmental disaster, the primary theme is grief. In this novel, Ariah Burnaby is married and widowed on the same day. Since she is a spinster this is a great humiliation as well as a shock. Then she meets Dirk Burnaby and finds happiness. Until, he becomes involved in a serious litigation - the Love Canal case. Tragedy strikes Ariah again. How she deals with this grief comprises the rest of the novel. She completely closes off herself and her family from any contact with their past and creates a cocoon of illusion around "her family." This is a state of affairs with which her children have to find their way. And it ain't easy. In the end, I discovered a novel by JCO that I actually liked, filled with a family that found a way to grow and become something in the face of great tragedy.

I read this novel for my real life book discussion group. We did a round robin reading of Joyce Carol Oates. Each person in the group picked a novel of hers that they wanted to read, and we will have a group discussion of the author, rather than the book. One person in our group loves JCO and kept asking for us to read a novel of hers. This was our solution, because most of the people in the group don't like JCO titles. I have to say that this novel was one I liked.

The recorded version of this novel was spare but effective. The narrator did a fine job of varying her voice that helped to differentiate the characters for the listener.

>51 benitastrnad: great review - I've still to experience JCO but will remember your review when I do!

I finished reading Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman. This is the twelveth novel in this series and the quality of this series has not diminished one bit. There is so much in this novel about the religious differences between the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo. I think the addition of Louisa and Bernadette has allowed Hillerman to put more of these bits into the novel. Bernadette's concern about the taboos on touching a dead body and the consequences of doing so for her and her family add to the mystery. If nothing else these novels have pointed out to me that these Native Americans of the Southwest are very different groups with very different religious views that caused trouble between them for centuries, even though they live in relative proximity. Sort of like the Sunni and Shiite and the Protestants and Catholics.

While I liked the plotting, character development and interpersonal interactions of the four major characters in this novel - Chee, Leaphorn, Bernadette, & Louisa, I found their dialog very stilted. It may be that Hillerman is trying to convey things about the culture but at times the dialog sounded like it was straight from a 1930's radio soap opera or drama. It seemed very cliched to me. The plot was great. This was one of the most complex plots so far in this series, and it showed tremendous depth and nuance. It is surprising to me that he packed so much into such a short novel. (230 pages in my edition.) If I was to compliment nothing else in this novel, I would compliment it for that alone. This was a fine example of tight and compact writing and editing.

I can't wait to start on the next novel in this series.

I listened to Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai by John Tayman. This was a work of non-fiction about the leporsarium on an isolated point of land on the island of Molokai. Hawaii had a high percentage of people afflicted with leprosy and had very strict laws about isolating victims of this disease in hopes of stopping its spread. It wasn't until the 1900's when it was discovered the disease was caused by a bacteria, the 1940's before an antibiotic was found that stopped the disease, and not until the 1980's that it was found to have a genetic origin. Until the 1950's all victim's of leprosy in Hawaii were sent to the facility in Molokai to be isolated from contact with healthy people. This book is the story of that facility. It is also the story of some remarkable people who did the best they could in circumstances that were the least favorable possible.

As a work of history it was enlightening, and, unlike much non-fiction, it worked as a recorded book. As a work of non-fiction is average in quality. It doesn't glorify or vilify people. It just tells it like it was. I listened to this title, and found the recorded version annoying. The recorded version was made in the early 2000's and the reader tries to do different accents for some of the different characters and it just doesn't work. The reader is not very good at it, so the accents become more of a distraction than an addition. Serviceable is what I would call this book and the recorded version of it.

I finished Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas. This is the third in the Court of Thorns and Roses series and is the weakest book of the three. That is unusual. In this series the best book is the second one Court of Mist and Fury that I read last year.

It appears to me that this novel was thrown together in a hurry and contains to many throw away sentences and paragraphs. For instance, towards the end of the book, the author makes a great showing of telling how she and her mate, and a few others, will rescue the humans the night before the big battle and how exhausting this will be for them when they need to rest and conserve the use of their magic so that they will have magic strong enough to repel the far superior magic of the evil King. Then in the next chapter the reader is once again treated to an explanation of how exhausted they all are from rescuing ALL the humans, AND their animals, as well. What the hey! This is totally frivolous information that the reader has already encountered in the previous chapter. The reader doesn't need to hear it again to enjoy and better understand the story. This is more of the kind of thing that people can talk about and discuss on a fan-fiction blog post.

The entire book is filled with attempts to bring up every controversial social, cultural, and political gambit there is. Large sections of the book are devoted to the sexual preferences of various characters and how ostracizing them based on this preference is wrong, as well as judging based on looks or mode of dress. (This coming from a race of humanoids who are young and beautiful forever.) In consequence, the constant preaching gets tiresome.

I like the series and will most likely read the planned sequels but in-the-future, Maas needs to do less introduction of new story lines and concentrate on getting a quality novel produced. In 2018 there are two major novels of her coming out, and probably a whole host of novellas and short stories for the digital readers. I just hope there is more quality and less of hitting all the potential buttons for a myriad of audiences in these novels.

I finally finished reading Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux. I had read the first book Great Railway Bazaar and knew that this was sort of a sequel. I wanted to read the two and compare them. I think I started this book at least twice before I really got going on it. I think that is because there is a time for every book and when the time is right, the book is right.

