Book a Week in 2013 - week forty nine

[mlbuchina]

Hi everyone!  I've missed being on the board these last few weeks, and especially this thread.  :)  I've got a lot of catching up to do.

 

I'm still kinda in my reading slump, but do to Thanksgiving travel, I have finished a book.  We listened to The School for Good and Evil.  I enjoyed it, and now I'm waiting for the next book right along with my dd10.  LOL

 

Also, we were able to start listening to The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.  It has been a hoot!  I look forward to getting the next one.

 

I saw Betrayal of Trust by J. A. Jance on sale in the Kindle store, so I decided to give it a try.  Has anyone ever read anything by Jance before?

[Lady Florida.]

Jane, those photos are beautiful. Almost makes me miss snow, but not quite. ;)

 

I'm reading Monuments Men, but slowly. Dh is ahead of me. I've been trying to make myself read an entire Faulkner, and I think I just might be able to read Light in August. I started it last night and I kind of like it. I read his short stories earlier this year, but was glad when I finished them. Some were too much work for too little payoff. 

[Robin M]

Fun links:

 

Interesting discussions over on Io9 - Who is your favorite hero (whether books, tv, movies) who is indelibly defined by greatest setback.

 

Ancient Texts from Vatican and Bodleian libraries are being digitized including 1455 Gutenberg bible and oldest surviving Hebrew Codex.

 

Binding your own books - Secret Belgian Binding.

 

Winners of the Goodreads choice awards

 

 

 

[mumto2]

I saw Betrayal of Trust by J. A. Jance on sale in the Kindle store, so I decided to give it a try.  Has anyone ever read anything by Jance before?

I read her mysteries. That one is a JP Beaumont one that I must have read when it came out but can't remember it. :lol: It is one of the series that I have been rereading via the library kindle books so I like them. ;) Lots of history for that character so I am not sure about starting that far through the series but I think she does a better job then many doing a quick history retelling when needed. I hope you like them!

[Robin M]

I finished Longitude, now trying to wrap up Buddha. Umberto Eco is calling me....

 

I hope his book is worth the brain cells I've been saving for this occasion.

I tried reading Longitude at 3 or 4 times but could never get into it.   Which Eco book are you reading?  I looked up his books on Amazon and Foucault's Pendulum sounds intriguing. I checked out the excerpt and It is one of those types of books that I would prefer to read physically versus electronically.  Can just tell I'll be flipping back to check what was said previously or have to look up definitions.    I added it to my wishlist since hubby likes to torture, err gift me with long books at christmas time.  This will fit the bill perfectly.

 

Hi everyone!  I've missed being on the board these last few weeks, and especially this thread.   :)  I've got a lot of catching up to do.

 

I'm still kinda in my reading slump, but do to Thanksgiving travel, I have finished a book.  We listened to The School for Good and Evil.  I enjoyed it, and now I'm waiting for the next book right along with my dd10.  LOL

 

Also, we were able to start listening to The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.  It has been a hoot!  I look forward to getting the next one.

 

I saw Betrayal of Trust by J. A. Jance on sale in the Kindle store, so I decided to give it a try.  Has anyone ever read anything by Jance before?

I saw Jance's book this morning and downloaded it as well.  I read Dismissed with Prejudice a couple years back and it was really good.  Had pulled it out to reread at some point this year so sitting in my tbr stack.  It's funny.  I'll devour paranormal books and read series straight from the beginning until the end, but with mystery books I have a tendency to jump around in the series, reading only two or three. 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I can read Kindle books on my Ipad now, I found a couple new to me urban fantasy authors to try. I downloaded Elizabeth Hunter's The Scribe in her Irin Chronicles and Shannon Mayer's Priceless in her Rylee Adamson series.

 

Settled on reading Keri Arthur's Darkness Splintered, # 6 in her Dark Angels series. Fits my calgon, take me away mindset perfectly.

