Tricia Tries to Keep Up in 2019

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Tricia Tries to Keep Up in 2019

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1hailelib
Redigeret: dec 20, 2018, 10:24 pm

In 2008, some of us did a challenge of eight books in each of eight categories and called it the 888 Challenge. Then we did a 999 and in 2010 it morphed into the Category Challenge which has continued to the present one for 2019. Along the way it gathered Cats and Kits and Dogs and each year I started a thread. However, my participation as far as posting and all has been rather erratic, especially last year. Time to start fresh and see if I can do better this year!

The 2019 Challenge will have seven of my usual categories plus one for Cats/Kits, one for Group Reads, and one for the Bingo card. I am also saving some spaces for a project or two I am considering.

A Category will be successful if I have at least one book in it but some will be quite full as my average per year is close to 150 books. No theme, just lots of books.

2hailelib
Redigeret: aug 24, 2019, 2:49 pm

I. Mystery and Suspense

1. Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman - finished January 3, 2019 - public library
2. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith - finished January 16, 2019 - public library
3. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy - finished January 21, 2019 - own
4. The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin - finished January 29, 2019 - own - recent purchase
5. Fever Season by Barbara Hambly - finished January 31, 2019 - own
6. Nerve by Dick Francis - finished February 2, 2019 - own
7. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie - Finished February 12, 2019 - own
8. Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson - Finished February 15, 2019 - public library
9. The Lie Direct by Sara Woods - finished February 28, 2019 - recent purchase
10. U Is for Undertow by Sue Grafton - Finished March 3, 2019 - recent purchase
11. Forfeit by Dick Francis - finished March 16, 2019 - own
12. Leverage in Death by J. D. Robb - Finished March 15, 2019 - public library
13. Connections in Death by J. D.Robb - finished March 19, 2019 - public library
14. Dead Cert by Dick Francis - finished April 1, 2019 - own - reread
15. Y is for Yesterday bye Sue Grafton - Finished April 19, 2019 - own - recent purchase
16. The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell - Finished April 23, 2019 - own
17. The Fourth Man by K. O. Dahl - May 2019 - own
18. Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom - May 2019 - own
19. Reflex by Dick Francis - May 2019 - own
20. City of the Lost by Kelly Armstrong - May 29, 2019 - public library
21. The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch - May 31, 2019 - own
22. A Prey to Murder by Ann Cleeves - May 27, 2019 - own
23. Beggar's Choice by Patricia Wentworth - May 26, 2019 - own
24. Driving force by Dick Francis - June 2019 - own
25. Rat Race by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
26. High Stakes by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
27. Enquiry by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
28. Banker by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
29. Straight by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
30. Hot Money by Dick francis - July 2019 - own
31. The Edge by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
32. Flying Finish by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
33. To the Hilt by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
34. Comeback by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
35. Second Wind by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
36. Proof by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
37. In the Frame by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
38. The Danger by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
39. 10 LB. Penalty by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
40. Twice Shy by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own

3hailelib
Redigeret: dec 18, 2019, 2:45 pm

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

1. Of Blood And Bone by Nora Roberts - finished January 2, 2019 - public library
2. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - finished January 5, 2019 - public library - reread
3. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - Finished January 10, 2019 - public library
4. Players at the Game of People by John Brunner - finished January 23, 2019 - own
5. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - finished January 25, 2019 - public library - reread
6. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - finished February 7, 2019 - public library - reread
7. The Last Colony by John Scalzi - finished February 6, 2019 - own - ebook
8. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. hines - finished February 16, 2019 - recent purchase - ebook
9. Fury by Henry Kuttner - finished February 25, 2019 - own
10. Out of the Dark by David Weber - finished March 5, 2019 - recent purchase - eboook
11. Death Masks by Jim Butcher- finished March 10, 2019 - public library
12. Evolution by Stephen Baxter - Finished March 14, 2019 - public library
13. Brightness Reef by David Brin - finished April 3, 2019 - recent purchase
14. Infinity's Shore by David Brin - finished April 5, 2019 - ebook - recent purchase
15. Heaven's Reach by David Brin - finished April 8, 2019 - ebook - recent purchase
16. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - finished April 28, 2019 - own
17. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien - finished May 2019 - own
18. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch - May 2019 - own
19. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher - May 2019 - public library
20. Earth Alone by Daniel Arenson - May 2019 - own - ebook
21. the collapsing Empire by John Scalzi - May 2019 - own - ebook
22. Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi - may 2019 - own -ebook
23. Children of the Night by Mercedes Lackey - May 2019 - own
24. Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay - June 2019 - own
25. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien - June 2019 - own
26. Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs - June 2019 - public library
27. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien - finished August 29, 2019 - own
28. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - Finished September 8, 2019 - public library - reread
29. The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams - Finished September 20, 2019 - own
30. Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams - Finished September 27, 2019 - public library
31. A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey - Finished October 2, 2019 - own - recent purchase - ebook
32. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - finished Novenber 13, 2019 - public library
33. To Green Angel Tower: Part 1 by Tad Williams - Finished November 15, 2019 - own - recent purchase
34. To Green Angel Tower: Part 2 by Tad Williams - Finished November 18, 2019 - own - recent purchase
35. White Night by Jim Butcher - Finished November 20, 2019 - public library
36. Heart Quest by Robin D. Owens - Finished December 1, 2019 - own
37. Sacred Ground by Mercedes Lackey - Finished December 2, 2019 - own - recent purchase
38. through 45. Various books from Heart Mate series by Robin D. Owens - Finished December 13, 2019 - own

4hailelib
Redigeret: dec 31, 2019, 4:45 pm

III. Other Fiction and overflow

1. The Golden Journey by Agnes Sligh Turnbull - finished February 10, 2019 - own
2. The White Monkey by John Galsworthy - Finished February 11, 2019 - own - ebook
3. Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt - finished February 16, 2019
4. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig - finished February 20, 2019 - own
5. Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters - finished March 7, 2019 -own
6. No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry - Finished March 17, 2019 - own
7. Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry - Finished March 18, 2019 - own - reread
8. Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry - Finished March 20, 2019 - own
9. At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry - finished March 21, 2019 - own
10 We Shall Not Sleep by Anne Perry - Finished March 23, 2019 - public library
11. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf - Finished April 10, 2019 - public library
12. Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash - finished April 11, 2019 - public library
13. The Silver Spoon by John Galsworthy - finished May 4, 2019 - own
14. i think i love you by Allison Pearson - Finished May 5, 2019 - public library
15. 1637: The Polish Maelstrom by Eric Flint - finished May 7, 2019 - own - ebook - recent purchase
16. Nerve by Dick Francis - finished August 2019 - own
17. Trial Run by Dick Francis - finished August 2019 - own
18. Blood Sport by Dick Francis - Finished August 2019 - own
19. Front Runner by Felix Francis - finished August 2019 - own
20. Gamble by Felix Francis - finished August24, 2019 - own
21. A Sprig of Sea Lavender by J. R. L. Anderson - finished September 10, 2019 - own
22. Satan's Coast by Elsie Lee - finished September 9, 2019 - own
23. Vendetta in Death by J. D. Robb - finished September 15, 2019 - public library
24. Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain - finished September 17, 2019 - own
25. A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen - Finished September 24, 2019 - own
26. September by Rosamunde Pilcher - Finished October 7, 2019 - own
27. The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman - Finished October 9, 2019 - public library
28. A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch - finished October 20, 2019 - own - recent purchase
29. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding - Finished October 21, 2019 - own
30. Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson - Finished October 22, 2019 - public library
31. Break In by Dick Francis - October 23, 2019 - own
32. Bolt by Dick Francis - October 24, 2019 - own
33. The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Finished October 30, 2019 - own
34. Swan Song by John Galsworthy - Finished November 10, 2019 - own - ebook
35. the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - Finished November 11, 2019 - own
36. Small Favor by Jim Butcher - Finished December 30, 2019 - public library

5hailelib
Redigeret: aug 26, 2019, 4:32 pm

IV. Science

1. The Northern Lights by Lucy Jago - finished February 25, 2019 - own
2. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham - finished March 27, 2019 - own
3. The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester - finished March 30, 2019 - own
4. Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams - finished April 28, 2019 - own
5. Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf - finished May 3, 2019 - public library
6. The Man Who Knew Too Much by David Leavitt - Finished June 2019 - Own
7. The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fugone - Finished July 2019 - public library
8. The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel - Finished August 26, 2019 - own - recent purchase

6hailelib
Redigeret: dec 31, 2019, 4:47 pm

V. History

1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari - Finished January 20, 2019 - public library
2. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - finished March 25, 2019 - public library
3. The Great Divide - Nature and Human Nature in the Old World and the New by Peter Watson - Finished September 22, 2019 - own
4. The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman - Finished November 25, 2019 - own
5. Five Came Back by Mark Harris - Finished December 31, 2019 - public library

7hailelib
Redigeret: dec 18, 2019, 2:36 pm

VI. The Short Stuff

1. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - finished March 11, 2019 - own
2. Interlude: A Silent Wooing by John Galsworthy - finished March 31,2019 - own
3. Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich - read about 100 pages - stopped April 22, 2019 to return to the library
4. A Liaden Universe Constellation, Volume 4 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - July 2019 - own - recent purchase - ebook
5. Grantville Gazette VIII edited by Eric Flint and Walt Boyes - July 2019 - own - recent purchase
6. Interlude: Passers By - finished July 2019 - own
7. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov - short story - finished July 2019 - own
8. Celta Cats by Robin D. Owens - anthology (short stories) - finished November 30, 2019

8hailelib
Redigeret: dec 18, 2019, 2:53 pm

VII. Miscellaneous

1. $2.00 a Day by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer - finished January 8, 2019 - public library - Dewey 339.46
2. Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez - April 6, 2019 - public library
3. A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman et al - finished April 11, 2019 - public library
4. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - finished May 2, 2019 - own
5. As you Wish by Cary Elwes - July 2019 - public library
6. The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry - finished December 10, 2019 - public library
7. H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald - Finished December 16, 2019 - public library

9hailelib
Redigeret: aug 31, 2019, 10:11 pm

VIII. CATs/KITs

CALENDAR CAT

January: Three possibilities - A Prey to Murder (birds)
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
Fever Season (the second Benjamin January historical mystery) - done
February: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation for floral design day - done
March:Julius Caesar - done or The Man who Knew Too Much
April: Periodic Tales} - done
May:
June:
July:
August:
September: September by Rosamunde Pilcher
October:
November:
December:

RANDOM CAT

January: Name of someone you know - Tai-pan by James Clavell - also works for TBR - also Storm Front by Jim Butcher which also is for Group Read
February: Travel, holiday, etc. - The Golden Journey - done
March: Brexit - too many choices but Silhouette in Scarlet - done
April: Our Souls at Night - done
May: dancing related

September-equinox- Keeper of the Light - Diane Chamberlain

SERIES CAT

January: Series in translation - The Death of Achilles - done
February: Young adult - Jackaroo - done
March: Favorite Author - Elizabeth Peters -done
April: Y is for Yesterday - done
May: Newest in favorite series -

