Mad Ship / Robin Hobb

 

Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Robin Hobb knows how to keep a reader hooked, how to move a plot along at a frisky pace, and how to make you care about even her most unpleasant characters. She pushes her creations well past where they are comfortable and lets them expand to fill her expectations of them. Don't let anyone tell you that only George R.R. Martin can effectively use multiple points of view on all sides of the many conflicts, big and small—Hobb is every bit as skillful, if somewhat less murderous.

If you're like me, you started this book with faint hope for Malta Haven, thinking her a silly, spoiled child. Talk about growing up and getting smart! She has far exceeded my hopes for her and has found unexpected strength and fortitude, both of which she is going to need. The Rain Wild traders and the Satrap of Jamillia won't know what's hit them when she's finished with them! Go Malta!

The Wintrow/Vivacia/Kennit triangle develops in different directions too, surprising all of them plus Kennit's woman, Etta. If a liveship can be seduced away from her family, Kennit will do it! Watching this drama play out is fascinating, especially as we meet Kennit's mother briefly and get some insight into this pivotal character. We also get an up close and personal view of his leg amputation and rehabilitation.

Don't forget the Althea/Amber/Brashen triumvirate that intersects with the mad ship of the title, Paragon. They are hoping to retrieve the Vivacia from Kennit's clutches with the help (or at least not hindrance) of Paragon.

And finally, we also get some perspective on the whole question of the relationship between sea serpents, liveships, and dragons, oft hinted at but starting to come clearer!

Lots to absorb, lots to ponder, lots to enjoy. What a great way to end the reading year of 2020.

Book number 390 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Death Comes for the Archbishop / Willa Cather

 

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a gorgeous novel, just luxuriously beautiful. Cather describes the land and people of New Mexico with great affection. Never hurried, her gentle prose captures the life of a sensitive, intellectual man, Bishop La Tour, who accepts a life of hardship in order to bring Catholicism to the American frontier. His dedication, sincerity, and persistence are all admirable.

I couldn't help but think of Zane Grey's fiction while I was reading this book. He also described the landscape in loving detail. Unlike Grey, Cather believed in the persistence of native populations and cultures and saw the value in them. Her tale is romantic, but not in the personal sense. There are no romantic relationships like those that provide the backbone of Grey's novels. The main connection is between the Bishop and his Church. Cather values the church, while I don't remember much religion in Grey's work, except for the unfortunate Mormons who often became his reviled bad guys.

I found myself feeling strong nostalgia at the book's end, tearing up as death came for the Archbishop. Following his friend and partner in the work, Joseph, and most of his other friends. The gathering of the community made me both happy and sad.

There are no dramatic conflicts, just the basics of religious life in a frontier area. People rarely speak of death in our time, but death comes to us all. Cather shows us a man who has lived his life well and faces his death with calm and dignity.


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Blood Heir / Ilona Andrews

 

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are a Kate Daniels fan (as I am) this book is just what you've been wishing and hoping for. It started as a serial publication on the Andrews' website, the same as they have done with their Innkeeper series, but at some point they determined that it needed a severe overhaul. They removed the installments from the site and assured the fans that they would receive a superior product when it was done.

I bought my copy online in mid-December as a Christmas present to myself and I have admired and crooned to it like Gollum with the One Ring until Christmas Day, when I allowed myself to crack the cover and READ. It was a tremendous treat and I know that I'll be adding it to my re-reading roster from now on. In fact, I've already enjoyed my favourite passages several times.

Interestingly, the authors were initially amused when fans assumed that this would be a series. They started writing it as a favour to exhausted medical staff who needed a pick-me-up due to the Covid-19 pandemic, presumably a one-and-done exercise. However, I can't help but feel that they aren't finished with this story line. Julie's mission isn't finished and I can't imagine them abandoning her at this juncture.

A lot of us needed a shot of positivity during Covid, me included. I read and reread the website chapters as they became available. Although I enjoyed them, I can tell you that the revisions tightened the story, made it flow better, and avoided some plot pitfalls. Hats off to the authors for performing the necessary surgery. Thank you, Ilona & Gordon, for yet another fabulous adventure in one of my favourite fantasy worlds featuring some of my favourite characters.


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A Christmas Party / Georgette Heyer

 

A Christmas Party by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For a couple of years now I have wanted to read this book (in December, at Christmastime). My library acquired it last year and I placed my hold hopefully. Things did not look encouraging—I had concerns that one copy had gone missing and it looked like it would be well into January before I got my paws on it. But, behold, a Christmas miracle, the lost was found!

This was my first Georgette Heyer novel, but it surely will not be the last. She very skillfully got me to loathe the whole crowd involved in this Christmas party! It was a great relief to me when one of them was finally stabbed to death! Nathaniel is the only one worth enough money to be bothered killing, and he is found dead of a stab wound in his locked bedroom in his palatial country house, fulfilling a couple mystery story tropes. Then the games begin, as the murderer is pitted against Scotland Yard in a game of wits.

I usually don't figure out the solution to the crime in these kind of books, but I knew who I wanted it to be! I was ready to stick a knife into this person myself, early in the novel. And Merry Christmas to me, I got my wish!

I'll be interested to read more of Heyer's work, either another mystery or a romance. She was able to make me hate her characters so well, I bet her romances are very engaging.


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The Murder on the Links / Agatha Christie

 

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Popular opinion would have you believe that women are the sentimental, romantic gender and that men are rational and matter-of-fact. How Ms Christie must have enjoyed turning this notion on its ear! This may be only the second Poirot novel, but we are already familiar with Captain Hastings, who has never seen an attractive woman that he wasn't dazzled by and who simply cannot believe that women are capable of crime!

The contrast between Hastings and Poirot was a brilliant idea. Dame Agatha gives us the emotional Hastings as our guide to these adventures, a deliberate hampering of our own deductive abilities. As we identify with him, we are as confused and off track as he is. I think her talent for misdirection is what makes it so difficult for me to finger the correct criminal so frequently in her novels.

And contrary to popular belief, the women in this novel prove to be cold and calculating (Mme Dubreuil), strong and smart (Mme Renaud), daring and manipulative (Mlle Dubreuil), and strong and good hearted (Mlle Duveen). They don't back down from challenges and they are pretty clear about what they want and what they are willing to do in order to get it. Compare that to our narrator, who “falls in love" with a girl whose name he doesn't know, compromises a crime scene to gain her favour, and falls for a simple ploy which results in the theft of the murder weapon. Then he spins himself a story about this Cinderella and tries to thwart Poirot with it!

I was warmed by the obvious affection that Poirot has for Hastings. We can overlook many weaknesses in our good friends (even if Poirot does comment at one point that his friend should have a harem!) And the two men share a good moment when the French detective who wants to be Sherlock Holmes gets his comeuppance.

This was written very early in Christie's career, but already her skill at this genre is very much on display. I am very much enjoying this one per month Christie reading project.