[Onceuponatime]

I tried reading Longitude at 3 or 4 times but could never get into it.   Which Eco book are you reading?  I looked up his books on Amazon and Foucault's Pendulum sounds intriguing. I checked out the excerpt and It is one of those types of books that I would prefer to read physically versus electronically.  Can just tell I'll be flipping back to check what was said previously or have to look up definitions.    I added it to my wishlist since hubby likes to torture, err gift me with long books at christmas time.  This will fit the bill perfectly.

 

 

It's The Island of the Day Before. I've read 3  of Eco's books so far and did need a dictionary, but enjoyed them nevertheless.  With another  of his books, Baudolino (?), I couldn't get past the first chapter. Every one of his books is completely different from the others, so I don't know what to expect with this one.  I liked Foucault's Pendulum. The Name of the Rose is fascinating. Plus, its got a secret library. :-)

 

I understand about Longitude. Personally, I don't think Dava Sobel's writing is very engaging, but the subject matter interested me.

[Jane in NC]

 

I understand about Longitude. Personally, I don't think Dava Sobel's writing is very engaging, but the subject matter interested me.

 

I agree.  While I enjoyed Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, I just could not get into The Planets.  Maybe she needs to write more about personalities than concepts? 

 

[Onceuponatime]

I agree.  While I enjoyed Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, I just could not get into The Planets.  Maybe she needs to write more about personalities than concepts? 

 

 

I finished Planets but not Galileo's Daughter. :laugh:  I think her writing is kind of no frills. There is not much compelling about her word usage. The one I've enjoyed the most is A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Heavens. She seemed to put more of herself into that  story.

[aggieamy]

Hello friends!!!

 

I haven't been up to much reading since Chews-on-Books has joined the family but I wanted to say hello.

 

I'm currently reading:

 

A Fine Romance:  Falling in Love with the English Countryside by Susan Branch

Doctor Spock's Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock

 

Finished:

 

DD and I finally finished our read aloud of The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare and it was pretty boring.  It must have taken us three months to force ourselves to read it.  Why we continued on ... I can't say.  What we're going to read next ... I don't know yet.  Right now we've got lots of Christmas picture books out from the library. 

 

 

 

 

Any idea why I can't post links to things anymore or while MultiQuote wouldn't be working?!?!  It's making me crazy.

[mumto2]

I just read the first in a new mystery series to me and loved it. "The Religious Body" by Catherine Aird. Inspecter Sloan was lovely and the mystery very well plotted. I suspect many of you have already read these because compared to Josephine Tey in a review.

 

Also finished "Shut Your Eyes Tight" by John Verdon. Not quite as clever as his "Think of a Number" and the topics were darker but a first rate thriller overall.

[Violet Crown]

Side note: what has happened to dear Violet Crown?

 

You're sweet to miss me. I haven't been gone for any sensible reason. Recently the protective order that kept Delusional Obsessed Stalker Guy away from my daughter expired (order effective only because he didn't want to lose his job by being arrested). Everyone is stressed, and I just haven't felt up to internettage. Or much reading. A little, though. Since last time, I think:

 

39. Dante, Inferno (Ciardi trans.)

40. Joyce Cary, Herself Surprised

41. Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience

42. Gilchrist, The Life of William Blake

 

The Dante and Blake were re-reads. I will post a bit from the Gilchrist, which I much enjoyed. It's not the most scholarly bio of Blake, but it was written when people who had known Blake could still be interviewed, and Gilchrist had access to letters and gossip that have since been lost. I especially liked the anecdote of Mr. and Mrs. Blake sitting around in the altogether in their greenhouse, playing Adam and Eve. Mrs. Blake seems to have been an extraordinarily patient and easygoing woman.