September - a sprig of sea lavender

TBR CAT

January: First in, last out - Tai-Pan - had at least 45 years without ever reading!
February: borrowed book - Evolution - done
March: Special Occasions - Catching Fire and The Map that Changed the World - both done
April:
May: keep meaning to read

----------------------------

AlphaKIT

Jan: Q, A - Alif the Unseen
Feb: K, O - Regrets Only - started; Fury - finished
Mar: U, L - U is for Undertow and/or The Lie Direct - both done
Apr: B, M - Brightness Reef
May: H, V
Jun: J, D
Jul: C, P
Aug: N, I
Sep: F, W - Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Oct: G, T
Nov: S, Y
Dec: E, R

ScaredyKIT

January - sturlington - NPR 100 Best Horror Stories List or 100 Killer Thrillers List - The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy -done
February - mathgirl40 - The Corporeal Undead - I Am Legend; Grave Peril - done
March - LibraryCin - True Crime - Killers of the Flower Moon - done
April - DeltaQueen50 - Chills and Thrills with Modern Horror/Thrillers (2014 - 2019) - A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman - done
May - mstrust - Children's Horror (or Horrific Children)
June - virginiahomeschooler - Technothrillers
July - Vacation Month (read horror/thriller of your choice)
August - majkia - Gothic
September - The_Hibernator - Ghosts & Hauntings
October - KristelH - Monsters & Creatures
November - sturlington - Stephen King and Family
December - whitewavedarling - Small Press/Indie (or catch up on a previous category)

SFFFKIT

1.1 January: - Theme:Read an SFF you meant to read in 2018, but never started/completed - Players at the Game of People by John Brunner - done
1.2 February: - Theme: colonization - The Lost Colony - done
1.3 March: - Theme: detective - Dresden - Death Masks - done
1.4 April: - Theme: Sword and Sorcery - The Hobbit
1.5 May: - Theme: International
1.6 June: - Theme:
1.7 July: - Theme:
1.8 August: - Theme:
1.9 September: - Theme:
1.10 October: Theme:
1.11 November: - Theme:
1.12 December: - Theme:

10hailelib
Redigeret: maj 1, 2019, 11:32 am

IX. Group Reads

First quarter
January: The Scarlett Letter ?
February: Secondhand Time ? - read just over 100 pages
March:

Second quarter
April: Lord of the Rings? The Hobbit
May:
June:

Third quarter
July: Tom Jones
August:
September:

Fourth quarter
October:
November:
December

Multi-month reads

Year-long group reads -

The Dresden Files:
Jan: Storm Front; Fool Moon: Grave Peril - done
Feb: SUMMER KNIGHT - don't have a copy
Mar: Death Masks - done

Dick Francis :
Jan-Feb: Nerve - done
Mar-Apr: Forfeit - done

Short stories and anthologies

Maybe - A Suitable Boy

11hailelib
Redigeret: aug 25, 2019, 9:26 pm

X. BingoDog



1. Book made into a movie - The Hunt for Red October

2. Main title has 6 or more words in it -Players at the Game of People

3. Title contains a homophone word (such as hair/hare, slay/sleigh, there/their/they’re) - The Lie Direct

4. Weather (title contains a weather word, or book involves/centers around a weather event) - Storm Front

5. Book has an LT rating of 4.0 or more - Lethal White

6. Book in translation - The Fourth Man

7. Prize-winning book - Forfeit

8. Children’s/YA book, or reread a childhood favorite - Jackaroo

9. Graphic novel - A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

10. Food-related title or topic - Catching Fire

11. Read a book bullet (meaning another LT member inspired you to read it) - Killers of the Flower moon

12. Book mentioned in another book you have read - The Fellowship of the Ring

13. Animal on cover/in title/plays a significant role - Nerve

14. Short stories or essays - Liaden Universe Constellation- Volume 4

15. Debut novel - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

16. Book about/featuring siblings - No Graves as Yet

17. Book with an artistic character - In the Frame

18. Fairy tale (classic or reworked) - The Stepsister Scheme

19. Author uses middle name or middle initial - $2.00 a Day

20. Cover has at least two human figures - The Golden Journey

21. Part of a series - Cave of Bones

22. Alliterative title -Of Blood and Bone

23. Topic or character related to medicine/health Fever Season

24. Eastern European author or setting - The Death of Achilles

25. Read a CAT - Alif the Unseen

12hailelib
Redigeret: dec 22, 2019, 9:26 pm

Project #1

The first objective is to read all my public library books fairly promptly and not have to return them unread. My current books checked out are:

Of Blood and Bone - done
The Well-educated Mind -done (2018)
Cave of Bones - done
$2.00 a Day - done
Sapiens - done
Alif the Unseen - done
Storm Front - done
Lethal White - done

need to request - The Thirty Years War:Europes Tragedy and Smoke from this Altar - both were unfinished

The second objective is to read books that I started and somehow didn't finish. I would like to finish at least one of these every month.

The print books are

Died in the Wool
Joust
Evolution - done
War and Peace
Cradle to Cradle
Before Sherlock Holmes
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Kite Runner
The Man Who Knew Too Much - done
The Proud Tower - done
Players at the Game of People- done
The Name of the Rose
Creative Mythology
Grave Secrets
Cloud Atlas
the Northern Lights - done

The ebooks are

Astounding Science Fiction Stories: An Anthology of 350 SciFi stories
Gather Darkness
Pandora's Crew
The Broken Sword
Don Quixote
The Forsyte Saga - complete with all novels, etc. - Am in A Modern Comedy - dome for now
Leviathan Wakes
Tales of the Flying Mountains
Nice Dragons Finish Last

More titles may have escaped me but this is enough to be going on with.

13hailelib
dec 18, 2018, 9:58 pm

Save 2

14hailelib
dec 18, 2018, 9:58 pm

Save 3

15hailelib
Redigeret: dec 30, 2018, 2:47 pm

whateve

16hailelib
dec 18, 2018, 9:59 pm

Also planning

17hailelib
dec 18, 2018, 9:59 pm

In case

18hailelib
dec 20, 2018, 10:02 pm

Might need this.

19JayneCM
dec 20, 2018, 11:22 pm

Look forward to seeing this fill up!

20MissWatson
dec 21, 2018, 4:16 am

Welcome back! I'm curious to see how this will look next year. Happy reading!

21Tess_W
dec 21, 2018, 9:23 am

Good luck with your 2019 reading!

22LisaMorr
dec 21, 2018, 5:40 pm

Looks like a good plan Tricia. I started with the 888 challenge as well and my participation/success has been up and down. Here's to a great category challenge in 2019!

23lkernagh
dec 21, 2018, 6:53 pm

Welcome back! Love your idea of no theme, just a lot of books. ;-)

24rabbitprincess
dec 21, 2018, 7:30 pm

Welcome back and enjoy filling those categories!

25DeltaQueen50
dec 21, 2018, 11:56 pm

Great to see you all set up and ready for 2019, Tricia.

26VivienneR
dec 23, 2018, 3:19 pm

Looking forward to seeing how you fill your categories.

27hailelib
dec 29, 2018, 10:47 pm

Thanks everyone for visiting.

28joriestory
dec 30, 2018, 4:04 am

Hallo, Hallo - I have been slowly overwhelmed getting to everyone's lists whilst I have been inking out a plan for my own; it is cosy comforting working on my categories as I feel like I can finally start getting into the stories I've longed to read for a long, long time! I saw some categories on yours which are mutual interests of my own reading life - as well as an author I already love (Tom Clancy) whose one book I've never read but I literally can quote from the film! (Red October) I love how you talked about the origins of the Category Challenge and how its morphed into what it is this year - strangely, I hadn't known any of that and yet, I picked 19x for 2019! (laughs and smiles)

Like you, I am planning on reading Secret Carnation - I had intended to read the series the first year as a book blogger - mind you, that was an #epicfail - so its a bit of redemption. This first one is a re-read but the rest of the series is all lovingly 'new' for my eyes.

Happy bookish thoughts to you!

29hailelib
dec 30, 2018, 3:46 pm

I moved the CATS to where they should have been and added project #1. This will be an attempt to finish some of the half finished books that have been scattered about the house for far too long. One or two a month will mae a big difference. Also includes a goal of timely reading of books checked out of the library.

30The_Hibernator
dec 31, 2018, 6:40 am

Good luck, and Happy New Year!

31hailelib
dec 31, 2018, 10:16 am

>30 The_Hibernator: Thanks.

I visited a bunch of threads this morning to say Hi. Hope to get to others soon.

>28 joriestory: Thanks for stopping by. My plans may be a little ambitious in the end but I should have some fun on the way. Good luck on your own journey through 2019.

32thornton37814
dec 31, 2018, 11:40 am

Looks like a good setup with worthwhile goals.

33Tess_W
dec 31, 2018, 3:00 pm

34hailelib
Redigeret: jan 5, 2019, 10:47 am

>32 thornton37814: & >33 Tess_W:

Thanks for the New Years greetings.

I've been doing a lot of reading the Last few days and since the beginning of the yearI've finished three of the public library books that I had checked out.

I. Mystery and Suspense

1. Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman - finished January 3, 2019 - public library

This book is the fourth in Anne Hillerman's continuation of her father's popular Leaphorn/Chee series but she gives Bernie a large role in each one . Chee does have a case or two to solve here but Bernie, with a little help from Leaphorn, ties everything together. I enjoy these well enough to keep reading them, more for the descriptions of the land and the people who live there than for the mysteries.

Used for part of a series Bingo square

35hailelib
Redigeret: jan 8, 2019, 10:10 am

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

2. Of Blood And Bone by Nora Roberts - finished January 2, 2019 - public library

The sequel to Year One, this novel introduces us to the child destined to be The One. We also catch up a bit on what has happened to various characters between the two books. Not a stand alone book and not the end of the story. Nora Roberts often writes in trilogies so I wasn't surprised but rather expected that I would be waiting for some time before Fallon Swift's story continues. The story itself is something of an epic fantasy with Fallon cast as the savior. She undergoes some intense training to prepare her to lead her army of humans ,elves, fairies, and shape-shifters against those who have embraced the Dark after the apocalypse of the first book. A rather muddled description but I did like the novel.

Alliteration Bingo square

3. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - finished January 5, 2019 - public library

Actually a reread for the Dresden group read. The first novel in the series about the wizard Harry Dresden. It having been about eight years since I first read this, all I actually remembered about it was that I liked it enough to read more and I even watched the video based on Butcher's characters. Here's my comments from 2010 which are pretty much my reaction to it now:

The first in a series about Harry Dresden, Wizard, PI, and police consultant. Good enough for me to try the next in the series although I noticed a couple of fairly minor 'continuity' problems.

Harry makes an appointment with a new client who wants her husband's whereabouts investigated. He then gets a call from Lt. Murphy who is assigned the weird, possibly supernatural, cases that come to the attention of the police. She needs him to check out a recent murder scene pronto. The two cases lead Harry straight into danger from every direction including the threat of a death sentence from the White Council and the enmity of a local vampire. Butcher managed to put together an interesting alternate Chicago that I will visit again.