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The Old Magic of Christmas / Linda Raedisch

 

The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year by Linda Raedisch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Here in the Northern hemisphere, Christmas and the Winter Solstice coincide with the darkest time of the year. Naturally, the dark lends itself to spookier mythology and the lore surrounding this holiday tends towards the dark end of the spectrum too. Many of the tales and traditions discussed in this book originate in Scandinavia and Germany, although the British Isles are well represented too.

I usually think of Halloween as the time for ghosts, goblins, and witches, but Christmas apparently has its own selections of these spooks, who have been co-opted into Christian ceremonies. I find it fascinating that some of these folk tales have survived in any form into the 21st century, but Santa Claus is certainly doing well, that jolly old elf! Mind you, he has been recruited by retailers to encourage us to part with our cash. This explains to me the Victorian habit of telling ghost stories at Christmastime, like the ghosts who visit Ebenezer Scrooge.

Gift giving, Christmas trees and other greens, mistletoe, feasting—all these traditions have pre-Christian roots, although Christianity has tried its best to assimilate them. The fireplace was the centre of the household before modern heating and the hearth spirits were accordingly important. Not all homes have a fireplace any more, but you may have a fireplace channel on television, showing a continuously burning wood fire.

This author made assumptions about the readers' knowledge. I'm not familiar with the feast days of the saints or when holidays like Candlemas happen, so I was continually looking things up to get a better idea of what she was referring to. But I am an uncouth colonial, living in the wilds of Canada (what Voltaire called “quelques arpents de neige,” a reputation that we are currently living up to).

I come away from this volume with a renewed desire to pursue more folklore and learn more history of the European countries that my ancestors came from.


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Hark the Herald Angels Slay / Vicki Delany

 

Hark the Herald Angels Slay by Vicki Delany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A little over 3 stars, I think. This was a fun little Christmas book, even if they were celebrating Christmas in July. In this installment, Merry's past comes back to haunt her, in the form of the ex-fiancée who was one of the reasons that she left New York and returned to her hometown of Rudolph.

Max, the ex, didn't come alone. He brought several staff and was followed by his new squeeze, the magazine owner’s daughter. Right about the point where, as a reader, you start to wonder if anything is going to happen, hey presto! A body is discovered in Merry's shop and her employee has gone missing.

There was a welcome departure from Delany's usual plot line—Detective Simmons never considers Merry a suspect and actually includes her in part of the investigation since she knows the people involved. The usual Delany pattern would dictate that the police would suspect Merry and resent any of her suggestions or discoveries. This was a refreshing change.

Also a nice change is a distinct reduction of the small town politics and less time spent by Merry and her BFF in restaurants and coffee shops. This may be the way that we really spend our time, but it's dull to read about. (One of my major beefs with cozy mysteries is that there is way too much attention paid to food, housework, clothes, and personal grooming. All this stuff needs to happen in real life, but it's boring as hell to read about.)

As cozy mysteries go, these are fast and reasonably fun, if somewhat predictable.



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The Vanishing Stair / Maureen Johnson

 

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe 3.4 stars? The plot doesn't flow smoothly as the first book, it stutters along, only to end with a cliffhanger. Stevie is still a detective smartie pants, but she has been blackmailed into helping the person she hates most in the world, the smarmy, rich, conservative senator that her parents worship and work for. She can return to Ellingham Academy, but she must keep an eye on his son, David.
Stevie would like to keep more than her eyes on David, but she feels like she is betraying him. Her social skills aren't up to the same standard as her detective skills, so there are issues.

Of course, this is a standard romance story structure—a communication problem comes between the two who are romantically involved (or want to be). As is the addition of the nephew of a writer who has engaged Stevie as her assistant. He provides a friend for Stevie and a focus for David's jealousy, proving his continued affection for Stevie to the reader.

The first volume of the author's Shades of London series was the best one of those books for me. I'm hoping that this series won't go that same direction. During the earlier series, Johnson chose to take the main character (Rory) away from the school and from her friends. It was that change that really reduced my enjoyment of the series, so I hope that she keeps Stevie at the Academy for the next book. Although Stevie isn't as articulate and snarky as Rory was, her interactions with Nate, Janelle, and Vi are some of the best parts of the story, better even than the riddles that she may have figured out.


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December's Thorn / Phillip DePoy

 

December's Thorn: A Fever Devilin Novel by Phillip DePoy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the last book (number seven) of a series, which is an odd place to begin reading. And this is an odd, but engaging, book. I wondered if I would be confused, joining in at such a late date, but the author provided enough detail to let me know Fever Devilin and his situation quite clearly.

It's interesting how the author weaves together things that he knows to make the book richer—his knowledge of Southern culture and of folklore made the setting feel real and the main character seem complex and authentic. He used the Tristan and Isolde story very effectively to provide a framework for the novel. Then he adds just enough weird details to keep me slightly off balance throughout. How much of this is real? Not having read the previous books, I couldn't judge that easily.

Since it has been seven years since the publication of this volume, it seems unlikely that there will be further adventures of Fever, though there are threads left dangling that could have been the beginning of the next book. I chose this book because of the December in the title, but it turned out to be an interesting choice for all that.


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Precursor / C.J. Cherryh

 

Precursor by C.J. Cherryh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

C.J. Cherryh is not kind to her main character, Bren Cameron. She puts him through the wringer during this installment of the Foreigner series, with unexpected diplomatic assignments, family issues of several flavours, security issues, slippery negotiations with unreliable ship captains, uneasy relations with the human planetary government, among other things. If it sounds like an awful lot, it is, but Bren has earned a lot of respect, or man'chi, with his atevi staff and has their extremely competent support.

I always love it when the Empress-dowager features and she appears at both ends of this book. I'm just surprised that she didn't bring one of her riding beasts along for the ride! That would really have set the spacefarers on their ears. It becomes obvious that the atevi are just plain old smarter than these shipbound humans, who have lived for centuries in bland, unchanging environments and have become inflexible. They have completely forgotten that giving orders isn't a natural way of dealing with other beings and that you can only be boss of your own group. (Not to mention that they seem to serve glop for food. It may be nutritional, but it's still glop.)

I think Cherryh has drawn some accurate ideas about how an isolated ship's crew might develop socially, especially when they have a siege mentality. Reaching out to others or trusting trade partners are not going to come naturally to them. Plus, we only have their word on yet another alien race which has razed their second space station. Are these aliens a real threat or a bogeyman made up to chivvy the planet dwellers into co-operating? There's no known rationale for such an attack, but the atevi wonder and since I respect them most of all three groups, I wonder too.

I'm glad that the author chose to continue this series and I look forward to many happy hours of reading in my future.

Book number 389 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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A Civil Campaign / Lois McMaster Bujold

 

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't resist picking up this novel right after finishing Komarr. I'm glad that I read it while the details of Komarr were still crystal clear in my head. These two books remind me a lot of Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's Liadin Universe series. They have investigations and political intrigue, of course, but the also have a good solid love story at their core. Can Miles Vorkosigan convince Ekaterin Vorsoisson to become Lady Vorkosigan?

