Benita's Big Bad Book Pile 2013

Once again I will attempt to rid my shelves of books that have been sitting around for a very long time. My goal for this year is 30 books off my shelf. The books I will be reading will be anything purchased or added to my list before December 31, 2012, but I want to concentrate on older books in my collection. The eligible books can also be recorded books. I will add titles to this posting when I finish them and a short review below as I get time to write it. Learning to download to my Nook is also one of my goals for this year. This should help to lessen the number of books on my shelves.

1. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - audio book - January 4, 2013
2. Red Queen by Philippa Gregory - audio book - January 19, 2013
3. Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte - audio book - January 22, 2013
4. Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - January 27,2013
5. Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson - audio book - February 18, 2013
6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - February 23, 2013
7. Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke - audio book -February 24, 2013
8. Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her by Robin Gerber - February 25, 2013
9. Entwined by Heather Dixon - audio book - March 9,2013
10. White Queen by Philippa Gregory - March 14, 2013
11. Magicians by Lev Grossman - March 24,2013
12. Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabitini - Nook book - April 4, 2013
13. Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix - audio book - April 17, 2013
14. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant - audio book - April 27, 2013
15. Dissolution by C. J. Sansom - May 12, 2013
16. Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly - audio book - May 14, 2013
17. Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom - May 25, 2013
18. Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan - audio book - May 30, 2013
19. Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan - audio book - June 15, 2013
20. Sovereign by C. J. Sansom - June 18, 2013
21. Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark - July 2, 2013
22. Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig - July 4, 2013
23. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt - July 26,2013
24. Trudeau Vector by Juris Jurjevics - audio book - August 1, 2013
25. Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - August 8, 2013
26. Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson - August 10, 2013
27. Hard Truth by Nevada Barr - audio book - August 12, 2013
28. Southwestern Homelands by William Kittredge - August 25, 2013
29. Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig - audio book - September 6, 2013.
30. Delirium by Lauren Oliver - September 22, 2013
31. Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman - September 24, 2013
32. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver - audio book - October 7, 2013
33. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri - audio book - October 24, 2013
34. Postmistress by Sarah Blake - audio book - November 4, 2013
35. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson - November 13, 2013
36. My Antonia by Willa Cather - audio book - November 16, 2013
37. Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan - November 24, 2013
38. The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis - audio book - November 27, 2013
39. Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - audio book - December 1, 2013
40. Seven Days by Deon Meyer - December 16, 2013
41. Home by Marilynne Robinson - audio book - December 20, 2013

The first book off my shelves was a winner. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell Somebody else on LT described it has profane and funny. That is a good description of it in a nutshell. It is gruesome, but it is so funny you keep reading it anyway. The language is really bad, but it is so funny I could overlook that.

The book is set in a hospital. The doctor is a former mafia hit man who is in a witness protection program. He is a resident physician who pops pills just to stay awake and tries to be a darn good doctor. One of his patients recognizes him and turns him in to the mob and the cheese begins. This is an action packed old fashioned shot'em up thriller that is great fun.

I rated this book as middling' fair because the profanity almost overwhelms the book and for that reason I would only recommend this book with reservations.

Hey benita. Great to see you back here! Wish you good luck with your challenge!

I had three days off from work to convalesce from my minor skin cancer surgery and since I was deeply involved in The Red Queen I spent most of two days sitting in my wonderful Ekornes chair listening to the recorded version of this book while I knitted many stitches.

I was surprised how much I liked this book. I thought that Philippa Gregory was a better than average writer of romance novels. I was wrong. She is a very good historical fiction author. It takes some good writing to create an essentially unsympathetic character and make that character sympathetic to the reade. Gregory has pulled off that trick admirably in this book.

My one reservation about the book is that I would not recommend it to readers new to the War of the Roses as it has no historical background in it. (It does have a map of the major battles and a genealogical chart in the beginning. botth are a great help.). This lack of context might be a problem for the novice to the era.

This is the second in The Cousins War series by the author and I can't wait to read the rest of the titles in this series. It will be interesting to see how the author treats the other major women characters in this great historical drama.