Weather word Bingo square
Name of someone I know - Jim
Group Read

36hailelib
jan 6, 2019, 12:37 pm

Currently reading:

$2.00 a day
Alif the Unseen

37hailelib
Redigeret: jan 8, 2019, 10:52 am

This morning I finished my fourth book -

VII. Miscellaneous

4. $2.00 a Day by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer - finished January 8, 2019 - public library - Dewey 339.46

$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America is an exploration of extreme poverty in the U.S. and an attempt to explain why this kind of property exists in such a rich country. In a few areas, like the Mississippi Delta and some places in the Appalachians, whole communities are in this kind of poverty where everyone is trying to get by on less than two dollars per person per day. Often a family's 'income' is just their monthly allotment of SNAP or food stamps. They have no cash income at all beyond such measures as donating plasma ($30 a unit), collecting scrap, running a gypsy taxi service, or selling some of their food stamps. These are often people who spend most of their days looking for work and sometimes find a minimum wage job for a few months but always fall back into a jobless state generally through no fault of their own.

The authors follow several of these families from different regions including big cities and small towns. There is a discussion of the history of welfare , how it was reformed in the '90s and the results of that reform and why so many fell through the cracks. They also suggest , in the last chapter, what we, as a country, can do about this waste of human talent.

Not a pleasant book to read but it has an important message.

-----
This was a Bingo square for the author using their initials or middle name.

38Tess_W
jan 8, 2019, 3:36 pm

>37 hailelib: That book is on my wish list. I hope to get to it this year!

39JayneCM
jan 8, 2019, 4:29 pm

>37 hailelib: On my to read list as well.

40lkernagh
jan 8, 2019, 10:34 pm

>37 hailelib: - That totally goes on the future reading list. I am sitting here thinking about if I could live on $2.00 a day - even for just one week - and the answer is no. My heart goes out to those people.

41hailelib
jan 9, 2019, 3:43 pm

>38 Tess_W:, >39 JayneCM:, >40 lkernagh:

The writers skip around from one thing to another so a bit of attention is needed while reading and the subject matter can be a little depressing. Still, I'm glad I read it.

-------

I just counted my "official" wishlist, the one I carry around with me, and found it to be 290 titles. That doesn't include the ones my husband wants that I might read myself! Or the ones on my shelves that I want to read or reread.

42lkernagh
jan 12, 2019, 7:26 pm

>41 hailelib: - The beautiful thing about wishlists is they only tip your TBR piles when the wished for book comes home. ;-)

43Robertgreaves
jan 12, 2019, 7:51 pm

Looking forward to seeing what all these different challenges and criteria produce for 2019.

44LisaMorr
jan 14, 2019, 7:57 am

>37 hailelib: I want to read that one too - thanks for your comments on it.

45cbl_tn
jan 15, 2019, 8:16 pm

>37 hailelib: Good review of what sounds like an important book. Thumbed!

46hailelib
Redigeret: jan 18, 2019, 10:15 pm

Thanks to all for stopping by!

I've finished two more books.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

5. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - finished January 10, 2019 - public library

This took a while for me to get into the story but in the end I loved it. An interesting contemporary fantasy in a fictional Middle East country.
AlphaKit

I. Mystery and Suspense

6. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith - January 16, 2019 - public library

A new Cormoran Strike novel. Strike and Robin are still working together even though her new husband disapproves. A new case involving a government Minister takes Robin undercover while Strike looks for the mysterious Billy. If you liked the previous books in this series you'll probably like this one.
Bingo square.

I'm currently reading Sapiens and The Hunt for Red October.

47hailelib
Redigeret: jan 20, 2019, 3:04 pm

This morning I finished Sapiens and later read a few pages of Red October.

V. History

7. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari - Finished January 20, 2019 - public library

At over 400 pages there is a lot of information in Sapiens, much of it from the author's viewpoint. There were a number of places where I had to stop and think about what Harari was saying. Did I agree? Disagree? The bits that I shared with my husband made him request that I add it to our list of books that we want to own. Recommended.

I found some more started and, somehow, never finished books hiding in my nightstand which are now being added to the list of those I should try to finish this year. This will nearly finish filling up the vertical bookcase next to my desk where I have the "read soon" books.

48hailelib
Redigeret: jan 22, 2019, 4:24 pm

I finished The Hunt for Red October and will have more to say once I've seen the movie again. This is a book that came from my father's house when we were clearing it out.

Started a SFF book that I began last year for one of the Cats/Kits but only got a few pages in. It's short and shouldn't take very long.

49hailelib
Redigeret: jan 27, 2019, 3:54 pm

I. Mystery and Suspense

8. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy - finished January 21, 2019 - own

I did enjoy reading this but many people will wish that Clancy had left out a lot of the information on ships and equipment and spent less time following peripheral
characters. The novel could easily have been 20% shorter and still told a good story. I didn't mind all those details and they were evidently appreciated by the book's original publisher, The Naval Institute Press.

Last Friday we watched the movie and it was as good as I recalled. A much tighter story that really moves along. If required to give stars the movie is a 5 and the book a 4.

A Bingo square for made into a movie.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

9. Players at the Game of People by John Brunner - finished January 23, 2019 - own

For the SFFFKIT - started but didn't finish last year
Bingo square - six words in title

Players at the Game of People is a somewhat strange story about the life of Godwin who seems to live apart from ordinary people along with a fees odd acquaintances also mostly living apart from London's other inhabitants. As we follow Godwin we begin to see why he lives as he does with almost magical technology others don't have and there is a sense that it will all turn out badly in the end. Some interesting ideas but not exactly enjoyable to read.

10. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - finished January 25, 2019 - public library - reread

Read for the Dresden year-long read. Another book in the series that I had forgotten completely. (Last read in 2010.) In Fool Moon we are introduced to various kinds of Werewolves and one particular kind turns out to be really bad and really hard to defeat. With Harry Dresden being pounded on by Marcone's men, the police and werewolves, one begins to wonder how Harry manages to keep going. A good urban fantasy series that I'm enjoying reacquainting myself with.

-------

Currently I have started

The Death of Achilles by Akunin
Fever Season by Hambly
The Northern Lights by Lucy Jago (nonfiction)

50lkernagh
jan 27, 2019, 7:51 pm

>49 hailelib: - "If required to give stars the movie is a 5 and the book a 4."

*Big Ass Smiley Grin*

51hailelib
Redigeret: jan 29, 2019, 4:12 pm

Finished another book - this one for the series in translation CAT

The AlphaKIT for Akunin

Also a Bingo square for Eastern European author or setting. Actually fit two other squares but I decided on this one. I'm claiming Moscow as Eastern Europe …

I. Mystery and Suspense

11. The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin - finished January 29, 2019 - own - recent purchase

It's 1882 and Erast Fandorin has returned to Moscow for the first time in six years accompanied by a Japanese servant. Almost immediately he becomes embroiled in an investigation into the death of the war-hero often referred to as Achilles. There are things going on under the surface and the investigation leads Fandoran into troubled waters.

About halfway through the book, just as Fandoran seems to have solved the final puzzle, the reader turns the page and we are, seemingly, in a different story. After a while I realized that this is the life story of the murderer and in the short third section of the novel the two stories do come together. I don't recall reading a mystery constructed quite like this one before. Although the switch to Achimas was slightly off-putting at first, I soon saw where we were heading and, in the end, I did enjoy this mystery.

-----

Still reading Fever Season and The Northern Lights.

52LittleTaiko
jan 29, 2019, 5:46 pm

>51 hailelib: - Yeah, that sudden switch really pulled me out of the story for a bit. In the end I didn't mind it but I'm not sure if it's something I want to see become more popular.

53hailelib
Redigeret: feb 1, 2019, 9:18 pm

Summary:

In January, I finished 12 books in 4 of the first 7 categories.
Category VIII was CATS and KITS and I completed books in six of those.
Category IX was Group Reads and I reread the first 2 in the Dresden series to "catch up".
Category X was BingoDog and I completed 10 squares.

Books in VIII, IX, and X will always be listed in 1 -7 as well.

Books that will be carried over are The Pink Carnation and Tai-Pan.

Currently reading:
The Northern Lights
Nerve

54hailelib
Redigeret: feb 3, 2019, 9:31 pm

February's first book finished but I need to add my last January book as well.

I. Mystery and Suspense

12. Fever Season by Barbara Hambly - finished January 31, 2019 - own

CalendarCAT - main character is Benjamin January
Bingo square - related to medicine; Ben is a surgeon

Fever Season takes place near the end of the summer of 1833 in New Orleans. First the yellow fever arrived and then people began to come down with cholera. January, who is a free man of color, has made his living as a musician although he trained as a surgeon in Paris. However during the "fever season" he works at the charity hospital.

One day a runaway slave asks him to help her meet with her lover who has been sold to a prominent woman in Creole society. The girl, Cora, has been accused of theft and murder which puts him into a dangerous position. January ends up having to solve several problems in the course of the book.

I enjoyed reading about this period in New Orleans history and will be continuing the series at some point.

13. Nerve by Dick Francis - finished February 2, 2019 - own

Group Read of a selection of Dick Francis mysteries
Bingo square - the horses especially Template are important to the story

I've read Nerve more than once before rereading it this time and always enjoyed it.

55mathgirl40
feb 2, 2019, 5:38 pm

>49 hailelib: Glad to see you'll be doing the Dresden Group Read also. I've already read Fool Moon but a few days ago, I finished the graphic-novel version so I can refresh my memory before continuing with the series later.

56hailelib
feb 3, 2019, 9:29 pm

We've been watching an odd assortment of movies the last couple of weeks thanks to Netflix. They included some really different ones like Becoming Jane, The Mummy Returns, and tonight was Our Souls at Night. That may be the best one so far.

Currently reading:

The Northern Lights (still)
The Golden Journey - picked for the title

57JayneCM
feb 4, 2019, 4:10 am

>56 hailelib: I have Our Souls At Night on my TBR pile, so want to read it before seeing the movie. I have heard good things about both the book and movie.
And I loved Becoming Jane - just a gentle, easy movie. And I will watch or read anything Austenesque!

58hailelib
Redigeret: feb 4, 2019, 2:56 pm

Yesterday, our son sent us a new picture of our grandson while they had him off oxygen. Charlie was actually born in October at about 27-28 weeks so we weren't talking about him outside a very small circle. He's now been home since mid-January and the multiple doctor appointments Friday found him progressing well at eight and a half pounds and over 19 inches. They are now weaning him off the oxygen tank and think it won't be too long before it's gone. Mitchell and Suzy have discovered that practically no one gets a good nights sleep the first month that a baby is a home and the dog, Hazel, is wondering if a baby is really necessary.

59LittleTaiko
feb 4, 2019, 3:35 pm

Oh, how sweet! Happy to hear that he's progressing nicely. I'm sure that's a relief for everyone.

60Jackie_K
feb 4, 2019, 4:30 pm

Oh what a precious boy! I'm glad to hear he's doing so well, and hopefully the sleep will follow!