Ekaterin wondered at one point why he wasn't being pursued by Barrayaran women. After all, he could charm nine year old boys out of locked bathrooms and Komarran terrorists out of a hostage situation. She is impressed, but very recently widowed and before that had been preparing to leave an emotionally abusive husband. It's hard to trust your relationship instincts after something like that.
Of course Miles blabs too much, but not to Ekaterin, leading to a farcical scene at a dinner party which he hosts. No one likes to feel manipulated, especially after surviving a controlling husband, and Miles realizes too late that he has possibly torpedoed his chances at wedded bliss. I think the turning point seems to be Simon Illyan's observation to Ekaterin that Miles' genius is choosing personnel. He tells her that if Miles has chosen her for the role of Lady Vorkosigan, it is probably has an excellent chance of success.

The lady seems to have similar feelings, and when others attack Miles, she has a strong reaction. I also enjoyed her son Nikki's solution to his relatives' attempt to remove him from his mother's care. Talk about using a missile to swat a mosquito!

Time to move on to other series, but have no doubt that I will return to the Vorkosigan universe soon!

Book number 388 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Komarr / Lois McMaster Bujold

 

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do love Miles Vorkosigan! So much so that I stayed up much too late to finish this book. I think I prefer Miles as an Imperial Auditor, rather than a Imperial Security officer. He gets interesting assignments in his new role.

And I fell head over heels in love with Ekaterin just as surely as Miles did. Bujold manages to take Ekaterin's failed marriage and a possible terrorist plot, and turn them into a romantic story. The terrorism gets its full coverage and the details are laid out in full. The glorious part is Ekaterin's part in foiling their plan. Well, this is the Vorkosigan universe—you must realize that Miles and Barrayar are going to come out on top, yes?

I have the next book sitting on my shelf and I shall be most interested in seeing where this new relationship goes. Miles admires the glorious mess that Kat made and she declares that he is “not so short, just concentrated.” This looks like the beginning of a lively courtship.

Book number 387 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Children of God / Mary Doria Russell

 

Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a rough start with this book and had to set it aside and read something else for a while. When I returned, I found myself drawn right in to life on the planet of Rakhat in all its complexity. The right time to read it had arrived.

I found myself frequently thinking, “Oh, can I ever tell that the author is an anthropologist!” She weaves together so many aspects of human history and culture in this sequel to The Sparrow. Of course there is the whole religious aspect, with space travel being a project of the Jesuits, blessed by the Pope (who spent time in a refugee camp as a child fleeing Ethiopia). Sofia, is still on Rakhat, adding her Jewish influence. Then there is the head of the Jesuits, Vincenzo Giuliani, who is closely related to the local Naples mafia, a link that becomes highly relevant to Emilio Sandoz. (And I finally figured out why the Jana'ata maimed Emilio's hands.)

Then, we have the two sentient species on Rakhat: the less numerous Jana'ata, the predatory species who rule; and the more numerous Runa, who are vegetarian, and are both servants and food source to their rulers. I think there were intentional parallels drawn to the concentration camps of WWII, with some Runa being loyally complicit with their Jana'ata owners, even in the face of whole scale culling of their people. Not to mention Runa servants being sent to the market to buy pieces of their species to feed their overlords.

So, these aliens are very different than humans and there are misunderstandings galore, as all three types of beings make assumptions that get them into trouble. Yet they are motivated by some of the same things: love of family, desire to run their own lives, loyalty, even beauty, of music for example.
The ending I thought was lovely, bringing a tear to my eye. (And I was happy to see that a suspicion of mine turned out to be true.) Not happily ever after, which wouldn't have been realistic, but happy as possible.

Book number 386 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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Island in the Sea of Time / S.M. Stirling

 

Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is not a book that I would have sought out on my own, it was part of a list which I decided to read my way through. It is a twist on time travel, where usually one or a few people travel to the past, sometimes as a planned operation. In this instance, the entire island of Nantucket is transported by an unexplained Event to 3000 years in the past. This makes it kind of a cross between a time travel book and a post-apocalyptic tale. The community must figure out how to grow their own food, make their own cloth, and all the other things that are necessary for survival.

The population of the island gives the author some leeway, providing specialists in skills like blacksmithing, horse training, hunting, sailing, etc. It also gives a variety of personalities, from academics to politicians to criminals. A little of everything, with the tensions and disagreements that are normal among any group of humans who are trying to coexist.

Fortunately, a Coast Guard sailing ship has been caught within the translocation field too, and it is sent to the pre-British Isles to acquire seed grain and some foundational livestock. A former historian accompanies them as a guide and potential translator. In fact there is a lot of sailing all over—to ancient Mexico, to the Caribbean, as well as back & forth to Europe. I have no way to know if this a realistic prospect.

All the while I was reading this, I was reminded of Reality Dysfunction : Emergence and Expansion, which I read earlier this year. Thankfully, this book was superior to that one and shorter too! It was the villains of the two pieces that resembled each other. In the Reality Dysfunction, it was a young man leading a Satanic cult; in this one, it's a young man with delusions of grandeur, a touch of sadism, and a wife who has a taste for torture. It's like the bad guys have to be over-the-top evil, the garden variety just isn’t horrible enough. There's a strong Paradise Lost vibe, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

Book number 385 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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The Hanged Man / P.N. Elrod

 

The Hanged Man by P.N. Elrod
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2020 Re-Read

This book was my gateway to alternate Victorian timelines and steampunk. I re-read it on impulse because 2020. What better way to feel good than to revisit a book you love? I had all kinds of reading goals for this year (not to mention other life goals) and I've had to set all of those aside in favour of staying happy.

I was just as delighted by this Victorian adventure the second time around. It has its tense moments, as Alex Pendlebury discovers that she has been called as a psychic Reader to the scene of her own father's murder. She must strive to find out why he hadn't let her know that he was back in England, what he was involved in, and what her employer, Her Majesty's Psychic Service, has to do with it all. Her family is both a help and a hindrance, but she comes to count on her protective detail, Mr. Brooks.

It's a good mystery combined with imaginative paranormal aspects. It is also called book one of a series, but nothing more has been published since this novel in 2015. I don't know if this was the publisher's choice, or whether Pat Elrod lost interest, but either way I am sorry that there have been no further Psychic Service adventures.


***2018 Summer of Spies***

Recommended for fans of the Victorian lady detective form of fantasy.

I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of the steampunk subgenre, although I seem to be warming up to that category as I read more of it. This novel is one of those best suited to my particular tastes in fantasy.

I chose it partly because of the series title, Her Majesty’s Psychic Service. It is definitely a mystery with a dollop of romance—I’d been hoping for something spy related, from that series title. But there was enough intrigue that I’m still counting it towards my Summer of Spies.
I loved the family complications that the heroine, Alex Pendlebury, coped with throughout the story and the workplace machinations that also had to be factored into her calculations. Operating on the theory that forgiveness is easier to get than permission, Alex shows a lot of initiative on the investigation, aided by the sometimes-prescient always-handsome Lieutenant Brooks.

As Patricia Briggs wrote in her blurb for the book, there is “Murder, mayhem and tea.” If you like alternate-history Victorian adventure with witty banter and paranormal talents, this is the book for you. Now I am just crossing my fingers that Ms. Elrod will be publishing another volume in the series eventually.