[Jane in NC]

You're sweet to miss me. I haven't been gone for any sensible reason. Recently the protective order that kept Delusional Obsessed Stalker Guy away from my daughter expired (order effective only because he didn't want to lose his job by being arrested). Everyone is stressed, and I just haven't felt up to internettage. Or much reading. A little, though. Since last time, I think:

 

39. Dante, Inferno (Ciardi trans.)

40. Joyce Cary, Herself Surprised

41. Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience

42. Gilchrist, The Life of William Blake

 

The Dante and Blake were re-reads. I will post a bit from the Gilchrist, which I much enjoyed. It's not the most scholarly bio of Blake, but it was written when people who had known Blake could still be interviewed, and Gilchrist had access to letters and gossip that have since been lost. I especially liked the anecdote of Mr. and Mrs. Blake sitting around in the altogether in their greenhouse, playing Adam and Eve. Mrs. Blake seems to have been an extraordinarily patient and easygoing woman.

 

Ugh, how stressful for your daughter and your family.  Sending everyone best wishes and tranquil thoughts. 

[Stacia]

Oh Violet Crown, that is distressing. Sending many warm thoughts your way. Hoping all is peaceful for you & your family.

 

I noticed you had been too quiet lately & I'm sorry to find out that such a stressful situation is the reason why. Hugs, my friend.

[mumto2]

Violet Crown -- I was so happy to see you posting again but very sad to read why you have been missing. I hope all stays peaceful.

 

I finished "The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man" this morning. Very enjoyable. :) The next one arrived at my library this morning but plan to read several quick reads first.

[Jane in NC]

One of my 5/5/5 categories for the year is "Old Friends".  I am not reading these two, but I have been thoroughly enjoying listening to dramatizations on BBC Radio 4 Extra of The Nine Tailors and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  In general I love all of Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey books but The Nine Tailors really resonates with me (pun intended--in this book church bells, the Nine Tailors, play a dominant role).

 

Tinker Tailor is one of those convoluted espionage tales that frankly I wouldn't listen to on the BBC if I did not know the story line. Too many threads to keep straight otherwise!

 

 

[Stacia]

Yesterday, I finished the Christmas noir book I was reading, The Fat Man by Ken Harmon.

 

Things have been busy/crazy lately, so I applied only about 3 brain cells (seeing as how that's all I had to give) when reading this & that seems about right. It starts out as a fairly hard-boiled noir (well, as hard-boiled as cranky elves can be), but ends up (appropriately?) Christmas-y happy/sappy/all is well in the end. For those who love little references & mentions of other books/movies/cultural references in their reading, you would definitely enjoy this book. There were so, so many, such as Zwarte Piet (if you don't know about Zwarte Piet, you should listen to David Sedaris' essay 6 to 8 Black Men [Zwarte Pieten], esp. for St. Nicholas Day), Ralphie from A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol, Charlie Brown, King Kong, Citizen Kane, Miracle on 34th Street (did I get the street # correct, lol? -- I've never seen the movie), Top Gun, Green Acres, The Twelve Days of Christmas, etc.... I think there was something on almost every page. Oddly (imo), the Christ child comes up at various times in the story too, which seemed to me to be an odd mix of the religious amid the overwhelmingly pop culture & noir tone. In a way it worked, but in a way, it seemed a little strange to have the religious/secular mix in a book that I had anticipated would be firmly set in the secular world.

 

So, if you're looking for a light, fairly fun seasonal read, some Coal Patrol cranky elves, & hard-boiled lingo that doesn't take too much brainpower, you might enjoy The Fat Man.

 

Btw, Happy St. Nicholas Day!

[Jane in NC]

 

Btw, Happy St. Nicholas Day!

 

 

 

Saint Nicholas Day is 12/6 and today is 12/5.  A day early, Stacia.  Happy Saint Nicholas Day anyway!

 

[Stacia]

Saint Nicholas Day is 12/6 and today is 12/5.  A day early, Stacia.  Happy Saint Nicholas Day anyway!

 

 

Oops. Well, I think my brain cell capacity is lower than 3 cells right now, so that may explain my early posting! LOL.

 

Just remember my greeting tomorrow too, everyone! :laugh:

[Angel]

Hello friends!!!

 

I haven't been up to much reading since Chews-on-Books has joined the family but I wanted to say hello.

 

 

 

When did Chews-on-Books join the family?!   Somehow I missed that memo!  

