This and That

I've been reading The Seventh Child by Erik Valeur (winner of the 2012 Glass Key Award given by the members of the Crime Writers of Scandinavia for best Nordic Thriller) for days now.  It is an unusual, slowly paced, with multiple characters and gradually developed backgrounds, and it is very long.  I'm about 70% through the novel now, and things are beginning to come together.

   I'm not sure how I feel about the novel, it is not a page-turner or a thriller (in my view), and the jumping from character to character often seems abrupt.  The names and nick-names can also confuse.  Yet I've continued reading a little at a time each day without the desire to abandon it.  

Of course, it isn't the only book in progress, I'm also reading Sorrow Bound by David Mark.  This is the third in the Detective Sergeant Aector (Hector) McAvoy series, but the first I've read.  The characters are well-developed, and the mystery twists between two plot-lines. A dark police procedural, but engrossing.  

Some of the comments from the editor are still in the manuscript, and I find this intriguing.  She (the editor) reminds the author of small details--for instance, the use of a similar name in a previous novel.  An interesting example of close reading, not the literary criticism kind that analyzes a passage, but the noting of small details that can make a reader stop for a moment and consider the accuracy, similarity, or contradiction involved.  These intrusions in the manuscript are few, but I've enjoyed them.

Often in reading a novel, I'll have to skip back to see if the question that has occurred to me is a slip in the editing or whether I've just somehow failed to notice a detail earlier.  Name similarities often stand out to me as do repetitive phrases.  These details don't necessarily harm the story, and sometimes repeated phrases or motifs add to the novel.  Sometimes, however, I wish an editor had caught an annoying repetition of phrase.

Other novels in progress, but perhaps hopelessly stalled:  Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen, Paths of Courage by Mike Woodhams, What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin, and The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher.

Two other books that I'm also dipping into in between the above novels:  What's Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton, an essay-like book from blog posts Walton wrote for Tor.com, and Signed, Sealed, and Delivered by Nina Sankovich.  The formatting on Signed is quite awful, but the chapters have interesting information about letters and letter-writers, some famous, some quite ordinary.  Two books that are easy to pick up and to put down, satisfied,  if I only have a few minutes to read.

I have several books in progress--some of which have been in progress for at least a month. I've considered adding them to the DNF pile, but continue to wait until the time I've read all the books in the TBR pile that look interesting.

I finished Farthing by Jo Walton which left me with a stunned feeling.  Like Dominion, Farthing is an alternate history with the premise that Britain negotiated a peace with Hitler.  
The books are very different despite the similar premise.  I actually like Farthing better, but I'm not quite ready to dive into Ha'Penny, described as a companion book to Farthing.  I need to allow Farthing to settle a bit.  Sometimes the abuse of power can be a bit too much, even in an alternate history.

Lots of reviews to write.  Nothing new there.  

I've been busy cleaning out the attic and trying to rescue my studio from absolute chaos.  It is really difficult to do anything creative in the disaster that room has become.  The attic opens from the studio and the area is very small, but I've used it to stash anything I didn't want to deal with at the moment.  Trying to go through and empty as much as possible so I can fill it up again.  Endless cycle.

Around Christmas I started making hearts stuffed with lavender and flaxseed, then added more before Valentine's Day.  Because they are small and made with scraps of fabric and yarn, I've just continued making them in a kind of meditative way.

My clay figures, half a dozen or more, have been sitting around for months now, but when I finally get the studio back in some kind of order, I'll need to work on finishing them.

-------------Cool Stuff-----------------

Ekaterina Panikanova makes collages using old books.

Bibliomaton (Jeffrey Maib) makes wonderful automata from books. 

 Check him out on Etsy.

In Progress

Last year I received an ARC of Jonathan Evison's West of Here (my review) and loved it.  It was a strange book in many ways, but I really liked it.  A while back, I received another Evison ARC, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving:  A Novel.

Because I've been so busy with other projects, I put off reading it.  Last night, I finished a book and went looking for something else to read, and Evison's new novel was a perfect fit.

Wow!  So very different from West of Here, but I'm already loving it!  Expecting a similar style and content, but a different story, I was surprised to note all of the differences.  What is the same is Evison's ability to create characters you care about, flawed and human, quirky and funny and sometimes sad.  Thank you, Algonquin!