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December Dread / Jess Lourey

 

December Dread by Jess Lourey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The isolation required by this Covid-19 pandemic is taking its toll on me. I'm finding it so much easier to read in my favourite genre fiction bubbles rather than tackling more substantial literature. Here I am in December 2020, reading cozy mysteries and liking them! And how, you ask, can a cozy mystery involve a serial killer? I wondered that too, but Mira James with her sidekick, Mrs. Berns, made me a believer.

One of the true joys of the book is Mrs. Berns (whose first name I do not know), the feisty senior whose conversation is refreshingly uncensored and who is game for anything. She and Mira take a self defence course in this book and after the instructor throws her the first time, she declares that she isn't leaving that basement until she has mastered that skill. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious and her observations are hilarious. Mira herself is pretty cynical and she has acerbic commentary of her own that is entertaining.

Mira takes a course for private investigators during the first part of the novel. She proves that she can be good at it, having the observational skills and curiosity necessary for the role. Now if she can just find a way to get paid for it!

I don't think there's any doubt that I'll continue with this series. My library has January Thaw, now I just have to make room for it in my January reading schedule.


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Truly Devious / Maureen Johnson

 

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I knew going into this book that it was in the young adult genre and I'm an old adult. So this shouldn't have been a book for me. And yet, I read this author's The Name of the Star and really enjoyed it, so I was willing to give this one a chance. I loved this one too.

Stevie Bell is a kid that I'd like to spend time with. She a mystery buff, a fan of true crime, and an aspiring detective. She's also a teenage girl with extremely different values from her parents. So she takes a chance and submits an application to the Ellingham Academy, an exclusive school designed for students with unusual talents and goals.

”This box contained the bare necessities of her life: her mystery novels. (At least a carefully curated selection of a few dozen essentials.) These were lovingly arranged on the bookshelf in the order in which she needed to see them. Sherlock Holmes on top with Wilkie Collins. Then Agatha Christie spread over two shelves, leading into Josephine Tey and Dorothy L. Sayers. She stood back and examined the overall effect, then tweaked until the arrangement was just right. Where her books were, she was. Get the books right and the rest will follow.”

Who can't love a girl like that? Stevie is different from Rory in The Name of the Star, who had more social skills and is better equipped to deal with boys. But both have gone to unfamiliar schools though and found themselves in the middle of complex situations. So far, in Truly Devious, there are none of the paranormal aspects that made TNOTS special. The ending of this novel draws you on to the next book and this series seems to have more oomph than the first one, which seems to have just petered out. The second two books didn't manage to hold on to the charm of the first volume. I have a hunch that this series will hold up better. Johnson learned something from that effort.

I must confess that I'm developing a similar small book collection to Stevie's, designed to move with me into seniors' housing when that need arrives. The hard part is keeping it trimmed down to a reasonable number, not something easy for a woman who loves books immoderately.



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We Wish You a Murderous Christmas / Vicki Delany

 

We Wish You a Murderous Christmas by Vicki Delany
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fun little cozy Christmas mystery. It's a nice distraction between more substantial books, one of which is coming up for me. So I was practicing avoidance, basically, plus trying to inspire myself to set up my artificial Christmas tree (that part worked).

Vicki Delany is a good writer, but as I have written before she has a formula for at least two of her series. This Year Round Christmas series is SO similar to her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries. These Christmas books were written first, so I guess the Bookshop Mysteries are re-runs or at least reworkings of them. Eventually, I'd like to try some of her other writings to see if they are different.

I’ve rated my reading experience as 3 stars, but maybe 3.3 would match a bit better? Your mileage may vary.


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The Archive of the Forgotten / A.J. Hackwith

 

The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Misunderstandings are part of life. Especially when you are dealing with family. And like most urban fantasies, Hell's Library involves a chosen family, centred around the former librarian, Claire. But Claire is now the Arcanist in charge of Hell's archives, the Muse Brevity has been promoted to Librarian, and each has an assistant: the former book character Hero in the Library and fallen angel Ramiel in the Archives.

All of these changes happened during a turbulent period (see book one) and it is the supernatural Library that chooses these things. Claire is hurt to be shifted from her librarian position and isolates herself. How many families do you know where this happens? Someone's feelings are hurt and they withdraw from family gatherings and communication. It's difficult for everyone, there's a lot of anger, and nothing gets resolved.

So when a huge pool of Ink appears in the Archives, a result of destruction of books (see book one), it would make sense to collaborate. However Claire still isn't willing to talk. She was proud of her work and still isn't ready to admit to her mistakes. Pride cometh before a fall, and Claire gets infected with this magical ink. Brevity is having her own issues, as her sister Muse Probity has come to “support" her. Or is that Probity's true purpose?

I'm rating this as 4 stars, the same as book 1, but it's maybe truly 3.8 stars. I liked it just a titch less, but it was still very good. The first installment had the excellent tag line, “Raise Hell. Join the Library.” That's pretty hard to beat.


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Find Me / Anne Frasier

 

Find Me by Anne Frasier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm struggling with the rating of this book. On the one hand, I felt like the author tipped her hand just a little too obviously. On the other hand, I read it fast and didn't want to stop. Also, I'm starting to wrestle with the issue of fiction glorifying serial murders and the people who commit them. I feel somewhat guilty that I enjoy this genre, but I also think that it doesn't hurt anyone if I like it. Something that I'm going to have to work out for myself, I guess.

I guess we are all amateur psychologists, attempting to understand those around us. And because we value being able to predict the behaviour of others and understand their motivations, I think we fixate on people who behave in antisocial ways. It's kind of like rubber necking to see a car accident--we're attempting to learn from the misfortune of others and avoid it ourselves. If I can just spot the dangerous person, I can get away unscathed, goes the reasoning. At least I think that what motivates me.

I loved the desert setting that Frasier uses here. Maybe this harks back to my teenage years of reading Zane Grey. I haven't personally spent much time in desert habitats, I'm a grassland girl. But I have to agree with the main character Reni when she says, “I cope by looking up and out. That's where I find help. Nature never lets me down.” Birds have always been my thing and there are very few places on Earth where you can be outside and not see a bird pretty quickly.

I'm going to give this 3 stars, but that's just my feeling about my reading experience today. I think I might have rated it more highly if I'd read it several years ago.




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The Searcher / Tana French

 

The Searcher by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. If I had never read French's Dublin Murder Squad books, I'd probably be even more effusive. This author writes like a dream. Perhaps I was expecting too much, so I feel just a tiny bit disappointed, which is ridiculous as this is a fine mystery.

As I have observed many times, setting a mystery in a small community is the most efficient method. Fewer people to sort through for the sleuth and the reader. Plus you get to include the history of the people who live in this village and the impulse among the villagers to shut out the foreigner. Cal, as a retired American detective, is about as much of a stranger in rural Ireland as anyone could be.

