Fourpawz2's 2008 Challenge

Really glad to see someone upping the ante. Read 68 in the 50 book challenge last year and I hope that 75 won't be too much of a problem. I plan to keep run of my total pages this year.

No. 1 - Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland (touchstones not working, I see) - Finished it in 4 days. Liked it a lot. Her characters were so not run-of-the-mill. A smelly, brutish, religious zealot of a knight as hero - you don't find that every day. I liked him in spite of all the things that should have made me dislike him. And the author can write a battle scene very well - you don't find that in women writers very often. (Or at least I haven't). Want to read more by her.
406 pages

No. 2 - Dissolution by C.J. Sansom - I am not a fan of mysteries and yet I keep trying to like the historical kind, thinking that because it has an historical aspect that I will like it. To some extent this works, but eventually I have to concede that I am reading a mystery and not historical fiction.
This book, like so many of the other historical mysteries was o.k. - but not great. It seemed to me that the author held out on me, i.e. keeping important info a secret until the very last moment and then springing it on me. I always think of this as the Arthur Conan Doyle gambit and quite unfair. As I recall her books, Agatha Christie put all of the facts out there, but, in my estimation, not so with a lot of other mystery writers.
Back onto the subject at hand - this book had a lot of Tudor period detail - especially regarding monasteries and their dissolution. As for the main character - one Matthew Shardlake - lawyer, hunchback and investigator - I couldn't really like him a whole lot. Sansom tried to humanize him just a little and make him feel a tiny soupcon of sympathy for all those poor souls who had their whole lives ruined so that King Henry could get his greedy mitts on all the Church's money and property, but it wasn't enough to make me like him. I think Sansom should have gone all the way or perhaps been more true to the way a king's commissioner would more likely have felt and not made him at all sympathetic. At least that would have made him an accurate representation if not more likeable.
Whew!! There - I'm done with my rant. I will give this 3 stars for the historical aspect.
387 pages

No. 3 - The Lovers - The Legend of Tristan and Yseult by Kate Hawks. Not what I had expected, but quite good. There seem to be so many different versions of this story. And unexpectedly Hawks turns out to be another female writer who writes well about battle.
324 pages

No. 4 - To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey - The last but one of the Tey books. I had a handle on the solution to the mystery by book's end because the author played fair. All the clues are there - the reader just has to put them together. This is not the best of her books - The Daughter of Time has that honor, being the very best of them and, for me, pretty much the best of all mysteries - but it was good enough.
222 pages

I love The Daughter of Time. I was first introduced to it as an audiobook. I listen to it at least once a year.

No. 5 - Lords of the White Castle by Elizabeth Chadwick. Finished this one yesterday. O.K. historical taking place in 13th century England in the years prior to the Barons' rebellion and Magna Carta. No surprises and not quite as good as her other books I've read, but nice enough, I suppose.
673 pages

I'd love to know more about Elizabeth Chadwick. What do you recommend? Looks like she's sought after - long wishlists on the trading sites.

I liked Shadows and Strongholds best - I just love a hero with a tortured soul - but I also liked The Marsh King's Daughter a lot. The only problem with Chadwick is that nothing of hers is published here and I have to order the stuff used from the UK. I don't know why she isn't published here. I think that she is an excellent historical fiction writer and seems to be quite immersed in her time period. I have, but haven't read The Greatest Knight: The Story of William Marshal yet. I'm holding it in reserve for now - I think I like to hoard books that I really want to read until I can't stand it any more.

You naive Americans! Just look north. A lot of British books are more available here. Amazon.ca and Chapters.indigo.ca both carry her books. You could probably get them for a bit of additional postage.
Thanks for the info. on her books.

dihiba, sometimes it is cheaper to get a Canadian author's work through the UK than through Canada. I use the BookDepository in the UK (free worldwide shipping!) or ABEbooks first.

No. 6 -Silas Marner by George Eliot - This dragged a bit for me until Eppie showed up. I kept having the feeling all the way through that I had read it before, but I'm pretty sure that I haven't - maybe I saw it on PBS or something. Can't remember. Getting old. It was, in the end, a sweet tale where everything turned out right.
185 pages

Are you sure you didn't read this in school? I read it in junior high (but I don't remember anyone mentioning the author was a woman!). It was on PBS in an adaptation with Ben Kingsley. There is also a Steve Martin movie based on the book, I can't remember the name of it now though.

I'm sure I didn't read it in school. Maybe it was the Steve Martin movie.

No. 7 - The Good Journey by Micaela Gilchrist - Finished this on Sunday while the Super Bowl churned on. And on. This was very good historical fiction - it almost verged on literature - about a pretty obscure era (for me) Black Hawk's War and the 1820's and 30's. The back cover spoke of it being part mystery , but that mystery was fairly obvious to me well before the author trotted it out. The other parts of it - the difficult relationship between the General and his much younger wife, the fate of their children, some of the brutal, selfish people who lived on the frontier at the time and the inevitable betrayal, displacement and eventual eradication of the Sauk tribe were the really good parts of the book. It was sad and well written. Have already put the author's only other published book on my Amazon wishlist.
393 pages

The Steve Martin movie is from 1994 and called "A Simple Twist of Fate" (I had to look it up).

Wow - 2 books finished in the same week. Am I finally hitting my stride?
No. 8 - Sofia by Ann Chamberlin. Very informative book with regard to everyday life in the Ottoman Empire - I think. To be sure of this, I've sought out a history about Constantinople to put on my Amazon wish list.
As for the story - the title confused me. I would think that something called 'Sofia' would be about Sofia - a young Italian woman of the 16th century - taken prisoner and sold into the harem of Sulieman the Magnificent. To some extent it is about her. I did not find her sympathetic, but instead I thought her rather conniving, slutty, self-centered and a generally not very nice person. The story, however is just as much, if not more, about Giorgio/Abdullah, an Italian man, taken at the same time that Sofia is,
who is later thrown together with Sofia. He loves her before he is ..... well, I don't want to say exactly what happens to him, in case you want to read this one yourself. If Sofia had had a bigger part in this book I might think twice about reading the next book, but Giorgio was much more interesting than Sofia and because of this I do intend to read on.
364 pages

No. 9 - Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith - Not exciting or deep or anything - just mildly pleasant. However, I do wonder if this man has ever heard real children speak. Some of things that he has his children say just don't ring true to me. I don't have any children myself so maybe it's me, but they just don't sound right to me. Anybody else read this one and did you get the same impression I did?
345 pages

No. 10 - Scotland edited by Jenny Wormald - Finally finished this one in which each chapter was written by a different person. In the early chapters I did not learn a whole lot that I didn't know already. For me the most informative ones were the chapters concerning the late 19th and the 20th centuries. The last chapter, which spent a good deal of time comparing Blind Hary's tale of William Wallace with .... (crap! the name's gone now and I'm at work), was a killer (and not in a good way) and I must admit I skimmed in order to finish it.
334 pages

I just read Espresso Tales last night, and I'd agree that no normal kid would ever speak like Bertie and his school mates...but this is a particularly precocious little beast of a child, and his cohorts are of the most hot-housed foo-foo pampered type--and are mostly roundly mocked by the author--so, I'll give him a lot of latitude.

(But I will listen more closely at bus stops and report back, as I live round the corner from Scotland Street, and the bar mentioned all the time is my local.)

No. 11 - Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. This was a Christmas present from a good friend that I finished last night during the commercials for American Idol (I have many bad habits). It was not what I expected - indeed it was far better. It was dark, tragic and sad. Except for All Quiet on the Western Front I've never read anything about WWI before and though I knew it was bad I didn't have any idea of just how bad things were for the men. I expect as the 100 year anniversary draws closer there's going to be a lot more fiction and non-fiction about this war.
I didn't really think that the Elizabeth sections were needed - I would have been very happy with the story without them - but I really liked it just the same.
Heyokish - I'm looking forward to your report on the neighborhood children.

Your post about Birdsong caught my eye as I have just finished The Wars by Timothy Findley which deals with WWI. I Mooched Birdsong a couple of months ago - now I think it should be moved up the TBR pile.
I had some issues with The Wars re Findley's writing but it certainly paints a very harsh picture of WWI (well deserved, too).

I just put Birdsong on my wish list last week.

No. 12 - Have had a miserable cold for a week which kept me from finishing The Fourth Bear by Japer Fforde until a couple of days ago. After I recovered a little and could get back to reading, I was busy writing down things I needed to look up so that I could appreciate just how tremendously clever Fforde is. "The Bob Southey" went right over my head until Wikipedia straightened me out. Now I need to read the first NCD (Nursery Crime Division) book. Sometimes I think Fforde piles on the cleverness a little, but in the end it doesn't matter because nobody else I've read does it as well as he does.
378 pages
dihiba and Cariola - you should both read Birdsong. I think you'll like it.

No. 13 - Ye Heart of a Man by Lisa Wilson. Finished this a couple of days ago. It concerns the domestic lives of men in 17th and 18th century New England - their lives as single men, husbands, fathers, widowers and facing their mortality. I enjoyed it, as it fleshed out the Colonial Man for me and making him much more three-demensional in the process.
188 pages

#24: I am definitely going to have to look for that one. Sounds like it is right up my alley.

Really? I didn't know that anybody else really liked this sort of stuff - i.e. reading this stuff for pleasure.

I would read it too! Sounds interesting.

No. 14 - The French Admiral by Dewey Lambdin a book focusing on the American Revolutionary War from the British Navy and Army side. I love this guy's books. I love Alan Lewrie, the main character. He is such a rogue, but very likeable. I have tried Horatio Hornblower and whattayacallit - you know - the guys from the Patrick O'Brien book (only the first one, Master and Commander), but all the ship/naval stuff always got in my way. Lambdin has just as many ship-type references, but somehow they don't interfere with a really great story. Am very happy I didn't discover him until last year - there are so many books of his out there for me to catch up on. One odd thing about this book - the French admiral (Lagrasse, I have to assume) never appears. I expect to see him show up in book 3.
443 pages

No. 15 - Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier. This is a re-read - about the 14th time, although I had not read it for many, many years. Of course there were no surprises for me, but I was reading it this time as much for the descriptions of Manderley and the weather. For some reason they take me right back to my grandparents' house in the summertime - not that Granny and Grandpa's house was anywhere near grand - but there is just something about the way she describes smells and plants, the light and the weather that makes me think of all that I miss. And of course, every time I read this one, I have to admire the way DuMaurier crafted her story - one of my favorite suspense stories of all time. Got to get another copy - this one growing a little ragged by now.
380 pages

Hey Fourpawz, I assume that since you obviously love Rebecca, you have seen the Laurence Olivier movie that is based on the book. It was one of Hitchcock's first movies and in my opinion one of his best. Its really good and if you have not seen it, try to. It is a bit hard to find as I think the movie is out of print but if you can lay your hands on it or can catch it on TV, definitely do.

Hi Trish:-
Yes, I have seen it and did like it, but with this one reservation. I have a lot of trouble with the older movies - their music is so incredibly hokey it's distracting and I find that it gets in the way. However, with the better ones - Rebecca among them - eventually I get past it. I was wondering, while I was reading, if perhaps this is an old movie that could stand a remake. I feel the same way about Gone with the Wind as Gable's chimpanzee-like ears bother me.

LOL!!!!! Fourpawz, you slay me!!! I almost choked on my glass of water when you described Gable's ears as "chimpanzee-like". While certainly not one to disparage anyone's looks, that description had me in stitches. I personally did not like Gone with the wind and I know this opinion is heresy but the movie really did nothing for me. I found Scarlett to be excruciatingly annoying that by the time the movie came to an end, I did not care one hoot what happened. The only good thing in this movie for me was Rhett's last words. I was cheering when he uttered them cause that pretty much summed up my feelings about the movie in general.

As to Rebecca, I believe it has been remade. It was made with Charles Dance playing Maxim and I have no idea who the other characters were played by. It was made by WGBH and I believe the BBC in one of their many collaborations. I never saw it because Rebecca with Olivier is one of my favorite movies and I was very skeptical of seeing it remade. And Charles Dance just seemed way too old to play Maxim but hey maybe he was the correct age from the book(can't remember how old he was in the book) and Olivier was the one who was too young. But for me the earlier version is so special that I did not want to spoil it by seeing anything less than excellent. I will eventually rent the newer one and see it, who knows I may be pleasantly surprised.

I found Charles Dance a little too evil looking for the part.

Yeah, I think Dance would be too old. In the book Maxim is 48 and Dance is - what - 75. Of course 75 is the new 55, but that's still too old.

Torontoc you took the words out of my mouth. Aside from his age, I was also bothered by the fact that he looks evil. I have no idea if its because I have seen him in only evil roles, Golden Child and Bleak House, but I just could not get past the fact that he constantly looks like he is about to harm you. Maxim may have been reserved and secretive but he certainly did not seem evil.

A little digression here - have you noticed the uneven pairing of too old men and younger women- (who should be playing grand daughters not lovers!) And of course middle aged women have disappeared in many films. This is why it is better to read the book first!

My dear Torontoc, I have noticed it and I truly marvel at how ridculous this phenomenon is. Are we to believe that women above the age of 40 never find love or fall in love? Its kinda crazy.

