Book a Week 2020 - BW1: Happy New Year - Our Journey Continues

[Matryoshka]

27 minutes ago, Robin M said:

All your books sound interesting and /or intriguing.  Happy to see another Linesman convert.  How do you manage to listen to so many audio books?  We usually can only manage one.    James and I listen in the car and sometimes at dinner. Right now, we listening to the new Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

I usually only have one ebook and one audio out at at time on Overdrive, as I only have 21 days and no renewal, so the keyword there is focus.  I try to keep one of each going parallel to my hard-copy books and just take out a new one when I've finished the current one.  The only exceptions have been a few times when I have audiobooks out on CD, which I only listen to in the car (which is mostly true of the Overdrive ones, but sometimes I'll listen indoors when I'm cooking or cleaning or just too tired to read and I'll play solitaire on my phone and listen.  Or if it's due back soon and I have to power-listen).  So those can overlap a bit, as I can keep the CD ones out waaay longer, and there's also no fines at my library, so practically indefinite.   For the current situation, I ran out of audiobooks I 'had' to finish by the end of the year, but none of my holds had come free, so I ended up picking Braiding Sweetgrass because it's on my library's "Always Available" list (and had already been on my to-read list).  So when the other book popped up off my holds list, I just decided to stop listening to the first until I finish the second.  It will expire, but I can just take it back out again.  I wish they had a lot more books on the "Always Available" list!!

[Excelsior! Academy]

This is my Goodreads profile. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15922265-edie

[mumto2]

5 hours ago, Pen said:

Please help me choose 10 Audible books.  

 

  I want to use up my credits and then cancel my Audible for awhile before they charge me again.  

Prefer books not available via Hoopla or Libby/ Library2Go/Overdrive or NLS.  

Or books where the reader is particularly wonderful on Audible. (Such as I like Neil Gaiman reading his own books better than other narrators, or the multi cast Audible for Enders Shadow). 

Am considering Linesman previously recommended on here as one of them.  

Eta: if any of the readings related to this thread would be good to get via Audible rather than my other forms like Hoopla this would be a good time. 

I pretty much get all my audiobooks via Overdrive but do want to second Robin’s Anne Bishop suggestion.  This series is one that I have recommended with success to a large number of people who did not like the word paranormal much less books classified as paranormal.  I have listened to them on Overdrive.

[Kareni]

I recently finished  The Bromance Book Club  by Lyssa Kay Adams which was an entertaining contemporary romance (Adult content)

 "The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club.

Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. 

Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife."

 **

I also read The Last Run  by J. Scott Coatsworth which was a short science fiction story with a hint of romance. It was a pleasant story but not something I'll likely reread.

"Sera is the last runner from Earth, bringing badly needed supplies to the Tharassas Colony across a twenty-five year gulf between the planets. Jas works on a hencha farm to make ends meet, harvesting berries from the semi-sentient plants.

Neither one that knows their lives—and worlds—are about to change forever."

 Regards,

Kareni

[SereneHome]

Didn't read the thread yet - but am soooo excited to report - I started reading Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran. Completely randomly a friend mentioned it yesterday and it seemed interesting.  2019 was the first year EVER that I started reading historical fiction. I have always stayed far away from it. But it proved to be quite informing so here I am.

To the "newbie" who suggested "coding" -this is HF about Britain's colonization of India (that's all I know so far)

[vmsurbat1]

6 hours ago, Robin M said:

I see three VickiS on Goodreads, so not sure which one to friend. You can find me here.   We have a few BAWer's who live in the Southern Hemisphere so used to posting all times of the day or night. 

I found you!  And, since I didn't know others had the same user name, I've changed it to VickiMNE (I live in Montenegro--hence the MNE).   For any others that want to find me, I'm here at Goodreads.

[vmsurbat1]

3 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I pretty much get all my audiobooks via Overdrive but do want to second Robin’s Anne Bishop suggestion.  This series is one that I have recommended with success to a large number of people who did not like the word paranormal much less books classified as paranormal.  I have listened to them on Overdrive.

I would fall into the category of people who dislike "books classified as paranormal".  But, in all honesty, I realize that I'm basing that on books like Twilight (which I never read and don't want to).  However, I can see that a number of people I admire and respect DO read paranormal, so I'm thinking there must be something more to the genre....  But what?

What defines "paranormal"?  In what ways is it different from SciFi and/or Fantasy?

TIA!

[mumto2]

9 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

I would fall into the category of people who dislike "books classified as paranormal".  But, in all honesty, I realize that I'm basing that on books like Twilight (which I never read and don't want to).  However, I can see that a number of people I admire and respect DO read paranormal, so I'm thinking there must be something more to the genre....  But what?

What defines "paranormal"?  In what ways is it different from SciFi and/or Fantasy?

TIA!

 

Robin is good at this and will hopefully give the more technical definition later today.  She explained it to me years ago.😉 I understood at the time but am obviously still confused.  🙃I have seriously thought about deleting my ramblings but will post them in case they are helpful ....I don’t even touch Sci Fi or Fantasy and their relationship to this genre.  

So in my eyes....I will try most books in these category’s because some are great, some aren’t..........I think the biggest problem with the paranormal definition is it means different things to different people in the very basic sense that if a book has vampires, shifters, witches.......anything other than human it means it is paranormal in most people’s eyes. When you look at the genre area on Goodreads it will be a paranormal to many.   So it finds itself lumped in with Twilight(which I disliked) which is a paranormal romance.
 

Paranormal romances can have quite a bit of adult content which is not my thing but thanks to years of reading aloud with my kids I edit on the fly and don’t necessarily know I did it.  So my eyes are not necessarily burnt if that makes sense.  I just finished a paranormal romance last night called Dragons Actually.......it wasn’t my favorite by any means but a very popular series I believe because my Overdrive just bought the entire series.  I believe it was done well for it’s marketplace.  Lots of adult scenes and violence in this one,  I abandoned it and went back and finished it because Dragons are one of my categories this year and I decided I might as well learn the myth behind the dragons in this series.....The myth was good and I am happy with it as a place to start.  Very briefly the Dragons were immortal but made a bargain with God  to be able to have children and now live long lives but can be killed. Also they shift...... An interesting place to start.......There are many paranormal romances that are rather mild and very readable with great story lines and very few adult scenes..........one of my favorites is the Innkeeper Series by Ilona Andrews.  Patricia Briggs probably fits here too but I tend to put them in Urban Fantasy.
 

