Majkia Reads What She Likes

Hi, I'm Jean. I live in the Florida panhandle, on the Emerald Coast. My husband and I are both retired, and we rent our house from our two dogs. Yes, they are definitely in charge. We go RVing a lot in our motor home, so will post pictures periodically.

I read mostly genre, and, because I'm officially an old fart, I read what I like. I am a fan of Pearl Ruling whenever I find a book that doesn't keep my interest. I also firmly require a book to pass the Bechdel test, and will drop a book that doesn't pass it. Also, Oxford Comma!

My plan for the year is to concentrate on series I've either started, or plan to start. But I will also use Random.org to select other books from Planet TBR.

Focus Series - Sci Fi

Revelation Space -Alastair Reynolds
#3 - Redemption Ark
#4 - Absolution Gap
#5 - The Prefect
#6 - Elysium Fire

Greg Mandel - Peter F. Hamilton
#1 - Mindstar Rising
#2 - The Quantum Murder
#3 - The Nano Flower

Confederation - Tanya Huff
✅ #2 - The Better Part of Valor
#3 - The Heart of Valor
#4 - Valor's Trial
#5 - The Truth of Valor
#6 - An Ancient Peace
#7 - A Peace Divided
#8 - The Privilege of Peace

The Retrieval Artist - K.K. Rusch
✅ #3 - Consequences - A Retrieval Artist Novel
#4 - Buried Deep
#5 - Paloma
#6 - Recovery Man
#7 - Duplicate Effort
#8 - Anniversary Day
#9 - Blowback
#10 - A Murder of Clones
#11 - Search and Recovery
#12 - The Peyti Crisis
#13 - Vigilantes
#14 - Starbase Human
#15 - Masterminds

The Lost Fleet - Jack Campbell
#3 -Courageous
#4 - Valiant
#5 - Relentless
#6 - victorious
#7 - Dreadnaught
#8 - Invincible
#9 - Guardian
#10 - Steadfast
#11 - Leviathan

Saga of Seven Suns - Kevin J. Anderson
#3 - Horizon Storms
#4 - Scattered Suns
#5 - Of Fire and Night
#6 - Metal Swarm
#7 - Ashes of Worlds
#8 - Veiled Alliances
#9 - The Dark Between the Stars
#10 Blood of the Cosmos
#11 - Eternity's Mind

Focus Series - Fantasy

✅ Lightbringer Series - Brent Weeks
✅ #4 - The Blood Mirror
✅ #5 - The Burning White

Craft Sequence - Max Gladstone Series Read Cancelled
✅ #1 - Three Parts Dead



Legends of 1st Empire - Michael J Sullivan
#3 - Age of War
#4 - Age of Legend
#5 - Age of Wonder
#6 - Age of Death
#7 - Age of Empyre


Laundry Files - Charles Stross
#3 - The Fuller Memorandum
#4 - The Apocalypse Code
#5 - The Rhesus Chart
#6 - The Annihilation Score
#7 - The Nightmare Stacks
#8 - The Delirium Brief
#9 - The Layrinth Index
#10 - Dead Lies Dreaming

The Devine Cities Trilogy - Robert Bennett
#1 - City of Stairs - reread
#2 - City of Blades
#3- City of Miracles

Repairman Jack - F Paul Wilson
✅ #3 - Conspiracies - 🎵 (reader: Christopher Price) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT
#4 - All The Rage
#5 - Hosts
#6 - The Haunted Air
#7 - Gateways
#8 - Crisscross
#9 - Infernal
#10 - Harbingers
#11 - Bloodline
#12 - By the Sword
#13 - Ground Zero
#14 -Fatal Error
#15 - The Dark at the End
#16 - Nightworld

The Queens of Renthia - Sarah Durst
#1 - Queen of Blood
#2 - The Reluctant Queen
#3 - The Queen of Sorrow

Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb
✅ #10 - Dragonkeeper
#11 - Dragon Haven
#12 - City of Dragons
#13 - Blood of Dragons
#14 - The Fool's Assassin
#15 - Fool's Quest
#16 - Assassin's Fate

Focus Series - Mystery/Thriller Completed - 2
Ian Rutledge - Charles Todd
#15 - Proof of Guilt
#16 - Hunting Shadows
#17 - A Fine Summer's Day
#18 - No Shred of Evidence
#19 - Racing the Devil
#20 - The Gate Keeper
#21 - The Black Ascot
#22 - A Divided Loyalty
#23 - A Fatal Lie

Dept Q - Jussi Adler-Olsen
#7 - The Scarred Woman
#8 - Victim 2117

Flavia De Luce - Alan Bradley
✅ #9 - The Grave's A Fine and Private Place
#10-

Seb St Cyr - C.S. Harris
✅ #11 - When Falcons Fall
#12 - Where the Dead Lie
#13 - Why Kill the Innocent
#14 - Who Slays the Wicked
#15 - Who Speaks for the Damned
#16 - What the Devil Knows