61rabbitprincess
feb 4, 2019, 8:22 pm

Hello, wee man! Glad to hear he's doing well :D

62Tess_W
feb 4, 2019, 11:33 pm

He's a doll! Prayers for continued growth and improvement.

63JayneCM
feb 5, 2019, 2:18 am

Gorgeous! Wonderful that he is doing so well!

64DeltaQueen50
feb 5, 2019, 2:36 pm

Congratulations on your beautiful grandson!

65christina_reads
feb 5, 2019, 5:11 pm

Aww, what a sweetheart! Glad to hear he is doing better.

66hailelib
feb 17, 2019, 3:31 pm

>59 LittleTaiko:; >60 Jackie_K:; >61 rabbitprincess:; >62 Tess_W:; >63 JayneCM:; >64 DeltaQueen50:; >65 christina_reads:

Thanks everyone. He's been off oxygen all weekend without a problem so that's a nice advance.

67Tess_W
feb 17, 2019, 3:32 pm

>66 hailelib: Amen--good to hear!

68hailelib
Redigeret: feb 17, 2019, 10:40 pm

I haven't been around much but I have finished several books. I'll try to list them before heading into the kitchen and come back later to say something about each one.

I. Mystery and Suspense

14. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie - Finished February 12, 2019 - own

A typical Miss Marple mystery. Sometimes I think I like them better than the ones featuring Poirot.

15. Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson - Finished February 15, 2019 - public library

Cady has been kidnapped and Longmire has followed the culprits to Mexico to rescue her. The authorities on both sides of the border want him to wait and let them handle it but Longmire has other ideas. Some of the reviewers here didn't like the change of scene or the absence of his usual helpers but I thought the story was a pretty good one.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

16. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - finished February 7, 2019 - public library - reread

Works for the ScaredyKit.

The third novel in the Dresden series with Dresden having to pull out every bit of his power to cope with the deranged ghosts and then the vampires. And we are introduced to Michael who we will see again.

17. The Last Colony by John Scalzi - February 6, 2019 - own - ebook

SFFFKit

A novel in The Old Man's War series. The narrator is asked to lead a new type of colony but they end up on a world that they are not prepared for, one which was poorly surveyed. A quick and enjoyable read.

III. Other Fiction including YA of all genres

18. The Golden Journey by Agnes Sligh Turnbull - finished February 10, 2019 - own

RandomCat

From the mid-fifties this is more a romance than anything else. There is the journey that the hero and heroine must take to cement their relationship which starts as a possible marriage of convenience on his part. Then there is the one that he must take to decide to stand up for his principles rather than going along with the political machine he has become involved with. Not a particularly exciting book and a style of story I don't really read anymore.

19. The White Monkey by John Galsworthy - Finished February 11, 2019 - own - ebook

Finally, after a long hiatus, I finished the first book in A Modern Comedy. Didn't much care for Fleur and the people she ran with after the failed romance with her cousin but I did like Michael and Soames rather grew on me.

20. Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt - finished February 16, 2019 - own

SeriesCat
BingoDog

This is a YA fantasy set in an imaginary kingdom. A great story with Gwen, the innkeeper's daughter, who just wants to help people and who goes about it in a questionable way. There is also a subtle romance and a complete ending even though the novel is the first in The Kingdom series.

Recommended. I've six more books by Voigt which I will be reading sooner rather than later.

69hailelib
feb 18, 2019, 11:25 am

And one that I almost forgot to add!

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

21. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. hines - February 16, 2019 - recent purchase - ebook

I read this one of the days last week when I was stuck in a chair with a heating pad on my lower back and side for a lot of the day. It was a pretty good diversion and I would like to read more of these.

What happens after the fairytale romance and wedding? It reminded me a little of the show "Into the Woods" with characters from other stories mixed into Danielle's story and it isn't all sweet and light like the prettied up fairytales we tend to give our children these days.

-----------

I have several books started but none near completion at the moment:

The Northern Lights which is a bit slow going for some reason. A nonfiction book
Evolution - a novel which is also a little slow in places as it recounts in great detail the rise of mammals after the demise of the dinosaurs.
Regrets Only - politics in D.C. in the eighties
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation - Why do I think this one will be completed first?
Secondhand Time - only the first few pages so far

70VivienneR
feb 18, 2019, 3:14 pm

Charlie is beautiful, I wish him the best of health.

"the dog, Hazel, is wondering if a baby is really necessary." She will change her mind in a year or so. :)

71hailelib
feb 23, 2019, 3:59 pm

I decided to just pick one of my current books and concentrate on it. That worked for the quick read one but now I'm a bit bogged down again because of medical stuff and yesterday not even wanting to read anything.

The one I did finish for the Calendar Cat (floral design) and a Bingo square this being a first book -

III. Other Fiction including YA of all genres

22. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig - finished February 20, 2019 - own

A fun romp through Napolean's France and while there are spies there is mostly a romance. Nice leavening between more serious books. I will definitely read the next two in the series which I have picked up at library sales.

---------

I am seriously considering abandoning Regrets Only if it doesn't get better soon. Mostly, I've been reading Evolution and have gotten about half way through its ~650 pages of very small print.

72lkernagh
feb 24, 2019, 11:30 am

The Pink Carnation series is such fun! I stalled after reading the first 6 books, but hoping to get back to the series at some point!

73hailelib
Redigeret: feb 25, 2019, 4:06 pm

IV. Science

23. The Northern Lights by Lucy Jago - finished February 25, 2019 - own

I finally finished this after some starts and stops. I'm glad I stuck with it and would cautiously recommend it. One just has to be interested in the topic and in the right mood.

The Northern Lights is a biographical account of the life and scientific exploits of Kristian Birkeland of Norway. He became interested in the auroras so often seen in the northern climes and in 1899 he began a lifelong effort to find out all he could about the aurora borealis, later adding the zodiacal light to his researches. The book opens with Birkeland and his assistants climbing to the peak of Haldde Mountain in the north of Norway through a winter storm. They were on their way to an observatory that had been constructed for Birkeland and intended to spend the winter making their observations of the lights and any attendant changes in the weather and the magnetic fields at the site. Both this expedition and the next one in 1902 convinced him that more was needed than field observations so he set about finding a way to finance a proper laboratory to study magnetism and to produce artificial auroras.

The various ventures he tried for raising money led to a number of patents and even to a founding of Norway's first multinational company, Norsk Hydro, which is still in existence. However, outside of Norway and particularly in Great Britain, Norwegian science was considered backward and not worth bothering with. Although Birkeland's theories regarding emissions from the sun and their effects on the earth's magnetic field were essentially correct this was not recognized until long after his death. Since he was bipolar this lack of recognition was particularly difficult for him and his sojourn in Egypt to study the Zodiacal Light was especially hard on him because of the Great War which deprived him of his assistant (who was recalled home for military service) as many letters were lost to censorship and sunken ships so he felt forgotten and alone.

The Epiilogue was a good summing up of Birkeland's many achievements and his eventual recognition long after his death. Now the currents that run down to auroral heights along magnetic field lines are called Birkeland Currents and there is a crater on the moon named for him. The author also noted the successful careers of many of the young men who worked as his assistants, which was another lasting contribution to science. Birkeland's adventures in the name of science are worth reading about.

74hailelib
feb 28, 2019, 12:29 pm

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

24. Fury by Henry Kuttner - finished February 25, 2019 - own

Alphakit for "K".

An older SF novel with a copyright date of 1947. I have a paper book edition from 1963.

Although the story takes place on a Venus that never was, it was surprisingly good. Man has made a mess of Earth with pollution and nuclear wars and the survivors left for Venus some seven hundred years before the story opens. Because the flora/fauna of the land were so dangerous the humans established a number of colonies under the Venusian seas and have lived there ever since. There are two classes of people, the Immortals who live for hundreds of years and the ordinary people who don't have the Immortal mutation.

The main character, Sam Reed, is actually one of the Immortals but he was altered as a baby to resemble the ordinaries and was adopted by an ordinary couple and so was unaware of his heritage. He becomes a con man and a criminal willing to do most anything to get ahead. However, circumstances involve him in an attempt to colonize to surface and cause the most influential Immortal family to target Sam as they don't think it the right time to try a move to the surface.

There's a lot going on here and the society of the undersea Keeps is too comfortable for everyone but it is stagnating. However there are a couple of Immortals, the Logician and the Free Companion, who want to change things and Sam, who just wants riches and power. The novel kept me turning the pages to see who won out in the end and I particularly liked the little twist at the very end of the book.

75hailelib
mar 1, 2019, 2:28 pm

The last book finished in February though meant for the March AlphaKit. Yesterday I just wanted something different from my last few books …

I. Mystery and Suspense

25. The Lie Direct by Sara Woods - finished February 28, 2019 - recent purchase

A slim paperback at 153 pages, this British mystery is an easy and quick read. Anthony Maitland is contacted by his friend Geoffrey Horton and asked to take on a client whose trail begins the next day. The original barrister for the case is in hospital for an emergency appendectomy and one of Maitland's clients has left for parts unknown rather than stand trial freeing up some of his time. Reluctantly, he accepts the brief even thought it's the type of crime he doesn't like defending. By the end of the first day of trial Anthony is beginning to doubt that John Ryder is guilty of either crime he is accused of committing.

This is a typical Anthony Maitland mystery with most of story taking place in the courtroom. There are discussions in chambers and at his residence which is shared with his uncle, another barrister. The time of the story is 1974 although Sara Woods wrote it a few years later as the copyright date is 1983. White they are nearly all written to much the same formula I enjoy this series and it is worth a try if you like courtroom drama in your mysteries.

76hailelib
Redigeret: mar 31, 2019, 10:23 am

Summary:

In February, I finished 13 books in 4 of the first 7 categories.
Category VIII was CATS and KITS and I completed books in six of those.
Category IX was Group Reads and I reread the third in the Dresden series to "catch up". and Nerve by Dick Francis
Category X was BingoDog and I added 6 squares for a total of 16.
Books in VIII, IX, and X will always be listed in 1 -7 as well.

Books that will be carried over are Evolution, Regrets Only and Tai-Pan.

I read 9 books from my shelves, 2 purchased this year, and 2 from the public library.

Currently reading:
Evolution by Stephen Baxter - done
Julius Caesar by Shakespeare - done
Regrets Only by Sally Quinn
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton - done

Other books for March:
Tai-Pan
The Man who Knew Too Much
Silhouette in Scarlet - done
Catching Fire - done
The Map that Changed the World - done
Killers of the Flower Moon - done
Forfeit - done
Secondhand Time
Interlude that follows The White Monkey

I may try A Suitable Boy

77hailelib
mar 3, 2019, 3:03 pm

I. Mystery and Suspense

26, U Is for Undertow by Sue Grafton - Finished March 3, 2019 - recent purchase

SeriesCAT - a favorite author - but I may come up with more favorites by the end of the month
AlphaKit - for the letter U

A fairly good example of Grafton's Alphabet series although I spotted the culprits early on. I think she meant the reader to see what was going on before Kinsey and for us to wonder how Kinsey was going to solve this one. My only complaint is that there was a little problem with Sutton's story that wasn't very well resolved.