There is a whole other category called urban fantasy that is generally more to my liking but also contains shifters, vampires, and witches. When I look at lists the books cross over between paranormal and urban.  You still have romance and adult scenes just not at the same level normally.  There can be violence as they are fighting for a cause.   The world building is usually much more detailed, imo.  Faith Hunter is one of my favorites that I personally place here although seeing them as PR when I google.  Yes they are paranormal.😂  Ilona Andrews also writes the Kate Daniels series that I personally think cross over to Urban Fantasy from the romance because they.......aren’t as sweet, have a well identified baddy?  As you can see I don’t really know.....

Anne Bishop and her “Others” are sort of set apart from all of the above but not fantasy in a classic way either.  Written in Red https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=uuXCMywbx1&rank=1. Is the first in the series which must be read in order at the start. There is violence but very little S#x and I will admit I let my Dd read these way back when as the Twilight alternative.   The world building is awesome and the romance is such a slow build that not much ever happens book to book but there definitely is a super couple.😉. All sorts of paranormal characters exist but the mythology behind them is so strong.......

Edited January 3, 2020 by mumto2

[JennW in SoCal]

*waving hello*

Thank you for the nudge, Robin! I aim to check in more frequently here in 2020. Often I can't get to posting til mid week then spend my time reading the thread instead of writing my own, or it is late in the week and I think I should just post once the new thread is back up. 

I'm really sporadic on Goodreads, too. Last night I cleaned out my "to be read" list and added completed titles to my list of 2019 books, but I see that less than half of what I actually read ever got noted on Goodreads! I do appreciate GR when I'm looking up a book and see that one of you has read it and either likes it or not, so I ought to return the favor for my friends and write some short reviews and keep updating my books!

I'm currently listening to David Copperfield, the audible edition read by Richard Armitage. It is a fantastic listen!  And I have a small stack of books ready to take with me when we head to the slopes next week. While my dh goes skiing, I'll be in front of the fire with a book!

 

[Matryoshka]

25 minutes ago, JennW in SoCal said:

*waving hello*

Thank you for the nudge, Robin! I aim to check in more frequently here in 2020. Often I can't get to posting til mid week then spend my time reading the thread instead of writing my own, or it is late in the week and I think I should just post once the new thread is back up. 

I'm really sporadic on Goodreads, too. Last night I cleaned out my "to be read" list and added completed titles to my list of 2019 books, but I see that less than half of what I actually read ever got noted on Goodreads! I do appreciate GR when I'm looking up a book and see that one of you has read it and either likes it or not, so I ought to return the favor for my friends and write some short reviews and keep updating my books!

I have the same problem as you about posting here - if I don't get to an update by at least Monday, I end up spending a lot of time reading others' updates, and then figuring I should just wait to post the next week.  I was really good for a long time but fell off the wagon later this year.  New year!

But for Goodreads, I'm great with that.  I just spend about 5 seconds before bed and update where I am in my reading.  Then it's always current.  Less than a minute for sure.  I can only do things regularly if it's a habit...  making it a 'before bed' quick thing makes it so I never even have to think about it...

[Mothersweets]

On 1/1/2020 at 6:16 PM, mumto2 said:

Thank You!  Before the Facts is on my list of ones I have sourced.  That said I actually planned this category back in 2018 but ended up not using it last year.  After reading The 39 Steps and you reading Before the Facts I decided I was most likely skipping a great category.  I will look through my libraries and let you know if I still have it available.....
 

eta..........Can’t find it anywhere so Thank you!  I’ll send you a pm 

Sounds good!

[SnowySilence]

So I finally narrowed down my ten categories based on some given and on some I had wanted to do before joining up so hope that's okay. Looking forward to the challenges this year as well! First book up is a new to me author, Sarah McCoy who wrote Marilla of Green Gables. Grew up loving the Anne series so thought I'd check this book out and see the author's take on it. 

Happy Reading Everyone!

Great American Road Trip (American Classics)
Brit Tripping (British Classics)
Around the World (World Classics)
It's All About Me (Biographies)
Nothing But The Truth (Non-Fiction)
Nobel Prizer Winners
It's A Mystery To Me (Mysteries)
Something New (New Authors To Me)
How Did I Miss These? (High School Reads I Never Read/Finished)
Spiritual Growth

[SnowySilence]

Didn't think to add in my previous post, my Nobel Prize Winners category is totally new for me. Would love to hear what your favorite Nobel Prize winning reads have been so I can add some to my list!

Thank you much!
Paige

[Carol in Cal.]

I finished a reread of "A Tale of Two Cities" yesterday.

I had studied it in ninth grade, and that is the last time I read it.  

I have a complicated history with Charles Dickens.  I was an avid, young reader, and after I finished Little Women at age 8 or so my 3rd/4th grade teacher strongly recommended "David Copperfield", which I plowed through but absolutely detested.  That put me off of 'classics' and especially of Dickens, for years, a conclusion that was only amplified by a miserable march through The Scarlet Letter and some short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 8th grade.  Basically if a book or author was mentioned in the game 'Authors' I avoided it, which is funny because I was quite a bookworm in general.

Rereading this now, at 62, I know far more about the history of the period that he writes about, and so the allusions that I probably missed the first time through were glaringly obvious to me.  As I read it, I considered whether or not his readers knew that history also, and concluded that they probably did, being less than 100 years later, and given that the American revolution and the French one were often compared and contrasted in both Britain and the US.  

I found the book fairly melodramatic, and the foreshadowing and abundant coincidences were both quite excessive.  It read like a sensational and longwinded serial, which in fact it originally was.  I enjoyed it as kind of florid reading candy.  One thing that was very interesting about it was the contrast between justice and morality.  There was justice being served in a great deal of the revolution, but there was also great immorality in areas of it, and that both/and argument was well done and nicely nuanced.  On the whole I am glad that I read this again now.  It seems to apply to modern times in ways that I won't go into here (no politics on the board!) but gives good food for thought.

 

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

This one's a little different! Local library displays vintage toilet paper collection

Book Recommendations to Turn the Page From 2019 to 2020

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF NANCY Drew by Olivia Rutigliano

The 19 Best Book Covers of 2019

**

A free LGBT paranormal fantasy for Kindle readers ~

Blackbird in the Reeds (The Rowan Harbor Cycle Book 1) by Sam Burns

Regards,

Kareni

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, SnowySilence said:

Didn't think to add in my previous post, my Nobel Prize Winners category is totally new for me. Would love to hear what your favorite Nobel Prize winning reads have been so I can add some to my list!

A couple of years back I pasted the Nobel winners list from the BaW site, and have been keeping track, though I haven't had any super-firm goals.  I read 6 in 2017,  9 in 2018 and 9 last year, and I'd read a few authors before that too.