Agent Pendergast - Preston/Child
✅ #13 - White Fire - 12/30-1/2 - 🎵 (reader: Rene Auberjonois) - AlphaKIT, BingoDog
#14 - Blue Labyrinth
#15 - Crimson Shore
#16 - Obsidian Chamber
#17 - City of Endless Night
#18 - Verses for the Dead
#19 - Crooked River
#20 - Thunderhead

Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen
✅ #8 - Queen of Hearts
#9 - Malice at the Balace
#10 - Crowned and Dangerous
#11 - On Her Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service
#12 - Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding
#13 - Love and Death Among the Cheetahs
#14 - The Last Mrs Summers

Gamache - Louise Penny
✅ #10 - The Long Way Home 1/2 - 1/5 🎵 (reader: Ralph Cosham) - AlphaKIT
#11 - The Nature of the Beast
#12 - A Great Reckoning
#13 - Glass Houses
#14 - Kingdom of the Blind
#15 - A Better Man
#16 - All the Devils Are Here

Cooper & Fry - Stephen Booth
#5 - One Last Breath
#6 - The dead Place
#7 - Scared to Live
#8 - Dying in Sin
#9 - The Kill Call
#10- Lost River
#11 - The Devil's Edge
#12 - Dead and Buried
#13 - Already Dead
#14 - The Corpse Bridge
#15 - The Murder Road
#16 - Secrets of Death
#17 - Dead in the Dark
#18 - Fall Down Dead

Lynley/Havers - Elizabeth George
#8 - In the Presence of the Enemy (Inspector Lynley)
#9 - Deception on His Mind
#10 - In pursuit of the Proper Sinner
#11 - A Traitor to Memory
#12 - A Place of Hiding
#13 - With No One As Witness
#14 - What Came Before He Shot Her
#15 - Careless in Red
#16 - The Body of Death
#17 - Believing the Lie
#18 - Just One Evil Act
#19 - A Banquet of Consequences
#20 - A Punishment She Deserves

Roll The Dice - Random Selections from Planet TBR

Jan
Conquest - Connolly/Ridyard - Series: Invaders #1 - 🎵 (reader:Nicola Barber) - ROOT, BingoDog, Dice
With the Lightnings - David Drake - Series: RCN#1 - DNF - ROOT, Dice
Feb
Mar Strangers on a Train/ The Grave's A Fine and Private Place
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

New (to me) Author/ Series
1. Alice Payne Arrives - Kate Heartfield - Series: Alice Payne Arrives #1 -ROOT, AlphaKIT,

AlphaKIT I plan on one for each letter per month.

Jan - P and M - White Fire - Preston/Child - The Long Way Home - Louise Penny - A Question of Upbringing - Anthony Powell - Intervention - Julian May - Shakespeare for Squirrels , Dead Moon - Peter Clines, Conspiracies Repairman Jack -F. Paul Wilson - Fields of Fire - Marko Kloos - Points of Impact - Marko Kloos - Series: Frontlines #6 -
Feb - T and K A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas
Mar - U and R Ice Hunt - James Rollins - Uncanny Collateral - Brian McClellan
Apr - A and W
May - I and N
Jun - C and D
Jul - S and O
Aug- V and J
Sep - F and L
Oct - H and E
Nov - B and Y
Dec - G and Q

Wildflowers Books that don't automatically fit in the other cats.
1. The Body on the Beach - Simon Brett - Series: Featherings #1 - 🎵 (reader: Geoffrey Howard) - ROOT, MysteryKIT
2. Intervention - Julian May - Series: Galactic Milieu #1 - A Re-Read - ROOT, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG, BFB
3. Shakespeare for Squirrels - Christopher Moore - Series: Pocket of Dog Snogging #3 - 🎵 (reader: Euan Morton) - ROOT, RTT, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG

KITs and CATs I'll be dipping a toe in and out of them.

RandomCAT
January - LOL - Shakespeare for Squirrels
February-
March - Surprise! - The Better Part of Valor Ice Hunt

SFFKIT
January: - Read an SFF book you meant to read in 2020 - DEad Moon - Peter Clines - Conspiracies - F. Paul Wilson - Ghost Talkers - Mary Robinette Kowal
February: - Sentient Things
March: -Indy Jones in Space! (or Fairyland) - The Better Part of Valor Ice Hunt
April - Series
May: - Time Travel
June: - It's About The Journey
July: - Historical Fantasy
August: - Female Authors
September: - Near Future/ Alternate Reality
October: - Creature Feature
November: - Short Stories
December: - Gothic Fantasy

MysteryKIT
January: - Theme: Featuring Water - The Body on the Beach - Simon Brett
February: - Theme: Pastiche Mystery - A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas
March: - Theme: Locked Room Mysteries
April: - Theme: Senior Citizen as Detective
May: - Theme: Mysteries Set in Europe
June: - Theme: Golden Age Mysteries
July: - Theme: Cops 'n Robbers Lady Style (Lady Cops and Lady Robbers)
August: - Theme: Cozy Mysteries Featuring Animals
September: - Theme: Mismatched Detectives
October: Theme: Minorities/Diverse
November: - Theme: Historical Mysteries
December: - Theme: Detectives in Ancient Greece and Rome