Read recently, but not reviewed -- Murder in Mumbai by K.D. Calamur, Night Watch by Linda Fairstein, and Fated by Benedict Jacka.
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Do you ever wonder about reviews that use words like luminous, brilliant, fresh, surprising, and inventive, but when you read it, you find it dim, stale, predictable, and derivative?

I'm reading one of those right now.  Well, I was.  It has been put aside.  Since it is very short, I may return and finish it at some later date, but I wonder about the people who reviewed it.

Did they really like it?  Were they paid?  Does it get better?  Am I just an odd man out?
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In the film department, if you have the chance, you should see The Intouchables, a brilliant (in my-- ;-p --humble opinion) French film that is uplifting and funny.

This and That

Although I haven't been reading as much lately, I have quite a few reviews scheduled for closer to the time of publication.   A lot of the scheduled reviews were read in May or June.

July and August have been slow reading months, but I did read The Windup Girl and Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Night Watch by Linda Fairstein, and The White Forest .....need to review them.


interesting article about science fiction

good science fiction reading list

people reading on flickr

Booker Prize Long List

What I have been doing (instead of reading) is making a boro jacket, working on white on white pieces, and making encrusted pieces of embroidery.

I posted lots of progress pictures on Bayou Quilts.

I've done at least 9 of these encrusted pieces.

Two of the white on white blocks in progress...

I've done more on both of these since the pictures were taken.

Sunday Thoughts

I've finished a few more mysteries and have one review scheduled, one in draft form, and one that I haven't even started:

The First Rule of Ten by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay.  The protagonist is a PI who is also a former monk.  I really liked this one.

Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason.  One of Indridason's early stand-alone novels (originally published in 1999);  I was not impressed.  It is not one of his Detective Erlendur novels--this one features evil, sadistic Americans.

Cambridge Blue by Alison Bruce.  A British police procedural with interesting characters in DC Gary Goodhew and his superior DI Marks.

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I've also recently finished two excellent YA fantasies, but the publishers want  the reviews scheduled for shortly before their release dates.  I can add them to my Once Upon a Time reads, but not to the Once Upon a Time review site because of delayed reviews.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - to be released in August (my review is scheduled for July)

Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier - to be released in September  (review scheduled for August)

It is a bit frustrating to want to share these now and not be able to do so, because both are engrossing reads with great characters.

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I've been having one of those manic reading cycles, often starting and finishing a book in one evening.  This is fairly easy to do when reading most mysteries, but then I think of how long it took me to read IQ84 and Cryptonomicon.  And reading most non-fiction is also a slower process.

As Sir Francis Bacon noted:

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.



I think most fiction falls in the second category--swallowed,  read for entertainment and escape.  They are interesting, but may or may not require much thought, effort, or diligence.
This is where I place the above books.  They provide entertainment, a glimpse into another world, although a fictional one, an offer of vicarious adventure.

Not Cryptonomicon, however; that one demanded not just time, but effort, and sent me researching in a half-dozen directions.  Nor do the classics fall into that second category, the classics give us insight into ourselves, our neighbors, and the world beyond our doorstep.  They are to be read wholly and require digesting.  Definitely the third category.

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I was reading this post about building communities and found #6 a great idea!

6. Put up a Book Lending Cupboard. Take a book, lend a book. Collect your old reads and share them with passersby in a book-lending cupboard mounted next to the sidewalk out front. Give it a roof, a door with glass panes, and paint it to match the flowers below.

Or, change the story: read a poem, write a poem. Create a poetry cupboard with poems to share.

Now wouldn't a little lending cupboard be a nice place to visit on a walk?

This and That

My goodness, I've been an absent blogger so often lately.  My good intentions don't always come to fruition; despite my goals of keeping up with this blog, I repeatedly fall behind.  Keeping up with more than one blog appears to mean that I can keep up with only one blog at a time.

At least, I finally posted my review of Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty on Sunday-- that is quite an accomplishment.  Katherine Langrish liked it, and Katherine's knowledge of fairy tale and fantasy is pretty thorough.  Not that I'm changing my opinion; I was disappointed, but Katherine has made me think about the book again.  Anyone else read this one?