Probably my favorites are: Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck, Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (I'd strongly suggest the audio for this one), Beloved by Toni Morrison, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (probably not for everyone but I really liked it), The Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa, Of Mice & Men and Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck  ... I liked most of the rest I read as well, the only exceptions were: 

Hated: As I Lay Dying by Faulkner (but I'm game to try another; I liked the writing, it was the plot and characters I hated), and Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (think I'm done with her).

Disgrace by Coetzee that I just finished was by a NP winner.  My next will probably be Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm really looking forward to.  I read her Flights last year, which was good, but I think I'll like this new one even more.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Matryoshka

[aggieamy]

22 hours ago, Pen said:

Please help me choose 10 Audible books.  

Since you have access to a lot of traditional audiobooks elsewhere then I suggest this list ...

Audible Full Cast Dramas

My DD particularly loves the Agatha Christie dramatizations. 

[aggieamy]

Read:

Mrs. Jeffries Dusts for Clues by Emily Brightwell - The epitome of historical cozy mystery. No character development. Basic plot. Wildly inaccurate historical details. The premise was cute and it kept me up late wondering what was going to happen. A good rainy day or plane read.  

Ten Day Outline by Lewis Jorstadt - Nothing particularly new but his section on asking questions and then asking deeper question was great for brainstorming. I recommend it to the BaW Writer Gals on here. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by aggieamy

[Robin M]

At work, so only have a few minutes.   I started listening to Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats on the way in today.  

13 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

I would fall into the category of people who dislike "books classified as paranormal".  But, in all honesty, I realize that I'm basing that on books like Twilight (which I never read and don't want to).  However, I can see that a number of people I admire and respect DO read paranormal, so I'm thinking there must be something more to the genre....  But what?

What defines "paranormal"?  In what ways is it different from SciFi and/or Fantasy?

 I read Twilight a few years ago when I was stuck in a New York hotel room for the day with my sick kid while Hubby attended a convention.  Young adult twaddle which kept me entertained for a bit.  Young adult sci fi/fantasy/paranormal has really grown since then.  For example Cassandra Clare. Love her stories.  @mumto2 explained it really well.   Definitely check out the books she mentioned.  Other series is fantastic.   Fantasy is usually set in other worlds and the characters have magic.  Paranormal takes place in the real world and have vampires, werewolves, witches., ghosts, goblins, etc.  As well as sex.  Urban fantasy is set on earth in an urban society, can be normal or an alternative reality, futuristic earth, usually don't have romance and magic is a key element.  There are authors who writes both paranormal with werewolves and vampires who like to have lots of sex, as well as urban Fantasy with either the sex off screen or none at all., such as Keri Arthur.  Two really great series - Faith Hunter's Soulwood series is more urban fantasy than paranormal.  Seanan McGuire's October Daye series magical so Urban Fantasy.   

Edited January 3, 2020 by Robin M

[Kareni]

20 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

What defines "paranormal"?  In what ways is it different from SciFi and/or Fantasy?

In addition to what others have already mentioned, I consider books dealing with psychics or people with other unusual talents (the ability to teleport or time travel) to be paranormal.

Here's a post on various types of fantasy.

And I liked this post: Genre 101: Urban Fantasy vs. Paranormal

Here's an informative post in which various authors discuss  How do you define urban fantasy? The post also includes recommendations. I think you'll wish to read this, @mumto2and @Robin M.

Here's a post with an interesting graphic: http://www.genrify.com/2014/10/urban-fantasy-versus-paranormal-romance/

Amidst my meanderings thus afternoon, I encountered this quote which I enjoyed: 

“In urban fantasy you don’t leave the chip shop and go to another world to find the unicorn. Rather, the unicorn shows up at the chip shop and orders the cod.” – Elizabeth Bear

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Last night I finished The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite which I quite enjoyed. It's a regency era romance with two heroines. (Adult content)

"As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.

Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.

While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers? "

Regards,

Kareni

[melmichigan]

I missed the year end wrap, so I'll have to go back and add everyone's suggestions to my TBR pile in the next few weeks and set up a reading plan for this year.  I did manage to meet my 2019 goal of 95 books according to Goodreads (Melissa (melmichigan)), with 20 of them being audiobooks.  I have some new goals for 2020, including reading outside my comfort zone.  I've gotten very comfortable in my genres over the last few years while I retrain my brain, and it's now time to reach out and challenge myself again. 🙂 

For those that enjoyed the Linesman Series the second book in the Stars Uncharted Series, also by S.K. Dunstall, is releasing later this month. 😉 

I finished the Allie Beckstrom Series by Devon Monk today.  Like Robin, I have Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats on Audible for my next story.

[Dicentra]

Hi all!

I think I participated in the first few months of BaW a few years ago and then...  I can't remember.  Things probably got crazy.  I read a lot but I'm terrible at keeping track which, as I get older and have the combined problem of memory glitches + having read more and more books, means that I NEED to be better at keeping track on "paper" 'cause I can't trust my brain to do it for me anymore. 😉  I'm still crazy busy with developing and running my online chem courses but I love to come here and read the BaW threads even if I don't participate.  Heck - the fact that these threads and @Robin M's blog exist make me happy. 🙂  And I've just started using Goodreads again (I've clicked on all the Goodreads friends links everyone has shared in this thread - thank you! :)) so if anyone would like to follow/friend me, this is me:

https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=MjJiY2E1NzUtNDVjZC00YTQwLTliZTgtNGYzNjAyMmY5Nzk2

My Goodreads lists are old and I need to do a lot of pruning/changing/tidying/adding.  And I don't know that I've finished a book yet this year.  My dd was home from university (she just left to go back this morning 😞 ) so more chatting than reading happened.  I need to create some assignments and a test for the lipids chapter of one of my courses and then I hope to settle in and figure out a reading plan for the year while dh is out playing in a squash tournament this weekend. 🙂

[Lori D.]

Hello again! The erratic poster (me, lol) in these threads is back again briefly after having been away from BaW threads for months (again). 😉 Even though I don't post here often, I do swing in every so often to see how you all are doing, and to compile a list of book ideas for myself, piggybacking from your great book lists... Which, by the way, ripple out to several other friends and family members, who want to know how I keep coming up with such great books for them as gifts...  😄 So, thank you!
 

On 1/1/2020 at 12:21 PM, Robin M said:

 We also plan to have a J.R. Tolkien Readalong starting with The Hobbit during the first quarter of the year, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the remaining three quarters. I'll post more about it next week. Instead of having a very short week one, our first week will run until Saturday, January 11th.