#37 I can attest to that - it's completely wrong!
I am well over 40 and enjoying the best (and having tons of fun!) relationship of my life. I am completely fed up with the entertainment world and their portrayal of women - where we are still objects that seem to exist for men's needs and pleasure.
Sorry! Had to rant.... (they should wise up to the fact that being older makes you wiser, more interesting, and by making a little effort, you are still attractive - at least just as attractive as the older men)

No. 16 - The French Executioner by C.C. Humphreys - Really enjoyed this one - the story of what happened to Anne Boleyn's executioner (who was especially imported from France by her ever-so-thoughtful husband) when the job was done. Jean Rombaud, the executioner, is very appealing as were the various characters he picked up along the way, all of them intent upon accompanying him upon his quest to fulfill Anne's last request. They are an interesting lot even if they are not always as faithful as they could be. I didn't quite buy into the mystical/supernatural qualities ascribed to Anne after death, but in the end it didn't matter to me. It was a good story and I have the sequel already. One more thing - this is the first book I've owned that was printed in Canada and I wonder if it's my imagination or are Canadian books physically different? It's a mass market pb, but the paper is definitely of a better quality than I am used to and holding it in my hands, it seems both a little wider and a little taller than the mmpbs that I am used to.
443 pages

No. 17 - A Life Wild and Perilous by Robert M. Utley - a history of mountain men of the first half of the 19th century - most of them American. I was already familiar with some of them - Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith, John Colter - but this book filled out the time period for me. It wasn't a comprehensive history of the subject, but given the number of men and the vast area covered it was a decent overview and I'd like to read more concerning some of these men. I was surprised by one episode with Jim Bridger - apparently he actually abandoned a seriously injured companion in the wild after he and another mountain man had been charged with the man's care. The two of them lied and said he had died. They even took his rifle! Pretty embarassing for them when poor Hugh Glass crawled back to civilization, recovered from his ordeal and told what Bridger and Fitzgerald had done.
285 pages

I was not able to finish A Dark and Distant Shore by Reay Tannahill I was looking for a nice, brainless romance. Instead I got BORING which is not the same thing as nice and brainless. Waste of paper.

A Life Wild and Perilous sounds like an interesting book. I am going to check that one out. Thanks for the recommendation.

No. 18 - Atonement by Ian McEwan. A friend at work lent me this one - it is one of those titles that I tend to stay away from because of that feeling I have about too popular books - but I read it anyway because I can't turn down a book - even a too popular one. It was good, but I still felt angry at the end of it (just as I did with the movie) and not entirely because of that wretched little Briony. No, I was angry because I felt as if McEwan did not play fair - I really don't like stories where the author pulls one out of his hat in order to hit the reader right between the eyes with a big 'ol surprise. I felt the same way about Arthur Conan Doyle re: Sherlock Holmes. A lot of the time I felt he (Holmes) was making up stuff just so he could be the smartest kid on the playground and you'd never see it coming. To the good, the book was much better than the movie which I thought fell short. Nothing in the movie made me believe that Cee and Robbie really had any great love for one another. Hot for each other - yes. Love for each other - not so much.
351 pages

No. 19 - Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (What's up with the bloody touchstones?!) A collection of letters that Stewart wrote to her old employer describing her life in Wyoming - first as a cook for a Scottish rancher and then as his wife and mother of his children - at the beginning of the 20th century. The things she did and took for granted as being quite ordinary, make most 21st century American women look like a bunch of sniveling, whiners. It was nothing for her to set out in a wagon with only her small daughter for company just to go exploring in what was pretty much an empty wilderness. She did not panic when things did not go as she planned - she just enjoyed the adventure. She writes also, about a number of 'characters' she meets in her time there - including a number of Mormons, who in the first decade of the century still seem to be practicing polygamy. She came across as a very admirable and nice person who could probably handle anything without falling apart.
It was a good, entertaining read.
282 pages

Enjoyed your review of Letters of a Woman Homesteader. I will probably try to get a copy of this as a gift for someone I know who loves such tales!!! Thanks for that. One of the things I love about this is how everyone elses reading helps expose me to things I haven't heard of before.

#41: Another one to go on my to be read list. Letters of a Woman Homesteader sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

You're welcome #'s 42 & 43

No. 20 - Confederates in the Attic: dispatches from the unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz - I thought that overall, this was a sad book.

I love Tony Horwitz . . . I actually started reading his books prior to discovering that his wife, Geraldine Brooks, also writes. I started with his book on Captain Cook, Blue Latitudes, and then gradually made it through the rest of his books. I liked Confederates in the Attic even though I am a Yank.

I agree that he is a very good writer and some of the time he made me laugh, but I still found it so sad. 143 years and things seem to be going backward in terms of our understanding one another and getting along.

No. 21 - A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - I saw "The Jane Austen Book Club" this past winter and really liked it (it made me want to have a book club in real life, but my town being what it is, that is not going to happen) and the one guy in the club kept going on about Le Guin. I realized I'd never read anything by her and so bought this. It was very good - it read out loud very well - dark and even depressing at times. Much more interesting to me than the quest fantasies with their deriguer noble hero and his (or her) alliance of oddball supporting characters. It seemed to me that LeGuin wrote in a lovely, spare fashion. She did so much with just a shadow creature as her villain. I intend to go on to the next one in the series, hoping all the while that there will be more about the Ring of Erreth-Akbe and the history of the sad old couple abandoned on their little reef-island.
202 pages

No. 22 - No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
I totally LOVED this book. I will be very surprised if I read anything better the rest of this year. After a first chapter that really made me want to slit my throat - it was that depressing - I was totally immersed in this book. The little bits of the Gaelic were great - made me dig out my big dictionary and I love having an excuse for that. Has anyone else read this and am I right in thinking that the dentist never uses the names of his second and third brothers or his sister? If so, I wonder why? A Rebecca - like writing exercise??
283 pages

Glad to hear you liked it so much. I have it in my TBR pile. I think it might move a little closer to the top now!

Just catching up since I was last here. Re: mess#24, I enjoy this kind of reading also, particularly New England social history and more specifically the lives of women.

Love the rants in the earlier posts. Best odd story about middle-aged love (includes people with emotional baggage), imo, is The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville. I loved the character of Harley Savage, she was such an anti-romantic heroine.

I once had a great discussion with a small group about the idea of Rebecca as a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. They make an interesting book group pairing.

For an excellent novel, imo, about a woman homesteader on the Oregon frontier I would recommend JumpOff Creek by Molly Gloss. Not a lot of dialog, since all the characters live miles from each other, LOL.

Just a warning as it will be some time before I finish my first ER book Two Brothers - One North, One South by David H. Jones and post a review - it's a complete and total TURKEY!!!! I'm only on page 58, but I've not seen such horrid writing in a while. And wouldn't you know - the author OWNS Staghorn Press. Do not spend one red cent on this puppy. I'm so disappointed for I wanted my very first ER book to be a good one. But I will soldier on, if only to see how much worse it can get.

I just read your review of Atonement and I totally agree with you on the pulling out of the hat stuff that we were never told about to start with or given viable clues. I didn't hate it but I too felt like it came from nowhere. I also agree with your accessment of the movie version. I did not see the love between Robbie and Cece. I can maybe believe they had the hots for one another but I definitely did not see or perceive a great love between them.

No. 23 - Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake

#51: Sorry to hear about the book - it sounded like something I would read. Thanks for letting me know not to waste my time!

#51 Don't despair! My first two Early Reviewers books were bad-one in particular was a real stinker- but it does get better.

I also got Two Brothers - One North, One South and, while I think the writing, especially the dialog, is a bit stilted, the idea of the book is a great one. I am going to finish this week and post a review. I probably am being a bit forgiving of the writing because the story is a neat one and I am interested in what happens to the people. Anyway, I can't call it Turkey but I will say, Mr. Jones is not a natural writer and a bit cliche.

Hurray, hurray, hurray!!! I finally finished my ER book and can now get on to something - anything - else.

No. 24 - Two Brothers - One North, One South by David H. Jones reeked. (See my review). I promise not to rant about it anymore. Unless provoked.

303 excrutiating pages (sorry - couldn't help myself)

I am proud of you sticking it out to the end - I would probably have ditched it well before finishing it. Now, on to reading your unbiased, glowing review :)

No. 25 - Snobs by Julian Fellowes - I really liked this book, which was about the difficulties of social climbing, the Bristish aristocracy and making those hard choices in life. It was clever, witty and very entertaining. It had a real 30's feel to it even though it took place in the nineties. I am yearning for him to write another book.
265 pages

No. 26 - Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers - This book was too long and its agenda was just too in-your-face. I have read Christian Fiction before (only Liz Curtis Higgs, to be sure) and this author has none of her subtlety or natural story telling ability. Most of it takes place in 1850's California and I believe is supposed to be based upon the tale of Hosea and Gomer from the Bible. Angel, a prostitute and the heroine of the piece, is kind of two dimensional and Michael Hosea, the impossibly handsome young farmer who pursues her tirelessly, is cut out of the same cloth. God talks to him a lot, insisting that the equally beautiful Angel is the woman that he, God, has chosen for Michael in answer to his prayers for a wife. There is a lot of resistance and running away on Angel’s part. Of course she gradually and inevitably falls for Michael, (after founding a shelter for “soiled doves” * where they can learn new skills and quit peddling their be-hinds on the streets of San Francisco) but guess what – Angel has a BIG SECRET that she is keeping from Michael and it is ridiculously easy to figure out. There was nothing fresh about this story. Frankly, I read it all the way through because it was loaned to me by a friend and I cannot help feeling obliged to finish books that are lent to me. It's probably something I should get over.
464 pages
* I realize that this is a common Victorian term, but I think that it should be used very sparingly in fiction that is written in our time. Ms. Rivers way over-uses it.

No. 27 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain. This was a re-read for me. I haven’t read it since I was about 12 which was a number of years (we won’t say how many, but it was a really long time) ago. I wanted to read it again because I bought Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher over the winter and I thought I should revisit Tom and get his side of the story again before I started it. It reads out loud very well and I think I liked it a little better this time than I did way back when. I do remember that as a child, I always felt sorry for Injun Joe and the way he died. Apparently I was a gruesome little child because Joe’s vile threats against the Widow Douglas seem to have made no impression on me at the time.
275 pages

No. 28 - The Great Stink by Clare Clark - Liked this one very much. Odd that I picked it off the shelf to read just after the Roto Rooter guy made his traditional every other year visit. In future, I have to be more disciplined about the Root Killer.

No. 29 - The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter – I am not a reader of short stories, but when I ran across this impossibly thin book, I read the first two pages and was hooked. I did not realize at the time how very dark these tales are – horrifying in some cases. And I do admit that I did not get a couple of them, but that did not matter. Carter had a wonderful turn of phrase and vocabulary (I’ve got a long list of unfamiliar words, beautiful and evocative, all of them). I liked The Bloody Chamber best, followed closely by The Courtship of Mr. Lyon and The Lady of the House of Love. This book is staying in my main bookcase right where I can find it. I need more Angela Carter.
126 pages

No. 30 - Mad Mary Lamb: Lunacy and Murder in Literary London by Susan Tyler Hitchcock – I have to confess that I was expecting something a little different (must have been the bloodstained letter pictured on the dust jacket), but I still liked this book. Rather than a retelling of Mary Lamb’s crime, it is instead more of a dual biography of Mary and her devoted brother, Charles as well as a good deal about their good friends and other literary lions of the day – Coleridge and Wordsworth, in particular. Given her limitations, Mary lived as full a life as she could have in that time and place (early 19th century England). While, at times I felt sorry for Charles, giving up so much of his life to the care of his sister as he did, in the end it was plain that he did it because he loved his sister above all others. I think such devotion is a rare thing today.
281 pages

>63 Fourpawz2: re: Angela Carter. didn't you think it was fascinating how she told the Beauty & the Beast tale in several different ways? I read her complete short stories in a rather large omnibus so I often am unclear which ones ended up in The Bloody Chamber (the title story an obvious retelling of "Blue Beard", one of Grimm's grimest, and one of my favorites as a child). The omnibus is called Burning your Boats: the Collected Short Stories. You might like her short novel "Love" (I'm not even going to attempt a touchstone on that!) which is a contemporary, Poe-inspired gothic (creepy) story about love and madness (or, if one prefers the contemporary term, mental illness). Have you read her Nights at the Circus yet? (I adore Angela Carter, can you tell?)

I almost bought Nights at the Circus a couple of weeks ago, Avaland, when I was in Boston, but went for The Buccaneers instead as I didn't have any Wharton in my collection. I'm glad you mentioned it, cuz now I have to add it to my wish list. I'm looking forward to getting more of Carter.

Her nonfiction is quite good too. She is quite witty and a bit rebellious at times; it is so unfair that she died relatively young. I'm not sure any of her novels are 100% successes as novels, but they are like nothing else:-) Her imagination is delightful.

No. 31 - March by Geraldine Brooks – I liked this book. Although I did not care for Mr. March very much, the man that Brooks created was just what I expected him to be.
273 pages

No. 32 - The Awakening by Kate Chopin – A quick read. I can’t say that I really liked this story much – it’s a little difficult for me to relate to this kind of woman. Also, at such a remove – time wise – it’s hard to really appreciate the impact the story made on reading audiences of the late 19th century. What was scandalous then is scarcely a blip on the sensibilities meter of today.
190 pages

No. 33 - Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher – by Leonore Hart - The Tom Sawyer story and beyond from Becky Thatcher’s viewpoint. I really liked this book a lot.
371 pages

On your Book #32, The Awakening. I am a big believer in the idea that every person should be allowed to draw their own conclusions from books and that each person's experience is mostly subjective. Having said that, though, I wanted to comment because, while I don't disagree with your thoguhts about the differences in time making a difference in the view of people's behavior, I still found the book compelling. I think I did because, no matter the century, people's inner demons and struggles to fit in and find love don't seem that much different.

