Cmbohn's 2nd 1010, or 2010x10

Since I am currently on track to finish this challenge by, well, April, I'm planning out my 2nd challenge. It's funny, because I'm not even trying to read easy books this time. I have had several over 500 pages, and a few over 700 pages.

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Changing Food and Water category and Health and Humans category and combining them into "Read Up, They're Good for You." And adding a new category, "Look at the Pretty Pictures."

New thread for 2nd half: http://www.librarything.com/topic/94034&newpost=1#lastmsg

North American historical fiction 7/10

1. The Last of the Mohicans - 3 stars
2. The Help - 4.5 stars
3. The Teacher's Funeral - 4.5 stars
4. The Green Glass Sea - 4 stars
5. Death Comes for the Archbishop - 5 stars
6. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - 4.5 stars
7. Murder on Washington Square - 2.5 stars
8.
9.
10.

Suggestions: Cold Mountain, The Search for Joyful, Sarah's Quilt, Freckles, The Pox Party: Octavian Nothing, Calico Captive, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,

LDS Books 4/10

1. One More River to Cross - Standing on the Promises 1 - 3.5 stars
2. The Essential Mormon Cookbook - 2 stars
3. Russia and the Restored Gospel - 3 stars
4. To Draw Closer to God - currently reading
5. Fire of the Covenant - 4 stars
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10.

Suggestions: The Great Apostasy, Press On: Messages of Faith, Hope, and Charity, From Quaker to Latter-day Saint, The Writing on the Wall - Dean Hughes, Hearing the Voice of the Lord, My Dear Sisters

Biography 5/10

1. Polk's Folly - 3.5 stars
2. She Got Up Off the Couch! - 4 stars
3. Let the Trumpet Sound - 3.5 stars
4. Appetite for Life - Julia Child - 2 stars
5. Sam Houston: Liberator of Texas 3 stars
6. To Hell on a Fast Horse - currently reading
7.
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10.

Suggestions: A Life Decoded, Andrew Jackson, His Life and Times, American Jezebel, Falling Leaves - the Memoir, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel

Set Aside: Defender of the Faith: The B H Roberts Story

European historical fiction and non-fiction 6/10

1. Harvest of Death - Ray Harrison - 3.5 stars
2. The Vicar of Wakefield - 2.5 stars
3.
4. A Very Long Engagement - 2 stars
5. Wives and Daughters - 4 stars
6. The Seven Ages of Paris - 3 stars
7. The Warden - 3 stars
8.
9.
10.

Suggestions: The Frozen Thames, Black Potatoes, Wedlock: The True Story, A Great and Terrible King, A Song for Summer, The Morning Gift, A Season for Gifts, Rob Roy, The Black Arrow, Vanity Fair

Debuts - 6/10

This one is for the first mystery in a series or the first by a mystery author.

1. Free Man of Color - 5 stars
2. The Christopher Killer - 3 stars
3. A Duty to the Dead - 4 stars
4. A Great Deliverance - currently listening
5. The Black Echo - 5 stars
6. A Death in Vienna - 4 stars
7. Third Person Singular - 4 stars
8.
9.
10.

Suggestions: Mistress of the Art of Death, The Raphael Affair, A Beautiful Blue Death, Death at La Fenice, Mark of the Lion

Put aside: Booked to Die, New Orleans Mourning

Alternate Worlds and Magical Lands

1. Troll Fell - 3 stars
2. Queste - 4 stars
3. Syren - 4 stars
4. Lirael - 4 stars
5. Abhorsen - 4.5 stars
6. 1632 - 4 stars
7. Ring of Fire - 4 stars
8. 1633 - 3 stars
9. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis - 5 stars
10. Cybele's Secret - 4.5 stars

Suggestions: Warbreaker, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Well of Ascension, Hero of the Ages

Twists For this one, I mean twists on well known stories, like fan fiction, retold fairy tales, etc. 8/10

1. Once Upon a Crime - The Sisters Grimm 3 stars
2. Jenna Starborn - 2.5 stars
3. Princess of the Midnight Ball - 4 stars
4. Spinners - 2 stars
5. The Land of Green Ginger - 4 stars
6. A Curse as Dark as Gold - 4.5 stars
7. Winter's Child - Dokey - 3 stars
8. Maskerade - 4.5 stars
9.
10.

Suggestions: Android Karenina, East, The Looking Glass War, The Book of Lost Things, Snow: A Retelling

Saturday Morning Matinee I needed a category for all the monsters, aliens, and scare your pants off type books. This is it.

1. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray - 4.5 stars
2. The Turn of the Screw - 1 star
3. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - 4 stars
4. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm - 4 stars
5. Dracula - 5 stars
6. Beautiful Creatures - 2 stars
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10.

Suggestions: Frankenstein, Fantastic Voyage, The Hungry Moon, Malice, Shiver, How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Read Up! They're Good for You! 4/10

1. The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World - 4 stars
2. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles - 4 stars
3. Against the Grain: How Agriculture has Hijacked Civilization - 3 stars
4. Salt: A World History - currently reading
5. Your Inner Fish - 4 stars
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10.

Suggestions: The Secret Knowledge of Water, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Fruitless Fall, Cooking with Master Chefs, Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and Gentleman, Genome, The Good Doctors, Who They Were - Inside the World Trade Center, The Great Mortality

Set Aside: Death, Daring, and Disaster: Search and Rescue in the National Parks

Look at the Pretty Pictures! photography, art, and graphic novels 2/10

1. Battle Eye - 4 stars
2. The Professor's Daughter - 1.5 stars
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Just editing this thread a bit to remove some books I've already read.

Adding some of these to my list at the library so I can start as soon as I finish my first challenge.

Cindy, you and Stasia are so amazing.

I hope you enjoy the 2nd Challenge! I'll be happy just to finish my first.

I've had a few really good months this year. Last month was too busy, but this month I've been catching up again.

I picked East - Edith Pattou for my book group in August. It should be fun.

A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly, debut mystery category

Themes: Race, prejudice, slavery,
Setting: New Orleans, 1833

Benjamin January is a colored man, a griffe. In his day, that meant he was 3/4 black, with a black father and a mulatto mother. His sister is a quadroon - 3/4 white. In New Orleans, pre-Civil War, that matters. Everything about race, and even about nationality, matters a lot. It defines who you are and what opportunities are open to you. Benjamin is a musician, but he also trained as a surgeon in Paris. He lived there with his wife for several years, but after her death, he returns to his hometown.

Much has changed since he has been gone. Suddenly the Americans are moving in. The British and French, which didn't much get along with each other but at least understood 'the custom of the country,' are being bought out by brash new Americans who only understand two things - money, and the color of your skin. Benjamin as a colored man cannot find work as a surgeon, only as a musician. He's playing the quadroon ball during Mardi Gras when one of the women is found murdered. He knows the owner of the hotel is not about to call in the police to investigate. After all, the woman is basically a courtesan, and the suspects are powerful and wealthy white men. But Benjamin is so sick of this kind of prejudice that he begins to ask questions himself. Next thing he knows, the police have been happy to investigate a much less tricky suspect - him.

I really enjoyed this book. Benjamin is a great character with a complicated background. Being away from home so much gives his a different perspective on things that the other characters take for granted. I realized that this was a time period I knew practically nothing about, but certainly a place I'd love to read about again. 5 stars.

Great review - A Free Man of Color sounds really good, I'm adding it to my wishlist. Thanks.

>17 cmbohn: I think that one's on my wishlist, but if not, it's going on now! It sounds like one I'd really like.

>17 cmbohn: I'm delighted to hear that you really liked this book. I put this series on my tentative wishlist, after finding out that Barbara Hamilton (who wrote The Ninth Daughter) is really Barbara Hambly. Now it's a definite prospect!

And congratulations on finishing your 1st challenge! I am amazed and impressed!

Harvest of Death - Ray Harrison, historical fiction category

Themes: class, witchcraft, crime
Setting: Victorian England, Dorset countryside

Detective Sergeant Bragg is patrolling with a new partner, since his regular one is busy with this big cricket match, when they discover someone breaking into a fur warehouse. They manage to catch one guy, but not before Bragg gets a near fatal stab wound in his arm. The wound takes a while to heal, and the police surgeon orders Bragg to take a little break in the countryside. So Bragg heads out to his boyhood village to stay with a cousin.

He enjoys his stay at first, settling in and catching up with his family, visiting his boyhood haunts, going for long walks and eating some good food. But one of his walks is disturbed by a gunshot. It seems a local transporter has had an accident with a shotgun. Or was it an accident? Bragg has plenty of doubts, but no authority to investigate the crime. His involvement at the scene is resented by the local police who deny they need any help from a big shot London detective, and by his cousin, who is the dead man's main business rival and one of the many suspects.

But Bragg can't help asking questions. He knows his cousin wouldn't shoot a man, but his cousin is just as angry and resentful as the rest of the locals, and Bragg is getting nowhere when there's another death. And then there's the distraction of a young and pretty local woman who seems to be quite interested in the case. Or is it Bragg she's interested in? It all builds to an exciting, but somewhat farfetched conclusion that doesn't really tie in as well as it could. Yes, the clues are there, but the motive was still a little hard to accept. Still, I like this series, despite it's being hard to find, and recommend it if you can get a copy. 3.5 stars

Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley, Twist category

Themes: family, destiny, stories
Setting: modern New York City, Faerie

Sabrina and Daphne are heading back to New York City. Their friend Puck was injured in the last book and his only hope is to find the Faerie community hiding in the city. But it turns out that Sabrina is about to discover a whole new side to the city she loves. And that's not the only surprise - she's about to discover that most of what she knew about her mother was wrong. Sabrina isn't sure what to think now, but she's had about enough of Fairy Tale. But before her life can get back to normal and she can save her parents, she has to find out who killed Oberon.

17> Barbara Hambly is very talented: straight historical fiction, historical mystery (I, too, like the Benjamin January series), science fiction (she's done Star Wars books), and fantasy.

If you like fantasy, I'd recommend Dragonsbane to you. I thought it was wonderful. It reminded me of the feel of the Sean Connery/Audrey Hepburn movie, "Robin and Marian" (aging hero uninterested in being heroic again).

I don't think I've ever read anything by her before, but I really liked this one.

Troll Fell by Katherine Langrish, Alternate Worlds and Magical Lands category

Themes: family, courage, adventure, magic
Setting: unnamed Viking lands

The book opens at a funeral. Peer's father has just died after completing a new longboat. Before the funeral is even over, Peer's uncle shows up to claim Peer and any money or valuables left to take off with him to Troll Fell. Peer has no choice but to move in with his two cruel uncles, who treat him as a servant, sometimes remember to feed him, and hit him whenever they feel like it. Peer's only friend on the place, and it's a unpredictable friend too, is a sort of house spirit called a Nis. In time he meets the family who live in the farm below theirs and becomes friends with Hilde. Her father sails off for adventure in the longboat Peer's father build, leaving them to fend for themselves against the rotten Grimssons and the trolls.

The trolls - they live in the hill nearby, when they aren't coming out and trying to steal things, and they have a huge treasure trove buried under the hill. Peer's uncles are much too friendly with them for his taste, and he soon learns about a deal that will put him and Hilde in a lot of danger.

I liked this book, but I felt it took too long to get to the action. Everyone seemed to accept living that close to the trolls and then when trouble erupted, they were still too slow to act. I don't think the actions of most of the characters are very believable. I understand this is the first in a trilogy. I don't think I'll make a special effort to look for the next books, but I wouldn't mind reading them if I found them. 3 stars.

Polk's Folly by William R. Polk, biography category

Themes: war, exploration, race, politics, family
Setting: US, 1750s to WWII

Most of us who know much about our family history think that we have some great stories to tell, and we're probably right. But in this case, William Polk not only has some great stories, but he has the writing necessary to tell them well. From the original colonial ancestor Robert Polk, newly arrived from fighting the English in Scotland and Ireland, to the North Carolina branch who served during the Revolutionary War, to the ranchers on the Wild West, the Confederate general and the aviation pioneer, there really are some great stories in here, covering every major movement in American history.

I did get a little bogged down now and then, especially during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. I didn't really have too much trouble keeping the names straight, but a few more maps would have really helped with tracing the military movements. Not too many pictures, but I enjoyed the ones that were there. If you enjoy genealogy or American history, I think you'd like this book. 3.5 stars.