ScaredyKIT
January: YA and Graphic Novels
February: Creepy Nonfiction
March: Short Stories and Novellas
April: Possessed
May: Witches and Magic
June: Diverse Perspectives
July: Ghosts and Hauntings
August: Adrift (Water and Outer Space)
September: The Dead, Their Habits and Abodes
October: Real-Life Monsters
November: - Stephen King and Family
December: Horror Thrillers

RTT
January: Shakespeare's Children - Shakespeare for Squirrels
February: Fashion
March: Arghh, Matey
April: The Sun Never Sets - A Death in Kashmir
May: Meet the Press
June: Rewriting the Past
July: Now We Are Free
August: Food
September: Time Travel/Prehistoric
October: Supernatural
November: Readers' Choice
December:

BingoDOG



9 - Classical element in title : White Fire
1 - One Word Title: Conquest
22 - Senior protag: Intervention
17 -New to You Author - A Question of Upbringing
19 - Alt History - Ghost Talkers
25 - Magic - The Burning White
21- Less than 200 pages - Alice Payne Arrives
2 - Ice Hunt
18 - A Death in Kashmir

Big Fat Books (BFBs)

1. Intervention - Julian May
2. White Fire - Preston/Child
3. The Blood Mirror - Brent Weeks
4. The Burning White - Brent Weeks
5. Ice Hunt - James Rollins
6. Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb
7.

Library Books

1. White Fire - Preston/Child
2. The Long Way Home - Louise Penny
3. The Grave's A Fine and Private Place - Alan Bradley
4.

Classics Challenge

✅ 1. A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899. Orley Farm
✅ 2. A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1971. As in past years, all books MUST have been published at least 50 years ago to qualify. The only exception is books written at least 50 years ago, but published later, such as posthumous publications. A Death in Kashmir
3. A classic by a woman author.
4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language. Feel free to read the book in your language or the original language. (You can also read books in translation for any of the other categories). Modern translations are acceptable as long as the original work fits the guidelines for publications as explained in the challenge rules.
5. A children's classic. Indulge your inner child and read that classic that you somehow missed years ago. Short stories are fine, but it must be a complete volume. Young adult and picture books don't count!
✅ 6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. This can be a true crime story, mystery, detective novel, spy novel, etc., as long as a crime is an integral part of the story and it was published at least 50 years ago. Examples include The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, In Cold Blood, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, etc. The Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones list is an excellent source for suggestions. Strangers on a Train
7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. The journey itself must be the major plot point -- not just the destination. Good examples include The Hobbit, Around the World in 80 Days, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Kon-Tiki, Travels with Charley, etc.
8. A classic with a single-word title. No articles please! Proper names are fine -- Emma, Germinal, Middlemarch, Kidnapped, etc.
9. A classic with a color in the title. The Woman in White; Anne of Green Gables; The Red and the Black, and so on. (Silver, gold, etc. are acceptable. Basically, if it's a color in a Crayola box of crayons, it's fine!)
✅ 10. A classic by an author that's new to you. Choose an author you've never read before.
A Question of Upbringing Anthony Powell - Series: Dance Time #1 - ROOT, Classic, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG
11. A classic that scares you. Is there a classic you've been putting off forever? A really long book which intimidates you because of its sheer length? Now's the time to read it, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!
12. Re-read a favorite classic. Like me, you probably have a lot of favorites -- choose one and read it again.

I'm putting this here, just in case. What I get for looking at MissWatson's thread.

Dance to the Music of Time

✔ Jan A Question of Upbringing - 214 pages
✔ Feb A Buyer's Market - 292 pages
✔ Mar The Acceptance World - 266 pages
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Lovely pictures and I'm a fan of your 2021 theme.

Love, love, love your doors! After all, what is a book but a doorway to another world.

I'm looking forward to reading along in 2021, Jean!

Love your doors. Tea and a book send a nice message.

Beautiful pics! You brightened up my day.

Beautiful art on this thread! I also love your focus on series...such a good idea, and I may steal it for 2022. ;) Also, hooray for #TeamOxfordComma!

How did you add the pictures of the doors? I cannot find an answer in Help.
Thanks,
Leona

Love these paintings! Enjoy focusing on those series :)

>20 mnleona: Leona, look at this post. It should help:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/177029#4750147

Thanks for the kind words, folks. I figure if I'm going to update my thead all year, I might as well enjoy doing it.

And yes, exactly. Books are doorways to another world.

>22 majkia: Thank you so much. I always love all the beautiful pictures that add so much to the sites.
Leona

All the doors are terrific!

Great categories and pics!