What was it you had trouble relating to? I know she led a hemmed in life but, in the context of her time, her rebellions have to be evaluated with a different measuring stick too.

I do agree, Blackdog, to some extent, that books and their characters should be judged in the context of their time, but I don't think that they should be given much of a handicap, if any. Really good books, no matter how old, don't need it. Jane Austen, IMO, doesn't need it, nor does Dickens and scads of others.
As for why I didn't relate to Edna, I guess I just don't understand her and her choice to do as she did at the end. Maybe it's because I'm not that kind of person - all wrapped up in and emotional about someone else. However, it probably says more about me than it does about Edna.

No. 34 - The Persian Boy by Mary Renault - is about Alexander the Great as told by Bagoas, his Persian lover. Never read anything about Alexander before so my opinion concerning historical accuracy undoubtedly is not worth much. Nevertheless, I really liked it.
411 pages

>32 TrishNYC:, 68 Some of the more interesting criticism I have read on The Awakening has been to compare it to fairy tales where the young women have been isolated or asleep (which keeps them innocent) and then she is awakened by, of course, a prince. However, novels of female awakening tend to have women only show significant growth (or awakening) after they've done the expected thing like marry the 'prince' or leave home and break away from it. I'm sure I read this somewhere on the web and it probably can be found if one was further interested.

#68, 71. I totally agree that great authors don't need to be judged onlt for the time in which they were written, and you post some good examples. I think you judged my meaning correctly about understanding the book in its contextual time. And you're probably right about why you didn't connect with Edna....it's not uncommon to have a difficult time connecting with suicidal characters/people, as it is typically a selfish decision.

Very interesting thoughts on comparing the novel to fairy tales. In fact, Edna's character in the novel, especially in the early chapters, is often described as sleepy or drowsy or dozing.

>72 blackdogbooks: It's been a very long time since I have read it, but I found the comments intriguing.

No. 35 - The Captive Witch by Dale Van Every - I don't think much of anyone reads Van Every any more and it's been some time since I have. This was only marginally o.k. for me. I ordinarily like stuff written about the American Revolution in the west, but a number of the characters were stock ones and I was glad to get it over and done with.
282 pages

Hey Fourpawz, I was wondering if the Julian Fellowes who wrote the book you read awhile(Snobs) back is the same as the one who starred in Monarch of the Glen and penned Gosford park? The book sounds great and if its one and the same person then I am really amazed by him cause he is a hilarious actor, wrote an Oscar winning screen play and now a book. Quite an achievement, if its one and the same fellow.

He is, indeed, the same person. I was so surprised too, when I found out that he wrote Gosford Park. I love that movie. Even though I don't get everything that's being said (because all of the dialogue is delievered so naturally), it's still one of my favorite movies. I had no idea that he was so incredibly witty. You should read Snobs, Trish. I think you will like it.
I think I remember that you are a Monarch of the Glen fan (me, too) and, if so, did you find that the series kind of went to pot after Fellowes' Killwillie character went away?

No. 36 - The Lords of Vaumartin by Cecelia Holland – Started off the year with another book by this author and this one lived up to my high hopes for Holland’s stuff. This one concerns Everard who chooses to disappear after the Battle of Crecy (1346 – early on in the Hundred Years War) rather than go back to Vaumartin where he has been belittled and mocked by his aunt and uncle for most all of his life. He knows that the aunt and uncle really want to take his holdings away from him, - actually they were kind of hoping that he would get killed in the battle - but he does not care. He will make his way on his own and so travels to Paris to take up the life of a scholar. He remains there for years while his uncle, Josseran, spends his time fighting the English and keeping the secret that Everard is alive. He holds Vaumartin illegally and suffers for it. I liked this one a lot – definitely my cup of tea.
344 pages

No. 37 Dog by Michelle Herman – I confess – I mostly bought this book because of the incredibly appealing picture of a puppy on the cover. I am keeping this from Willie (my cat) because I think he would poop on this book if he knew the truth. Don’t tell him. This was quite short – a good read about a single woman who gets her dog, Phil, by mistake – and the difference he makes to her life. Not huge differences – just subtle gradual ones. Herman uses parentheses a lot. Half way through I was kind of wishing that I had counted them from the beginning, but it was too late. It was a good read, even for a cat person.
188 pages

No. 38 - The Diamond by Julie Baumgold
Good historical fiction about France from the time of Louis XIV through to Second Empire, told mostly by the Duke Las Cases, who did exist (and wound up by a fictional character named Abraham). Las Cases is supposedly writing a history of the Regent Diamond – a real diamond that was discovered in India in the very early 18th century – but mostly he wants to write about Napoleon on the sly. He was voluntarily exiled to St. Helena at the same time as the Emperor was and is clearly devoted to him. A good deal of the story, is spent on the various French kings and their queens, mistresses and male lovers before Las Cases gets around to Napoleon, Josephine and her replacement Marie-Louise. It is chock-full of fascinating information about the decadence of the Bourbons, the Terror and the Empire as well as a very great deal about the Regent Diamond and its journey through time and its many owners. I liked it very much.
304 pages

Dog sounds like a fun read. I added it to my wishlist based on your recommendation.

Hope you like it, when you get to it streamsong.

No. 39 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - Read this for the Literature read here on LT. It was much better than I expected. It might seem to we 21st century people that Newland and Ellen should have stopped diddling around and gotten together when they so obviously wanted to, but I think we don't really appreciate, in this day, what a bloody big deal it was to divorce in the 1870's. And not just because they were part of New York Society. My own great grandmother (not a very grand lady) got divorced from her husband in 1905; the case was tried in Superior Court and was covered by the newspaper on a daily basis with plenty of testimony by the family and big, black headlines. We have forgotten, I think, how such goings on used to shock people. I don't think that Newland and Ellen could have done anything else other than what they finally chose to do. Back then you made your choices and stuck to them - like it or not.
307 pages

No. 40 - Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey - My granny was a fan of Westerns back when I was very young and I read a whole pile of them when I would visit her. I guess the Western has fallen on very hard times since I was a kid. I was a little shocked when I saw the so-called "Western" section at B&N one Saturday a couple of months ago - I could have fit all the Westerns they had there in my bathtub without any trouble at all and I felt kind of sorry to see it. So, I guess that's why I bought this book.
The dialogue was a little dated, I thought and Grey writes like the most ferocious of anti-Mormons, even though, according to the introduction, he wrote other books that were very pro-Mormon. That kind of approach (for me) got in the way of the story which was still only so-so for me. And I wanted to murder Little Fay, the little golden haired moppet who was prone to warbling such revolting things as "Has oo a little dirl?" and "I love oo." Yuck! The book's strength, however, was in his descriptions of what must have been a beautiful country. Mind you, I have never been anywhere near Utah, so I can't really vouch for them being accurate, but somehow I do think that in his day he was probably spot on.
285 pages

If you enjoyed Zane Grey, try The Virginian and Out West, His Journals and Letters from Owen Wister. These were the molds by which allother Western were fitted. And they are both worth the read. I am reading the Virginian now.

Actually, blackdog, I bought a copy of The Virginian at the same time I was mooning over the state of the Western in Barnes & Noble. I think I tried to read it many years ago, but I was too young for it. I expect to get it read sometime later this year. And I'll check out the other one, too. (Thanks for the rec).

While I'm at it, get a copy of Shane. I read that this year and couldn't believe I hadn't read it yet. The story was a true western but I fuond the undercurrents running towards themes of identity. Great book. Great western. Also, read the Border Trilogy by McCarthy if you haven't yet. These modern westerns carry the mantle better than any I've found, even better than McMurtry, though I like him too. McCarthy presents much of the traditional western stuff but turns them on a very theological/transcendental angle at times. Gret books and great westerns.

Shane is a great book - I bought it many years ago and read it obsessively - about once every couple of months for a couple of years. As for the McCarthy books they are on the giant wishlist. Speaking of Schaefer, have you read, Monte Walsh which is also on the giant wishlist and waiting patiently for me to buy it?

The Rainbow Trail is the sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage if you are interested in finding out what happened to 'wittle Fay'. He wrote some much better books by far.

Not yet on Monte Walsh....but i'd like to get it because I really enjoyed the Tom Selleck movie made from the book. My wish list has grown to more pages than I can responsibly print out - waste of paper and ink and all.

I hear you. I am contemplating copying my amazon wishlist into a little notebook in teeny, tiny writing. A tedious job, I'm sure, but then if I keep it up, I'll have something to cart around to stores and esp. book sales. I hate duplicates.

That's where LT has come in handy for me. I signed up for LT when I got a Blackberry mobile. The device allows me to access the internet and I can check my LT library if I am unsure about owning a copy of a book. I haven't figured out the wish list thing though. Currently, it's just a paper list I keep in the computer and print out from time to time as it gets bigger. I guess if I transferred it to Amazon, I could do the same thing. I thought another alternative would be to create another LT library populated with the books I wish for. I sure wish LT would have such an option.

I use Amazon for my wish list- I was always loosing the small pieces of paper with my book lists on them. This way when I acquire a book- I just take it off the Amazon list.

Hey Fourpawz!! Sorry I missed your reply to my question about Julian Fellowes. I totally forgot to check back after I asked the question and I only saw your reply when I was looking at your books read for this challenge to see what else you were reading that I realized. But I agree that Monarch of the Glen was in its height when we had Killwille, Hector, Archie and Lexie. Once those characters left the show went to the dogs. I was shocked by the whole thing with Hector and I guess once Julian made a name for himself with Godsford Park, he got too busy for the show and could not commit the kind of time required for the show, especially since the whole show was shot in Scotland. I think they should have wrapped it up after Series 5 but sometimes they just refuse to see the handwritting on the wall. Once Archie left, what the heck was the point of the show, I mean he was THE MONARCH. I still miss the show cause it was one of the best TV shows ever in my opinion. It was so well done too. Hector and Killwille were so good and the chemistry between them was undeniable. Its interesting how every character was valued even if they were peripheral to the main story. One of my favorite characters was Golly cause he just radiated calm confidence. Sheesh...talking about all this just makes me realize how much I miss that show.

I agree 100%, Trish. There wasn't any reason to go on after Archie left. And I, too, miss that show. It was one of the best of its type on PBS. My aunt never got it (plus she couldn't understand all the accents), but I think I watched it every time it was on - my PBS station likes a LOT of re-runs. It's a money thing, I think. If it weren't for Public Television, I don't think I'd watch much at all. For me, it's mostly books, PBS and movies (although I do admit to an addiction to a certain number of reality shows - my shameful secret).

No. 41 - Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross – I liked this book a lot. The idea of a female pope sounds more than a little fantastical. How could it happen? Reading this story, Cross makes it all sound very plausible. I think that the very implausibility of a woman in the 9th century passing as a man, never mind a priest, makes Joan's masquerade just that much easier. (People so often see only what they expect to see.) Besides Joan’s amazing feat, the writer provided Vikings, love, battle, betrayal, cut-throat papal politics and general skullduggery along with a smidgen of plague, leprosy and medicine. All of the things a good medieval historical fiction novel should have. I hear that the movie is being filmed this summer. I hope they don’t mess it up.
411 pages

No. 42 - The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin –I did not like the sixties and I have no sappy, nostalgic feelings for rock and roll. I would not live that time in my life over again for a million bucks. It’s over and I don’t want to go back in reality or in novels. However, I read this book because it is Martin. He is, IMHO, the best fantasy writer in the world. This story is not fantasy and I knew that going in. But it’s Martin. How could I resist?. I guess you would call this book (Sixties supergroup whose lead singer was assasinated back in '71, makes a come back under the manipulation of of a rock promoter/sixties revolutionary who seems to be channeling the devil) suspense, mixed in with a lot of waltzing down rock and roll memory lane, blood, drugs and creepiness. George keeps up the creepiness factor for a long time, but I thought that at the end he lost his willingness to take things as far as he might have and fell back on a happy ending. It got kind of ordinary for me, petering off much the way The Stand did. Sixties fans might like it better.
340 pages

No. 43 - Dragonwyck by Anya Seton – Miranda is a young woman, born into a Connecticut farming family, who wants a different life – the life of a wealthy lady. She is given the opportunity to join the household of a distant cousin and his wife in the Hudson Valley as something like a governess to their young daughter. This cousin is very wealthy and he lives the life of a lord in 1840’s upstate New York. Indeed, he believes himself to be a noble and expects to be treated as such by his tenants (who in this time and place are not allowed to own the farms that they and their families have been working for generations). Early on Miranda falls in love with Nicholas and though she is treated like nothing better than a servant by his hugely corpulent wife, Johanna, she stays on at Dragonwyck for the better part of a year. Although it could be taken for a historical novel (Martin VanBuren and his son make several appearances and the Mexican War starts up in the last half of the book) this is a truly Gothic novel complete with a resident ghost, a curse, deaths – both suspicious and plain tragic- and looming madness. There are no surprises – I saw all of them coming a mile away and I am not really sure if it is because this was only Seton’s second novel (written in the 1940’s) and she was still new at her craft or whether it is because I’ve seen all of these various plot twists and devices several times before in other books. It was not great, but it wasn’t horrible.
336 pages