Finished 2 books today; reviews to come.

The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith, historical fiction category

Themes: family, adversity, social position, religion
Setting: 1760s England

SPOILERS!

Reverend Charles Primrose is the father of a large family and a vicar. He has a private income which supports him in a nice lifestyle. But his income is suddenly lost and he must move to the country and begin a new modest life there. The new landlord is a notorious seducer, but for some reason, they don't seem to listen to this, and push their daughters in his direction. One of their daughters IS seduced, and then their lives fall apart.

From a pure plot or story view, this is action packed, but totally melodramatic. On his way from rescuing his wayward daughter, he comes home to find their house has burned down. His evil landlord demands payment. They wind up in debtor's prison. And so on, and on. It is completely unbelievable.

As for the characters, it's pretty hard to believe too. They are so completely naive to the ways of the world. Both the vicar and his son are swindled by the same con man. They remain oblivious to the motives of their landlord way past the point of credibility. They are vain. The vicar himself is given to sermonizing at the drop of a hat and takes offense if others don't enjoy this. They are likable enough, though, and I was hoping they would wise up at some point. The craziest part is at the end, when it turns out that Olivia is actually MARRIED to the seducing landlord. One of the other characters actually "wishes her joy!?" Yeah, that would make me happy, all right, to be stuck married to a lying libertine.

And yet, it was kind of fun to read. I skipped some of the long sermons and stuff. Boring. But I did finish it. This was a very popular book at the time, and later was popular as the subject of spoof and satire. Worth reading for that, and it is short, but otherwise, I wouldn't really recommend it. 2.5 stars, mostly for the fact that it is an influential book and for the unintentional humor.

Murder on Washington Square by Victoria Thompson, historical fiction category

Themes: gender roles, crime and punishment, social class, media, family
Setting: early 20th century New York City

Sarah Brandt's next door neighbor comes to her for help. He is entangled with a young woman, and now she is pregnant, but he doesn't want his mother to find out. Sarah is a midwife and he wants her to check on the girl, find out if she really is pregnant, and convince her to marry him. She agrees to help, but finds that the girl is not the innocent Nelson thinks her to be, and can't help.

Then the girl turns up dead, and Nelson is arrested. He is young and idealistic, but he isn't a murderer. Sarah starts to ask questions. Detective Frank Malloy, for reasons of his own, agrees to help. It seems that Nelson is not the only candidate for the father of this baby. Or is there a baby? The more they dig, the more lies they uncover. If only the press would leave them alone to investigate, but the reporters smell a nice juicy sex scandal, and that sells papers.

This was not a bad story. I like Frank and Sarah. But honestly, if you are investigating a murder and someone comments on the horrible smell coming from the cellar, shouldn't you check that out right away? I admit to being surprised in places, but the characters really were kind of dumb. 2.5 stars.

duplicate post

The Doomsday Book - Connie Willis, health and humans category

Themes: disaster, disease, time travel, religion, responsibility
Setting: 14th century England and 21st century Oxford

Kivrin is determined to visit the 14th century. Thanks to time travel, she gets permission to go. But her tutor, Dunworthy, is completely opposed to the idea. He feels her jump has been rushed and there are not enough safety protocols in place. He is powerless to stop it though, and has no choice but to stand aside and then get ready for Christmas in Oxford.

Almost as soon as Kivrin has left, things start to go wrong. Unfortunately, the one person who could tell him exactly what is going on falls desperately ill. So do lots of other people, and now Oxford is in quarantine, and people are dying.

Kivrin isn't having much fun in medieval England either. She falls ill within hours of arriving, and medicine is not exactly cutting edge. She does recover, only to find that all that medieval English she learned is no help when it comes to communicating. Where is she? When is she? And what's with the weird undercurrent she's sensing all around her?

I loved this book. I don't know why I waited so long to pick it up. It is graphic and disturbing, and it makes an interesting contrast with World War Z. Not for the squeamish, but really, really good. 5 stars.

One More River to Cross - Standing on the Promises by Margaret Blair Young and Darius Gray, LDS category

Themes: religion, slavery, race, family, faith
Setting: 1830s - 1840s United States

Many outside the LDS church, and more than a view within, know very little about the stories of the Black LDS pioneers who joined the church in the early days and crossed the plains to start lives in the land of Zion. Unfortunately, their lives were made more difficult by the racial stereotypes they faced even among their new brothers and sisters in the gospel. This is a retelling of some real historical figures, most notably Elijah Abel, freed slave and first black member of the church, and Jane Manning, a free woman who traveled 400 miles on foot to join the Saints in Missouri and became a personal servant in the Smith household. Both were intimately acquainted with the Joseph Smith and his family.

Their stories are interesting and reasonably well told. Each chapter concludes with a few notes on the real historical facts. However, these accounts are not really woven together and it remains several different stories instead of one. I would like to read the next book in the series, but it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. 3.5 stars

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding, Saturday morning matinee category

Themes: good versus evil, steampunk, supernatural ghosties, crime
Setting: alternate London

If you are looking for a good scare-your-pants off type story, this one was excellent. Alaizabel is a great character and her story is seriously creepy. Lots of complicated secondary characters, a nicely atmospheric setting, and a large variety of nasty ghouls that want to get you. The one thing missing is a real sense of why this has all happened. There is a brief explanation at the end, but it's too little, too late, IMO. It wasn't perfect. I really liked Poison - Wooding better. But this one was worth reading. For some reason, I checked it out from the library like 4 times before I ever started reading it, but I'm glad I did. Don't rush through it - it's better if you let the suspense build. 4.5 stars

Good Grief - Did I fall asleep at the wheel or have you been having an amazing reading marathon this week? The Vicar of Wakefield is a book I have had my eye on for some time but haven't cracked the cover yet. Now I don't feel quite so bad and will take my time getting to it ;-)

I just haven't posted in a while. It's been so busy around here with work and stuff. I'm still reading, but it takes time to write a coherent review.

Booked to Die by John Dunning

I was planning to read this for my Mystery Debut category, but as I got into it, I realized that I had started it before and put it aside. This edition starts with a long preface about book scouting and book collecting, which is important given the plot of the book. But I have NEVER understood book collecting. Yes, I have a LOT of books around here, but I read them all. I don't have any desire to have something just so that I can look at it or collect it to wait for its value to appreciate. Our coolest book is a Douglas Adams book that the author signed and sent to my husband a month or so before he died. I love that because of the story attached. But a first edition signed by the author has no appeal to me at all.

And yet, I'm not into horses either, and I love Dick Francis books. He's got jockeys, horse trainers, veterinarians, owners, and on and on. But I think his book are great fun. So it's not just the subject of the book that turned me off. I read far enough this time to remember that I hadn't liked it before and then I skipped to the end. It still wasn't making any connections for me, so I put it aside. Just not a series for me.

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson, Debut category

Themes: family, crime, ESP, forensics, religion
Setting: modern small town Colorado

Cameryn is fascinated with forensic science, despite her grandmother's insistence that it's a depressing thing for a 17 year old to be reading about. But her dad is the coroner in their little town, and he agrees to take her on as his assistant. It's harder than she expected. It's one thing to read about maggots and the smell of a decaying body - it's another thing to experience it first hand. But she's still excited for her job - until the second corpse she has to work on belongs to a friend. And Rachel was murdered.

It seems to be the work of a serial killer. The media is everywhere, including a psychic that Cameryn's best friend swears is the real thing. But this is much harder than Cameryn expected, between being at the autopsy, dealing with her grandmother's resistance, her feelings for the new deputy, the death of a friend, and now her long gone mother's sudden desire to be in her daughter's life again.

I liked this story. Cameryn is an appealing character, despite her rather unusual career choice, and she mostly acts her age. In fact, she makes some very silly moves which made me want to shake her! Didn't she ever read Nancy Drew? Snooping in the suspect's bedroom never pays off! And hiding under the bed? Really? But I'm willing to give the series another chance. 3 stars for this one, but I hope the series improves as Cameryn settles into her new job.

I read Booked to Die several years ago and it didn't grab me, either. I finished it, but I haven't been tempted to pick up another book in the series.

Count me as another person who doesn't feel the appeal of books as collectibles. I don't have enough shelf space for all of the books I want to read, so why would I want to waste any of it on books that aren't for reading?!

Have you tried any of Marianne Macdonald's Dido Hoare mysteries? The main character has an antiquarian bookshop in North London. I've read several books in the series and liked them.

She Got Up Off the Couch! by Haven Kimmel, biography category

Themes: education, family, coming of age, small towns
Setting: 1970s Mooreland, Indiana

A nice contrast to Kimmel's first book, A Girl Called Zippy. The first book was essentially a love story to Kimmel's tiny hometown. This one is dedicated to her mother, who decided one day that it was time to go to college and get off the couch. Despite her husband's total opposition, she was able to get loans to pay for it, enroll in classes, find a way to get to class without a car or driver's license, eventually acquire both, and then graduate with a 4.0.

It was inspiring, but it was a sad story too. Kimmel doesn't seem to spend much time feeling sorry for herself, and she certainly kept busy getting into -and out of - trouble all the time. But she was dressed in ragged, dirty clothes, her parents never knew where she was, and she began to feel more and more like her mother had forgotten about her and her dad had his own interests that were crowding her out.

Maybe that's just to be expected. The first book was hysterically funny, but this one deals with some of the themes of growing up - alienation and disappointment. It made for a good story, but it wasn't very funny. Lots of great parts - I loved Zippy's babysitting efforts with her nephew and her visit to summer camp. 4 stars.

Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, health and humans category

Themes: science, evolution, adaptation, discovery, biology
Setting: fossil fields and universities around the world

Very easy to read book about evolution, fossils, anatomy, and how weird life is. Lots of stuff to think about and marvel at in here, and even some laughs. The pictures helped a lot with the more complex concepts. 4 stars.

Russia and the Restored Gospel by Gary Browning, LDS category

Themes: family, history, faith, revelation, economic hardship, religion
Setting: 1987-1993 Russia and Finland

I wanted to read this book partly because of the subject and partly because of the author - I remember him from when I was at BYU. But while the subject was interesting, the writing wasn't very good. Browning seems to tell the story this way: he gives the date, he tells a lot of stuff that happened, he throws in some personal accounts that may or may not be related to what just happened, and then he moves on to the next thing that happened. There's no real attempt to follow themes or really develop situations that occurred. It becomes repetitive too, as the same types of things happen often and it's not that interesting to read about it ten different times.

The stories of the people themselves and some of the challenges they face, however, are very interesting. Over and over, they tell of how religion became a dirty little secret during the Communist era, and how they were actively discouraged from believing - or even talking about - God. So when they needed help or wanted to pray, they had no idea how to go about it. The Orthodox faith was very important to older people, but the younger generations didn't find much comfort in the rituals. Family life was not seen as very important, and most families had one child at most. Alcohol use was extremely common. So many of the stories I read said, 'We got married, everything was great, and then he started drinking.'

When the Mormons showed up, there was some suspicion of this "American" church, but the fact that it places so much emphasis on family and that it provides answers to important questions made it very appealing. The book has the story of the growth of the church in Russia, as well as an inside account of what it was like living in the middle of perestroika and the economic upheaval common during the early 90s in Russia.

I would only recommend this one to LDS who are interested in the story. I'm glad I read it, but I won't read it again. 3 stars.

I think you would enjoy the Dunning books if you give them a try. Cliff Janeway is a bookscout, but he could have been any of a number of other professions. The books are interesting to me because he mentions books that I am familiar with. Imagine a series of stories about an antique dealer who solves mysteries -- same type of book. We started reading them in our library mystery club and not one person had anything negative to say.

Maybe I will give them a try in a couple of years. But I have so many begging to be read right now that I think it will have to wait.

The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World by Larry Zuckerman, food and water category

Themes: class, politics, science, religion, immigration, prejudice, agriculture, society
Setting: Europe, mostly England, Ireland, and France, and the US, 1700-1918 or so.

I really enjoyed this one. I found so much to think about in here. Just look at this list of themes up there - and this is supposed to be about potatoes! But it was amazing how much the 'humble spud' effected.