I've lived in a small community, though not so small as this one. It's true, you know who deals the drugs, who's allergic to work, who's on the dole, who beats his wife and/or his kids. You know who is related to whom. It can be hard for the outsider to keep track of all these details. Cal misjudges his neighbours and conversely they don't realize how he is going to react either, causing more issues than either side thought there would be.

I'm pretty sure that French introduces a flock of rooks in Cal's back yard as a mirror to village life. They are hard to win over, skeptical, and wary. Cal often interprets their calls as derisive. They appear at book's beginning and end to make the full circle.

French did her usual thing, surprising me with little switcheroos. Maybe not a full scale twists, but definitely events that made me shake my head and refocus my eyes. Agatha Christie does that to me too, so she is in good company. And like In the Woods, she doesn't wrap everything up neatly or answer every question and I love that. I have yet to read The Trespasser, I started it once and got stuck. This makes me think that I should return to it and take another run at it.


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Heroes Die / Matthew Woodring Stover

 

Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I started reading this book in a cranky mood. I'm an introvert and this Covid-19 pandemic is the apocalypse that I've been training for, but even I am beginning to feel the strain of lack of in-person human contact. So I read the first half of the book while grumpy, then went for a massage (while still able to do so) and returned to the task with a happier outlook. Maybe the second half of the book was better, maybe I was just in a better frame of mind to enjoy it.

Hari Michaelson is an actor. But not in our sense of that word. He gets transferred into another world that shares interdimensional space with his (which I assume is a future Earth), where he becomes Caine, an extraordinary fighter, who changes the course of history in Overworld. Kind of the ultimate in reality TV. Meanwhile, in his home world, grey, faceless multinationals run everything while maintaining a crippling caste system. There, Hari must bow and scrape to his Administrator, something he hates but can't change if he wants to work. It's the wealthy Leisure class who plug in to the Actors' feeds, like wealthy Romans at the gladiatorial games, vicariously savouring the violence and blood.

It is when he is Caine that Hari feels alive. He “thinks with his fists" and can channel all of the aggression that builds up inside him. Not realizing this, his fellow actor Shanna marries him, only to find out that he does more acting in “real" life than when at work. This isn't what she signed up for and they separate. Nevertheless, when one of Shanna's roles goes pear shaped, Hari is determined to go rescue her.

So, this is gladiatorial combat with a fantasy overlay. The whole story seems to exist simply for Caine to pound on his adversaries. His wife is set up as the altruistic one of the two, but blind to how her projects are also manipulating the course of events in Overworld. Hari just wants to prevent her death and get her home, a kind of extreme possessiveness. It seems like a grittier, more X rated version of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt series, which is also all about the fights, but has a more good guy main character. Caine has his own code, kind of a murky one. His morality is much less absolute, more situational, than most fantasy main characters. Perhaps he's good to have on your side, but don't get too comfortable because he is always on his own side first and foremost. In the second half of the book, events get a lot more convoluted and back-stabby, which was more interesting.

The novel got me thinking about morality—intervening in another world's politics and history seems so intrusive, and yet how often has that happened with Western countries messing about in Latin America or the Middle East? And to do so for the sake of entertaining the rich on another world seemed gratuitously insulting. Plus, the gross unfairness of the caste system in Hari's timeline, which could be a possible outgrowth of the extreme wealth gap, seemed to have a tone of warning for current society.

Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut had it right in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, when he had Eliot Rosewater praise science fiction writers for dealing with the big, contentious problems of society.

Book number 384 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater / Kurt Vonnegut

 

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Matthew 7:6)

Kurt Vonnegut was ahead of his time. How many people in 1965 were concerned about the gap between rich and poor? The drawbacks of capitalism? Or the environment? As he said elsewhere, we were rolling drunk on petroleum at this point in history. All these ideas were just getting started, shaking up the status quo. Here in the early 21st century, they are much more influential.

The author isn't subtle about setting up Eliot Rosewater as the holy fool who believes that he can use the Rosewater fortune for good. He is continually casting his pearls of kindness and compassion before the swine of the capitalist system, and they do try to tear him to pieces. Being subtle is a good way to be overlooked, after all.

I love this book because it introduces Kilgore Trout, the unsuccessful science fiction writer whose works seem to end up almost exclusively in pornography shops. Is Trout an alter ego for the author? I suspect so, as he wanders through Vonnegut's published works at will.

The problem is this: How to love people who have no use? In time, almost all men and women will be worthless as producers of goods, food, services, and machines, as sources of practical ideas in the areas of economics, engineering, and probably medicine too. So—if we can't find methods for treasuring human beings because they are human beings, then we might as well, as has so often been suggested, rub them out.

It seems to me that this Covid-19 (doesn't that sound like Vonnegut named it?) pandemic has started to push us closer to this with the idea of the guaranteed income. Recognizing that everyone should have the basics, whether they've been successful or not. That jobs are decreasing as robotics and artificial intelligences take on more roles.

I first read Vonnegut as an undergraduate in my 20s and I loved his questioning of the system and irreverence for Western society's sacred cows. Today, in my late 50s, I find myself focusing on what I think is one of his main ideas: Babies, God damn it, you've got to be kind. Kindness for not only our families and friends, but also for those less fortunate and even for those who are supposedly more fortunate. A trip down memory lane.




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The Undead in My Bed

 

The Undead In My Bed by Katie MacAlister
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

These 3 paranormal romance stories were an amusing way to spend a Friday evening.

Katie MacAlister manages to write a fun romance while seeming to make a bit of fun of the PNR tropes that often get taken just a little too seriously by authors of this sort of fiction. At least her female main character in this one is a smart, talented woman. I read her first Dark Ones novel for Halloween Bingo this year and found the two female main characters to be ditzy, and although it worked in the context of that book, it's not my preference. I like my heroines to be intelligent and competent.

Molly Harper's sense of humour always appeals to me and any story that involves her Jane Jameson character will always get a thumbs up from me. Having worked in libraries myself, I have a soft spot for this children's librarian turned vampire bookstore owner. Now that Jane is successfully paired off, Harper can use her as an accomplice to other women who are trying to sort out their romantic lives. (I also loved that Dick wanted to stick around for Tess and Sam's reunion to see if Tess would be throwing her chef's knives!)

The third author, Jessica Sims, was new to me. Strange isn't it that a story so similar to the first two didn't appeal to me quite so much? Maybe it's lack of familiarity, maybe it's a slightly different emphasis, maybe it's the whole giving the romance a second chance plot line. I haven't quite put my finger on it yet, but I think it might be the second chance angle, it's not a plot that I favour.

That was fun and fast. I stayed up too late to finish it up and may have difficulty getting up in a timely fashion tomorrow to get to the grocery store before the weekend crush. Oh well, it was worth it.


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Sailing to Sarantium / Guy Gavriel Kay

 

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sinking into a Guy Gavriel Kay historical fantasy is like immersing myself in a warm, fragrant bath, lovely and comforting. His worldview meshes with mine so well, he is truly the perfect author match for me. Now that I have finished this volume, I have only three unread books of his left and this distresses me. What will I do until he publishes the next? Well, begin a re-reading cycle, yes, but there is no feeling like the first experience of a GGK novel.

