Book a Week 2016 - BW37: Time for another mini challenge

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 37 in our quest to read 52 books. Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Time for another mini challenge:  Happy Sunday!   Just realized we are halfway through the year and I haven't done a Pick a Book by the Cover or Pick a Random Book mini challenge yet. Shame on me. Your mission this month is to go on an adventure to the library or book store in search of a new book.  Or play along using your home shelves if short of funds or time.

 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick a book based on its cover.  Don't read the synopsis on the back or the inside flap.  Tell us what you think the story is going to be about based on the cover.  Then after you've read it, let us know if you were close or no cigar.

 

Or you can pick a Random book based on its position on the shelf.  To choose a book: decide in advance  (1) which Genre, (2)  two numbers between 1 and 5, and (3) one number between 1 and 30. Using these numbers, find the chosen Genre in the book store or library, count over certain number of sections in the aisle, go down that number of shelves and count to X number  and that's the book you'll get.

 

That's how I found Anne Bishop's Written in Red a couple years back. I chose the science fiction/fantasy aisle, counted over 3 sections, then down 2 shelves and looked for the 15th book on the shelf.

 

You can also challenge yourself to spread your reading wings a bit and chose a genre you don't normally read.

Have fun exploring!

 

********************

 

History of the Renaissance World - Chapters 63 and 64

 

*******************

 

What are you reading this week?  

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 36

Edited September 11, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

This past week I finished Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes then took a break from the series with J.D. Robb's Apprentice in Death.  Continuing my binge read of the Outlander series with An Echo in the Bone.

 

Today, James and I are going on a shopping adventure to Barnes and Noble before grocery shopping.  Will let you know the result of my Random Book find when we return. 

Edited September 11, 2016 by Robin M

[Loesje22000]

I read about 8 hours of music sheets yesterday:

The CD recording of my choir is done!

I'm a little tired now :)

[Jane in NC]

Happy Sunday all.

 

I owe everyone a couple of reviews.

 

Only a couple of chapters into reading After the Armistice Ball and I was wondering why Julian Fellowes or someone similar has not optioned this for a serialized dramatization.  Flufferton costumes and customs all over again.  This is a "cozy" mystery by Catriona McPheron--maybe not as pink fuzzy slipper cozy as some but there is certainly nothing gory within. The "detective" is upper crust Dandelion (Dandy) Gilver who literally stumbles about in an attempt to understand a diamond theft.  Murder finds its way into the story, a plot that is not terribly surprising but occasionally fun as Dandy and her sidekick use their societal connections to get to the bottom of the case.  I like more complexity within my mysteries.  This book is weak on plot but strong on descriptions of tweeds, tea and dinner parties with a detective who almost always seems to say the wrong thing. Pure escape reading for those requiring such a thing.

 

Orhan's Inheritance deals with a difficult matter:  the Armenian genocide in Turkey during WWI. This is Aline Ohanesian's first novel, an attempt to reconcile the atrocities of the past while recognizing that not everyone has the same shared history. 

 

Ohanesian pulled me in with a great first line:

 

 

They found him inside one of seventeen cauldrons in the courtyard, steeping in an indigo dye two shades darker than the summer sky.

 

The plot moves between Turkey in 1915 and modern day California.  Paths cross, connections made, puzzle pieces moved into place.  How responsible are we for the sins of our grandparents and great-grandparents?  It seems the victors are able to move forward with a casual nod that the past is the past.  But what about those who lost everything or more importantly everyone? For some it seems that transgenerational memories keep people and places alive; yet other cannot or will not discuss the pain of the past. 

 

I confess that I was only vaguely aware of the Armenian Genocide.  It surprised me that the death marches of the ethnic Armenians (but Turkish citizens) took the few survivors to places now in the news:  Aleppo and Damascus.  Ohanesian's novel is a testimony to the spirit of survival found within refugee communities--and the humiliation that refugees must endure then and now. 

 

About the novel:  good on many levels but I wish greater depth of character was shown for the Muslim Turks and Kurds.

 

Who wants Orhan?  I'll be happy to send it out.  And if you'd like, I could include a random book, saving you a trip to the book store or library for Robin's challenge!

[Ali in OR]

Reading mostly short stuff these days. Finished Daisy Miller which dd and I will start as a read-aloud tomorrow. Read a Captain Lacey novella that I had somehow skipped on my kindle. Finished the William Faulkner short story, A Rose for Emily and ended up really liking it--one of those short stories with a "gotcha" at the end, but if you're expecting a "gotcha", you'll probably have it figured out ahead of time. I wasn't expecting it. I thought it was just full of great description and southern character and thankfully no stream of consciousness.

 

I've already done a book by its cover this year, so I think I'll skip that as it's not a natural way to pick books for me. But I can do the random read--I have a random book on my kindle by an author I like, but have no idea what this one is about. The kindle works well on my treadmill--no pages to turn! I'll also be reading a few books from the library with titles like How to Train Your Labrador and The Puppy Whisperer. We picked out an adorable pup on Friday who will be joining our home in a few weeks. Pic attached.

[aggieamy]

Hello all -  Anyone remember when I said yesterday that I was going to take pictures of our book storage?  No?  Because that was appearantly two weeks ago!  If anyone knows where last week is, let me know because I've managed to lose it.  Seriously.

 

It's a little late to the discussion but here's how the aggieamy family does books.

 

We have a game room/library with a big table in it and classic woodpaneled walls with two built in bookcases. 

 

Right now a lot of our book placement is decided upon based on how high John can reach.  Top shelf is puzzles we don't want John to get into.  Second shelf is our book sets because they look so petty all together - and John can't reach them.  Third shelf is Horrible Histories and the rest of the shelf are the books for growns ups - that's almost the complete extent of our grown up books.  Fourth shelf is Usborne and other non-fiction or pretty picture books.  Bottom shelf is puzzles for John.

