Book a Week 2020 - BW22: Ladies of Fiction - N.K. Jemisin

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dear hearts. Welcome to June, the Rose month and National Gay Pride month, National Accordion Awareness month, National Adopt a Cat month and National Fresh Fruits and Vegetables month. This month we honor DDay, the flag on Flag day, and celebrate the beginning of summer with the summer solstice. 

This month we also celebrate our Ladies of Fiction with N.K. Jemisin, who lives in New York and is the author of numerous science fiction, fantasy, speculative, and mainstream novels including the Broken Earth, Dreamblood, Hundred Thousand Kingdoms series and numerous short stories.

 There are a number of ways to complete the bookology challenge, including but not limited to:

 ·         Spell out the author's name - one book per letter from the title on the cover.

·         Read one or more books written by the author.

·         Read a book written in the country or time period of the author or novel.

 Learn more about Jemisin through New Yorker's Dream Worlds, her interview with the Guardian, and on creating new worlds and playing with imagination.  Coincidently Tor is have a readalong of The Fifth Season for the next six weeks and discussing on twitter under hashtag #tordotreads.

 Happy reading! 

 

 

Link to Week 21

 Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as share your book reviews with other readers  around the globe.

[Robin M]

I finished the House in the Cerulean Sea which was absolutely wonderful. Thank you to all who suggested it.  Love the characters.  James has me reading Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker, Plus we are listening to Dooku: Jedi Lost.   I started The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders and liking it so far.  

"Would you give up everything to change the world?

Humanity clings to life on January--a colonized planet divided between permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other.

Two cities, built long ago in the meager temperate zone, serve as the last bastions of civilization--but life inside them is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside.

Sophie, a young student from the wrong side of Xiosphant city, is exiled into the dark after being part of a failed revolution. But she survives--with the help of a mysterious savior from beneath the ice.

Burdened with a dangerous, painful secret, Sophie and her ragtag group of exiles face the ultimate challenge--and they are running out of time.

Welcome to the City in the Middle of the Night"

[Kareni]

Today only, free for Kindle readers ~

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

"Shirley, Charlotte Brontë’s second novel, following Jane Eyre, tells the story of two women of radically different circumstances, whose bond of friendship helps them emotionally navigate the romantic entanglements of Victorian society.
 
The quiet and shy Caroline Helstone was raised lovingly yet sternly by her uncle in a Yorkshire rectory. Shirley Keeldar is a bold and beautiful heiress whose wealth catches the eye of the ambitious—though nearly bankrupt—Robert Moore. All three lives will become entangled in matters of the heart, as both women struggle to find their own way in a changing society.
 
Caroline and Shirley’s friendship and their contrasting life conditions and views of traditional gender roles make this novel “as interesting and relevant today as when Brontë wrote it” (Curled Up with a Good Book).
 
“Charlotte Bronte sure knew how to write a sizzling romance. . . . Overall, there’s plenty of great passion, Charlotte Bronte’s descriptions are lyrical and second to none.” —The Vince Review
 
“Shirley, which differs considerably from Jane Eyre, declares its affinity with Benjamin Disraeli’s Sibyl and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton and North and South. The novel contains an explicit social discourse about the Condition of England aimed at highlighting the class and gender divide and its possible social consequences.” —The Victorian Web"

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Last night I finished reading The Hallowed Hunt (Chalion Book 3) by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I enjoyed this fantasy, but my favorite of the series is the first, The Curse of Chalion. While the first two books are linked, this one (while set in the same world) seems quite separate. ETA: Ah, I see from reading the linked page above that the author describes this book as an independent prequel.

 "The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile -- and Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff must transport the body to its burial place and the accused killer, the Lady Ijada, to judgment. With the death of the old Hallow King imminent and the crown in play, the road they must travel together is a dangerous one. And though he is duty-bound to deliver his prisoner to an almost certain death, Ijada may be the only one Ingrey dares trust. For a monstrous malevolence holds the haunted lord in its sway -- and a great and terrible destiny has been bestowed upon him by the gods, the damned, and the dead."

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

41 minutes ago, Robin M said:

I finished the House in the Cerulean Sea which was absolutely wonderful. Thank you to all who suggested it.  Love the characters.  James has me reading Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker, Plus we are listening to Dooku: Jedi Lost.   I started The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders and liking it so far.  

Glad you are enjoying the House in the Cerulean Sea!  Dd grabbed my library copy of The City in the Middle of the Night last fall and really enjoyed it.......I still haven’t read it.  Somehow it slipped way down on my list.....I think it may have been a  @JennW in SoCal suggestion in the distant past!

I am hoping to spend some time listening to my Kim Harrison today......I am enjoying it but it seems to be the book that is easily set aside.  I am also reading the latest Lisa Klepas titled Chasing Cassandra and am enjoying it.  
 

I have also been making progress on Dark Queen which is the last Faith Hunter before I read the latest in the series Shattered Bonds.  According to the reading order list I have been using the 4th Soulwood needs to be read last.....so I will.😉. Like some of my other rereads where the books were originally read near the release date, this reread has enabled me to get a significantly better feel for the clever nuances in the story arc which I have really loved.  I am also “getting” past references that would have been missed before.  At one point in my reading life I reread every book in a series in anticipation the new releases.......of course I didn’t read as many long series at that point.  If I reread all the In Death series every time a new one was released I am not sure I would ever read anything else! 😉

[Negin]

I read The Husband's Secret - 4 Stars - This was my first Liane Moriarty book. It was gripping right from the get-go. The story follows the lives of three women, a secret, and how their lives all become connected. I liked Tess the most and felt terrible for her. I liked Rachel at first, but she started to irritate me slightly as time went on. Towards the ending however, I liked her again. The characters and emotions are both very real. The epilogue was one of my favorites ever. I also loved the epilogue in Harry Potter. If you're going to write an epilogue, make it a good one!

 Here are some of my favorite quotes:

 “A son is a son until he takes him a wife; a daughter is a daughter for all of her life.”

 “People thought that tragedy made you wise, that it automatically elevated you to a higher, spiritual level, but it seemed to Rachel that just the opposite was true. Tragedy made you petty and spiteful. It didn’t give you any great knowledge or insight. She didn’t understand a damned thing about life except that it was arbitrary and cruel, and some people got away with murder, while others made one tiny careless mistake and paid a terrible price.”

 “She’d always made a point of pretending not to be interested in money, because she was, in fact, very interested in it.”

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

The book is fantastic. It’s not perfect, since no book is, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine.

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.

[-M-]

Hello, BaWers! I hope you're all healthy and safe.

I've read 29 books since my post on May 3, which puts me at 104 for the year. The order of the books in my posts is roughly that in which I finished reading the books, although I do sometimes cluster related titles to remark on them as a set. The object is to gather the mental slips of paper I’ve tucked into each book — passages I hope to remember, articles and / or images I sought while reading, my reasons for choosing this volume or that, etc.

■ After I’m Gone (Laura Lippman; 2014. Fiction.) RFS
■ I’d Know You Anywhere (Laura Lippman; 2010. Fiction.) RFS
In 2008, I read Lippman’s What the Dead Know (2007). Although I do not remember much about it, the fact that I read it is all that explains the two additional Lippman titles on my shelves. In a different time, After I’m Gone would have been an adequate poolside companion.

■ The Journalist and the Murderer (Janet Malcolm; 1990. Non-fiction.) RFS
Most know this book’s first sentence, which is also its argument: “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” Related links here and here.

■ Tales from the Loop (Simon Stålenhag; 2014. Graphic fiction.) LIB
I had thought the stories would be too slight, but, in fact, they amplify the weird beauty of his paintings. Related article here.

p. 77
The one thing he was admired for was his accurate penalty shots when we played soccer during recess, so his stories may have been designed to get some attention during the winter months, when the soccer field play frozen and empty. What follows is what he told us.

■ Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut; 1961. Fiction.) RFS *
Revisiting my Vonnegut collection requires reassurance, “Ah, it holds up,” as if I were crossing a footbridge that readily supported my younger, lighter self but might buckle under the weight of my older, solid self. This book argues strongly for the bridge’s inherent reliability.

■ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling; 1999. Fiction.) RFS *
A comforting reread.

■ The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead; 2019. Fiction.) RFS
What can I add to the chorus (e.g., here, here, and here) that has praised this and his earlier The Underground Railroad?

■ Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville; 1856. Fiction.) RFS *
From “Herman Melville’s Bartleby and the steely strength of mild rebellion” (The Guardian; January 9, 2017):

There are very few stories that, on re-reading after re-reading, seem to become impossibly more perfect, but Herman Melville’s eerie, aching story Bartleby, the Scrivener is one such. Like a parable without an obvious moral, it is defiance raised to the metaphysical.

■ Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties (Tom O’Neill; 2019. Non-fiction.) RFS
Related link here.

p. 84
I was writing a story about Charles Manson that had, so far, very little Manson in it. It was more about the way that events, in all their messy reality, boiled down to canonical fact; the way that a narrative becomes the narrative.

■ The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka (1915); Bantam ed. 1972. 201 pages. Fiction.) RFS *
Have seven years passed since I read this with my daughters?

■ Kafka (Robert Crumb; 1993 / 2013. Graphic non-fiction.) RFS
■ James Joyce: Portrait of a Dubliner (Alfonso Zapico; 2011. Graphic non-fiction.) RFS
Excellent, both.

■ The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead; 2016. Fiction.) RFS
Related link here.

■ The Book of Delights (Ross Gay; 2019. Non-fiction.) ATY
Following Melissa’s recommendation, I finished this collection of essays in 1.5 sittings. Related link here.

p. 32
[T]he process of thinking that writing is, made disappearable by the delete button, makes a whole part of the experience of writing, which is the production of a good deal of florid detritus, flotsam and jetsam, all those words that mean what you have written and cannot disappear (the scratch-out its own archive), which is the weird path toward what you have come to know, which is called thinking, which is what writing is.

p. 49
“What if we joined our wildernesses together?” Sit with that for a minute. That the body, the life, might carry a wilderness, an unexplored territory, and that yours and mine might somewhere, somehow, meet. Might, even, join.

p. 195
I’m from the Northeast, I hear myself say. Or, I’m a Northeasterner. Meaning, linguistically, that the appropriate plural of “you” in certain contexts is “yous.” Meaning the beach is called the shore, and you go down to it. To swim in the wooder.

Aside: If I had a dollar for every quizzical look I have endured when asking for a glass of water, I could buy a large house on the shore.

■ The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett; 2001. Fiction.) RFS
Part of an informal summer book club with my older daughter.

■ A Very Easy Death (Simone de Beauvoir; 1964. Non-fiction.) RFS
A friend recently shared that she thought her mother might be making surreptitious cigarette runs to the corner store. It wasn’t that the woman, who is in her late seventies, had resumed the habit that so upset my friend; it was that she was venturing out during the pandemic and not letting the people in her circle know.

I listened, because in such conversations, that is all that is generally required. When her anger had abated a bit, I ventured, “You have officially entered the ‘parenting your parent’ stage, eh?” Later, in one of those odd moments of serendipity / synthesis / synchronicity, I realized that Beauvoir’s memoir of her mother’s illness, hospitalization, and death was the book I planned to read next.

p. 92
Well-intentioned readers urged, ‘Disappearing is not of the least importance: your works will remain.’ And inwardly I told them all that they were wrong. Religion could do no more for my mother than the hope of posthumous success could do for me. Whether you think of it as heavenly or as earthly, if you love life immortality is no consolation for death.

p. 98
Everyone knows the power of things: life is solidified in them, more immediately present than in any one of its instants.

■ Providence of a Sparrow (Chris Chester; 2002. Non-fiction.) RFS
Unfinished business from last year. Related link here.

p. 7
Baseline for me has always been slightly below sea level. Too modest a depth in which to drown but deep enough to suggest what life must be like for those truly debilitated by anxiety and sadness that doesn’t go away. I suspect my mother and I have this in common and that her rather non-specific complaints of “not feeling well” I recall from childhood were tendrils snaking out from that buried route. She died of cancer when I was twenty-three, long before I developed enough compassion and insight to know her better. A pity, it’s likely we’d have found lots to discuss.

p. 182
The realization that we volunteer for many of our sorrows has helped me a good deal. We acquire them in seed form with each new attachment and shouldn’t be surprised when they sprout one day. Speaking as a person whose biochemistry manufactures gloom as a matter of course, it’s taken me years to understand that fate has never singled me out. The universe has better things to do than plague me with loss or go out of its way to make my life miserable. A perverse egotism is one of the problems with free-floating depression. It sits on your psyche calling attention to itself until you have to believe you’re important enough and special enough for the gods to persecute.

■ The Blue Castle (L.M. Montgomery; 1926. Fiction.) RFS
This had been in my shelves for a decade. Thanks to Jeanne’s review, I finally read (and loved) it.

■ Alexander’s Bridge (Willa Cather; 1912. Fiction.) RFS
It is difficult to believe that this was her first novel.

■ Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote; 1958. Fiction.) RFS *
I first read this book more than thirty years ago, but I actually read it last week. Capote was a genius.

■ I, Juan de Pareja (Elizabeth Barton de Treviño; 1965. Fiction.) RFS
This satisfied my Children’s / YA RFS sub-challenge. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Velázquez most likely executed this portrait of his enslaved assistant in Rome during the early months of 1650. According to one of the artist’s biographers, when this landmark of western portraiture was first put on display it “received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth.” Months after depicting his sitter in such a proud and confident way, Velázquez signed a contract of manumission that would liberate him from bondage in 1654.

■ Incident at Vichy (Arthur Miller; 1965. Drama.) RFS *
This fit in so well with recent (re)reading: The Plot Against America (Philip Roth; 2004), Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy (Viktor E. Frankl; 1946), and Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut; 1961).

■ Gilgamesh: A New English Version (Stephen Mitchell; 2004. Poetry.) RFS *
“Gilgamesh is the story of a hero’s journey,” writes Stephen Mitchell in the introduction; “one might say that it is the mother of all heroes’ journeys, with its huge uninhibited mythic presences moving through a landscape of a dream.” He explains:

The archetypal hero’s journey proceeds in stages: being called to action, meeting a wise man or guide, crossing the threshold into the numinous world of the adventure, passing various tests, attaining the goal, defeating the forces of evil, and going back home. It leads to a spiritual transformation at the end, a sense of gratitude, humility, and deepened trust in the intelligence of the universe. After he finds the treasure or slays the dragon or wins the princess or joins with the mind of the sage, the hero can return to ordinary life in a state of grace, as a blessing to himself and to his whole community. He has suffered, he has triumphed, he is at peace.

So Gilgamesh is a quest story, maintains Mitchell, but on close inspection, it’s a “bizarre, quirky, and postmodern” one.

Revisiting Mitchell’s remarkable version of “the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible,” I was again undone by Book VIII. Enkindu, Gilgamesh’s best friend, has died. “Hear me, elders, hear me, young men,” laments Gilgamesh,

[M]y beloved friend is dead, he is dead,
my beloved brother is dead, I will mourn
as long as I breathe, I will sob for him
like a woman who has lost her only child.
O, Enkindu, you were the axe at my side
in which my arm trusted, the knife in my sheath,
the shield I carried, my glorious robe,
the wide belt around my loins, and now
a harsh fate has torn you from me, forever.