Well, I shall persevere. Because this author writes main characters who are decent men like Caius Crispin. He may be cranky (he has reasons) and he may take risks, but he is kind to those who he has power over, perhaps the most telling measure of a man. In addition to decent men, Kay writes women as real people (we are, you know), with the same aspirations and emotions as his male characters. They aren't perplexing enigmas, they aren't cardboard cut-outs, they are fully realized people. This is the major reason that I adore Mr. Kay's fiction.

The other main reason is his treatment of the religious aspect of life. Crispen comes face to face with a Pagan god, he is knocked on his back by a spectacular Jaddite mosaic, and both of these experiences feel absolutely real to me. I feel his awe right along with him. Aspiring to be a happy Pagan myself, feeling a lot of sympathy for such things, this aspect of the story delights me. (This is why The Egypt Game grabbed me firmly as a tween and why the King Arthur cycle continues to speak to me so loudly today, I am just a sucker for pre-Christian religions.)

As Crispin plans his grand mosaic, I am reminded of another favourite book, What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies. It's main character, Francis Cornish, also creates a very personal masterpiece, a painting done in Old Master style, but featuring people and symbols peculiar to the artist. He smuggles his own mythology into it and creates something extraordinary, just as I expect Crispen will do in this sanctuary.

I both look forward to and dread reading the second half of this tale. On one hand I want to spend more time in this world with these people. On the other hand, then the adventure will be over. The best books leave me feeling torn this way.

Book number 383 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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To Say Nothing of the Dog / Connie Willis

 

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, that was fun. A wonderful time travel whodunnit. I forget where I read that this book was informed by Three Men in a Boat, which I read earlier this year in preparation for reading this novel. Although I didn't find Jerome K. Jerome's tale too engaging, I loved Connie Willis' version. I’m so glad I was familiar with Mr. Jerome's work, as it provided a great deal of humour. Although this novel features the same university department as Willis' Doomsday Book, it had an entirely different tone. This one is practically slapstick by comparison.

Ms. Willis obviously shares some literary interests with me. I loved the references to Conan Doyle & Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie & Poirot, Dorothy Sayers & Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane, P.G. Wodehouse & Jeeves & Wooster, not to mention Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. This kind of thing is just catnip to me. So many of my favourites alluded to all in one place. Not to mention the sighting of Jerome out on the river!

Willis also has a talent for names—what else do you call the rich, pushy woman who has taken over everything and destroyed the regular work of the history department? Why, Lady Schrapnell, of course! Perfect. I think that Jodi Taylor must have read this before writing her own time travel romp Just One Damned Thing After Another, another book that I've enjoyed a lot.

It took me a couple of attempts to really get going in this book just because of life matters, but once I reached a certain point, I couldn't set it down until I was finished.

Book number 382 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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November Hunt / Jess Lourey

 

November Hunt by Jess Lourey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let's call this one 3.5 stars, shall we? Better than many books I've rated 3, but not quite a 4.

This is the penultimate book in my 2020 Book-of-the-Month reading list, the November choice. Chosen for a frivolous reason, it was a surprisingly entertaining read. Mira is a relatable main character, a young woman looking to change her life by moving to a small town in Minnesota. I'm missing some of her background, having joined in here at book number seven. But I didn't feel that I was missing any crucial information.

One of my favourite side characters is Mrs. Berns, the blunt spoken senior who seems to be Mira's BFF in Battle Lake. Unfortunately, she leaves the Minnesotan winter for Arizona for the majority of the book. She provides a good foil for Mira, who shouldn't really fit into the small community. Mira is from a big city, has given up alcohol, and doesn't eat red meat, just a few of the ways she stands out from the general population. With Mrs. Berns to “sponsor" her, she's fitting in well enough to have a job at the library and a regular column in the newspaper. She also seems to have a talent for befriending seniors and other folks who don't immediately fit in. There's also an amusing subplot concerning her hot new boyfriend--she's just been through a bad break-up and is determined not to sleep with him for 6 months.

So it's kind of a typical cozy, although those usually involve a local girl who's come back home from the big city after a break-up. The real hook is that Mira is working on getting her PI license, which is what draws her into the conflict that begins this novel.

So I find myself strangely wishing that I had started with book one, although I'm not likely to go back to it at this point. But I might be convinced to go on to the December adventure.


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A Killing Frost / Seanan Mcguire

 

A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, book 14 in this series, and unlike some others (Anita Blake for example) I'm still really enjoying these adventures. Part of that is due to my passion for McGuire's depiction of the world of the Fae. She has created a world that I find fascinating--I'm always interested to expand what I know about the Byzantine rules that run the lives of the Purebloods. Toby is having to worry about some of these conventions now, as her blood balance has shifted further away from changeling, more towards the pure end of the spectrum. Also because she will (probably) be marrying Tybalt, the King of Cats.

And that's what this book is all about—observing the rules in order to have the wedding run smoothly. Toby must rescue her legal father, Simon Torquill. I think that Toby bleeds less during this installment, but May seems to stand in for her. Quentin has a few moments of peril, too.

I'm ever so glad that McGuire has more volumes of this series planned. I can't be sure how much longer she can continue to spin these tales, so I'll be waiting with anticipation when each one of them is published.


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The Secret Adversary / Agatha Christie

 

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2020 Re-read:

This was a very fun re-read. How different it is from Christie's first novel, although it was entertaining to see Inspector Japp show up very briefly during the proceedings. I became aware that Hercules Poirot and Tommy & Tuppence exist in the same environment.

You'd think that I would remember the ending since I only read it two years ago, but no dice. There were plenty of other details that stuck in my mind however. I loved the banter between the main characters and the breakneck pace of unlikely events. After all, Tommy and Tuppence are rank amateurs in the spy game, but they turn up more information while flailing around as beginners than the professional spooks have been able to come up with.

Highly entertaining. I'll look forward to more adventures of this dynamic duo. My initial rating holds up.


ORIGINAL REVIEW:

***2018 Summer of Spies***

I had great fun reading this, the second of Dame Agatha’s books to be published. It is refreshing for its lack of a plot formula, like those developed during her career and well established by books like Hallowe'en Party. It is also unusual in its featuring of a couple in the starring roles, Tommy & Tuppence. Plus it incorporates a relatively recent event, the sinking of the Luisitania (1915), The Secret Adversary being published in 1922. I was really struck, however, by the plight of the young people after WWI :

"Rot!" said Tommy hastily. "Well, that's my position. I'm just about desperate."
"So am I! I've hung out as long as I could. I've touted round. I've answered advertisements. I've tried every mortal blessed thing. I've screwed and saved and pinched! But it's no good. I shall have to go home!"

Maybe because I live in a town where the economy has been dominated by the (now slumping) petroleum trade for decades and I have also been perusing resumés for a new position in our department. It’s rather sad to see young people bravely putting their best foot forward and knowing that there are much more experienced candidates available.

Of course it’s very unrealistic for two young amateurs to fare so well against the Secret Adversary, but it’s more fun than realism would have been. Tuppence, especially, seems to embody the spirit & brains that so many of Christie’s female characters exhibit, giving a hint of what is to come. It was just what I was looking for in a summer read—a rather fluffy & fun adventure.