-------

I've started the Shkespeare and I'm using a very old copy of Julius Caesar that belonged to my grandfather. It's from Ginn & Company, c1908 which makes me think that he used it either in his equivalent of high school or maybe college. That would date his acquiring it to be c.1920. There were a number of other Shakespeare plays from the same source that I have in my possession. In a since this is a reread since one summer when I was 13 I read all of them while staying with my grandparents.

I also read some more of Evolution earlier today. It's in sections with different characters for each section so almost like reading a collection of connected short stories. There's still about 200 pages left so it'll be a few days yet before I finish.

78Tess_W
mar 10, 2019, 9:00 am

>77 hailelib: Julius Caesar, my favorite Shakespeare!

79hailelib
mar 12, 2019, 3:39 pm

I temporarily set aside the books I was reading for some lighter fare more suited to medical waiting rooms and my mood.

Here's what I have finished so far -

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

27 Death Masks by Jim Butcher - finished March 10, 2019 - public library

The fourth Dresden book. He's hired to track down the thieves that stole the Shroud of Turin and are thought to be headed for Chicago. There are several returning characters and a couple of new ones introduced as colleagues of Michael. To complicate an already difficult case a leader of the Red Court has challenged him to a duel. If Dresden loses the Vampires will call off their war with the Council of Wizards. Dresden has plenty on his plate in this installment. If you liked the first couple of books in this series definitely continue reading.

28. Out of the Dark by David Weber - finished March 5, 2019 - recent purchase - eboook

Aliens invade earth and humans fight back. I rather liked this book but it has the faults of much of Weber's writing - rather wordy and too much detail about all the weaponry used by the combatants. Then there was the twist at the end which came out of left field and was much disliked by many readers. I suspected what it was because of some rather ranting reviews so it didn't brother me since I was looking for it. So not for everybody. (This was a Kindle Daily Deal and cheap enough that I took a chance even after reading the reviews.)
.
III. Other Fiction including YA of all genres

29. Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters - finished March 7, 2019

Favorite author; Vicky Bliss series
RandomCAT - takes place in Sweden and Germany

My first and second categories are rather filling up so I put this one in III. for Other Fiction. It could be called a romantic adventure. This is something like a Gothic from circa 1980 would be if the heroine was a strong minded female who didn't wait around for a hero to rescue her. I like Vicki well enough but I much prefer Amelia Peabody. A reread.

80hailelib
Redigeret: mar 13, 2019, 9:04 am

VI. The Short Stuff

30. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - finished March 11, 2019 - own

For CalendarCAT - Ides of March

I took my time over this reading both the long introduction and the rather extensive notes. Shakespeare largely follows Plutarch in this play which I didn't actually know since the play was practically new to me not having read it since High School literature class. (I really ought to read some Plutarch!) I remember that class even though it was decades ago because when we had finished the actual reading our teacher arranged for us to attend a local theater group's production of the play. So we all dressed up and went to the evening performance in a small theater with the audience feeling like they were there as several of the entrances were from the rear of the building. We all agreed that seeing the performance added a lot and there was some additional classroom discussion. That was also the year some of us were reading some of The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar in Latin class.

There are quite a few reviews on LT so I'll just say that if you've enjoyed other Shakespearean plays try this one too, keeping in mind that it is really about Brutus more than Caesar.

81hailelib
Redigeret: mar 17, 2019, 3:22 pm

Behind on reading posts in the group but I have been reading books …

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

31. Evolution by Stephen Baxter - Finished March 14, 2019 - public library

Warning - This whole review might be considered a spoiler. The author has a rather pessimistic view of the future of man if we don't soon get our act together.

The framing story for this rather long book (646 pages) takes place in the near future but the book is about the long evolution of the primate we sometimes call homo sapiens sapiens. The main story begins with a small primate shortly before the catastrophic event that hastened the demise of the dinosaurs and, in successive chapters, follows the lives of selective descendants of this little mammal. This leads us to the time of the framing story and the super volcano eruption that was a tipping point for a mass extinction over the whole planet and the eventual devolution of humanity. The point Baxter was making was that we have so degraded our environment that a major event like the one he postulates could mean that our time as a species would be up. He then continues to speculate about life on Earth up to the end when the sun is dying and the earth is pretty much uninhabitable even for microbes.

Evolution is well researched but was written about twenty years ago. There has been a lot of new information discovered since then about the past. Also, I didn't much like his depiction of Neanderthals. At any rate, I was interested enough to continue reading. This was made easy since the format was basically a group of related short stories. That meant I could easily put the book down until I was in the mood for the next story.

82LisaMorr
mar 21, 2019, 1:51 pm

Enjoying catching up on your thread! Great to hear your grandson is doing better.

Took a BB for the Barbara Hambly series - sounds interesting.

83hailelib
Redigeret: mar 24, 2019, 3:31 pm

Some short comments to catch up.

I. Mystery and Suspense

32. Forfeit by Dick Francis - finished March 16, 2019 - own

A good example of the author's work and won the Edgar award. I enjoyed revisiting this mystery first published in 1969.
Used for a Bingo square. Also Group read.

33. Leverage in Death by J. D. Robb - Finished March 15, 2019 - public library
34. Connections in Death by J. D.Robb - finished March 19, 2019 - public library

These are both typical of the In Death series with Dallas and Roarke working together to solve the crime along with many of the recurring characters helping out. Fun reads but start at the beginning of the series.

84hailelib
mar 24, 2019, 3:47 pm

III. Other Fiction

35. No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry - Finished March 17, 2019 - own
36. Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry - Finished March 18, 2019 - own - reread
37. Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry - Finished March 20, 2019 - own
38. At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry - finished March 21, 2019 - own
39. We Shall Not Sleep by Anne Perry - Finished March 23, 2019 - public library

Anne Perry's World War I series. I had read Shoulder the Sky previously but after reading the first one I realized that I didn't remember much about the second book and so reread it. As the next two were on my shelves I just kept on with the series, Had to get the last one from the library however.

Some people seem to feel that the author took too long to track down the Peacemaker and that the scenes on the front line were, perhaps, too repetitious but I rather liked the one book for each year of the war approach. Following the same characters we get to see how the war wore people down and how interminable the trench warfare became. Most people may need some space between the books though.

85hailelib
mar 25, 2019, 2:56 pm

And, finally,

V. History

40. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - finished March 25, 2019 - public library

The Osage were one of the Indian tribes that ended up being relocated to Oklahoma. While the land they settled there was not suited for much their elders made sure that the tribe retained the mineral rights. When large oil deposits when discovered in that part of the state the Osage became quite rich. This book by David Grann describes how greed drew many white men to their land and by various means gained control over the members of the tribe and their money as their guardians, lawyers, and even husbands. Then the killings started.

This is a very good book on some history that has been obscure and little known for decades. Recommended.

Since I discovered this book on LT I am using it for the book bullet square on the Bingo card. Also the ScaredyKit for true crime.

86hailelib
mar 25, 2019, 3:01 pm

Currently reading Catching Fire mostly and some more of Secondhand Time.

I'm going to abandon Regrets Only if I don't pick it up again in the next couple of weeks. After about 100 pages i'm pretty sure that I don't want to read another 450 pages of D.C. gossip and scandal. There's enough of that in the daily news.

87hailelib
mar 27, 2019, 2:52 pm

IV. Science

41. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham - finished March 27, 2019 - own

Bingo square for food related.
TBRCat - special occasions - obtained on a trip to Tennessee

I found this an interesting and fairly short look at how humans became humans. The author's hypothesis is that when hominids learned to use fire for cooking that they changed physically to become Homo sapiens. Eating cooked food allowed the digestive system to get more energy from the same amount of food and that energy allowed the developement of bigger brains. There were additionally changes in the structure of the jaw, teeth and gut because of the easier digested and softer foods. He also has a theory as to why women do the cooking in practically all cultures.

The author is fairly persuasive in his arguments but the book is ten years old in a field that has been moving fast of late. I would like to know how his ideas are seen now.

----------------

I have now started The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester.. So far, pretty good.

88hailelib
mar 31, 2019, 10:19 am

IV. Science

42. The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester - finished March 30, 2019 - own

This is the story of William Smith and the beginnings of geology as a recognized science. Smith was a man of humble origins and never acquired much beyond a basic education. However, from his childhood he was fascinated by unusual rocks and fossils and spent his life learning more and more about them. After leaving school he learned the art of surveying and came to Somerset in 1791 to survey an estate there. Then he began working for the owner in surveying, planning and drainage for the owner's coal mines. In the mines Smith quickly noticed that the rocks were in well-defined layers that showed a regular pattern between the seams of coal . His insight was that the strata extended all through England and he was able to begin verifying this when he was asked to survey and oversee the planning for a new canal designed to take the local coal to market. Later Smith worked all over England surveying and planning water drainage systems. Everywhere he went he examined the rock formations and collected fossils. He discovered that particular fossils were always from the same strata. All this information allowed him to eventually publish the first geological map of England showing where the various formations were underneath the ground.

William Smith's life was not a particularly easy one as many of the upperclass dabblers in geology looked down on him and one of the founders of the Geological Society even stole his data and published an 'official' map. He also tended to spend more than was wise and became mired in debt. However, his contributions to the science of geology were recognized towards the end of his life.

Winchester doesn't just describe Smith's life but also the England he was born into and the changes that were occurring during his lifetime: the enclosures, the new inventions, changing attitudes, etc. The book was enjoyable and informative, containing as much history as science. Recommended.

89rabbitprincess
mar 31, 2019, 10:59 am

>88 hailelib: Yet another Winchester I need to add to the to-read list!

90hailelib
mar 31, 2019, 2:34 pm

VI. The Short Stuff

43. Interlude: A Silent Wooing by John Galsworthy - finished March 31,2019 - own

A short story that takes place between The White Monkey and The Silver Spoon which are the first and second books of the second Forsyte trilogy. Jon is visiting South Carolina and mets a girl who is the first one he is interested in after his failed relationship with Fleur. I'll try to at least start The Silver Spoon in April.

Currently reading Dead Cert by Dick Francis but I doubt I'll finish it today. I actually read a lot of the books I had planned plus some others but there are some which will need to be carried over.

91Jackie_K
mar 31, 2019, 2:42 pm

>88 hailelib: I like the sound of that! I always love a good map :)

92hailelib
mar 31, 2019, 3:23 pm

>89 rabbitprincess: and >91 Jackie_K:

A good writer and a famous map in geological circles.

I was watering the indoor plants and looking at the ones outside. The tulip poplars are leafing out and the azaleas are trying to bloom so, for me, spring is definitely here. Unfortunately there's still a lot of tree pollen in the air so I'm staying indoors as much as I can.

93hailelib
Redigeret: maj 1, 2019, 10:03 pm

March Summary:

In March, I finished 17 books in 5 of the first 7 categories and a short story in Category VI.
Category VIII was CATS and KITS and I completed books for all of those.
Category IX was Group Reads and I reread Death Masks in the Dresden series. and Forfeit by Dick Francis
Category X was BingoDog and I added 4 squares for a total of 20.
Books in VIII, IX, and X will always be listed in 1 -7 as well.