No. 44 - The Stolen Village by Des Ekin – In 1631 a goodly portion of the Irish village of Baltimore, in the southwest part of the country, was raided by Barbary pirates and 107 villagers carried away into slavery. I’d never heard of this event before discovering this book and looked forward to reading it. Unfortunately, there is scarcely anything in the history records concerning what happened to these people. Of the 107 people, only three women were brought out of captivity after many years and none of the experiences of even these three was recorded. In fact, the name of one of them is unknown. The author has instead chosen to write about the Baltimore villagers’ enslavement in Algiers by quoting from the writings and testimony of others – some who were slaves themselves in Algiers and some who were carried off by Indians in America – and from these accounts speculating what the villagers’ feelings and experiences must have been. I could not figure out why he so stubbornly persisted in focusing upon the Baltimore incident until the very end of the book; it turns out that the author has a theory about why this small and isolated village was targeted and it is a pretty good one. However, all in all, I think that this book might have been rather better if he’d forgone the theory and written instead about the slavery experience in this place and time even if it would have rendered the Baltimore villagers a footnote rather than the subject of his book. I was surprised to find that there was no index – a giant lack in any history book, I think – but there are Source Notes and a Bibliography with a list of recommended reading. It was pretty good, but I want to know more about the subject.
353 pages

No. 45 - Mary’s Neck by Booth Tarkington – A re-read that I’ve planned all year. It is a book about summer and summer places and pursuits, after all. I love this book to pieces. Bought it for 29 cents in the used book department of a once proud local bookstore that has become (shudder) a gift and card shop. Don’t’ know what happened to them – gradually the books went away and the touristy junk took over. But back to Mary’s Neck.
If you’ve ever lived anyplace where the dreaded “Summer People” swarm over the landscape you will love this book. It was written three years into the Great Depression, but living in a resort community like Mary’s Neck today is still just about the same. Every time I read this book, I laugh out loud – a lot. I especially love the bit on antiquing, Professor Gilmerding and the struggle to get in with the right crowd. I’ve only ever seen this one copy of this book and if I were ever to be told that I was being exiled to a deserted island and I could choose ten books to take with me, this is the first book I’d pick. If you see it somewhere, buy it.
318 pages

No. 46 - Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll – I think, in order to get through this novel, it is important to mentally replace the names Darcy and Elizabeth with other ones – say, Percy and Alice for instance. And, while you are at it, replace all of the names of all of the other characters as well. Also, try to do your best to forget all the references to plot points and occurrences in Pride and Prejudice. This will be difficult as the author keeps bringing them up. You might, if you are the forgetful type and not a raging P & P fan, also do well to let a year or so go by after reading the sacred P & P before tackling this book – thereby ensuring that the details might grow a little fuzzy in your mind. After doing all of that, it is just possible to get all the way through this book and discover that it is a passable Regency novel. If you love P & P, you will probably hate this book. Hate, hate, hate. Most likely, you will not even finish it and may be moved to destroy it in some violent way.
This is a very long book – much of the length made necessary, I think, by Darcy and Elizab – no, wait, Percy and Alice – spending so much of their time all tangled up in sweaty, pre- and post-coital heaps. The author likes to use lots of euphemisms and Latin to name body parts and various acts of passion, which gets a little tiresome after a while. Also, I did find it hard to credit the bit about the mirror and a couple of scenes where Percy and Alice (dressed only in Percy’s shirt) go dashing off on horses so that they can disport themselves in the fields - for a slight change of scenery, I suppose. Still, I am going to give it three and half stars, for I found it pretty entertaining after I got the hang of changing all those names in my head.
465 pages

LOL Fourpawz!!! I loved the whole replacing the names bit, totally hilarious. Great review. I have always been skeptical of reading any of the follow up stories to Pride and Prejudice cause that book is a masterpiece to me. Your review just further convinces me that I should continue to stay away from such fare cause they are rarely good.

Wow! That review should win some sort of prize for best review of the decade! Laughing, laughing, laughing. Hope you put it in the review section besides here on your thread.

Thanks guys! You are too kind. I am blushing. (But secretly I am very pleased.) And, streamsong, at your suggestion, I will put it in my review section. Thanks again, you all.

No. 47 - Woman of a Thousand Secrets by Barbara Wood - My Early Reviewer book and pretty much of a snoozer. I've posted my thoughts on it in the review section. Hope these ER books pick up soon.
483 pages

No. 48 - Speaking Stones by Stephen Leigh – I enjoyed the previous book, Dark Water’s Embrace, in this two book series and have finally gotten around to reading book number two. It is a story about intolerance and the violence that follows.
Both the original inhabitants of the fourth planet in the Tau Ceti system – the Mictlan – and the humans who have been marooned there for two hundred years, can only exist with the aid of a kind of third sex – the Sa – beings who might be either Mictlan or human and are both male and female – that is to say a Sa individual possesses both male and female genetalia. Only with the help of a Sa can the Mictlan and humans reproduce without passing on disfiguring, debilitating or fatal genetic defects to their children. At the end of the first book, most of the humans came to accept this necessity, but not all of them did and that lack of acceptance, coupled with a lot of understandable Mictlan resentment over the way the humans just barged in and took over - disturbing religious sites, polluting the environment and taking whatever land they wanted - creates a pretty nasty situation. When a human Sa child is kidnapped and dies, things get really bad.
Leigh has given the Sa their own pronouns (ke for he and she and ker for him and her) and for a while I found their use irritating, but after about page sixty, I stopped noticing. I am not a big science fiction reader, but I liked this book just as much as I did the first one.
330 pages

#95 Fourpawz: Even using Percy and Alice, I could not make it through Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. I did not even make it to the 50 page point. I had seen it recommended on a couple of threads, so thought I would try it. Sorry, it just did not work for me.

I can empathize, alcottacre. I think it was mostly because I was determined to read it to the end that I got the job done.

Have you never gotten back to LeGuin? I'd love to see you finish at least the initial trilogy--they are really classic.

Fourpawz2
I enjoy reading your reviews and descriptions of the books you have read! Thanks

Thanks, Whisper1. Glad you've enjoyed them.

Ronincats, thanks for the reminder. I just went over to Amazon and bought book 2.

Re: Message 94. Mary's Neck is another one of those odd books in my collection that I never paid much attention to. I think I bought it years ago for 10 cents at a college library sale. Guess I'll have to bring it upstairs!

Maybe it's only me, tloeffler, but I think Mary's Neck is super funny. (Of course, I do find that humor is very, very subjective.) I will be waiting anxiously to hear what you think of it.

No. 49 - Lady of the Glen: A Novel of 17th century Scotland and the Massacre of Glencoe by Jennifer Roberson – I was expecting this to be something different, especially after reading the back cover where the main characters, Catriona Campbell and Alasdair MacDonald “know from the moment they meet that they will lie in each other’s arms someday.” It’s summer. I was in the mood for one of those dumb and predictable books I used to like when I was young. But this turned out to be a rather good piece of historical fiction about the infamous massacre at Glen Coe and the years leading up to it. There is a bit of romance, but it is handled well and getting between the sheets is not the object of the book (or at least not the only object). Roberson does a good job of telling this story, dealing well with the complicated politics that led up to the shocking crown-condoned attempt at the murder of an entire clan. For me, it was good and I plan to look for more by this author, hoping that this book of hers was not a fluke.
556 pages

No. 50 (2/3 done - yay!!) - Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster - I'd been looking forward to this book as I was curious about the life of a writer I've liked for a long time. It is well written and full of lots of things I did not know about her - in fact it is too full and I now have a whole bunch of pretty unflattering info in my head that I almost wish I didn't have. I had no idea that this woman led such a secretly unhappy life. Her marriage came apart after WWII, but she would not divorce. She was sexually confused. She did not like her two daughters at all when they were babies because they were girls and not the boy she wanted. She was incredibly stubborn - sinking an appalling amount of money, over a span of twenty five years, into a house that she could never own before the owner finally forced her to move out of it. Her relationship with her father was just plain weird - mostly his fault. Then there's this whole thing about the duMaurier family code names for almost everything and everyone - a whole vocabulary that made sense only to them. (I will never think the same way about Venice again.) Worst of all (for me) were her last years when she lost her creative spark and gradually went further and further downhill mentally. Writing was not just her job, it was an integral part of who she was and without it she just could not live.
426 pages

Congratulations on hitting the 50 book point!

Hi fourpaws:

I'm currently reading Rebecca with an online book group and also learning about du Maurier. There's a whole controversial subplot bit that certainly wasn't taught when I read this in high school English thirty years ago. :-)

Thanks, alcottacre.

Streamsong - would that subplot be the whole bit about Daphne and her feelings about her husband's old flame or is it something else? I'd be interested in knowing.

fourpaws--That wasn't what I was referring to, although that wasn't mentioned either in that long ago high school English class.

No, what I was referring to was the possiblity of Mrs. Danvers & Rebecca as lovers. Reading the novel with that in mind is definitely making it an entirely different novel than the gothic creepy I read in high school. Back then, I was probably as naive as the second Mrs de W.

Here's the link to the B & N lit by women group discussion if you're interested.

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board?board.id=U1000

Thanks for the link, streamsong. It looks interesting. Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca as a couple - yikes! I agree - mega creepy. I'll try and keep that idea in mind for my next re-read of Rebecca.

No. 51 - The Dark Queen by Susan Carroll – Not quite sure what this is meant to be. It has elements of an historical novel (St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Catherine de Medici, Huguenots v. Catholics), but it gets bogged down with a dull, dull romance and some flapdoodle about witches (usually referred to in a PC way as ‘wise women’) - in particular three sisters who inhabit the utterly fictional Faire Isle. (Even if I hadn’t already known that there are two sequels to this book, I would have been able to figure out quite easily that both of the younger sisters would get books of their own, for all the signposts are there.) I think that if the author had just devoted herself to the historical fiction angle she would have done better. Not great, mind you, for her writing did not catch my fancy at all, but at least the story might have had some cohesion and not gone bouncing all over the place. I think that she could have found a way in which to leave out the witches altogether. There was no need to turn Catherine deMedici into one. She was plenty manipulative enough on her own without the black magic. Truly, crediting the horror of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre to a green ‘miasma’ whipped up by Catherine in her secret laboratory and set loose upon Paris greatly took away from the event. It was silly. Parisians whipped into a religious killing frenzy are, to my mind, a lot more horrifying than the thoroughly ridiculous device that the author uses. Big yawner of no merit.
519 pages

No. 52 - 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff – Feel a little guilty about including this here, but it is a book for all its meagerness. Read it while eating lunch today. I think I was supposed to be ‘charmed’ and ‘delighted’ (at least that’s what the covers say). It was o.k. It did awaken a sudden craving for beautiful books in me – the kind with thin, thin paper and floppy leather covers – but that was all.
97 pages

fourpawz: Even though 84 Charing Cross Road did not do anything for you, I hope you will give Hanff's other books a try. I think I am lucky in that I saw the movie version of Charing Cross before I read the book (a statement I seldom, if ever, make) because it really helped me visualize in reading what is essentially a packet of old letters. Anyhow, Hanff's other books are more substantial and very enjoyable, IMHO. She writes in a very tongue-in-cheek, droll manner. I especially recommend Q's Legacy and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.

I haven't given up on her, alcottacre. In fact, I do have The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street on my wishlist. I see by the cover (of 84 Charing Cross Road) that Ann Bancroft was in the movie - I could totally picture her in the part.

The big thing that surprised me about the movie was not how perfect Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins were for their respective roles, but that Mel Brooks produced it!

I would suggest reading Q's Legacy before Duchess simply because it explains how she got started on her quest for the best in English literature, but it is certainly not mandatory that you do so.

Hi Fourpawz2--Just a few notes because you kindly reviewed my list.

I've seen two of the three versions of Rebecca (and they're all available on DVD or video somewhere--try a library if you can't find one anywhere else). The Charles Dance version was over twice as long as the Olivier version and truly annoying. It ends with the "alternate" version of du Maurier's story now available in bookstores. However, when I saw it, I was flat annoyed at the change. I, too, love the Hitchcock version. NB--this was one of Hitchcock's first American productions; he had already been quite prolific in England.

I can't seem to get through Atonement. I read a chapter, then skip around the book, read another chapter, and nothing grabs me. I have figured that by continuing to read in this manner, however, I will eventually finish the book by year's end!

Add The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark to your Westerns list, if you haven't already read it. It's the story of two drifters who join a posse and three men they capture. It is also one of William Wellman's best pictures, dark and moody, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and Anthony Quinn, with a superb supporting cast.

Also, slightly off the beaten Western trail--try Willa Cather or Edna Ferber. I love the southwest, midwest history built into their fiction.

Oh--way too long here. Really enjoyed your reviews along this trail.

Thanks for the suggestions, Prop2. I don't have any Ferber, but I do have a couple by Cather (read My Antonia last year and liked it) and I have The Song of the Lark and plan to read Death Comes for the Archbishop in the near future. It and The Ox-Bow Incident are on my wishlist.
Glad you liked my reviews.

Ferber has So Big, Cimarron, Giant, and Fanny, Herself that I've found worth the pick up.

