Lucy (Sibyx) Reading from Autumn Equinox to Winter Solstice 2018

December



Winter has arrived.

Currently Reading in December 2018

♬

✔Inda Sherwood Smith fantasy
✔ ROOTAnton Chekhov: A life Donald Rayfield literary bio
✔ ROOT The Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon contemp fic
♬ Heirs and Graces Rhys Bowen cosy mys

124.♬ Naughty in Nice Rhys Bowen cosy mys ***1/2
125. ✔ A Turn of Light Julie E. Czerneda fantasy ***1/2
126. new Generation Loss (1 of 3) Elizabeth Hand mys
127. ♬ The Twelve Clues of Christmas Rhys Bowen cosy mys
128. ROOT Daniel Deronda George Eliot lit ****1/2
129. ✔ROOT This Cold Heaven Gretel Ehrlich travel, Greenland
130. ✔Son of Avonar Carol Berg fantasy ***1/2

Paused
new Waking Dreams Mary Watkins psych

Put Down For Good
(Jan)new Engine City Ken MacLeod sf
(Feb)♬Roma Stephen Saylor hist fict
(March) The Baklava Club mys
(August) War With the Newts Karl Capek sf
(September ♬The Winter King Bernard Cornwell
(November) The Reality Dysfunction Peter Hamilton

✔=off shelf
♬=audio
E =e-book
new =acquired in 2018 (or end of 2017)

Series Tally 2018

Started in 2018
Her Royal Spyness (5 of 12) of Rhys Bowen READING(6) The Twelve Clues of Christmas
Cass Neary(3) Elizabeth Hand NEXT UP (2) Available Dark

Continuing or Ongoing in 2018
Liaden Sharon Lee Steve Miller too numerous to mention!
Discworld Terry Pratchett ditto

Will continue!
Paksenarrion's World (7) Elizabeth Moon NEXT UP: Oath of Fealty (4)
The Craft Sequence(6) Max Gladstone NEXT UP: Two Serpents Rise (2)
Terra Ignota(3) Ada Palmer NEXT UP: The Will to Battle

Caught Up in 2018, Expect more
The Murderbot Diaries(4) Martha Wells
My Struggle(6)Karl Ove Knausgaard book six coming out this fall!
Inspector Gamache (13) Louise Penny
Chronicles of the Kencyrath(8) P.C.Hodgell
Medicus (8) Ruth Downie
Foreigner C.J. Cherryh books 13-15 completed for 2018
The Invisible Library(4) Genevieve Cogman
The Stormlight Archive (3) Brandon Sanderson
Flavia Albia(5) Lindsey Davis
Penric and Desdemona Lois Bujold

Completed Series Finished in 2018
Black Dragon(2) R.A. MacAvoy
The Broken Earth(3) N.K. Jemisin
Sir John Fielding mysteries11 Bruce Alexander
reread The Riddle-Master of Hed(3) Patricia A. McKillip
Rincewind(8) Terry Pratchett

May continue?
Oxford Medieval Mysteries (1 of 6) Ann Swinfen
Roma sub Rosa (12) Steven Saylor NEXT UP (2) Arms of Nemesis

Won't continue?
The Reality Dysfunction Peter Hamilton
Engines of Light (2 of 3)Ken MacLeod
Inspector Yashim Jason Goodwin (book 5) The Baklava Club

September
97. ✔ Stone of Farewell(2) Tad Williams fantasy ****
98. ✔ Green Angel Tower, Part 1 Tad Williams fantasy ****
99. ✔ A Collection of Essays George Orwell essays, literary and memoir ****
100. ✔ To Green Angel Tower, Part 2 Tad Williams fantasy ****1/2
101. ✔ The Gathering Edge Sharon Lee Steve Miller ****
102. ♬Snuff Terry Pratchett fantasy ****
103. new The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs Steve Brusatte nat sci
104. ✔ Neogenesis Sharon Lee Steve Miller sp/op ****1/2

Total: 8
Men: 6
Women: 0
M/W writing together: 2
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 0
SF/F: 6
Mystery(inc hist mys): 0
YA or J:
Poetry:
New author:
Reread:

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed:
Audio: 1
New (to my library): 1
e-book:
Off Shelf/ROOT:
Did not finish:

Housekeeping: (needs September update)
GRAND TOTALS IN=79
physical books (for year) IN=53
e-books=7 (unchanged)
audio=19
TOTAL OUT=69

Book Titles Acquired September 2018
50. Improvement Joan Silber gift jim
51. The Wild Braid Stanley Kunitz gift jim
52. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs Steve Brusatte READ
53. Last Night in Montreal Emily St. John Mandel

audio:
17. Snuff Terry Pratchett READ
18. Small Gods Terry Pratchett Reading
19. The Winter King Bernard Cornwell

Reflections September 2018
This month is a first in that I finished no contemporary fiction and no fiction solely by a woman--I did read two Lee-Miller sp/ops. The best book, as in most interesting and fun, was the dino book by Steve Brusatte. Orwell was, probably due to my circumstances and state of mind, a slog, but worthwhile. I am, very very slowly making my way through John Cowper Powys's Owen Glendower -- somehow, it feels constrained or laboured compared to the others I've read (four so far, the superb Porius and A Glastonbury Romance and then Wolf Solent and Weymouth Sands both very worthwhile.) As for the rest, the skew remains toward entertainment and fun with lots of sp/op and fantasy. I am approaching the end of my Pratchett saga and that is sad! One thing -- the Powys is set in 1400 and the contrast to the "faux medieval" settings of the lighter fantasies to Powys's attempt to capture visceral reality does nothing for either form. I shouldn't be overlapping them, but there you have it. I have managed to get halfway! It is a ROOT read so really, I have bogged down dreadfully.

October

105. ✔ A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume Three Sharon Lee Steve Miller fantasy
106. ♬ Small Gods Terry Pratchett
107. new Firebrand Kristen Britain fantasy
108. new Exit Strategy Martha Wells sp/op
109.♬ Her Royal Spyness Rhys Bowen mys
110. ✔ Rift Kay Kenyon sf/terraforming
111. new About This Life Barry Lopez memoir/essays
112. ♬ The Bookseller's Tale Ann Swinfen hist mys

Total: 8
Men: 2
Women: 5
M/W writing together: 1
Non-fiction: 1
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 0 (see reflections!)
SF/F: 5
Mystery(inc hist mys): 2
YA or J:
Poetry:
New author: 2
Reread: 0

Book origins/type:
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 3
New (to my library): 3
e-book: 0
Off Shelf/ROOT: 0
Did not finish: 0

Housekeeping:
GRAND TOTALS IN=79
physical books (for year) IN=58
e-books=7 (unchanged)
audio=21
TOTAL OUT=69

Book Titles Acquired October 2018
54. Shadowrise Tad Williams
55. Shadowmarch Tad Williams
56. Shadowplay Tad Williams
57. Shadowheart Tad Williams
58. Exit Strategy Martha Wells READ

audio:
20. Monstrous Regiment Terry Pratchett
21. A Royal Pain Rhys Bowen

Reflections for October
Once again an unusual month. I can, however, report that I am in the last century of pages of the huge and challenging ROOT tome, Owen Glendower and should finish it in early November. I "began" it in June, but for various reasons (among them the sheer size of the book) I have read it very very slowly. In the last couple of weeks I got fed up with myself and determined that I would simply read it and nothing else until I finished it. So that is what is happening. No way I am going to make my ROOT goal this year, but that's ok, I've made progress against the books snagged on my tbr shelves and that's good enough for me.