 

You do know that Julianne Donaldson (Edenbrooke) has a new book out, right?   ;)   I bet you are dying to read it but you should try to contain yourself until I'm finished with Robert Jordan's series so we can read it together and post our incredible reviews of it  :lol:

 

I'm 674 pages into Towers of Midnight (Book 13)!

[Stacia]

When did Chews-on-Books join the family?! Somehow I missed that memo!

Here was aggieamy's post about it. (The photos she posted were soooooooo cute. He's gorgeous. She has taken the photos down now, but maybe she'll briefly post one here in the BaW thread if we beg...

So, aggieamy, this is my post to say I'm begging to see your cute, chews-on-books guy again! :001_smile:)

[Rosie_0801]

Saint Nicholas Day is 12/6 and today is 12/5.  A day early, Stacia.  Happy Saint Nicholas Day anyway!

 

 

She was talking to me. :p

[Stacia]

She was talking to me. :p

Rosie,

 

You rock!

 

:lol:

[JennW in SoCal]

One of my 5/5/5 categories for the year is "Old Friends".  I am not reading these two, but I have been thoroughly enjoying listening to dramatizations on BBC Radio 4 Extra of The Nine Tailors and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  In general I love all of Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey books but The Nine Tailors really resonates with me (pun intended--in this book church bells, the Nine Tailors, play a dominant role).

 

 

I was just thinking of Nine Tailors while watching a hand bell lady perform last night  (handbells were developed to help change ringers practice without the need to ring the big church bells).  It is one of my favorite Wimsey books and a great holiday read.  I'm so bummed that the first episodes are now unavailable through Radio 4 Extra!  How do you keep up with their offerings?  And do you just listen from your computer?  They don't seem to be available as downloadable podcasts.

 

Yesterday, I finished the Christmas noir book I was reading, The Fat Man by Ken Harmon.

 

I bought a couple of copies to tuck into Christmas gift boxes to extended family.  Anything that references Christmas Story MUST be good.  "You'll shot your eye out!"  

[JennW in SoCal]

Rosie,

 

 

 

:lol:

 

P.S. This is *not* aggieamy's new little guy!

 

Stacia, I'm clearly running on 3 brain cells today, too.  Here I was thinking the new book chewing little guy was a canine puppy!!  **slaps forehead**  D'oh!!

[Kareni]

Stacia, I'm clearly running on 3 brain cells today, too.  Here I was thinking the new book chewing little guy was a canine puppy!!  **slaps forehead**  D'oh!!

 

You're not alone!  I was thinking puppy, too.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I was just thinking of Nine Tailors while watching a hand bell lady perform last night  (handbells were developed to help change ringers practice without the need to ring the big church bells).  It is one of my favorite Wimsey books and a great holiday read.

Eta: I posted by accident. Sorry!

 

Can't resist mentioning both dc's are bell ringer's for the village church. Ds is ringing two weddings for a nearby village this weekend. He makes a good income for a 13 yr old thanks to weddings. Dd does handbells also. Several xmas performances with her group.

[JennW in SoCal]

Eta: I posted by accident. Sorry!

 

Can't resist mentioning both dc's are bell ringer's for the village church. Ds is ringing two weddings for a nearby village this weekend. He makes a good income for a 13 yr old thanks to weddings. Dd does handbells also. Several xmas performances with her group.

 

How very cool!!  And what an exotic job to have, at least to me here in Southern California where there are no real church bells.  I always thought the ringing as described in The Nine Tailors must be exhausting because they do it for hours on end.  

[Jane in NC]

I was just thinking of Nine Tailors while watching a hand bell lady perform last night  (handbells were developed to help change ringers practice without the need to ring the big church bells).  It is one of my favorite Wimsey books and a great holiday read.  I'm so bummed that the first episodes are now unavailable through Radio 4 Extra!  How do you keep up with their offerings?  And do you just listen from your computer?  They don't seem to be available as downloadable podcasts.

 

No they don't seem to be available as downloads.  What I do is glance at the drama list once a week or so.  This gives me a heads up on what is forthcoming--if my three brain cells will remember.  I listen to these programs via my tablet--easily portable to whatever room of the house I am working in.