As they did sixteen years ago, the cadences of his profound grief recalled to me W.H. Auden:

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

■ Einstein’s Dreams (Alan Lightman; 1993. Fiction.) RFS
Patterns often emerge in my reading, and I find that this oddly complements Flatland, which I read last month.

Aside: When I pulled the book from the shelves, I noticed a bookmark. I figured it was from the bookstore, but it was a commemorative item from a wedding, which meant I purchased this book used — perhaps at a library sale or a Half Price Books location? Of course, I Googled the couple and found that they had purchased a house in Illinois a few years after marrying. A yen to mail them their bookmark with a note about how awesome it was that they distributed bookmarks — bookmarks! — as a reminder of their special day seized me and would not let me go — until I realized that while the discovery may have delighted me, the reminder might not necessarily delight them. I wonder how many moments of joy are aborted by “On second thought…”?

■ The Odd Woman and the City (Vivian Gornick; 2015. Non-fiction.) RFS
I began this several years ago but apparently never finished it (although much to my chagrin, it appears in my 2016 books read list). I removed the bookmark and began again, finishing in one sitting. This reading experience reminded me of the deep delight (that word again!) I experienced when I first read Diana Athill’s Stet: An Editor’s Life nearly twenty years ago: More! I want to hear more of this voice! Related article here.

p. 20
One’s own best self. For centuries, this was the key concept behind any essential definition of friendship: that one’s friend is a virtuous being who speaks to the virtue in oneself. How foreign is such a concept to the children of the therapeutic culture! Today we do not look to see, much less affirm, our best selves in one another. To the contrary, it is the openness with which we admit to our emotional incapacities — the fear, the anger, the humiliation — that excites contemporary bonds of friendship. Nothing draws us closer to one another than the degree to which we face our deepest shame openly in one another’s company. Coleridge and Wordsworth dreaded such self-exposure; we adore it. What we want is to feel known, warts and all: the more warts the better. It is the great illusion of our culture that what we confess to is who we are.

p. 100
Good conversation is not a matter of mutuality of interests or class concerns or commonly held ideals, it’s a matter of temperament: the thing that makes someone respond instinctively with an appreciative “I know just what you mean,” rather than the argumentative “Whaddaya mean by that?” In the presence of shared temperament, the conversation almost never loses its free, unguarded flow; in its absence, one is always walking on eggshells.

■ We Have Always Lived in a Castle (Shirley Jackson; 1962. Fiction.) RFS
Although it received mix reviews, I may watch the film later this week. From NPR:

But calling Castle [the novel] “horror” would be a misrepresentation of the work, which is really a Gothic psychodrama that eats itself from the inside. The story centers around the peculiarities of the Blackwood sisters, the ones in the giant gabled manor up on a hill. They were orphaned years ago after their parents succumbed to a dinnertime poisoning. Who poisoned them?

■ The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman; 2013. Fiction.) RFS
From A.S. Byatt, writing in The Guardian (July 3, 2013):

Gaiman is a master of fear, and he understands the nature of fairytales, the relation between the writer, the reader and the character in the tale.

■ Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers (Deborah Heiligman; 2017. Non-fiction.) RFS
By the author of the lovely biography Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith, this satisfied my Art RFS sub-challenge.

p. 50
They promise to always be close, to keep the bond between them strong and intimate. They will always walk together. They will be more than brothers, more than friends. They will be companions in the search for meaning in life and meaning in art. Together they will achieve lives filled with a purpose. And they will, when needed, carry each other’s parcels.

■ Cassandra at the Wedding (Dorothy Baker; 1962. Fiction.) RFS
This satisfied my NYRB RFS sub-challenge and completed my Goodreads goal of 104 books, and now Cassandra and Merricat, the unreliable narrator of Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle are paired in my readerly imagination. From Nicholas Lazard’s review (The Guardian, October 30, 2012):

Thanks to the tireless raising of the point by Howard Jacobson and others, it seems just possible that the notion is sinking in that not to like a novel because one does not find the central character likeable is not, actually, a sophisticated way of reading. I need hardly add that I wholly endorse this view – but this doesn’t mean that I think there’s something immature or unworthy in taking pleasure in the characters a writer creates, whether you’re the reader or the writer.

p. 81
I love our bedroom, but it was designed for us as we once were, not as we are now.

—————————————
ATY Acquired this year
LIB Borrowed from library (including Hoopla and Overdrive)
OTH Other
RFS Read from shelves

* Denotes a reread

[Violet Crown]

Finished this week: Henry James's second novel, Roderick Hudson. Someone -- @Junie? -- last week mentioned not enjoying books without sympathetic characters. Avoid James. A pretty good novel, miles beyond his disastrous first novel, but not nearly so good as his later work. This is the first James novel I've read where he left his machinery sufficiently exposed that I was able to see the ending coming. 

On to a new random read: Jules Verne's lesser-known book Mistress Branican. It's actually something of a relief, after James's complex characters with complex motivations, to read an adventure novel with straight-out heroes and villains. And a female protagonist, too. And one of the most beautiful book covers I own. Too bad it's too old to take out of the house: not that that matters so much during endless lockdown.

I did venture out early this morning, a couple hours after the protesting and burning cars and rubber bullet-firing and looting gas stations had wrapped up, to go to church downtown. We passed National Guardsmen patrolling the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion with their automatic rifles, and lots of interesting fresh graffiti. Church bells ringing out for Pentecost morning over the scene. What a strange time. 

Edited May 31, 2020 by Violet Crown

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

From the Word Wenches: What We're Reading in May

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2020/05/what-were-reading-in-may.html

Children’s Books Make Good Companions in a Crisis

Amanda Craig on Celebrating the Domestic

https://lithub.com/childrens-books-make-good-companions-in-a-crisis/

From reddit: Looking for a non-fiction book that’s as engrossing as a novel

https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/gpg5kz/looking_for_a_nonfiction_book_thats_as_engrossing/

Regards,

Kareni

[Ali in OR]

I finished my two recent library-delivery books this week. Georgette Heyer's The Convenient Marriage was a nice escape, but not my favorite of hers. Then I enjoyed Linesman quite a bit, and I plan on eventually reading more in that series. Still reading a Captain Lacey mystery on my kindle when I'm on the treadmill. Up next? Maybe the next Rivers of London book--I have 3 more new ones here. Or maybe I'll look at our shelves here and pull something I've never read or some kid lit from "Paradise". That's what my dd named our bookcase of kid lit long ago.

[Kareni]

I just finished a collection of stories that I won from a Goodreads giveaway ~ 

Glow: A Collection of Stories by Jason Messina

 

 "Glow: A Collection of Stories showcases 5 short stories from writer and performer Jason Messina. These stories are a cross between the Twilight Zone and Ray Bradbury, with unexpected twists and turns before leaving you someplace strange. Inspired by mysteries, sci-fi, ghosts, treasure hunts, comic books, the number 7 and everything else, you can take a break from reality and have your mind slightly bend in different directions with these stories."

The stories were somewhat eerie, and I don't expect to read then again.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some free books for Kindle readers ~

Conquering her Heart: A Regency Romance - Bree Wolf

The Craigsmuir Affair: The artist and the Thief - Jen Black

Daisy Miller: Victorian Romance by Henry James

The Cowboy Meets His Match (The Carmody Brothers Book 1) by Sarah Mayberry

Space In His Heart (A Stand Alone Romance with Suspense) Roxanne St. Claire

ETA: NOT FREE but @mumto2 might be interested.  Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly - $0.99

Regards,

Kareni

[Lori D.]