My quilting and miscellaneous blog has been getting much more attention lately because I've been stitching prayer flags and experimenting with surface design techniques.  Most evenings I've settled in for stitching and watching television instead of reading, but I think I'm beginning to experience a sea change, the reading bug has begun to catch on again.

Like Carl, I'm a great fan of The Guild, but I'm all caught up with those episodes and have to wait for more.  (AACK - a note from Carl...they haven't even begun filming the new episodes).

Lately, I've been deeply immersed in Korean television series and highly recommend Tree With Deep Roots .  My friend Thomas got me addicted to this one, and now my husband is also addicted.

Finally finished Cryptonomicon!  Loved it!  Well worth the time expended on this one.  The closer I came to the end, the slower I read, the more pauses I took, the more I tried to delay the conclusion.

Almost finished with A Rising Thunder, the latest in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber and have begun River Secrets by Shannon Hale, which is part of the Bayern series and will go toward my Once Upon a Time reads.

Has anyone read the Shadow Prowler?  The third and final book in the trilogy is out, and I'm wondering if I want to give it a try.  So much better to begin a series that is already complete than having to wait for each new book.

Everything I Need

milkweed

My friend Thomas sent me this quote:


 “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." —Cicero

  I love this quote!  Thomas has been reading Fung Yu-lan, History of Chinese Philosophy.  In Mandarin or Cantonese or something, no doubt.  He did lift his head from translation long enough to think of me when he saw this quote, however.  Yea, Thomas!


Back to the quote--I have both a garden (although not nearly as wonderful as my previous garden, the one wiped out by the tornado) and plenty of books.  I'm posting  pictures of a few of my  delights as I work on creating a new garden .  

Cleome

garlic

For the last two years, I've done nothing much with my new small garden, but this year, I'm determined to include more plants that I love...thus the two new milkweed plants and the cleome.  The garlic is a volunteer from last year.  I love garlic, in food and in the flower bed.

And books--there are always books.  Some that are wonderful and some that are disappointing, but always a book to read for entertainment or information.  

I  finished Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper a while back and have been thinking about how to review it.  Such an auspicious beginning!  Sadly, after falling in love with the beginning, I found the rest of the book a painful contrast.  I've resisted reviewing it because ofthis, but do want to make some comments about it.  Has anyone else read this one?

On the other hand, I'm loving Cryptonomicon and am in awe of Neal Stephenson.   The more I read, the more invested I become in the characters.  At the moment, I'm very concerned about Bobby Shaftoe who is now in Manila awaiting the arrival of General MacArthur.  Stephenson deals with Japanese atrocities in a way that does nothing to ameliorate the horror,  yet somehow manages to keep enough distance (and enough satiric humor) to make it bearable.  

In the present day section, I think Randy Waterhouse will be OK, despite being in jail because someone planted drugs in his luggage.  The section on Randy's wisdom teeth is priceless and comparing the removal of his wisdom teeth to his love for Amy is...somehow...oddly perfect.  Randy was not one of my favorite characters initially, and I'm glad that I've grown so fond of him.

Stephenson is a Wizard!  

Slight Digression:  Has anyone watched The Guild?  Wil Wheaton has become a regular and the guest stars in Season Five are amazing!

This post jumps around like I was on Benzedrine (via Bobby Shaftoe)!

Saturday Thoughts

Yes, I'm still reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and will be reading it for at least another week.  I'm liking the WWII parts much better than the more current story line.  I enjoy Stephenson's sly humor and there are sections that make me stop and ponder how much research he did before altering history, must have been pretty exhaustive.  This sends me to the internet to check out events and characters in actual history.  The section on Yamamoto is some of his best tongue-in-cheekiness.

Reading the Stephenson version of Yamamoto's thoughts makes me wonder what Yamamoto was actually thinking as he considered  Japan's Imperial Army vs the Americans.  Anyway, here is an excerpt of Yamamoto's fictional thoughts:

The Yanks call this type of plane "Betty," an effeminatizing gesture that really irks him [Yamamoto].  Then again, the Yanks name even their own planes after women, and paint naked ladies on their sacred instruments of war!  If they had samurai swords, Americans would probably decorate the blades with nail polish.