 

 

Top shelf is Kevin's to-read books.  Second shelf left are the read alouds DD and I are working through and on the right are my to-reads.  Third and fourth shelves are favorite chapter books and comic style books.  Bottom shelf are all sorts of favorite picture books and then on the right are my scrapbooks.

 

 

Close up of Kevin's to-read shelf in case anyone cares what he's got planned.

 

 

And for something lighter, my to-read shelf.  You will notice many books suggested by my friends here on BaW.

 

 

Our living room is on the other side of the wall from the library.  We have "his" chair and "her" chair.  This is "his" chair and it's where we keep our travel books and my favorite set of mystery books.  They had belonged to my dearly loved grandmother.  That's her picture next to them.

 

 

I don't have a picture but behind my chair are bunch of board books and baskets of trains.  :laugh:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by aggieamy

[Kareni]

Here's a "different" banned book list http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/50-books-that-were-banned# from a British magazine.http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/50-books-that-were-banned# More of a historical list of books banned around the world and the reasons why. Books mentioned include Black Beauty (South Africa---black and beauty combined) and Alica in Wonderland (China---anamorphic), as you can see the list is a bit different thus interesting.

 

Thanks for sharing the link; it was interesting to see what the books were.  It boggles my mind that Where's Waldo was banned!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

 

That didn't last long!  NO LONGER FREE You might be interested in this currently free book by the same author:

 

The Marigold Chain  by Stella Riley which is set in Restoration England.

 

There's an A- review here:

REVIEW: The Marigold Chain by Stella Riley

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

That did go fast!  I've still added the book to my to-read list.  I like Ms. Riley's writing style.

 

Well, power was finally restored after being out about 14 hours. The house was roasting, roasting, roasting hot by then.

 

In fact, at 3:45am, I took the dogs out into the yard because they were panting so much I thought they were going to overheat. Power lines run behind my sister's house, so I was looking that way (in complete darkness) using a flashlight to see if I could see anywhere there might be workers doing repair. (I could hear stuff kind of far away, but couldn't see anything.)

 

All the sudden, I hear a splash & a gurgle. My first thought is that the dumber of the two dogs (seriously, he runs on about one brain cell) had fallen into the pool & needed to be rescued. (Sis & her dh have had to rescue two different dogs who they were pet-sitting that fell into the pool.) I turn w/ my pitiful flashlight, looking at a pool filled w/ yard debris from the storm, trying to see if the dog fell in as I started to run that way... and promptly tripped on their other dog (huge black dog the size of a pony who completely blended into the darkness) & fell flat out on the concrete by the pool. As in a cartoon-style, Wile E. Coyote fall -- flying straight out in the air & then straight down onto the ground. :crying:

 

At this point, dumb dog (who hadn't fallen in the pool after all) comes up to look at me laying on the ground.  :huh:  (<----- That's how he was looking down on me.)

 

My knee looks like I'm a 6yo who survived a bad bike accident on the asphalt. The tops & the bottoms of my toes are completely cut up. My fingertips are raw & slashed open. And I hurt today like I was in a car wreck -- that all-over body pain that's deep & doesn't easily go away. I definitely feel my age today.

 

What did I hear? Well, it was the pool pump. It was the exact instance power was restored & the pump created a big splash & gurgle. At least I had lights for when I limped into the house to look for band-aids. 

 

:leaving:

 

Wow.  That's horrible.  Hope you heal quickly. 

 

Happy Birthday Amy!!!!

 

:party:  :party:  :party:

 

Thank you!  I had a lovely birthday.  We took the train out to St. Louis for a few days and visited a train museum.  DS refused to use the train or hotel potty though so we went through a dozen pairs of underpants in two days.  Joys of potty training!

 

Well, I've been doing a lot of virtual book cleaning-out. 

 

I deleted all my amazon wish lists & things in my cart (about 20 pages worth of stuff, mostly books), as well as deleting tons of kindle books I had. (So now I'm below 50 on kindle books which seems about right since I rarely read ebooks anyway.)

 

I also deleted all of my "to-read" list on Goodreads. 

 

I like having a clean (imaginary) slate to work with....

 

What prompted you to do a virtual spring cleaning?  It sounds nice because my to-do lists are a little full but at the same time the thought makes me break out in hives. 

 

 

 

Still reading Jane Austen's shorter works. Still loving them. 

 

I ended up buying this because my library didn't have it.  I was really surprised. 

 

My sister said I could post these so you could see what a sexpot she married. Lol.

 

 

 

Apparently he's getting some marriage proposals out of this. :lol:

 

(Costume from this comic: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ee/14/a7/ee14a771b5bc95bd994762990f14c2e0.jpg )

 

That is too funny!

 

[Kareni]

Hello all -  Anyone remember when I said yesterday that I was going to take pictures of our book storage?  No?  Because that was apparently two weeks ago!  If anyone knows where last week is, let me know because I've managed to lose it.  Seriously.

 

I can't help you with last week; I think it disappeared here, too.  (It may be hiding out with February and March.)

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your book shelves.  I get the feeling that you like 300 piece puzzles. And are those Creative Memories scrapbooks?  They look surprisingly similar to some photo albums that are on my shelves.

 

 

 We picked out an adorable pup on Friday who will be joining our home in a few weeks. Pic attached.

 

Happy new puppy!  He looks adorable indeed.

 

 

Stacia, hope that you're healing well.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

Or you can pick a Random book based on its position on the shelf.  To choose a book: decide in advance  (1) which Genre, (2)  two numbers between 1 and 5, and (3) one number between 1 and 30. Using these numbers, find the chosen Genre in the book store or library, count over certain number of sections in the aisle, go down that number of shelves and count to X number  and that's the book you'll get.