This makes me so very happy! One of my top all-time favorites -- AND, I am planning on teaching the trilogy again next year at my co-op (the fall 2020/spring 2021 school year), so I can overlap a bit and read along with you all! I hope I will be able to contribute some nuggets that I've come across in my many (probably close to 2 dozen) readings of The Lord of the Rings.

Speaking of classes, here's my booklist for this year's homeschool co-op class (fantasy/sci-fi/speculative fiction focus) -- so, of course, I've been re-reading all of these in order to lead discussion on them:

- poetry:
    6-8 poems squeezed in here and there
- short stories:
     "The Running of the Robots" (Buckram)
     "The Lottery" (Jackson)
     "There Will Come Soft Rains" (Bradbury)
     "Leaf By Niggle" (Tolkien)
- YA titles: 
     Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)
     A Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin)
     The Blue Sword (McKinley)
- novellas:
     Animal Farm (Orwell)
     The Time Machine (Wells)
     Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
- novels:
     Watership Down (Adams)
     Lord of the Flies (Golding)
     Ender's Game (Card)
     Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury)

a few personal book highlights from LAST year included:
- News of the World (Jiles) -- a BaW recommendation! -- I loved this one so much I bought copies and gave as gifts this year
- The Goblin Emperor (Addison) -- a BaW recommendation! -- ditto ^^^ --  @Kareni will be pleased I'm helping to spread the love for this one 😂
- and finished the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series (Dunn) -- a BaW recommendation! light fun fluff reading
- The Broken Earth trilogy (Jeminson) -- such a creative world, strong characters, fascinating ideas; start to finish, this one did NOT disappoint
- Spinning Silver (Novik) -- her best writing yet! ahhh, Russian fairytale fantasy -- need I say more?
- Do We Not Bleed (Taylor) -- sequel to Death Comes for the Deconstructionist; love this off-kilter world, harsh realities, but with redemption; you do need to read them in order
- The Three Body Problem trilogy (Liu) -- whew! took me 2 years of off-again/on-again reading; I did enjoy this one; very Chinese in thought and worldview; and you can definitely see his homage to Western sci-fi authors here and there; but it is an epic work and worth the perseverance -- every time he skips forward in time, you get a new type of world with new problems
- Death of a Red Heroine (Xiaolong) -- another BaW recommendation -- Chinese crime novel; not the best mystery I've ever read, but fantastic at giving you a detailed look at 1990s Chinese culture and bureaucracy -- plus, snippets of classic Asian poetry, as the lead detective had been a university student studying that topic 😉 

a book I'm in the midst of:
- Lighthouse Island (Jiles) -- love the dystopia world; lovely poetic prose; so enjoying the journey on this one


a few books I got for Christmas that I am looking forward to trying out:
- Deathless (Valente) -- I LOVED her book Radiance; only so-so about her Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland -- hoping this will fall closer to Radiance
- The Raven Tower (Leckie) -- latest from the Ancilliary trilogy author, creating a new world
- Once Upon a River (Setterfield) -- new book from The Thirteenth Tale author
- Mink River (Doyle) -- book by The Plover author


And two Christmas books I finished last week:

- The Uncommon Reader (Bennett)
Queen Elizabeth II becomes a reader when she stumbles across a mobile library on the royal grounds. Very fun idea, and some funny moments, but ultimately it was SOOO short (SHORT novella length), and it ends so abruptly -- and, IMO, very wrongly for the way the character of the queen was set up and how the idea of the importance of reading was developed -- that it was a bit disappointing. If you can get it free on Kindle, it might be worth an hour's read.

- A Murder By Any Name (Wolfe)
From Queen Elizabeth II (above book), to Queen Elizabeth I -- a Renaissance/Elizabethean mystery, first in what appears will be a series (book 2 is out on Kindle, but not in print yet). Lots of details about the world of London at that time, with some of the politics and real-life people of the court. Love the main detective character of Nick Holt, who is a spy-agent of the court. (And has a cool, trained Irish Wolf Hound dog Hector.) This version of middle-aged Queen Elizabeth is written as though the author were channeling actress Judi Dench (lol) -- not a bad thing. The mystery and the writing were fine. What I didn't like was that the female characters pretty much fell into either "women as saints or sinners" stereotypes, OR, older women are bossy/b*tchy (both the queen and her head aristocratic serving woman). For the saint/sinner stereotype, the young aristocratic serving women of the queen are all either virginal or slutty, and the main female characters vying for our hero's attention are the brothel madam with a heart of gold who fills Nick's physical needs as needed because she's very "talented" in that area (sigh - really?!), versus his attraction to the beautiful/exotic young Jewish woman, who is a refuge from the Spanish Inquisition AND as talented in medicine as her twin brother who is a doctor. sigh again.

Again, overall, it's a good first outing in the historical mystery genre. And I understand that author Suzanne Wolfe actually wrote this for fun, sort of on a "dare" with a fellow author that they would each write a mystery. How fun is that!

Confessions of X was Wolfe's earlier novel, an absolute knock-out that was my top favorite book of the year a few years ago. If you liked CS Lewis' Till We Have Faces, you would likely enjoy this one, as it has a similar powerful female character (here, the unnamed lover of St. Augustine) making choices and sacrifices.

Happy New Year, fellow bookies!

Edited January 4, 2020 by Lori D.

[Kareni]

7 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

The Goblin Emperor (Addison) -- a BaW recommendation! -- ditto ^^^ --  @Kareni will be pleased I'm helping to spread the love for this one 😂

I do indeed approve, Lori D.! Now you need to consider trying S. K. Dunstall's Linesman which is the book I'm currently recommending to all and sundry.

11 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

...I've been re-reading all of these in order to lead discussion on them:...

The Blue Sword (McKinley)

I notice this is currently on sale for $1.99 for Kindle readers. I'm not sure how long the sale will last.

13 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Happy New Year, fellow bookies!

And a happy new year to you, too!

Regards,

Kareni

[Carol in Cal.]

Today I read the book of Philemon.  

It is an epistle of St. Paul to Philemon, a fellow Christian whose slave, Onesimus, had run away from him, possibly with some stolen goods, and had somehow met Paul and become helpful to him as well as converted to Christianity.  Paul sent this letter carried by Onesimus. 

When I was a kid, reading this I thought that it was uplifting and simple. Of course no one should own slaves.  Any Christian would know that.  And especially Christian slaves, because how crazy is it to own your brother in Christ?  

As an adult this is my second time reading this with new eyes.  The carrying of that letter by Onesimus was genuinely, seriously risky.  It was the norm to torture recaptured slaves to death, not the exception.  That's what he was risking in returning.  I *think* it was also risky for Philemon NOT to execute him, under then current law and custom, as masters were supposed to uphold the system as a deterrent against runaways, theft, and uprisings.  Under the circumstances this whole letter is cheerful, kind, loving, and utterly fraught with peril all around.