To say the novel is complex, however, is understating the situation.  Stephenson slips from one character to another, from one time period to another, from one location to another with little warning.  He indulges in detail that obviously tickles him, but that I often have no clue about--especially when talking computers in the modern sections of the novel.

Earlier in the novel, there was a section that most certainly referenced Operation Mincemeat (Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory).  The actual body used for the real Operation Mincemeat was not a butcher frozen to a pig, but the idea speaks loads for preservation.

In the meantime, I'm also reading Elizabeth George's Believing the Lie...an Inspector Lynley mystery which reads a whole lot faster than Cryptonomicon.

I have a third Once Upon a Time review scheduled.  I checked the library for several books I was looking for with no luck.  I guess I'll have to order a couple of them and get the rest on interlibrary loan.

The ARCs are piling up.  Most are unsolicited and many don't appeal to me, but this one looks interesting:  A Silence of Mockingbirds -- arrived Thursday.  Except this book is nonfiction about a child murder--I don't usually want that kind of reality.  An article in the Huffington Post gives the author's reasons for writing the book.  Maybe later...but not now.

At the moment, I'm looking more for escape literature, not reality.  The world is harsh, give me fictional drama, hopefully happy endings.  Fairy tales and fantasy and mysteries.

What are you reading?

In Progress

I've been reading The Eight by Katherine Neville, a complicated conspiracy novel that pre-dates Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.  I've marveled at how many historic characters Neville managed to include or mention in the novel:  Marat, Robespierre, Talleyrand, Jaques-Louis David, Ben Franklin, Jefferson, Wordsworth, Blake, James Boswell, Rousseau, Napoleon, Catherine the Great, Bach, the mathematician Euler, Benedict Arnold, and on and on.  The French Revolution, modern and historic chess players,  the Freemasons, OPEC are all included.

It's pretty silly, really--shifting from the period of the French Revolution to the 1980's and back again with a grand and ancient conspiracy of good versus evil in which almost every historic personage has played a part.
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Today, I picked up the book A Visit to Vanity Fair:  Moral Essays on the Present Age by Alan Jacobs.  Coincidentally:

1) the epigraph is a quote from W.H Auden, and I am currently rereading The Dyer's Hand, essays and lectures by Auden, and

2) the introduction includes references to Boswell, Blake, and Rousseau, although certainly not in the line of the fantastic conspiracy of The Eight, but rather in the sense that the three were famous essayists.
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I've just finished The House of Silk, a modern Sherlock Holmes mystery.  Holmes and Watson are always fun; Laurie King writes my favorite modern Holmes' stories featuring Mary Russell, but I've also enjoyed Carolyn Douglas' Irene Adler series.

Sherlock Holmes is well-represented in both films and television.  The British television series with Jeremy Brett and some of the old movies with Basil Rathbone have great atmosphere.  In sharp contrast, the new series Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbach, features a modern Sherlock who uses cell phones and texting.

I'm planning to watch Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes tonight.  Even if the reviews were pretty bad, it will be fun to watch Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law--I hope.

On my list of Holmesian books/movies:  They Might Be Giants (a 1971 film in which George C. Scott imagines himself to be Holmes) and The Final Solution by Michael Chabon.  I like Chabon and don't know how I missed this one.

Now, I Can Begin a New Reading Year

Ahhhh, it feels better to have finally finished reviewing all of the 2011 reads.  And my reading this month is picking up after a long January dry spell.

Still reading 1Q84 by Murakami, reading Black Diamond by Martin Walker, and re-reading The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays by W.H. Auden after reading Stefanie's  posts (and enjoying it as much as the first time).

Finished The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler, another Scandinavian crime novel.  It has some problems, but it certainly kept my interest!

Started The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, but it wasn't keeping my interest, so I set it aside for a while.  I know a lot of people really liked it, so I'm sure eventually it will get my full attention.

I'm going to fix myself a cuppa and read this evening.  Sounds like a plan to me.  :)

Just Some Thoughts...