Dropping my star and looking forward to following along next year. I am also planning to concentrate on series reading next year - they do tend to build up when my back is turned!

Excellent theme. Like everybody else, I love the pictures.

I agree about pearl-ruling books that are meant for somebody else.

Gorgeous pictures and I love the opening quote.

Dropping a star and looking forward to your reading. I'm planning on using the Alpha Kit for my series this year. Love the doorways!

Gorgeous pictures! I am looking forward to your SciFi series!

Joining everyone else in loving your theme and the door/doorway pictures you have chosen for your categories!

I also am loving your door pictures. Happy reading!

Totally agree about the Pearl Rule and the Bechdel test. Also team Oxford comma. Good luck with all the series!

Agree with Pearl Rule and also Oxford comma! Yessss!

Lovely pictures and I like the freedom you have given yourself :)

I am in agreement with the Pearl Rule but not the Oxford comma & had to look up the Bechdel test. I like that idea! Happy reading in 2021!

You have lots of good reading planned! I'm a bit jealous that you still have the Revelation Space series to read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

>37 chlorine: Ha! on Revelation Space. I love his writing.

>38 majkia: Thanks! I'm trying to just go with the flow in 2021.
>35 LadyoftheLodge: >34 sturlington: I love that folks here cheerlead for a comma!

Everyone, thanks for visiting!

🕮

Add my support for the Oxford comma! I was once rebuked at work (and in public) for my "bad grammar" when I used an Oxford comma in a report. Sadly I was too shocked to respond. It still rankles although those who were present knew better.

I try to follow the Bechdel test too but sometimes it isn't apparent until too late.

>40 VivienneR: I had to look up the Bechdel test. Since I read a lot of mysteries featuring women as sleuths/detectives/police/investigators, they generally pass the test. I like novels with smart and feisty females.

Hello to an old fart from an old bag, and thank you for the Nancy Pearl rule.

>40 VivienneR: Only twice in my life have I wanted a book removed from the library shelves. They failed the Bechdel test in spades and both involved children. I shudder on the few occasions I see the author names, fortunately infrequently, obviously others think as I do.

>42 pamelad: Ha! There are several of us wise crones here!

>42 pamelad: >44 LadyoftheLodge: On the internet, no one knows you're a dog (or an old croney one). ;)

>43 VivienneR: Yeah. Some I've attempted to read are pretty horrid.

Your pictures are gorgeous this year!

Checking in here. Love the pictures.

I also applaud your graphics!

I am disgustingly antsy to get started on 2021.

Thanks all for kind words on the thread. Hope you all are set up and looking forward to a new year of reading!

>50 majkia: I just decided to start early. 2020 cannot be over soon enough.

>51 sturlington: Ain't that the truth....

Popping in to say that I also love your categories and pictures!

>50 majkia: Oh, me too! The start of a new year with new threads and categories and challenges always seems to rejuvenate my giddy excitement for reading!

>51 sturlington: I also decided to start early, glad I am not alone in that. I am ready for 2021.

>52 majkia: What glorious pictures and I love your tickers! I had never heard about Pearl Ruling and the Bechdel test, but I just googled them and they sound absolutely sensible and useful!

>51 sturlington: >54 LadyoftheLodge: Me too! I can't wait!

Gorgeous choice of pictures, Jean! The Pearl Rule and the Oxford Comma are definitely helpful. Enjoy your series reading!

Thanks for making me welcome, Jean. I will do my best to keep up in both groups this year. xx

Love the images here, Jean. I am also a mood reader and do not hesitate to set aside something that is not working for me. And yes, hooray for the Oxford comma.

I have a feeling you will be hitting me with more than a few book bullets because of all your series reading - I always enjoy finding new ones to dip into. And that classics challenge!!! SO fun - I might steal that.

>58 Crazymamie: Feel free to steal that Classics Challenge, as I stole it off a book blog!

>53 scaifea: We're soo bad... Always wanting the new and shiny!

>55 MissBrangwen: Delighted to be of service!

>56 Chrischi_HH: I am so prone to starting a new series and forgetting about others I've already been reading. Trying desperately to change that dynamic.... We'll see...

Hi all. As of today, I'm officially moving in. I finished the last book of the year earlier today and won't get the other one I'm already reading finished before the New Year.

So, lifting a glass to a new and far better year for everyone!

>63 majkia: Cheers! Enjoy your reading!

And keep up with my friends here, Jean. Have a great 2021.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and a wonderful year of reading in 2021!

Happy New Year! Popping in to follow a few people's threads, but I'm afraid there may be too many to keep up. So, I may or may not continue throughout the year! Happy reading!

First book of the year!

1. White Fire - Preston/Child - 🎵 (reader: Rene Auberjonois) - Series-Mystery, AlphaKIT, BingoDog, Library Book


White Fire is the 13th in the Agent Pendergast series, which is mostly thriller but with supernatural overtones, mostly not too much of it, but sometimes more than you'd expect.