 

A new series featuring "The Toff" just started.  You might want to check it out.

[mumto2]

How very cool!!  And what an exotic job to have, at least to me here in Southern California where there are no real church bells.  I always thought the ringing as described in The Nine Tailors must be exhausting because they do it for hours on end.

We are discovering that bellringer's are a lovely group of people who are incredibly enthusiastic about their hobby. One of the gentlemen teaching them has been ringing for 70 years. Wow! I hope I can make it up the 94 steps to the bell ringing chamber when I am his age much less do anything useful after I get there. Our tower is 8 bell.

 

Ds has been deemed a natural and can bell ring easily for a really long time ( haven't been on a 3 1/2 hour peal yet) but tomorrow he will do 30 minutes then break for cermony then another 20. All change ringing.

 

Dd gets poofed (as they call it) so is not sent out to other churches. She does do change ringing at our church but they rotate her out when tired. She has only been ringing since August(ds started in April) so part is inexperience but apparently it is also a strength of pull and balance factor too. She also knows the bell she is ringing is the size of a small car that doesn't bother ds a bit. Right now she works quite hard to keep the bell "up" which is a skill that requires pulling hard when it starts to come down. Much seems to be intuitive imo. Anyway by spring they expect her to be ready for everything including peals.

[Stacia]

All the bell talk is fascinating. I think the church bells I've heard in Europe are beautiful. Don't really hear them much here....

 

 

[Stacia]

I've started reading Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. I wish I knew where I first heard about this book or where I got the idea to read it... :confused1: (I really need to start writing down notes to myself about stuff like that.)

Jane Charlotte has been arrested for murder.

 

She tells police that she is a member of a secret organization devoted to fighting evil; her division is called the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons—"Bad Monkeys" for short.

 

This confession earns Jane a trip to the jail's psychiatric wing, where a doctor attempts to determine whether she is lying, crazy—or playing a different game altogether. What follows is one of the most clever and gripping novels you'll ever read.

[Rosie_0801]

I've finally finished reading Lang's Blue Fairy book to dd, which has taken all year. I got so fed up of reading stories about stupid people, I tended to leave it on the shelf for "tomorrow" for months at a time. The last two stories were hard to read. They needed to be read in a Scottish accent and the best I could manage was a bad Irish.

[Robin M]

Found the perfect book for Antarctic read by one of my favorite authors - James Rollins. Subterranean which takes place deep under the ice of the antarctic.

 

Beneath the ice at the bottom of the Earth is a magnificent subterranean labyrinth, a place of breathtaking wonders--and terrors beyond imagining. A team of specialists led by archaeologist Ashley Carter has been hand-picked to explore this secret place and to uncover the riches it holds. But they are not the first to venture here--and those they follow did not return. There are mysteries here older than time, and revelations that could change the world. But there are also things that should not be disturbed--and a devastating truth that could doom Ashley and the expedition: they are not alone.

 

 

 

 

And I just had to share this article about Jonathan Swift and his code word "coffee" which is similar to the hives code word teA.

[ladydusk]

The kids and I listened to The Hobbit again.  It is an "out and about" thing, we have about a 30 minute drive almost everywhere we go.  Rob Inglis is a fantastic narrator and we all enjoyed it very much.  That's #44 for the year. 

 

One of my 2013 reading goals was to not re-read much, and I've done pretty well.  I did re-read the two Sally S Wright books at the beginning of the year, but didn't remember them at all .. it had been at least 10 years.  I also re-read The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch, which I was unsure if I had read (probably 25 years ago ...)  The Hobbit is the first, and only, recent re-read.  I feel really good about achieving what I wanted to on my goal -- not counting Eddings or Austen or Heyer books because they're quick and easy for me. 

 

Keeping on with Wolf Hall ...