Death Comes to the Archbishop is a "classic" I ignored for years, and, as an adult, found I really enjoyed.

Enjoy!

No. 53 - The Matchmaker of Perigord by Julia Stuart – This Early Reviewer book is the mildly amusing story of a middle-aged barber turned matchmaker living in the southwestern French town of Amour-sur-Belle. Unmarried, Guillaume Ladoucette has only ever loved his childhood sweetheart, Emilie Fraisse, who moved away from Amour-sur-Belle when still a child. Shy with women and never able to court anyone in her place, Guillaume has lived for years with the regret he feels over not having answered the letter Emilie wrote to him after she moved away from town.

The barber business goes bust – his customers hardly need his services anymore for many of them have gone bald and the ones who still have hair want to try the new haircuts which Guillaume refuses to do and so they take their trade elsewhere. He decides to open a matchmaking business even though he knows nothing about it.

Most of the story concerns itself with the matches Guillaume makes for his customers, his own love for Emilie which comes to life once more when she moves back to town, making her home in the filthy old chateau that she bought specifically because its dirtiness will give her plenty of work to do, and the necessity for a public shower in the town brought on by the drought. There is a good deal of time spent on the eccentricities of the folk in this town – in the manner of most books of this type.

I found three odd things about this book. First, the writer never – and I mean never – mentions the characters without using both their first and last names. Never. I thought that was a little unusual. Second, when she is writing about certain things – Emilie’s dresses, the ramparts of the castle, the spiral staircase, the cushion on the chair in Guillaume’s place of business – she uses the exact same words. Emilie’s dresses, no matter the color, always “appeared to have been shorn off at the knees”. The spiral staircase in the chateau is always described as having “lamentable repairs”. The ramparts of the castle are always “scandalous”. The third thing is the food. I am very used, in books of this type, to reading beautiful descriptions of the local food. The food always sounds so good! I wish I could be there so I could have some of it. Many of the foods in this book do not sound very good at all (the main exception being the pastry). Sliced cow’s muzzle?! Donkey sausage?! All excited over her date, Emilie takes a plate of broiled kidneys to bed with her. “Her excitement over Gilbert Dubuisson coming to dinner….could only be dampened with offal.” Made me shudder. But then I am not an ‘innards’ kind of person.

That said, I found, after not too long a while, that I could almost feel that I was in Amour-sur-Belle. The author brought out the atmosphere of the village very well, I thought, and I felt that I was there. And even with the eccentric people and the oddball things that happened, I had a nice stay there.
318 pages

No. 54 - The Promise of the New South by Edward L. Ayers - a history of the time after the end of Reconstruction in the South - about 1877 until 1906 - the year of the bloody Atlanta race riot. I read this for the Go Review That Book group and while it did take me a lot longer than I'd expected I can say that this Pulitzer Prize finalist was worth the time spent on it. Learned a lot of new things and it was not too painful. Ayers does not write in that deadly way some scholars have where you know that you just might die before you get to the end. It was just right.
438 pages

No. 55 - Blitzcat by Robert Westall - About a cat in England during WWII, named Lord Gort, who leaves home to find her human - a pilot with the RAF. She is annoyed, in that way that cats can be, because the human's wife had a smelly baby, started feeding the cat scraps instead of the fish and milk she preferred and did not seem to have time to pet and fuss over her. The journey lasts for several years and leads Lord Gort all over the country - even to France and back. She lives with a succession of different people, but never forgets who she belongs to and is always trying to get back to him. Started this yesterday and whizzed right through it. I think it's supposed to be a kid's book (although some parts of it aren't like any kid's book I read when I was a rugrat, but no matter. Times have changed, after all). Cat-wise, people-wise and war-wise, this book rings true. Four stars at least.
230 pages

I read Blitzcat in elementary school and have been meaning to reread it. I'm glad to see it's apparently as good as I remembered.

I have an other book by Robert Westall The kingdom by the sea. I might re-read it soon, I have fond memories of that book.
I see Blitzcat is translated in Dutch, I'll put it on my wishlist.

OK, you have got to stop adding books to my massive TBR list Fourpawz, that's all there is to it. I am blaming it all on you, lol.

BTW - Thanks for the recommendations on The Promise of the New South and Blitzcat. I have put them both on hold at my local library.

Tit for tat, alcottacre. My wishlist used to have kind of a single theme - lots of historical fiction and non-fiction history with a smidge of fantasy tossed in. Now, thanks to you and just about everyone else on LT, it's all over the place. Where will I ever get the money to gather all those lovely books together and the time in which to read them?

No. 56 - The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss - my latest read for Early Reviewers - is the story of the financial Panic of 1792 – the first to occur in the new American republic. The event is true and Liss’s handling of it, while almost wholly a product of his mind, is excellent. Who would have thought that a story so engrossing and exciting could be formed around something so dull and difficult to easily understand as finance and the infant days of the Bank of the United States?

Liss alternates chapters between his two protagonists - Joan Maycott, a clever woman with a grudge who aspires to write the first true American novel and Ethan Saunders, a disgraced Patriot who was once a spy in the American Revolutionary War who has now descended into drunkenness and womanizing. For half of the book the author appears to be writing two different stories, mildly linked but running on different tracks and in different locales. Then he seamlessly brings their two stories together while still preserving the mystery of the whole.

There is betrayal in this book, treachery, love, murder and killing – both ordinary and despicable – and a country teetering on the edge of ruin and revolution. The characters, real and fictional, as well as the time and place, rang true for me. Long before I reached the end, I wanted to read more. How about it, David? Do you have any more Ethan Saunders in your head?

I dislike to reveal anything specific concerning the plot for I hardly think that I could do it justice and further I have no wish to take away any of the surprises in this novel. I’ve read two of Liss’s other novels and liked them, but this one I enjoyed enormously.
513 pages

Where will I ever get the money to gather all those lovely books together and the time in which to read them? Maybe we could rob a bank together and then when they throw us in the hoosegow we will have plenty of time to read!

Great use of 'hoosegow', a much underused term!!!! I feel like you should have mentioned a 'dame' or 'hot lead'.

Hi to all
I added Blitz Cat to my list. Thanks for your description Fourpawz2.

I am reading more children's literature as a result of joining LT. I finished Walk Two Moons a few days ago. This one was recommended by Fam and Alcottacre.
I also obtained a copy of When Zachary Beaver Came To Town and hope to read this today.

I don't read much YA, Whisper, but I liked this one. Hope you do, too. Oh, yes and I was glad you liked the 'sucking hole' description. Sometimes with the really bad books I feel that I want to put some of those little orange traffic cones around them - as kind of a public service. Don't want the children falling in and hurting themselves or anything.

I enjoyed When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. I laughed right out loud at your description of "readly bad books.'' You truly are a very creative writer....

Thanks for the compliment, Whisper1. I've been doubting myself, creativity and writing-wise, lately. You have put me in a good place for the week-end and the job of tackling my chosen work (hobby) once again.

No. 57 - The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier – a fictionalized account of the weaving of the Unicorn tapestries that are now in the Museum at Cluny, France, a series of six depicting the romancing of a unicorn by a lady. Woven through the story of their creation are the stories of the wife and daughter of the wealthy aristocrat who commissions them, Jean LeViste, and their life – mostly in Paris – and the lives of the weaver, Georges De La Chapelle, his wife Christine, their blind daughter Alienor in Brussels as they work on the creation of the tapestries. Appearing in both locations is the talented artist, Nicolas Des Innocents, a painter and the creator of the concept of the Unicorn Tapestries, who is less than admirable at the beginning of the story. The individual chapters are all told in first person narratives by different characters.

Nicolas beds whatever girl he is able to work into the horizontal and has no feeling for them afterward. At the very beginning, he encounters a servant girl in the LeViste household who is in danger of losing her place because he has impregnated her. His idea of shouldering responsibility is to toss a few coins her way. Doubtless, this is the way such matters were usually handled during the 15th/16th century when servant girls found themselves in a fix, but it does not help me to like Nicolas. He takes a liking to the eldest daughter of his patron and plans to seduce her – an easy task, for the girl’s hormones are raging – but never gets the chance. Even later on when Nicolas travels to Brussels to help with execution of the tapestries he is arrogant and dismissive both of the work the weavers do and of Brussels itself. Fortunately, time and circumstances do something toward redeeming Nicolas in my eyes, but Chevalier does not try to impose our standards upon him, nor for that matter upon any of the other characters. Their time and place dictate the way their stories turn out and I like that.

I liked the chapters concerning Genevieve and Claude LeViste, the mother and eldest daughter of Jean’s household well enough, but I truly liked the ones concerning the Chapelle family in Brussels – in particular the blind Alienor – the best. Poor Alienor is being pursued by the woad-maker (woad is a blue dye), Jaques LeBoeuf, who smells revoltingly – and eternally - of sheep piss – the down side of his trade. He wants to marry her and badgers her parents to agree to it. They do not want to make Alienor unhappy, but after all she is damaged and LeBoeuf being their source for woad – well, business is business. But not to worry. Alienor has a solution to her problem.

I think I have read reviews somewhere where the reviewer found the copious descriptions of how the tapestries were woven tedious, but I did not find that they took away from my enjoyment of the book. This book is not the same as Girl With A Pearl Earring, but I liked it just as well.
248 pages

No. 58 - The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey (Read this one for the Go Review That Book group) This is primarily the story of a map thief, Gilbert Bland, Jr., who stole and sold countless rare maps from libraries all over the United States and even Canada and the author’s efforts to get to the bottom of the why of it. Bland is a difficult person to figure out – he often comes across as a man as bland as his name – but some of the rest of the time he appears like just another greedy, destructive thief. Although Bland displays a lot of nerve as he violates rare books all over the country, from what I read, at least as much blame needs to be placed upon the librarians who have not done enough to protect their books. Neither did they pursue prosecution forcefully enough, justifying their choice because it was too expensive. (Of course, I realize that budgets are also at least partly to blame for this problem.)

Harvey pursues the Bland story for years, gathering news stories, conducting interviews and researching the world of map collecting, but never achieving his ultimate goal – an interview with the map thief himself. By the end of the book, Harvey wonders about his pursuit of the story and of his dogged attempts to interview and understand Gilbert Bland. He realizes, eventually, that he is obsessed with him and that it is not a healthy thing. It does not, however, turn him away from the story. He has to follow it through to the end.

Harvey introduces the reader to a variety of collectors and cartomaniacs. I don’t think that I realized before how many really old maps there were or how they were at one time, closely guarded state-secrets. You have to wonder how things would have turned out if Columbus’ brother, Bartolomeo, had not copied several Portuguese maps, (selling them at a tidy profit) and used the revealed knowledge to bolster the whole argument for Christopher’s voyage?

The collection of maps is not an inexpensive hobby; collectible maps cost thousands today. The truly rare can go at auction for significantly more than a million. Harvey writes extensively about a man who I guess is the foremost map dealer in the world (or was back in the 90’s), Graham Arader. Clearly he was helpful to Harvey, but I did not like him. Perhaps it is bad tempered jealousy on my part – Arader’s canny collecting seems to me almost solely responsible for the tremendous hike in antique map prices – but he seemed arrogant and smug. It is hard to like the super rich. And damn it, after reading about all those lovely maps, I kind of wanted one for myself.

Overall a good book. I learned a lot. Oh, yes – as for the physical book itself – I loved reading this edition – the size, the pages, the look – everything was just right.
349 pages

No. 59 - Thornyhold by Mary Stewart - This was a nice read with witches and a little romance and a swell old house - inherited by our penniless heroine. Someone leaving me a beautiful, old country house - not too big - is one of my favorite fantasies - and as I am fresh out of old relatives with swell old houses - probably the one least likely to be fulfilled.
I need to read more Stewart.
289 pages

Hi
I'm looking for an escape like book and Thornyhold sounds delightful. I'll check this one out of my local library.

I'm currently reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. It is a good book and holds my interest but I need something lighter to read right now.

Thanks for your post re. the Mary Stewart book.

I have loved Mary Stewart for a very long time. She was (fortunately for me!) the first "romance" writer I read, and while the plots are often interchangeable (so much Jane Eyre!), the writing was interesting and the mystery plausible. Not so with many of her companions in the market.

Then the Arthurian series--OMG, I was in love. Having gone through the Spencerian versions of some of it, plus really liking The Once and Future King, I was floored by the detail and characterizations.

Recently tried to find her in a book store (outside of the Arthur stories) only to find a clerk who said "Who" and couldn't find her work. Sigh. I'm getting old.

(Editing only my spelling! Sigh. Proofreading your own work is not good!)

#138 She does abound in the second hand market - yard sales, secondhand book stores, library sales - don't give up!

I adore what I've read of Mary Stewart (which is the merlin trilogy....which looks like it's all in one tidy volume now). Never tried anything else by her, but I'm intrigued and will give Thornyhold a go one of these days.

Fourpawz: I have recently rediscovered Mary Stewart myself. I have not read Thornyhold yet - thanks for the recommendation. I still enjoy The Gabriel Hounds and Touch Not the Cat even though they are somewhat dated. Touch Not the Cat is probably my favorite by her. I just finished Rose Cottage a couple of weeks ago.

I just ordered The Gabriel Hounds. I've owned The Ivy Tree for years and I remember reading it, probably 5 or 6 times when I was a kid and loving it.