I'm not that crazy about his friend Corrie so could have done with less of her, but otherwise, especially the Sherlock Holmes/Doyle and Oscar Wilde connections, were great.

>1 majkia: love the pictures, and have starred your thread!

>35 LadyoftheLodge: me me me! No one should shame anyone for grammar, though a quiet private word among friends might be okay... 😉

2. The Long Way Home- - Louise Penny - Series: Gamache #10 - 🎵 (reader: Ralph Cosham) - AlphaKIT


The tenth book in the Gamache series. Gamache, attempting to heal, has moved to Three Pines. He thought he was done with murders. But then Claire sat by him on the bench, beginning a search for a missing man , and drawing Gamache back into the world he'd hoped to leave.

Emotional, well written, a welcome return to Three Pines.

I haven‘t read the Gamache novels, but it‘s a series I want to start soon! My husband likes these books a lot. Good to see they are read in this group, too - I think I‘ve seen them pop up on several threads already.

>70 majkia: - I'm reading #13 Glass Houses right now and trying not to rush through it. Maybe once I catch up, I'll reread them. This is one series I absolutely love.

>71 MissBrangwen: - I never thought of recommending them to my husband. Maybe I'll get #1 off the shelf and see if he's interested.

>71 MissBrangwen: >72 dudes22: I hope the hubby enjoys the series. I like the focus on the psychological rather than the tech or police procedures.

3, The Body on the Beach - Simon Brett - Series: Featherings #1 - 🎵 (reader: Geoffrey Howard) - ROOT, MysteryKIT



Carole, a buttoned-down, highly OCD sort, lives in a small country town, Featherings. When a young woman named Jude moves into the cottage next door, Carole enlists her help when she finds a body on the beach, which subsequently disappeared.

The two women form an unlikely pact to find out just what is going on.

Enjoyable cozy mystery which had me laughing out loud at several points as Carole details the strictures on Feathering's social structure. The mystery was interesting with twists and turns but the mystery wasn't the most important aspect of the book. Rather Carole and Jude and the town's inhabitants were front and center.

I'm adding a challenge, alas. The more I try to do fewer of them, the more I get myself into. Sheesh
Dance to the Music of Time one a month.

>75 majkia: I get that! The beautiful new planner I bought, with its focus on reading and books, contains reading challenge pages at the beginning! I am hoping to meld those with the challenges on LT, but some of them are quite different.

>76 LadyoftheLodge: - That sound like a great planner. Some are just boring.

>77 dudes22: It is a beautiful planner, worth the price I paid for it. High quality cover with gold embossing and sturdy colorful paper, gold spiral binding. It contains space for quotes, reviews, book lists, and reading stats, along with the calendar part. I ordered it in November 2020 through Etsy, from Little Inklings Design, which is out of Canada. Writing in it also makes me use my hand-writing skills, which seemed to be getting lost when I was working full time and using the computer 8-12 hours a day. I am glad my part time work requires a lot less computer time. My handwriting was getting really messy and scrawly (my Roman Catholic elementary school teachers/nuns would be appalled)--I think I was impatient because it took longer than using the keyboard. My writing is much better now, thankfully.

>78 LadyoftheLodge: My handwriting went to crap when I hit university (pre-laptop days!). I was trying to race to write everything down. Ever since (it's been 25ish years, a little less than that since grad school), I am unable to slow myself down to write neatly. I can briefly when I specifically think of it, but it's usually not long before I speed up again.

So, Mr Majkia and I got our COVID vaccine today. We'll see if we have any side effects.

No, no electronic trackers in the vaccine, and my DNA has not been altered, and it isn't changing me into a rose bush.

P.S. Geaux Saints!

>80 majkia: Congratulations on your vaccination! (Is there a Hallmark card for this yet?) Sorry to hear it won't turn you into a rose bush but I suppose one can always hope for reincarnation.... :D

>81 spiralsheep: LOL! There should be a Hallmark card, shouldn't there!?

Congrats on the vaccine. :-)

4. Conquest - Connolly/Ridyard - Series: Invaders #1 - 🎵 (reader:Nicola Barber) - ROOT, BingoDog, Dice

Our heroines are aliens whose race has conquered the Earth. They decide for a lark to go out and pretend to be human. Then they get caught up in human actions to defeat their own people.

Meh. I didn't much like the reader and I thought the story a bit more YA than I personally like.

So... My 14th Thingaversary is on January 15th.

Acquired so far to meet my Thingaversary obligations:

>84 majkia: Congrats on the thingaversary! I love my own gifts to me!

>85 Tess_W: Have fun selecting the rest. 14 years? blimy, you must remember when all this was just fields... >;-)

Nice selections! I love Thingaversary! Mine is in September, and it will be 11 years for me.

>84 majkia: Nice selection! If you are an audiobook fan, I hear the Colin Firth narration of The End of the Affair is magnificent.

Happy Thingaversary a few days early! Nice haul.