I listened to two good recorded books and now I found a clinker. Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte was not at all what I thought it would be. I had read Fencing Master several years ago and found that lyrical novel to be an excellent read. This one was lyrical but it was so boring that I "Pearl Ruled" it after the first disc. My life is just too short to bother with all the philosophizing. Why do authors think that they have to write about art in a novel form? Please, leave that to the essayists. I suffered through Swan Thieves and that was enough on this subject. I am sorry that I paid money for this recorded book. Why can't the publishers spend production money on doing this author's back list? I am sure that there are much better books in his back list. Due to the quality of the language I gave this one two-and-a-half stars. It is possible that books are for a certain time in a readers life and then not. Perhaps this book falls into that category, but I think not. I doubt I will ever pick this one up and give it another chance. End of story.

I have been wanting to read Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls for some time because so many people have talked about it but since I am not a big fan of memoirs I kept putting it off. This was a selection for my real time book discussion group so the time came to just read it.

I am reluctant to read memoirs because it it to easy to not tell the whole truth in them. I suspect that this book falls into that category. I have no qualms with the writing and find it excellant, however, I don't believe it. I think large parts of the book are made up. Or perhaps, since most of it is told from a child's point-of-view, things are exaggerated or enlarged simple because the perspective is different. Put simply, I find it unbelievable. I don't think that it would be possible for a child growing upon those circumstances to end up with a degree from Barnard. Not without help. If she got help to attend that college there is no mention of it in the book and omission is lying. I find that omission is a common problem with memoirs.

Oh, I loved Beat the Reaper when I first read it! House meets Sopranos. There was a sequel released last year, but I didn't get to it. I can see how the profanity could be a problem for readers.

After Mark and Joe read and liked Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson and because it was Fantasy February, I dug it out of the huge to-be-listened-to stack and put it in the car to listen to while commuting. It has a very dark picture of the future of humanity, and I would consider it a piece of apocalyptic literature. It has lots of action and excitement. It also has gross descriptions and very bad language. This is not a book to listen to with the kids around.

What this book does do is make a person think if all this technology that is built into machines is worth it. What happens when it doesn't work? Of course, the author took this question to the nth degree asking what happens when the machines begin to think on their own and become sentient. The second thing this book does well is entertain. Overall, I found it to be an entertaining book.

Finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel and can't say that I was as impressed by this book as everybody else seemed to be. There was a tremendous sense of foreboding thought the book so even the ending was not that much of a surprise to me.

I got this book because so many people recommended it, among them my cousins Retha and Kathy. They are usually good gages of books but this time it just didn't work. I would pick this book up, look at it, then put it down. Finally, because the movie was out and several members of the book discussion group wanted to see it, they picked the book for the March discussion. I have never been a big fan of shipwreck books and this one was no exception. It is now off my shelves so I can make room for another book.

I enjoyed listening to Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke. This is another of Funke's fantasies for children that is translated from the German. This one is set in the British city of Salisbury at the Cathedral school and the Cathedral. It is a ghost story with adventure and excitement applenty. This one is not as dark or complicated as many of this author's childrens work and as such was totally unexpected by this reader. What makes it shine is the recording. It was very well done. It would make a great read aloud for 4th through 6th grade.

Probably my last book for February will be a real gem. Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her by Robin Gerber was a totally unexpected pleasure to sad. This is a simple biography of Ruth Handler, the woman who created Barbie and the company that produced her; Mattel. Even though Ruth ultimately lost Mattel and was convicted of securities fraud she was so interesting that I found myself in sympathy with her. (Her story reminded me of Martha Stewart's.). In a day when women did not run companies Ruth did. When she lost the company she used the skills she had acquired over the years to form another company that built prosthesis for breast cancer survivors like herself. This treatment of her life and history of the company was very enjoyable reading.