 

Book Reviews

1. The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin Merkle
2. Publish and Perish by Sally S Wright (reread)
3. Pride and Predator by Sally S Wright (reread)
4. Pursuit and Persuasion by Sally S Wright
5. Out of the Ruins by Sally S Wright
6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
7. Watches of the Night by Sally S Wright
8. Code of Silence by Sally S Wright
9. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
10. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield (excellent)
11. Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers
12. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner
13.The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
14. The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch (reread)
15. The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
16. The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher (very very good)
17. The Exact Place: a memoir by Margie L Haack
18. Lord Peter Views The Body by Dorothy L Sayers
19. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
20. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
21. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle (audio book)
22. Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary (audio book)
23. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
24. How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig
25. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
26. Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian
27. Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock
28. Shadow in Serenity by Terri Blackstock
29. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers
30. Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days by Judith Viorst
31. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
32. Have His Carcase by Dorothy L Sayers
33. Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King
34. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L Sayers
35. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann R Wyss (audio book)
36. Holy is the Day by Carolyn Weber (Book of the year. Fantastic)
37. The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John (Audio Book)
38. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers
39. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
40. Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (Family Read Aloud)
41. Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
42. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
43. False Colours by Georgette Heyer
44. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien (audio book, reread)
 

[Angel]

Here was aggieamy's post about it. (The photos she posted were soooooooo cute. He's gorgeous. She has taken the photos down now, but maybe she'll briefly post one here in the BaW thread if we beg...

So, aggieamy, this is my post to say I'm begging to see your cute, chews-on-books guy again! :001_smile:)

 

Thanks, Stacia!  I had missed it.  I was gone most of Thanksgiving week and didn't spend much time on the computer.

 

Aggieamy...Congratulations!!!!!  How absolutely exciting!  What a blessing!  I would love to see a picture since I missed the last one.  

 

And lets see, chews-on-books will need to be raised on the proper books LOL.  Maybe we should start a list ...

 

At the top of mine - Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Fox in Socks  :D

[Stacia]

JennW in SoCal, I think you might totally enjoy Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff.

 

Finished it pretty much in one night. It pulled me in immediately, barreled through to the end, & left me wondering what the heck I just read.

 

A New York Times book review called it "science-fiction mystery thriller (a trifecta of genres!)".

 

Don't read lots of reviews or summaries, just jump in blind & enjoy the ride. Seriously.

 

ETA: Ok, here's an amazon review that sort-of mirrors my opinion on it too...

 

4.0 out of 5 stars A strange little gem, untrustworthy narrator meets freaky world, October 17, 2013

By 

Carl Skutsch (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Monkeys (Paperback)

This was a staff pick at Blackwell's bookstore in Oxford UK. My wife and I both loved it, and you might too. My short review is: Bad Monkeys is a cool funny trip with an enigmatic heroine killer who may be as mad as a hatter. My long review...

The book opens up with our heroine Jane Charlotte under arrest for murder. Her crazy defense? She's part of a super secret organization dedicated to wiping out evil people, "bad monkeys," so this wasn't murder, but an execution. Her interviewer doesn't buy it (why would he?) but convinces her to tell her story as part of her interrogation. And her story is the book. To tell you any more would be to give away too much (you find all this out in the first few pages). But the voyage of discovery is a delight.

One of the tensions in the book is trying to figure out how much of Jane's story might be true and how much might be the ravings of a delusional madwoman. Ruff's prose is smooth, clear, and ambiguous, whenever each of those tones is necessary. The reader is never quite sure what is true and yet is still drawn into the action of Jane's crazy adventures (or crazy hallucinations).

Will you like Bad Monkeys? If you like your books straightforward and sane, probably not. I actually tend in that direction myself--I'm not a big fan of the post-modern jumbled prose of some current writers--so I was a bit surprised that Ruff's style didn't annoy me. Partly, perhaps, because he's always clear about what's going on, even if you aren't quite sure if it's actually going on. I never felt lost, merely in doubt. Still, if you're not into a bit of weirdness, this may not be your cup of tea.

Also, if you're mad for deep character development, this is not the place to find it. This is more an intellectual journey than an emotional one.