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary a bit early! Nice set of books chosen for your celebration - have fun picking out the remaining few :)

Such lovely category headers! And you are luring me in with the sundry mysteries.

Happy thingaversary! That is a long time indeed and makes for a big pile of new books. Enjoy!

Happy 14th Thingaversary, Jean!

Hey everybody! Thanks for the Thingaversary wishes.

>88 ELiz_M: I have that audio of it, so looking very much forward to listening to it!

5. Intervention - Julian May - Series: Galactic Milieu #1 - A Re-Read - ROOT, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG, BFB



This is a beloved re-read for me. I'd forgotten much of it, but then it's been 20 or so years since I read it last.

Best villain ever created in this series.

And what a great idea as to alien 'invasion' . Humor, suspense, complex plotting and great characters.

>96 majkia: I remember reading Intervention when it was published in the late 1980s and I was still a teenager! It was so unlike the other SFF around at the time that the plot and characters have stayed with me in more detail than most books, especially the way May tried to explore complexities of human behaviour.

>97 spiralsheep: I love the whole series and have re-read several times. Yeah, such complex philosophical explorations of mind powers, humans, and finding redemption.

6. A Question of Upbringing - Anthony Powell - Series: Dance to the Music of Time #1 - 🎵 (reader: Simon Vance) -ROOT, Classic, AlphaKIT, BingoDOG



Boys at School.

For me, this was similar in tone and humor and satire to Brideshead Revisited. I enjoyed and laughed and will continue the series.

>99 majkia: It is almost 10 years since I read that - maybe I should reread it as I don't remember it as being that satirical.

>96 majkia: I recognize the author's name, but never heard of that book. And never read any of May's other books either. Intervention sounds delightful.

7. Shakespeare for Squirrels - Christopher Moore - Series: Pocket of Dog Snogging #3 - 🎵 (reader: Euan Morton) - ROOT, RTT, AlphaKIT, RandomCAT



Our hero, the jester Pocket of Dog Snogging, finds himself in Greece amid fairies searching for who killed Puck. Shakespeare will never be the same.

8. Dead Moon - Peter Clines - Series: Threshold #3 - 🎵 (reader: Ray Porter) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT, TIOLI



Weirder than usual, but interesting.

They're burying bodies on the Moon. And suddenly they have the walking dead.

9. With the Lightnings - David Drake - Series: RCN#1 - DNF - ROOT, Dice

DID NOT FINISH

Just couldn't get into it.

Conspiracies - F. Paul Wilson - Series: Repairman Jack #3 - 🎵 (reader: Christopher Price) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT, Focus-SFF

This was waaaaay too close to reality in some parts! Even a Trump reference, ugh.

Jack gets involved with the Other. Again. And a Tesla connection!

Sometimes quitting a book is the only thing to do. Hope your next book is better than those two.

11. Fields of Fire - Marko Kloos - Series: Frontlines #5 - 🎵 (reader: Luke Daniels) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT
12. Points of Impact - Marko Kloos - Series: Frontlines #6 - 🎵 (reader: Luke Daniels) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT



I've really enjoyed this series. Aliens, desperate firefights and worlds lost to powerful enemies. Can the Earthers ever hold off these aliens? Not yet...

>106 hailelib: When I was young and foolish I insisted to myself if I started a book I had to finish it unless it was 'throw against the wall' horrible.

I'm too old to waste time these days reading stuff that just isn't working for me.

>108 majkia: agreed. It's one of the reasons I rarely buy new books, but look in the thrift stores and online retailers for inexpensive copies. That way I don't feel as if I have to finish a book since I paid $$ for it.

>108 majkia: I am certainly not young ( well maybe at heart) and I do have this compulsion, that I'm trying to curb, to finish a book. Quitting would have been a no-no for sure until about 5-6 years ago, but now I have 3-4 per year I do not finish. I expect that number to go up as I am trying to "free" myself from this exercise!

>109 fuzzi: >110 Tess_W:

It is very freeing when you adopt the practice of Pearl Ruling. Fuzzi, yeah, when you pay quite a bit for a book and you don't enjoy it, it is annoying, but then I tell myself that my time is worth something too. So if a book I paid 10 bucks for sucks, no sense 'paying' yet more for it by wasting my time to finish it when I could be reading another book in the TBR I will enjoy.

>111 majkia: ten bucks is about all I'll pay for a book, with only a few exceptions. When CJ Cherryh's latest came out in paperback and there was a call here on LT to help The Strand bookstore, I ordered a trade version, which with shipping was about $20.

>110 Tess_W: I get around that idea of finishing a book by fast forwarding to the last chapter to see how it turns out. Sometimes I go back and read the rest of the book, but not always. At least I read the "finish" of the book, so that works for me, even though I perhaps did not read every word.

13. The Blood Mirror - Brent Weeks - Series: Lightbringer #4 - 🎵 (reader: Simon Vance) - ROOT, BFB, SFFKIT, Focus-SFF

Excellent series with imaginative magical system. Extensive world building, and complex characters.