As for specifics about the other books, the Britain was a bit padded a la Sanderson, a fad, I guess. The Liaden stories were great for the Liaden fan that I am. Small Gods is not my favourite Pratchett but that doesn't mean much, he's still better/funnier than anyone else. I was dubious about Her Royal Spyness but then the narrator settled down and the story picked up. Exit Strategy was, like some desserts, over way too quickly. Rift is solid serious sf, the perils of terraforming. I found the Lopez memoir/essays a lot drier than I expected, but worthwhile, and I doubt I will continue The Bookseller's Tale series unless I am desperate, but that said, it wasn't that bad, just so so predictable. On the other hand, I wasn't stressed with suspense which is a good thing when I am driving.

November

Finished in November
113. ✔ROOT Owen Glendower John Cowper Powys hist fic *****
114. ✔ROOT/reread I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith contemp fic *****
115. ♬Inspector Hobbes and the Blood Wilkie Martin urban fantasy***
116. ♬ A Royal Pain Rhys Bowen ***1/2
117. new The Bards of Bone Plain Patricia A. McKillip fantasy ***1/2
118. ♬ Royal Flush Rhys Bowen cosy mys ***1/2
119. new Tea With the Black Dragon R.A. Macavoy mystery ***1/2
120. new This is the Story of a Happy Marriage Ann Patchett essays ****
121. new E Educated Tara Westover memoir ****
122. new Twisting the Rope R.A. MacAvoy mystery
123. ♬ Royal Blood Rhys Bowen cosy mys

Total: 11
Men:2
Women: 6
M/W writing together:0
Non-fiction: 2
Contemp/Classic/Hist Fiction: 2
SF/F: 2
Mystery(inc hist mys): 5
YA or J: 0
Poetry: 0
New author: 2
Reread: 0

Book origins/type: (read)
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 4
New (to my library): 5
e-book:
Off Shelf/ROOT: 2
Did not finish: 0

Housekeeping:
Acquired November:
paper=0
ebook=2
audio=1

GRAND TOTAL IN=81
physical books (for year) IN=58
e-books=9
audio=23
TOTAL OUT=80 (ish) I've kinda lost count . . .

Book Titles Acquired November 2018
audio
22. Royal Flush Rhys Bowen

e-book
8. Educated Tara Westover

Reflections for November
I did at last finish Owen Glendower and as always am glad I made the effort. Still No way I am going to make my ROOT goal this year! I picked up another big one, Daniel Deronda and am enjoying it immensely. Otherwise, hmmm, I don't think I am likely to make 150 books this year, but I hardly ever do, so that is OK. I should get to 130 which is respectable. My "fun" ROOT read after Glendower was I Capture the Castle -- a remarkable example of an engaging first person narrative. In the non-fiction realm I read Ann Patchett's essays This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and Educated -- no way really to compare or contrast them, Patchett is so very astringent and accomplished a writer and Westover's book is painful but hopeful too. Both women grew up with strong religious backgrounds, but Patchett was nurtured by her Catholic schooling whereas in Westover's family religious faith seemed to exclude faith in learning in any kind of structured way. Good reading, both of them. Otherwise I drove around a lot, so I've kept in with the Royal mysteries and tried out something new on audio, the Wilkie Martin but it didn 't quite work. Nor did the MacAvoys work for me, disappointing as I liked her Lens of the World series so much. One McKillip that was "high fantasy" and a bit on the thin side, but ok. A relatively balanced month when all is said and done.

December

124.♬ Naughty in Nice Rhys Bowen cosy mys ***1/2
125. ✔ A Turn of Light Julie E. Czerneda fantasy ***1/2
126. new Generation Loss (1 of 3) Elizabeth Hand mys
127. ♬ The Twelve Clues of Christmas Rhys Bowen cosy mys
128. ROOT Daniel Deronda George Eliot lit ****1/2
129. ✔ROOT This Cold Heaven Gretel Ehrlich travel, Greenland
130. ✔Son of Avonar Carol Berg fantasy ***1/2

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

Book origins/type: (read)
From library or borrowed: 0
Audio: 2
New (to my library): 0
e-book: 1
Off Shelf/ROOT:2
Did not finish: 0

Housekeeping:
Acquired December:
paper=29
ebook=1
audio=4

Christmas Books: (Physical)
59. Testing the Current William McPherson
60. Alfred and Guinevere James Schuyler
61. The Cloud Catchers Ursula Holden
62. Warlight Michael Ondaatje
63. Record of a Spaceborn Few Becky Chambers
64. Slipstream Elizabeth Jane Howard
65. A Handbook of Stone Structures Mary E. Gage
66. Diary of a Bookseller Shaun Bythell
67. The Beautiful Visit Elizabeth Jane Howard'
68. Transit Rachel Cusk
69. Outline Rachel Cusk
70. Kudos Rachel Cusk
71. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman
72. Transcription Kate Atkinson
73. The Final Solution Michael Chabon
74. The Fall of Gondolin J.R.R. Tolkien
75. Grant Ron Chernow
76. Nora Brenda Maddox
77. Luna: New Moon Ian McDonald
78. Luna: Wolf Moon Ian McDonald
79. Aurora Kim Stanley Robinson
80. I Will Have Vengeance Maurizio di Giovanni
81. Blood Curse Maurizio di Giovanni
82. Everyone in Their Place Maurizio di Giovanni
83. Witch Elm Tana French
84. Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind Yuval Noah Harari
85. Dark Matter Blake Crouch
86. Redshirts John Scalzi
87. The Keeper of Lost Causes Jussi Adler-Olsen
88. The Sanctuary of Wings Marie Brennan

audiohttps://www.librarything.com/work/1265204
23. Naughty in Nice Rhys Bowen READ
24. The Twelve Clues of Christmas Rhys Bowen READ
25. Heirs and Graces Rhys Bowen
26. Queen of Hearts Rhys Bowen

e-book
9. Daniel Deronda (free, using with paper copy) READ

GRAND TOTAL IN- 125
physical books (for year) IN=88
e-books=10
audio=27
TOTAL OUT=80-90 (ish) I've kinda lost count . . .

Reflections for December
Unusual in that I only read books by women and also no new books, that is books acquired in 2018. Only one book of fiction, George Eliot's last, Daniel Deronda, which is an odd book, arguably flawed -- almost as if two novels were forced into one with a protagonist who ends up not quite fitting in with either story. And yet the story itself is somewhat fascinating, Eliot's earnest desire to write about Jewish culture at that time in England and Europe is a window of a kind. The story of Gwendolyn Harleth, so much more traditional, is a good one for she is a complicated Lily Bartish type woman trammeled by the times she lived in--times already beginning to hold a flavor of the changes soon to come. As for the rest, a lot of light reading and listening. I surprised myself liking Elizabeth Hand's rather dark mystery, but no accounting for taste. And that is a wrap for the year.