I thought that Great Railway Bazaar, written back in 1975, was a vituperative account written by a snarky dissipated man who was obsessed with sex. It was a good travelogue but those attitudes of his were what stood out to me. The update was a bit different. In Ghost Train, the author retraces his travels from 1975 in 2005. The trip is different because the territory covered is different. In 1975 he couldn't go into the various Stan's of the USSR and in 2005 he could. In 1975 he traveled by train through Iran and in 2005 he couldn't. In 1975 he couldn't travel through Vietnam and in 2005 he could. He rode a bullet train in Japan, and spent a good deal more amount of time there than he did in 1975. As a consequence of all these changes, the book is different. Of course, he is a different person now due to his age, and that softer outlook shows in his writing. Don't get me wrong - he is still snarky at times, but it does have a softer edge.

This was well worth the time it took to read. It is a grand journey told in a grand kind of voice. I would encourage people to read both books, to get a more rounded picture of the author, but if a straight travelogue is what the reader is after, read this later version of the trip. It is a better, though longer, book.

>56 benitastrnad: I have only read Theroux's Hotel Honolulu and thought it terribly bad!

#57
He does have a tendency to be so snarky that it gets irritating.

Finished listening to the DaVinci Code for teens Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall. This is a good way to pass the time on the road, and aside from having a good narrator there really is nothing special about this YA novel. I am listening to the sequel so it clearly isn't a bad novel - just not outstanding. It involves conspiracies about Napoleon and Alexander the Great orphans, watchers, and rich people who fly around the world on a whim, purchase Prada dresses, and have grand masques balls in the Louvre. And teens with missing parents who find true love in the middle of conspiracy that involves obscure art work. 'Nuf said.

The National Geographic Society produced a series of lovely travel books under the unified title of "National Geographic Directions." Each title is written by a well-known author about a place of significance to them. Some of the series are about countries or regions, some about cities or neighborhoods within a city, and some, like this one, A Writer's House in Wales by Jan Morris, about a specific place, like the home of the author. The series is not one of heavy tomes of travel, but rather lighter but more intimate descriptions of places an impressions of importance to the author. I have found this series to be delightful to read. They take the reader on a geographic journey to far and not-so-far places. This more intimate essay makes the book worthwhile reading.

This volume is about the author's home in Wales. It is a description of the building, what it contains, and a very sketchy sketch of the people who live there, or frequent the environs. The most interesting part of the essay is what the author has to say about the Welsh language and Welsh Nationalism. According to her, both are alive and well, for the time being.

Bone Man by Wolf Haas is the second book in the Brenner series. This murder mystery/ private detective series is translated from the German and is part of the Melville House International Crime series. I got my first Brenner book at an ALA conference several years ago when Melville House had the author do a reading at one of the book stages in the exhibit hall.

The plot is well done but I think it would have more meaning in its own cultural context. The same is true of the dialogue and the characterization of the hero. These novels are meant to be full of ironic humor, that tends to be very German and Middle European in tone that make it hard for the American reader to follow. I am sure that there are many references in the novel that would be funny or that contribute to the mystery, but without the cultural context and/or an excellent translation these are lost. In general I find this series harder to get into than I did the Martin Beck series and certainly not on the same level as the Aurelio Zen series. Overall, I think this series loses too much in the translation.

The saving grace of this series is that the novels are short - they average 200 pages - and therefore make perfect airplane reading. I have two more of these to read and they will probably be reserved for trip reading because they are easy to carry around.

I loved the book Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. It will be on my best books of the year list.

This novel is a wonderful work of historical fiction masquerading as a very well written fantasy novel. It is a novel of the immigrant experience in the U.S. around the turn of the century. Specifically that of immigrants to New York City. It is also a wonderful snapshot of NYC at the turn of the century. It covers everything from the rich in their gilded cages to the very poor living in the tenement houses with grace and verve. The descriptions of the parks and public spaces of the city in the 1890's are vivid and place the reader right there with the people living in the time. Through the wonderings of the jinni the various neighborhoods off this great city come to life and give the reader a much better handle on the various immigrant groups that went there and settled into enclaves that developed into neighborhoods that sustained and nurtured the residents while they transitioned from being immigrant strangers to neighbors. A verity of secondary characters provides the reader with a continuos stream of interesting people whose lives are intertwined with the major characters that keep the reader wondering what will happen next to who! This may be a novel by a first time author, but it certainly doesn't show as this is an exquisitely edited and presented novel with a beautiful cover and deckle edged pages.

>62 benitastrnad: A great review and definitely a BB for me!

I finished listening to Map of Fates by Maggie Hall. This is the second in a projected YA trilogy that started with Conspiracy of Us. This was purely easy listening and once again I was less than thrilled with the prospect of teens wearing designer clothes jet setting to the current hotspots around the world and spending copious amounts of money, all the while engaging in implausible filallial duty to both mother, father, and family. So enough. This will be the end of this story.

I read Assembling California by John McPhee for the non-fiction year-long challenge sponsored by Chatterbox. The June category was the natural world and a rockin' and rollin' good read this title was for that category! If you like rocks and all things rocks this is a book for you. I learned about plate tectonics from a master author and a master geologist. One wrote the book (McPhee) and one wrote the book on plate tectonics (Eldridge Moores). Both help to explain how California came to be and where it came from.