Jemison! Loved reading her Broken Earth trilogy! 😄 

_________________________________

The Girl in the Tower, and, The Winter of the Witch (Arden)
Just finished the 2 sequels to the 2017 Russian folktale-inspired novel, The Bear and the Nightingale. Together the 3 books make the Winternight trilogy. A creative world, and Arden's writing remained mostly well-done in books 2 and 3. But I think the 2 sequels suffered a lot of the same problems as books 2 and 3 of the Hunger Games trilogy -- not really enough new material to stretch over 2 sequels, so fill space with more violent fighting scenes, more does he/doesn't love me angst, and lots more "you lied to me!!" moments. If books 2 and 3 had been edited with a strong red pen to remove all the excess and repeating, it might have been a solid 2-volume fairytale.

Also, similar to The Hunger Games, the heroine apparently has to be punished within an inch of her life in order to finally find her true self. Like Katniss Everdene of The Hunger Games, she miraculously heals up from battle wounds by the next scene, yet does not suffer PTSD as a result of being punched and kicked till she has loose teeth and broken ribs. She is nearly burnt alive but only suffers a few blisters and singed hair. She gets hit in the head multiple times (enough to knock her unconscious), but has no concussions or traumatic brain injuries. And even though we are repeatedly told she is "too skinny and too angular, and is not attractive," she keeps getting ogled, forcibly and brutally felt up/kissed, and nearly r*ped by several different male characters. ug.

It feels like the author, while trying to create a female character who breaks the stereotypical gender role of women in medieval Russian society, ends up falling into another stereotype: that powerful women must be punished, and a woman of strong character must be a witch -- literally, in this book. sigh.

As it stands, while I would recommend the first book because of the creative Russian folktale world created, I would not recommend the rest of the trilogy because of all the physical punishment and s*xual abuse thrown at the protagonist to fill space.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Lori D.

[Negin]

Kindle book on sale today. 

[Kareni]

Today only, free for Kindle readers ~

The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton

"The classic British detective story that became the immortal Hitchcock film starring James Stewart—from the author of the Father Brown mysteries.

Horne Fisher is a skilled detective who always finds his man, but every solution comes with a catch: Exposing the crime will make things worse. Fisher’s greatest strength isn’t his Holmesian ability to deduce, but his knowledge of the dirty secrets of the ruling class, how the rich and powerful manipulate the government and bend the law to their wills.
 
In this collection, Fisher uses his special skill to get to the bottom of mysteries as diverse as the disappearance of a valuable coin, the framing of an Irish prince, and the death of his own uncle from a falling statue. The Man Who Knew Too Much is a shining example of author G. K. Chesterton’s prodigious wit and prescient observation."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I just finished Hemingway's Notebook: A Love Across Time Story  by Jackie North.  It's a time travel romance that I quite enjoyed. (Adult content) It is on sale for 99 cents for Kindle readers.

 "Soulmates across time. Two souls connected by destiny.

In present day, Jake, lonely and cut off from his parents, travels to the Chamberlin Inn in Cody, Wyoming to work on extra credit for his college seminar.

In 1932, Sebby labors at the Chamberlin Inn for pennies a day, wishing with all his heart for a better life.

While taking photographs in the room where Ernest Hemingway once stayed, Jake is flung back in time to the year 1932. There he meets Sebby who is living on the edge, half starving, a victim of the Great Depression. He’s been dodging rent collectors, getting behind on doctor's bills, trying to care for his ailing Pop.

Sebby falls hard for Jake with his movie star smile, but knows something is different about him. Jake wears strange clothes, talks too fast, and doesn’t look like he’s gone hungry a day in his whole life. He’s also the handsomest boy Sebby has ever seen.

Jake is drawn to Sebby’s dark eyes, shy smile, and gentle heart. Sebby is like nobody Jake has ever met. And though the year 1932 scares him to his very core, he needs to decide. Go home? Or stay and weather the Depression with Sebby, whom he has grown to love. "

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And this evening I finished  Field Notes on Love  by Jennifer E. Smith. This is a young adult novel which I quite enjoyed. I would happily read more by this author.

 "It's the perfect idea for a romantic week together: traveling across America by train.

But then Hugo's girlfriend dumps him. Her parting gift: the tickets for their long-planned last-hurrah-before-college trip. Only, it's been booked under her name. Nontransferable, no exceptions.

Mae is still reeling from being rejected from USC's film school. When she stumbles across Hugo's ad for a replacement Margaret Campbell (her full name!), she's certain it's exactly the adventure she needs to shake off her disappointment and jump-start her next film.

A cross-country train trip with a complete stranger might not seem like the best idea. But to Mae and Hugo, both eager to escape their regular lives, it makes perfect sense. What starts as a convenient arrangement soon turns into something more. But when life outside the train catches up to them, can they find a way to keep their feelings for each other from getting derailed?"

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I am chuckling my way through a book I found via one of Karen’s links.....I think I may have ventured down a rabbit trail off of the 10 best romances to find it. The Countess by Lynsey Sands -  It is a rather slap stick comedy with the Countess literally putting her husband’s body on ice to delay announcing his death.  Then we have mistaken identity and body snatching.....and I am only at ten percent.  It’s a very silly break from reality and I am enjoying it.....wondering if Kareni has read it?  
 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8437192-the-countess?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=OZAAvPvwdZ&rank=3

Edited June 3, 2020 by mumto2

[Kareni]

This Week’s Tor.com eBook Club Selection is...

IN OUR OWN WORLDS, VOL. 2
4 LGBTQ+ TOR.COM NOVELLAS
from
Katharine Duckett
Seanan McGuire
Lina Rather
Kai Ashante Wilson

 

In celebration of Pride, Tor.com Publishing presents four critically acclaimed novellas featuring LGBTQ+ characters.
 

Miranda in Milan
A reimagining of the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers.

Every Heart a Doorway
The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well what it feels like to tumble into their own magical world. And each of them is seeking a way back.

Sisters of the Vast Black
The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
The Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight. The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive.   Download before 11:59 PM ET, June 5th, 2020.

Regards,

Kareni

[Maus]

It's getting very hot, very quickly here.  We don't have much energy for useful things, so reading is nice.

34. "I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced" by Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui.  Read this all in one sitting, it was so compelling.

33. "The Brave Learner" by Julie Bogart.  Lots of take-aways here.  We are at a point in homeschooling where we need to repair some relationships and relax some expectations.

32. "Spook" by Mary Roach.  

31. "The American Revolution (Guts & Glory)" by Ben Thompson.  I'm going to read this one aloud to my kids!  I really enjoyed it.

30.  "Educated" by Tara Westover.  

29.  "Gulp" by Mary Roach. 

28. "The Mormon Battalion: U.S. Army of the West" by Norma Baldwin Ricketts. 

27. "Follow Me to Zion: Stories from the Willie Handcart Pioneers" by Andrew D. Olsen and Jolene S. Allphin (LDS). 

26. "Sweetwater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story" by Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg (LDS). 

25. "I walked to Zion: True Stories of Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail" by Susan Arrington Madsen (LDS).  

24. "The Journey of the James G. Willie Handcart Company, October, 1856" by Gary Duane Long. 

23. "The Heavens are Open" by Wendy W. Nelson (LDS).

22. "Born to Change the World" by Brad Wilcox (LDS).

21. "I Saw the Lord" by Kerry Muhlestein (LDS).

20.  "The Mormon Battalion" by B.H. Roberts. (LDS)

19.  "Bright, Not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Austism" by Diane M. Kennedy and Rebecca S. Banks with Temple Grandin. 

18.  "More Than Miracles" by T.C. Christensen with Jolene S. Allphin. (LDS)

17.  "The Seven Storey Mountain" by Thomas Merton.  

16.  "Lifestyles of the Great & Spacious" by John Bytheway.  (LDS)  

15.  "How to Think" by Alan Jacobs.  