Ready?

Yes!!! Not a whole lot to see here yet. Can't believe it will be October tomorrow.

(Bringing this thought over from the end of the last thread):
I've bogged down hopelessly in Owen Glendower my ROOT book, so before I can start in on the two "new" books I have listed here (the Lopez and the Liaden stories) I have to read 100 pages. Maybe that will be enough to get my deep into it. I have already read about 250. As with all of Powys's fiction it is utterly compelling and memorable, but it is writing that asks a lot more of the reader than most. I do sometimes worry that I'm getting to be a lazier reader than I used to be!

Well, happy new thread, then!

Happy new thread !

Happy new thread, Lucy!
Looking forward to more pictures of the adorable Corgi duo :-)

Happy New Thread, Lucy!

Love the Corgi socks!

The president of the university where I now work has two corgis. They have a Twitter handle: WSU_1stCorgis. They are so darn cute!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread!
Love the corgi socks :)

Almost to my goal of reading 100p of the Powys before starting the next Liaden (short stories). I'm going to try to keep it going.

>9 ronincats: First!

>10 figsfromthistle: A new visitor! thanks for stopping by.

>11 FAMeulstee: I do try to keep new pix coming along.

>12 jnwelch:, >14 quondame:, >15 EllaTim: - Hi back, thanks!

>13 EBT1002: Those two corgis look a lot like Miss Po and Finbar!

>13 EBT1002: >17 ChelleBearss: I have more socks now that either have corgis, moose, or cats than I do "regular" socks!

>16 drneutron: Was talking about you the other day -- I saved your explanation of your work on the solar probe, so I could reread when needed. So exciting!

>18 sibylline: I'd love to have worked on the Solar probe, but I was bounced out of satellite control systems to general network maintenance so I think the comment must be for drneutron

Oh whoops! Trying to keep track of too many numbers! I think I've fixed it.

Happy new one, Lucy! Your topper is so sweet.

Happy new thread , Lucy. I love those little extended paws in your topper.

105.

Stories that fill in some of the background for the novels in which Miller and Lee develop characters and ideas. Not for the uninitiated. ****

106.

A one-off Pratchett about a hapless monk in a country on Diskworld that worships the "great god Om". He finds a talking turtle an eagle has dropped on the compost heap in the garden where he works in the monastery and it turns out it is the great god Om himself and he is the only believer and . . . Anyway, there are the usual evil plotters which must be thwarted more or less by accident and pure goodness of character and motives. Not my favourite but it had its moments. ****

>24 sibylline: I'm very fond of Small Gods. Though my favorite Pratchetts are the Watch sub series.

Happy new thread!!

And WHO am I going to think of when this pops up on my Facebook feed?

!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mongrel is no corgi, but she does tend to favor the "Weirdo" pose.

>27 ronincats: *LOVE* I also love those splooting socks in your topper, Lucy. Our mostly-collie Cubbie was a champion Weirdo.
The Loaf looks like the rear end of a cat sitting puckaduck.

>27 ronincats: that is the cutest thing ever!

Our terrier is a classic donut, but she and our lab also spent a lot of time just lying down on their sides, legs straight. There's no name for that one, I guess.

>30 LizzieD: My cat does the loaf very very well. I never heard it described as "puckaduck"!

>32 laytonwoman3rd: Hi, Linda! Puckaduck is our own term for a cat, happily knuckled (also our term).

>33 LizzieD: Ahhh....the joy of making up names for the people and things you love. We do that too.

>27 ronincats: OMG this is so cute!! :)))))

>1 sibylline: as is the topper! The socks!! The paws!!! :))))))
Where are the heart emojis when you need them?
Happy weekend Lucy!

>27 ronincats: LOL -- love it!

107. fantasy ***1/2
Firebrand Kristen Britain

Sir Karigan goes ever deeper into her role as the servant of Westrion, the god of death. The Second Empire (and I've forgotten, over time, just who is really behind the whole push to conquer Sacoridia, land of our hero and company) continues to plot and scheme and a wielder of magic, Grandmother, is knitting up a storm to capture Karigan and to use her to release demons of the underworld that the Sacoridians managed to imprison hundreds of years back. Zachary the king and Karigan continue to pine for one another. And so on. I did enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but it is what it is. ***1/2

I'm not sure how many books into this series I am, but I'm committed. The book does suffer somewhat from the bloat effect that seems to have stricken the fantasy genre. There is something comforting about a Very Long Book, but it ends up being a little like the low-calorie sweet, not quite as satisfying as a tightly wrought and written story. I had an aunt who would never read a book less than 7 or 800 pages long (back in the days of Michener, this was) and I am sympathetic.

Another comment because there is little need to review the story itself is also a general fantasy grip about the amount of suffering that Karigan undergoes. Over the top for me, as it was for Simon in the Williams book above and countless others in the last few years. Another faddish thing that will pass I hope? The amount of pain from stubbing my toe hard makes my eyes water, nuff said.

108. sp/op *****
Exit Strategy Martha Wells

I read this one so fast I never even had it in my "Currently Reading" list up top. Murderbot just can't help helping people and that gets (him?) into continuous trouble. Hard to know what gender m-bot really is, although I get the impression m-bot looks more male than female. That m-bot is falling in love is without doubt. Is that the ultimate thing that makes us human?
*****

>37 sibylline: >38 sibylline: Both Exit Strategy and Firebrand are available at my library, so I'll guess I'll be reading those soon. I was so tired of the over stressed under done Zachary and Karigan in the last volume though so am not looking forward to more of the same. Not sure how I could have delayed getting my hands on Exit Strategy before now - perhaps I got lost among the TIOLI challenges...

109. ♬ hist mys ***1/2
Her Royal Spyness Rhys Bowen

Light-hearted fun, at first I had my doubts, but I became sufficiently engaged in the problems of a young woman, 34th in line to the throne in 1932. I'm sure I'll listen to more of them, perfect for a car trip. ***1/2

110. sf/terraforming ****
Rift Kay Kenyon

The space station circling the planet Lithia on which the terraforming, a thousand years in the making, has reverted, breaks up. Reeve makes it onto a shuttle as does Mitya, onto another shuttle. Reeve survives a crash, only one other survivor Marie who worked with his father. Before he dies another shipmate tells Reeve that there is another ship coming to the planet that will take on passengers, but that the captain of the space station is planning to blow up the entire planet rather than, as he fears they will do, let them decide they might be able to halt the reversal. It's kind of a crazy premise, but the Captain is so desperate to leave he'll do anything. There is a second group of intelligent beings, the Orthong. Reeve's plan is first to get to the place in the north where the captain is making his torpedoes that he plans to send into the core of the planet. Along the way he meets a crew of colorful people, 'clavers' they call themselves. Mitya arrives with the captain, also another uninvited accidental person as was Reeve. The forty or so people with the captain all believe they will get on the incoming starship and though most of them hate the captain's plans they want to live so they go along with it. I'm not doing the plot justice, I'm not mentioning some of the marvelous characters and especially the Orthong, very alien and very intriguing. A good solid sf read. ****

Annoyingly to get the touchstone right for this book one has to scroll down about fifty other books with Rift in the title.