I also liked the author’s dedication: “To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure.” I think she could have dedicated a great many of her books this way.

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Anti-Diet / Christy Harrison

 

Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I used to work with a woman who was perpetually trying a new diet and who wanted to try each fad device that came along. I finally told her that if they actually worked, they wouldn't be relegated to small ads in the back of magazines, they would be trumpeted on the cover of Time magazine. I doubt she paid much attention to me as she was very caught up in her magical thinking. I should know, I've spent years of my life pursuing the goal of weight loss. If losing weight was easy, trust me, no one would be fat.

We've all heard the news that diets don't work. In fact dieting seems to be the best way to gain weight, as you mess with your metabolism, slowing it down. Our bodies are very good at maintaining energy balance if left alone. I speak as someone who has dieted, on and off, since I was about 11 years old. The sad thing is that I look back at photos of myself back then and I realize that I was far from fat. However, I often couldn't find clothing to fit my body and ended up wearing women's sizes much earlier than I was comfortable with. Instead of blaming the clothing manufacturers, I blamed my body. Things are much different today, although its still more difficult to find plus-sized clothing that I actually like.

We are unaware that we are surrounded by Diet Culture just as fish are surrounded by water. The weight loss industry has realized that dieting has been discredited and they have changed to “lifestyles" and “healthy living.” Since I've been reading this book, I've really become aware of how bombarded we are by exhortations to eat healthily. Which would be okay if it wasn't designed to drive us into the arms of the weight loss industry.

Does this mean that I will abandon spinach and beans in favour of soda and chips? Absolutely not! The health benefits of real food are not limited to the weight issues. We need vitamins, minerals, and fiber to maintain our bodies and psychological health. However, I'll continue to insist on tasty, satisfying food. I decided long ago not to eat anything that I don't like, no matter how healthy it is reputed to be (I'm looking at you, kale).

Although the book doesn't discuss this, it seems to me that there is a strong push in our society, urging women to be perfect: thin through a perfect diet & exercise plan, contributing perfectly at work, raising the happiest, healthiest children, maintaining a perfect house-beautiful living space. No wonder so many women are so bloody tired!

And just as a final note, I have a cousin who is an artist and sometimes when we spend time together she asks if she can draw me. I've always felt a bit awkward about this and finally told her so. She said the most wonderful thing: “I like drawing you, you're comfortable in your body.”



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With my cousin's permission:

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires / Grady Hendrix

 

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the foreword, this author says, “With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites [a vampire] against women whose lives are shaped by their responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you'll see, it's not a fair fight.”

But it takes a while. Especially when the vampire arrives in town with money and seems to be willing to spread the wealth by investing in the local economy. He says to Patricia at one point, “I moved here because you people are all so stupid. You'll take anyone at face value as long as he's white and has money." And the men are totally bamboozled. It's the wives who see what's going on, but the old, experienced vampire knows how to turn the husbands against the wives and the women retreat for fear of losing their marriages, their reputations, and, in Patricia's case, her freedom when her husband threatens to institutionalize her.

But they don't suffer the worst of the situation. That is the fate of the black community just outside the town limits, where children are going missing, are committing suicide, or are being murdered. It's not reported in the newspaper and pretty much ignored by the police, because apparently they are expendable. The book club ladies back off when first threatened, but when James Harris comes after their children, something must be done.

What to you do when you are faced with folklore, a being that your community isn't going to believe in? You do it yourself, of course. All my life, I've watched women wade into problems that they don't really know how to solve, but with the determination to fix things. And they very rarely fail completely.

Even in this day and age, most women are going to recognize the male behaviour in this book. All I have to do is look at the sneering, disrespectful way that women are treated in politics and all of the threats and abuse that they must wade through as they do their jobs. White men are so used to being the ones in charge and to having their wives being their support system, that they just assume it is their due. Male entitlement writ large.

This book could have been all about James Harris, but I appreciated that Hendrix centred the story around the women. As one of the women observes when the book club becomes co-ed, the men sure like to hear themselves talk. But it is the women who take action. You go, girl!


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Our Animal Hearts / Dania Tomlinson

 

Our Animal Hearts by Dania Tomlinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book keeps reminding me of Jo Walton's Among Others, though when I've talked about that book with other people, I've come to the conclusion that I've forgotten chunks it. Here's what I found reminiscent: there's an abiding love of books; Among Others is set in Wales and Iris' mother is Welsh; there are magical creatures, seen by the main character, that we have only her kword to go on.

I'm somewhat familiar with the Okanagan area where this book is set. I remember vacationing there at my aunt's house when I was a child. The lake dominates the landscape, dark blue and cold.



Iris is enigmatic. She is both loyal and a betrayer. She is her mother's caretaker and is rapidly becoming her mother, complete with visions and health problems. Like all of us from time to time, she feels jealous, ambitious, responsible, irresponsible, scared, confident. She never doubts what she sees, that's the one constant in her life.

I'm still pondering the blue fish. It lives for decades in a mason jar with a lid on and without eating. I feel like I'm not quite grasping its significance. Thankfully I don't need to understand it all to enjoy it.



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Murder on Cold Street / Sherry Thomas

 

Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sherry Thomas really has my number! Ever since I read A Study in Scarlet Women, I have been greedy for the next installment of the Charlotte Holmes story. She has done such a complete job of feminizing the whole Sherlock Holmes story, in such a delightful way.

Of course, if you're still reading the series at this point, you're also interested in Charlotte's relationship with Lord Ingram, which has ebbed and flowed during the course of the books. Thomas has been very skilled at bringing the two together, then drawing them apart again, maintaining the sexual tension quite nicely. Even though Ash seems to have decided where he stands on the matter, Thomas wrote this adventure as much too time consuming to allow him to do anything about it, drawing out the anticipation even further. I sometimes think that anticipation is half the fun, so I thoroughly approve of her methods.

I had been wanting to know more about the Treadles and I got my wish in spades with this book. I'm glad to see the Inspector continuing to look for ways to appreciate and support his wife. I extra glad to see how Mrs. Watson's support helped Alice to assume her rightful role as head of her company. I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up in future volumes, but this was their book. Now I'm hoping that Miss Longford, introduced here, will be an ongoing character.

Livia got a little neglected, perhaps, this time around, but if the epilogue is any indication, she and Charlotte may be working on her problems when next we read about them. I'm getting sentimental as I get older, I want to see all these young people settled (and yet I dread the end of the series and the possibility of no further Charlotte Holmes stories).



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Peace Talks / Jim Butcher

 

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jim Butcher wastes no time making nice before dropping bombs into Harry Dresden's life. Within 100 pages, Harry's apartment building is on fire and his daughter is threatened. Butcher is excellent at applying pressure to his characters, but he shows a special talent for thinking up seemingly impossible dilemmas for Harry to finagle his way out of.