 

This is similar to a game they play on the Literary Disco podcast sometimes (Rider Strong, Julia Pistell, and Tod Goldberg all read a book about once a month or so and talk about it).  They have people tweet them random numbers and the numbers tell them where on their shelf to find a book.  One number is starting from which corner, the second number is number of shelf from there, and the last number is how many books to count over to find the book.  Then they have to defend why they have the book on their shelf.  It's always pretty funny.

 

I finished my 85th book.  Praise the Lard by Paisley Ray.  It's the 8th of the Rachael O'Brien Chronicles.  I really enjoyed it.  It was funny and answered a lot of questions while adding more questions.

 

I think I'll read the Harry Potter short stories and/or Tales of the Peculiar next.  The sixth Michael Vey comes out Tuesday.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Ethel Mertz]

I finished two more Leslie Meier mysteries (one of them was The English Tea Murder - an intricate plot, well done). I also finished the 3rd book in The World Made By Hand Trilogy by James Howard Kunstler. While this series goes outside my comfort zone in terms of violence, I'm hooked on the characters and will probably read the last book in the series.

 

I'm working on Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow. It's slow going, but Berry's writing makes up for the slow pace. I've also got a stack of library books sitting beside me so will get started on those this week.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished reading The Fictional 100, which I started back in April. It was a useful set of summaries of 100 of the most influential literary characters. We've already used some of them for school. It has earned a place on my shelf - currently laying across some other books, because that's all the space there is, but oh well.

 

I am trying to be more disciplined about my current reads: I have going As I Lay Dying, Mink River, Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading, and the WTM 4th edition.  Shannon and I are on the last chapter of Voyage of the Beagle!! And Morgan and I are reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Trying not to add anything else till one or more of those are done - besides HotRW, which I'm happy to see I'm a couple of chapters ahead in.

 

We've revamped Shannon's reading lists yet again, so I have a whole new set of things to quickly pre-read - a bunch of short stories (Flannery O'Connor, Langston Hughes, Katherine Mansfield, Paul Bowles, Alice Munro are on my stack), which I'm actually looking forward to, I'm coming to appreciate the short story form more here in my old age, with my perhaps shorter attention span (or at least more distractions). Novel-wise, I'm going to check out The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss and Plainsong by Kent Haruf - anybody read either of those? They are both Ursula LeGuin suggestions from Steering the Craft.

 

Books finished in September:

171. The Fictional 100 - Lucy Pollard-Gott

170. Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler

169. The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood

168. The Sunlight Pilgrims- Jenni Fagan

167. The Odyssey - Homer

166. The Hidden Forest - John Luoma

165. Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut

[Ali in OR]

Amy, I recognize a lot of your books! You need the box of Horrible Science books by the Horrible Histories (in order to match my shelf. I think dds like the histories better, but they do read both). And your scrapbooks need more pages!

[SKL]

Still early in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  Not sure what to say about it so far.

 

Also still early in the Little Women read-aloud - think I finished 5 chapters so far.  My eldest is thrilled that there is a potential for romance in there.  :P  Their summer reading included the Penderwicks, which is also about 4 sisters, so I think I will have the girls compare and contrast just for fun.  :)

 

We finished the audiobook The War that Saved My Life.  The ending was not as good as the rest of it IMO but it was such an interesting book on many levels (for middle school, but I liked it too).

 

Today we have started our last Rush Revere audiobook (until he writes more) - RR and the First Patriots.  The next audiobook will be their next middle school book club selection, called Pax.

 

My brother gave me a book called Natural Theology.  I will probably read that next after Henrietta Lacks.

[aggieamy]

Here's a "different" banned book list http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/50-books-that-were-banned# from a British magazine.http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/50-books-that-were-banned# More of a historical list of books banned around the world and the reasons why. Books mentioned include Black Beauty (South Africa---black and beauty combined) and Alica in Wonderland (China---anamorphic), as you can see the list is a bit different thus interesting.

 

That's a great list.  My favorite banned books are the ones that we think are so silly now like Where's Waldo.

 

I did laugh at one of the descriptions.  Not because it was humorous but because it was so stupid.

 

 

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, is the real-life diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager who, along with her family, hid from the Nazis during World War II. She died in a concentration camp and her diary was publised posthumously. It has been challenged by various organisations in the US, including members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee who contended it was a"real downer."

 

Anne Frank?  A "real downer"?  Good.  That means you're human.  Nobody should consider it a "beach read." 

 

Amy, I recognize a lot of your books! You need the box of Horrible Science books by the Horrible Histories (in order to match my shelf. I think dds like the histories better, but they do read both). And your scrapbooks need more pages!

 

We picked up some Horrible Sciences and Maths while we were in England.  They are on my DD's nightstand.  I didn't take a picture of her room because I would be embarrassed to post it online. 

 

My scrapbooks are a minimum of five years behind.  My 2017 New Years Resolution is to get caught up with them somehow even if it's simple pages with descriptions and pictures. 

 

I can't help you with last week; I think it disappeared here, too.  (It may be hiding out with February and March.)

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your book shelves.  I get the feeling that you like 300 piece puzzles. And are those Creative Memories scrapbooks?  They look surprisingly similar to some photo albums that are on my shelves.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Yep.  I *loved* CM.  Luckily I still have plenty of supplies left. 

[Ali in OR]

My scrapbooks are a minimum of five years behind.  My 2017 New Years Resolution is to get caught up with them somehow even if it's simple pages with descriptions and pictures. 

I'm trying really hard to remain only 4 years behind. I was supposed to get 2012 done over the summer. I got about halfway in the family album only. Falling further behind!

[mumto2]

Amy, Your bookshelves are so nice and neat, I am impressed.