But if you like smart writing and traveling to a very strange vision and version of our world, I highly recommend Bad Monkeys. If you don't like it, well maybe you are a bad monkey.

 

[Jane in NC]

To Stacia and all:

 

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

Found the perfect book for Antarctic read by one of my favorite authors - James Rollins. Subterranean which takes place deep under the ice of the antarctic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I just had to share this article about Jonathan Swift and his code word "coffee" which is similar to the hives code word teA.

 

The book sounds intriguing.

 

 

A few years ago, I was amused when my preacher's wife informed me that drinking teA was the euphemism used among the adults when she and her husband used to work at Bible camps. She doesn't know anything about the WTM boards.

 

Personally, from the looks of that portrait, Swift wouldn't be my cup of tea.

[Kareni]

Personally, from the looks of that portrait, Swift wouldn't be my cup of tea.

 

... or coffee!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Violet Crown]

How generous and artistic in arrangement St Nicholas is at your house! Here, he just dumped in a lot of chocolates and pistachios, tangerines, and holiday Pez dispensers. College girl was especially pleased with her Pez. (She had had a bleak theory that she no longer qualified in St Nicholas' book.)

 

-Violent Crime

 

I mean, Violet Crown

 

To Stacia and all:

 

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

 

 

[Jane in NC]

How generous and artistic in arrangement St Nicholas is at your house! Here, he just dumped in a lot of chocolates and pistachios, tangerines, and holiday Pez dispensers. College girl was especially pleased with her Pez. (She had had a bleak theory that she no longer qualified in St Nicholas' book.)

 

-Violent Crime

 

I mean, Violet Crown

 

 

Sorry to say that the photo was found on the web.  St. Nicholas visited me today in the form of Bob, the appliance repair man.

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Perhaps this is function of always having lived in the southwestern quadrant of the US, but I have never heard of St. Nicholas Day and no one in my family has ever found goodies in a shoe on December 6th.   A scorpion perhaps, but no goodies!  

 

 

 

(Well, actually we rarely get scorpions in this house, but it sounded good as a comparison to treats and such!)

[Jane in NC]

Perhaps this is function of always having lived in the southwestern quadrant of the US, but I have never heard of St. Nicholas Day and no one in my family has ever found goodies in a shoe on December 6th.   A scorpion perhaps, but no goodies!  

 

 

 

(Well, actually we rarely get scorpions in this house, but it sounded good as a comparison to treats and such!)

 

There is some Dutch blood on one side of the family.   In our house, St. Nicholas Day was a holdover from that part of our ethnicity. 

 

Similarly we never celebrated Saint Lucia's Day on December 13 but I attended grad school with a woman with a Scandinavian background.  Saint Lucia's Day was part of her holiday tradition.

 

P.S. to Jenn:  Our boys are getting walloped with snow today!  I suspect students will try to fill the arch!

[Robin M]

I'm working on BAW 2014 plans.   At this point, we will be continuing with well educated mind, another round of dusty/chunky books, and 5/5/5 challenges.    Will be throwing in a couple months of rereading and visiting old friends.  Considering Nobel Prize Literature winners or another round of reading around the world.  Are there any readalongs, categories, or mini challenges you'd like to see for the new year?  Here's the list of assorted mini's we had this year - don't think we did them all. 

 

 

[6packofun]

I finished Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield (author of The Thirteenth Tale, which I really enjoyed).  This was very well-written but I felt the theme the author was going for was just not strong enough to pull the story together as tightly as I'd like.  It's a hard line to walk between creating suspense without slapping the reader in the face with theme or symbolism and allowing those undercurrents to be just strong enough to lead the reader along right up to the end where there is that, "oh, I see it now!" moment.  Still, it was good.

 

I'm now starting Shift by Hugh Howey, the prequel to Wool and I'm excited.  It was a Christmas gift to myself. 

 

I am also reading the 4 gospels in the Bible simultaneously and comparing them for personal study.