14.  "The Road from Coorain" by Jill Ker Conway.  Entry three from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.

13.  "All Rivers Run to the Sea" by Elie Wiesel.  Entry two from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge. 

12.  "The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction" by Alan Jacobs. 

11.  "Whatever You Choose to Be" by Ann Romney. 

10.  "Five Little Pigs" by Agatha Christie.  2nd entry in the Agatha Christie challenge. 

9.  "Rethinking School" by Susan Wise Bauer.

8.  "The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.

7.  "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.

6.  "A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter" by Jim Bennett.

5.  "Bamboozled by the "CES Letter"" by Michael R. Ash.

4. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.  Entry one - the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.

3. "The Harlequin Tea Set" by Agatha Christie.   Entry one - Agatha Christie Challenge.

2. "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. 

1. "Unselfish: Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Selfie" compiled by Paul D. Parkinson.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Maus

[Kareni]

Some free books for Kindle readers ~

For children/young adults:

• A Kingdom in a Horse by Maia Wojciechowska 

(Author wrote the 1965 Newberry medal winner Shadow of a Bull)
www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Horse-Maia-Wojciechowska-ebook/dp/B0067MZHFI/

• The Call of the Wild and White Fang (Clydesdale Classics) by Jack London
www.amazon.com/Call-Wild-White-Clydesdale-Classics-ebook/dp/B01GBUWI5C/

• Maradona: The Autobiography of Soccer's Greatest and Most Controversial Star
by Diego Armando Maradona (Skyhorse) 
www.amazon.com/Maradona-Autobiography-Soccers-Greatest-Controversial-ebook/dp/B004ULMWZG/

• The Beginning Woods
by Malcolm McNeill (Sky Pony) 
A 2018 Carnegie Medal Nominee
A MYSTERY NO ONE CAN SOLVE
www.amazon.com/Beginning-Woods-Malcolm-McNeill-ebook/dp/B06X9HG3YT/

• An Impossible Distance to Fall 
by Miriam McNamara
www.amazon.com/Impossible-Distance-Fall-Miriam-McNamara-ebook/dp/B07G3HRVQM/

• The Taming of the Drew 
by Stephanie Kate Strohm 
www.amazon.com/Taming-Drew-Stephanie-Kate-Strohm-ebook/dp/B01CXL7UX8/

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

More free:

Knight on the Texas Plains by Linda Broday 

Veins of Gold Charlie N. Holmberg 

California Dreamin' Collection (A Timeless Romance Anthology Book 11) Heather B. Moore, Annette Lyon, Sarah M Eden, +++.

Black Dog (3 book series) Hailey Edwards

With His Ring (The Brides of Bath Book - Cheryl Bolen

Regards,

Kareni

[Lori D.]

Since several of the chapters of book 1 are long, I'm dividing up my comments over 2 posts 😄 -- here is 1 of 2:

 

FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - BOOK 1

chap. 9: “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony”
And now we see the dangers of inns that Frodo was talking about back in chapter 3, and the need to keep Pippin away from the "best beer in the farthing" at the Golden Perch inn, and we see the overall naivety and inexperience of putting Hobbits in charge of a dangerous quest... 😂

Irony
Ironic: the dangers of being indoors in a safe Inn seem to be worse than the outdoor dangers of the Old Forest and Old Man Willow, and the Barrow-Wights, that they have just escaped!

More irony: at the very end of chap. 8, Frodo warns them all to NOT to "...make yourselves too much at home! Please remember—all of you—that the name of Baggins must not be mentioned." And as soon as they hit the common room at the Inn, Pippin starts showing off telling comic tales--including the story of Bilbo Baggins' farewell speech and disappearance! So to stop the story before getting to the disappearance part, Frodo, the one who gave them the initial warning, jumps on the table, sings a comic song, gets carried away -- and accidentally disappears when he falls and Ring ends up on his finger!! 🥴

And more irony: before they headed to the common room, Merry decides to stay in the rooms, and maybe step out for a breath of air rather than risk going into the common room, and has the following exchange [note: "Ps and Qs"  = "Pints and Quarts," an expression meaning "watch how much you're drinking, and behave yourself"]:

• Merry: "Mind your Ps and Qs*, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!"
  Pippin:  "Mind yourself! Don't get lost, and don't forget that it is safer indoors!"

with ironic results for both: Pippin pretty much reveals their "escaping in secret" by showing off, and Merry is nearly kidnapped by Black Riders when he goes outside!! 🥴
__________

notes about Tolkien and his writing:
1. So fun to realize that even authors end up being surprised by their characters and plots: In one of his letters, Tolkien says about the initial introduction of Aragorn in Bree: “Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo."

2. The VERY fun comic tavern song. Tolkien, as part of wanting to create a national myth for England, "reverse engineers" the Mother Goose rhyme of “The Cow Jumped Over the Moon”, by creating a longer version as a tavern song, so that now the nursery rhyme is embedded in England's "mythos" from The Lord of the Rings, as though the current nursery rhyme is the fragment that is all that is left rom Bilbo's older, longer song! 😉
__________

the Ring as almost sentient:

• “…[Frodo] found himself…fingering the things in his pocket. He felt the Ring on its chain, and quite unaccountably the desire came over him to slip it on and vanish out of the silly situation. It seemed to him, somehow, as if me suggestion came to him from outside, from someone or something a the room. He resisted the temptation firmly, and clasped the Ring in his hand, as if to keep a hold on it and prevent it from escaping or doing any mischief.“
• “For a moment [Frodo] wondered if the Ring itself had not played him a trick; perhaps it had tried to reveal itself in response to some wish or command that was felt in the room.”

_______________________

chap. 10: “Strider”
Wonderful stuff in this chapter, establishing Aragorn's character:

• the irony that he is a Ranger who chooses to wander homeless to protect others (like a knight errant), yet is viewed negatively by those very people he protects (Sam: "He comes out of the Wild, and I never heard no good of such folk.")
• he is knowledgable and wise (wilderness survival skills; knows how evil the Black Riders of Mordor are; has the Hobbits NOT spend the night in their rooms!)
• he is not only a friend of Gandalf's, but a partner with Gandalf in this "great business" of the Ring
• and best of all, he commits himself as guide and guard to Frodo & co. with a noble knightly oath:
  "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will." 😍

__________

Gandalf’s letter of serious warning and info -- ends with a little comic relief:

• “ PPPS. I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his memory is like a lumber-room [storage room]: thing wanted always buried....” 😂

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

Since several of the chapters of book 1 are long, I'm dividing up my comments over 2 posts 😄 -- here is 2 of 2: 

 

FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - BOOK 1

chap. 11: “A Knife in the Dark”

Off into the Wild, with Aragorn as guide and servants of the Dark Lord pursuing... And may I just say: I think I have encountered these midges and "neeker-breekers" on past backpacking trips... 😵
__________

Motif of Horns / Blowing Horns
Horns, traditionally used for war troop signaling or for hunting, were also used by medieval people as a way of summoning/mustering the people for sudden emergencies or action. Horns in The Lord of the Rings are used as a signal in war for attacking or standing against the enemy, or coming to the rescue of those besieged... In Book 2, we will encounter a character who is known for the heirloom horn he carries. And in the Shire, horns alert to a community danger or need; here, Frodo's hobbit friend Fatty Bolger who has been "keeping up the pretense" that Frodo is still at the cottage in Crickhollow, runs to tell the village of the invading evil Black Riders:

•  “...a horn rang out. It rent the night like fire on a hill-top: ‘awake! fear! fire! foes! awake!’ “