111.

Essays written about everything from how packages get delivered worldwide to an explanation of why Lopez cut short a career as a photographer. Lopez writes lyrically, always, with greatl care and attention to detail. I was blown away, years ago, by his book on wolves and equally by Arctic Dreams so I don't know if it is my current state of being or what but my attention wavered here and I think the essays are uneven. (Do I really care how stuff gets shipped worldwide? A little? Maybe?). Some essays engaged me fully, others didn't and just seemed almost mannered, too careful, too thoughtful, and Lopez himself just too effing good. One essay managed to be simultaneously fascinating and annoying, about something extremely esoteric but man, oh-so-cool dude who does this anagama ceramic firing in Oregon. I know Lopez is NOT this way, invested in being a cool dude (or maybe a little?). If you like memoir/essay writing and have loved Lopez in the past, it's worth reading. I'm pretty sure the problem is me. ****

Happy relative new thread, Sibyx!

>40 sibylline: Exactly right, Lucy -- they're perfect for a car trip or a walk. I'm on book 8 now and still enjoying them.

>43 brodiew2: Thanks for stopping in!

>44 RebaRelishesReading: Something really picked up about a third of the way in and then I was enjoying it a lot.

Thank you both! I don't deserve any visitors at all -- I'm sorry I've been so remiss with everyone. Just too much going on -- the puppy being just one thing!

112. ♬ hist mys ***1/2
The Bookseller's Tale Ann Swinfen

A pleasant listen, I like the setting Oxford 1350's, post-plague visitation, and the main character, bookseller Elliot, but the plot, a murder, a stolen psalter, was ridiculously predictable as well as barely plausible, not that I really care. Tougher mysteries make me anxious these days, aren't suitable for driving around, and these will do fine even though they aren't stellar. I like these historical mysteries for the setting as much as anything, the fruits of research the writers do and this was adequate. They may improve as they often do, so I will probably try at least one more. ***1/2 (generous but three stars seems a bit mean.)

Hi Lucy. Just popping by to say hi! Finbar is an absolute darling and if I were ever to consider getting a dog, a Corgi would have to be top of the list after seeing the exploits of your adorable ones!

November stats and reflections up at >4 sibylline:

113. hist fic *****
Owen Glendower John Cowper Powys

In Owen Glendower Powys imagines the last fifteen years of life of the Welsh prince who defied Henry IV (the Usurper) in 1400 in hopes of ridding Wales of the English. The book opens with a young man, Rhisiart, recently graduated from Oxford, half-Welsh and related to Glendower whom he idolizes -- arriving on his elderly war horse, in Wales, full of romantic ideas and ready to offer his allegiance to Glendower, who, rumor has it is going to revolt. Rhisiart has romanticized this side of his heritage. To Powys also the Welsh are mystical dreamers, feeding on emotion and sensation, with magical propensities, and Owen Glendower is the apotheosis of this type (with the addition of being unusually well-educated). (He does have an unearthly ability -- to cast his soul out of his body to commune with nature.) He gladly takes on Rhisiart as his clerk, secretary, seeing in him both the practical and mystical -- but especially the practical. (By his lights Rhisiart's Norman side is rational and practical. This is a weakness, ultimately, in that Powys fervently romanticizes ethnic stereotypes and ideas about "ancient races"-- picts? brythons? neandertals? giants? little people? Not a racist, exactly, but . . . still creepy.)

As a stylist Powys believes in repetition so we are constantly reminded of Rhisiart's narrow (norman) features, of Owen's sea-green eyes and Arthurian stature, of Tegolin's long red braid. This is one aspect of Powys's style -- repetition -- and part of what makes Powys such an unusual and worthwhile reading experience. Think of the way waves from the ocean roll into the shore, smaller ones building and building until finally a much larger wave arrives and, if you aren't paying attention, knocks you flat. Powys builds on a situation to a climax in which all senses are engaged, smell and sight, sound and even taste so that the whole is seared into your mind. Rhisiart's first view of Dinas Bran, seat of the Welsh kings; Owen stuffing a wounded, dying enemy into a hollow tree; Tegolin donning the gold armor as Owen wishes so that she can be 'the Maid' and inspire the soldiers. The images stream by as I try to select a few -- and I realize that this is a story where the emotional undercurrents are far more powerful than the details of the actual battles, of the defeat of the Welsh cause, or the plot, such as it is. In the end Owen disappears, is never found. Historically, no one knows what became of him, although it is believed he lived for many years afterward in hiding, never betrayed by any of the people who helped him. Powys imagines a very satisfactory and appropriate end for him.

It did take me five months to read Owen Glendower -- events and demands of my own life made it impossible to sit down and simply read steadily until two or three weeks ago, but as there is little plot to follow (yes, I often had to refresh myself who certain characters were) -- the fact that I was mostly reading through these long leisurely build-ups to a cresting of a set of images, were not that difficult to keep in mind, so vivid are they. Powys is not a writer who would appeal to everyone and I have no idea why, in the end, even when I don't exactly enjoy his work, my imagination thrives on the weirdness and I'm hooked. Difficult and irresistible. *****

Edited recently!

Congrats on finally getting finished!!

GOOD. FOR. YOU!!!!

>4 sibylline: Wow, I am impressed with your stats and reflections. Terrific format.

>52 weird_O: Thank you! They sure do help when someone asks me what I've been reading (whereupon my brain empties out, plug pulled out of the tub).

>53 sibylline: I'm so glad it isn't just me Lucy. We were having dinner with friends last week and I was asked what I'd been reading and indeed there went the bathwater!!

114. contemp fic *****
ROOT I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith

A reread -- picked up a fairly battered library copy in a book sale ages ago -- could not resist it! Haven't read the novel in decades (urk) and it was EVEN BETTER this time around. I had forgotten everything except the very end when Dad is banished to the tower. I'd forgotten so much -- how convincing every single character is -- maybe Simon, the love interest, the least, but certainly the whole family. Topaz! Mortmain's model-wife! Even Heloise the dog is perfect. Here and there are flashes to Cold Comfort Farm but not really, the whole book is in such a different key. Cassandra, the first person narrator, is pitch perfect. The plot? Pure Austen. Two eligible men arrive in the nick of time to save the impoverished family. Dad once wrote a hugely acclaimed book but has written nothing since. The narrator is convincingly versatile (the story can flit from extreme humor, to extreme thoughtfulness in an instant) and, yes, precocious but not too precocious. Just lovely. *****

>53 sibylline: No-one in my RL ever asks me that :)

>55 sibylline: Hm, did I ever read that one? Might be a Christmas book I give to myself, sounds like a good holiday read.

Happy Wednesday, Lucy!

>49 sibylline: I’d never heard of this one. My father’s middle name, and the one he went by, was Glyndŵr (spelt the Welsh way) - I always assumed after Owain Glyndŵr himself. He was always Glyn though - if my mother ever called him Glyndŵr then he was in trouble ...