The potato was viewed with some suspicion early on. In England, this latest a surprisingly long time. In France and Ireland, people eventually loved it as an easy substitute for growing grain, because it took less labor and would grow in poorer soil, as well as being easier for poor working people to prepare. But in England, it was looked down on and considered only good enough for peasants and livestock. In the US, colonials loved it - any food is good food - and it was grown and eaten everywhere. The book also includes a good but brief chapter about the potato famine in Ireland, its causes and effects, the government response, and its effect on migration.

Much more interesting that you might expect. My main complaint is that the 'western world' of the title was misleading. What about the potato in Germany, Spain, and Italy? What about Russia? These countries were scarcely mentioned, which was unfortunate. Still, 4 stars.

Defender of the Faith: The B H Roberts story by Truman G. Madsen

I decided not to finish this one. I found Roberts story fascinating. His early life was something out of a Dickens tale. His journey across the plains was filled with story after story of the mischief a mostly unsupervised child could get into. Once he was so tired, he snuck into a wagon and climbed into a barrel to get some sleep. Only invalids and the elderly were allowed to ride. But once he got into the barrel, he realized it contained molasses! He figured since he was already covered and sticky, he might as well stay put, and went to sleep anyway. Then he had a terrible time getting cleaned up afterwards.

But the writing was not my style at all and I had a hard time staying interested. I think I will skip this one for now.

> 44

Sounds interesting.

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper, historical fiction category

Themes: race, nature, religion, war
Setting: 1750s New York/Canada region

This is one of those icons of American literature that everyone has heard about, but not everyone gets around to actually reading. I don't know why I had never picked it up before, unless maybe I read something of Cooper's in school and didn't enjoy it. But I decided to see for myself what it was all about.

Despite my expectations, the book was pretty easy to read. There were a few times when I skimmed through, especially towards the end, but there was a lot of action and the story was interesting. It is quite different from modern books in a couple of ways. First, the dialogue. Nobody speaks like that! In fact, I doubt they ever spoke like that! Usually it was just sort of one of those things you read and don't think about, but a couple of times it actually brought me back out of the story, especially when Hawkeye would use some dialectal spelling of a word which didn't need any spelling change in the first place. So that was sometimes disconcerting.

The other major shift is the whole 'noble savage' thing. See, it starts with these two sisters who are daughters of an English - well, Scottish major, who is defending a fort from some French soldiers and Indians. They want to travel from one fort to another to meet him. They get captured, and lost, and rescued, and then arrive and a bunch more adventures ensue. They are rescued by Hawkeye and his two companions, both Mohicans. Somehow, there's all this stuff in there that translates into Bad Indian versus Good Indian. It's all pretty dated. If you ask me, none of them were all that noble! What's with all the scalping and dashing babies brains out? But Uncas and his father, the two Mohicans, were certainly more the heroic type. I just have to wonder how much of this is romanticized, and I think the answer is, most of it. It was still a good story, but I think modern readers would find it a little hard to puzzle out. I was helped a lot by sparknotes.com and their reader's guide. 3 stars because it is a good story, but it's not really told in a way that I loved.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, historical fiction category

Themes: race, civil rights, class
Setting: 1962 Mississippi

Review coming after book group on Tuesday.

I'm thinking of scrapping the Europe category and splitting historical fiction into two categories, maybe one American history and one European, or one 18th and 19th century and one for modern historical fiction, or something like that. Not sure about it yet, but suggestions are welcome. I just seem to be having a hard time finding the books I wanted to read for the Europe category, but I'm finding it really easy to fill the historical fiction category.

I wish I could nail things down like you do. The last line of your Mohican review is exactly how I feel about it. Great job!

I love your reviews, Victoria!

Queste by Angie Sage, alternate worlds and magical lands category

Themes: adventure, family, good versus evil, family, magic,
Setting: the Septimus Heap world, the Forest, and Foryx

Spoilers for previous books in the series

Septimus is back and needs to get busy catching up with his Magyk lessons, since he was gone for so long studying Alchemy. But while his older brother Simon seems to have learned his lesson, his former apprentice Merrin is a different story. He's back at the Castle, and he blames Septimus for everything. He's going to get revenge, no matter what it takes. And he'll start by getting a job at the Manuscriptorium, right under Beetle's nose.

And what about Nikko and Snorri? After the last book left them stranded back in time, Jenna and Septimus are frantic to find a way to rescue them. Septimus's former master Marcellus might be able to help - if his current master doesn't find out what's up first. And if that Darke Thing sneaking about doesn't manage to find them first.

That all may sound like so much gibberish if you haven't tried this fun fantasy series by Angie Sage. I really like the series, though, and I recommend it. Don't, however, start with this one. You'll be lost and it won't be nearly as much fun as if you already know the characters. Start with Magyk. This is book 4 in a 7 book series. I think, though, that it's not quite as good as it could be. It seems a little thin. The first two books in the series were outstanding. Just so much fun - such nasty bad guys, such fun little twists, such neat magykal creatures and spells. But this one was lacking something. It felt like there was plenty going on, all right, but maybe it wasn't very focused. Lots of things were introduced, but not resolved. I know it's the middle of the series, so there has to be something else to write about, but this one wasn't as good as I had hoped. Still, I can't wait to get my hands on Syren, book 5, and I hope that book 6 is just around the corner. 4 stars

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, historical fiction category

Themes: race, civil rights, class
Setting: 1962 Mississippi

Let me start by admitting that I was a little reluctant to read this one. It seemed like EVERYONE was just *raving* about how great this book was, and that tends to put me off a bit. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems like I tend to dislike a lot of really popular fiction as too sentimental or too trashy or just plain not my thing. But this was a book group choice and I have generally enjoyed our books, so it was worth a try anyway.

I admit it - I was wrong. This really was a good book. I chose it for my North American historical fiction and I'm also using it for my 50 states challenge, as this is such a good portrait of a slice of Mississippi history.

I don't think I'll do a formal book review with the plot and everything, as this one is so popular that there are lots of them already. This is just my reaction and a bit about book group.

We had a great discussion. Here are the highlights: Everyone loved Minnie and Aibilene, although we were split on which woman we most wanted to be like. Everyone hated Hillie. We found it interesting that she could be such a loving mother and such a horrible human being. We were also struck by the mother-daughter dynamic in the story, since we are all daughters and all of us that came are mothers or about to be.

One of the most interesting things that struck me about the book - and one that actually kept me up for a bit thinking about it - was the power of secrets. That could really have been an alternate title for the book. Every woman in here has a secret; some of them have lots. The biggest secret of all, of course, is the book that Skeeter is writing with the women. That big secret is powerful enough to ruin everything if it gets out. But there are layers of smaller secrets - Celia with her trying to keep Minnie a secret from her husband, and then when he finds out and they try to keep THAT a secret from Celia! I am amazed that they were all able to keep this straight!

If you haven't read this one and are thinking about it, let me add my voice to the chorus - it is a really good book and worth reading. 4.5 stars

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee, food and water category

Themes: heritage, family, race, adaptation, food
Setting: New York, California, China, and lots of other places.

Lee takes a look at a simple little piece of American culture - the fortune cookie - and uses it to explore Chinese immigration to the US, past and present, Japanese interment, American culture, and much more. It sounds like it might be a boring or pretentious read, but it was a lot of fun and gave me a lot to think about. It also made me hungry for Chinese food! 4 stars.

I loved this book and it does make you crave just about everything on the menu! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

>53 cmbohn: I'm glad to see that you liked The Help; I may have been one of those who raved about the book. I also frequently have problems with books that others find wonderful, but I totally agreed on this one.

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot, European historical fiction category

Themes: war, love, hope
Setting: WWI and post war France

Five soldiers were convicted of cowardice after shooting themselves in the hand. They are tied up and forced into enemy territory. Later the fiancee of one of the men receives a letter than convinces her to go looking for the truth behind their deaths and she will not stop until she finds out everything.

It is an intriguing idea, but I didn't really like the main character, Mathilde, and I never understood why she had this compulsion to keep asking questions. I didn't find her sympathetic or believable. I wound up skipping a lot of the story, but I made it through to the rather improbable end because I wanted to see what happened.

The stories of the war itself were well written and powerful. But overall, I really can't recommend the book. I kept putting it off, reaching for any other book besides this one. Finally I made myself finish it today, but if it felt like a chore, then it can hardly be worth reading, can it? 2 stars.

I'm glad to see your comments on The Help, too. I picked it up a few weeks ago at a price too good to pass up. It fits one of my challenge categories and I plan to get to it this summer. As a rule, I'm also wary of those books everyone else raves about because I've so often been disappointed with them. It sounds like this one may live up to the buzz.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd, debut mystery category, as audiobook

Themes: war, family, mental illness
Setting: WWI England

Bess Crawford is a nurse serving on a hospital ship during World War I. Her ship is hit by a mine and Bess escapes, but her close call reminds her that she needs to keep a promise she made to one of the soldiers under her care and deliver a message to the soldier's brother.

Bess gets some leave in England, and after spending a few days with her anxious parents, she heads to Kent to visit the Grahams. They are glad to see her and hear the news of Arthur's last days, but when it comes time to deliver his message, his family is not very receptive. Bess decides that she had done her duty, and plans to leave the area, but she keeps getting caught up in situations that force her to stay. The longer she stays, the more she learns about the Grahams and what Arthur's last words may have meant.

I enjoyed this one. Bess does sometimes do some silly things, but she is a likable character. The setting and characters are well done. I felt like a little something was lacking, though, so I'm only giving it 4 stars, but I am happy to read the next one in this series and see how Bess develops.

I'm really loving Wives and Daughters right now. I love that feeling of being deep in a really good book and knowing that you have quite a bit more to enjoy before it's over. I discovered this book via the BBC movie, so I just put that on hold at the library to enjoy when I'm done with the book. Nothing like a little break with a good book to relieve the stress.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, European historical fiction category

Themes: Love, family, class
Setting: Victorian England

Two years ago I was flipping channels when I found this costume drama on PBS and I couldn't turn away. Never mind that I came in near the end and had no idea who any of the characters were. Never mind that I didn't even know the title of the movie or what it was about. Something kept me riveted right to the end of the show. Once I had discovered the title, I knew I had to read this one. I finished it yesterday, and it was a perfect antidote to a very stressful week.

Molly Gibson is an only child of a widowed surgeon, living in a quiet English village. Her life moves at a sedate pace until she goes on a visit to the Hamleys nearby. While she is staying there, her father decides to remarry, and Molly's life is turned upside down. She is pleased to be getting a new stepsister, but her stepmother is a different story. Cynthia, the new sister, and Molly, grow up, attend dances, fall in love, and share some secrets.

This is not a quick read - it was over 600 pages, and it wasn't even finished! I'm glad I knew that before I got to the end, or I would have been pretty upset to have read that far and then had to imagine my happy ending. But I really enjoyed it. It just swept me up into the world of the story and I didn't want to leave.

Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, twist category

Themes: romance, space, family, overcoming challenges, class, religion, personhood

Setting: Space

Jenna wasn't born - she was created, for a woman who wanted a child. But once Jenna came home, she discovered that she wasn't the sort of child she wanted, so Jenna never really became a daughter. She was just sort of an obligation. After years of abuse, Jenna finally gets sent away to a school where she can learn a trade and find a job. She makes and loses her first friend. Then she leaves school and heads out for a distant planet at her first job as a nuclear technician. She likes her new job and when she meets her wealthy and powerful new employer, she finds herself attracted to him. But there are many things keeping them apart.

Sound familiar? If you're familiar with Jane Eyre, you will immediately spot this as a retelling. I love the original, and I was intrigued by the idea of casting it as a space story. But I was not very happy with this version.

The space setting was fun, and I think it worked. A good story can be reinterpreted over and over, and still be fresh and interesting. Jenna has a strong voice and I mostly liked her. But something about the story just didn't work for me. For one thing, I hated the religion part. I just didn't buy all this stuff about the Goddess. It wasn't as well integrated into the story as it should have been, so it just felt like preaching. I wasn't crazy about Ravenbeck either.

I didn't hate this story, but I had high hopes for it and found myself disappointed. I finished it, but I'm not sure I'll read anything else by Sharon Shinn.

Abandoned book: Death, Daring, and Disaster: Search and Rescue in the National Parks

This one sounded like fun, stupid things that people do at the national parks, a sort of Darwin Awards for the outdoors. But it read more like a newspaper or an almanac, and it wasn't my style at all. It was really huge too. I think I'll just pass on this one.