But the real surprise for me in this reading was a quote in my study Bible, about how we are all little Onesimuses.  I liked it; maybe you will too.

"This epistle gives us a masterful and tender illustration of Christian love...He (Paul) acts exactly as if he were himself Onesimus, who had done wrong.

...What Christ has done for us with God the Father, that St. Paul does also for Onesimus with Philemon.  For Christ emptied himself of his rights, and overcame the Father with love and humiity, so that the Father had to put away his wrath and rights, and receive us into favor for the sake of Christ, who so earnestly advocates our cause and so heartily takes our part.  For we are all his Onesimuses if we believe."  (Luther)

[Carol in Cal.]

2 hours ago, Dicentra said:

Hi all!

I think I participated in the first few months of BaW a few years ago and then...  I can't remember.  Things probably got crazy.  I read a lot but I'm terrible at keeping track which, as I get older and have the combined problem of memory glitches + having read more and more books, means that I NEED to be better at keeping track on "paper" 'cause I can't trust my brain to do it for me anymore. 

I did that last year.

So this year I'm posting my reading notes in a thread I started here on the boards as well as in the BAW threads.  That way I'm reporting on them in real time, and also have all the info together in one place.

[Robin M]

On 1/2/2020 at 9:04 PM, SereneHome said:

Didn't read the thread yet - but am soooo excited to report - I started reading Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran. Completely randomly a friend mentioned it yesterday and it seemed interesting.  2019 was the first year EVER that I started reading historical fiction. I have always stayed far away from it. But it proved to be quite informing so here I am.

To the "newbie" who suggested "coding" -this is HF about Britain's colonization of India (that's all I know so far)

I used to follow Michelle Moran and have Nefertiti on my virtual shelf to read.  Look forward to hearing what you think of her story 

On 1/3/2020 at 10:24 AM, SnowySilence said:

So I finally narrowed down my ten categories based on some given and on some I had wanted to do before joining up so hope that's okay. Looking forward to the challenges this year as well! First book up is a new to me author, Sarah McCoy who wrote Marilla of Green Gables. Grew up loving the Anne series so thought I'd check this book out and see the author's take on it. 

Happy Reading Everyone!

Great American Road Trip (American Classics)
Brit Tripping (British Classics)
Around the World (World Classics)
It's All About Me (Biographies)
Nothing But The Truth (Non-Fiction)
Nobel Prizer Winners
It's A Mystery To Me (Mysteries)
Something New (New Authors To Me)
How Did I Miss These? (High School Reads I Never Read/Finished)
Spiritual Growth

Great categories! 

19 hours ago, Kareni said:

In addition to what others have already mentioned, I consider books dealing with psychics or people with other unusual talents (the ability to teleport or time travel) to be paranormal.

Here's a post on various types of fantasy.

And I liked this post: Genre 101: Urban Fantasy vs. Paranormal

Here's an informative post in which various authors discuss  How do you define urban fantasy? The post also includes recommendations. I think you'll wish to read this, @mumto2and @Robin M.

Here's a post with an interesting graphic: http://www.genrify.com/2014/10/urban-fantasy-versus-paranormal-romance/

Amidst my meanderings thus afternoon, I encountered this quote which I enjoyed: 

“In urban fantasy you don’t leave the chip shop and go to another world to find the unicorn. Rather, the unicorn shows up at the chip shop and orders the cod.” – Elizabeth Bear

Regards,

Kareni

Awesome links. I'm discovering authors I haven't heard of and adding to my wishlist. Thank you very much!  😘 

[Excelsior! Academy]

This morning I finished And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.  It was fantastic!   If I reach my reading goal for the year I want to reread it to see if I catch clues along the way.

1. Below Stairs by Margaret Powell (Selfie, Baker's Dozen from Pick Your Poison)

2. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Soldier square, 52 Book Bingo)

[Robin M]

On 1/3/2020 at 10:52 AM, Carol in Cal. said:

Rereading this now, at 62, I know far more about the history of the period that he writes about, and so the allusions that I probably missed the first time through were glaringly obvious to me.  As I read it, I considered whether or not his readers knew that history also, and concluded that they probably did, being less than 100 years later, and given that the American revolution and the French one were often compared and contrasted in both Britain and the US.  

Isn't it amazing. I don't know why we have to read them in high school when we have no life experience and it takes the wisdom of age to understand the stories. I know it's all about exposure but sometimes it's just better to wait. 

 

16 hours ago, melmichigan said:

I missed the year end wrap, so I'll have to go back and add everyone's suggestions to my TBR pile in the next few weeks and set up a reading plan for this year.  I did manage to meet my 2019 goal of 95 books according to Goodreads (Melissa (melmichigan)), with 20 of them being audiobooks.  I have some new goals for 2020, including reading outside my comfort zone.  I've gotten very comfortable in my genres over the last few years while I retrain my brain, and it's now time to reach out and challenge myself again. 🙂 

For those that enjoyed the Linesman Series the second book in the Stars Uncharted Series, also by S.K. Dunstall, is releasing later this month. 😉 

I finished the Allie Beckstrom Series by Devon Monk today.  Like Robin, I have Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats on Audible for my next story.

Yeah, glad you are doing much better and doing so well with your reading.  Love Devon Monk's stories. 

On 1/3/2020 at 9:25 AM, JennW in SoCal said:

*waving hello*

Thank you for the nudge, Robin! I aim to check in more frequently here in 2020. Often I can't get to posting til mid week then spend my time reading the thread instead of writing my own, or it is late in the week and I think I should just post once the new thread is back up. 

I'm really sporadic on Goodreads, too. Last night I cleaned out my "to be read" list and added completed titles to my list of 2019 books, but I see that less than half of what I actually read ever got noted on Goodreads! I do appreciate GR when I'm looking up a book and see that one of you has read it and either likes it or not, so I ought to return the favor for my friends and write some short reviews and keep updating my books!

I'm currently listening to David Copperfield, the audible edition read by Richard Armitage. It is a fantastic listen!  And I have a small stack of books ready to take with me when we head to the slopes next week. While my dh goes skiing, I'll be in front of the fire with a book!

 

Wonderful to see you. I'm horrible with Goodreads and made way too many categories and then couldn't keep them straight. Went back to two - fiction and nonfiction.  I have yet to read David Copperfield as I fell off the Well Educated Mind wagon. Plan to get back on again this year as I have numerous books from the lists in my stacks.  