You are doing great, Benita. Yeahhhh

Listened to Entwined by Heather Dixon and finished it while driving up to Franklin, TN this weekend. I liked this book. It is a take off on the old fairy tale Twelve Dancing Princesses. That fact alone means that belief has to be suspended at times, but there were some parts of the plot that just did not seem to work all that well. The whole novel has a sort of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell kind of feel to it that I liked. However, this is the author's first novel and it shows. The writing is uneven. Some parts of the book move along really well sucking the reader into the story and other parts drag. There are also some dream sequences that left me wondering. They stopped the flow of the reading and two of them were quite jarring and made me ask what? Even so, I think this author shows promise and I would encourage readers who liked Night Circus to try this one.

This was a recorded book and the production as well done. There were times that the narrator annoyed me, but overall this was worth the money.

I read White Queen by Philippa Gregory. This is the first book in the Cousin's War series. This series is about the War of the Roses. The author continues to please with this first entry, the second that I have read (see earlier entry in this thread about the Red Queen), in the series.

I had purchased this book from Barnes & Noble when it first came out and like so many others put it back on the shelf because I just wasn't interested in it at the time. However, the time is now right and the book was right, so I found it and read it. The author uses a unique "voice" in each of these books. They are written in the first person and told from the central characters point-of-view. That means that the basic facts are the same in each book, but the viewpoint varies. Since I read the second book first I saw the events of the Wars of the Roses through the eyes of Margaret Beaufort Tudor first. With this book, I saw the same events through the eyes of Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth became the Queen of England upon her marriage to Edward IV. This marriage was unique in that it first united the houses of Lancaster and York but was not seen that way at the time, (It was only after everybody was killed off that this was noticed as the case) because Elizabeth was not seen as the heiress of Lancaster. Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV was one of the love matches of royal history. This marriage caused problems for that reason.

I must say that I am surprised at the quality of these books. They are fiction and there is no doubt that they are fictionalized, but they are also informative and I am learning from them. I will not disregard books by this author in the future as she has surprised me with the quality of this series.

I've read The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory in December 2011. I enjoyed the story and the writing. Perhaps I'll read another Gregory this year.

I have been wanting to read The Magicians by Lev Grossman ever since the book came out. Then the graduate student who worked for me last year reread it while employed here and that piqued my interest once again. Last fall I found the recorded version of the book at 2nd And Charles - the used bookstore in Birmingham for $12.00 so purchased it.

I enjoyed the book. It did seem long at times, but still was enjoyable. It was one of those twenty-something angst books that feature young adults who have it all - brains, looks, money, power, etc. - and don't know what to do with it. It was a Harry Potter for college set. At times it was also the Animal House for fantasy books. The basic story is about a super smart guy who gets accepted to an exclusive Ivy League type magicians school. The book is about his and his friends, education and then they all go off on this magical quest. Along the way he falls in love. Acts like an ass and loses the girl when she saves his life. In some ways the plot was so typical, but even though some people who reviewed it didn't like it, I did. I will read the sequel.

#15
I like what Gregory is trying to do with this series. Telling the same events from several different points-of-view. I am almost done listening to the third book Lady of the Rivers and think this is the best one in this series yet. I have also started reading Kingmaker's Daughter but have not made much progress on it.

I should also say that I have listened to two of these books Red Queen and Lady of the Rivers and think that these productions are very well done. They may be the reason why I like these books so well. The narrator is outstanding. If you like listening to recorded books try this series. They all have the same narrator and she does a great job.

Thanks for the recommendation.

It took me a year but I finally finished reading Scaramouch: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabitini. This book was originally published in 1921 so I expected it to be schmaltzy and sappy. It wasn't. It had several plot twists and turns that kept it interesting and the characters grew and changed during the course of the book. It did take a while to get going and it seemed as if the part of Scaramouche didn't really matter in the long run, but it does make sense. It is not historically accurate but then that is not the point. This book was fun and reminded me of Three Musketeers. There is a sequel to this book titled Scaramouche the Kingmaker so perhaps someday I will get that one read as well.

So, if I thought the book was good why did it take a year to read it? I read it on my Nook and that was almost exclusively when I went to the gym to work out on the elliptical machines. Guess that tells a person how much I have worked out in the last year.