 

This wasn't a good reading week for me. I am still working on the Donna Andrews Penguin book from last week. I finally started my book with a colour in the title https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211143.Leave_the_Grave_Green. Deborah Crombie's Leave the Grave Green. It's number three in the series so I need to read it because I try to read complete series but notlovinv this one. The last Julia Spencer Fleming is my current audiobook.

 

Yesterday was my quilt show so I shojld have a bit more reading time now. The show was lovely with roughly 80 quilts. I had a huge surprise because my quilt came in third in the large quilt catagory!

 

Ali, Your new pup is adorable!

[Onceuponatime]

Today I will be finishing up the Complete Idiot's Guide to American Literature and some extra research based on questions on the CLEP practice test. I take the Am. Lit. Test tomorrow. Wish me luck.😉

[Negin]

I read My Invented Country - 5 Stars - I never noticed how much I love memoirs until my daughter pointed it out to me. We joke about that endlessly, since I’m often quite unaware of the genre of a book when I choose it and start reading it. Well, a memoir and never mind one written by Allende, I simply knew that it had to be good! This book is full of nostalgia and memories of her life in Chile. She writes beautifully and from the heart. For me, reading Isabel Allende books are a pleasure. This one was a re-read and I loved it yet again.

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

 

[SKL]

I love Isabel Allende too.  I don't think I've read that one though.

[Matryoshka]

 

It's a little late to the discussion but here's how the aggieamy family does books.

 

We have a game room/library with a big table in it and classic woodpaneled walls with two built in bookcases. 

 

So.few.books.  :lol:  Seriously.  That must be 1/10th the book population of my house.  You must be a waaaaay better purger than I am!    Although I've thrown out probably 5x the picture books you have on that shelf, and still have shelves more, and at least rubbermaid bins full that I've put away.  And that doesn't yet touch on the school books, the chapter books, and yeah, my books  - older ones of which were supposed to come down from the attic when I had dh make an entire room into a library with built-in bookshelves on every wall.  But they got filled before I could retrieve a single book.

 

I need a KonMari intervention, don't I?  If you saw pics of the ridiculously many bookshelves they would not be so neat as yours - there's always stuff I'm trying to fit in that... doesn't...  I recently got rid of many piles of books that were on the floor, but most of them are still in bins...  I'm probably even more aware of it because we've just been taking almost everything out of the attic in preparation for the solar panel guys to come do some work up there...

 

Somewhat in my defense, at least as far as the picture books go, my mom was an elementary school teacher and bought out the Scholastic catalog first for her classroom and in anticipation of grandchildren, and I'd say over 85% - 90% of my picture book inventory (current, stored, and discarded) was given to me by her.  It's hard for me to throw out stuff she saved for me for years...

[Matryoshka]

I read My Invented Country - 5 Stars - I never noticed how much I love memoirs until my daughter pointed it out to me. We joke about that endlessly, since I’m often quite unaware of the genre of a book when I choose it and start reading it. Well, a memoir and never mind one written by Allende, I simply knew that it had to be good! This book is full of nostalgia and memories of her life in Chile. She writes beautifully and from the heart. For me, reading Isabel Allende books are a pleasure. This one was a re-read and I loved it yet again.

 

 

I've read so much Allende, but not any of her memoirs.  I've been kind of taking a bit of a break from her, as I haven't found some of her newer stuff as compelling (Zorro, and I read the first book in her YA series - finished, but meh), and also just because she's so prolific and I've read so much, I wanted to fit in some other Spanish language authors.  I have liked her newer books that are prequels to House of the Spirits.  I have a different memoir of hers on the shelf - La suma de los días (The Sum of Our Days) - should I read it? Or start with My Invented Country (I think the one I have is a later part of her life, after she's moved to California?)

 

Any other more recent ones you'd particularly recommend?

[aggieamy]

Amy, Your bookshelves are so nice and neat, I am impressed.

 

This wasn't a good reading week for me. I am still working on the Donna Andrews Penguin book from last week. I finally started my book with a colour in the title https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211143.Leave_the_Grave_Green. Deborah Crombie's Leave the Grave Green. It's number three in the series so I need to read it because I try to read complete series but notlovinv this one. The last Julia Spencer Fleming is my current audiobook.

 

Yesterday was my quilt show so I shojld have a bit more reading time now. The show was lovely with roughly 80 quilts. I had a huge surprise because my quilt came in third in the large quilt catagory!

 

Ali, Your new pup is adorable!

 

Congrats on third place.  That's fantastic.  :)

 

So.few.books.   :lol:  Seriously.  That must be 1/10th the book population of my house.  You must be a waaaaay better purger than I am!    Although I've thrown out probably 5x the picture books you have on that shelf, and still have shelves more, and at least rubbermaid bins full that I've put away.  And that doesn't yet touch on the school books, the chapter books, and yeah, my books  - older ones of which were supposed to come down from the attic when I had dh make an entire room into a library with built-in bookshelves on every wall.  But they got filled before I could retrieve a single book.

 

I need a KonMari intervention, don't I?  If you saw pics of the ridiculously many bookshelves they would not be so neat as yours - there's always stuff I'm trying to fit in that... doesn't...  I recently got rid of many piles of books that were on the floor, but most of them are still in bins...  I'm probably even more aware of it because we've just been taking almost everything out of the attic in preparation for the solar panel guys to come do some work up there...

 

Somewhat in my defense, at least as far as the picture books go, my mom was an elementary school teacher and bought out the Scholastic catalog first for her classroom and in anticipation of grandchildren, and I'd say over 85% - 90% of my picture book inventory (current, stored, and discarded) was given to me by her.  It's hard for me to throw out stuff she saved for me for years...