[Stacia]

I'm working on BAW 2014 plans.   At this point, we will be continuing with well educated mind, another round of dusty/chunky books, and 5/5/5 challenges.    Will be throwing in a couple months of rereading and visiting old friends.  Considering Nobel Prize Literature winners or another round of reading around the world.  Are there any readalongs, categories, or mini challenges you'd like to see for the new year?  Here's the list of assorted mini's we had this year - don't think we did them all. 

 

I might join in Nobel Prize Lit & (of course) am totally on board for reading around the world.

 

Still always love the 'choose a book by its cover' & 'read a banned book' mini challenges.

 

Don't really have much to add, at least for now. Haven't really spent much time pondering what books I will be tackling next year.

[Robin M]

Came across this tonight and had to link to it:  10 Australian Books to read before you die

 

 

Plus  What were we reading 30 years ago - 1983's 10 Best Selling books.

[Stacia]

Well, for one of my Australia reads, I've gotten Walkabout by James Vance Marshall. However, now that I have the actual library copy in my hands, it seems as if the version the library has is the simplified, 'intermediate guided reader' version of the book. LOL. Handily, on page 1, the footnotes highlight the words gasp, spread, sinking, and explodes so that I can look them up in the back of the book to see the definitions. Wow. This one may take me awhile, what with all the flipping back & forth.... ;) (Since I'm lazy & don't want to flip back & forth with footnotes, I just broke down & bought the Kindle version published by NYRB Classics to read instead.)

 

I've also just started the first few pages of A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.

[Stacia]

Came across this tonight and had to link to it:  10 Australian Books to read before you die

 

Hey, I've read two of those! (One of them was thanks to Rosie's challenge for us last year to read Picnic at Hanging Rock. :thumbup1: )

[Stacia]

For Stacia (aren't lists *fun*!):

 

Around the World in 52 Countries Challenge:

 

Here's my list from this year... (some of these books could fit in more than one country category; I also read other books that were set in other countries but because the author wasn't from that area, I didn't count the books).

 

 

Around the World Continental Challenge:

 

Canada: Women of the Klondike (Frances Backhouse); Daughters of Copper Woman (Anne Cameron)

United States: The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett); Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote); The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats (Hesh Kestin); Hammett Unwritten (Owen Fitzstephen)

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Argentina: Hopscotch (Julio Cortázar); The Tenth Circle (Mempo Giardinelli ); A Funny Dirty Little War (Osvaldo Soriano); Winter Quarters (Osvaldo Soriano); Borges and the Eternal Orangutans (Luis Fernando Verissimo)

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England: They Call Me Naughty Lola (David Rose)

Hungary: The Finno-Ugrian Vampire (Noémi Szécsi)

Italy: I Will Have Vengeance (Maurizio de Giovanni); If on a winter's night a traveler (Italo Calvino); The Late Mattia Pascal (Luigi Pirandello); The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico (Antonio Tabucchi)

Romania: In Search of Dracula (Raymond T. McNally & Radu Florescu)

Russia:  The Kruetzer Sonata (Leo Tolstoy)

Spain: All Men are Liars (Alberto Manguel); Captain Alatriste (Arturo Pérez-Reverte); Tales of the Alhambra (Washington Irving); Plants Don’t Drink Coffee (Basque/Spain: Unai Elorriaga)

Sweden: The Stockholm Octavo (Karen Engelmann)

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Australia: (in progress now)

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Israel: Second Person Singular (Sayed Kashua)

Japan: 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami); A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)

Pakistan: Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (Mohammed Hanif); A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Mohammed Hanif)

Russia (Siberia): The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia  (Anna Reid)

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Egypt: The Twelve Rooms of the Nile (Enid Shomer)

Ghana: Night of my Blood (Kofi Awoonor)       

São Tomé and Príncipe: Equator (Miguel Sousa Tavares) 

Senegal: So Long a Letter (Mariama Ba); Xala (Ousmane Sembène)

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Antarctica: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Edgar Allan Poe); Pym (Mat Johnson); At the Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft); Le Sphinx de Glaces (Jules Verne)

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