Let me know what you think of The Gabriel Hounds when you have finished it. I own The Ivy Tree but have never read it - it is among the 65 boxes of books that were in storage for 3 years and I do not even know where it is at present. Once I find it, I will give it a go.

alcottacre...reading your posts re books in storage reminded me that when I moved three years ago, I stored boxes of books at a friends house...
She has been very patient with me, but it is time to collect the boxes and find someplace to put them...
Combining two houses into one has been a challenge for both myself and my husband. I hate to add more to the space that is already compromised but being fair to her is the higher duty.

I feel like a child who will need to sneak more stuff into the house when my husband is out of town.....................................

Feel free to come hide them in my garage . . . with all the rest of the boxes of books in there, my hubby will never know the difference! (I have really got to get some book shelves, lol)

MARCH THEM IN PROUDLY!!!! If the husband says anything, remind him that your obsession could be worse!!!

Oh no, I've got all this coming! We're about to move too. Boyfriend has been asking me for a while if ALL the books have to come with us, so I reluctantly agreed to part with some that I didn't like anyway, and yesterday I took them along to a charity booksale. I did well - I managed to hand them over, but somehow half an hour later I left with more than I'd come with! It was for a good cause - what could I do?

#147 rachbxl: It was for a good cause - what could I do? Absolutely nothing else other than what you did - after all, it was a good cause, lol. I am sure that everyone else in the group here would agree.

No. 60 - The White by Deborah Larsen – This is a spare novelization of the true story of Mary Jamison (or Jemison), a young girl taken, along with the rest of her family, by the Shawnee from her Pennsylvania home in 1750. She and one brother survived. The rest of the family was killed after whites were discovered following them on the trail. Very soon afterward, Mary and her brother are separated, never to see one another again. Mary’s story, told in the final years of her life to a white doctor is typical of a captive’s story. After some time spent in emotional shock, eventually she adjusts to her new life, is adopted by two Seneca sisters as a replacement for their recently dead brother, comes to accept matters and finally she prefers her life among the Indians. She marries a Delaware, has a son by him, remarries at his death, has more children by her new husband and refuses at each opportunity to return to live amongst the whites. In particular, I was intrigued by Mary’s dislike for her father after their capture. He gave up, choosing, in Mary’s eyes, to die and so failed his family. He seemed to her a different man, a separate man from the one who had been her father and she has no respect for this weak man left in her father’s place after the father she knew disappeared from his body. All in all I thought it was a good book – not great, but good.
215 pages

No. 61 - The Little Bugler by William B. Styple – (Read this for the Go Review That Book group) - This is a history for children – probably children around ten years old, or so, I would say. It concerns the true story of Gustav Schurmann, a four foot, seven inch tall, twelve-year-old boy from New York City who joins the 40th New York Regiment – the Mozart Regiment – along with his father in 1861. (The father gets sick, is invalided out, and dies later on at home.) He serves as a drummer in the 40th and then as bugler and orderly – mostly for a series of different generals. He is present and under fire at a number of the early, Eastern Theater battles. He spends a short time at the White House, on furlough, as companion to Tad Lincoln, the President’s son. (Tad, by the way, as portrayed here, is kind of a nauseating sounding brat.) After Gettysburg, he is promised by the wounded General Dan Sickles that he will sponsor him for entrance into West Point, Gustav goes home to his now widowed mother and young sisters in order to get an education. (Typically, the promise from the controversial, politician-general is never honored and instead of having a career in the military, Schurmann becomes a bookbinder.)
I can’t say that I really liked this book for it was so obviously written down to the level of a child and therefore a little cloying. Another thing I found annoying was the imaginary dialog and descriptions of what Gustav was seeing, experiencing and thinking even though he left no record, written or otherwise of his thoughts and feelings concerning his war experience. Styple is not really cheating for he plainly states in the Introduction the limitations he faced in writing the book and the device he used in recreating the dialog, but I still found it annoying. Perhaps a child would not. It was o.k.
171 pages

The Larsen book sounds interesting, fourpawz - I will have to look for it.

Congratulations on making the 3/4 mark!

Thanks for the congrats, alcottacre. I think I'll make it to the end. I thought you might like the sound of The White.

No. 62 - Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow - Interesting story even if it was stolen from an early German work (and re-stolen for the making of the John Cusack movie, The Jack Bull), but all that conversation without quotation marks! I know it is probably low-brow and unenlightened of me, but I just think that sort of thing is so pretentious! And besides that, it just gives me the feeling, every time that I read a novel written in this fashion, that everyone's statements are being thought and not said. I don't like that. For that reason only 3 stars (or if I keep thinking about the no-quotation-marks thing and it keeps irritating me, less.)
270 pages

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:QvoPoGNLI3EJ::www.astro.su.se/~magnusg/large...

Regarding wanting to see "boiling water happen" Please let me know if this comes through.

#152 Okay, I don't usually do this but "The Jack Bull" was a favorite movie of mine and I am a big John Cusack fan. So, a little history. The movie is actually based loosely on a novel, Michael Kohlhaas, written in 1811, which was based on a real person who lived in the 1500's. And the book actually influenced Doctorow's novel, not the other way around.

Loved The Jack Bull too, BD. It was the last movie I bought on videotape. I thought that I said Ragtime was taken from the German work - if I implied anything else, I apologise. And I guess that I probably should have said that only a portion of it was lifted. Oh yes, and apropos of nothing, the more I think about Ragtime, the less I like it.

Fourpawz2, nice write-up on The White. It's been a while since I've read it but I certainly agree with everything you've said.

Haven't tried Ragtime yet but will give it a try as it is on one of my lists that I am working through. Videotape, you say! I thought I was the only one still using such outdated technology anymore. One of my younger colleagues called me "Father Time" the other day.

Thanks, avaland.

BD - Can't say I'm actually using said technology. I have three gy-normous boxes of videotapes that I've collected over the years and no VCR. I'm afraid that due to their condition they have to go. But The Jack Bull was the last one that I bought.

No. 63 - Dime Store Desperadoes by John E. Hallwas - Early Reviewer book and my review is here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/5853395/book/35741043

No. 64 - The Widow's War by Sally Gunning - A much better book - a really great book - and my review is here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/681852/book/25761209

Sorry I'm not saying more about these books here, but I have my very first cold of the season - my throat feels like sandpaper and my nose is running buckets. I am not a pretty picture today.

Hi and I'm so sorry you don't feel well. Hopefully some down time will provide a chance to enjoy a cup of hot tea or soup and read some good books.

Take care,
Linda

Oh my, and I have to replace the movie unit I have because the DVD door won't open and close, but the VHS is just fine! Plus the library has all those lovely movies and odd series which DVDs haven't covered yet.

Doctorow is an author I discovered years ago, but my favorite of his works is The Book of Daniel which is loosely based on the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg scandal, Daniel being their son. Ragtime was okay, but don't knock writers too awfully hard for stealing plots--Shakespeare and Marlowe would really be in trouble then--come to think of it, most of the Greeks as well.

Thanks for your good wishes, Linda. I did read (obviously a sign that I must not be dying) and I did try the tea. Don't know what it is. I like the idea of tea - the ritual, the teapot, the history of it - but when it comes right down to it - I HATE the taste of hot tea. Not iced tea, mind you, just hot. (Just to be contrary I hate iced coffee, but love hot coffee.) But - I did try. I am somewhat better now - sandpaper throat is gone and I am back at work.

Prop2 - I know you are right about the stolen plot thing. I think that it's just that he irritated me with that quotation mark thing. If I'd been reveiwing Andersonville, doubtless I would have complained about that one too.

#161: Glad to hear you are feeling better, Fourpawz!

I am the opposite of you on the tea thing - love the hot, hate the iced (and I live in Texas where that is practically a crime!). Can't stand coffee in any shape or form, though.

Bah, barbarians! Everyone with a true discriminating palate would know that both hot and iced tea are wonderful, but coffee is just burnt beans! :-)

Shame on you, Tad! I nearly died laughing with my congested cough-laugh. (I think I need to go brew up some burnt beans now and soothe the outraged tissues.)

No. 65 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones - Read this for Go Review that Book. Could have liked it better. The story was good - blacks owning blacks in mid-19th century Virginia - but I found his habit of babbling on about extraneous characters and leaping wildly into the 20th century just to impart some tidbit about some true something that he thought the reader should know about, irritating.
388 pages

Oh my, and my sister lives in the Seattle area where coffee is a god. I, too, can't stand iced coffee, and only learned to drink coffee (a staple in my mother's kitchen) when I worked all-nighters in theatre because it was the only drink everyone could agree on having readily available. And I'm picky about my teas, hot or iced. No sweeteners, please! No milk (and that a hit when I go to London--"lemon tea, please") or other flavoring added, please. I do like camomile for my coughs, and cinnamon apple or a lemon tea for sore throats, and if we must go for sore throats, then there is one additive only--honey, because my dad used to mix it up that way.

Iced with real lemon.

Hot, preferably a good English Breakfast Tea, with nothing. I never could get to like fruited teas.

No sweeteners either way...which is a problem in the American South and Canada.

Of course, my wife...Mrs. I-Need-My-Coffee-Now!...finds it incomprehensible that not everyone drinks freshly ground made in a French press. I just refer to it as Tad Repellent.

Whoa, I know I am kinda late on this one but your review of Whiskey Rebels was really good. I remember requesting it through the ER program and I did not get it. Reading your review makes me really, really want to read it. Sounds like it managed to tackle a topic that could be boring for one who is not into the financial markets.

I also really liked your review of The Widow War. It sounds very interesting. Sheesh...I don't know how I am going to fund all these books I want to buy.

Glad you liked 'em, Trish. I think Liss is probably about the only writer who can make financial historical fiction readable. And The Widow's War - I really enjoyed it a lot and not just because it was about a local community. (You need to find the kopecs you need to buy that one, Trish. Or maybe somebody will give it to you as part of LT's Secret Santa - I do hope we're doing that one this year.)

Get out of town!!! You guys do Secret Santa on LT? I just died and went to Tiffanys(and heaven). AHHHHHHHH...okay maybe I got a bit too excited. I just love getting books from people who read alot cause I feel that they have "reader's intuition". Okay I am just putting it out there for all and sundry, The Widow's War.

A Secret Santa? This sounds very interesting.

Secret Santa...WOW..tell me more...

Count me in. I would love to send some of my books to people who might enjoy them.

I don't really know a whole lot about it other than to say that they did it last year. I was very new to LT then and a little chicken so I did not take part, but I really, really want to this year.

No. 66 - Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis - This was one of those maddening books - mostly pretty bad, but there were occasional amusing bits concerning one character - Tas Burrfoot - that kept me reading. The last fourth or so of the book was unrelentingly uninspiring and uninteresting. I could not wait for the cataclysm to come along and wipe everybody out, but unfortunately the characters I disliked most appear to have survived. I am pretty certain that I will not be reading the next book in order to find out for sure if they did. One of the things I was most disappointed in was the Twins themselves. I expected that there would be some kind of twin-thing going on there, but I never saw it at all. I could easily have believed that both of these guys were sheltered in two different wombs for all the feeling they had for one another. A little more concentration on their twin-ness might have yielded a better book (not to mention a better level of writing).
399 pages

LOL Fourpwz. That was a hilarious review. I can totally understand what you mean. Its so annoying to read a book that is bad, especially if the premise was really good and made you believe that you were in for something great. Hopefully your next read is splendid.

Glad you liked it, Trish. As for the next - well yes and no.

No. 67 - Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams - Read this for Go Review That Book. I liked it, but I am prejudiced, being a cat-person. My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/41574
364 pages

As for No. 68 - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - I have one word - Dopey! Read it because I've seen so much about it on LT and was hoping for a good escapist read. It was just stupid. Although, it had one thing in its favor - it was a very quick read and so I did not waste much time on it.
498 pages

No. 69 - Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton - Read this in just a few hours and I liked it. I've tagged it as a mystery, but I'm not really sure that is right for the mystery part is not really that mysterious. It's more of a ghost/love story set in a rural English cottage. I wish that it had rained yesterday - it would have been the perfect book to read with a cup of hot chocolate at my side, a fuzzy blankey and a cat in my lap. (Not mine - he's taken to trying to sit on my shoulder when I'm trying to read - not comfortable!)
244 pages

Hey - I just realized that I've passed my last year's total. Yay for me!

Cool! Only six more to go to make the challenge...8^}

Keep up the good work Fourpawz! You'll be there before you know it.

I like the Aunt Dimity series, too. The are just light-hearted mysteries (although I agree with you - the first one is really hard to put in that genre), and they do not pretend to be anything else. A good way to while away a rainy day or lazy Sunday afternoon.

THREE DECADES IN THE READING! A CAST OF THOUSANDS, er Hundreds (well, dozens, surely) - Book No. 70 - Bleak House by Charles Dickens - O.K. it wasn't three decades straight, but I did first try to read this way back when and failed. Tried again about a dozen years ago and failed again. But this time, for a group read here on LT, I tried again and finished. True it took me way, way too long, but I did it. Don't think that I will ever read it again. Of all of Dickens that I have read so far, this one was the worst for me. I disliked Great Expectations much more, but this one - gawd, what a chore! All the coincidences! And Esther is so freaking good! And Tulkinghorn is so bloody bad! I don't know. Maybe I'm just so put out because I'm overly familiar with it after so many years trying to get to the end.
One thing that I would like to see someone do - write about that dreadful Mr. Skimpole's poor unfortunate wife and his three daughters - the Comedy daughter, the Beauty daughter and the Sentiment daughter. I would love to know about their lives with Mr. S from their viewpoint and how their lives turned out. If somebody could do it with Tiny Tim, surely it could be done with this group.
881 pages

well Fourpawz that is an accomplishment, WELL DONE!!!