The author starts the book with the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains and ends in the Pacific Ocean off the coast close to Monterrey. While he is taking that trip he takes the reader through California history from the Gold Rush of 1848 to the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. It is as fascinating a physical journey as it is academic. The author takes great pains to explain to the reader that, while the science of geology is old, the science of plate tectonics is new. It started in the 1970's and exactly how things work in plate tectonics is still unknown to scientists and therefore to the general population.

While I was reading this book, the PBS series "Making North America" was on TV. It was fascinating to read this book and then see the illustrations of some of the various types of rock formations discussed in the book. That makes this a timely read.

Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox is spooky children's spy, sorcerer, and Halloween story all rolled into one. Like many children's stories there is an abscence of adults in the narrative and the few that are in the story are muddle and addled and altogether not any help at all. Does the reading public never get tired of these tropes?

That said, this was a "charming" story that children are sure to like. The narrator of this novel is so good that I think that those listening to it will like it far more than those who read it. It was a great commute listen and I hope that this narrator does many more books

Hi Benita, I'm trying to catch up on threads en saying Hi. You been reading a lot of books. And past the half way point by far if you are still planning to read 47 books. Congrats on that!

I just finished reading the best summertime book EVER!!!!! Summerland by Michael Chabon. I have been reading it over my lunch hour at work. I sit outside to eat, and this book fit perfectly with the heat of the summer and an hour of time by myself. I agree with Mark that this book is too long - (500 pages) for a children's book and it seems that the author throws everything but the kitchen sink into the plot. However, the author, being Chabon, is forgiven. Maybe. If I had my druthers I would say that it could be a shorter tighter book and it wouldn't hurt anything. But, why quibble? This is simply the greatest baseball book ever! It is a book about baseball, norse mythology, native american myths, ecology, tall tales, the end of the world as we know it. You name it, it is in this plot. Somewhere. I get the feeling that the author is trying to create something on paper like the Princess Bride did in the movies. This is not a big meaty novel. It is a novel to have fun with, and the author is having fun, so why shouldn't the reader? For me it is going to be one of the GREATEST BASEBALL NOVELS OF ALL TIME! What a huge celebration of endless summer!

I wanted to read this for the American Author's Challenge the month that Chabon was the featured author and just didn't get around to doing so.

I wanted to read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline before the movie came out this fall, so I checked it out from the library and started. That was one week ago. I buzzed through it. The novel starts out well, but ends poorly. It just fell flat on its face about half-way through the novel. There is plenty of action and thrills, but the writing is simplistic and more in line with what I think a good YA novel should be. This is not an adult novel and should have been marketed as YA. The exact opposite of what I have been saying about many YA novels.

The premise for the story is excellent. However, it is NOT a 1980's trivia novel. There is little mention of most popular songs or singers. No Bruce Springsteen, no REO Speedwagon, and no Madonna. Cindy Lauper and Billy Idol are only mentioned once and John Mellenkamp a few times. No mention of the movie "Dirty Dancing" or "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." It is a gamer's trivia novel and only a gamer's trivia novel. The whole thing read like a teenage boy's dream existence. Even the ending was typical of that age group. It was all BIG shoot'em up, bang, bang. And then everybody is one big happy family. Oh - and the boy gets the girl.

I know the author is happy about the performance of this book. Big sales. Big movie deal. But if the second novel he wrote is like this novel, it explains why his second one did make much of a splash.

I listened to the noir mystery Gas City by the little known author Loren D. Estleman and was impressed with the novel. There are plenty of twists and turns, but there are also some red herrings. One of those is the ending. Why was Arch Killian in the ending? He was barely in the novel - only at the beginning and the end with an appearance at the wake for Marty Russell. I never figured that one out. There was also the puzzle of motivation. Why did Chief Russell do what he did in upsetting the apple cart of the status quo. Did he have a death wish? Did he have some kind of unknown promise to his late wife that ended with her death? Was he really on "the take" just to provide her with a big fancy house? Those questions just didn't add up, but the mystery and the love story of Palmer and Clair was great. As was the story of the woman police detective Boyle. The novel was full of characters, both primary and secondary, that the reader could love and wanted to find out how they fit into the puzzle. It was also about decisions made and why time ends things. I would listen to another novel by this author. Much better book than the one I finished on the same day - Ready Player One.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger is a Western that is full of wit. It is a great example of that genre, the American Western, and pays homage to most of the great writers on that genre like Zane Grey and Owen Wister. There are sly references to many different Westerns and the classics of adventure literature. Not even Robert Louis Stevenson is safe from scrutiny and dissection. Religion and good old Western values are also sliced and diced and examined from the viewpoint of modernism.

Like all Western's, setting is terribly important and this Western is no exception. The author, a resident of Minnesota, brought the plains of Minnesota and North Dakota in the harsh winter to life. I believe that the Badlands National Park in North Dakota will be the next stop in my National Parks Passport book. The author made the place that appealing.