What bothers me and what I consider a flaw in many current mystery/crime novels  is the weird and gruesome manner of the murders.  Trying to make each murder more profane than the last is becoming a bit hackneyed in so many mystery/crime novels now, especially those dealing with serial killers.  Novelists seem to be in a kind of (excuse my crudeness) pissing contest for unusual and obscene murders.

After a while, the graphic mutilations and weirdness become overdone in novels and on television.  Let it rest a while.  I love mystery/crime novels, but prefer to have technique, plot, and characters (especially characters) take the forefront.  Maybe it is just me, but I don't read mystery/crime for the weirdness of the murders. How about you?  What do you like best in this genre?  Favorite authors?


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Currently reading two excellent nonfiction works:  Musicophilia:  Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks and Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura  Hillenbrand.  Unbroken is on loan from my SIL; both she and my brother loved it.

Nonfiction is always slower reading.  There is no feeling of rushing to a conclusion, and absorbing information slowly is much easier when the reading is slowed down.
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I've been letting my yoga and my walking slide.  Skipping my morning sadhana at least every other day and not attending night classes.  Boo!  I need to get back to at least every day with my personal practice...just because I feel so much better when I'm consistent.

Also, need to be watching my diet which has taken a turn for the worse this summer.  I've been indulging in way too much ice cream!
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All Over the Map

Even though I have a stack of good books to read, I sometimes just can't keep myself from ordering some that seem more insistent.  


Here are some that I've ordered recently:

The Gift by Hafiz (Stefanie's recent post pushed me into finally ordering!)

The Mighty Eighth:  The Air War in Europe as Told by Men Who Fought It by Gerald Astor  (my recent reading of The Bomber Boys - not yet reviewed- encouraged me to discover more)

The Shadow Hunt and West of the Moon by Katherine Langrish (these will work for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge , and Kailana and I are both planning to do The Shadow Hunt; be sure to check out Katherine's blog where you can find out more about her own books, as well as see interviews of other authors and great posts about fairy tales.)

The Golden Child by Penelope Fitzgerald.  


Currently reading: 

 

West of Here by Jonathan Evison (thanks to Algonquin Books!) and enjoying it.  Not a fast moving novel, but totally engrossing!    I get lost in this one and when I come up for air, marvel at the author's ability to weave so many threads into whole cloth.

The Hidden Reality:  Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene.  Well, I was reading this, but it has been kind of put on hold as I keep picking up West of Here instead.


What an eclectic mix:  poetry, history, fantasy, mystery, adventure, science.  I'm really trying to read more nonfiction this year, and so far, I'm doing OK. 

In the Mail and ...

I've forgotten to mention that Nancy (Bookfool) sent me a copy of The Ingram Interview this last week.  Thanks, Nancy, I appreciate it!

Also in the mail, West of Here by Jonathan Evison, an ARC from Algonquin Books.    From Publishers Weekly:  "A big novel about the discovery and rediscovery of nature, starting over, and the sometimes piercing reverberations of history, this is a damn fine book."  

More sleet and snow expected today.  Here's the snowman I made last week.

Reading The Film Club and thoroughly enjoying it.  Putting off reviewing several books.  Playing in the studio with cloth and clay. 

Pondering the State of Stacks

I've got several books in progress at the moment, but some of them are the kind you can pick up, read a little, and return to them later.  I've mentioned them before and all are rereads-- Kaminoff's Yoga Anatomy, Gary Kraftsow's Yoga for Wellness, and Sharon Lovejoy's Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars. 

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell needs more continuity because it is fiction and therefore, a continuing narrative that compels me to return to it for longer periods.

Mitchell's Black Swan Green was one of my favorite books in 2006, and I'm enjoying this one very much.  I haven't read The Cloud Atlas, but tried and abandoned  Ghostwritten.

I just finished Except the Queen by Midori Snyder and Jane Yolen and very much enjoyed it; I'll be reviewing that one soon. 

Books in the Mail:

My copy of The Vigorous Mind arrived on Saturday, and I'm going to be slowly rereading this one and taking note of authors and books that I want to pursue. 