 

We are lucky that we have a fantastic library system but really it comes down to two things ... DH and I are both minimalists by nature and in the last seven years we've moved three times.  Every time I've had to pack up books I've been really motivated to get rid of boxes of them.  Some of them we've regretted.  When DD was four we got rid of all my Calvin & Hobbes and FoxTrot books.  We've now spent the last five years buying all those books back.  For the most part though we've been able to narrow the books down to absolute favorites and to earn a space on those shelves it has to be a book someone in the house absolutely loves.  We found that the favorite books were getting lost among the "just okay" books on our shelves and that made me want book shelves where any book pulled out is a book that me or the kids would be delighted to read.  

 

DD also has some books in her room but they are mostly library books.  DS has baskets of books strewn across the house but they aren't all much loved books.  His genre of choice at this time in his life would be "books containing pictures of trains".   

[Lady Florida.]

Can any of my fellow mystery readers help me out? My google-foo is failing me today. 

 

There's a mystery series in which writers (and possibly other famous people - I don't remember) help the police to solve crimes. I know one was Agatha Christie during the Blitz but can't recall the name of that book or of the series in general.

 

I don't even know if I want to read any of them, but I thought I'd download a sample or two to my Kindle to see if they interest me. Does anyone know the series I'm thinking of?

[Kareni]

 

 I take the Am. Lit. Test tomorrow. Wish me luck.😉

 

Good luck!

 

Yesterday was my quilt show so I should have a bit more reading time now. The show was lovely with roughly 80 quilts. I had a huge surprise because my quilt came in third in the large quilt category!

 

Congratulations!

 

 

I'm trying really hard to remain only 4 years behind.

 

 

My scrapbooks are a minimum of five years behind.

 

Please stop boasting. I haven't worked on my photo albums since we moved in 2002.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Earlier today I finished  The Devil Lancer: A Novel of the Crimean War by Astrid Amara

 

The events in this book took place in the 1850s primarily on the Crimean peninsula which is located in the Black Sea. The peninsula is attached to the Ukraine and is near Russia, Romania, and Turkey. It's a part of the world that I know little about.

 

I'd describe the story as a blend of historical and paranormal fiction. One of the main characters is a British captain in the Lancers division; the other is a half-Russian, half-English officer who is possessed by a demon. On the plus side, the book is incredibly well researched and it was an easy read. I learned about the Crimean war – the waiting, the boredom, the deaths from disease, cold, and fighting, the poor command. However, it took time for me to understand the story line, and I didn't feel connected to either character. I'm happy to have read this book, but I don't think it's one I'll be re-reading.  (Adult content)

 

Here's the book blurb:

 

"Captain Elliott Parrish of Her Majesty’s 17th Lancers cavalry division finds most details about his assignment in the Crimean peninsula insufferable. Rampant cholera, missing supplies, and inept planning start the British war effort against the Russian Czar’s expansion into Turkish territory on poor footing. What should have been a swift and decisive summer victory soon drags into a harrowing winter campaign, and Elliott must rally disheartened men through sickness, battle, and starvation. But when he is assigned the additional task of spying on a fellow officer, the inscrutable Cornet Ilyas Kovakin, he finds himself disconcerted and fascinated by both the work and the man. Rumors surround Ilyas Kovakin, the half-Russian officer who reports to none in his division. People say they’ve seen snakes slithering into his tent at night, that he has another face visible only in certain light, and a penchant for violent acts carried out in darkness, alone. But the truth that Elliot soon discovers is much more dangerous then mere superstition. For Ilyas, his return to Crimea is colored with the horrors of his past. Once a mercenary, he has made a terrible mistake and inherited horrifying powers that he can barely control. He feels his hold over his humanity slipping away daily, and fears that salvation may already lay beyond him when the cheerful Captain Parrish catches his attention. Among men who hate him and superiors who covet his brutal power, Ilyas finds the young captain’s charming company almost irresistible. But Ilyas knows that the closer he is drawn to Elliot the more he will endanger them both."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Faithr]

So how do you upload photos here?  Because we just got some lovely built in shelves in our bedroom and I love it and would like to show them off to fellow book shelves full of books fan folk.  But I have never figured out to do photos here.  I am entirely LD when it comes to technology.

 

I just finished Leave it to Psmith.  I did a really short review on my blog.   I am now onto Blandings Castle.  I also am reading a fantastic book on G. K. Chesterton called The Size of Chesterton's Catholicism.  I didn't care for the title but the book is excellent.  This author totally gets Chesterton and can explain him with great affection, clarity and depth.  It is truly an insightful book.

[mumto2]

Today I will be finishing up the Complete Idiot's Guide to American Literature and some extra research based on questions on the CLEP practice test. I take the Am. Lit. Test tomorrow. Wish me luck.😉

Just wanted to wish you luck!

[Ali in OR]

So how do you upload photos here?  Because we just got some lovely built in shelves in our bedroom and I love it and would like to show them off to fellow book shelves full of books fan folk.  But I have never figured out to do photos here.  I am entirely LD when it comes to technology.

 

What works for me (usually):

 

On the lower right of the reply box is a button that says "More Reply Options". When I hit that, I get another box along the bottom that says "Attach Files" with a button that says Choose File. I click that and I can then select a picture I already have somewhere on my desktop. Then press the button that says Attach This File. There is a limit to how many pictures you can have total amongst all of your threads. There's a way to delete old ones in your user profile. It might be Manage Content or Manage Attachments or something like that-I can figure it out again if you need this!

[Faithr]

Thank you Ali in Or!  I just realized I left my phone with camera in the minivan and my dh is off with it.  I'll have to work on this later.  Thanks so much for taking the time to tell me.  One day soon I shall post photos!

[Violet Crown]

After finishing Saramago's Blindness, I started To The Lighthouse but quickly remembered why I can never get anywhere with a Woolf novel. So I picked up my volume of poems of Matthew Arnold and am spending some more time wallowing in Victoriana.