The narrator for this audio production did a more than adequate job. The reader managed to put just the right edge of pathos and wisdom into his reading. While the main character, Reuben, did get on my nerves from time-to-time, with his never ending innocence, the reader did much to dispel most of my antagonism towards him. But I admit that there were times when I wanted to shout at the dashboard on my car "Scrape those scales off your eyes son!" But the mark of a good novel is that it drags its reader along with it while it plays out. I willing went along for the ride.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard has been on my TBR list since it came out in 2015. I finally got the recorded version of it from the public library and listened to it on the way back to Kansas for my summer vacation. It turned out to be an exciting way to pass the miles.

This YA novel is set in a dystopian future in which humans are divided by those with silver blood and those with red blood. The Silvers have special super abilities and have become masters of the Reds due to their great power and strength. To complicate matters there is a war of a hundred years that continues to rage and consume the Reds. Then, a red girl named, Mare bursts on the scene. She is red blooded but she has a special ability. She can create and control electricity. Due to the circumstances of her unveiling her existence can't be quashed, so she eventually becomes the flash point for a palace coup and a rebellion. The author has created a complex plot that, if a bit melodramatic, doesn't fall flat and doesn't loose it's edge.

This one will be on my best of the year list.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard continues the story of Mare and Cal and the Reds and the Silvers and the complex and bloody rebellion and revolution that are the consequences of the events in the first book - Red Queen. The author has once again created a plot that is full of twists and turns, personal conflict and angst, some of which is overdone, but then it is YA and such excesses can be excused when considering the intended audience.

This is an installment in a series that does not suffer from the second-book-syndrome, as the author has managed to keep the pace going at an intense rate without succumbing totally to the maudlin. While this is not great literature this second novel proves that this series should be taken seriously and my hope is that it continues to find readers in the future. With the strong characterization and plot that it has I think future readers will find it to be a good read.

I finished reading a book. I have been mostly listening to books so reading one and finishing it right now is an accomplishment. Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Wills is part of the National Geographic Directions series. I love reading this series and have read 7 of them so far. This title in the series is one of the early titles so I had to get it through Inter-Libary Loan.

This was primarily a book about Thomas Jefferson as architect, designer, and would be academic. This book has inspired me to visit the Charlottesville area so that I can see the work of this polymath first hand.

As for the series - I am going to request another title from them in a few weeks.

>74 benitastrnad: I didn't know about the Directions series but now that I've looked at the list I know I would like to read from it. The first title I checked, The Edge of Maine by Geoffrey Wolfe is available at my library so I'll read it soon. Thanks for the tip!

King's Cage by VIctoria Aveyard was the last recorded book that I listened to on my vacation to Kansas. I started listening to it somewhere east of St. Louis on Interstate 64 and I finished it after I got back to Tuscaloosa. In the end the book was so exciting that I couldn't just wait until I was in my car to listen to it - I had the print copy and so read it and then fast forwarded while I was driving around.

This is not a series that has suffered with the series slump syndrome. This is the third book in this series and it is still as exciting and interesting as the first one was. However, the author has changed things up in this novel. This one is told from three different viewpoints - Mare, Cameron, a character introduced in book 2, and Evangeline. The inclusion of Evangeline's point-of-view surprised me. I would have expected an alternative character such as Cal or Farley, but the inclusion of Evangeline turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Many times when an author changes things up and uses a different narrative style from the others in a series, the series suffers. This does not happen with this novel. The change-up was very well done.Because this was the recorded version there were three different narrators for this recorded novel. All were excellent and added to the listening enjoyment. All-in-all this was an great way to pass the miles, and it was also a great read. I am very impressed with this series and will be looking forward to more of this story in the future.

I read Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear for my real life book group. There has been much positive comment about the series and Hilary Clinton said that she read the series after the election. (It turns out she is an avid readers of mysteries.). I also had the pleasure of hearing the author speak at an ALA conference many years ago. I think the conference was in San Francisco and since the author lives in Los Angeles area that makes sense.

I liked this novel, but I didn't love it. I thought it was a little too New Age and Modern in the 2000's sense of modern. For instance, Maisie meditates and does yoga. She also tries to get into the spirit of those who she is trailing in order to understand where they are coming from. I do not think these would be realistic for the times.

There is also the matter of class. I don't think it would have been very likely that a girl of Maisie's economic class would have been able to change class to that of the bougouis or upper middle class as easily as she did, even with the extensive help and encouragement from the aristocratic class. But in the land of fiction anything is possible and it is up to the author to make it passable to the reader. The author does so.

The topic of the novel - wounded warriors - was very prescient. The book was published in 2003 and dealt with the way Great Britain dealt with their badly wounded soldiers from WWI. It was prescient in the sense that Americans are asking the same questions today about our veterans.

The actual resolution of the mystery came so quickly and ended so abruptly that it didn't seem like it was the object of writing the book. The epilogue was of more importance in leading the reader to the next book than it was a conclusion, but both of these were minor flaws and did not hurt the novel any. I have started book two in the series, and at some point I will read more of the series.

>77 benitastrnad: I was luke warm on the first one too, but I'm on nine now and I think the series has improved. It's very much character driven though.

I caught up with the Victoria Aveyard series by listening to Cruel Crown. This is a book that consists of two novellas and a "teaser" for Glass Sword. The first novella is a prequel for the series and is about Cal's mother - a queen who was supposedly mentally unstable and who committed suicide. The second novella tells the story of Shade and Farley and is on a parrellel time-line with the events in the first novel in the series. Both of these stories are good but they are not necessary to a more complete understanding of the series.