That one sounds more like a book you keep in the guest bedroom or at a summer cabin, to be dipped into by tired people.

I found it interesting that religion plays a large role in Jenna Starborn since it's so prevalent in Jane Eyre, but why do futuristic tales always assume we'll be worshiping a female deity?

Good question. And I think you're right about the DDD book. It just wasn't something I wanted to spend that much time with, but to just read a few sections here and there would be pretty entertaining, I think.

Abandoned book: New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith

Dolly Parton shoots the King of Mardi Gras. Detective Skip Langdon uses her social connections to solve the crime. Not to my taste at all, so I didn't bother finishing this one. It seemed very dated to me, even though it's only 20 years old. I won't try this author again.

62 :: I'm sorry you were disappointed with Jenna Starborn! I've never read it, but I really enjoyed the Shinn books that I've read -- General Winston's Daughter and Summer at Castle Auburn. I would recommend trying one of them before you swear off Shinn completely!

Maybe I will try one later, but I'm in no hurry, that's for sure.

Syren by Angie Sage, alternate worlds and magical lands category

Themes: magic, family, good versus evil, redemption
Setting: the Trading Post, the Wizard Tower, and the islands

This is book 5 in the Septimus Heap series. I don't know why this is not more popular - it is very engaging and suspenseful. I love Septimus, Jenna, Beetle, and Nikko. They are very strong characters, but even minor characters like Stanley the Message Rat are well defined. They are big books, but they read fast. Maybe they are suffering from being compared to Harry Potter, but just because something is a fantasy book and it involves a child as a main character, it's going to be compared to HP. This series is quite complex, but unlike HP it doesn't get substantially darker as the series progresses. The writing is totally different. They will appeal to different audiences, but the Septimus Heap books are well done and very entertaining.

Spoilers for previous books!

This one keeps us out of the Castle and the Wizarding Tower for most of the story. Jenna, Nikko, Beetle, Snorri, and Ullr are all on their way back to town when they decide to take a little detour and visit the sea. While they are there, they meet up with Jenna's father and decide to travel home with him. Meanwhile, Septimus and Spit Fyre are flying to meet them. Once they are reunited, they discover that all kinds of things have been falling apart. Simon and Lucy are separated. Wolf Boy sets off on a quest of his own. And someone has set a dangerous plan into motion that will bring a dangerous army right to the very doors of the Castle itself.

One of the many things I enjoy about this series is the look of the books themselves. I love the titles and the old-fashioned spelling in here. Every book has a map of some kind, and I love looking at the map and trying to guess what's going to happen. Toward the end of this one I was thinking, "this must be a cliffhanger - there's no way she can wrap all this up by the end of the book." But I was wrong. Maybe it was a little rushed, but it was intense and it was fun. Only 2 more left in the series! 4 stars

A little side note to say that I just finished watching Wives and Daughters with Justine Durrell. What a great adaptation! I just loved it, and this time, I got to see it from the beginning. If you're not interesting in reading it, it's worth watching, especially if you are a Jane Austen fan. There's this great love scene at the end that's not in the book, but it's sure an equal of anything Austen wrote.

Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne, European history category

Themes: civilization, war, government, religion, politics, city development, art, architecture, royalty

Setting: Paris, France from before 1000 AD to 1968

The author starts by saying that every city is like a person, and Paris is definitely a woman. Like any fascinating woman, she is changeable and captivating. I'm not entirely sure this conceit works, but it's not a bad way to start off the book.

Here's what works: I could certainly feel the amount of research that must have gone into this book. I'm sure it was staggering, and it shows. The author is obviously really familiar with all the key people, places, and ideas. And I liked being able to link things together. For the first time, I really got a sense of how all those Louis's fit together and exactly who Cardinal Richelieu was.

What didn't work: Really, it was too much. I was overwhelmed. Some of that may have been my fault, for trying to read the book straight through, without putting it down for very long, but I was afraid I would lose my place, so to speak, if I set it down. So I pushed through and it got to be confusing.

Personal feelings: I was actually glad to see that the writer sort of skimmed through the French Revolution. It became just one of a series of revolts occuring in the capital, and rather than go into all the disgusting violence in a lot of detail, he just hit on a few things, especially how it affected the look of the city itself and the economy. I read The Lost King of France last year and that one had gory detail piled upon detail of dismemberment, torture, and so on, until I couldn't wait to put it down. This book spared me all that, and I was glad. But if you are interested in the history of France primarily during the French Revolution, this is probably not a great book for you.

My other observation is probably not the author's fault, but the publishers. This is the kind of book (or I am the kind of reader, I don't know which) where you need some more maps and illustrations and so on to figure out what's going on. Instead of having them throughout the text, there are a few pages of color pictures and a few pages of black and white pictures, and that's it. I would have liked at least a black and white picture of all the major monarchs and landmarks. He assumes that you know what Paris looks like, but I only know what I've seen in books and movies. But like I say, that may be the publisher. They seem to be very picky about how many pictures they will include.

Overall: I enjoyed this book, somewhat, but I came away with the strong impression that I am EXTREMELY glad that I do not live in Paris, especially in Paris before 1900. It sounds like a horrible place to live for most people. Yes, there were great artists, musicians, scientists, and politicians who lived there and left their marks on the city. But most of the time, it was a miserable place to be, with plagues, fires, open sewage, constant violence, and little or no civil liberties. Various groups would be rounded up for whatever reason - heresy, political unrest - and summarily executed or tortured. I know this went on in most of the world, but wow, I got really tired of reading about it page after page. I debated between 2.5 stars and 3, but I decided to round up, because I think the author did a pretty good job. It's just that I found the subject rather grimmer than I expected.

Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, by Garth Nix, alternate worlds and magical lands category

Themes: life and death, good versus evil, family, magic versus science, royalty, fate versus free will, dog versus cat (No, really. Kind of.)
Setting: the Old World and Ancelstierre

Enter a world were the dead still walk. Necromancers can enter Death and bind the dead to their will. The throne is vacant and magic is still powerful but unpredictable. Just over the Wall lies another country, with guns, telegraphs, and automobiles. But in the Old Kingdom, things haven't changed for hundreds of years.

Except that a new and more powerful Necromancer is on the move, and the one who would stop him has himself entered into death. His replacement is his 16 year old daughter, Sabriel. Her only ally is an unpredictable cat-creature that may be more of a threat than a friend, and a long-frozen prince who calls himself Touchstone.

That is the basis for the first of this series by Australian writer Garth Nix. Lirael picks up 18 or so years later, when Sabriel and Touchstone have conquered one enemy, married, and had two children. But now an even bigger threat to the kingdom is about to be unleashed, and war between Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom is looking more and more likely. Between the politicians and the necromancers, it's hard to pick who is less to be trusted, but pretty soon, both Sabriel and Touchstone are helpless in this fight, and the battle is taken up by Lirael, a Daughter of the Clayr, and Prince Sameth, training to be the next Abhorsen. But Lirael has a mysterious path and never develops the Sight which will mark her as a true Clayr, and Sameth is terrified of Death. With the help of the Disreputable Dog and the company (you can't really call it help) of Moggeth the cat, plus all the bells, flutes, and swords of their offices, Lirael and Sameth have to prevent the destruction of the world.

I read the first in this series years ago, but never made it any further. Then I got the set from a friend for my birthday and I put them on my challenge for this year. I thought Sabriel was really good - suspenseful, original, and well written. So why did it take me so long to start the next one? Because it is also complicated, and I was a little fuzzy on the whole world of the story. So I had to start with a reread of that one, which I'm not counting for the challenge. I finished it in a day and couldn't wait to pick up Lirael.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy that one quite as much. Lirael starts with the main character waiting to develop her Sight and become a true member of her people. But it never happens. She is the oldest of their group to be Unsighted, and all she can do is whine and mope about it. Once she creates or summons the Disreputable Dog, things pick up a bit, and I started to like her more. But this self-pity thing got old fast. Prince Sameth is kind of the same, except that he is certainly more spoiled. But he can't seem to confess to anyone his fear of Death, and just runs away. So he wasn't very likable either at first. Finally, the characters begin to grow and mature and I was free to enjoy the story. Abhorsen picks up right where the second book leaves off and it is full of action. More questions are answered, about Lirael, about the Dog, about Moggeth (although that's at the end), and world comes very much to life. I liked it a lot. I'm giving 5 stars to Sabriel, 4 to Lirael, and 4.5 to Abhorsen.

The Warden- Anthony Trollope, European historical fiction category
Also for Reading Through Time challenge: 19th century

Themes: religion, the press, love, church politics
Setting: fictional cathedral town of Barchester in 19th century England

The first in the Barcester series by Anthony Trollope. Mr. Harding, the warden of the title, is a clergyman in charge of a hospital/nursing home for 12 men, funded by a bequest for that purpose. Mr. Bold is a reformer, who wants to clear the church of any hint of financial impropriety. He is also in love with Miss Harding. When he begins looking into the hospital and the bequest, he decides that too much money is being left to Mr. Harding and not enough to the elderly residents. Soon his conclusions lead to a debate, and then to a lawsuit and newspaper editorials. Poor Mr. Harding, who is certainly not corrupt nor greedy, comes off looking like the worst embezzler in the church. Somehow this situation must be resolved.

I actually read this out of order, and read Barchester Towers first. That one is the better book. This reads like a prequel, not really a book on its own right. The characters are well developed, but the story seems a little thin to sustain a whole book. But now I want to look through Barchester Towers again. Good, but certainly not great.

*tap tap tap* Is this thing on? Pretty quiet around here.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, twist category

Themes: witchcraft, good versus evil, war, love, magic
Setting: Westfalia, a medieval kingdom pretty much like Germany, but with magic

Galen is returning from war, and wants to settle down to quiet life. He heads for his aunt's house, but one the way, he meets and helps and old woman. He shares his meal and a cloak with her, and she repays him with an invisibility cloak and some wool. He will need them, she says, when he gets to the palace.

He's not planning on seeing the palace at all, but it turns out his uncle is gardener to King Gregor, so Galen become the new undergardener. It isn't long before he hears the rumors about the princesses, who are locked in their rooms each night, and yet wear their dancing shoes to shreds, and seem to be strangely ill.

This retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses is by the author of Dragon Slippers, which is a wonderful and original story. This one is pretty familiar, at least until the end, when we get a bit more of an exciting climax than in the traditional tale, and it's all the better for it. I really enjoyed it. If you love fairy tales, this one is for you.

Not quite a review:

Against the Grain: How Agriculture has Hijacked Civilization by Richard Manning, health and humans category

I found the title to this one intriguing, and thought it was worth a look. But I have some real problems with it, despite it's favorable reviews.

Manning's contention, and he provides lots of research to back it up, is that the rise of agriculture and farming instead of hunting and gathering, was the start of a bunch of problems for humankind. Yes, it may have allowed the rise of cities, of trade, of art, but it also created disease, poverty, and a disconnection from nature.

That may or may not be true, but it's certainly a well argued idea, and opens some interesting discussion. But his other basic idea, that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was one big party - out all day, kill some game, bring it home, have a feast, and then have a bunch of sex - and that farming was a HUGE step backwards, well, I'm not so sure about that. He seems to think that anyone would be sure to choose a nomadic lifestyle over settling down and raising crops. Not this sister! It may have been nice for a while, but I would get tired of that pretty darn fast. When the sun was out and there was plenty of game, it might have been fun. But what about during rainy season, or a blizzard, or a drought, and what about when the game got scarce, or someone got mauled in a hunt? Not so appealing then. I would be more than ready to trade it all in for a shelter that stayed in one place, even if it was pretty darn humble.

This bias of his is so strong that I'm not sure I'm going to finish the book. I'm only 60 or so pages in, and some of the ideas have been really interesting. But I just feel his basic assumption is nothing but his own personal feelings, and I have to wonder how much that colors his research he cites in defense of his thesis. I have decided to set it aside for now and pick it up in a few days or a week and see if I still feel the same.

1632 by Eric Flint, alternate worlds and magical lands category

Themes: war, patriotism, utopian society, immigration, gender roles, religion, technology
Setting: Westphalia 1632

This crazy story was the first real alternate reality book I read for this category, and it was exactly what I had in mind when I chose this category.