I am listening to more and more books this year and knocked out another one last night. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix was my first book by this author. The author is very popular among scifi/fantasy fans and so perhaps my expectations were set to high. For as popular as he is this was only an average read. I think that what saved it was the fact that it was a recorded book, and it is easy to listen to an imagine some of the wonder technology described. The main problem with the book is that the plot is simplistic and the characterization is weak. There is plenty of action and thrills but I was left wondering why the hero fell in love and didn't quite understand some of the decisions he made. The other problem with the book is that with all that sex it would probably not be considered for a school library and yet its main readership is young males. For me this is a book for which the author had a good idea for plot, but couldn't pull it off, so it just didn't quite work.

Just wondering if this book was not one of his Young Adult books, Benita? That migth explain the simplicity.

It is a YA book. That is why I read it, but even teens aren't that forgiving of holes in the plot. It is also clear that it is aimed at YA boys. Lots of action and thrills and sex as a reward for gallant and brave behavior. Sure to appeal to that age group. Even so I don't think this one is as good as some of his other fantasy work so I am waiting to make a judgement on whether he appeals to me as an author or not. Some of the YA readers who work with me are very enthusiastic about his work, so I will read another and then decide if he is an author I will keep on my list of author's to read.

I have read a few of his books and was very happy with his Old kingdom trilogy.

I finished listening to my commute book The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant. This is a mystery told from ten year old Pia's point-of-view. She is much different than Flavia DeLuce. I think much nicer, less imperious, and more affected by real life. The book is set in a small German town and between and because of some mysterious disappearances that have all the hallmarks of a serial killer on the loose, Pia becomes friends with an elderly gentleman who regales her with old folktales from the region. These folktales are spell binding and are highlights of the book. The way this author has weaved them into the story is masterful. More than once I have had "driveway moments" while listening to the old stories in this novel. This is going to be on my best reads of the year list. The recorded version is very well done so if you need something to occupy your mind get this one.

The recorded version is well done with a narrator who strikes the right balance with accents and expressing emotion.

I started the Matthew Shardlake series with the first book Dissolution. I now have all five of the books in the series. I have had this book in my possession since August of 2011. I have heard lots of buzz about these books by C. J. Sansom and since it was May Murder and Mayhem month decided it was time to get them read. I plan to read all of them this summer. While I have not read any of this series, I have given away two sets of the series as gifts. Now, if I give them away I will be able to talk about them with a certain knowledge base.

I am not sure what to think about the main character. I didn't like him very much, but I did like the book. Matthew is a 16th century barrister who is in favor of Reformation but learns to his dismay that all of the old religion is not bad and all of the new is not good. This novel centers around the Acts of Dissolution that were passed in Parliament during the 1530's. These acts enabled Henry VIII to confiscate the monastic properties in England and use the income and the proceeds from the sale of property and lands to finance the growth of the kingdom. Matthew finds himself embroiled in more politics than reformation and the truth gets lost in that process. In the end Matthew is less sure of his beliefs than he was in the beginning.

The Lincoln Lawyer is so good. It is just the kind of legal thriller that ranks right up there with Presumed Innocent. This was so much fun to listen to and like all of Michael Connelly books made me think that Los Angeles is a place I should visit more often. Of course, once I am there I am reminded that there is a reason why Connelly never runs out of material for his books. This book was great entertainment and I might just go out and rent the movie some time.

Finished reading Dark Fire the second in the Matthew Shardlake series by C. J. Sansom. I like Matthew much better after this book. He is growing and changing and his character keeps developing in some unexpected ways. He has realized that even reformation has its dark side. This book is all about the fall of Cromwell as a typical middle class person would see it. There is also much in it about the foundations of the British legal system. In fact, the strongest part of this book is the historical context contained in the novel. The author manages to work in the most mundane details about how the courts and the justice, if you can call it that, system worked during the 16th century. The addition of a good interesting sidekick helped in the overall development of the series and of the main character. I am looking forward to reading about their further adventures together.