That's wonderful. I was a little tempted to name Finbar Glendower, but it just seemed like too much. -- My brother's name is Owen, so Owen is not allowed!

Have I ever said that I am on both sides packed with Welsh forbears? Especially on my mother's side. They were Quakers who left in the 1680's, lived awhile in Dublin, and then on to Philadelphia. They married amongst themselves until the late 19th century. My mother's father was pretty much all welsh.

More than you want to know, most likely! Thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate it.

115 ♬ *** urb/fantasy/mys
Inspector Hobbes and the Blood Wilkie Martin

The subtitle claims to be fast-paced comedy crime fantasy . . . but I didn't find it so. The protagonist was too painfully lame and I cringed not so much for him, but for the writer. I liked Hobbes, (a werewolf??) who takes up this lame lad and many of the lesser characters but overall it was cliched and predictable I doubt I'll go on with the series unless I get desperate. It's passable, I make it a rule now I'm over 60 not to continue reading anything I know I would give less than three stars. If book 2 was the only thing on the rack in an airport, I would buy it. ***

116. ***1/2 cosy mys
A Royal Pain Rhys Bowen

This time poor Georgina is saddled with a Bavarian princess who seems to attract murder and mayhem wherever she goes. Darcy remains tantalizing and elusive, of course. A good narrator, very enjoyable even if quite silly. ***1/2

I had ten hours of driving this weekend, so I finished up the Hobbes and this one in its entirety. Not bad!

Saw this duck, a hooded merganser in our pond today -- a rare visitor and so exotic-looking. (Not my photo)

>60 sibylline: I'm glad you're enjoying the Royal Spyness series. I'm up to the last one now and enjoy them thoroughly as my walking/driving/knitting audio books.

>61 sibylline: they are such pretty ducks! Have you read about the Mandarin Duck that's been hanging out in Central Park?

>63 lauralkeet: Now that is fascinating indeed!

QUIT sf
The Reality Dysfunction Peter Hamilton

Well, here's my problem, zombies. I really am not a zombie person, or undead or any of that . . . so I am going to put down the Peter Hamilton The Reality Dysfunction as, 400 pages in, that is basically, with fancy dressing what is going to go down for the next 600 pages and then into the next book and the next . . . Anyway, not for me this level of violence. Also the sex is, frankly, male fantasy level, not my cuppa. G'wan wich ya! Had enuff awready. Much to like here, so I am sorry, but I just can't do it. This was a ROOT read and I am finding, once again, that I intuitively knew it was not for me.

Hmm, I have that one on the TBR pile. I've read some of his other stuff and found it OK, but that's an awfully big book to be "meh" about. Back to the charity shop, perhaps.

You might like it! I always feel ambivalent when I have a mixed reaction to a book. Time was I would slog onward through a book of this type and sometimes it would turn out to be worth it. My tolerance has shifted and I have the sense of there being plenty out there that I would enjoy more. It is definitely in the 3-31/2 zone--just not quite my thing.

>61 sibylline: That dude is rockin' his 'do!

Hi there Lucy dear, hoping all's well with you and yours.

117. fantasy ***1/2
The Bards of Bone Plain Patricia A.McKillip

Can't say why, but I've never had much patience with books not just featuring musicians, but that attempt to describe the experience of listening and playing. McKillip is writing in the high fantasy mode here--simplified, slightly archaic, repetitive--about a city on a plain with a music school that produces bards, only there is some mystery at the core of how the school began and what happened, maybe, to the magic of the land itself when it was conquered long ago by a king from a far land. It all seems to be wrapped up in a lost language. I liked the characters and the plot was adequate, so I read to the end. A pleasant read. Should add that this is an exceptionally beautiful cover. ***1/2 (really it is 3 1/4 but I haven't got that option).

>67 richardderus: I'm hanging in there. This early snow and cold is not all that welcome!

>69 sibylline: I can well imagine it is, given where y'all live. The implications of a long, hard winter are much less fun for those outside cities. Inconvenient for me, but nasty up there.

McKillip was a fantasist whose writing was just not for me ever. Like MZB, I felt myself growing a uterus as I read. I did put the books in front of every girl-child I met, and they battened on them, so her place is secure. Anything that speaks so loudly to a group of people, and in such a benign way, gets my vote.

But read it myself? Nope.

I adore some of McKillip (her early works such as Riddlemaster trilogy and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and Od Magic) but am meh on a number of her works as well--they are beautifully written but never pull me in like those mentioned first do.

>71 ronincats: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is my all time favorite fantasy single by any author. The series of mostly single books she wrote between 1995 and 2010 have some real gems, but some are only semi-precious. The Book of Atrix Wolfe and Ombria in Shadow are two of my favorites.

>71 ronincats: Beautifully written is right. Not sure I would have read on in this one if not.

>72 quondame: I'll have to keep an eye out for Atrix Wolfe and Ombria in Shadow. She is a good namer!

♬ cosy mys ***1/2
Royal Flush Rhys Bowen

These are light and fun. Set in 1932, Georgina Rannoch,34th in line for the British Throne, is having the time of her life, as well as being courted by a handsome, penniless, and mysterious Irish earl, she goes home to Rannoch Castle which is near Balmoral for the annual grouse shoot, only it isn't just grouse getting shot, naturally! ***1/2

I've got one of those unusually color-coordinated line-ups going! Pure serendipity!

E♬

I feel so kulchered. I've read 3 of the 5.

>74 sibylline: I'm so glad you're enjoying Royal Spyness. I just finished the series and still smile when I think about it. It's like whipped cream on the reading pudding.

>75 sibylline: there you go again! I love the way your books often end up being color coordinated. I really liked both the Patchett and Tara Westover's memoir, which was harrowing but excellent.

>75 sibylline: Should we schedule a holiday colors cover challenge?

Oh, I heard about Educated on someone else's thread, and feel weirdly compelled to read it, for reasons I can't quite identify! I'm not one for "misery memoirs" generally (hated Angela's Ashes) but I did "enjoy" Once in a House on Fire in this sub-genre. That one haunts me, but as this one seems to, it ends on a hopeful note too.
Also, I loved Middlemarch when I read it last year, and I bought one of those "Complete works of..." sets for my Kindle that can be so pleasantly cheap for copywrite expired works so I await your thoughts on Daniel Deroda.

>76 richardderus: Proud to know yer!

>77 RebaRelishesReading: I'm slightly mystified as to why I am enjoying them so much!

>78 lauralkeet: >79 quondame: I assure you it is a total accident,.

>80 HanGerg: I've bogged a bit in Educated -- as you say, 'misery memoir'. I got distracted by something else and stopped reading and now I am not all that inclined to return to it. I'm sure I will one of these days, it goes down fast and easy and maybe that is part of the problem.

I've loved all of Eliot's books so far -- after this I have three left, Felix Holt, Romola and Scenes from a Clerical Life. It's taking some time to get into Deronda and it is bringing to mind several books, from Edith Wharton's House of Mirth and Lily Bart to a Virago I will have to find the title of . . . about a very talented, beautiful, and self-absorbed young woman. These writers were beginning to see how restless a certain kind of woman was in the changing society of the late 19th century. The mood of Deronda is, so far, as different as can be.