 

In-between Arnold's verse, I'm reading chapters from Texas Ranger Tales: Stories That Need Telling, by Mike Cox. (I assume the subtitle is a play on the Texas expression "need killing.") It was apparently the winner of the Violet Crown award for non-fiction back in 1997, so there's that.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished reading As I Lay Dying last night. It was amazing, my favorite Faulkner novel so far. Easier to read than The Sound and the Fury - still some stream of consciousness, but less so, more just writing how people talk, which is a slightly different thing, but still hard to follow at times. I'll have to read Absalom Absalom at some point.

 

I also finished the Logic Stage section of the new WTM. It seems like I'm mostly doing what I need to be with dd10, which is reassuring. It's good to remember that there are different paths to the destination you are going for - she's such a different cookie to work with than my older dd. It's always fun to read SWB, though, now that I've heard her talk so much (audio lectures and such) I can really hear her voice in my head when I read the book. Which is refreshing, because she has such a great dry sense of humor. 

 

 

[Just Robyn]

Well, I've been trying to read along as much as I can, but haven't made it to the point of actually posting for a couple of weeks. Books I've finished since then:

 

Salt Water Amnesia by Jeffrey Skinner - a book of prose poems. I posted one the poems from this book last year. 

 

An Iranian Metamorphosis by Mana Neyestani - This is a graphic memoir about how the author was imprisoned and eventually fled the country after one of his children's cartoons was used to incite riots. 

 

Cave Canem by Lorna Robinson - This uses Latin words and phrases as sort of a framework for delightful (sometimes horrifying) tidbits of Roman history. I think someone here may have posted about this before, but I can't remember who. 

 

Doll Studies: Forensics by Carol Guess - This is a book of prose poems inspired by crime scene dioramas. The idea was intriguing, but I thought the author failed to connect these to life in any way, to make them personal and meaningful. 

 

Driving Without a License by Janine Jones - This is the book I chose based on the cover, for BaW BINGO. I can't remember what got me to the Alice James Books site, but the cover art for this book was in the header at the time, and it grabbed me, so I ordered a copy of the book. There are many great book covers on this site. The poetry was great, too, and I'll try to come back and post a poem.

 

 

3arabi Song by Zeina Hashem Beck - This is a chapbook that arrived along with my fall issue of Rattle magazine. A couple of the poems are posted on the magazine's site. "Ghazal: Back Home" and "Ya'aburnee" Through the notes at the back of this book and Wikipedia I learned about the Arabic chat alphabet: 

 

 

an alphabet used to communicate in Arabic over the Internet or for sending messages via cellular phones when the actual Arabic alphabet is unavailable for technical reasons or otherwise more difficult to use. It is a character encoding of Arabic to the Latin script and the Arabic numerals.

It differs from more formal and academic Arabic transliteration systems, as it avoids diacritics by freely using digits and multigraphs for letters that do not exist in the basic Latin script

 

(such as 3arabi)

 

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher - The fourth book in the Harry Dresden series. Fun.

[Jane in NC]

Non-book note:

 

As many of you know, I volunteer at a shore bird/raptor rehab center.  This morning, after finishing my on site duties, I was asked to release a baby diamondback terrapin into the salt marsh.  The person who brought it to the shelter thought that the animal was a lost baby loggerhead.  Nope.  This terrapin was so newly hatched you could see the fold mark from how it was scrunched up in its shell.  I hope the poor thing wasn't too traumatized by all the attention it received--and the ride in my bike basket.

 

It's free now.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Jane in NC

[Violet Crown]

Non-book note:

 

As many of you know, I volunteer at a shore bird/raptor rehab center. This morning, after finishing my on site duties, I was asked to release a baby diamondback terrapin into the salt marsh. The person who brought it to the shelter thought that the animal was a lost baby loggerhead. Nope. This terrapin was so newly hatched you could see the fold mark from how it was scrunched up in its shell. I hope the poor thing wasn't too traumatized by all the attention it received--and the ride in my bike basket.

 

It's free now.

From somewhere far away, its mom is thanking you.

 

(I initially got as far as "I was asked to release a baby diamondback ..." and my blood froze! I didn't know there was a cute species of diamondback.)

[aggieamy]

Forgot to mention that I've finished some books:

 

Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - Silly and dated and completely sexist and as unbelievable as a sci fi show of the 50's.  I read it in one sitting though and found myself laughing many times.  Delightful.

 

Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran - I wanted to love this book.  It's supposed to be all the notes and clever background that went into AC stories from the dozens of notebooks that they found in her house.  Except it turns out that she must have kept the clever stuff in her head and didn't write it down.  Most of this book was descriptions of her books and the John Curran's opinion of them with some notes from her books added in.  The notes were pretty disappointing.  I've returned it to the library but it was things like:

 

A man is murdered - something with the alphabet - Hastings? - Cornwall? - Aberdeen? - not who we think - James or Andrew

 

I'm sure that served wonderfully to trigger her memory but it's pretty unexciting to a fan. There were also lots of lists of characters and then comments on what she actually changed the names to in the book.  Overall it was boring and a slog to read through. 

[Matryoshka]

We are lucky that we have a fantastic library system but really it comes down to two things ... DH and I are both minimalists by nature and in the last seven years we've moved three times.  Every time I've had to pack up books I've been really motivated to get rid of boxes of them.  

 

Wow, all that moving does explain a lot right there.  I think another part of our problem is we've been parked in the same house for 20+ years!  Moving definitely makes you want to purge.  We're finding that even with this attic moving about.  A large number of the boxes coming down are not going to go back up!  If we haven't looked for the stuff in them since we moved in over two decades ago, methinks it's time to toss! :D

[Jane in NC]

From somewhere far away, its mom is thanking you.