Seldom have members of LT steered me wrong when it comes to books. This one is an exception. I finished listening to Last Werewolf by Glen Duncanand I can honestly say this is one of the worst books I have listened to in ages. If it wasn't for the fact that I had purchased the CD's of this book I would have ditched it long ago. If endless descriptions of ennui and boredom, interspersed with extreme bouts of sex, binge drinking, and gore are your thing, this book is for you. This was a book for the May - Murder and Mayhem Month long read here on LT, and seriously, that was all there was in the book. And did I mention the continuous mention of ennui? Yes? Well, The book was only redeemed by short sections that were well written and suspenseful. If all you read of this book is the last five chapters that is all you need.

I have started listening to the second in the series simply because I purchased both recorded books and since I spent the money I will buck up and listen. But I am not looking forward to it. It has lots of work to do to redeem this series.

If I was feeling what you described, Benita, I would toss the cd's in the wastebin. Purchased or not!

Talulla Rising, the second in the werewolf series by Glen Duncan is only marginally better than the first. I think these two books are really soft porn for men. They are full of violence and sex in that order. The book would be less confusing if the author could decide if he was writing a "meaning of life" philosophical tome or if he was writing an action/adventure/thriller. The only parts of the story that were any good were the action/adventure/thriller parts so I think he should stick to writing that and forget his boring philosophical wanderings on the reason why murder provides great satisfaction, and why bad things happen to good people, and there is no God, and so on and so on. I will not be recommending this series to anyone.

Strange how books I read keep tying in with other books I have read, or am in the process of reading. Sovereign by c. J. Sansom is the third in the Matthew Shardlake series. These mysteries are set in England in the middle 1500's during the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry has married Catherine Howard a year earlier and is still enamored of her. He and she set out on their Great Progress through the northern part of England. Specifically through York. York as in home of the Dukes of York. Home of the House of York. Home of the White Rose of York. War of the Roses. There you have the tie-in.

This mystery is all about the events back in 1440 and the birth of Edward of York who became Edward IV, the first of the Yorkist kings. According to myth, Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York, while the Duke was away, had a one night stand with an archer from Kent who was in the employ of her husband. The result was Edward IV. Henry VIII's grandfather. If the myth were true, then Henry was not the true King of England, and only a bastard son of a noblewoman. In the late 1530's there was an uprising in York against Henry based on the truth of this myth. Supposedly, the archer from Kent had written a deathbed confession and that combined with Cecily Neville's confession on the steps of Westminster Abby in 1480 would un-make Henry as King. A series of murders combined with this conspiracy leads Archbishop Cranmer, chief adviser to the King, to coerce Matthew Shardlake to participate in the Great Progress and help in uncovering the remnants of the conspiracy. A murder, and an attempt on Shardlake's life turn this into a political mystery.

I found this book great reading and enjoyed it because of the tie-in as well as the connection to the politics of the era. Shardlake started out this series, being a rather unlikeable hero and by the time I finished this book I have come to like him. Clearly, this is a character driven series, and that means that I am looking forward to reading the fourth in the series.

The library conference was in Chicago this year and right before I left I picked up Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark. I knew it was set in Chicago and it was small and light enough to be a good book to take with me. It was a good read.

The novel is set in Chicago at anytime. No dates are given and it could be a story that takes place in any given year between 1940 and the present. Fast Eddie is a taxi driver caught in the middle of a series of taxi driver murders. Can Fast Eddie find the killer before he becomes the next victim?

If you like crime or detective noir this is the book for you. It has that dark and stormy night kind of feel to it and the author manages to capture the sense of foreboding and edginess that keeps "Fast Eddie" on his toes. This is the kind of book to take with you on the plane or train as it is not lengthy and not too short. Perfect to stuff in a purse or a briefcase to take along. This book has so much going for it - character development, setting, and tension are all well written. Add to that a perfect kind of cover that establishes right-off-the-bat that this is old time crime noir and you come up with a nice 4 or 5 hours worth of entertainment and good reading.

That sounds like a great bok. Did you have a good time in chicago?

I finished reading The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig and loved it. This was a book that I borrowed from friends. My friends have a long distance marriage and so end up driving long distances. I recommended this series to them as a way to pass the time in the car. They love the books so much that they purchased this book in hardcopy because it is not available in a recorded version. They then loaned it to me.