I am with FAM - congratulations! You have my admiration for taking the time (OK, even if it was 3 decades) to read a book you clearly did not enjoy.

Book No. 71 - The Tower of Ravens by Kate Forsyth Read this for the Go Review that Book group and this is my review: Apparently I stumbled into the first book of the next series after Forsyth’s Witches of Eileanan books, which I have not read. However, that did not affect my ability to ‘get’ this book. There is a full glossary in the back and anything that happened before this story begins was explained as much as it had to be – I was not lost.

I was expecting one of those, what I call – Girly Fantasy books. You know the kind. A soft, kind of spiritual heroine who spends most of the story tripping around the forest, dosing everyone with feverfew and comfrey and communing with a pantheon of Celtic-type goddesses before meeting the love interest. This does not describe Rhiannon – a half-human, half satyricorn girl who flees from her herd (read ‘family’) on a horned and winged black horse. I was not sure what, exactly, a satyricorn was. The glossary defines them as being “a race of fierce horned faeries” and they are certainly that, the full-blooded ones having horns and upwards of six breasts (just the women). They are also very bloodthirsty creatures. Indeed, this book is populated with a wide variety of faeries of quite diverse types and none of them could be described as Tinkerbell. A number of them are formidable creatures – even the small ones - and they are beings that you don’t really want to screw around with.

Rhiannon (known only as No-Horn at the beginning of the book) flees from her herd; she fears they will turn on her because she is hornless and weak in comparison to the rest. She isn’t really very weak though for while still with her herd she kills a human man with her bow and arrow. The herd, which is mostly made up of females, often takes men captive in order to mate with them, but this male, a messenger of the king, forces the issue by trying to escape and Rhiannon has to kill him in order to prove herself to the herd and win some time for herself. Afterward she wastes no time in capturing and then and tying herself onto the winged black horse. She then flies out of the satyricorns’ territory and into the wider world. She ends up in the company of witches and soon finds herself on her way to the capitol of Eileanan in order to attend kind of a young witches’ university.

At this point, as Rhiannon and the mixed group of young witches set out in the company of a husband and wife jongleurs, I was a little afraid that the story was going to go girly on me, but it didn’t. Rhiannon is dangerous and angry and severely out of place with these people. She is non-cooperative. She does not get much of what they talk about; indeed the language she speaks is almost a pidgin-language. She is attracted to Lewen, one of the students, but doesn’t go all mushy on us. I liked her very much.

The balance of the book is taken up with the journey to the capitol and the trouble they have getting there. In the interests of saving time, Iven, one of the jongleurs, is anxious to get there in order to inform the king of the death of his messenger (the man Rhainnon killed) and so they travel through a part of the realm where things have gone very bad. There are rumors of ghosts, zombies and missing children, but they go that way anyway. Time is of the essence. As they travel, Rhiannon is anxious to keep her guilty secret from these people for she has come to like them.

O.K. That’s as much as I’m going to tell you.

For me the story held up through ‘til the end and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. And the Witches of Eileanan series. In a world of what seems like hundreds of less than mediocre fantasy novels, The Tower of Ravens was a very pleasant discovery. Forsyth has just been elevated to number 4 on my tiny list of excellent fantasy writers where she joins Martin, Flewelling and Hobb. Maybe she’ll go a little higher.
429 pages

Ooh, nearly there, FourPawz!

I am so relieved to read of your valiant tussles with Dickens - it's not just me then. Still haven't read either of the two you name (comes in handy for games of 'I Have Never...', at least).

Secret Santa sounds great fun!

No. 72 - Battle Flag by Bernard Cornwell - American Civil War story and number three in his Nathaniel Starbuck series, it deals primarily with Second Manassas which took place in 1862. Of course you all know that I worship Cornwell and believe he can do no wrong. Once again he has not disappointed me. IMO nobody - and I mean nobody - writes about the battlefield better than he does. I think that this book is my favorite of this series so far (there is one more to go). Five stars.
409 pages

I may have to start on the Starbuck series as soon as I finish the Sharpe series (assuming I ever do). I agree with you regarding Cornwell's battlefield writing - he does an excellent job picturing the terror and horrors of close combat warfare.

No. 73 - The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry This one was only o.k. for me - it is not the kind of book that I would pick out on my own, but a good friend gave it to me to read, so I did. I am not a fan of the beaten and abused woman book. Also, I did not think that the reading of lace - a skill previously unknown to me (and I wonder if it is a real one) - figured in this book very much. By the title, I would have thought that it would have been a bigger deal. A quick read however and that was a good thing.
353 pages

Just peekin' in to see what you're reading, fourpawz. It's good to know The Widow's War is good as it's somewhere in my TBR read pile.

re: the LT Secret Santa. I'm assuming Tim will do it again this year. The way it worked was that you paid $25 to list yourself or someone else on the secret santa list. You can list some information about what they like. Members-at-large can post suggestions. The names of the people participating are exchanged and whoever gets your name goes off to Amazon and choses $25 worth of books, tells LT about it and they order and ship it.

Last year I paid to put my husband's name on the list and another LTer's name, someone who had helped me out a lot of a group I had started (unfortunately, they didn't have anonymous giving so I had to tell him what I was doing and get his address). My husband got two paperbacks which were moderately interesting to him, while the other LTer was wonderfully happy with the biography he received. I did have great fun last year going through the list of recipients and making suggestions.

HI fourpawz...
I started to read The Lace Reader but gave up on it. A few weeks later a friend finished the book and told me she was sorry she kept with it...felt it wasn't all that great and that she wasted her time.

Regarding the beaten, abuse woman theme, I agree...and perhaps that is why, though I like Anna Quinlen's writings, I hesitate to read Black and Blue.

Secret Santa sounds fantastic. I'm definitely in if it happens again this year. I LOVE choosing books for other people - practically everyone I know is getting books this year...

Even though if my name is in the hat most of the $25 would go on the shipping :-( - maybe I can impersonate my sister-in-law, who is in Boston - although despite having a PhD in EngLit - on Shakespeare too - she doesn't really read a great deal and prefers audiobooks..... go figure.

I'm looking forward to it too, Flossie. So much so, in fact, that I just emailed Abby to ask her if she thought LT would be doing a Secret Santa again this year.

No. 74 - Grey Granite, the third book in the A Scots Quair trilogy by Lewis Grassic Gibbon - I am counting this as a book because 1. I think it is and 2. because I can. I loved, loved, loved all three books and I've been saving this last part for the right time which was now. I can't really tell you why I thought it was so good - just that the whole thing rings true for me. (If you read it yourself you'll find a lot Scots Doric in it, but there are glossaries for all three parts so it isn't a big problem.) I mean to read it all over again - soon, I hope.
204 pages

#192 Fourpawz2: My definition of a good book - once I finish it, I immediately want to reread it. Sounds like A Scots Quair trilogy fits the bill. I will definitely try to track it down.

Hope you enjoy it alcott. I'd never heard of it before I stumbled across it, but it seems to be one of the greats of Scots literature and deservedly so, I think.

Fourpawz2, I didn't jump at The Lace Reader precisely for the things you mention. Lace reading has got to be made up, I've never heard of it and I've read a lot of social history now about New England. Besides, lace is a hand-manufactured item and therefore can be manipulated. Too bad, because I heard the historical detail otherwise was quite good.

#194 Fourpawz2: I will confess that ever since reading Outlander I have had a soft spot in my heart for all things Scottish. Now if I can only track down a copy of that trilogy - none of my local libraries seems to have it. Oh, well, on to www.abebooks.com!

And she crosses the finish line with - No. 75 - Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz. This was a good one. I've posted my review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/44774. I need to read more of this woman's stuff. Judging by this book she was good.

Congratulations!

Congrats for reaching your goal with 7 1/2 weeks left in 2008!

Congrats!

Congratulations Fourpawz2 for reaching book 75!

How did you ever count to 75 with only fourpawz!!!!! Congrats!!!!

yay fourpawz! Well done :-)

congratulations on a job well done!

Add my congratulations to the rest!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Very funny Blackdog (#202). Is that animal humor?

Congrats from the West Coast shoreline as well. (Oops, just realized I need to be more precise with this international set--California).

Congratulations from another West Coaster! Although I'm not on the shore--I'm in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mtns.

It took me awhile to finally wanter over here--I started late so I'm trying to catch up with everyone's list. Great list of books--I've added to my TBR and met some friends.

re Age of Innocence -- I agree with you that the ending was the way it had to be--but not only because of the problems getting a divorce would have involved, but also because I don't think Newland could have been happy going so much against what he had been raised to honor. Much better to live the life that he was "born to" with the memory of having felt a wonderful love than to see that love fade when he couldn't reconcile himself to what it had cost. IMHO

I just bought a used copy of Rebecca last week and plan to reread it soon--you have whetted my desire to visit Manderley again.

And I'm adding Silas Marner to my 999 classics category--I have been wanting to read another Eliot novel.

Thanks for a delightful time this afternoon!

You are so welcome, MusicMom. I took a tiny peep through your library (which is quite impressive, by the way) and naturally found some books to add to my own wishlist. And then, as usual, I am seized by the feeling that I must get back to my own reading. I guess it is seeing so many books that I want to read and knowing that I already own so many that I also want to read that is the problem. I really wish that I could force myself to spend more time here when I am at home. Thank goodness for work!

Hi Fourpawz2...
Thanks for your post which really summed up my thoughts. There are so many darn good books that I've added to my list since joining LT, then I look at my shelves and see those books purchased that I originally had an interest in reading and the piles just grow and grow and grow.

However, this truly is a great obsession and I'm not giving it up...(I'm smiling)

No. 76 - The Heaven Tree by Edith Pargeter - I just finished this first part of the Heaven Tree triology yesterday. (I have all three parts in one book). At first this story seemed just sort of o.k. - pleasant enough, but not any great shakes. Then along about page 300 it took off for me. It was just great. So sad that I almost - almost - cried. A real crier (and I am so not one) would probably have been a soggy mess at the end. I am saving the remaining two books until next year - hoping that their quality lives up to that of the first one.
377 pages

#211 Fourpawz: I had the same reaction to reading The Heaven Tree as you did. It took a long while for me to get into the book and then bam - and I was gone. And I did cry at the sadness toward the end.

I still have yet to read the other 2 parts to the trilogy. I will probably read them after the first of the year. We can compare notes then, lol.

We can have LT's tiniest reading group.
When I was reading THT all the stuff about Harry escaping from his parents, Madonna Bennedetta, the building of Isambard's church, blah, blah, blah I was thinking that it was nice and certainly very descriptive - everything a person would probably want to know about how to build a church and stone carving, but where was the oomph for the plot and then WHAM! It just took off. I wouldn't have stopped reading that sucker on Tuesday morning for anything - even if the house had caught on fire. It was that intense.

ok, yet another book to add to the ever growing list of tbr books. The Heaven Tree trilogy sounds fascinating. I need to see if my local library has this...I overspent on my book budget again this month. Bookcloseouts.com is having a free shipping bonus and I just had to order $60 of books...of course...ugh.

#213/214: Hey, now we can have a reading group of 3! We might not be LT's tiniest reading group anymore.

Linda - I have the same problem with BookCloseouts. Catey (my youngest) and I are going shopping there, too, and she is just as bad as I am, so I figure I might get lucky and only spend $100 or so.

First, congrats on reaching 75(and surpassing it). You have definitely read more this year than you did last year. I was wondering to myself the other day if I have always read this high a number of books each year or if I read this much just because of the challenge.

Bravo on persevering with Bleak House. I have not read the book yet but the movie was amazing. It has Gillian Anderson in it and she and the rest of the cast were really, really good. But that is some amazing will power to come back multiple times to a book that you obviously did not like.

By the way, why am I inordinately excited about this whole secret Santa thing? Maybe I am just a present fiend. Mmmh...I wonder what the story is there.

Oh, Trish... I had managed to forget all about Secret Santa until you said that :-(

Thank you very much, Trish. I totally loved the Gillian Anderson Bleak House! I say that as if there is another one. Probably there is, but the GA one is the only one I've seen. I've been wanting to buy it, but as it would mean money out of the book budget I haven't convinced myself yet. Likewise for your North and South (I think of it as yours). I saw it. Loved it. Want it. But it has to wait its turn.
I hope Trish and Flossie T that they put us out of our misery soon. I want to get the ball rolling on SS - support the economy and all that. (Yeah, right. As if that really has anything to do with it. I'll live with the thermostat set at 55 before I cut down the book budget.)