It is clear that the publishers took care to make this recorded version a good one. They have separate readers for the novellas and the first chapters of the second novel in the series. One of the narrators is the incomparable Jayne Entwistle who is the narrator for the Flavia De Luce series. She doesn't at all sound like a ten year-old child in this story.

The second novel in the Maisie Dobbs series Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear was a better novel than the first. I might have thought that because I was accustomed to the new agey feel of the plot than I was when I read the first novel and therefore more willing to set aside my knowledge of history and of the way things were culturally. Even if Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling practiced spiritualism I don't think that yoga or meditation were things that the general run of the population would have considered, or even known about.

In this novel the subject of "shaming" and then guilt about that shaming were the subject. A quartet of girls with nothing much to do found a cause. They thought it was a constructive cause and that they were helping the war effort, but it turned out that there was a cost but they weren't the ones who paid. The author also returns to her theme of the long-term costs of war on the survivors. She addresses the physical and psychiatric wounds experienced by the soldiers and their survivors and dependents.

This is a very thoughtful series, and I will continue to read them, as I have grown to like Maisie Dobbs even if I don't think the plots are really plausible in 1929 Britain.

I listened to Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman. This one was read by George Guidall. Earlier this month I listened to him read The Highwayman by Craig Johnson and hated the way he talked. HATED IT. To my surprise I liked this narration and thought that Guidall did a very good job on the reading. He did not sound like an old man with a mouth full of cha. This one was recorded in 2004 and the Longmire book was in 2016. 12 years makes a difference.

In this novel, Joe Leaphorn takes a back seat and makes just enough of an appearance to add color and background to the story. Bernie and Jim get a chance to shine and the story of them working out how their marriage is going to work comes to the fore. There is a good mystery plot and great character development in it. This was a pleasure to listen to. I will be sorry to see this series end.

The quality of the narration can make a huge difference to enjoyment of an audiobook, can't it? I listened to One Hundred Years of Solitude narrated by John Lee - the book was challenging enough without his peculiar sing-song delivery like a preacher tired of his sermon! On the other hand some narrators really bring the story to life.

>81 benitastrnad:
>82 floremolla:
I agree about the narration. I dearly love(d) Davinia Porter's narration of all the Outlander books, but she couldn't save Villette for me!

I read 52 Loaves by William Alexander for Suzanne's Non-Fiction Challenge 2017 here on LT. (full title of the book is 52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust. The category was "I've Always Been Curious About ..." This book was about baking bread and even though the book was for the August challenge and it took me two months to read it. I really liked this title. The book was more entertaining than any one thing, but it did give me some important bread baking tips. I learned about the Baker's Ratio, and about why really good bread needs both wild and domestic yeast.

The book was written by a man who spent a year baking one loaf of bread a week in pursuit of the perfect loaf of bread. He experimented with recipes, with baking techniques, and with ingredients. In the end, he managed to make, what he and his family considered, the perfect loaf, and his research took him to some unexpected places in pursuit of his endeavor. I enjoyed reading about his follies as well as his successes.

I read Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson for my real life book discussion group. This novel won the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction. This award is given by the University of Alabama Law School for a work of fiction that features lawyers making a difference in the world.

This novel was great and it has made my personal Best of the Year list. From the first pages of this book I was sucked into the world depicted in this novel. It is set in the area in which I live (the author lives in Columbus, Mississippi) and while the town in which the action takes place is fictional, the book tells about other sites and geographical features that are real and well known in the area. There are parts of this book that reminds me of Underneath by Kathi Appelt, and later in the book one of the characters speaks about old legends and even older Mississippian Indian legends. These people are related to the Cado peoples talked about in the Newbery Honor Book by Appelt. But this is only part of the novel.

This novel, while set in 1946 at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, accurately depicts the relations between Blacks and Whites in this area - even today. I am sure that this fact alone has not made it any friends in the Deep South, but it should be read, if for nothing else, just for the accurate picture of race relations that holds true right down to the present day. This is a much more realistic picture of the present day Deep South than that milksop, candy-coated, cream puff of a novel "The Help" could ever be. So, of course, it is written by a "Woman of Color," whereas "The Help" is not. No wonder Southerners love the latter and wouldn't really take to the former. But don't let any of that stop you from reading this book. It will make you laugh and cry. A novel can't do better than that.

I realized that I had forgotten to review Flyte by Angie Sage. This is the second novel in the Septimus Heap series written for children. The recorded version is very well done. It is narrated by Jim Doyle and his voice is perfect for children. Even though the plot and characterization seems very simplified to a sophisticated adult listener the narration alone makes for great listening.

In this installment, Septimus has to deal with a disgruntled older brother who had grown up with the idea that as the eldest he was the one who would be the important wizard in the family. When his talents clearly lie in a different area, he becomes disgruntled and vengeful, and acts on his feelings. There is also a side story about distracted parents and adults and a reader does have to ask why these adults aren't paying closer attention to the children in their lives, but their distraction provides a convenient, if unimaginative, plot for the novel. This is another great car ride listen for both adults and children.