Willig continues to prove that she is an author with an endless sense of humor and an imagination to equal. Just when a reader might think that this entry in the series is going to be one more of the same, only set at a Christmas party, the author surprises the reader with a fresh take on the series, the author once again delivers a lighthearted regency romance with a twist that is fun to read and is a worthy addition to her Pink Carnation series. This one is a bit different from her usual structural style and writing pattern, but it doesn't interfere with the basic story line of the Pink Carnation books so Willig's faithful fans will forgive her. In this novel Willig takes us to an early 19th century country house Christmas celebration complete with a wonderful romance between a man named Turnip and his lady love. It isn't exactly a rocky road, but it is a humorous one. It is amazing that after seven books under her belt Willig keeps her readers on their toes by creating wonderful characters doing funny but familiar things. This book is simply a smashing good time.

If you haven't read any books of this series I do have this advice - don't read them if you don't have some background in reading regency romances. If you aren't familiar with the genre you will miss out on half of the fun.

Along with trying to read books off my shelves I've also picked a few threads to read, and yours is one. I've not read it but wanted to post a comment so you know I'm here, picking a few posts at a time, until I get caught up with you....

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt went off the shelf in late July. This book was really quite good and I am not sure why I did not read it much sooner than I did. There is philosophy in the book but large portions read like good narrative history. I especially liked the portions about Papal history. I had no idea that there was a Pope John XXIII back in the 1400's. As far as I knew Pope John XXIII reigned in the 20th century. I also learned much about the Florentine Republic and how it operated. The philosophy parts of the book were much easier to understand than I thought it would be and I find myself thinking that I need to read more about the epicurean philosophy. In short, there is lots of meat in this book and I think it will make for good discussion with the book discussion group.

Benitastrnad, you've inspired me to give The Magicians a chance. It's on my shelf, so it will be one of my ROOTs. Thank you!

#37
I just purchased the sequel to The Magicians. It is the recorded version of the The Magician King. I will see what it is like.

I have finally knocked one of my longest held books off the to-be-read shelf. I did it by listening to it. Trudeau Vector by Juris Jurjevics was on the shelves of the giant used book store in Birmingham, 2nd and Charles, in recorded format. It was screaming at me to buy it so I did. I figured that I would never get it read, so this was the fastest way to get it off my shelves.

I don't know why I waited so long. I remember that when this book came out it had really good reviews so when it appeared on the remainders table in print form I purchased it, only to let it languish on my shelves. That was a mistake. The reviewers were correct - this was a really good thriller. It had me on the edge of my seat listening and learning about survival in the Arctic. For thrillers this one was really well done. I need to look and see if the author has written any more. I was also surprised to find out that the author was one of the founding partners of Soho Publishing.

Three Arctic scientists die horrible deaths from severe convulsions and paralysis while a third commits suicide by walking out of his snow cat naked into the Arctic cold. Epidemiologist Jessica Hanley is sent into the remote science station to find out. Add an entire Russian submarine crew dead to the last man from this mysterious contagion and the hunt for the powerful bug is on. With limited resources and untrained assistants Dr. Hanley sets about finding her bug while an aging Russian Admiral tries to find the bug from his end of things.

Highly recommend and is on my list of best reads for the year 2013.

The novella Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka has been on my reading list for some time. It was a multiple winner and after reading it I understand why. The style of writing used to convey the loneliness, anguish, and just plain hard work of the Japanese Picture Brides was beautiful and perfect for the subject. The book was short, to-the-point, meaningful and absolutely perfect. It managed to convey dignity and degradation as well as compassion and empathy while telling a story that most Americans would rather not hear. It is a beautiful work and a joy to read. I placed it on my personal list of best books of 2013 with no hesitation.

I recieved The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson from a participant of Mark Freburg's Christmas Swap of 2012. Technically it was on my shelves before January 1, 2013 but it almost doesn't qualify as being off-the-shelf. However, it falls within my rules for being off-the-shelf, so in here it goes.