>77 RebaRelishesReading:, >81 sibylline: Me too but, still, I did enjoy them. Maybe I needed some bubblegum for the brain (as Judy says).

Happy Thanksgiving, Lucy. I hope you have a nice holiday with family, kitties, and pooches gathered around.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(This is a picture off the web)

119. fantasy ***1/2
Tea With the Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy

A mother, Martha Macnamara, receives a distress call from her daughter on the other coast, San Francisco. Her daughter arranges for her to stay in a swank hotel and there she meets an intriguing man and confides in him that she is worried about her daughter who she is afraid is in serious trouble as, two days into her own arrival in the city, still hasn't called or visited. I bought this and the next one in this (so far) very short series, because I loved Lens of the World so much. I enjoyed this, but I felt that a)it was a bit slight and b) that it suffered from terrible (no?) editing. Spelling, lack of even a paragraph break here and there (with a total change of POV and setting). It was disconcerting. The story is fine and I will read the next one but it is not as developed or as fully written and edited as the Lens series was. ***1/2 for the story ** for the presentation.

>85 sibylline: Tea With the Black Dragon is one of my favorites, but Twisting the Rope less so, though I've come to think better of it now I'm older. I think when it came out it was on the rise of the adult version dragons as allies/friends trend that has pretty much taken over from the dragons as monsters to be slayed.

120. memoir/essays ****
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage Ann Patchett

Patchett uses her own life experiences, as a child, as a writer, and as an adult. Family, school, writing itself, the consequences of success as a writer, running a bookshop, finding a stable relationship, falling in love with a dog. Ordinary things that make up a life. I was extremely engaged by several of them -- the essay "A Practical Memoir about Writing and Life" is astringent and refreshing (if you want to write, just get busy), the essay on her efforts to be accepted into the LAPD (her father worked there) is wonderful, the essay that forms the title of the book is moving and the final essay, about the nun who taught her to read as a child and became a friend in later life, is just . . . lovely. Patchett emerges as a disciplined, definite, and hard-working person who deserves her successes and happiness. ****

121. E memoir ****1/2
Educated Tara Westover

Mentioning to a friend that I was reading the Patchett essays, she said, "Oh, a misery memoir!" I hadn't heard that term, but it does apply. Westover was brought up by Mormon Fundamentalist parents in Idaho, with an added twist that her father was (is?) also (severely and unmedicated) bipolar, evidencing in paranoia a la Weaver family, visions, impulsivity, recklessness. To top it off until his wife's business took off, he ran a metal scrap yard with construction on the side, hazardous work. The five children were homeschooling (often meaning No-schooling as work in the junk yard came first), no going to doctors, and stockpiling for End Times. Tara fit somewhere in the middle of two girls and three boys, one of the boys troubled and violent and all of them bright as can be. The story rushes through Tara's childhood and adolescence from one calamity and confrontation to the next, yet all the while Tara is haltingly but steadily moving away from her family and their suffocating values (for all) and treatment of women and towards making her own choices and decisions. Towards the end of the book, Tara's parents visit her at Harvard, hoping to give her one last opportunity to repent and it was difficult to wrap my mind around her parents in that setting. (Cambridge University would have been out of the question!). One is left reeling at the contradictions and heartbreak involved, sometimes, in leaving a dysfunctional family setting and moving towards a wholeness built on thoughtful choice as opposed to blind obedience. Westover understands the seductive appeal of the latter, give yourself up to it and you need struggle no more, but the price is too high for her to pay. I appreciated especially how she presented this choice she had to make--how emotionally difficult and with the high price, loss of half her family. ****1/2

You make me want to get to the Patchett. I already have Educated on my wish list and look forward to your comments.

>87 sibylline: yes, yes, yes to all that. I came to this book already a fan of her writing, and am now also a fan of Patchett as a human being. Have you read her memoir, Truth and Beauty, about her friendship with Lucy Grealy? It's excellent.

>87 sibylline:, >90 lauralkeet: Interesting...I like Person Patchett from these essays much better than I like Author Patchett's fiction.

>89 LizzieD:, >90 lauralkeet:, >91 richardderus: I will read the book about Patchett's friendship with Lucy G. for sure. I'm thinking like you Richard, that I like the non-fiction best! Go figure.

Thrilled to have so many visitors!

We watched the Dog Show the other day and the Best in Show winner looked just like Posey. I hope she was proud :)

>93 RebaRelishesReading: Agreed. We were so chuffed that the corgi took Best in Show its group.

ETA to fix a wishful thinking mistake!

>93 RebaRelishesReading:, >94 laytonwoman3rd: Whee! Yay for corgis! We watched a bit of the show -- the toy group, I think -- but didn't see the corgis.

oh my gosh, I have to go look!!!

Um -- I think a whippet won the big best in show prize, but you are so right that the Best Herding dog, the corgi, looks exactly like Miss Po!

>75 sibylline: You planned those color-coordinated reads, didn't you? Confess now....

I have Educated in my Read-It-Soon pile -- I am seeing her next month at the Literary Arts show.

Hurray for corgis!!

>84 sibylline: (((((corgis)))))

>87 sibylline: Not an essay reader (yet?), but this one sounds good. I'll have a look at the audio.

A Happy Week to you all!

>97 sibylline: I guess I was rooting so hard for the corgi that I just translated that into a win

Hmmm. I watched an hour of dog show before I realized that I had seen a shortened version of 2013 (the bloodhound won Best in Show). I don't know what time the real deal came on, but I'm sorry to have missed Miss Po's twin.

Knox took this picture from upstairs of me and Finn wandering around. Po, sensible lady, did her biz and went in. Finn is a bit over excited. He eats so much snow every time we go out that we soon have to go back out if you, uh, catch my drift!

The dark "cloud" at the top is not sky, but snow hanging off the edge of the roof . . .

That's a lovely photo.

One of our dogs has become nicely city-fied, the other insists on finding patches of grass. And he hates snow; finding just the right spot can take a while. At least he doesn't eat the snow though!

That is BIG snow, and winter has just started. I hope you'll have an event-free easy-to-deal-with winter. And that Finn soon learns snow isn't food and there are more ways to enjoy it. Remembering the main issue with our dogs was getting those snow lumps out of their paws.

Where I live now, snow is business (ski resorts) up in the mountains and basically something nice and rare that lasts a night and a day in the valley. I can't say I miss it.