It all starts during a wedding in West Virginia in the 1990s sometime. The reception is swinging along, with all the little coal mining town at the party, when a brilliant light hits and everything gets weird. The partygoers assume there is a fire over the rise, but the phones and radios are out. So a few guys head over to check things out. When they get over the hill, they are stunned to find soldiers attacking a farmer and his wife. And the soldiers are wearing armor, wielding swords, and carrying flintlock rifles. What is going on?

They soon realize that the whole town has been transported back in time and place to Europe in the middle of the Hundred Years War. And there is no way to get back. Ever. Now the townspeople have to figure out how to settle in to this new place, who those soldiers were, and which side of this war they want to be on.

I really loved this book. It was so much fun. Yes, it is a bit much to believe - they just HAPPEN to have a coal powered power station, and a working coal mine. They have the high school, the hospital, and a first class surgeon. They have all kinds of military know-how. But who cares? It was a fun story, and I'm willing to buy all that if it works. To me, it worked, and I liked it. There was a lot of violence, some romance, and some mild history going on, but I thought it was fun. I'm glad I found this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who thinks the description sounds interesting. It had me wondering last night what I would be doing if my family wound up back in the 1600s. Then I realized - Of course! I'd be the librarian.

77, I usually find with that kind of book that as long as the story remains consistent then the original premise doesn't matter to me for enjoyment purposes. Sometimes you just have to suspend your disbelief.

I think that's exactly it. I enjoyed it so much that I picked up Ring of Fire, a collection of short stories by different authors written about the same world, and I'm zooming through it. The first story is about the creation of a navy, and it's a lot of fun.

@75 :: I read Princess of the Midnight Ball for this challenge as well! I liked it too -- nothing earth-shattering, but a good read nonetheless. I think there are some sequels coming out at some point, which should be fun!

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck, American historical fiction category

Themes: farming, family, education, small town life
Setting: Parke county, Indiana, 1904

Russell Culver thinks it's a miracle at first - his meaner-than-a-snake schoolteacher drops dead right before school is ready to start. But it turns out that it's not the blessing he thought it would be. Who takes the teacher's place but his own bossy big sister Tansy? And since she's in charge, she's not about to take any lip from her younger brothers.

He has to admit that she's working hard for her pay. She even visits the trashy Tarbox clan, trying to get one extra student for the school which will be the magic number eight they need to stay open. Russell's hopes are dashed when 16 year old Glen Tarbox shows up the first day of school. He can't read or write, but he's ready to learn. Especially if it means being closer to Miss Tansy.

But Glen has a rival - Russell's best friend Charlie is sweet on the teacher, too. And so is city slicker Eugene from the auto company. But Tansy is set on keeping her school going, despite nasty pranks and a school inspection.

This book was really funny in parts. I listened to it on tape, and I think that's the best way to read it. I loved the eulogy of Miss Myrt Arbuckle, the story of JW the dog's encounter with the porcupine, and the fire than nearly demolished the boy's privy. So funny! But it's also a wonderful slice of life of a small town and farm community in Indiana in 1904, when the train containing the latest farm equipment was the high point of the summer, better than the county fair, and when pig butchering was a community event. And at the end, the author came on saying it was dedicated to his 98 year old mother who attended just such a school in rural Indiana at the turn of the century. Great fun. 4.5 stars

Ring of Fire by Eric Flint and other authors, alternate worlds and magical lands category

Themes: technology, religion, war, politics, family
Setting: the New United States and Prague 1632

This is a collection of several different stories about the Ring of Fire world described above in message 77. Eric Flint invited several authors to write their own stories using the characters and setting he created. I was surprised by this, especially because he says he plans to incorporate their ideas into the rest of the series. History is something that happens to a LOT of people, he says, and he didn't just want to know what happened to the few characters he created, but to lots and lots of people. I thought it was a fun idea, and I enjoyed this collection. Some of the stories that dealt with religion were a little too boring for me, but I enjoyed most of them.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Saturday morning matinee category

Themes: ghosts, sexual tension, loss of innocence
Setting: an isolated Victorian English house

Wow, I forgot that I *HATE* Henry James. Actually, I didn't hate him quite so much before I read this book, but now I really do. So disappointed! These mindnumbing long paragraphs where NOTHING happens for way too long, lots of drama and emotion, but most of it told and not shown, and completely unbelievable characters.

I think if I hadn't heard the whole discussion on The Turn of the Screw - is it really ghosts or is the governess nuts - I would have been at least a little drawn into the story, to see what would happen next. But as it is, I just couldn't force myself to finish this! My vote is a solid 'the governess is nuts' vote. Totally unbelievable premise and I couldn't STAND the woman. Seriously, if not nuts, she's an idiot. She's 20 years old, agrees to take this job sight unseen out in the boondocks, promises never to contact her employer no matter what, and then gets all gushing and emotional over her new students. What's with all these kisses too? Too much repressed sexuality. These people are way out there. Just bad. 1 star.

83
Just so's you know -- your review made me smile. I do think I'll let Henry James chill on my shelf a bit longer.....

Let the Trumpet Sound by Stephen B. Oates, biography category

Themes: civil rights, racism, war, civil disobedience, religion, education
Setting: Southern US, mostly about 1960s

Sorry for the brief delay. I had to let my thoughts simmer for a bit before I was ready to write the review.

This is my second attempt to read a biography of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and this one was much more accessible, although it's still a substantial book. Even though I didn't finish the first one, Parting the Waters, it's clear that the two writers had a different focus. Oates skimmed over King's family history to focus on his intellectual and spiritual development. He spent a lot of time tracing King's reading during college and how his philosophy of non-violent resistance emerged. It went on a little too long, I thought, but once he became Reverend King, things sure picked up speed and stayed pretty busy to the end.

I really felt that Oates had done some great research into his subject. I found myself moved to tears more than once as I read some of King's own moving words. It seemed to me though, that Rev. King got a little distracted towards the end of his life and spread himself too thin. He certainly felt tired much of the time. He began to have premonitions of his own death and I think part of the reason he worked so hard is that he knew he didn't have much time to accomplish everything he wanted to.

I would recommend this book, but I admit that I got bogged down with some of the politics and the competing organizations. I also would have liked a bit of perspective at the end, maybe a chapter about King's impact on later activists, on his legacy, and then something about the other figures in the book, including his family. Sometimes too much info, sometimes not enough, but plenty to think about. 3.5 stars.

Pammab - I think that's a good call.

Well, I am going to have to add Richard Peck's The Teacher's Funeral to my growing list. I have read a couple of his books recently, and really enjoyed them. He has such a fun sense of humor and tells a good story.

#83 - My brother picked up Henry James and quickly put him down again when he found him so long-winded and convoluted, he certainly influenced me to avoid Henry James' books!

cmbohn - If you ever want to give Henry James another shot, I would recommend Daisy Miller. I think it moves forward better than The Turn of the Screw, and the characters are more realistic in my opinion. Plus it's short! :) I enjoyed it a lot more than The Turn of the Screw.

Hey!
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Jenna Starborn. I guess I just shrugged the religious stuff off when I read it.
Glad to see that you liked the Elizabeth Gaskell book. I have just started another of hers, North and South and am enjoying it so far.

Christina - I read Daisy Miller back in college and enjoyed it enough that I was fine with the idea of reading another of his books for this challenge. I think before I decide to read another of his books, I'll look through it pretty thoroughly first.

Victoria - No harm done! It just wasn't for me. I'll be looking forward to your review of North and South.

1633 by Eric Flint and David Weber, alternate worlds and magical lands

Themes: war, religion, politics, patriotism, technology, love, expansionism, free will vs. fate
Setting: Westphalia, London, Amsterdam, new West Virginia 1633

This picks up more or less where 1632 left off. The new American-Sweden alliance has won a temporary victory over the German and Spanish forces. But Cardinal Richilieu is quick to spot the new threat to his own power and figure out how to manipulate things to his own advantage. He sets up a new alliance with Spain against the Americans. Meanwhile, the Americans are trying to establish diplomatic relations with England and the Netherlands. It's not going well. So the Americans work even harder preparing for the coming war.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as 1632 and Ring of Fire. The politics and the behind the scenes maneuvering take up too much time and the personal relationships not enough time. Towards the end of the book, though, the politics finally fade into the background and we got on with things. It's a tough conclusion, but a good one. Just the reminder that war is brutal and breaks your heart. I'm giving it 3 stars. I'm glad I read it, but I don't know if I'll continue with the series.

Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli, twist category

Themes: fairy tales, Rapunzel, spinning, family
Setting: small medieval town

I've heard recommendations of this retelling of Rapunzel. I usually like fairy tale retellings, but this one was a disappointment. It started off promising enough, but sort of lost steam and I never really got involved in the story. Saskia is the miller's daughter - or is she? When the miller becomes a drunk, she is forced to take care of her own future. She digs out her mother's spinning wheel and goes to work. So far, so good, but once we get to the castle, I didn't feel much of a connection to Saskia anymore. The spinner, though, was an interesting character. Too bad I hated the ending. It made me sad. 2 stars

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein, Saturday morning matinee category

Themes: space, freedom, artificial intelligence, colonialism, family, war, politics
Setting: the Moon, late 21st century

What happens when you mix an extremely intelligent computer, an elderly anarchist, a beautiful revolutionary, and an independent apolitical family man? In Heinlein's hands, you get all the ingredients for a revolution. In this tale of the future, the Moon has become a one way penal colony, where a sentence there means all your descendants will be unable to return to Earth and you'll be entirely on your own. Where even the air will cost you and "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."

The first 5 or so pages were so hard to read that I really wasn't sure I was going to stick with it, but I liked the idea and the characters, so I pushed through. The grammar and syntax are very different, with no articles and few possessive pronouns. There's all kinds of new jargon and a lot of Russian slang. It was super confusing at first.

Even after the first 50 pages, I still didn't know if it would be worth reading. Fortunately, I did a bit of research online and was convinced that it would make sense in the end. I really enjoyed it more than I thought. By the end, I was completely caught up in the story, in the culture, and in the characters. It became an emotional and satisfying read. 4 stars.

Glad you liked it in the end. That one is my favourite of Heinlein's works and my copy has suffered many a re-read.

93 :: I would recommend A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce for your "Twists" category -- it looks like it's a retelling of the same story as Spinners, but I thought it was absolutely wonderful, and the ending is not depressing! :)

Thanks for the recommendation, Christina. I will have to look for that one. I've heard it recommended before, but since this one was disappointing, I was sort of holding back on the story.

Wolfy - Which other Heinlein's do you like? I've heard that some were definitely better than others. I think the only other ones I've read are Tunnel in the Sky, which I really liked, and Citizen of the Galaxy, which I don't remember that well but I think I liked.

Hey, just got my official TBR list down to 764!

@97, my clear 2nd favourite is Friday but this one generates quite a bit of difference of opinion because some people think the way he treats women in his books is very condescending, ie. the dream of the main character in this one is to settle down and raise a family even though she's a kick-ass super-genius. After that I'd guess Starship Troopers. It took me a while to get to that one as I was apprehensive about ruining my feelings on the movie. I knew that they were quite different and I love the movie for what it is. Fortunately, reading the book I was able to treat them as two separate identities. Time Enough for Love is pretty good and I also like The Number of the Beast but think that would be better if you have read other books featuring the characters of Lazarus Long et al. There's still so many that I haven't read yet as I mainly concentrated on his later works though I still keep an eye out for his other stuff in 2nd hand/charity shops.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, American history category

Themes: religion, devotion, love, culture, human nature, exploration, nature
Setting: 19th century New Mexico and Arizona

Bishop Jean Marie Latour is sent to be the newly created bishop of the Roman Catholic church in the diocese of New Mexico, which also covers part of Arizona and Colorado. He gets a rough start, but soon settles in to a new life and learns to love the people of his new land. His boyhood friend Father Joseph Valliant comes to assist in the work.

I just loved this book. It truly is the story of devotion to God and his service. None of the characters are perfect, but the story of the Southwest, its people and the land itself, is beautifully told. After reading this, I was convinced that Cather must have spent significant time in the desert to be able to write this story, but I wasn't able to find anything that supported that. In any case, it is a wonderful story and I highly recommend it. 5 stars

Cindy, I read Cather for the first time last year and have been seeking out her books ever since. I loved Death comes for the Archbishop and My Antonia.