There's the usual humour, of course. That's one of the main attractions of urban fantasy for me. Things may be turning to shit all around him, but Harry will still have a smart-ass remark to make about it. And there is genuine care, too. His coterie of friends and family don't just stand by him—he stands by them too. There is love, loyalty, and dedication there, qualities that I value even though I don't have to fight for them very often. Perhaps because Harry and Murphy are now a couple and Harry has custody of his daughter, Harry seems more mature and centred in himself. It looks good on him.

Harry is imperfect, as are we all, but he does his best. That's all I can ask and it’s what Butcher reliably gives me. His product is consistent and I know what I'm getting when I pick up a Dresden novel. This one ends with a cliffhanger, but I know that Battle Ground will show up in my hold queue at the library eventually, and then I'll get the rest of the story.


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All Systems Red : the Murderbot Diaries / Martha Wells

 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Murderbot is a fabulous character! Although Wells goes to some trouble to tell us that Murderbot has no gender or sexual desire, I couldn't help feeling that it was female. I bet male readers feel that it is a man. Murderbot is so human in its desire to do only as much work as it has to and in its desire to lose itself in media to avoid an uncomfortable reality.

Just like anyone, this SecUnit likes people who like it. It is used to being treated like property, so when Dr. Mensah and her team start to treat it decently and like an actual sentient being, they become a priority for this rogue SecUnit. Because Murderbot has managed to hack its own governor and it no longer has to obey human commands.

Murderbot is many things. A pessimist, for one. If it knew about Murphy's Law, it would undoubtedly recognize it. But it's also pretty good at thinking outside the SecUnit box, which it credits to all of its media consumption.

I found the ending surprising, but this obviously there is more to the story that will be revealed in the next installment. I look forward to it.


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How Not to Diet / Michael Greger

 

How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss by Michael Greger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The path to health is paved with good intestines."

Finally, I have found the book I was looking for, one that gives practical, scientific advice on how to improve the health of the microbiome! And it's pretty much one word, people: FIBER. You can't go wrong eating more fiber foods and weeding out the CRAP (calorie rich and processed) foods.
There is still so much that we don't know about the human body. There are all kinds of receptor cells all through our systems and we don't know what they are set to receive.

Two of the mystery receptors…were found heavily expressed in our gut, on our nerves, and in our immune, muscle, and fat cells. We knew they must be vital, but we didn't know what activated them until 2003…And the keys that fit into those important locks were short-chain-fatty-acids that our gut bacteria make when we feed them fiber. This may be how our gut bacteria communicate with us….[these receptors’] existence gives us crucial insight into how fiber could play such a critical role in so many of our chronic diseases.

The good news? You can eat large amounts of fruit, veg, and beans, enough to keep you nice & full, and still lose weight as well as make all your receptors happy. Happy receptors mean less inflammation and perhaps will mitigate allergic response. I need to read this book (or at least sections of it) as inspirational literature on a regular basis. I'm working on developing my own collection of appropriate recipes in order to make this lifestyle happen for me. Plus spending more time in the produce section of the grocery store.

If you're like me and you have tried upteen diet plans, Weight Watchers (2 or 3 times), and hypnosis, and you still struggle with weight, I think this book is a must read. I may not agree with the author 100% on every issue, but he has amassed an enormous amount of research here. Before trying yet another diet, I would recommend reading his assessment of it.

Now, this is not a critique of library cataloguers (because I used to be one and would have done the same) but the only subject headings in the library catalogue were Weight Loss and Nutrition. Those two headings do describe the contents, but if I wasn't interested in those, I would have missed the microbiome aspect entirely. I think microbiome research is some of the most important for health being done these days.

Dr. Greger has a cookbook of course, so I'm going to have a look at that, but I've upped my consumption of salads, raw vegetables , and fruit already. I’d let that slip during this whole pandemic situation. Perhaps it's the good old placebo effect, but I'm feeling more energetic and maybe a bit happier. I have no illusions that I'll be able to do all the things he recommends (or even want to), but I can improve my habits gradually.

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There's a Murder Afoot / Vicki Delany

 

There's a Murder Afoot by Vicki Delany
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was the perfect change of pace for this Friday evening! Delaney writes a decent cozy mystery. I'm warming up to Emma Doyle as a character and although I wondered about the author's choice to move this book to England instead of Cape Cod, I think I actually liked it better than previous books.

Delaney ingeniously brings the whole gang (Ryan, Jayne, Grant, even eccentric Donald) by positing a Sherlock Holmes conference that they are all attending. In London, we get to meet Emma's family, the retired cop father, lawyer mother, and apparently the spy sister. It explains some Emma oddities, as it was meant to.

I feel like Emma has evolved as a character—not quite so clueless about dealing with people as she's been portrayed in the earlier volumes. And she has plenty to deal with, as her father gets arrested by a vindictive former coworker for the murder of her uncle. Emma may stick her nose in where it doesn't belong, but in London she has sister Pippa backing her up. The sisters don't have the best relationship, but they make a formidable team. A lot of this book seems to be about Emma improving her relationships as well as investigating the family murder.

I think part of the appeal to the change of scenery is that Delaney is able to break the characters out of the habitual ruts that she had written them into. Emma & Jayne still drink a lot of tea, just not in their Cape Cod tea house. Emma gets to annoy new police officers. Ryan isn't involved in the case, so he only gets mildly bent out of shape when Emma interferes. Violet the dog isn't being semi-ignored by her owner who is busy eating out at the same place repeatedly.

This surprises me, but I will definitely read the next installment.


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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day / Winifred Watson

 

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I felt a certain kinship with Miss Pettigrew—although considerably younger when I arrived in the big city, I was an unsophisticated farm girl, green as grass, totally out of my element and doubting whether I would ever attain the confidence that many of my peers demonstrated. I had a roommate who took me in hand and got me herded in the right direction, just as Miss Le Fosse and Miss DuBarry do for Guinevere Pettigrew.

However, Miss P has been a governess for many years and has taken care of herself during that time. She has what we now call transferable skills. She can cook an unexpected breakfast, find a way to heave a man out the door, convince the next fellow that those cheroots were hers, and manage a pouting young man back to his fiancée. And she is absolutely masterful at any of these tasks once she has a bit of alcohol in her. It overcomes her hesitations and self-doubts and allows her inner extremely competent governess out to deal with things. If you can run a classroom of small children, manipulating adults (who have ideas of social niceties) is easy, if you have the aplomb to carry it off. Frankly, a tot of something before facing the children would likely have made her into a better governess.

There is much to be said for being ladylike, but if it isn't working for you, letting go of it is the right move. Learning to dress, wear make-up, hold her liquor, and make conversation…that's a lot to absorb in a day. That tells me that Miss P is an intelligent, adaptable woman who has been denied advantages by the polite class. It's the not-so-polite-society folks who see her worth and her talent. Her inexperience shows and amuses them, but they don't hold it against her, in fact they encourage her, mentor her.

I found myself moved by the kindness of these people who had only known Guinevere for less than a day. And I loved Joe. I think that Watson stopped the novel at the perfect spot, where the potential for happiness is clear but we don't need to dwell on the detail. What a charming story!


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