__________

History lesson...??
Right in the middle of the rising tension and suspense of this chapter, we get---- some of Middle-earth’s past history!! We learn a little of some of the First and Second Age events: the Last Alliance of Elves (Gil-galad) and Men (Elendil), from Sam’s song fragment from the lay of The Fall of Gil-galad, and then Beren and Luthien (Aragorn’s lay of the Tale of Tinúviel), and Aragorn's summary of how they stood against the Dark Lord. Why do we get this here and now? Because Middle-earth's past is intersecting with its present, the end of the Third Age. Aragorn is a descendent of the historical figures in these two lays; the hobbits are at Weathertop, the site of an ancient tower of defense against the Dark Lord; and they are attacked by the Ring Wraiths, the ancient servants of the Dark Lord.
__________

Luthien and Beren
While Tolkien never directly called his wife Edith “Luthien”, he has written that “…she was the source of the story that in time became the chief part of The Silmarillion”— a story he also includes here in the trilogy. After Tolkien returned from WW1 service in France to recover his health, he and his wife went, just the two of them, on a picnic, and black-haired, sparkling-eyed Edith, who was a talented singer, danced and sang for Tolkien in a hemlock grove. That was the inspiration for the story of Beren and Luthien, which was the first of his tales in The Silmarillion, and the work that began the creation of Middle-earth. At his wife’s death over 50 years later, he had the name “Luthien” added to her tombstone, and the name “Beren” was added to his tombstone on his death just 2 years later. 💕

This image of the other-worldly, dancing/singing, sprite-like female character shows up several times in Tolkien’s storytelling:

• Luthien (Elven princess) is dancing and singing in the woods when she is met by Beren (Man prince)
• Arwen (Elf) and Aragorn (Man) — both descendants of Luthien and Beren -- in the Appendix at the end of The Return of the King, we can read about how Aragorn hears Arwen singing in the woods of Rivendell, meets her and calls her "Tinuviel" (nightingale) like Beren did with Luthien
• Goldberry — seeing her dancing on a hill is one of their very last sights of her, as the Hobbits go to say farewell
• And in Tolkien's short story “Smith of Wooton Major", a human traveler into the realm of Faerie meets the Queen of Faerie as she is singing and dancing on a green spring-time hilltop

_______________________

chap. 12: “Flight to the Ford”

Charater development
Quests have a way of bringing forth virtues or qualities that previous were dormant: Sam, already stepping up to the plate as a loyal servant and guard, after having just encountered true evil (Frodo attached by the Black Riders), and now because Aragorn left so quickly after the Black Riders, that Sam “... plainly was beginning to have doubts again about Strider… [Aragorn] returned, appearing suddenly out of the shadows. They started, and Sam drew his sword and stood over Frodo…”

__________

Hands of Healing
Aragorn and healing comes into play again later in the trilogy... Here, the first thing Aragorn does before treating Frodo’s wound is to first neutralize or counter the evil words on the Morgul blade through singing, and then he speaks words [prayer? blessing?] over Frodo:

• “…taking the dagger-hilt laid it on his knees, and he sang over it a slow song in a strange tongue. Then setting it aside, he turned to Frodo and in a soft tone spoke words the others could not catch…”

__________

Trolls!! 😉
LOVE the “forgetting our family history” — Bilbo’s long (nearly 80 years) ago encounter with trolls in The Hobbit shows up here with his relatives! And the scene lightens the mood a little:

• "Strider walked forward unconcernedly. 'Get up, old stone!' he said, and broke his stick upon the stooping troll."
• [Strider]: “You are forgetting not only your family history, but all you ever knew about trolls... It is broad daylight with a bright sun, and yet you come back trying to scare me with a tale of live trolls waiting for us in this glade! In any case you might have noticed that one of them has an old bird's nest behind his ear. That would be a most unusual ornament for a live troll!” 😂
• "Frodo felt his spirits reviving: the reminder of Bilbo's first successful adventure was heartening...They... took their mid-day meal right under the shadow of the trolls' large legs."
• Sam’s comic troll song, about a character named Tom who ends up “lasting lame” from kicking the troll in his stony butt — ’Well, that's a warning to us all!' laughed Merry. 'It is as well you used a stick [to hit the stone troll], and not your hand, Strider!'" 😂

__________

Foreshadowing… ??!!
When it comes out that Sam himself created the comic troll song -- he's a poet, too! 😄 -- and that leads to this rather prescient exchange:

• [Pippin]: ‘Where did you come by that, Sam? ... I've never heard those words before."
• Sam muttered something inaudible.
• [Frodo]: "It's out of his own head, of course... I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard—or a warrior!'
• [Sam]: "I hope not... 'I don't want to be neither!"

__________

Book vs. Movie version...
While there are MANY things about all 3 of The Lord of the Rings movies that anger me and drive me crazy 😡, the streamlining of the book in the Fellowship of the Ring film in two  places worked very well to make the film a stronger movie. The first is the cutting of chapters 6-8 (Old Forest, Tom Bombadil & Goldberry, and the Barrow-Downs/Wights) -- sad to lose these parts, but they are a big rabbit-trail off of the main plot, which movies do NOT do well with. And the second is the blending all of the Elf-lord Glorfindel's parts into the character of Arwen. Not only does that streamline by removing a character that we don't really see much of again after this (thus reducing confusion), this also simultaneously strengthens the character of Arwen, who has very little to develop her character in the books. (There is a bit more with Arwen and Aragorn in the Appendix at the end of The Return of the King.)

Edited June 3, 2020 by Lori D.

[Robin M]

On 5/31/2020 at 12:17 PM, mumto2 said:

Glad you are enjoying the House in the Cerulean Sea!  Dd grabbed my library copy of The City in the Middle of the Night last fall and really enjoyed it.......I still haven’t read it.  Somehow it slipped way down on my list.....I think it may have been a  @JennW in SoCal suggestion in the distant past!

I'm about halfway through City in the Middle of the Night and debating on whether to finish. Maybe its my mood because not liking the characters too much at the moment.   Swtiched to Frost's One Foot in the Grave for the time being.

On 5/31/2020 at 12:17 PM, mumto2 said:

At one point in my reading life I reread every book in a series in anticipation the new releases.......of course I didn’t read as many long series at that point.  If I reread all the In Death series every time a new one was released I am not sure I would ever read anything else! 😉

 I've done this three times already with the In Death series. Pretty much done with that because it does take up a lot of reading time. 

On 5/31/2020 at 5:59 PM, Kareni said:

Space In His Heart (A Stand Alone Romance with Suspense) Roxanne St. Claire

One of my favorite authors. Thank you. 

[Robin M]

20 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I am chuckling my way through a book I found via one of Karen’s links.....I think I may have ventured down a rabbit trail off of the 10 best romances to find it. The Countess by Lynsey Sands https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8437192-the-countess.  is a rather slap stick comedy with the Countess literally putting her husband’s body on ice to delay announcing his death.  Then we have mistaken identity and body snatching.....and I am only at ten percent.  It’s a very silly break from reality and I am enjoying it.....wondering if Kareni has read it?  

The link isn't working for me.  What is the author's name? 

[Kareni]

I've heard good things about the book, @mumto2, but I haven't read it. @Robin M, here's the Amazon link ~

The Countess   by Lynsay Sands

 

Regards,

Kareni

[melmichigan]

I'm still mostly in a rereading phase.  I did manage to read the first four books in the Witches of Keating Hollow before I ventured back to reread the Chicagoland Vampires Series and the spinoff series Heirs of Chicagoland.  My DD was struggling with all the recent upheaval and I thought a good series might help, so she's currently listening to book 3.  

[mumto2]

2 hours ago, Robin M said:

I'm about halfway through City in the Middle of the Night and debating on whether to finish. Maybe its my mood because not liking the characters too much at the moment.   Swtiched to Frost's One Foot in the Grave for the time being.