I read My Antonia back in school and it has always stuck with me.

>100 cmbohn: The only Willa Cather that I've read is My Antonia, and that was many years ago. Your review really makes me want to read Death Comes for the Archbishop. I hadn't realized it was about the Southwest. So my wishlist continues to grow...

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, American historical fiction

Themes: natural science, gender roles, progress, family, coming of age
Setting: Fentress, Texas 1899

Calpurnia, known as Callie Vee to her 6 brothers, is not one of those quiet, homemaking type of girls. She likes being outdoors, studying nature. The hot summer of 1899 marked a big change in her life. That was the year that she made friends with her Granddaddy and became a naturalist.

But Calpurnia's mother is not giving up her only daughter without a fight. She's forced into piano lessons, needlework lessons, cooking lessons, and knitting lessons. Knitting isn't so bad, at least when it's a wet and rainy day, but they all make her feel completely inadequate. Is she doomed to be nothing but a wife and mother? And what's the rush? She's only 11!

When I started reading this one, it made me think back to my own summers in Texas, with the heat reaching over 100 for days in a row, when we would turn our bathtub into a little swimming pool, and the heat would turn everything into a dead brown landscape, make my nosebleed, and then bake the blood right onto the sidewalk. At least we could occasionally escape to my Grandma's air conditioned living room. But Calpurnia has no escape except her private swimming hole.

I loved this book. I was a little disappointed by the end, which is why I took off half a star. I hope this is the first in a series; otherwise, Calpurnia is just sort of hanging at the end of the story. While I am very happy being a wife and mother, I understand her feeling of being trapped into a narrow role she has no way to fight. It's a choice between her mother's way, or some unknown way, and Calpurnia really has no idea what else is out there for her. I have to hope that the coming years will reveal some new possibilities to her and give her the strength to choose her own life. 4.5 stars

Ohhhhh..... I have The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate on my TBR pile and keep forgetting about it. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Cindy, I can't believe that I am so late finding your new thread! I saw your review of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate in another group and had to add it to the wishlist - despite the fact that I generally don't pay attention to YA books. Now I'm going back up the the top of this thread to see what I've been missing.

OK, Cindy. I hope you're happy. I think I added 5 new books to the wishlist after reading this thread, and escaped adding about 4 more only because they're already there. I've learned my lesson to stay more current with you!

I'm glad you found me, Sandy! there are so many threads, it's hard to keep up with them all.

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly, debut mystery category

Themes: war, betrayal, crime, being a maverick
Setting: Los Angeles area, 1992

This may be the only time I can remember that I am giving a book 5 stars, but I'm not planning to read anymore in the series.

It's not the main character. I really liked Harry Bosch. Maybe he's a bit cliched, but I found him a likable sort of loner with a messed up past. A crummy childhood, combined with some serious PTSD from the Vietnam war, has left him unable to trust anyone. It's a good thing, really, because with just a couple of exceptions, everyone in this book is exclusively working for himself.

When the body of a fellow Tunnel Rat, a guy from Harry's old army unit, is found apparently dead of an overdose, Harry feels like he owes his old buddy more than the cursory glance the rest of the police force wants to give the case. Add to that some guilt Harry feels about letting his old buddy down, and he's just not about to let things drop. So when his investigation leads to a connection with a major bank heist that the FBI is still investigating, he starts asking questions. A lot of questions. And now he's being follow by two guys from Internal Affairs who can't wait to shut him down.

This all sounds pretty good, so what am I complaining about? It's just the general feel of the book. It's unrelentingly pessimistic - life stinks, you can't trust anyone (and Harry can't), everyone is hiding something, and there's no such thing as a happy ending for anyone. It's Harry against The World. And I'm just not going to read more of that. My own life is complicated enough; I don't want to read somethings this dark when it's supposed to be reading for fun. So I guess I'm saying that it's a good book; it's just not the right book for me.

>109 cmbohn: I feel much the same way about Harry Bosch. It's been a while ago, but I read 2 or 3 of the books and, without any real criticism of the books, decided it was just not for me.

Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization by Richard Manning

Themes: food, culture, agriculture and farming, evolution, sociology, poverty, family, human nature

This one sure didn't impress me at first - see message 76 - but it was ultimately worth reading. Manning ranged far and wide in his condemnation of agriculture. From mankind's origin as hunter-gatherers, to the widespread problem of poverty and malnutrition, to modern agribusiness and how it is ruining the ecology of the earth as a whole, he gave me a lot to think about. I really knew almost nothing about the history of farm policy in the United States, so I found that part informative and even startling. Overall, it was a rather depressing look at how our planet is doomed. I did resolve to try harder to eat locally grown and produced food. 3 stars.

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Fleming, Saturday Morning Matinée category

Themes: culture, adventure, tradition, mutants, family
Setting: Zimbabwe 2176

This is like 4 books in one. The first is the story of three kids, living a sheltered and rather boring life, who set off on a series of adventures. The second is a sci-fi look at what life might be like in a future Africa, with robots and mutants and mile high buildings. The third is a mystery with three unusual detectives searching for some kidnapped children. And the last book is a examination of what happens when modern people try to return to a traditionally tribal way of life. How much you enjoy this book seems to depend on how much you like any or all of those kinds of stories.

We read this for book club, and I enjoyed it more than anyone else. Some of the other readers admitted that they weren't fans of science fiction, or that they had a hard time imagining that kind of future world. But I guess I was caught up in the adventure of the story and didn't worry too much about how it all worked together. It just sort of worked, for me. I really liked Tendai, the oldest of the three kids whose trip to the city sets off the whole chain of events. I admit that it was a bit much to believe that they just continued from one set of adventures to the next, falling into the wrong hands at every turn, and somehow managing to escape. But I didn't care much. I liked it anyway. I liked that we got to see how Tendai grew from an insecure, serious boy who only wants to please his father into someone who cares about his brother and sister, who wants to protect them, and isn't afraid to save himself.

I would recommend this one. Yes, there's a lot going on, but it seems like you either like it or you don't, and it's hard to predict which it's going to be. I wouldn't have picked it up at all if it hadn't been for book club, and I really enjoyed it. 4 stars

#112 Not sure this is something I'm tempted to try, but I enjoyed your excitement about it. I love it when when a book is so enjoyable that, even when it is totally improbable or ridiculous you can say "I didn't care much. I liked it anyway

I guess it kind of depends on my mood. And I seem to be a lot more willing to go along with inconsistencies in plot or story in sci-fi than in other genres.

I'm having a string of less than fabulous reads right now. I started Appetite for Life about Julia Child, found it ok, but full of totally uninteresting detail. Then I started They Dared Return, this over the top story about Jewish spies who went back into Nazi Germany. I more or less finished it. I didn't realize until I took it home that it's by the same author who wrote a lackluster book about the OSS I read last year. Then I started this book about Sam Houston which is not holding my interest either. I have learned some interesting stuff, like that he was good friends with my Cherokee ancestors, but it's not exactly gripping. It's Sam Houston: the Life and Times of the Liberator of Texas. I even checked out on impulse this vampire/werewolf thing that I'd heard about, but I found it too racy for my taste and felt bad for actually finishing it.

Blah blah blah! I have a huge stack from the library and nothing to read!

Uh-oh, I think a detect a case of reader slump! I was battling one earlier in the month, but luckily my last few reads have cured me and I am again eager to get reading.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that your next book is that magic one that just carries you away.

Thanks! I tried Witchrock and it didn't grab me, picked up Dracula and changed my mind. So now I'm going to try The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld.

Sam Houston: Liberator of Texas by John Hoyt Williams

Themes: the Frontier, war, politics, Native Americans, alcohol, Texas
Setting: Tennessee and Texas, 19th century

I decided I am done with this one. Some stuff in here I didn't know - like that he was friends with my Cherokee ancestors. Cool! And some interesting stuff about the Republic of Texas and the whole process to get Texas admitted to the Union. But it was getting a little tedious to read.

I looked at my stack of library books, all chosen to go into the categories here, and decided I am not doing it! All of them, almost anyway, were serious, important books, but none of them were any fun. I can't handle it! My brain is not up to all this serious stuff right now. So I'm changing my categories up a bit.

I combined "Food and Water" with "Health and Humans" to become "Read Up! They're Good for You!" It's non-fiction, mostly about food, health, farming, and so on. Maybe that will be easier to swallow, so to speak. And I'm adding a new category, "Look at the Pretty Pictures" which will be photography books. I haven't read many of these at all, but I think I will enjoy it, so I'm going to give it a try. It will be nice to browse through the library and pick one or two at a time that look good to me, instead of feeling like I have to *stick to my list*. That was taking all the fun out of the challenge for me. So let's see how this goes!

There are some wonderful photography books out there! I love looking through them when they come across my desk for cataloging!

>119 cmbohn: If you'd like a short, amusing and practical book about good eating habits, I recommend Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. Nothing earthshaking, but since reading it, I find myself remembering the "rules" at the grocery store -- and probably making wiser choices (at least part of the time).

As much as I enjoy the category challenges, feeling that I should read books to fill up a category is my biggest stumbling block. Reading has always been my #1 source of entertainment, and even when it's self-imposed, it diminishes my pleasure to feel compelled to read a certain book rather than what I feel like reading. I hope the category changes work out for you!

Cindy,

Does debuts have to be mysteries?
If you want something that is lighthearted and fun and extremely entertaining, try The Lumby Lines - it is the first in a series and I am having the best laughs in book 2 - I read Book 1 last month and couldn't wait for book 2.

Yeah, I have this long list of mystery series people recommend to me, so I want to at least try a few. I'm feeling more excited about the challenge now that I've given myself permission to read a few things I actually just want to read.

Dracula by Bram Stoker, Saturday morning matinee category

Themes: love, death, blood, sex, evil, gender roles, mental illness
Setting: Transylvania - duh!, and England, late 19th century

Is there anyone who doesn't know something about the story of Dracula? I think it would be almost impossible to come into this book, knowing NOTHING about it, but I am sure there are lots of others who haven't ever actually read the book. (Or seen the real movie, either, for that matter.) But I decided it was time to read this one and see what it's all about.

It was harder to read at first than I thought. We start off with young solicitor Jonathan Harker, on his way to stay at Dracula's Castle. WHAT! What are you thinking! Don't go there! Then I had to remind myself - he's not being an idiot. He's never heard of the count. Nobody has. This is where it all begins. It came up again later, when I was exasperated at how slow these people are to recognize what was going on. Don't they know a vampire when they see one? Well, no. They don't. This was one of the very first vampire stories, and much of the myth begins right here.

Other than that, it was really very easy to read. It was exciting and well written. The story is told in first person, in journal form and a few letters, which makes it easy to know what the participants are thinking and feeling. It makes it even spookier to here Dr. Seward describe what he saw when they broke into the Harker's bedroom to find - well, I won't give it away, but it was VERY creepy.

It wasn't perfect. There was a long, somewhat slow section when Lucy Westenra is being pursued by this PRESENCE, that comes in through her window at night. I couldn't believe how long that took. That was when I reminded myself that no one was supposed to know about vampires, so they could hardly be expected to figure it out. But it still took too long. Lucy would be attacked, she would almost die, they would save her, they would relax their guard, and then she'd be attacked again. Hurry it up, already! But once that came to it's dramatic conclusion, the story picked up pace again and didn't slow down after that.

I really am not a vampire fan. I am absolutely in the 'vampires are evil' camp, Team Buffy for me. But I don't read vampire books much. Still, this is a classic, and I think that anyone who likes a good scary story would like it. I really liked my edition, which had a couple of essays in it. (As always, don't read them until you finish the book!) The one in the front covered the history of the vampire myth, and the significance of Dracula in creating many of the things we think of when we think of vampires. It also had a run down on some of the classic movies, including a version starring Christopher Lee as the count, which I would like to see, just for fun. But the essay in the back highlighted some of my basic reservations when it comes to bloodsucking fiends - the sexual perversion inherit in the story. He goes through the book's most graphic scenes and explores the sexual subtext in each scene. Very well written, and very persuasive as well.