On 1/3/2020 at 11:53 AM, Matryoshka said:

A couple of years back I pasted the Nobel winners list from the BaW site, and have been keeping track, though I haven't had any super-firm goals.  I read 6 in 2017,  9 in 2018 and 9 last year, and I'd read a few authors before that too.

Probably my favorites are: Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck, Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (I'd strongly suggest the audio for this one), Beloved by Toni Morrison, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (probably not for everyone but I really liked it), The Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa, Of Mice & Men and Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck  ... I liked most of the rest I read as well, the only exceptions were: 

Hated: As I Lay Dying by Faulkner (but I'm game to try another; I liked the writing, it was the plot and characters I hated), and Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (think I'm done with her).

Disgrace by Coetzee that I just finished was by a NP winner.  My next will probably be Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm really looking forward to.  I read her Flights last year, which was good, but I think I'll like this new one even more.

You're doing great with the WEM books. I just downloaded My Name is Red and I really need to finish Kristin Lavransdatter. I got sidetracked last year.

 

Ack, back to work. Will comment more later.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Robin M

[Matryoshka]

57 minutes ago, Robin M said:

You're doing great with the WEM books. I just downloaded My Name is Red

I just learned a great new vocabulary word that perfectly describes this novel.  It's very ekphrastic (definition: Ekphrastic refers to a form of writing, mostly poetry, wherein the author describes another work of art, usually visual. It is used to convey the deeper symbolism of the corporeal art form by means of a separate medium.)

This is obviously not poetry, but a large part of the novel is someone describing medieval Islamic miniatures/painting in some detail. It also has long passages comparing the differing goals of Islamic and Western representative art, and why blindness was seen as a virtue in elderly miniaturists (who often went blind after years of all that tiny close-up work, although some blinded themselves) And I really liked it, but I wanted you all to know what you're getting into. 😁  There's also a murder mystery and a love story, but lots and lots of ekphrasis as well.

I listened to this as an audio, and the narrator had a great voice.  

Edited January 4, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, Kareni said:

... Now you need to consider trying S. K. Dunstall's Linesman which is the book I'm currently recommending to all and sundry...

lol. I'll get there eventually. Right now, my "to read" stack is so precariously high that I just can NOT in good conscience add a new series to that stack, until I've "read it down" a bit. 😉 That series will probably have to wait until my next Christmas gift list...

[Penguin]

Some big literary news this week:

T.S. Eliot letters, among best-known sealed literary archives, open at Princeton after 60 years

The above is the link to the Princeton announcement. There are plenty of articles (here is one from BBC ) starting to report on this, and I expect that it will be some time before we have all the information.

I have sent Goodreads friend requests to a few of you. Here is my link if we am not already GR friends:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4554525-jayne

Edited January 4, 2020 by Penguin

[Robin M]

Did you all see SWB's facebook post commenting on the Millions article Why I'll Never Read A Book A Week again.   So glad we have all found our happy medium.  

Edited January 4, 2020 by Robin M

[Kareni]

15 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Did you all see SWB's facebook post commenting on the Millions article Why I'll Never Read A Book A Week again.  Welp!  So glad we have all found our happy medium. 

What an interesting article. I can appreciate a number of points the author makes.

I don't follow Facebook, Robin. May I ask you to link to the post you mentioned?

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

23 hours ago, Kareni said:

In addition to what others have already mentioned, I consider books dealing with psychics or people with other unusual talents (the ability to teleport or time travel) to be paranormal.

Here's a post on various types of fantasy.

And I liked this post: Genre 101: Urban Fantasy vs. Paranormal

Here's an informative post in which various authors discuss  How do you define urban fantasy? The post also includes recommendations. I think you'll wish to read this, @mumto2and @Robin M.

Here's a post with an interesting graphic: http://www.genrify.com/2014/10/urban-fantasy-versus-paranormal-romance/

Amidst my meanderings thus afternoon, I encountered this quote which I enjoyed: 

“In urban fantasy you don’t leave the chip shop and go to another world to find the unicorn. Rather, the unicorn shows up at the chip shop and orders the cod.” – Elizabeth Bear

Regards,

Kareni

Thank you!  May I say you kept me very pleasantly occupied for quite awhile this morning.  I particularly enjoyed the graphic.  My lists are now overflowing with Urban Fantasy for spelling challenges. 😉

1 hour ago, Robin M said:

Did you all see SWB's facebook post commenting on the Millions article Why I'll Never Read A Book A Week again.   So glad we have all found our happy medium.  

Please......I can’t read SWB’s comment either and will admit to being very curious!  TIA

2 hours ago, Lori D. said:

lol. I'll get there eventually. Right now, my "to read" stack is so precariously high that I just can NOT in good conscience add a new series to that stack, until I've "read it down" a bit. 😉 That series will probably have to wait until my next Christmas gift list...

They really are good......just saying.....😂

3 hours ago, Excelsior! Academy said:

This morning I finished And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.  It was fantastic!   If I reach my reading goal for the year I want to reread it to see if I catch clues along the way.

1. Below Stairs by Margaret Powell (Selfie, Baker's Dozen from Pick Your Poison)

2. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Soldier square, 52 Book Bingo)

And Then There Were None is part of this year’s AC perpetual challenge for me.  I was so happy when I realized it would be part of my 10!

 

19 hours ago, melmichigan said:

I missed the year end wrap, so I'll have to go back and add everyone's suggestions to my TBR pile in the next few weeks and set up a reading plan for this year.  I did manage to meet my 2019 goal of 95 books according to Goodreads (Melissa (melmichigan)), with 20 of them being audiobooks.  I have some new goals for 2020, including reading outside my comfort zone.  I've gotten very comfortable in my genres over the last few years while I retrain my brain, and it's now time to reach out and challenge myself again. 🙂 

For those that enjoyed the Linesman Series the second book in the Stars Uncharted Series, also by S.K. Dunstall, is releasing later this month. 😉 

I finished the Allie Beckstrom Series by Devon Monk today.  Like Robin, I have Faith Hunter's Junkyard Cats on Audible for my next story.

i am so looking for the next  in the Stars Uncharted series,  which I really like. Btw

I have never read anything by Devon Monk so that is one of the series on my planning lists.

Edited January 5, 2020 by mumto2

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, Kareni said:

What an interesting article. I can appreciate a number of points the author makes.

I don't follow Facebook, Robin. May I ask you to link to the post you mentioned?

Regards,

Kareni

Here it is. https://www.facebook.com/207880149240400/posts/3092754327419620/

 

[melmichigan]

37 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

i am so looking for the next  in the Stars Uncharted series,  which I really like. Btw

I have never read anything by Devon Monk so that is one of the series on my planning lists.