 

(I initially got as far as "I was asked to release a baby diamondback ..." and my blood froze! I didn't know there was a cute species of diamondback.)

Different reptile. I'll let you keep the rattlesnakes while I'll take the terrapins and turtles.

 

You're welcome.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Jane in NC

[Chrysalis Academy]

Wow, all that moving does explain a lot right there.  I think another part of our problem is we've been parked in the same house for 20+ years!  Moving definitely makes you want to purge.  We're finding that even with this attic moving about.  A large number of the boxes coming down are not going to go back up!  If we haven't looked for the stuff in them since we moved in over two decades ago, methinks it's time to toss! :D

 

Yep, the process of moving all my books - multiple times - as we vacate room-by-room to redo the floors has led to a drastic rethinking of the numbers of books I absolutely must own.  Is this a 1-mover? or a 3-mover? The ones that remain are something like 5-movers, so they are definite keepers.  

 

Plus, now that I have pretty new bamboo floors (well, in half the house so far), I can't cover them entirely with stacks of books, right?  ;)

[ErinE]

.

Edited November 8, 2016 by ErinE

[Kareni]

Last night I finished reading the contemporary romance Fully Ignited (Boston Fire Book 3) by Shannon Stacey; it was an enjoyable read.  Even though it is the third book in a series, it stands alone well.

 

"When Jamie Rutherford takes a temporary assignment as lieutenant of Boston Fire's Engine 59, she doesn't anticipate any problems. She's been in the fire service for a long time and, even though she's fairly new to Boston, she knows how to make any firehouse her home. What she's not prepared for is her reaction to firefighter Scott Kincaid.

 

Scott is looking for a wife. It's been a fun ride as a single guy, but he's tired of being the third wheel, and nearly losing his brother-in-law finally made him realize just how much he wants a family of his own. When the new guy at the firehouse turns out to be a capable, confident and very attractive woman, his plan is completely derailed.

 

Hooking up with a fellow firefighter has never been part of Jamie's plan, but she's tempted by Scott—even though getting involved with him could tarnish the reputation she's worked so hard for. And Scott can't stop thinking about Jamie, despite the fact that she's his superior and not sticking around. Chemistry can crush the best-laid plans, though, and while Jamie and Scott might not be each other's future…there's no resisting the right now."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

Please stop boasting. I haven't worked on my photo albums since we moved in 2002.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

LOL.  :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

I have no book shelves. One house, the shelves were built in. For the next move, I purchased cheap bookshelves which didn't survive the next move. We're still up in the air as to our current location, but I'm tempted to buy some cheap shelves just so I can unpack my book boxes.

 

Books read:

 

* The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. Historical Fiction. The reigns of the Yorkist kings Edward IV and Richard III. Many, many thanks to all those who read this book and recommended it. After a string of disappointing books, I devoured this book over the weekend and loved it. I was so close to finishing at one point that I woke up at 3 AM thinking about it and started reading before the family woke up. Highly recommended.

 

This looks splendid.  Then I looked at the page count and winced slightly because I tend to prefer my books light enough to carry without a forklift.  I'm going to give it a try though.  How would you rate it on a scale of *Wowza!  That's a spicy scene!* to *Amy and Angel might blush slightly and giggle but won't be offended* to *Not even my Aunt Gertrude would find anything risque in this book*? 

[ErinE]

LOL.  :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

 

This looks splendid.  Then I looked at the page count and winced slightly because I tend to prefer my books light enough to carry without a forklift.  I'm going to give it a try though.  How would you rate it on a scale of *Wowza!  That's a spicy scene!* to *Amy and Angel might blush slightly and giggle but won't be offended* to *Not even my Aunt Gertrude would find anything risque in this book*? 

 

"Blush and giggle" maybe? There's several references to intimacy (it's the English monarchy after all), but the author sets the scene and "closes the door."

[Ellesmere]

Can any of my fellow mystery readers help me out? My google-foo is failing me today. 

 

There's a mystery series in which writers (and possibly other famous people - I don't remember) help the police to solve crimes. I know one was Agatha Christie during the Blitz but can't recall the name of that book or of the series in general.

 

I don't even know if I want to read any of them, but I thought I'd download a sample or two to my Kindle to see if they interest me. Does anyone know the series I'm thinking of?

Maybe the Disaster series by Max Allan Collins?

 

https://www.goodreads.com/series/40553-disaster

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22065.The_London_Blitz_Murders

 

(Sorry if this was answered already)

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

 

 

This looks splendid.  Then I looked at the page count and winced slightly because I tend to prefer my books light enough to carry without a forklift. 

 

One word: ebook.    :lol:  :lol:

 

Maybe the Disaster series by Max Allan Collins?

 

https://www.goodreads.com/series/40553-disaster

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22065.The_London_Blitz_Murders

 

(Sorry if this was answered already)

 

 

Yes, that's it. Thank you! And no, it hasn't been answered yet. 

[JennW in SoCal]

About Sharon Kay Penmen in general and the Sunne in Splendour in particular...

 

 

This looks splendid.  Then I looked at the page count and winced slightly because I tend to prefer my books light enough to carry without a forklift.  I'm going to give it a try though.  How would you rate it on a scale of *Wowza!  That's a spicy scene!* to *Amy and Angel might blush slightly and giggle but won't be offended* to *Not even my Aunt Gertrude would find anything risque in this book*? 

 

"Blush and giggle" maybe? There's several references to intimacy (it's the English monarchy after all), but the author sets the scene and "closes the door."