It's not a total gorefest or anything, but I wouldn't recommend this book to my 13 year old, for example. But if you haven't read it, thinking it's too old-fashioned, or too hard to read, or too over the top, you should reconsider and give this one a chance. 5 stars.

For me, growing up in the 1960's, Christopher Lee will always be my Dracula of choice. I still love to watch those Hammer Films, very sixties, very stylized, but great fun.

re Dracula: I did read it as a teenager; I think I was 15 or possibly 16. It scared me more than any book I've ever read. A tree outside my 2nd story bedroom had branches that rattled against the window, even in a light wind, and I woke up in terror more than once.

I don't read vampire books either, but agree with you on Dracula. Another classic from the same era (not vampires, but eerie and frightening) that I enjoyed last year is Uncle Silas. Also very slow in parts, but that adds to the atmosphere.

My teenage son read this book last year and has been pushing it on me ever since. I may have to give it a try. You make it sound more appealing than he did!

Yeah, it's always nice when I pick up a book out of curiosity, one that I've always meant to read, and find that I really enjoy it! Pamela - I've got Uncle Silas on my list, I think because of your recommendation. I haven't read anything by Le Fanu before.

I've been busy with reading and camping (I sure hate sleeping in a tent!), so I have a string of books to add, but I'll get around to it later. Very busy week.

Here's my list:

The Land of Green Ginger
Cybele's Secret
A Death in Vienna
The Green Glass Sea
The Red Pyramid

and a few I didn't like, so didn't finish:

The Great Stink
The Culture of Fear
What's the Story? - Johnstone

As you can see, I'm over my slump, and back to picking a few winners! Reviews will come soon.

The Red Pyramid is that the followup on the Percy Jackson series? Tell, tell... was it good?

I really liked it. It's told in alternating viewpoints, with siblings Carter and Sabrina telling the story. You really don't have to be too familiar with the Egyptian myths to get into the story; it gets explained a lot along the way. But I loved it and I can't wait for the next one. More detailed review to come later.

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, North American historical fiction category

Themes: family, friendship, secrecy, technology, war
Setting: Los Alamos 1944-45

If you've guessed by the setting that this is about the development of the Hydrogen Bomb, then you are almost right. It is about that, but that is set in the background. The bomb and all the secrecy involved in its development color the whole book, and give it its title, but the main part of the story touches on that only peripherally. The story is about Dewey, and her dad, who is a mathematician, and Suze, whose parents are both scientists.

Dewey is a rather serious, self-contained girl who likes to build things and then take them apart. Her favorite book is The Boy Scientist. Suze is also an only child, with a rather forceful personality and desire to fit in. The two do not get along at all. But when Dewey's father has to go away on war business, she moves in with the Gordons. The two form an unlikely friendship set against the backdrop of the war. And the war literally mushrooms around them, changing their lives forever.

Very well written story. I'm also counting it for the 50 states challenge. I'm glad I discovered this book. 4 stars.

Fire of the Covenant: The Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies by Gerald Lund, LDS Books category

Themes: religion, adversity, immigration, persecution, family, love
Setting: Scotland, Norway, US West, especially Wyoming, 1856

I've been hearing a lot about the handcart pioneers lately, emigrants who came from Europe to join the Latter-day Saints in Zion, but who were too poor to afford the fees used in outfitting a wagon. So the LDS church organized handcart companies who would travel with a wagon and cross the plains on foot. Most pioneers had to travel on foot anyway, as it was too hot and too uncomfortable to ride in the wagon. But these Saints had to carry all their stuff in handcarts which they themselves would push or pull - or both - halfway across the United States, from Iowa City to Salt Lake.

Most of the companies did fine. But two companies, which were later known by the men in charge of each group, the Martin and Willie companies, arrived so late in the year that they faced a difficult choice. Find the funds to stay there in Iowa until spring or set off and gamble that they would beat the winter weather and arrive without problem. They took the gamble, and winter arrived too soon.

This is told as non-fictional fiction, a style Lund uses often. He relies heavily on pioneer journals, oral history, and so on, and weaves in real historical figures along with his fictional families, one from Scotland, and two brothers from Norway. It is a long book, and I read that many readers had a hard time getting into the story. But I didn't have any trouble getting interested and found it to read quickly.

Conditions on the trail went from mildly uncomfortable to totally miserable and were frequently fatal. Many did not survive this journey. The old, the ill, and young children were most likely to die, but even perfectly healthy people would just drop dead from hunger and exhaustion. Those who did survive often experienced injuries that would affect them the rest of their lives. But very few of the handcart pioneers complained later.

Just yesterday I was driving through Sanpete county, where many of the Scandinavian pioneers were sent colonize after their arrival in Salt Lake. I had to wonder what they thought when they arrived in their rocky, mountainous, and rather inhospitable new home. Were they mainly disappointed? Or were they relieved to finally be in one place, where they could gather and worship, build homes, and know that they could stay put for a while? Or did they figure that any place was better than Rocky Ridge, where supplies were down to four ounces of flour a day for adults, no meat, no winter clothing, no shoes, and no shelter? Surely even the most meager home was a step up. And evidence is all around my home that they didn't sit around and complain, but rather got to work and made their new homes a success.

This story combines a bit of romance along with all the hardships, which made it more fun to read. I honestly think that Lund pulled a few punches though, as the story could have been even grimmer than he tells it. But it was an inspiring and well written story. 4 stars.

I just got back from a much shorter camping trip and, boy, was I glad to shower and sleep between sheets.

Appetite for Life: Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch, biography category

Themes: family heritage, education, adventure, gush, gush, gush
Setting: Pasadena, California and Indonesia - more, I'm sure, but I gave up, so I don't know the rest

Over the top, almost worshipful book about how MARVELOUS and REMARKABLE Julia Child was. It spend way, way too much time on her family history, both sides, her childhood, her education, and then finally got to her adult life and service in the OSS. That was only mildly interesting, and I decided I just couldn't forge through the rest of this book. I really like and admire Julia Child, but this was flat and poorly written. 1 star.

A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva, debut mystery category

Themes: WWII, revenge vs. justice, politics, secrets, espionage, art
Setting: Vienna, Israel, and Poland, not sure what year

(This one is actually a mistake. It is a mystery, more of a spy thriller really, but it is NOT a debut. It is the third in the series. I got it confused with another book by the same title which IS a debut. So I don't know if I'm going to leave it in or not, but I'll put the review here for now.)

Gabriel Allon is an intelligence agent for the Israeli government. He's a bit of a renegade, even for them. His boss calls him in for a somewhat unofficial job - find out why an office related to the Holocaust and war crimes was bombed and two people killed. Find out who did it, and make them pay.

The first part, finding whodunnit, takes most of the book. Gabriel discovers the identity of the man behind the bomb, but who is he really? He suspects the man is a former SS agent, but getting the truth is not easy, especially since post-war Vienna is not interested in reliving their Nazi past, and soon, someone is trying to kill him. Bring in the Vatican, a Swiss banker, and the CIA, and things get pretty complicated.

This is not the type of book I normally enjoy. Life is complicated enough without trying to puzzle out spy thriller and secret agents and so on. But I wanted to keep reading. Some very grim stuff related to the Holocaust, but still worth reading. 4 stars.

Cindy, as usual, your books are a fascinating mix. Green Glass Sea goes on the wishlist, but most of my attention was drawn by Fire of the Covenant. I'm not LDS, and I had never heard of the handcart pioneers before. But the westward migration in general is what shaped my reading as an adult. During my final semester of college - just as I should have been concentrating on graduating, finding a job, and preparing for the CPA exam - totally out of the blue I developed a burning desire to know what it was really like for the families crossing the country in covered wagons. I scoured the libraries for nonfiction accounts, but found little. However, it led to a new-found enjoyment of western movies, as well as all kinds of historical fiction and nonfiction histories. Which, in turn, led to a desire to know about nearly everything else. (I did, of course, graduate, find a job, and pass the CPA exam, so all ended well on that front.) I have read several accounts of the Mormon Church and its eventual settlement in Utah, but don't think I've read about any of the subsequent converts and their migrations to the west. Our library has several books by Lund, but not this one. I did find a few accounts of other handcart companies, and I may have to give one or two of them a try. Thanks for opening my eyes to a whole new aspect of the western settlement that I had been ignorant of.

Independence, MO is right next to us, and is the home of the RLDS church (now called Community of Christ). They are quick to inform that they are NOT Mormons, but we're murky on the details of how they came to be separated from the LDS church. Can you suggest anything that might be available here which talks about that split?

Otherwise, I'll be skipping the Julia Child book, and already have Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series on the horizon. (I have a weakness for spy thrillers).

I don't know off hand of any books about the split between the RLDS Church and the LDS church, but I know it happened when most of the Saints left Illinois and headed west. Emma Smith, Joseph's widow, and a few others stayed behind, while Brigham Young and the rest of the Smith family went on to Utah. She eventually remarried, and most of her children and grandchildren went on to start the RLDS church.

Driving through some of that country makes me marvel at how tough those pioneers must have been. The handcart pioneers traveled with wagons that carried most of the food, but the carts carried some also. Every adult was allowed 17 pounds of personal items, including clothing and bedding, and that was it. Children got even less. Then on the Willie company's journey, a buffalo stampede swept away some of their oxen, so they had to put the milk cows to the yoke. This slowed them down so much that every handcart had to carry an additional 100 pounds of flour. To me, it really is a miracle that ANYONE survived that trip.

Well, you've already told me more than I knew already. I guess I thought the RLDS folks came BACK here from SLC, not that they never went any further. I'm sure, given the huge presence of the RLDS here, that I ought to be able to find something. Now I know a little better what to look for.

The hardships that were endured by all the western settlers has been a large part of my fascination with the migration. I've lived my whole life in the "Great American Desert", and I remember as a child quickly becoming tired of the monotonous scenery on our annual trips to Denver - and the heat and the constant wind. We were only in the car for 10 hours. I simply can't imagine making the trip walking alongside a wagon or, worse, pushing a cart. I'm sure I would be hard-pressed to limit myself to 17 pounds of personal items for a one-week vacation! It really makes me wonder what would compel so many people to make the trip - were their lives so hard back east?

It is hard to imagine what could be so rotten that it would be worth going through all that. But for a lot of the LDS emigrants, they came for two reasons - things really WERE that bad back home, and they were going to Zion. Back in England and Scandinavia, many of them were fired, lost their homes, and had their lives threatened because they joined the Mormon cause. So the idea of Gathering, going to Zion, a place where they could set down roots and not be forced to move, that was a powerful incentive.

My husband's ancestors came all the way from Australia, an even longer journey, then sailed into California, and came back east to Utah, all with the promise of a better life ahead. They settled in the little town of Beaver and went to work as farmers. Mine joined the Church early and traveled from New York to Missouri to Illinois to Utah, and became farmers and tradespeople in Farmington, Utah.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, Saturday morning matinee category

Themes: Love, Magic, small town prejudice, fate, curses, family
Setting: Gatlin, Southern USA

This book REALLY ANNOYED ME!

It starts out a lot like Twilight. A new girl moves into town and soon mysterious forces are at work! The twist is that this is told from the guy's perspective, and it's the girl who has the powers.

Ethan has some major issues at home, but he's coping with life, enjoying his social position, playing on the basketball team, and counting the days until he's out of his little Southern town. Then SHE moves in. Lena is the niece of the town outcast, who lives in a haunted house and hasn't been seen in years. Lena is weird. She drives to school in hearse, for Pete's sake. Everyone in school is talking about her, the new freak in town. But she's got this - something. Ethan can't stop looking at her, dreaming about her.

Here come the spoilers: Turns out that Lena is a Caster, which means she has magical powers. And her magic is very powerful indeed. She's a Natural, which means she's got some sort of unknown powers, but apparently it involves controlling the weather. For a start. And she's counting the days down too, until her 16th birthday, at which time she will be Claimed by either the Dark or the Light. She and Ethan are in a desperate race to find anything that will help her stay Light.

It all sounds really good, right? And I was enjoying the story. I liked the characters, the writing is good, and the setting is well done, and then - we came to the end.

WHAT?

So the whole book, the tension has been mounting - so many days until Lena's 16th birthday, the day everything changes. Then we get this sort of split ending, which I didn't really like, where Lena is sort of half Light and half Dark. OK, I can work with that. I would have much preferred one or the other, but I didn't hate this.