Books that will be carried over are

Tai-Pan
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Second hand Time

I read 9 books and 1 short story from my shelves, 2 purchased this year, and 6 from the public library.

Currently reading:

Just finished Dead Cert by Dick Francis

Books for April are

Periodic Tales - done
Our Souls at Night -done
Dark Fire
Tai-Pan
The Silver Spoon
Brightness Reef-done
The Complete Beatles Songs
Broken Homes
Above the Waterfall - done
The Sibyl in her Grave - done
The Fourth Man
A Study in Emerald - done
Locke & Key - Welcome to Lovecraft - done
Proust and the Squid
blood Rites
The Hobbit - done

94DeltaQueen50
apr 1, 2019, 2:06 pm

You've got some great books lined up for April - Happy Reading!

95hailelib
apr 1, 2019, 3:31 pm

>94 DeltaQueen50:

But how many will I actually finish? There's always that other book, over yonder, that suddenly becomes a must read.

I. Mystery and Suspense

44. Dead Cert by Dick Francis - finished April 1, 2019 - own - reread

First published in 1969, this was the author's first mystery. It has many of the elements that are common to his books - the horses, jockeys, an amateur investigator, a first person narrator. I was going to compare it to the other Francis mysteries I've reread this year but it comes across as such a typical one that I don't see any point in attempting it. Anyway I read these for the action and the way he always seems to get horses into the story and don't pay any attention to the prose style.

At lunch time I read the first few pages of Brightness Reef . Too soon to tell what I think of it.

96hailelib
Redigeret: maj 4, 2019, 2:16 pm

A quick update with short comments -

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

45. Brightness Reef by David Brin - finished April 3, 2019 - recent purchase
46. Infinity's Shore by David Brin - finished April 5, 2019 - ebook - recent purchase
47. Heaven's Reach by David Brin - finished April 8, 2019 - ebook - recent purchase

A rather long trilogy in the Uplift universe with the first two having abrupt non-endings. I enjoyed them - did nothing much except read them with only one short break to read something else. However, the two books from the first trilogy in The Uplift War were better I think, although it's been some time since I read them.

For something very different I then read

III. Other Fiction

48. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf - Finished April 10, 2019 - public library

I enjoyed this novel although for me the movie has a slight edge, maybe because it came first. Still, a very good book about everyday small town life.

49. Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash - finished April 11, 2019 - public library

Living on the edge of Appalachia, I find Ron Rash a good voice for the people and the place. On finishing the novel I had a feeling of rightness. Recommended for the story and the language.

And something in between other reads

VII. Miscellaneous

50. Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez - April 6, 2019 - public library

Interesting graphic novel. I definitely need to read the next volume soon. My introduction to Joe Hill.

51. A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman et al - finished April 11, 2019 - public library

Very good, but has Gaiman done anything that wasn't? A nice twist at the end.

97LisaMorr
apr 25, 2019, 1:38 pm

Fun catching up on your thread and I took a book bullet for Catching Fire.

98hailelib
maj 1, 2019, 11:30 am

>97 LisaMorr:

I hope you enjoy Catching Fire.

I have some catching up to do here! With numerous doctor visits (all at least an hour from here) and a disinclination to read anything substantive my plans for April didn't really work out. I'm still not in much of a "follow the challenge" frame of mind so May will be a catch-up month along with reading whatever catches my eye.

I do have some books that I've added to my finished reading and short comments will be forthcoming.

99hailelib
Redigeret: maj 1, 2019, 12:58 pm

IX. Group Reads

52. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - finished April 28, 2019 - own - listed above in Science Fiction and Fantasy

The prequel to The Lord of the Rings. I read this in an old paperback from the sixties which has my brother's name inside the cover so he must have discovered Tolkien before I did. I also have a very nice hardcover in a slipcase which is a 50th anniversary edition. A week or so after reading the book I took this out and read Christopher Tolkien's Introduction and looked at the maps and illustrations that were made by the author himself. The watercolors are particularly nice. I'll probably move on to The Fellowship of the Ring soon.

100hailelib
Redigeret: maj 1, 2019, 3:24 pm

I. Mystery and Suspense

53. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton - Finished April 19, 2019 - own - recent purchase
54. The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell - Finished April 23, 2019 - own

Two mysteries, one American and one British. I wish Caudwell had written more books in her series.

IV. Science

55. Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams - finished May 28, 2019 - own

This book could just as well have gone into the History category with the author considering it a cultural history of the elements. Told in short pieces, most being of 12 to 15 pages in length, the various "essays" are informative and interesting. There's science, history, and biography, elements I never heard of discovered by people I never heard of, and an easy style of writing for this reader. Recommended.

Currently reading:

Proust and the Squid
The Checklist Manifesto
Both are easy reading and interesting.

101hailelib
Redigeret: jul 21, 2019, 12:15 pm

A few possibilities for May (mostly carried over)

Dark Fire - done
Tai-Pan - started
The Silver Spoon - done
The Complete Beatles Songs
Broken Homes - done
The Fourth Man - done
Blood Rites - done
Reflex - done
1637: The Polish Maelstrom - done
The Man Who Knew Too Much - done
The Glass Universe - started
The Dragonbone Chair
The Fellowship of the Ring - done
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - started

April Summary:

In April, I finished 12 books and part of another in 5 of the first 7 categories and part of a book in Category VI.
Category VIII was CATS and KITS and I completed books for most of those.
Category IX was Group Reads and I reread the Hobbit and Forfeit by Dick Francis
Category X was BingoDog and I added 1 square for a total of 21.
Books in VIII, IX, and X will always be listed in 1 - 7 as well.

I read 4 books from my shelves, 4 purchased this year, and 5 from the public library.

------------------

VI. The Short Stuff

56. Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich - read about 100 pages - stopped April 22, 2019 to return to the library.

While interesting at first, this volume became a bit repetitious and also depressing so that I was only reading a few pages once in a while. Then I ran out of renewals and sent it back to the public library. Just not the right book for me at the time.

102hailelib
Redigeret: maj 3, 2019, 2:47 pm

Finally on to May!

VII. Miscellaneous

57. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - finished May 2, 2019 - own

A somewhat short but terrific book about the usefulness of checklists in pretty much every occupation. My husband really liked the stories about the construction of large buildings and I preferred the great aviation stories. The ones about surgeries were a triffle scary though. Recommended.

IV. Science

58. Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf - finished May 3, 2019 - public library

The author first discussed the invention of writing with emphasis on alphabetic systems. Then she went into the details of the reading brain and the neuroscience of the pathways used when a person reads. The central sections focused on how children learn to read and the necessary background they need in order to be successful. The last chapters are about dyslexia, what it is and why it occurs and the research about it. Very good.

103Jackie_K
maj 3, 2019, 4:11 pm

>102 hailelib: They both sound really interesting! Onto the wishlist they both go!

104rabbitprincess
maj 3, 2019, 6:41 pm

>102 hailelib: I loved The Checklist Manifesto!

105hailelib
maj 4, 2019, 9:27 pm

Gawande is a good writer.

III. Other Fiction

59. The Silver Spoon by John Galsworthy - finished May 4, 2019 - own

The fifth book in the Forsyth Chronicles. Soames is still a major character but much of the focus is on Michael and Fleur. Next up in this series is the next Interlude. I'm definitely continuing the series.

106hailelib
maj 6, 2019, 3:36 pm

III. Other Fiction

60. i think i love you by Allison Pearson - Finished May 5, 2019 - public library

I had stalled on this book but thought I would give it another chance before sending it back to the library. Apparently I was in a different frame of mind because it clicked this time and I finished in one day. The hurts and disappointments we sustain as young teens so often hang on and affect us later and the author seems to understand that.

107DeltaQueen50
maj 7, 2019, 2:56 am

>106 hailelib: I probably should have put I Think I Love You down when I was reading it a short while ago, it didn't really work for me but I still pushed through. Glad you were able to enjoy it this time.

108LisaMorr
maj 17, 2019, 3:51 pm

>105 hailelib: Good job continuing with the Forsyte chronicles! I will eventually get back to that. The Checklist Manifesto sounds interesting; I work in a high hazard industry and I have my pilot's license so I totally get the importance of checklists; it's really frustrating to me when folks don't want to use them.

109hailelib
jul 21, 2019, 2:25 pm

Books read since I last posted: Mystery and suspense

61. The Fourth Man by K. O. Dahl - May 2019 - own
62. Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom - May 2019 - own
63. Reflex by Dick Francis - May 2019 - own
64. City of the Lost by Kelly Armstrong - May 29, 2019 - public library
65. The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch - May 31, 2019 - own
66. A Prey to Murder by Ann Cleeves - May 27, 2019 - own
67. Beggar's Choice by Patricia Wentworth - May 26, 2019 - own
68. Driving Force by Dick Francis - June 2019 - own
69. Rat Race by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
70. High Stakes by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own

110hailelib
Redigeret: jul 21, 2019, 2:46 pm

Books read since I last posted: SFF

71. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien - finished May 2019 - own
72. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch - May 2019 - own
73. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher - May 2019 - public library
74. Earth Alone by Daniel Arenson - May 2019 - own - ebook
75. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi - May 2019 - own - ebook
76. Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi - may 2019 - own -ebook
77. Children of the Night by Mercedes Lackey - May 2019 - own
78. Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay - June 2019 - own
79. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien - June 2019 - own
80. Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs - June 2019 - public library

111hailelib
Redigeret: jul 21, 2019, 2:55 pm

Books read since last I posted:

81. 1637: The Polish Maelstrom by Eric Flint - finished May 7, 2019 - own - ebook - recent purchase
82. The Man Who Knew Too Much by David Leavitt - Finished June 2019 - Own
83. The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fugone - Finished July 2019 - public library
84. A Liaden Universe Constellation, Volume 4 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - July 2019 - own - recent purchase - ebook
85. As you Wish by Cary Elwes - July 2019 - public library

Currently reading:

Grantville Gazette VIII Edited by Eric Flint And Walt Boyes - short fiction in the Ring of Fire Universe (aka 1632) series
The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel

---------------

I intend to go back to posting regularly for the rest of the year and start reading some of the CATs again in August. As you can see I have been reading but there has also been a lot of Netflix. Also a visit by my son and his wife and the grandson. Charlie is doing really well and should have no problem catching up to non-premie babies.

112Tess_W
jul 22, 2019, 8:26 am

>111 hailelib: great news about the grandson!

113hailelib
Redigeret: aug 31, 2019, 2:26 pm

Books read since I last poster:

Lots of Dick Francis and a little by other authors .