>102 sibylline: Lucy, that is a GORGEOUS photo! Thanks so much for sharing it. I miss snow. *sigh*

122. mystery **
Twisting the Rope R. A. MacAvoy

I found Tea With the Dragon a bit slow but this I found almost impossible. For one I do have my music-in-fiction problem in this case super-surprising as I am an irish traditional music freak more or less and know a lot about it -- I play the tune that is the title and many others with a mention therein, either in the band concerts or as chapter headings. Ah yes, the plot. The "celtic" trad band has been on the road for 7 weeks and they have crossed the USA and are in their final week in Santa Cruz when things go very wrong and one band member ends up dead. The members have been increasingly unhappy with one another, some of them mightily so, and murder is suspected. Someone else might love it, so don't mind me, but I found it repetitive and suffocating and that this time the typos and other editing omissions were the final straw. MacAvoy is such a good writer, but I was just plain bored with the story and with the people themselves. I do confess to speed-reading the last 1/4 or so.**

>102 sibylline: Beautiful photo and fun factoid about Finn :)

>102 sibylline: Hi sibyx! Very cool photo. I was trying to reconcile that ominous 'sky', before reading you comments. It's obviously snow on the roof. ;-P

>102 sibylline: That's lovely. The snowy-eave didn't make me think snowy-eve, though. It was too foregrounded.

123. ♬ ***1/2 cosy mys

Georgianna is sent to Transylvania to be a bridesmaid to a princesss . . . Should she worry about vampires? Fun and very very silly. ***1/2

>110 sibylline: Glad you're still enjoying them :) (and not only worry about vampires...what about fishface:)

She seems to have pretty well squashed that idea!

>102 sibylline: That is beautiful, Lucy - shiveringly so!

Have a lovely Sunday.

>122 LizzieD: may have but hope lives in the hearts of others :>

>114 RebaRelishesReading: Golly!

Looks like you are really getting into the Royal Spyness series, Lucy. They are fun aren't they?

I need to pick up the next Royal Spyness, especially since it looks like it's a Christmas plot, Lucy. (Just ordered it from the library online!) Is everyone there getting into the Christmas spirit? You certainly have the weather for it.

Today it was exactly 0 F when I looked at the thermometer at 7. (That's -15 or so for you C people). It isn't officially winter but it is winter nonetheless.

21 December was always MIDwinter Day in our Northern Pagan times. So winter starts 6 weeks earlier, at the end of the first week of November. Sorta kinda makes sense...Halloween is the last holiday of Fall, then comes early winter.

That is true Richard, and that is exactly when winter began here this year.

And hi/bye, lovely of you to stop in!

>118 sibylline: I have on occasion seen that on (0 F.) our thermometer, like once or twice a year. I don't miss seeing it. Thanks for seeing it so I don't have to.

ACK! I've never seen 0° F and hope never to. I've been told that I don't need to live any farther north than I am because of Reynaud's, and I am a believer. Take care and stay warm!!!!!!

-15C?! That is cold indeed! We get there only every couple of years in my valley. Of course it's different up in the mountains.

After two cold weekends the temperatures here did what they always do in December, they went way UP. Without the wind, we would have touched +18C or so (+64F) in the sun yesterday. Italian Xmas market visitors accordingly turned from vin brule to cold beer and took their jackets off, but still put their poor doggies into warm coats and sweaters.

Keep warm and happy Sunday!

124. ♬***1/2 cosy mys
Naughty in Nice Rhys Bowen

It's winter in London and Georgie's brother Binkie and his awful wife, Fig have decided to come down from Scotland--but even London is too dreary and Fig figures out how to get herself to the Riviera. Poor Georgie is not invited, except then the Queen summons her and gives her an exciting and rather dangerous task, on--you guessed--the Riviera. While there she spots Darcy with a woman and a young boy and assumes this must be his mistress, she meets Coco Chanel who asks her to model her clothes, a handsome marquis develops an interest in her, a diamond necklace is stolen, someone keeps mistaking her for someone else . . . on the bright side, her mother takes her into her own villa and for the first time they seem to be developing something of a relationship. ***1/2

I'm beginning to think about the year coming to a close and I see that I am far behind 2017 when I read 139 books, as of today I am at 124, respectable, of course, but not even close to the (necessary) goal of 150 either. Necessary because I have So. Many. Books.

Just went back to look at my book totals for the last 8 years (this will be my ninth) -- my first year I only read 89 books, my best year, 2013, I think, I read 144. At 124 I am right in the average zone, so not so bad. And I've read some whoppers this year.

Wow you are really ripping through the Royal Spyness series. I love reading your synposes because they make me remember the pleasure.

Delurking to say that >102 sibylline: is just breathtaking!

What Ellen said, Lucy. What an atmospheric photo up in >102 sibylline:. I did think the roof snow was dark clouds!

124 books! My dear lady! You're in the top percentile of readers worldwide with that total. Plus you have a life, a musical calling, and a family.



Go LUCY!!

>126 RebaRelishesReading: When I'm ripping through audio books it usually means I am driving around a lot! True, in this case.

>127 EBT1002: and >128 jnwelch: Thank you -- he's a good photographer!

>130 sibylline: Richard! Really??? What is the average -- oh no, don't tell me, one or two or . . .

I think of myself as an underachiever but when I stop and think, I realize that is not so.

Two local book groups have chosen Hounds as their read and one has invited me to come. Over the moon. I've done my best to promote the book locally, at least, but I find it goes so against my normal behaviour that I have trouble being consistent. In this case a book store owner loved it and is being incredibly supportive.

A moment of shameless promotion: Remember Hounds for the folks on your Christmas list who love dogs-and-reading!

LOVE the local book groups who are reading Hounds and especially the one who have issued an invitation!

125. fantasy ***1/2
A Turn of Light Julie Czerneda

This has a great premise: instead of the adventure happening 'out there' here is a case where no one can leave a slightly odd, but also sweet village The tale is decently written albeit repetitive in the new fashion (á la Sanderson) and there are some excellent ideas and one of the things I require, humor, that I enjoyed but overall it went too slowly. The love triangle was . . meh, Wyll's character never fully worked, that is, why he and Jenn were such good friends, other than that he was loyal to her and a companion (maybe I have just convinced myself that he was convincing?). Over long, but a decent yarn for fantasy afficionados. ***1/2

>132 sibylline: I liked it a bit more than you. I don't mind slow if I'm enjoying the environment. I loved the 'horse' In the second of the series I couldn't get over the ghastly (and I believe unwearable) cover costumes that Czerneda worked into the text. The story wasn't all that either.

I gave it 3 1/2 stars which is a seal of approval just not a wildly enthusiastic one. I'll have to take a look at the cover of book 2!!