I finally got around to reading Columbine by Dave Cullen. My real life book discussion group is reading it for our November selection. This title was picked because the weekend that we met in October was the weekend of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. This book was an eye-opener. I did not realize how riddled with mythology the Columbine shooting was, and this book spent a great deal of time explaining how the fake stories got started and why they stayed in the minds of the public. He also spent a great deal of time delving into the psychology of the shooters - who they were and why they had done what they did. His conclusion is that Eric Harris was a psychopath who just simply was filled with rage and no empathy. He saw himself as superior to others. Dylan Kliebold was severely depressed and went along with Harris because he was going to committee suicide anyway and felt he might was well go out with a bang. The author also explores the cover-up that went hand-in-hand with the investigation. It is clear that the Jefferson County Sheriffs office did not know what they were doing, but wouldn't let those entities that might have known onto the grounds. Then they covered it up. They also knew about how dangerous Eric Harris was prior to the shootings, and did nothing. That also was covered up.

The book was not done in a straight chronological order, but moved back and forth between the event chronology and the evidence about what was going on that lead up to that chronology. This is one of those books that people everywhere in the U. S. and should read. It debunks so many myths.

>87 benitastrnad: I read A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold earlier this year. If you're interested in the Columbine shooting you might want to check it out; it's the story of Dylan's mom and her experiences after the shooting. I found it quite an impressive book. It's somewhat biased (but I feel that's forgivable in a mother), but gives a different perspective and also focusses on psychological issues.

#88
The author of Columbine specifically does NOT blame the parents of either of the shooters. It is clear from all the journals and other writings they left behind that what they did was their decision. In the case of Dylan Klebold, it is clear that he intended to commit suicide. He never let on to anybody that he was suicidal - even to the counselor that he was seeing right up to two months before the shooting. The FBI concluded that Harris was a psychopath and Klebold suicidal. The FBI report also made it clear that neither set of parents was at fault. In fact, both young men were in counseling until a few months before the shootings and they both managed to fool the counselors, although Klebold's counselor recommended that he continue in the program. Klebold opted out.

It is a sad case were so many parents lost children. The author points out at the end of the book, that he believed that the attempts to lay the blame for this shooting on bad parenting is not the case. But even so, how does a parent deal with the death of a child knowing that he was also responsible for killing others.

Incidentally, ballistic reports on the guns to determine who shot who has been determined, but at the time of the publication of the book that information was not released.

I read News of the World by Paulette Jiles for the Barnes & Noble book discussion group. It was their November title selection. This short novel was set in Texas in the 1870's at the end if the Indian Wars on the Plains. The story covers a long journey by wagon from the banks of the Red River at Wichita Falls, Texas to San Antonio. Captain Kidd is taking Johanna back to her family after she has spent 6 years as a captive among the Kiowa. Along the way, the two of them develop a relationship that is sustaining for both of them and provides the reader with lots of adventures with which to be entertained.

I always sign off my e-mails with the title and author of the latest book I am reading. A professor with whom I work, noticed that I was reading News of the World and commented to me on it. She is from Texas (went to Texas A&M) and loved this book because of its Texas connection. Now that I have finished the book, I want to discuss it with her again. I will also keep telling people what book I am reading in my electronic sign-off. It has provided me with many a topic of conversation with colleagues.

I finished reading another of my lunch-at-work books. This one was Carnival by Elizabeth Bear. I had really enjoyed her Jenny Casey series and thought this would be equally as good. It wasn’t. It wasn’t a bad book, but a decent plot and good characteriszation got lost in the message it was trying to send.

This is science fiction that is written to send a messag about equality and it uses the genre to do so. The novel is about equality between heterosexual sexes, as in men and women, and between homosexual lovers as well. That message gets a little heavy handed and drowns out the plot and prevents the characters from being developed to a greater degree. All-in-all, this is not one of Bear’s better novels.

>90 benitastrnad: What a good idea, Benita.

#92
It seems that the readers amongst us notice the electronic signature, but others never notice it much. They seem to skip right over it.

>93 benitastrnad: nice idea - I'd notice and be slightly annoyed I hadn't thought of it first ;)

>90 benitastrnad: Great idea! I might steal it!

I took the final two books in the Simon Brenner series by the Austrian mystery author Wolf Haas with me as my airplane reads during my Thanksgiving trip. Resurrection was the first book in the series but the third one to be published in the US and Come, Sweet Death! was the last. Resurrection was set in the Austrian alpine ski resort town of Zell. It was a fairly complex plot that was all about family relationships. The second novel Come, Sweet Death was the only one of the four novels in this series set in Vienna.

Both of these novels were well plotted with some unexpected endings. They were filled with the usual sly humor that Haas used in the other two novels of his that I read. This humor doesn't translate well in the US as it is that typical Germanic understatement that seems ridiculous to American's. I enjoyed these two novels and for people who have traveled in Germany and Austria I would recommend these novels as a fun way to reacquaint themselves with the culture and with how people live in those countries. The mystery was very much like American or Scandinavian police procedurals but with that Germanic twist. They were perfect plane reading as they weren't to demanding, but just interesting enough to keep me reading to pass the time.