I liked the One Foot in the Grave series........I need to read the rest.😉

2 hours ago, Robin M said:

I'm about halfway through City in the Middle of the Night and debating on whether to finish. Maybe its my mood because not liking the characters too much at the moment.   Swtiched to Frost's One Foot in the Grave for the time being.

Three times, just wow.  Btw, I fixed The Countesses link.  I did finish  The Countess earlier today and really enjoyed it.  I already have the second book in the series ready to read.   Thank you @Kareni

18 minutes ago, melmichigan said:

I'm still mostly in a rereading phase.  I did manage to read the first four books in the Witches of Keating Hollow before I ventured back to reread the Chicagoland Vampires Series and the spinoff series Heirs of Chicagoland.  My DD was struggling with all the recent upheaval and I thought a good series might help, so she's currently listening to book 3.  

I some of the Chicagoland Vampires a couple of years ago and have to admit I am now curious about Heirs of Chicagoland.  I am assuming I will enjoy it more if I finish reading the original series first.

[Kareni]

A currently free fantasy ~

Cephrael's Hand: A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book One by Melissa McPhail

This is a richly imagined piece of work...the characters are engaging, and McPhail manages to do some very original things, which is often difficult in fantasy, given that so much work in the genre relies on Tolkienian stereotypes....some strong work here.  --Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards  

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Stumbling in, late as usual. I had actual things to do last week which felt stressfully busy after 3 months of not doing much of anything. I even put make up on my face as I was recording music and thought I should make an attempt at looking decent, lol!  It was odd, too, to have to play "for reals" after hardly touching my violin since March.

Books were read last week, though! I really enjoyed the romance Love Lettering, which Kareni read some months back. The novel, and the romance, is centered around signs and fonts, and on the art of hand lettering. I'm wondering if the print edition has words and phrases written in the fonts being described as the Kindle certainly did not. It didn't really matter, I have a good imagination, but I can imagine a fancy print edition with illustrations.

I also finished Tea Ohbreht's Inland, which was a totally unexpected and different novel. It is a Western, featuring 2 different story lines (2 different narrators in the audio edition), with a stubborn feisty woman in Arizona territory at the close of the 1800s, and a Turkish immigrant whose story we hear as he talks to his camel. There are ghosts, there is a scarcity of water, all told through some exquisite writing. The opening chapters were gritty and off putting, but I kept coming back to listen to chunks and was hooked once the camels were introduced. 

I've got 2 audio books going this week. The Jane Austen Society is a quiet, gentle book set in Chawton at the end of WWII. Chawton, for those of you who don't know, was the home for a period of time, of Jane Austen. While the book caught my eye because of the title, I readily used an audible credit for it as it is read by Richard Armitage. 

And I'm listening to another memoir by Neil Peart, the late drummer for the band Rush. I'm so not a fan of Rush, but he was a really interesting man, someone who read widely and loved all sorts of music and wrote interesting books about his travels. The book I'm listening to is Road Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times.

 

[Kareni]

Today only, free for Kindle readers ~

Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore

 "This classic novel of farmers, outlaws, and forbidden romance beautifully evokes seventeenth-century rural life in England’s West Country.

Amidst the social and religious upheaval of seventeenth-century England, the once-noble Doone family has been transformed. Now a notorious clan of outlaws, the Doones show their victims no mercy—a lesson the yeoman John Ridd learns when they murder his father. Though he longs for revenge, John must continue to provide for his mother and sister. But his life as a respectable, peace-loving farmer is turned on its head when he meets the beautiful Lorna Doone.

As a member of the Doone clan, Lorna is John’s sworn enemy. Yet he cannot help loving her. In a desperate act to save her from her own family, John must risk everything—and finally confront his past in a way that will change both his and Lorna’s lives forever. First published in 1869, R. D. Blackmore’s timeless tale of star-crossed lovers combines vivid depictions of early modern England with a dramatic narrative that culminates in tragic violence."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some bookish posts ~

MOTHERHOOD AND MONSTERS: HOW BEING A PARENT HELPS ME WRITE THRILLERS

https://crimereads.com/how-being-a-parent-helps-me-write-thrillers/

From reddit: Women of r/Fantasy, what are your favorite fantasy books?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/gbln37/women_of_rfantasy_what_are_your_favorite_fantasy/

CHRISTIE & SAYERS & ALLINGHAM & TEY

https://crimereads.com/christie-sayers-allingham-tey/

SHOOTING THE FRONT PAGE PHOTO IN THE 1930S by author Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz)

https://crimereads.com/shooting-the-front-page-photo-in-the-1930s/

Regards,

Kareni

[Laurel-in-CA]

Sort of lost track of posting for the past 3 mo. while adapting to new online work and husband at home job hunting and oldest dd moving back in while trying to fix my back issues. I've been reading and taking recommendations, though!

I think the most fun read I had was from a library recommendation, and I would give it a 5.

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Sherman-Donkey-Heart-Hero-ebook/dp/B07NKPW2NP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sherman+burro&qid=1591209961&sr=8-1

It's as much about healing from trauma as about burros or running or country living by city folk....as you can see, it takes some rabbit trails.

[mumto2]

2 hours ago, Kareni said:

From reddit: Women of r/Fantasy, what are your favorite fantasy books?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/gbln37/women_of_rfantasy_what_are_your_favorite_fantasy/

 

I just skimmed through quite a bit of this thread!  This month’s author NK Jemisin was mentioned frequently.  I am planning tho try The Fifth Season which appears to be a good choice from reading this. 😉 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Dia40Iezq5&rank=1 

Other new to me series mentioned that I am interested in.........

Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/185637.Blood_and_Iron?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=FSVzQgq4fX&rank=8      

Wildwood Dancing (the most unusual frog interests me).         https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13929.Wildwood_Dancing?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=CshW2ACNPW&rank=1    

Lies of Lock Lamora https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127455.The_Lies_of_Locke_Lamora?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qH06CTtTw4&rank=1 

2 hours ago, JennW in SoCal said:

I also finished Tea Ohbreht's Inland, which was a totally unexpected and different novel. It is a Western, featuring 2 different story lines (2 different narrators in the audio edition), with a stubborn feisty woman in Arizona territory at the close of the 1800s, and a Turkish immigrant whose story we hear as he talks to his camel. There are ghosts, there is a scarcity of water, all told through some exquisite writing. The opening chapters were gritty and off putting, but I kept coming back to listen to chunks and was hooked once the camels were introduced. 

Planning to try this!  Camels........

17 minutes ago, Laurel-in-CA said:

Sort of lost track of posting for the past 3 mo. while adapting to new online work and husband at home job hunting and oldest dd moving back in while trying to fix my back issues. I've been reading and taking recommendations, though!

I think the most fun read I had was from a library recommendation, and I would give it a 5.

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Sherman-Donkey-Heart-Hero-ebook/dp/B07NKPW2NP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sherman+burro&qid=1591209961&sr=8-1

It's as much about healing from trauma as about burros or running or country living by city folk....as you can see, it takes some rabbit trails.

I loved Sherman!

Edited June 3, 2020 by mumto2

[Violet Crown]

I forgot! With Kafka last month, I finished yet another 10x10 category: The Brexit Deal. Books from ten European countries not in the UK.

1. Isak Dinesen, Anecdotes of Destiny (Denmark)
2. Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People (Norway)
3. E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Golden Pot and Other Tales (Germany)
4. Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette (France)
5. Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio (Italy)
6. Miguel de Cervantes, Exemplary Stories (Spain)
7. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (Russia)
8. Sophocles, Philoctetes (Greece)
9. James Joyce, Dubliners (Ireland)
10. Franz Kafka, Amerika (Czech)

Kafka of course was a German Bohemian, but since Bohemia --> Czechoslovakia --> Czech Republic, I'm going to put him down as Czech. I figure he's as Czech as Dante is Italian.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Laurel-in-CA said:

Sort of lost track of posting for the past 3 mo. while adapting to new online work and husband at home job hunting and oldest dd moving back in while trying to fix my back issues. I've been reading and taking recommendations, though!