I listened to the Allie Beckstrom series, so it took me a little bit to get into the story.  I'm learning that sometimes the narrator can make or break a book for me, and that I often interpret things a little differently when I hear it. 

@Kareni that graphic is awesome!  I'm off to figure out what I might have missed.
 

Edited January 5, 2020 by melmichigan

[Kareni]

Thank you for the link, Robin.

**

A contemporary romance that is currently free for Kindle readers. (I've posted this one before.)

Artistic License Elle Pierson aka Lucy Parker.

This also looks like fun: Aiko (Heartstrings Book 1) Kindle Edition by Brooke May

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:37 PM, Kareni said:

Here's an informative post in which various authors discuss  How do you define urban fantasy? The post also includes recommendations. I think you'll wish to read this, @mumto2and @Robin M.

Did a bit more meandering about and added a few more titles to my wishlist.  Allison Pang's recommendation of Charles DeLint's Newford series is spot on. 

"I had always gotten the impression that UF was about a specific city or town and the fantastical things that occurred there—like Charles de Lint’s stories about Newford, where the town itself was a character in its own right. Each short story or novel took an element of that city and showed a new facet of it, unraveling each mystery a little at a time."

I read all his books and have quite a few still in my home library. Second her recommendation.  One of those series I need to reread at some point.  I also read his dark fantasy series which he wrote under another name Samuel Key. Scary good!

[Junie]

2 hours ago, Robin M said:

Did you all see SWB's facebook post commenting on the Millions article Why I'll Never Read A Book A Week again.   So glad we have all found our happy medium.  

Thank you.  That was an interesting read.

I am reading through Les Miserables (for the first time!) and I am enjoying it very much.  I already know the story (from the movie/musical), so I don't feel rushed to know what happens.  I *think* I will finish the book by the end of this year.  Maybe. 😉 I know that I would not enjoy the book as much if I felt pressured to read it in a set amount of time.

[Robin M]

8 hours ago, Dicentra said:

Heck - the fact that these threads and @Robin M's blog exist make me happy. 🙂  And I've just started using Goodreads again (I've clicked on all the Goodreads friends links everyone has shared in this thread - thank you! :)) so if anyone would like to follow/friend me, this is me:

https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=MjJiY2E1NzUtNDVjZC00YTQwLTliZTgtNGYzNjAyMmY5Nzk2

😘  Makes me happy that you found your way back to us too! Got your friend request on goodreads!  What age level are you creating Chem courses for?  

[SnowySilence]

On 1/3/2020 at 1:53 PM, Matryoshka said:

A couple of years back I pasted the Nobel winners list from the BaW site, and have been keeping track, though I haven't had any super-firm goals.  I read 6 in 2017,  9 in 2018 and 9 last year, and I'd read a few authors before that too.

Probably my favorites are: Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck, Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (I'd strongly suggest the audio for this one), Beloved by Toni Morrison, My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (probably not for everyone but I really liked it), The Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa, Of Mice & Men and Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck  ... I liked most of the rest I read as well, the only exceptions were: 

Hated: As I Lay Dying by Faulkner (but I'm game to try another; I liked the writing, it was the plot and characters I hated), and Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (think I'm done with her).

Disgrace by Coetzee that I just finished was by a NP winner.  My next will probably be Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm really looking forward to.  I read her Flights last year, which was good, but I think I'll like this new one even more.

Thank you SO much for the suggestions! Definitely adding to my list! 🙂 I appreciate you sharing!

[melmichigan]

Here is my goodreads token: https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?feature=friend-invite-url&invite_token=MjliMTEwODItYjJiOS00NDJhLTkyZGItMWYxNGJlODAyOGIx Just drop me a note with who you are here so I know who I'm adding please.

Edited January 5, 2020 by melmichigan

[Robin M]

6 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Hello again! The erratic poster (me, lol) in these threads is back again briefly after having been away from BaW threads for months (again). 😉 Even though I don't post here often, I do swing in every so often to see how you all are doing, and to compile a list of book ideas for myself, piggybacking from your great book lists... Which, by the way, ripple out to several other friends and family members, who want to know how I keep coming up with such great books for them as gifts...  😄 So, thank you!
 

That's wonderful!

This makes me so very happy! One of my top all-time favorites -- AND, I am planning on teaching the trilogy again next year at my co-op (the fall 2020/spring 2021 school year), so I can overlap a bit and read along with you all! I hope I will be able to contribute some nuggets that I've come across in my many (probably close to 2 dozen) readings of The Lord of the Rings.

I would love that and totally appreciate you sharing your nuggets about the book. 

Speaking of classes, here's my booklist for this year's homeschool co-op class (fantasy/sci-fi/speculative fiction focus) -- so, of course, I've been re-reading all of these in order to lead discussion on them:
Really neat.  What age group are your teaching? 

- poetry:
    6-8 poems squeezed in here and there
- short stories:
     "The Running of the Robots" (Buckram)
     "The Lottery" (Jackson)
     "There Will Come Soft Rains" (Bradbury)
     "Leaf By Niggle" (Tolkien)
- YA titles: 
     Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)
     A Wizard of Earthsea (LeGuin)
     The Blue Sword (McKinley)
- novellas:
     Animal Farm (Orwell)
     The Time Machine (Wells)
     Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
- novels:
     Watership Down (Adams)
     Lord of the Flies (Golding)
     Ender's Game (Card)
     Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury)

Awesome selection of books!  I loved Something Wicked This Way Comes. Both hubby and I read it, then discussed it.  Same with Fahrenheit 451.  

a few personal book highlights from LAST year included:
- News of the World (Jiles) -- a BaW recommendation! -- I loved this one so much I bought copies and gave as gifts this year
- The Goblin Emperor (Addison) -- a BaW recommendation! -- ditto ^^^ --  @Kareni will be pleased I'm helping to spread the love for this one 😂
- and finished the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series (Dunn) -- a BaW recommendation! light fun fluff reading
- The Broken Earth trilogy (Jeminson) -- such a creative world, strong characters, fascinating ideas; start to finish, this one did NOT disappoint
- Spinning Silver (Novik) -- her best writing yet! ahhh, Russian fairytale fantasy -- need I say more?
- Do We Not Bleed (Taylor) -- sequel to Death Comes for the Deconstructionist; love this off-kilter world, harsh realities, but with redemption; you do need to read them in order
- The Three Body Problem trilogy (Liu) -- whew! took me 2 years of off-again/on-again reading; I did enjoy this one; very Chinese in thought and worldview; and you can definitely see his homage to Western sci-fi authors here and there; but it is an epic work and worth the perseverance -- every time he skips forward in time, you get a new type of world with new problems
- Death of a Red Heroine (Xiaolong) -- another BaW recommendation -- Chinese crime novel; not the best mystery I've ever read, but fantastic at giving you a detailed look at 1990s Chinese culture and bureaucracy -- plus, snippets of classic Asian poetry, as the lead detective had been a university student studying that topic 😉 

a book I'm in the midst of:
- Lighthouse Island (Jiles) -- love the dystopia world; lovely poetic prose; so enjoying the journey on this one


a few books I got for Christmas that I am looking forward to trying out:
- Deathless (Valente) -- I LOVED her book Radiance; only so-so about her Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland -- hoping this will fall closer to Radiance
- The Raven Tower (Leckie) -- latest from the Ancilliary trilogy author, creating a new world
- Once Upon a River (Setterfield) -- new book from The Thirteenth Tale author
- Mink River (Doyle) -- book by The Plover author