126. mys ****
Generation Loss Elizabeth Hand

Overall I've grown disenchanged with the violence in contemporary mystery/thrillers in books and on tv--too much of a one-up competition about who can come up with the weirdest grossest thing, but Hand succeeded in keeping me reading. Cass Neary, the protagonist is/was a photographer who had a moment of fame when exploring edgy stuff (well, ok, dead people) but after a traumatic experience lost her nerve. She is hired to go to Maine to interview a reclusive photographer she has long admired and who also, like her, stopped photographing. Only when she gets there nothing is at all as she was told it would be. And in fact, she acts as a catalyst and then has to step into a new role. The characters are terrific, the descriptions strong and detail about, say, how it feels to be in a boat in heavy rolls in the dark, cold and fog, all very very well done. I find brand-naming things like clothes and equipment tedious, some people care but I don't know a Nike from a Toyota. I was engaged and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series. ****

127. ♬ cosy mys ***1/2
The Twelve Clues of Christmas Rhys Bowen

At the last minute Georgiana is saved from having to spend a dreary Christmas with Fig and Binkie at Castle Rannoch (I have no idea how to spell it as I am listening) when she sees an ad for a social organizer at a house party in Devon that just happens to be the village where her mother is planning to spend Christmas writing a play with Noel Coward. While waiting to hear back from her prospective employer Georgie arranges for her grandfather's neighbor Mrs. Huggins to cook for her mother and Coward and for her grandfather to go along to "look after things". To her delight she gets the job, she loves the house and likes the people and there is one more surprise . . . The house party isn't quite as advertised and and there is trouble in the seemingly placid little village of Tiddlington (again, not sure of the spelling!) bad trouble. Everything else is as usual, the love interest is pushed along just one notch. Queenie is still a hopeless lady's maid, but the good rapport with her mother gets better. The reader did Noel Coward very delightfully, I thought -- there were some challenging accents and that was a new and original one (after seven books, there is the Foreign Eastern European, the Frenchman, the Cockney, etc.) The plot is so thin I figured it out from the title basically, but I'm not really listening to these for the plot, more for the characters and the bigger story. ***1/2

>136 sibylline: perfect timing on this one -- I'm sorry I'm finished with the series and wish I could find another I liked as well.

I also love historical mysteries and adored the Medicus books -- about a roman "medic" stationed in Britain. Also enjoyed the ones with Flavia de Luce, the precocious pre-teen.

>136 sibylline: I just brought that home from the library today and plan to start it right away!

Oh! I do have a copy of *Turn of Light* and even started it once. Maybe I'll even get back to it someday. Meanwhile, I confess that I'm trudging through The Way of Kings. It is just so L O N G. I'm exhausted. So tired. Having committed to it, I will finish it and maybe read something else by year's end.

ETA: My favorite ancient Roman mysteries are Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder series. I should read another one, one of these days.

>130 sibylline: So I just now ordered a copy for my wife for Christmas.

I just might read it myself.

Happy happy, joy joy.

>139 ronincats: It's fun and perfect timing indeed!

>140 LizzieD: They are ridiculously long, the Sandersons, that is the problem, ultimately.

>141 weird_O: I'm thrilled. Enjoy!

Find the Light—Reflect the Light—Be the Light

Happy Yule 2018!

Best of the season to you and yours, Lucy.

Happy holidays to you and your family and the pets, Lucy!
Be it filled with love, joy and great books.

128. classic fic ****1/2
Daniel Deronda George Eliot

Daniel Deronda is an awkward novel attempting to unite two story lines (I hesitate to call them plots!) and probably more than one theme as well . . . (tolerance perhaps might do as well as any other name). There is the lovely, self-absorbed, and headstrong Gwendolyn Harleth--just the sort of woman nowadays who would rise to a position of power in our world in whatever field she chose--still victimized if too successful, but at least able to get out in to the scrum. What makes Gwen a marvel is that she is not a Nice Person, not at all, but she is still worthy of our compassion and respect for the struggle she embarks on to become a less self involved person after meeting Daniel Deronda. The second story is that of Daniel. While it is tempting to get side-tracked by the Jewish theme, what really matters, I think, is that he "floats" through life, rudderless and yet with a powerful effect on everyone around him, by virtue or some quality he possesses but does not know how to harness or use. (Imagery of Boats, boating, etc. have much play here.) What is interesting is that Gwendolyn is the first person to really latch on to this quality of his of helping people "be" better.
Mirah, the young woman Daniel rescues and Mordecai, the young man who singles him out, are less successful characters and the Jewish theme in general has an over-romanticized aspect that is awkward. Awkward pretty much sums up the novel and yet it takes on some big ideas about intolerance, about loyalty, about the constraints on women that all benefitted from Eliot's sharp intellect. As ever with Eliot it is the observations from page to page that matter most. Not her best? Yeah, but still better than almost anyone else. ****1/2

I'll be back with a few of her great insights.

(Or in other words, Happy Christmas, to you and yours!)

Hope you have a great holiday season!

Happy holidays, Lucy

129. nat hist/travel ****1/2
This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland Gretel Ehrlich natural history/travel

For some, being in the far north has not just appeal or allure, but seems to offer wholeness, a window into another way of being a human being which we, in our modern cultures, have left far behind us. When out on a dogsled on the ice in subzero temperatures, hungry, and even scared, the complexities of daily life are reduced to a basic struggle to stay alive and, for some, like Ehrlich, this brings what being alive is:the experience of extremes of every kind, inner and outer. Along this decade and a half of journeying in the western and northern parts of Greenland, we meet the people who embraced Ehrlich's quest, we learn about Knud Rassmussen, the Inuit/Danish man from the early twentieth century who travelled to Alaska by dogsled to show how the Inuit came to Greenland and did much to promote and protect the Inuit way of life. I'm interested in learning more about him. There are also a wonderful couple of chapters on Rockwell Kent and the time Ehrlich spent in the village where he lived, traveling to his favourite painting spots. I have seen few of his paintings in museums and now am eager to! Ice and light and wind, sun and no sun, loneliness and too much company -- the Inuit life is one of abrupt contradictions in a harsh but beautiful and ever-changing landscape. Lovely book. ****1/2

" . . . we long for solitude, but as soon as we have it, we are desperate for friends." This contradictoriness is a huge part of the emotional extremes Ehrlich experiences in the Arctic.

I'm creeping my way to 130, a respectable number tho' not the 150 I had hoped for . . . I should be able to make it!

Thank you everyone who has stopped by with Holiday Greetings! Much appreciated.

>150 sibylline: Sounds like an interesting book. Congratulations on reading 129/130. I was hoping I might make 100 but I think I'm going to fall a bit short. Still and all, it's been a good reading year. Hope yours was too.

a bit late

that's my version of the story: the light is born
from a Nativity scenery in Riehen BS

merry Christmas and happy New Year

130. fantasy ***1/2
Son of Avonar Carol Berg

First in a series of, I think, three this was pretty good. It will probably blur into other fantasy I've read in the last few years, but it entertained during a busy season, did its job. Lady Seri, refuses the king, Evard, also friend to her brother, but falls in love with Karon and Karon turns out to be a sorcerer, a big no-no in this culture. But, yeh, nothing is as it seems, Karon's people came across a special bridge from another world and the connection between the two worlds is necessary to the health of both. Naturally there are bad guys who seek to destroy the bridge etcetera. Complex enough, well written and edited enough, a solid--worthwhile to lovers of the genre--but not exceptional read. ***1/2

Not the book I would have chosen to close out the year, but with houseguests I'm not going to make it through the Moon as I had hoped to.

Happy New Year's Eve!! 130 books is more than respectable!!

>155 sibylline: I like how Carol Berg can be relied upon to take care of her characters.

Carol Berg is usually a solid fantasy writer, I agree. Hurrah for 130 books, Lucy! The Moon will be a good one to start 2019 with. See you on the other side!

My 2019 thread is slowly being put together and you can find it: 2019

>159 sibylline: No, I can't. That link takes me to the top of THIS thread!

Whoops, I'll try to fix!

Fixed??!!

Fixed!