So, end of January reading update:

I've finished 13 books and hope to finish the 14th before midnight. One book was a re-read, and one was a Did Not Finish Pearl Ruled for just not keeping my attention.

Two were library books, 11 off my TBR shelves.

Alas, only two were by female authors. The down side of reading SFF, I guess. And, trying to catch up on old series.

6 sci fi
3 fantasy
1 historical
2 mysteries
1 thriller

If I finish Ghost TAlkers as planned, that will add 1 more historical and one more female author.

Now on to:

13 books is a good start into the new year, I'd say! :)

14. Ghost Talkers - Mary Robinette Kowal - ROOT, SFFKIT, AlphaKIT



Well, that was different.

It is The Great War, and the Brits have a secret way of getting intelligence. The Germans are hot to find out exactly how it works.

Nicely imaginative, characters well drawn and likeable, and a pretty good plot.

You had a great January!

Great start to the reading year!!!

15. The Burning White - Brent Weeks - 🎵 (reader: Simon Vance) - ROOT, BFB, SFFKIT, Focus-SFF



Excellent wrap-up to a very complex and well drawn series. Impressively imaginative magical system.

16. A Conspiracy in Belgravia - Sherry Thomas


17. Orley Farm - Anthony Trollope


Group Read. The lives of women in the Victorian age. She'd best not put a toe wrong, although the men, well, they can do whatever.

18. Alice Payne Arrives - Kate Heartfield - Series: Alice Payne Arrives #1 -ROOT, AlphaKIT


An okay sort of steampunk story. Not impressed enough to continue the series.

19. Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone - Series: Craft #1 - 🎵 (reader: Claudia Alik) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, Focus-SFF


Well, not particularly impressed, so cancelling the Series Focus planned reading.

I'm sorry your last two series reads didn't work out very well, but I guess having two fewer series to keep up with reduces the TBR list a bit!

So, for March I'm trying Bookspin on Litsy.



#14 was selected so I'll be reading When Falcons Fall for this challenge.

>125 majkia: Do tell! What is Book Spin? Is it like the jar of fate?

>126 LadyoftheLodge: Yeah, there is a person on Litsy who will draw one number and everyone reads whatever they have listed for that number. There is a double spin also, so you can do two books. Also a bookspinbingo which I haven't investigated.

Here's the link that explains it. https://www.litsy.com/web/post/1989556

20. A Buyer's Market - Anthony Powell - Series: Dance to Music of Time #2 - 🎵 (reader: Simon Vance) - ROOT, Classic, Dance



Not as enjoyable as book 1. I found this one to be a bit tedious as our hero goes to party after party and not much else.

21. Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith 🎵 (reader: Bronson Pinchot) - ROOT, Classic, Dice

Written in 1950, it is the story of two men who meet on a train and one of them decides they should each kill someone for the other one. Charles, a drunken rich boy, and Guy, an architect, otherwise have no connection. Yet.

Quite like the movie they did of it, but more focused on the psychological fallout on Guy.

22. The Better Part of Valor - Tanya Huff - Series: Federation #2 - ROOT, Focus-SciFi, RandomCAT, SFFKIT



When a Salvager finds a giant yellow space ship, the Confederation rushes to investigate. But so do the Others, the Confederation's main enemy. And the damn ship? It's got a mind of its own and it doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

Enjoyable military sci fi with great characterization and a plot that keeps surprising.

23. The Grave's A Fine And Private Place - Alan Bradley - Series: Flavia #9 - 🎵 (reader: Jane Entwhistle ) - Dice, Focus-Mystery



Well, our girl is beginning to grow up! And, lo and behold, actually getting along with her sisters! And, of course, finding a dead body.

I do enjoy this series. So different from all the other mysteries I read.

24. Ice Hunt - James Rollins - 🎵 (reader:John Meaher) - ROOT, AlphaKIT, SFFKIT, BFB, RandomCAT, BingoDOG



I really enjoy Rollins's mix of science and imagination. He bases his works on science and extrapolates from there. In this stand alone, he has some unsuspecting Alaskans swept up into a hunt for an ice station that is newly found. Problem is, the Russians want it too. So it is covert warfare at the top of the world.

The Acceptance World - Anthony Powell. For the main character, who keeps claiming he writes novels to expose the reality of people, he hasn't got a flippin' clue about women and is remarkably, if only casually, sexist in his opinions.

Yes, yes, it was the times. Still, he keeps insisting he knows women's intentions etc.

25. Consequences: A Retrieval Artist Novel - K.K. Rusch- ROOT, Focus:Sci fi, AlphaKIT

I'm very much enjoying this series. It examines cultural and legal situations that might arise when alien cultures, taboos and laws intersect with human equivalents. What happens when someone ficks dust off a shoulder and that is illegal in an alien culture? Well, then the offenders 'Disappear'.

Great characterization, imaginative plots, and complexly drawn worlds.

