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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