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson is high adventure at its best. The travels, travails, and journeys of Red Orm Tostesson and his crew and faithful friends is great good fun. Set in the late 990's and early 1000's it is tales of Viking daring do filled with swashbuckling, and sometimes slapdash happenings that border on the fantastic. Don't read this book for insightful looks at the culture, history, or politics of Vikings. Read it for the fun of the adventure and the funny stories within the story.

The tale of Red Orm's travels takes the reader from his home in Southern Norway west and south the Moorish Spain where he serves first as a galley slave and then as part of the General Almansur's elite squadron of troops. Eventual escape takes him back home by way of Ireland, where all the gold he has brought from Spain makes him a rich man. From there he goes to England and gets more gold. Back home, and eventually all the way down the Dnieper to its cataracts, where he finds more gold to become even richer. Like many Vikings of his time, he was incredibly well traveled.

Orm's greatest talents are for storytelling and making friends. Of course, his crew mates think that he is incredibly lucky and wise and those qualities are the most prized talents of all. The friends that Orm made on his travels serve him well and show up at opportune times throughout the book, providing incredible rescues that enhance his reputation for luck and thereby his accumulation of riches.

What struck me about this story was the humor. It is rampant throughout. Sometimes sly, sometimes backhanded, but always pointed and very funny. The author skewers everybody from the Vikings to Kings to the Church and makes the reader laugh while doing it. The other strength of the story was the wordsmithing talents of the characters. The ability to tell a good story and compose a great poem on the spur-of-the-moment was highly prized and a man was often judged on his abilities with stories and poetry. I would describe this tendency as Homeric in nature.

The book was first published in Swedish during WWII and was not translated into English until the 1960's. I am glad that the New York Review of Books decided to reissue this book in its classics series as it ranks right up there with the best of the swashbuckling adventure stories.

I listened to Hard Truth by Nevada Barr on the way home to Kansas during my summer vacation. This copy was originally given to me by a friend. I had listened to the first two discs and somehow the story wasn't making sense to me. A quick check of Amazon showed that it was the abridged version so I gave it back and set about finding an unabridged version. Tuscaloosa Public Library had it and so it was just a question of getting it when it was available. That opportunity arrive this summer so I grabbed it. This series is the perfect travel books. Even though they are filled with violence they inspire me to visit our National Parks.

This installment in the series is set in Rocky Mountain National Park. I like the narrator chosen for this series, but in this case she does not pronounce the name of Estes Park correctly. She pronounces it as Estees park. Not right. It bugged me.

Like all the other novels in this series, this one was filled with action, thrills, and gore. It is also filled with resourceful women who may not be as strong as men, but are stronger in other ways. This novel is about a serial killer and how they think they are so smart. It also asks and attempts to answer the question of whether or not serial killers are born or made. In this case the serial killer attempts to replicate himself by kidnapping three young girls and turning them into both victims and killers.

I discovered the National Geographic Directions series a couple of years ago and since I like to read travel books decided to work my way through the series. I am taking it slowly. Southwestern Homelands by William Kittredge is the third book in this series that I have read. It is a combination of memoir and travel book.

The previous book I read in this series, Barcelona was an enjoyable read about that great city and it accomplished its ends and prompted me to wish to make a visit to this fascinating city. On-the-other-hand, this book left me ambivalent. I don't think the author could decide if he wanted to be hunting around in the boondocks for the soul of the southwest or if he wanted to find it in a high rent casita in an artist's colony or high end spa with super sophisticated attached restaurant. Trying to mix the two left me wondering what his purpose was. Was he trying to expose a culture of waste or sing a peon to the small town at the end of the road with its broken down bar and equally broken down patrons. The author openly confesses to a lack of interest in hiking into the wilderness, but he won't admit to liking the high life and so ends up disparaging it instead of embracing it.

My sister lived in El Paso for six years and after visiting I decided to do some reading on the region so that I could better acquaint myself with the area and its cultures. This book was not a waste of time, but I think there is room for improvement in its pages.