Msgs 12 & 13 Silas Marner & a Simple Twist of Fate -- both productions were so well done. hmmm maybe I should read the book ;->

No. 77 - Doomsday Book by Connie Willis - read this one for the Go Review That Book group. Enjoyed it very much and my review is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/27022

578 pages

No. 78 - The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell - I think I have now figured out what my problem is with the whole mystery genre: I don't like gritty, loooong, detective/investigative reporter-type mysteries. I like cozies - like this one. It was light, entertaining and the author did not blindside me with stuff from out of left field; I could sort of figure out what was happening, but it was not hugely obvious. It was just right and I will read more of her stuff. 4 stars
273 pages

No. 79 - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. This was an ARC sent to me by the publisher (can't turn down a free book, can I?) and is not the usual sort of thing I read. It was o.k. I would have said that it was great if the author could just have done away with the chapters set in the present time. The ones set in 1942 were almost powerful. But then she had to go and devote way too much time to the personal life of the American reporter and her impending pregnancy, her snooty French in-laws and her insufferable husband (did not care for the anti-French flavor, but that is probably just the French in me coming out). Those parts of the book were pure soap opera. I think this book would have been great if she had limited the story to '42 and concerned herself with just Sarah and her horrific experience. It would have been a shorter book, but a much better one, I think. Three stars for what could have been a four star book.
293 pages

Okay -- I loved the Doomsday Book and know a ton of other folks here did too. I've been meaning to ask, whenever this book has come up on a thread, if anyone's read Card's Pastwatch? It is soooo good! It was recommended to me buy a non-scifi/fantasy fan librarian in Colorado Springs. I really can't wait to re-read it -- again.

Hello Fourpawz, I have just read your thread - all 221 posts in one go! Some excellent reviews and lots of ideas for reads - I recently bought some Bernard Cornwall books, and am really looking forward to reading them after reading your reviews and enthusiasm for his books.

Congrats on passing the winning post!

- TT

Thanks for the recommendation, suslyn. That puppy went right onto the wishlist! Sounds very good. I'm determined not to buy anymore books until 1 Dec. (We'll see)

TT - Hope you like Cornwell. It occurs to me sometimes, that I might be guilty of overdoing my enthsiasm for Cornwell's writing, but I think not. He really is the best historical fiction writer. Except where he's writing as a woman (or with a woman - not quite sure which it is). Even writing gods have some limitations and the Susannah Kells books are it for Bernard. But otherwise I can't say enough.

>223 Fourpawz2: Don't worry, I won't blame you if he is really rubbish! Actually, I saw the Sharpe series on TV and really enjoyed it, so i know i will enjoy Cornwall.

- TT

Fourpawz: There is a Cozy Mysteries group here on LT if you are interested: http://www.librarything.com/groups/cozymysteries

No. 80 - The Gates of Trevalyan by Jacquelyn Cook - This Early Reviewer book was not good. It had nothing to recommend it. It was so - blah. I can't even work up a good rant about it here. If it's in your library don't bother reading it. Just use it to prop open a window next summer.
365 pages

No. 81 - Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald - Very short novel that was o.k. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it.
141 pages

Thanks for the info, alcott. I'm goin' over there right now to take a look....

Oh boy, I also got The Gates of Trevalyan as an ER. I started early yesterday but put it down cause I am reading other books. Between hysterical laughter and gasping for air because I was laughing so hard from reading your review(this one and the full one review), I may just have to move this puppy to the back burner. I have only read 10 pages or so but if I am to be totally honest, I was a bit perturbed by "the two boys,their black faces split with grins of welcome" Can't they just be two little boys running to meet the carriage with grins on their faces without their race being a descriptive factor? Okay, okay, I am off my soap box. Maybe I am just over reacting because this is a book about the South during pre/post (not sure as of yet which) slavery.

Trish -- I understand your complaint -- that bothers me a lot too. In general, that is, haven't read the book.

>227 TrishNYC: Fourpawz. I have just read your excellent review of The Gates of Trevalyan. If you could only expand it to 365 pages I am sure Jacquelyn Cook's publisher would publish it for you! ( Not meaning to imply that your writing is as bad as hers, of course!)

- TT

Trish and TT - glad you enjoyed the review. It's fun writing reviews of bad books, but the down side is I have to read them first.

Oh, but then you really, really, really appreciate the good stuff! Had my share of bad books this year, and can hardly wait to see what the new year brings!

Very true, Prop2. Right now - fortunately - I am working on two good ones.

>231 Prop2gether: Prop, I agree, I have read a few clunkers this year, but am reading an excellent one right now - Rebel by Bernard Cornwell. After reading a few clunkers or not so good novels you begin to think that you will never read anything wothwhile again - then along comes Bernard Cornwell and the sun has come out and the birds are singing again!

On the plus side I have read some really excellent non-fiction books this year.

Gosh reading a clunker really does suck doesn't it?You devote all this time and all you get is blah. The worst kind of bad book is when the first part is good and then you descend into the next part that is just rubbish. VERY ANNOYING. But I will say that even if the book turns out to be bad, at least you may have learnt something new.

Suslyn--I am hoping that that trend does not continue. To be totally honest, after reading Four's review, I am not in any great hurry to finish the book. I have moved tons of other stuff ahead of it.

Good move, Trish. It wasn't even bad-good. You know, one of those things that is so bad that you can make unmerciful fun of it and get a lot of chuckles that way. The movie, Battlefield Earth, with John Travolta, was like that. It was so incredibly awful that I found a lot of funny, funny things in it. Gates ain't one of those books.

No. 82 - Mossflower by Brian Jacques - Chronologically the second of the Redwall series, but the second one that I've read. I wanted to read them in order, but have managed to screw that intention up. A quite enjoyable animal fantasy book concerning Martin the Warrior and a whole slew of other "woodlanders" who fight off the abosolutely raving maniac wildcat, Queen Tsarmina and her collection of bumbling idiot vermin soldiers in order to make Mossflower safe once again. I love 'molespeak' and I had to read those parts aloud whenever I found them.
431 pages

I haven't read one of the Redwall series since about #6 or so. I really enjoyed them and felt I had found something special because I picked up Redwall (and got it autographed by Jacques) as a first edition before it became a hot book. Somewhere along the line, I just stopped reading them, however. They started to seem a bit the same. Maybe I'll try one again this year.

No. 83 - The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart – This was a typical Stewart suspense/mystery novel. I hope that it was not intended to be categorized as a romantic-suspense novel because if so it fell down badly in the romantic department. The suspense was handled better. Part of the problem – for me anyway – was the heroine Christy Mansel. I found her too brittle and not appealing. Neither was her cousin/fiancé, Charles. They were just too bloodless and upper crust for my taste.

The best parts of the book were the descriptions of The Lebanon (always called ‘The’ Lebanon- I’m sure one of you guys knows the why of it) and of the seedy, falling apart palace belonging to Christy and Charles’ aunt and the setting for all of the mystery and suspense. I had no trouble seeing and smelling this place.

Published in 1967 (just before the Six-Day War, I would think) it seemed to me, reading it in 2008, as if it was written about the Middle East in the 1800’s. I remember 1967, but I don’t remember a Middle East without terrorists, bombs, bloodshed or war. I’ll bet there must be a book or two written in 1938 with a European setting - before Kristallnach, before the Invasion of Poland, before all the rest of the horror - that come across the same way.

Three stars for the descriptive bits. Nothing for Christy and Charles.

244 pages.

#238 Fourpawz: I really enjoy Mary Stewart's books. I am currently reading Thornyhold. I first 'read' The Gabriel Hounds by listening to the audio version and I guess that to me, Christy and Charles did not seem so off-putting in that format. My favorite of hers will always be Touch Not the Cat, though. I still love it.

Took your rec, alcott, and bought it. Have been desperate to buy - Christmas has made my amazon wishlist off limits for me.

I answered your ? on my thread.

#240 Fourpawz: Which one - Thornyhold or Touch Not the Cat? Let me know how you like it (whichever one) when you are done. If you hate it, I do not want to know!

Touch Not the Cat. I read Thornyhold earlier this year and liked it just fine. And of course I've owned The Ivy Tree for years and years and love it.

Ah, OK. I probably knew somewhere in the back of my head (or at least on the back of this thread) that you had read Thornyhold. Anyway, let me know if you like Touch Not the Cat once you get a chance to read it.

No. 84 - Juckets by Joyce Keller Walsh - This was a murder mystery that I actually liked. I suspect that I liked it because it was set in one of the towns that borders on my own and I enjoyed picking out all the characteristics (that I know to be true) about the town and the various kinds of people who live there. It was a little grim (child murder), but done well, I thought. It was a POD book, so she could have used a good proof reader, but being interested in the book, I didn't mind the many mistakes.
A good thing that I was finishing it when I did for I got kicked to the curb eleven days ago and was pretty shocked and depressed by it; under those circumstances this book was not a spirit lifter.
221 pages

No. 85 - Tatiana & Alexander by Paullina Simons - This sequel to The Bronze Horseman was very, very good. It was exciting, sad (I guess I was extra susceptible reading this when I did) and a Class A romance. I want to read both of them again, but I think I'll read Horseman in the summer next time. Way too cold here to be reading about snow and freezing weather.
626 pages

>245 Fourpawz2: FP: "I got kicked to the curb." That sounds like you were the victim of violence. I trust you have recovered now?

Have a restful holiday.

- TT

(((((fourpawz))))) Hope whatever happened, you're doing better now.

>245 Fourpawz2:: Fourpawz2

I'm sorry to hear that. A nasty thing to happen any time and particularly at the holidays.

>246 TheTortoise:: Whisper1

"Kicked to the curb" = "broken up with in an unpleasant manner"

Sorry to hear that - it happened to me (on my birthday, no less).
That's a new idiom for my life list!

hugs for you Fourpawz2!
I hope you feel some better soon...

The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana & Alexander sound good, I saw that even the third book The summer garden is translated in Dutch :-)

Anita

What a bummer! On a similar note, a friend's wife announced to him TODAY that she wants a divorce! Marvelous timing, everyone! Hang in there.

Hope you are doing much better, fourpawz, and manage to have a wonderful holiday in spite of circumstances!

Kick the mean people in the shin!!

yes, by all means, kick the mean people in the shin for all your friends here on LT.

I'm sorry this happened to you.
Hugs to you.
Linda

Thanks for all the good wishes, guys. I guess I should have been a little more specific. No, it wasn't a break up (wish it had been for I could deal much better with that, I think), but instead I have joined the millions of unemployed and am not liking it one bit! I loved my job and am hoping (probably against all hope) to go back there soon. I am a glass half-empty person (almost as much a Pisces as I am an Aires - fairly diverse signs in outlook, I find), so I am constantly fluctuating between semi-despair and hopefulness.
Hope you all had a happy holiday. Mine was good in spite of everything.

Ah, sorry I misunderstood. I've heard the expression many times, but only in the context of relationships, never jobs.

>255 Fourpawz2: FP: “Kicked to the curb” silly me I thought someone had attacked you on the street, when what you really meant was I was laid off, made redundant, sacked, been given the old heave-ho, been shown the door, become a person of leisure, joined the dole queue, been put out to pasture and am now unemployed and in between jobs!

I know how depressing that is – many times! But the tide always turns so keep positive and keep on looking!

- TT

#257 - yes, TT - that's my situation in a nutshell. I am hopeful (today).

No. 86 - Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - a definite re-read (no. 6 or so, I think) and a comfort read that I needed right now. Loved it as much as ever and this time I finally figured out the discrepancy between Claire and Geillis' time-travel experiences that has always confounded me. That's the good thing about multiple re-reads, I think. You notice more detail and things become clearer. Would like to get the other books in this series re-read as well in the coming year in anticipation of the next book.
1059 pages

No. 87 - Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado - Have been fascinated by this terrible story for many years and read this one, penned by one of the survivors (with the help of Vince Rause) with great interest. Blew right through it in 24 hours, finishing it on Christmas Eve. Once again I was amazed at what these young men went through and the astonishing fact that any of them survived the terrible crash and its aftermath. For the most part, Parrado and his fellow survivors seem to have had a good life since 1972 and they deserve it. This is one that I would read again. Made me want to read Alive again, too.
284 pages

No. 88 - The Vanishing of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell - Oh, how I wish that I could write like this! It is a spare book, but all of it is so beautifully done. Even the dreadful bits were perfect. I sort of figured out the awful thing that happened to Esme at the party ahead of time, but even so, O'Farrell still managed to make me feel so sad for Esme when I knew for certain that I was right. The things that relatives do to one another - horrible . I've always wanted a different family with a sister (or a brother), but not at such a price.
245 pages

Fourpawz
I agree with you about The Vanishing of Esme Lennox. I really liked this book. I followed it up with After You'd Gone and this was another good book by O'Farrell

Thanks for the rec, Linda. It's been added to the giant wishlist.

(Would have got this entry done on the 31st, but LT went all wonky on me and jettisoned everything I'd written.)

No. 89 - How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn - a coming of age story about Huw Morgan who lives in a Welsh mining village. I've long been aware of this book, but never read it. In its day I guess it was hugely popular. My 1945 copy is the 36th printing. It was good - being mainly concerned with Huw's parents, brothers and sisters (and their spouses) as his beloved minister, Mr. Gruffydd. I thought it was a very 'green' novel' for the ugly slag piles of Morgan's valley figure prominently - almost as a character and an ominous, evil, albeit silent, one at that. The Welsh form of English was a little daunting at first, but I soon got used to it. I wonder, does that form of speech still exist today, or has it, along with Huw Morgan's valley, disappeared?
Well, that's it for 2008 - 89 books and 30,722 pages
Forward.

Fourpawz

Congratulations on your achievement!

I look forward to reading your posts in 2009