I think the most fun read I had was from a library recommendation, and I would give it a 5.

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Sherman-Donkey-Heart-Hero-ebook/dp/B07NKPW2NP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sherman+burro&qid=1591209961&sr=8-1

It's as much about healing from trauma as about burros or running or country living by city folk....as you can see, it takes some rabbit trails.

 

Looks good!  Thanks for posting about it!

[Kareni]

I just finished Wild as the West Texas Wind: A Love Across Time Story  by Jackie North which I enjoyed. (Adult content)

 "Soulmates across time. Two hearts that were meant to be together.
 

In present day, Zach takes a road trip to Trinidad to find information on a missing friend.

In 1892, Layton Blue, outlaw, longs for hearth and home even as he treasures his life of freedom.

A freak rainstorm washes Zach's car into a ditch, sending him back to the year 1892. Searching for help, alone and on foot in the middle of the nowhere, he crosses paths with the famous Ketchum Gang. Now the gang’s prisoner, Zach’s fate is to be sold at a seedy auction for whores.

Layton is put in charge of making sure Zach does not escape, but as the chemistry between them grows, Layton finds himself wanting to help Zach.

Can Layton overcome years of being on the run? Can Zach accept help from an outlaw?"

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

@mumto2,

Another Carla Kelly book on sale!

Summer Campaign - Carla Kelly $0.99

Regards,

Kareni

[Pen]

9 hours ago, Laurel-in-CA said:

Sort of lost track of posting for the past 3 mo. while adapting to new online work and husband at home job hunting and oldest dd moving back in while trying to fix my back issues. I've been reading and taking recommendations, though!

I think the most fun read I had was from a library recommendation, and I would give it a 5.

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Sherman-Donkey-Heart-Hero-ebook/dp/B07NKPW2NP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sherman+burro&qid=1591209961&sr=8-1

It's as much about healing from trauma as about burros or running or country living by city folk....as you can see, it takes some rabbit trails.

 

Started and am at chapter 7!  Love this book! 

[mumto2]

I finished May’s Ladies of Lit spelling challenge by reading the newish novella from Corey’s Expanse series. Auberon was OK but probably not important in terms of understanding the next book.....when ever it appears.  It introduces a new character that I expect to see again......I needed an A badly and had this ready to go!😉

 

May - Sharon Kay Penman

 

S.....To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer Fleming

H.....Flame I the Dark by Faith Hunter

A......False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

R......The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson

O......One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming

N......Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

 

K.......Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas

A.......All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer Fleming

Y........When You Call My Name by Sharon Sala

 

P........Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase

E........Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep

N.......I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer Fleming

M.......A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber

A.......Auberon by James S.A. Corey

N........Second Nature by Nora Roberts

[Kareni]

Today only, free for Kindle readers ~

Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany

 "A classic collection of short stories from one of the twentieth century’s most influential fantasy authors.

Irish author Lord Dunsany majorly influenced generations of writers, including J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and many more, and his Fifty-One Tales, a collection of short stories first published in 1915, has delighted readers for more than a century. These vignettes—some no more than a few paragraphs long—offer brief glimpses into worlds of sparkling wit and imagination. By turns whimsical, satirical, and melancholic, this collection (also published under the title The Food of Death) touches on timeless themes and remains a wellspring of inspiration and pleasure."

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I read Eating Stars by Angel Martinez, a science fiction romance novella which I quite enjoyed.(Some adult content)

 "Flee. Scatter. Take your mates and your offspring and run.

The escape pods fall to Earth one by one over the course of weeks, a mysterious and diverse alien diaspora, each pod containing a different alien race and leaving the world's governments scrambling to deal with this unexpected immigration. Serge Kosygin, still grieving and isolated after his husband's death, watches events with gray disinterest until one day he witnesses a pod crash for himself while driving home. Two of the alien visitors have died, but one survives, badly injured, and Serge is determined that if this alien is also going to die, it won't be under the harsh lights of a government facility.

Devastated by the loss of his life mates in their desperate effort to reach safety, the knowledge that Een is the last Aalana in this sector of the galaxy only compounds his sorrow. He wakes in an alien dwelling under the care of one of the native dominant builder species, a being who appears to share nothing with Een besides a bipedal structure. Slowly, with the help of his patient and kind host, he discovers they are more similar than he imagined as they share harmonies and his host assists him with language acquisition.

Their tentative first contact soon evolves into a deepening friendship, a balm for two grief-weary souls. They'll need each other and their growing bond for the troubles lurking just ahead. "

Regards,

Kareni

[Laurel-in-CA]

I wanted to add a sci fi recommendation that I just finished -- from the library. It's a bit of rite of passage meets alien type of story set on Coney Island, the first of a trilogy. I enjoyed it and am checking out the next one in the series.

 

 

 

[Kareni]

18 hours ago, Laurel-in-CA said:

I wanted to add a sci fi recommendation that I just finished -- from the library. It's a bit of rite of passage meets alien type of story set on Coney Island, the first of a trilogy. I enjoyed it and am checking out the next one in the series.

That sounds intriguing, Laurel. What is the title?

ETA: Is it Undertow (The Undertow Trilogy Book 1)?

On 6/2/2020 at 2:49 PM, Seasider too said:

I also read Rise of the Magicks, the third book in Nora Roberts’ Chronicles of The One series. I am the sort of person that likes to read the whole story arc, so I am glad to have read it, but this was a solid meh. Too long, too predictable. The author, IMO, didn’t take enough emotional risks, I’d have killed off more characters. I’ll add more of my thoughts if anyone really wants to discuss it.  

I read the trilogy, too, and doubt that I'll revisit it.

I liked your statement -- "I’d have killed off more characters"!

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

A couple more free books for Kindle readers ~

Contemporary romance: Sugar and Ice (Rinkside in the Rockies Series Book 1) by Aven Ellis

LGBT: The Last Text by Alice Winters

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I just finished Her Cold-Blooded Protector  by Lea Linnett. It was a pleasant read but not a book I'm likely to reread (Adult content)

"His people invaded her planet.

Lena's a mechanic, not a jail-breaker. But when a tough, scarred alien with scales like sunlight and claws that could rip her in half decides to bust out of prison while they're locked up together, she sure as hell isn't going to let him leave without her.

Even though he's one of them--the lizard-like levekk who invaded Earth and work its native humans like cattle--she has no choice. He's her only protector in this new world, and the only way she'll get back to her sister is by trusting him.

The only problem? Kormak hates humans. They burn hot and bright, but they are weak and too easily snuffed out. The last thing he wants is a human slowing him down.

But she needs him, and when an accident derails their escape and strands them in the winter wilderness of her world, he just might need her, too."

Regards,

Kareni

[Liz CA]

Audiobooks:

2 very similar books by Brene Brown - Daring Greatly and Dare to Lead

Very interesting and especially helpful in my field.

Reading:

A Regimental Murder by Gardner

I have to come to like the Gabriel Lacey character.

[Kareni]

More free books for Kindle readers ~

Yo, @mumto2...
In Love and War: A Collection of Love Stories Carla Kelly.

I like this one ... In Milady's Chamber: A John Pickett Mystery (John Pickett Mysteries Book 1) - Sheri Cobb South

Once Upon a Dream   by Megan Derr

You've Got Tail (Peculiar Mysteries Book 1) by Renee George

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

Week 23 is live  - please continue conversation in new thread.