I finished listening to the last of the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee novels, Shape Shifter and this one was a bang up way to end the series. Leaphorn is the main character and the plotting and character development in this novel are outstanding. The secondary cast of characters that had been appearing in the previous novels are barely there in this novel. Hillerman just go better and better as he wrote this series.

This novel starts out small, with a local theft and pillaging of a trading post in an insurance fraud case. From there it moves to the highlands of Laos and the Hmong diaspora. The book is also filled with lots and lots of cultural touchstones. It was appropriate to be listening to this novel while the latest faux pas by the Great Orange Gasbag occurred. Once again the leader of the Free World insults Indians and doesn't even know he is doing it. He should read Tony Hillerman. It would do wonders for his cultural sensitivity.

Great reviews and pertinent comments, Benita!

I finished reading the biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire this weekend. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman was my biography to share with my real life book discussion group in January. I usually read a celebrity tell-all biography for this discussion and thought that the life and times of Georgiana made a perfect celebrity gossip biography. Georgiana Cavendish was born in 1757 into the family of the Earl's Spencer and married the Duke of Deveonshire in 1774. She was a political mover and shaker for the Whig party, who was in opposition to George III and his policies of absolute rule of the monarch. She was a leader of society and famous for partying and supposed affairs and odd acceptance of her husbands peccadilloes as well. However, her biggest scandals involved in her gambling debts. In fact, she and her sister, who also married into the Cavendish family, practically ruined the Cavendish family financially. She and her husband lived openly with her husband's lover, Lady Elizabeth Foster, in a mutual friendship society and she openly accepted her husbands illegitimate children. He did not return the favor when Georgiana had an illegitimate daughter by her last lover. She left voluminous papers and letters that were mutilated and highly redacted by her later Victorian ancestors, leaving historians with an incomplete accounting of this fascinating social and political hostess with the mostest. Ah, such were the times.

The author of this biography was sympathetic to her subject and stated at the end of the biography that Georgiana never got her just accolades for all she did for the Whig party because she as a woman. That goes without saying. Even today. What bugs me the most, however, is that all the reviews of this, and other biographies of this paradoxical woman, is the constant mention that she was a Great Aunt of Lady Diana Spencer, who was the Princess of Wales. To that I say, Georgiana, was just is illustrious and worthy of attention as is Lady Di, and probably did more of substance for England than her modern day relative.

This was a very interesting, but academic, biography that was surprisingly easy to read about a formidable and extremely complex woman, who was a great anomaly, even of her Age.

In the Shadow of the Ark by Anne Provoost is a novel that I have been wanting to read for a long time. To my surprise it was in recorded form at the Tuscaloosa Public Library, so I snatched it off the shelves. However, after giving it 85 pages, I Pearl Ruled it. (Quit reading) It just wasn't catching my attention and it seemed to be going nowhere slowly. It is one novel that is going back on the shelf for somebody else to read. But not me. Life is too short.

I knocked out another one last night. I finished reading my At-Work/Lunch book. Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Richard Bowers is a young adult non-fiction work that chronicles the rise of Superman and promotes the idea that he was created as a protector figure for oppressed people around the world. The book is aimed at middle school to junior high school age students and has a corresponding reading level. It introduces young adults to the most prominent figures in the development of Superman as a comic book icon and to the people who lead the crusade against the Ku Klux Klan. This is definitely a book with a message and that message is that the common person can stand up against hate and prevail. It is short and to the point, but that is understandable given that the topic is very limited. The author brings in enough outside information to put things in context of history and culture and that will enhance understanding on many levels for young people. In my mind it has lots of classroom uses, but I will leave that to the teachers to figure out. It is the kind of book that is going to appeal to young readers grades 5 - 9 and is packed full of information that students that age are going to eat up. This age group needs more of this kind of non-fiction.

You are doing so great, Benita! And you write interesting reviews. Love that.

>101 benitastrnad: Good Review!

I finished Murder in the Marais by Cara Black for my real life book discussion group. I had high hopes for this book and was somewhat disappointed. The Amiee LeDuc series has become very popular over the years and I thought this would be a good mystery series to introduce to my book discussion group. The series has been billed as the glamorous chic Parisian female private investigator, and while I did enjoy her many disguises, and the one scene in the beauty shop where she got her hair cut and highlighted as a disguise was laugh-out-loud funny, there really wasn't that much glamour in the novel. The scenes where she is eating a local eateries that are famous for the best onion soup in Paris or the best Tart Tatine made the reader want to go to Paris and find out if these places are still in business.

Structurally and compositionally, it had several problems. The plot was predictable, and the characters seemed to be cardboard cutouts of some kind of weird stock character. They were flat and didn't garner any sympathy. One of the members of the book discussion group described the ending as "James Bondish." They were right. It was simply too much over the top with her falling through the roof with a designer suit and heels on. In addition, the book seemed to rely too much on Paris as a character, and that of course, presents other problems. Describing the scenery and the street life is wonderful and adds color to a mystery novel, but an author can only rely on that to a certain degree before it gets boring. Something has to happen amidst all that, and this one was a little short on building characters that the reader cared about.

Considering that the novel was written in 1999, there were some very prescient moments. The book is about the outsider, the immigrant, and the obsession with those elements of society in Paris even back in 1999. The rise of the Neo-Nazis and the Right Wing and the Ultra Right Wing were foreshadowed in this novel and almost 20 years later makes it almost a chronicle of those times instead of a mystery.