86. Enquiry by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
87. Banker by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
88. Straight by Dick Francis - July 2019 - own
89. Hot Money by Dick francis - July 2019 - own
90. The Edge by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
91. Flying Finish by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
92. To the Hilt by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
93. Comeback by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
94. Second Wind by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
95. Proof by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
96. In the Frame by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
97. The Danger by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
98. 10 LB. Penalty by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
99. Twice Shy by Dick Francis - August, 2019 - own
100. Nerve by Dick Francis - finished August 2019 - own
101. Trial Run by Dick Francis - finished August 2019 - own
102. Blood Sport by Dick Francis - Finished August 2019 - own
103. Front Runner by Felix Francis - finished August 2019 - own
104. Gamble by Felix Francis - finished August24, 2019 - own
105. The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel - Finished August 26, 2019 - own - recent purchase
106. Grantville Gazette VIII edited by Eric Flint and Walt Boyes - July 2019 - own - recent purchase
107. Interlude: Passers By by John Galsworthy - finished July 2019 - own
108. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov - short story - finished July 2019 - own
109. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien - finished August 29, 2019 - own

114hailelib
aug 31, 2019, 2:44 pm

So I'm only posting now …

A few remarks: Dick Francis is, on average, definitely better than Felix (although I did like the ones by Felix enough to eventually read more). My favorite this tie around was Flying Finish and In the Frame got me my last Bingo Square for an artistic character.
I really enjoyed The Glass Universe about the Harvard Observatory glass plate collection and the women who worked on it and did some remarkable science.
I had forgotten how much happened after the final battle in The Return of the King. We're watching the movies now and the differences are interesting.

Currently reading:

The Great Divide by Peter Watson
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Both just started yesterday.

115rabbitprincess
aug 31, 2019, 4:48 pm

I really liked The Glass Universe and am glad you liked it too!

116VivienneR
sep 2, 2019, 3:13 pm

I agree with you about Dick Francis vs Felix but I'll still give new books by Felix a try. I read all of Dick Francis' books back in the 1990s until his last one (early 2000s) but I'd like to re-read favourites like Flying Finish and some of the early books.

117hailelib
Redigeret: sep 29, 2019, 3:33 pm

Still reading

The Great Divide by Peter Watson
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

I didn't do much reading over the week-end because we were rearranging some of our books, Jim had made a couple of shelves to put on top of two book cases and we had to take the ones I had stacked there down before putting the new ones in place. The books I wanted on the new shelves were some romance and gothic novels that had found their way into a bookcase meant for science fiction and fantasy causing a bunch of SFF to be stacked on the floor and filling a chair. After all the rearranging there are no more books on the floor but there are still a few in the chair!

I also spent some time pulling out some possible books to read over the month of September.

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams - I read a few pages of this early in May and got derailed by my hospital stay as it didn't go with me. - done
Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain - done
September by Rosamunde Pilcher - started
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor
A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen - done
A Sprig of Sea Lavender by J.R.L. Anderson - done
Satan's Coast by Elsie Lee - done
The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman - started
Swan Song by John Galsworthy - started
Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - done

Some even fit a CAT.

118hailelib
Redigeret: sep 11, 2019, 4:07 pm

Still reading

The Great Divide by Peter Watson
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

Taking a break from those two books, I read in quick succession three others and started a fourth. Technically the three below are all rereads but I had no memory of having read them before

III. Other Fiction - (being used mostly as an overflow category)

110. A Sprig of Sea Lavender by J. R. L. Anderson - finished September 10, 2019 - own

A British mystery published in the US in 1980 as a part of the Scene of the Crime publisher's series. This is the first in a three book series featuring Chief Inspector Piet Deventer of Scotland Yard. Much of the action takes place in a coastal region near Yarmouth and involves some suspicious paintings, a small artist's colony, and boats. This is a pleasant mystery but the love at first sight subplot is a little unbelievable. Almost fits the September SeriesCAT but is not quite a cosy.

111. Satan's Coast by Elsie Lee - finished September 9, 2019 - own

Marketed as a Gothic romance with a copyright date of 1969. Pleasant but not Elsie Lee's best.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

112. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - Finished September 8, 2019 - public library - reread

My review from 2012:

The next book in the Dresden Files (I like to read these in order.) and Harry is having problems as usual. He is being blackmailed, the War with the Red Court isn't going well, and Chicago is about to be destroyed by necromancers obsessed with achieving world domination.

The stakes seem to be getting higher in every book and I'm wondering what happens when Harry runs out of new tricks and has piled up too much bad karma. For those who liked the earlier books in the series.

Now to get back to the ones I'm "still reading".

119hailelib
Redigeret: sep 21, 2019, 12:43 pm

Every time I pick up a third book it soon "catches" me and I don't read anything else until I finish it. So here are the ones that I've mostly read since my last post.

III. Other Fiction

113. Vendetta in Death by J. D. Robb - finished September 15, 2019 - public library

The most recent book in the series featuring Eve Dallas with the usual cast of characters. The mystery is told partly from the killer's point of view. About average for this series.

114. Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain - finished September 17, 2019 - own

Basically a romance but does deal with family relationships and the way an obsession with another person or thing can affect those relationships. While not my usual type of book I found myself engrossed in the story and rooting for the principal characters to solve their problems. Read for the RandomCAT as light plays an important part in the story, both the Light of the lighthouse and the light shining through panels of stained glass.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

115. The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams - Finished September 20, 2019 - own

High fantasy from the 80s; long, with a host of characters, a young boy with a destiny, a evil being set on destruction, and a world to save. I'm not sure I would have started this novel had I realized that it was just the first in a trilogy and that the ending would leave several characters in difficulties. However, I enjoyed the story and the library has the next volume which I've ordered.

Still reading

The Great Divide by Peter Watson - almost finished
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding - a long way to go
And A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Alder-Olsen - just started

120hailelib
sep 22, 2019, 3:26 pm

V. History

116. The Great Divide - Nature and Human Nature in the Old World and the New by Peter Watson - Finished September 22, 2019 = own

Here the author concentrates on the differences between the Old World and the New beginning in Paleolithic times and taking us up to the time that Europeans discovered the existence of the Americas. The question he explores is why they were so different at that point in time. I found the book very interesting even though much of the material was already known to me. However, I also found that I had to take a break from reading it (twice!). Watson covers so much material and also has a tendency to belabor his main points making a few days reading other things very welcome. I am glad that I did return and finish in the end. There were interesting maps and an equally interesting appendix on reactions to discovering a whole new world of people, flora, and fauna. At well over 500 pages a somewhat challenging read.

Still reading

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding - a long way to go
And A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Alder-Olsen - started

121hailelib
Redigeret: sep 29, 2019, 4:01 pm

III. Other Fiction and overflow

117. A Conspiracy of Faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen - Finished September 24, 2019 - own

It took me a while to get into this book but eventually it took off enough for me to finish the last half quickly. I don't know if it was me or the book but I didn't think it was as good as the first two in the Dept. Q series. Still, I will read the next one at some point.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

118. Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams - Finished September 27, 2019 - public library

The second in the series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Another very long book at ~750 pages of small print that kept me up later than was good for me on more than one night. Unfortunately the library doesn't have the next volume and I had already spent all but $.99 of my Amazon credit. I want to wait until after the library bag sale next weekend to see how much we spend before refilling the gift certificate.

Then there's Charlie's birthday coming up in October …Gotta buy the grandson a present or two! Mitchell sent us a short video last night where he caught Charlie crawling over to get that toy he needed right now. He's definitely on schedule developmentally when counting from the due date rather than the actual birth date and may even be catching up a bit. Certainly the doctors, etc. are pleased with the progress.

Still reading Tom Jones and have stared The Proud Tower and September but none of them will be finished by the first of October.

122hailelib
Redigeret: okt 9, 2019, 3:23 pm

Two books finished so far in October:

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

119. A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey - Finished October 2, 2019 - own - recent purchase - ebook

An entry in Lackey's Elemental Masters series so fantasy with a fairytale/folktale connection. This one is fun, not so much for the villainy thwarted, but for the the characters she pulls into the Elemental world. Here we have John and Mary Watson as masters of air and water and a Holmes skeptical of the supernatural. The Talents Sarah and Nan, along with their unusual birds, come to assist the Watsons on some cases that Sherlock is uninterested in.

Sarah and Nan have been in two previous novels of this series and other characters make minor appearances so I would suggest reading the series in order if one has an interest in historical fantasy. Also, Lackey has written two more novels with this Sherlockian connection. She also threw in a brief reference to Amelia Peabody's umbrella!

III. Other Fiction and overflow

120. September by Rosamunde Pilcher - Finished October 7, 2019 - own

While I would not have added this book to the stack I meant to read had it not been for the September Cats, I really enjoyed the story once I got into it. A multigenerational story of the sort not often written today, we follow the lives and relationships of two Scottish families over the course of a summer from May to September culminating in a big party they have all been looking forward to attending. There are surprises and changes and even some romance as the summer advances to autumn.

I would definitely read something else by this author at some point.

123hailelib
Redigeret: okt 9, 2019, 4:04 pm

III. Other Fiction and overflow

121. The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman - Finished October 9, 2019 - public library

The latest in Anne Hillerman's continuation of the Leaphorn/Chee series. Bernie, Leaphorn, and Chee are each pursuing cases but I felt Joe Leaphorn got the star billing in this book. Enjoyable, although the last chapter could have benefitted from another copyedit. Unlike some, I like these as well as the Tony Hillerman ones.
_______________________

Last Saturday we went to the annual Friends of the Library 'Bag' Sale. Bags for $3 and boxes for $5 US. We got two boxes containing 37 books. They were mostly hardcover with some quality paperbacks and they were all in very good condition. Here are some of the highlights of our selections.

Color for Interior Design by Ethel Rompilla
Bridges by David Blockley
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen
Ghost Dogs of the South by Randy Russell and Janet Barnett
Great Stories of the American West edited by Martin H. Greenberg
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

Falling in Love by Donna Leon
Earthway by Aimee and David Thurlo
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Discrete Hero by Mario Vargas Liosa
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Wars of the Gods by Poul Anderson
Beyond Infinity by Gregory Benford
_________________

Still slowly reading Tom Jones and The Proud Tower between other books.

124christina_reads
okt 9, 2019, 4:14 pm

>123 hailelib: Hooray for library sales! Looks like you got a great haul. I enjoyed The Magnificent Ambersons, and I'll be interested to see what you think of the Poul Anderson, since I've liked a couple of his other books.

125hailelib
okt 10, 2019, 3:52 pm

The Poul Anderson seems to be based on Viking legend. I've no idea when I'll get to it but it sounds interesting.

Just spent an hour reading other people's threads and thinking I'll never catch up! Did add two books to the wishlist however.

126hailelib
okt 11, 2019, 3:51 pm

More threads, more added to the wishlist, one ordered from the library. I'll run out of time before I run out of books!

127DeltaQueen50
okt 18, 2019, 11:25 am

Hi Trisha, I am also in the process of catching up after being away for awhile - those book bullets do add up, don't they! That certainly is a great haul you got at the library sale.

128hailelib
okt 24, 2019, 4:09 pm

>127 DeltaQueen50:

Thanks for stopping by. I have caught up more or less by reading the threads with little posting. But now I have more on the wishlist and 2 that I checked out of the library (plus the 2 I knew about from other sources). And there's another book sale on Saturday …

Meanwhile the books finished since I last posted are

122. A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch - finished October 20, 2019 - own - recent purchase

Read as book from a historical series and, as it happens, out of order. I really must get the ones that I skipped as these are pretty good.

123. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding - Finished October 21, 2019 - own - reread

I didn't start Tom Jones unti the end of August and kept getting lured away by other books so I didn't do too baby to finish in less than two months. Of course the story was great which I already knew having first read it as a senior in high school, just finishing in time to write my report the day before going to see the movie with Albert Finney which had just come out. Even read the same paperback with the tiny print. I loved his digressions and comments on critics then as well as now.

124. Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson - Finished October 22, 2019 - public library

This year's Longmire adventure which I enjoyed. As usual he just keeps going no matter what because someone has to do it. The library had a widget on it's homepage which included this book and so I ordered it.

125. Break In by Dick Francis - October 23, 2019 - own - reread

Read for the year long Dick Francis group read. I had forgotten just enough to enjoy visiting these characters again.

129hailelib
Redigeret: nov 24, 2019, 9:10 am

Another mystery -

126. Bolt by Dick Francis - October 24, 2019 - own

Read for the Dick Francis group read but I'm jumping the gun a bit since this is the Nov-Dec selection. However, it is one of the rare sequels done by Francis and set just a few months after Break In. After all the book was sitting right there on the shelf so …

A good example of his writing but read Break In first.

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Spent the morning getting a hair cut, changing from well past my waist to just barely shoulder eight. A big departure but I was getting tired of managing that length. There were also errands including a few groceries that Jim picked up while waiting for me. And I did get back to The Proud Tower. I also have, from the public library, The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen King.

130hailelib
okt 30, 2019, 3:26 pm

One more

127. The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Finished October 30, 2019 - own

The first I've read about Pendergast and seriously out of order as it was the third of a trilogy. I probably picked it up at a library sale because of the great cover since I didn't know anything about the series and it sat on my shelves for some years without being read until now. It worked reasonably well as a stand alone and I might read more of the series at some point. Features two enemies who happen to be brothers.

131hailelib
Redigeret: nov 2, 2019, 3:02 pm

For October I managed to finish 9 books, 3 for October CATs and three for group reads. And in September I did finish the Bingo card. For November I don't have any particular plans other than to finish some books I've started and the ones that have come from the public library.

Currently reading with the nonfiction going rather slowly:

Swan Song
The Proud Tower
The Ode Less Travelled
The Thirteenth Tale

Ready to go:

Proven Guilty
H is for Hawk
Five Came Back

132hailelib
nov 2, 2019, 2:59 pm

We did get to the other book sale last Saturday and concentrated on the offerings in science/technology and history. Then took a break for lunch out - soup and salad at an Olive Garden. Since we were already a little tired, rather than return to the crowded book sale we just went across the parking lot to Mr. K's and bought some fiction and a curious little book that Jim found in the nonfiction. Then the hour drive back home. We didn't even run into much football traffic as the game was a night one. A fairly successful day with 'new' books and a rare lunch out.

Some of the books we brought home:

To Green Angel Tower parts one and two - 2 very long books that I was delighted to find.
Tricked
The Marco Effect
The adventure of archaeology
Cracking the Egyptian code : the revolutionary life of Jean-François Champollion
Measure for measure : a musical history of science
How to clone a mammoth : the science of de-extinction

and 12 others including a couple of nice picture books for Charlie.

133rabbitprincess
nov 2, 2019, 4:52 pm

Sounds like a great day out!

134Tess_W
nov 2, 2019, 5:59 pm

>132 hailelib: nice haul!

135JayneCM
nov 3, 2019, 2:32 am

>132 hailelib: I have wanted to read How To Clone A Mammoth. Great haul!

136hailelib
nov 10, 2019, 3:45 pm

III. Other Fiction and Overflow

128. Swan Song by John Galsworthy - Finished November 10, 2019 - own - ebook

I apparently started this back in September while waiting to see a doctor and then just kept reading other things. Got back to it last week and finally finished it late on Friday. Once I got into it, Soames had become a character I was willing to root for and I still didn't much like Fleur. A good picture of life for a particular class in England during the twenties, mostly taking place in London. While I enjoyed the book, it will best be read after having read the previous ones in the Forsyte series.

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I had been avoiding updating my iPad for quite a while as the articles on the later versions sounded like lots of changes I wasn't interested in. Big mistake! Last Thursday something made the iPad crash and at some point in the crash my browser - Safari - totally disappeared. After we tried a few things I tried to download Firefox only to be informed hat I wasn't running an up to date enough OS. So then went into settings and asked for an update and the newest version for iPad tried to download but the download failed. So tried again and it worked this time. Once I was through the tedious setup routine I had Safari again. By this time I had had enough and went downstairs to watch cooking shows. One of the frustrations was that a few days before a storm took out some of Jim's computer hardware. They were old machines being used as servers for our in house network. Finally got one to work well enough to do what was needed with no data and software lost but not fun.

137Robertgreaves
nov 10, 2019, 6:46 pm

>137 Robertgreaves: Isn't amazing how anything to do with computers takes a lot longer than you think. "I'll just do this, it'll only take five minutes". And there you are an hour later trying to coax the machine into doing what you want.

138hailelib
nov 12, 2019, 3:44 pm

III. Other Fiction and Overflow

129. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - Finished November 11, 2019 - own

I'm not sure what I think of this book. It's slightly outside the sort of book I usually read but it was easy to pick up again and continue with the story or maybe I should say stories. Is Miss Winter telling the truth to Margaret or is it just another story? Those who haven't read it as yet might want to give it a try.

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My other two books are coming along slowly but they are the kind where that's OK as long as I am making some progress. Today I'm starting the next Dresden book, Proven Guilty, to have something different on the go and to reduce the little pile from the public library.

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The rain has stopped and that Arctic air has reached us with the temperature slowly falling since about noon even though the sun is shining brightly. We're going to have a couple of days more like early January than mid-November.

139hailelib
nov 23, 2019, 3:06 pm

Since the last post I have read a lot of Fantasy.

130. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - finished Novenber 13, 2019 - public library

I'm still enjoying this series though I wonder how Dresden survives all he goes through.

131. To Green Angel Tower: Part 1 by Tad Williams - Finished November 15, 2019 - own - recent purchase
132. To Green Angel Tower: Part 2 by Tad Williams - Finished November 18, 2019 - own - recent purchase

These books were good but very long as all the characters introduced previously were still in play as the story progressed. The author even referred to it as the Bloated Epic in his short intro about why the paperback was in two parts.

133. White Night by Jim Butcher - Finished November 20, 2019 - public library

More dangerous action for Dresden as the war with the Red Court continues and hidden enemies appear. The first of the books in the series that wasn't a reread for me. There are enough left to get me through another year.

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I've made real progress on The Proud Tower and The Ode Less Travelled and I have begun H is for Hawk.

140hailelib
nov 26, 2019, 3:43 pm

V. History

134. The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman - Finished November 25, 2019 - own

The Proud Tower is an overview of the European and Anglo-American countries in the 25 years before August 1914.The author selected a few topics and covered them in depth, remarking in the Foreword that she could have chosen a different set of topics and written another completely different book about the same period. The sections I liked best were the ones on the Dreyfus Affair and its affects on the politics of France and the one on the music of Germany, particularly that of the composer Richard Strauss. Not a particularly easy read for me as so many people and ideas were introduced. However, I have a better feel for the period covered and found the descent into war unsurprising.

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Currently reading The Ode Less Travelled, H is for Hawk, and The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.

I have Five Came Back and Hillbilly Elegy out of the library and hope to get to them before my renewals run out.

141hailelib
dec 18, 2019, 3:24 pm

It's even longer than I thought since I last posted to this thread! Just a quick catch up on books finished ...

VI. The Short Stuff

135. Celta Cats by Robin D. Owens - anthology (short stories) - finished November 30, 2019 - recent purchase

Some stories from the point of view of a few of the cats in the Celta universe.

II. Science Fiction and Fantasy

136. Heart Quest by Robin D. Owens - Finished December 1, 2019 - own

Needed a change of pace so pulled out another Celta book for a reread - these are paranormal romance.

137. Sacred Ground by Mercedes Lackey - Finished December 2, 2019 - own - recent purchase

A stand alone from Lackey which I did like but she appropriated Osage culture as the background which some have criticized her for.

138. through 45. Various books from Heart Mate series by Robin D. Owens - Finished December 11, 2019 - own

Still in a down mood so instead of finishing the ones I had been reading I read these one after the other.

VII. Miscellaneous

139. The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry - finished December 13, 2019 - public library

Stephen Fry wants you to try writing poetry and so introduces the reader to all the meters, forms, etc. with some of the Fry humor. Good if you want to know about the nuts and bolts of poetry.

140. H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald - Finished December 16, 2019 - public library

A memoir of a distressing period in the authors life when she coped by training and flying a goshawk. While exploring her own life in this book she also explores the life of T. H. White. I see a long overdue reread of The Once and Future King in my future. I wonder how different a book it will seems to me after fifty years.

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Currently reading The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Five Came Back

142hailelib
dec 26, 2019, 11:08 am

Still reading the same books in small snatches but mostly catching up on threads in both groups (but not posting very much). Most of the last few days was cooking and talking to our son via phone and emails.

This last year was not a fun one due to health issues but things have improved and it looks like 2020 may be easier. Maybe this time I'll be able to stick more closely to my reading plans. I did manage to fill the 2019 Bingo card and there are books in all my main categories so I'm pretty pleased with that.

Now to wish everyone a Happy New Year and go fill in those blanks for my 2020 Challenge.

143DeltaQueen50
dec 26, 2019, 11:56 am

Wishing you a healthful 2020!

144hailelib
dec 31, 2019, 5:10 pm

Two more to finish the year.

III. Overflow

141. Small Favor by Jim Butcher - Finished December 30, 2019 - public library

Paying back the favor Dresden owes the Winter Queen turns out to be really dangerous.

V. History

142. Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris - Finished December 31, 2019 - public library

Five successful Hollywood directors, John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra went into the military after Pearl Harbor to make films for morale building, documenting the progress of the war, and training new recruits. The book covers how they came to leave their careers for military service, what they did while in the various military branches, and how they fared after the war.

At 441 pages of text this took a while to read because I took a couple of breaks for lighter fare. The book came to my attention when we found a series of videos on Netflix that were more or less based on Harris' book. While I did find the book an interesting one, people with only a mild interest should look for the videos instead. They have interviews and a little of the footage the men shot.

145hailelib
jan 1, 2020, 11:21 am

Summary for 2019

Items read: 142

Novels and Collections (fiction): 116
Nonfiction: 19
Plays: 1
Single Stories; 3
Nonfiction excerpt: 1
Graphic Novels: 2

About one-third of my authors were women.

From the public library: 39
Purchased in 2019: 18*
The rest owned before Jan 1, 2019

* Many more were purchased that are still to be read. 124 were added to our shelves but some were mainly for Jim. That included both print and ebooks.

147hailelib
jan 1, 2020, 11:43 am

Now time to move on to 2020!

Everyone have a happy reading year and see you in the 2020 Challenge group.

148JayneCM
jan 1, 2020, 9:46 pm

Taking a BB on Periodic Tales - sounds like just the thing to feed my nerdy science side!