 

It's been years since I read this particular book, but I've loved everything I've read by Sharon Kay Penmen and don't remember needing to pick up a fan to cool myself down after any hawt scenes! :laugh:  I'm thinking "blush and giggle" is about right.  I wish she had written more of the Justin de Quincy mysteries -- those were my favorites.  Amy, they are weighty tomes, perhaps easier to lug around via a kindle?  But I think of her books as page turners, quick reads in spite of impressive page counts.

[Ellesmere]

I can't remember the last time I posted on one of the BaW threads so I won't bother listing everything I have read since then. I've been trying to update my Goodreads, which I also neglected over the summer. I'd like to report I spent my time away being super responsible and organizing my life and I will say that I did. It's not true, but I'll say it just to try it on. 

Over the summer, I actually did get the house mostly decluttered, read a lot, and finally have committed to a planner/app system that has been working well for a few weeks. (That's a long time, in my world.) I'm nowhere near super-organized, but there's definite improvement. I was all set to be really productive today but no, I'm so sick. Math, laundry, and everyone is fed. That's as much as I can ask out of today.

As for books read -- earlier in the year, I read A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, chosen simply because of the cover. I had no idea what it would be about and almost gave up on it halfway through. 

Now, I am reading these three, which I just randomly checked out at the library:
Browsings by Michael Dirda
The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean
Chasing the Last Laugh by Richard Zacks

The last book I finished was a re-read: Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, trans. by Ina Rilke. I was assigned that when it was first published and saw it on display at the library, so I decided to read it again since I couldn't remember the end.

I've also been slowly reading, just a couple stories a week from these for a few weeks:
The Art of the Short Story, Gioia/Gwynne
Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories: A Hercule Poirot Collection

 

[JennW in SoCal]

I've passed the 52 mark for the year!!  :party:

 

Book number 54 was a reread for me, a title I read back in 2009, when the Book a Week threads first started (and back when I was still a homeschooling mom!)  To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son and a Lifelong Obsession by Dan Koeppel is just as good as I remembered, better perhaps now that I'm not reading and sharing it with a 14yo boy, lol!  It is a memoir by a son about his difficult relationship with is dad, tied into the world of obsessive big-list birders. It beautifully balances a very personal story against a detailed history of modern competitive birding.  The dad in the book was one of only 10 or so people to have a life-time list of seeing 7000 birds!! Yes, 7000. Highly recommended to those of you who like memoirs or are amateur birders.

 

In the spirit of obsessively sorting and listing items, I now present my year to date list of books, sorted by genre.  I'm counting the 4 abandoned titles simply because I put in a solid effort into them -- I really tried to like them and push through, but finally had to give them up. 

 

2016 Book a Week (as of early September...)

 

Abandoned:

Longing   by JD Landis

Road to Little Dribbling   by Bill Bryson

Atonement of Blood  by Peter Tremayne

The Regional Office is Under Attack  by Manuel Gonzales

 

Mysteries/Thrillers

Rock Paper, Tiger   by Lisa Brackmann

Danse Macabre  by Gerald Elias

Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse  by Sherri Bryan

Talking to the Dead  by Harry Bringham

X   by Sue Grafton

Too Good to be True   by Ann Cleeves

Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardener

The Death of Aloha   by AK Gunn

Her Last Breath  by Linda Castillo

Cold Dish   by Craig Johnson

Sworn to Silence Linda Castillo

Pray for Silence

Breaking Silence 

In the Dark Places   by Peter Robinson

Jar City  by Arnaldur Indridason

Silence of the Grave  by Arnaldur Indridason

Reykjavic Nights by Arnaldur Indridason

Language of Bees by Laurie R King

In the Woods by Tana French

 

Scifi/fantasy/fantastical genre fiction

Welcome to Night Vale   by Joseph Fink

The Alloy of Law  by Brandon Sanderson

Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (graphic novel) by Neil Gaiman

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw

Making Money by Terry Pratchett

Uprooted by Naomi Novick

Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinson Kowal

London Falling by Paul Cornell

 

Other fiction

Playing with Fire   by Tess Gerritsen

Thoughts, Happenings ofWilfred Price, Undertaker  by Wendy Jones

The Paris Wife   by Paula McClain

Wine Dark Sea  by Patrick O’Brian

Hamlet: Prince of Denmark (audible fiction adaptation)

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian  by Marina Lewycka

City of Thieves  by Deavid Benioff

Remains of the Day  by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Commodore  by Patrick O’Brian

Pym by Mat Johnson

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan

 

Memoir

Beethoven for a Later Age by Edward Dusinberre

Moveable Feast by Erneset Hemingway

Lunch in Paris: A love story with recipes by Elizabeth Bard 

My Family and Other Animals  by Gerald Durrell

To See Every Bird  by Dan Koeppel

 

other nonfiction

Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasury

Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field by John Lewis Stempel

The Three Year Swim Club by Julie Checkoway (may wind up on the abandoned shelf...)

Ghost Army of WWII by Jack Kneese

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

I passed the American lit test! Crazy coincidence: there were three questions directly related to the Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories I just read. I almost laughed out loud.

[Nan in Mass]

I,m back. Very reluctantly. The weather was fabulous - hardly any fog or rain, not much sea, plenty of wind and generally a fair one. We read lots. I loved the book Stacia gave me - The Plover. I read some mysteries, some scifi, and Midshipman Hornblower was hard to put down. For some reason, I hadn,t read the Hornblowers, despite getting them for my children over and over. Unfortunately, I only brought one of the series and was going to have to wait weeks before Getting hold of the rest, but then in a lighthouse on a small island, I found seven others looking for a good home! Funny how things you want have a tendancy to show up like that. : ) anyway, today I am struggling to pick up the threads of my life ashore and get my land legs. Grocery store aisles and shower stalls are particularly rocky lol. It is hard to have my husband a few towns away rather than within arm,s reach, too. And there is such a gorgeous northerly blowing...

 

Nan