The Film Club:  A Memoir -David Gilmour (rec. by Beauty Is a Sleeping Cat)-  Canadian film critic and tv host, David Gilmour allows his 15-year-old son to drop out of school if he will watch 3 movies a week with his father.  From Publishers Weekly:  "... a unique blend of film history and personal memoir."

A Time to Keep Silence - Patrick Lee Fermor (can't remember where I saw this reviewed), but it sounded good, and when perusing my Amazon Wish List, I saw it and ordered it. From the product review: More than a history or travel journal, however, this beautiful short book is a meditation on the meaning of silence and solitude for modern life.   

All That's True - Jackie Lee Miles.  A recent ARC.  A coming-of-age story.

State of Mind - Sven Michael Davison.  Another recent ARC.  Science Fiction--your thoughts are not your own.

Added to the above are my recent library acquisitions, of which Except the Queen and The Thousand Autumns are two.

Have you read any of these? 

New Year Possibilities

What I'm reading right now:

I'm rereading Kaminoff's Yoga Anatomy (but then, I'm almost always rereading my yoga books) and rereading Sharon Lovejoy's Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars (a wonderful book for parents and grandparents--so many great ideas).  These are both nonfiction and are good for rereading in short periods of time then coming back to later.

Also reading Except for the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder.  When I started it yesterday, I wasn't thrilled with the beginning and almost put it aside, but I'm so glad I didn't because when it got good, it got really good!

I've not been reading as much in the first couple of weeks of this new year because I've been so busy with other things.  You know, those new year things that seem to take precedence with the advent of a new year...cleaning, organizing, catching up with reviews, emptying book shelves and closets and drawers and purging the clutter.  It feels good to have a fresh start and a clean slate even when one knows it won't last long.

I do have a couple of books to review that I'll be getting around to soon.

This past year is not a reading year that I was particularly proud of as most of it was escape fiction; although there were some excellent books, most were not especially memorable.

I'm going to be making an effort to have a better, more varied mix of books in 2011.  I've ordered another copy of The Vigorous Mind  because I loaned my copy to someone who asked about it, and although I emphasized that I did want it back because I was using it as a reference, I've realized it isn't going to be returned.  I'm a little disappointed because I'd highlighted so many things in it including book titles and authors, but highlighting can be done again.

Some of my posts about The Vigorous Mind can be found here, here, and here.  It was a book that truly had an impact on my life and on my reading; I'm looking forward to reading this one again.  I was proud of my 2009 reading year, not so much in 2010.

Two books that I'm looking forward to reading:

Damage by John Lescroart - I love Lescroart's series and his characters.
Three Seconds by Roslund & Hellstrom, a series that I read about first in the paper and then saw that Nicole (Linus's Blanket) has it in her stacks.

Black Friday and TBR Pile

Want to do a little shopping on Black Friday without leaving the house?  Visit The French Cupboard!

I've never experienced Black Friday except by watching the news or reading the paper.  Shopping in a crushing sea of people would be an unbearable experience for someone who dislikes crowds.

But shopping online?  Sounds like a good idea and many online shops are participating in BF sales from the comfort of your home.

I've finished Operation Mincemeat and will review soon.  It just happens to be one of those books that can send me scurrying to research names,events, and historical accounts. Fascinating if you are interested in WWII espionage; this work of nonfiction has so many real people who could inspire a dozen fictional novels. 

Because I haven't been reading as much lately, my TBR pile just keeps increasing.  I went ahead and started the latest Jacqueline Winspear last night because it is so hard to resist Maisie Dobbs. 

Also in progress, Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, and I'm still moving through The Bard on the Brain:  Understanding the Mind Through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging , which has been disappointing.  Maybe I just haven't been in the mood for it, but it hasn't captured my attention as I'd hoped.


In the TBR pile (the ones that are really calling me):
 
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Turner that I can't wait to begin.  I love her YA series and have thoroughly enjoyed the previous three novels.  I actually buy these instead of checking them out at the library because I want to have them for Mila (precious brown-eyed granddaughter) to read.

Class Collision: Fall from Grace by Annette Mackey which is set in the  Depression Era.