I discovered The Thirteenth Tale through @Melissa M  Totally out of my comfort zone, but her review made me want to read it and I enjoyed it.  Once Upon a River is on my want list.  


And two Christmas books I finished last week:

- The Uncommon Reader (Bennett)
Queen Elizabeth II becomes a reader when she stumbles across a mobile library on the royal grounds. Very fun idea, and some funny moments, but ultimately it was SOOO short (SHORT novella length), and it ends so abruptly -- and, IMO, very wrongly for the way the character of the queen was set up and how the idea of the importance of reading was developed -- that it was a bit disappointing. If you can get it free on Kindle, it might be worth an hour's read.

I loved this little book and  wished it had been longer.  

- A Murder By Any Name (Wolfe)
From Queen Elizabeth II (above book), to Queen Elizabeth I -- a Renaissance/Elizabethean mystery, first in what appears will be a series (book 2 is out on Kindle, but not in print yet). Lots of details about the world of London at that time, with some of the politics and real-life people of the court. Love the main detective character of Nick Holt, who is a spy-agent of the court. (And has a cool, trained Irish Wolf Hound dog Hector.) This version of middle-aged Queen Elizabeth is written as though the author were channeling actress Judi Dench (lol) -- not a bad thing. The mystery and the writing were fine. What I didn't like was that the female characters pretty much fell into either "women as saints or sinners" stereotypes, OR, older women are bossy/b*tchy (both the queen and her head aristocratic serving woman). For the saint/sinner stereotype, the young aristocratic serving women of the queen are all either virginal or slutty, and the main female characters vying for our hero's attention are the brothel madam with a heart of gold who fills Nick's physical needs as needed because she's very "talented" in that area (sigh - really?!), versus his attraction to the beautiful/exotic young Jewish woman, who is a refuge from the Spanish Inquisition AND as talented in medicine as her twin brother who is a doctor. sigh again.

Again, overall, it's a good first outing in the historical mystery genre. And I understand that author Suzanne Wolfe actually wrote this for fun, sort of on a "dare" with a fellow author that they would each write a mystery. How fun is that!

I didn't use to read any historical fiction but now love it.  I'll have to check out her book. 

Confessions of X was Wolfe's earlier novel, an absolute knock-out that was my top favorite book of the year a few years ago. If you liked CS Lewis' Till We Have Faces, you would likely enjoy this one, as it has a similar powerful female character (here, the unnamed lover of St. Augustine) making choices and sacrifices.

Happy New Year, fellow bookies!

 

[Robin M]

4 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

I just learned a great new vocabulary word that perfectly describes this novel.  It's very ekphrastic (definition: Ekphrastic refers to a form of writing, mostly poetry, wherein the author describes another work of art, usually visual. It is used to convey the deeper symbolism of the corporeal art form by means of a separate medium.)

This is obviously not poetry, but a large part of the novel is someone describing medieval Islamic miniatures/painting in some detail. It also has long passages comparing the differing goals of Islamic and Western representative art, and why blindness was seen as a virtue in elderly miniaturists (who often went blind after years of all that tiny close-up work, although some blinded themselves) And I really liked it, but I wanted you all to know what you're getting into. 😁  There's also a murder mystery and a love story, but lots and lots of ekphrasis as well.

I listened to this as an audio, and the narrator had a great voice.  

Thank you for letting me know so I know to take my time reading it through.    I took an art class years ago so love delving into historical art fiction stories like these. Sounds fascinating!

[Robin M]

26 minutes ago, Junie said:

Thank you.  That was an interesting read.

I am reading through Les Miserables (for the first time!) and I am enjoying it very much.  I already know the story (from the movie/musical), so I don't feel rushed to know what happens.  I *think* I will finish the book by the end of this year.  Maybe. 😉 I know that I would not enjoy the book as much if I felt pressured to read it in a set amount of time.

Take your time and enjoy.  We all have what we call 'sip' reads that we have ongoing throughout the year.  I think @tuesdayschild came up with the term, just as @aggieamy came up with flufferton which she wrote a guest post about a few years back. 

 

 

Sorry for so many posts. Multi quote wasn't working well for me.

Just a reminder, I won't be posting a new thread tomorrow and we'll continue on this one for the week.  

[Lori D.]

57 minutes ago, Robin M said:

Speaking of classes, here's my booklist for this year's homeschool co-op class (fantasy/sci-fi/speculative fiction focus) -- so, of course, I've been re-reading all of these in order to lead discussion on them:
Really neat.  What age group are your teaching? 

High school, but a good half are young -- 9th grade -- and very new to  the idea of "digging deeper" or reading beyond plot. (Which is why there are some lighter works on that list.) But most seem to be really enjoying discussing the books, so I'm hoping that will continue into the new semester!

Edited January 5, 2020 by Lori D.

[Dicentra]

1 hour ago, Robin M said:

😘  Makes me happy that you found your way back to us too! Got your friend request on goodreads!  What age level are you creating Chem courses for?  

Online high school chemistry courses for homeschooled (or brick and mortar) students. 🙂  I've got a number of WTMers as parents of students and the people here on the forum were my spark and my encouragement to begin the courses last year.  I also teach intro chem at the local college but I've been doing those courses for about 6 years now so it's the online ones that are taking up all my time currently.

If anyone is interested in doing any chemistry-related reads, let me know! 🙂

[aggieamy]

3 hours ago, Robin M said:

Here it is. https://www.facebook.com/207880149240400/posts/3092754327419620/

 

You had a great response! 

Overall I feel like BaW isn't really about setting goals of being purpose driven as much as deciding we're going to make reading important in our lives. The way we make something important is to DECIDE TO DO IT. 

Then again ... my life is meaningless without my goals and to-do lists. I'm a Type A' person.