Then at the very end - we get this rhyme that says that, just kidding! It wasn't her 16th birthday that counts! It's her 17th! So now, we have have to do it ALL OVER AGAIN in the next book. Not with me, you don't. Even without that dopey little rhyme, there was still room for a sequel. But no, it's like the writers said "here are the rules, her's the story," and then said, "oh, we didn't like that, so now AT THE END OF THE BOOK, we're changing it all around."

NOT recommending this one. I'm still giving it 2 stars, because I really was liking it up until the end, but it was a very frustrating read.

I can understand the lure of religious freedom - especially if there is much persecution at home. But I don't think that was the case for many of the other settlers.

Do I understand that they came first to Missouri and then went back to Illinois? Maybe that's the cause of my confusion about the RLDS. I had understood them to say that since Joseph Smith had declared Independence to be - what is the term? Zion? - that they didn't like that Brigham Young decided that Utah would be the place, instead. So they came back to Missouri. But I thought they headed west from here - not back east to Illinois.

The migration of believers from all around the world to the same place in Utah is an amazing thing. And the society that was built there was something special. I have a friend who grew up Mormon in Salt Lake City, and the things she's told me are impressive.

The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley, Twist category

Themes: fairy tales, adventure, magic, love, friendship
Setting: China, Istanbul, and the Land of Green Ginger

Aladdin is enjoying being emperor of China and celebrating the birth of his son, when his newborn son starts talking. This is rather a shock, so Aladdin summons the genie again to ask what to do. Turns out little Abu Ali is going to set off on an adventure to discover the location of The Land of Green Ginger and save the magician who lives there. As soon as Abu Ali turns 18, he sets off on his journey. And if he happens to rescue the most beautiful girl in the world, make friends with a mouse and a genie, confront a couple of Evil Princes, and escape prison, so much the better.

This was written back in the 1930s, so I don't know why I never heard of it until this year, but it was a wonderful read. It would be a great story to read out loud. Lots of fun.

I don't know why I 'lost' this second thread, but I am glad that I found it. So I'm sorry that I am a bit behind-

Bruce loves all of Eric Flint's stuff, but I really only liked the first one and the one with David Webber, the only man known to be able to out-talk my hubby on the subject of guns! And I haven't met a David webber book yet that I haven't liked.

I also lilke Sharon Shin but I have not read her jenna Starborn book. Now I am thinking I should read it and Jayne Eyre and compare them.

I added The Land of Green Ginger to my wish list.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

137> If you're still interested in the westward migration, you might want to look for the works edited by Kenneth L. Holmes. About 10 or so volumes with "Covered Wagon Women" in the title.

Fictionwise, you might want to look for All Together in One Place by Jane Kirkpatrick, a fictional account of a wagon train that started out from Wisconsin and the decision they need to make about whether to go forward or back when they lose all the men from the train in various ways. It's based on an actual incident meeting with an all-female wagon train recorded in someone's trip diary. ATIOP is the first book in a (religious fiction) trilogy.

And there's always Lillian Schlissel's Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey. A wonderful tale of living and traveling in the Wisconsin wilderness is Wau-Bun, by Juliette Kinzie, whose mother-in-law was a white captive of First Americans in her youth.

Renee, who's off work at her living history museum (Old World Wisconsin) job for the next few Saturdays while they clean up in the aftermath of a tornado....

#145 Oh, I've never lost that original interest. These books sound great - I'm going to see how many of them I can find locally. Sorry to hear about the tornado - I hope there were no injuries or serious damage where you are.

146> Tornado wasn't in the city where I live. On the other hand, a tree (under which my two cats are buried :-( ) did fall on my parents' house, my childhood home, in the village where the storm was centered.

Another tree "broke the fall" a bit and they don't think there's much damage done to the roof. No electricity for days, but about 25 houses were completely destroyed so my dad got off pretty lucky. Especially when you consider that for some reason the emergency sirens weren't working. I don't think there was any loss of life or even serious injuries.

Old World Wisconsin covers 576 acres and is in the middle of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Hundreds of pine trees around the visitor center were broken off or felled, one of the animal sheds was destroyed (animals escaped but weren't harmed), but if what I've heard is accurate, the worst of the damage to the historic buildings were some roof issues and broken windows.

There's a picture here that gives you a good idea of the tree damage. They're not sure how long the cleanup will take, or when exactly the site will open again.

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

#147 That's an impressive photo. I'm always amazed at the pattern of damage left in a tornado's wake. Glad to hear that your childhood home escaped the damage that some of the neighbors suffered. And, it sounds like the museum has little more than just a big mess of fallen trees to clean up - a big headache, but nothing that won't grow back. And you get some extra time off! :-)

Tornadoes are scary. I'm glad your family is all okay.

Third Person Singular by KJ Erickson, debut mystery category

Themes: crime, father-son relationship, police work, relationships
Setting: Minnesota, present day

Special Detective Marshall Bahr of the Minneapolis police force is assigned to a new case. A pretty blond cheerleader type is found dead in a nasty part of town. Her family have no idea how or why she got down there. Bahr and his partner Nettie dive into all the secrets of the victim Mary Pat Fitzgerald and finds plenty of dirt to go around; however, none of it seems to lead to a suspect. Just when the case is almost cold, a surprisingly lead turns up a new line of investigation.

I liked this one. It was a good story, and I liked the main character. He is a good cop and a good dad with a passion for movies. And I liked that there were a few twists in the story. Thanks to cbl_tn for the recommendation. 4 stars.

Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, magical lands category

Themes: adventure, love, religion, equality, the Other World
Setting: Istanbul and Eastern Europe

Paula's setting off on her own adventure. The first book in the series, Wildwood Dancing saw Paula's sisters Jena and Tati have their own adventures, and now it's her turn. Paula sails off to Istanbul with her father. When she arrives, she finds herself in a totally different society, where women live a much more restricted life. Her father is in search of a religious artifact named after the pagan goddess Cybele. But it looks like others are also after the artifact, and they won't stop at anything, not even murder, to get their hands on it first. Fortunately, her new bodyguard Stoyan is on hand to keep her out of trouble.

I really liked the romantic tension in this one. Paula is a great character and I loved the setting. If you liked the first one, try this one. It's not based on any specific fairy tale like the first book, but it's still truly magical. 4.5 stars.

A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce, twist category

Themes: fairy tale retelling, love, fate, luck, curses, magic, obligation
Setting: little English town

Charlotte is a Miller. She and her family have been at Stirwaters mill for generations. Now that her father is dead, it's up to her and her sister to take over the mill and keep it open, thus providing jobs for all the people of the village. But a mortgage for the mill turns up, and Charlotte has just months to make enough money to save the mill and her home.

Then there's the curse. It's affected the mill since it was built. Equipment breaks down, the mill is falling apart, and one of the men is injured. Just when Charlotte is desperate, a strange man turns up. He claims his name is Jack Spinner. And he promises to spin straw into gold.

Yes, this is Rumplestiltskin, but it's not. There's no king, exactly, and Charlotte is never thrown into the dungeon with a room full of straw. What there is instead is a story that actually makes sense, characters you can care about, and a compelling love story. If you like fairy tale retellings, then you should hurry and get your hands on this one. Even if you don't especially like fairy tales, this is a great book for anyone who likes a little magic in their stories. I loved it. 4.5 stars.

I can't believe how much you read. Adding Third Person Singular to the wishlist.

I'm glad you liked Third Person Singular! I thought it was a strong debut.

Although I don't read a lot of fantasy/magic books, A Curse Dark as Gold has been on my wishlist for a while. Rumpelstiltskin is the bedtime story my grandmother always told when my brother and I stayed at her house. I'm encouraged since you liked it so well.

I'm adding Third Person Singular as well. The next two are already on my wish list, I really love Juliet Marillier's writing. I have also discovered that I am a fan of the reworking of fairy tales in the fantasy genre, so A Curse As Dark As Gold should be right up my alley!

I loved A Curse Dark as Gold -- glad you enjoyed it too! And Cybele's Secret is definitely on my wishlist, but first I have to read Wildwood Dancing, which has been on my TBR shelf for far too long!

Yeah, it's nice to find some good reads lately!

Battle Eye: A History of Combat Photography by Norman B. Moyes

Themes: war and death
Setting: Battlefields from the War of 1812 to the Persian Gulf

This is a collection of photos taken on various battlefields. Most of them are in black and white, but a few are in color. It's also an interesting history of the technical development of photography. From the posed, stiff photos during the Civil War to the lightening fast film and cameras during the Gulf War, this covers everything. Most of these photos are sobering, but a few are truly gruesome. The worst seem to be the ones from the Vietnam war. As I looked through the photos (I will admit I didn't read most of the text), I recognized several of the photos and some of the faces - Lincoln meeting with his generals, Teddy Roosevelt posing with his men. Good, but not great. 4 stars

Winter's Child - Cameron Dokey, twist category

Themes: love, adventure, family
Setting: um, fairy tale land? with lots of snow and ice?

As you might guess, this is a twist on the fairy tale The Snow Queen. Except that the Snow Queen is Deirdre, which means Sorrow (pointed out more than once in the story), victim of a curse and not an evil queen, and that Gerda is named Grace, and she and Kai are both about 16. That, I think, is a good twist, since they always seemed a little young to be setting off on this adventure in the original story.

But forget the original. The real question for me, in any retelling, is does the new story work? Is it fresh, interesting, intriguing, heartbreaking? Is it a good story?

It's good. But it's not more than that. I didn't hate it. Dokey lets each of the three main characters tell a little part of the story. But with the characters being who they are, there's no huge climax at the end. Kai remained flat. Only the two girls were even a little fleshed out. But it seems that by twisting the story to make Deirdre more sympathetic, it just eliminated the real tension in the story. Yes, Grace ran into a few problems on her way to finding Kai, but they weren't really scary or hard or anything. It was disappointing. 2.5 stars

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett, twist category

Themes: music, magic, opera!
Setting: Ankh-Morpork

*Cue the dramatic music*

Lots of singing. Some ballet.

Enter the guy in the mask.

And the witches. That would be Nanny Ogg and Esmerelda Weatherwax.

Yes, just in case you hadn't guessed, this is the inspired twist of Phantom of the Opera, or just about any other opera type thing, and Discworld, courtesy of Terry Pratchett. If you have tried his humor, I don't really have to tell you anymore than this. If you haven't, and you like comedy, magic, or opera, then you ought to give it a try. Stinking hilarious. 5 stars.

A book that would fit your Twist category that I really enjoyed was The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. It's basically a mystical bounty hunter in a standard fantasy setting who travels the countryside taking gigs defending villages from threats that are variations on classic fairy tales.

There's also a comicbook series called Fables that's been running since 2002 and is popular even with people who have no interest in superheroes. Basically, a major villain took over all the assorted fable and fairy tale homelands and the few survivors ended up a neighborhood in New York City where they lay low. There's also a farm in upstate New York for the talking animals and other characters who have no hope of blending in. Anyone in public domain is included -- fairy tales, fable, Aesop, Mother Goose, Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio, Jungle Book, etc. The story arcs (the equivalent of about six issues each) are widely available in paperback form. The first couple arcs set up the world and get you familiar with the characters and from there the series focuses on taking the fight back to their common enemy. It's very fun. And not written at all for children.

I hadn't heard of any of these. Thanks for the tip.

June Recap

Forgot to do one in May, so this may actually cover both months.

Winners:

Death Comes for the Archbishop
The Black Echo
Cybele's Secret
A Curse as Dark as Gold
Dracula
1632
The Teacher's Funeral
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Losers:

The Professor's Daughter
Beautiful Creatures
Appetite for Life - Julia Child
The Turn of the Screw

Changes made:

I combined a couple of categories to come up with the new "Read Up, They're Good for You" and "Look at the Pretty Pictures" categories. Also, I finished the "Alternate Worlds and Magical Lands" category.

Here's my new thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94034&newpost=1#lastmsg

I've thought about doing a category for coffee table books - you know the ones with all the pictures - I'll have to consider it for next year.

@161 I picked up The last wish earlier this year, on some LT recommendations. Great to hear you liked it (you tend to have good taste!)

Edited to fix a very very wrong touchstone

Glad you liked Death Comes for the Archbishop. It was one of my favourites last year.