Overall, I was disappointed in this novel, but am going to read the second one in the series to see if the writing and character development improves. This is an incredibly long-lived series (I think there are 16 novels to the present date) so somebody likes them for some reason.

Human Division by John Scalzi is one of the Old Man's War series. I found this to be a fun space opera but somewhat dated. (It was published in 2013. Who would have thought it would be dated that fast?). I want to read the first book in the series, Old Man's War, before it gets made into the television series, but I will have to read fast.

Happy Holidays, Benita.

Murder in Belleville is the second entry in the Aimee LeDuc mystery series from Cara Black, and it is another average mystery. I confess that I am having trouble figuring out why this series is so popular. They are advertised as thrillers, but I think they are borderline cozy mysteries. Very straightforward with predictable plots and characters. I also had an ulterior motive for reading this one, as Belleville is the name of the town in Kansas where I went to High School. Consequently, I left my copy of this novel in the Little Free Library in my home town as I figured it would have appeal to others living in the area.

In this novel there were a couple of featured characters that seemed to have no place in the novel. Not even at the end, so they seemed like expendable Redshirts in Star Trek. However, rather than just disappearing when their part of the story was over, they kept hanging around cluttering the plot and doing nothing to move the story along. I noticed this tendency in Ms. Black's first novel, but thought it an anomaly. With the continuation of this trend in the second novel, it is apparent that it is a particular writing style of this author. In addition to this hanging character beef, the main character, Aimee LeDuc also displays some annoying character quirks don't seem to add up or enhance the story line. If an author is building a series, it is OK to have some of that present in novels in order to bring them into the story lines of subsequent novels. However, a few of these need to be wrapped up or explained, and the plots need to move on, instead of this continuous thread that goes nowhere with no satisfactory explanation. This is a very workmanlike mystery series, and one that I might return to in the future, but I will be in no great hurry to do so

In January each year my real life book discussion group devotes the talk to biographies or memoirs. I generally choose a "celebrity" biography or memoir for my contribution to the discussion. Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey was the celebrity memoir I choose to read for the discussion this year. The UA library did not have the book in its collection so I had to Inter-Library Loan the title. It came from the LSU libraries.

The first time I heard of Madhur Jaffrey was when she was a guest on the Martha Stewart Show back in the day. I thought her recipes were interesting and that she was interesting to listen to. Then a few years later I read the book review for this title when it was published in 2000. It was a positive review so I put it on my list of books I would like to read someday. I have been watching a Southern Indian cooking show on PBS in the last few years, and Jaffrey won a James Beard award for one of her cookbooks, I so decided that now was the time to get this book and read it to see what I could learn about Indian cooking.

Like most memoirs this one is self-serving. However, to give Jaffrey her due, she recognizes that her family was privileged and that most of India was not. She talks frankly of the failures of the British and the Indian upper classes and of the Partition. To give her credit she also was a young adult during these events and so her perspective on them is from that point-of-view. She acknowledges that her perspective looking back on events is different than it was then. At the time, she was concerned with school and her friends at school. She also realizes that the events of Indian Independence and Partition turned Delhi into a melting pot of food styles. It was very interesting to read about the development of restaurants in Delhi and where and why so many of the styles of cooking that American's think of as "Indian" came about. At some points in the book the author became overweening and somewhat patronizing, but given her background that is understandable. She does try to write a balanced account of her younger years.

The book comes complete with recipes in the back, and since I own one of Jaffrey's cookbooks, I should compare to see what is included in the cookbook I own. This was a good memoir, but not the most outstanding I have read. I enjoyed the book and would like to read more about her life - especially, how she came to the world of food and cookbooks - if she ever publishes a follow-up.

Involuntary Witness by Gianrico Carofiglio Guido Guerrieri is a defense lawyer in the city of Bari, Italy. He is also a man who has found his life in upheaval due to his inability to commit to anything. This includes his girlfriend and his job. The girlfriend dumps him and this leaves him aimless and unsettled. About this same time an African woman pays him a large amount of money to defend a recent African immigrant who is on trial for murder. At first Guido approaches this defense in the same lackluster way in which he has been conducting his life, but gradually he comes to realize that this man is probably innocent and deserves a defense. The journey Guido takes to find his way back to his moral center is as interesting as the defense he mounts for his client. During his recovery he meets another woman in whom he becomes interested, and he finds renewed purpose in his chosen profession. Along the way the reader becomes acquainted with the Italian legal system as well as the characters in series. The Italian legal system is very different than the American system and the labyrinthine way trails are conducted was elucidated for the reader.

I liked Guido and found his quiet way of climbing out of a pit of his own making to be true to life and realistic. It doesn't matter if you live in Italy or in the U. S., people have many of the same characteristics and Guido is no exception. This novel was translated from the Italian and at times the writing seemed pedantic and stiff. I attribute that to the translation. It is of value to read novels from other countries as they provide an insight to a life and culture that, sometimes, it is impossible for a reader to experience first hand. I was glad for the easy lesson in the workings of the Italian legal system that this novel provided. I was very surprised to find this novel in the University of Alabama's collection - but appreciative.