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd.  Although I wasn't as impressed with the first Bess Crawford mystery as I'd hoped, I've loved the Ian Rutledge series over the years, and hope that Bess can eventually satisfy me.  It often takes a series a while to settle into a niche with plot, characters, pacing, and time period nicely intertwined.  So while A Duty to the Dead, the first Bess Crawford, didn't measure up to Ian Rutledge for me, I expect this one will work better.


The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer (not the same as the new film).  "Milo Weaver used to be a 'tourist' for the CIA..."   I think that line on the book jacket got my attention.  I was wondering about its connection to the new Johnny Depp film-- but two different stories, although both involve intrigue.

What are you reading?  What books are edging to the top of your TBR pile?

Steam Punk Novels and Inspirations

 I've been reading steam punk novels....some are very good, some less so, but they have inspired ideas for my little eccentricities.

The Courier

The Time-Keeper

More on my other blog.

My favorite steam punk novel so far is Soulless by Gail Carriger, which I reviewed a few posts back.  I've finished Changeless and Blameless, too, but haven't reviewed them yet.  Almost finished with The Affinity Bridge and have begun The Court of Air. Also have a copy of Boneshaker in the TBR pile.  Hoping for some more interesting ideas.

Steam punk probably originated with Jules Verne.  I loved Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth when I was a kid.  The steam punk concept is a mixture of Victorian and Industrial Advance during the Victorian Age. 

Have you read any of these?   Do you have recommendations?

Off to the country...

 This is Mother and Child weekend down at the cabin.  Amelia, Erin, and several of their friends plus at least 10 kids under the age of six.  Whoa, Nellie!  I'll be going down later to spend the night.  Thank goodness, Fee and I have our own little cabin, because the big one has to be a mad house!

I'm looking forward to seeing "adopted" daughter, Ren, and her two little ones.  Ren is another reader, and we've shared many book titles over the years.  She and Erin were friends in high school at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, roomed together at Northwestern in Natchitoches, and later, in Baton Rouge.

I've finished a couple of good fantasy books that I'll review soon:  Reader & Raelynx by Sharon Shin and Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik.  Have an R.I.P. book in progress, and it is very good as well--Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest. 

What I'm Reading Now

I'm still reading Teaching Yoga by Mark Stephens, and still enjoying it.  It is slow reading, though, because I often have to stop and ponder certain philosophical statements and what they mean to me,  or in the section on asanas,  actually get on the mat and experiment. 

I've just finished the section of pranayama.  Finished reading it, that is.  I will go over this several times before moving on.  It isn't that what Stephens says is much different from other books, but that the way he says it makes me want to experiment with his instructional methods.

I'm also reading A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell, a recently arrived ARC.  Have just finished the section in which Sammelsohn falls in love with Emma Eckstein, one of Freud's patients.  I've never liked Freudian theories much, mainly because of his views about female hysteria, but a little research into Emma Eckstein and Freud's friend Dr. Fleiss  makes Freud seem more like an egotistical fraud than a scientist. 

I'm just beginning the section where Sammelsohn falls in love with another young woman and becomes involved with Esperanto and its originator L.L. Zamenhoff.  Of course, there is also the dybbuk that I assume will be entering again soon.

New Books and To Be Reviewed

 In the mail:

I won the copy of Commuters from Kay at My Random Acts of Reading!  Thanks, Kay! 

 Barnacle Love--"a father and son narrate a revelatory, if disjointed, story spanning two generations of Portuguese-Canadian immigrants."  Publishers Weekly


 Heart of Lies --  "Leo Hoffman was born with a gift for languages. When his dreams for the future are destroyed by World War I, the dashing young Hungarian attempts to use his rare talent to rebuild his life, only to find himself inadvertently embroiled in an international counterfeiting scheme. " Product Description.

New library books.

 I've finished The Dark Vineyard: a Mystery of the French Countryside by Martin Walker and am excited to have found a new author and a new series that I like.

Currently reading This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George.  Lynley is returning to work, having finished his walking tour of Cornwall.

Still trying to catch up on reviews.  Blah!  If I would only review the book immediately, it wouldn't become such a chore.

Left to review:

His Majesty's Dragon :)
61 Hours :)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest :)
The Dark Vineyard :)
Krishnamacharya: His Life and Teachings :)