We've had our shots so are now happily camping at our favorite campground near to home, Eastbank.

>135 majkia: Beautiful! We have both had our shots and we are traveling to Nashville for a long weekend and a concert (small--only 300, and have to be masked). Have only been out of house to doctor and grocery for 13 months!

26. . The Acceptance World - Anthony Powell - Series: Dance to Music of Time #3 - 🎵 (reader: Simon Vance) - ROOT, Classic, Dance

Meh. Not sure I'll continue the series.

>136 Tess_W: It is such a relief to be able to be out and about at least a little bit, isn't it.

>137 majkia: The two volumes I enjoyed most were The Kindly Ones and The Valley of Bones, which are about the narrator's experiences in WWII. Powell seems to know nothing about women, and to to dislike them, so it's a trial to read about his female characters, particularly the unfortunate Pamela Flitton. But I suppose that's how things were then, in the little segment of society to which Powell belonged.

>137 majkia: Amen, sister!

>135 majkia: Lovely photo! And congrats on getting your shots - I am still waiting for an appt...

27. Queen of Hearts - Rhys Bowen - Series: Her Royal Spyness #8 - 🎵 (reader: Katherine Kellgren) - ROOT,
alphaKIT, Focus: Mystery.


Fun continues as Georgie, broke cousin to the queen, heads to America with mummy. And encounters Hollywood.

28. Uncanny Collateral - Brian McClellan - Series: Valkyrie Collections #1 - ROOT, AlphaKIT



Once upon a time, a baby, half-human, half-troll was sold. He's now owned by the owner of Valkyrie Collections Agency. His life isn't great, but he has at least one friend. The djinn who lives in the ring he found.

29. When Falcons Fall - C.S. Harris - Series: Sebastian St Cyr #11 - 🎵 (reader: Davinia Porter) - ROOT, Series Focus: mystery, Bookspin



Always enjoy this series. Appalling living conditions for the poor, and the author points out inequities and the horror of power over little people.

My April Bookspin list (see Litsy for Bookspin info)

>145 majkia: I love the titles of #2 and #3. Those alone would be reason enough to read them , I guess.

>146 MissWatson: I know, right!

I find myself hoping it lands on Circe which I adored. The Moonstone is the only other one I've read and that's good, but in a very different way.

Our last night RVing at Eastbank. Until next month!

Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking was one of my faves so far this year. It was hysterically funny!

30. Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb Series:Rainwilds #10 - 🎵 (reader: Ann Flosnik) - ROOT, Series Focus: SFF, AlphaKIT, BFB



Returning to the excellent series after a fairly long hiatus. This book is a re-read and I enjoyed it more on re-read. It is depressing and unsettling, but then most of her books are. She does not spare her characters any trauma. But that sure makes for exciting reads.

>150 LadyoftheLodge: The title alone makes one want to read it!

>151 majkia: I haven't read anything by Robin Hobb so far, but this novel sounds wonderful! My husband is a fan of her books and I'm sure I will get to them sooner or later.

So I'm reading Death in Kashmir by MM Kaye. It is.... weird. It is set in Kashmir a year before India gets her independence. The weirdness is there is not one main character who is Indian. All lily-white Brits. And when the book refers to locals it calls them 'coolies' which I always thought was a slur reserved for Chinese.

I feel like I'm down a rabbit hole and I have no idea what world I've landed in.

Debating whether to just chuck it out. I loved MM Kaye's The Far Pavilions so I wasn't ready for the casual white privilege in this book.

I guess that's the way it was in that insular British enclave in the last days of the Raj. A slice of history.

East is Always East by Pamela Wynne is another interesting snapshot of the times, because it is so pro-British, so blatantly racist. It's available on Faded Page. My review is here.

>154 majkia: I read those probably in the 1970s, and I loved them then. I wished there had been more than the 4 or so she wrote. I'll admit I was less discriminating as a teen and probably didn't realize there should be non-British people in it.

31. All the Rage - F. Paul Wilson - Series: Repairman Jack #4 - 🎵 (reader: Christopher Price) - ROOT, Series Focus: SFF, AlphaKIT, BFB, SFFKIT



Entertaining series. Think the Equalizer meets Harry Dresden. But Jack doesn't have magic. He just has to deal with the supernatural as best he can.

32. A Death in Kashmir - M.M. Kaye - Series: Death In #1 - ROOT, RTT, Classic, BingoDog



I confess to being a bit put off at the beginning of the book, since we were in Kashmir, and not a single native was mentioned in the first third of the book. It felt uncomfortable. Yes, yes, this was written in the 50s and casual racism was common, but after reading The Far Pavilions I hadn't expected it from M.M. Kaye. I did feel better about the last two thirds of the book, which felt more accepting and tolerant to my modern sensitivities.

The mystery was pretty good, and I didn't guess the whole thing.

But the book was mainly about the surroundings. The beauty and mystery and differences wrt Kashmir and how different it is, and it thinks, from western expectations.