Lauren Willig continues to surprise me. Her novels have not grown stale for me and her plots continue to poke fun of the whole genre of Regency Romances. In The Betrayal of the Blood Lily she added a layer to the spoofing fun. There as a veritable profusion, or maybe proliferation, of flower named spies - each more outrageous than the last, but surprisingly there was no spy named the Blood Lily. This novel was set in India with the arrival of Penelope Staines and her shocking and scandalous past that forced her into marriage and then to India. Lots of snake, flowers, and romance in this one. Even so this was a fun book to listen to. I do wonder when she will run out of steam, but will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I finished listening to Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I really wanted to like this book, but its overwrought teenage angst tone turned me off. It had such a good plot and I liked the different characters that she brought into the story but, for me, it got bogged down in the typical selfish teenage view of life. I realize that at that age everything is new and therefore people at that age are hyper-sensitized but at a certain point, as a reader I get it. Don't keep beating that dead horse.

In this case a post-apocalyptic society has developed a cure for falling in love. At age 18 every child gets "the procedure" that keeps society safe and on a even keel. Lena can't wait to get her procedure. Until she meets Alex and begins to question what she is told. This is a book about propaganda and its power to deceive. It is also about how in order to protect themselves people will resort to enforcing rules and laws that are detrimental to many others. All in the name of keeping order.

Even though I have some complaints about this book I have the second in the series so am listening to it now and will read the third book in this series as well. The plot premise is that good.

Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman was a great example of narrative fiction at its best, has stood the test of time, and is a darn good read. I have had this book on my to-be-read list ever since I read Proud Tower back in college at K-State. I now think I will have to go back and read Proud Tower just because it is the political side of Guns of August. The two books probably should be read in tandem. As a military history and an example of narrative fiction it is hard to believe that the book is fifty years old. It read as fresh and lively as any just published work. I imagine that back in 1962 it was a real sensation simply because it was written by a woman not to mention the style in which it was written.

The book was certainly enlightening and turned my preconceived notions about WWI on its head. In this book the Belgians, particularly King Albert, and the French emerge as the heroes. The Russians, even though the Battle of Tannenberg was a disaster, didn't turn out too badly in Tuchman's interpretation either. I had thought that the British Expeditionary Force was the big hero who came marching in and saved the French from utter disaster, but this book doesn't interpret events that way. Instead, they almost cost the French their country because the British leadership was incompetent and indecisive. It is clear that I need to read more on this subject. A book that can make a reader want to seek out more information has accomplished a great task and in that I think this book has succeeded admirably.

If I'm correct you've just finished your target. Well done!!!

Benita, you have put Guns of August back on my list of must reads. I just do not know when I may be able to get to it!

Well done, Benita. Congrats.

Yeah, I also fished Guns of August from the shelf after your review, since I landed myself in WWI with my last ROOT. Looking forward to it.

Listened to Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. This second volume in the author's Delirium series is much like the first. It is doubtful that I will read the third volume. Over wrought teenage angst and the best day ever or the worst day ever gets old after repeats. But, I still like the premise for the novels. Good idea - bad execution.

Had I known that Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri was a book of short stories I probably would not have read it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss as I enjoyed listening to this book. I found the stories powerful told and engaging. However, most of the characters were hard to like. They were all very distant and unengaged with people or their surroundings and unable to fully enjoy life for that reason. I also had trouble relating to their lifestyle. They all seemed to be globetrotting upper middle class people who thought nothing of flitting off to Bombay while saving money by wearing hand-me-down coats. Perhaps that is the reason I found them to be distant and unapproachable?

All of the characters were immigrants or the children of immigrants. Many of the critics of Lahiri's work say that she chronicles the new immigrant experience. That may be, but if that is the case then she is plowing the same ground as other chronicler's of the immigrant experience. Her work, in that respect, reads the same as that of Thomas Bell, An Na, or Ole Rolvaag. Immigrant stories seem to me to be the same no matter what immigrant group is the subject of the work. It isn't the broad category of "immigrant experience" that sets Lahiri's work apart. It is the quality of her writing and in getting us to care about these distant emotionally unattached people that makes her an important writer.

Interesting comments. I think recognizing and caring about emotionally unattached people is very difficult in real life, too.

I can't believe that Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson is my first hardcopy ROOT since September 24! What is going on? I have read lots of pages since then, but most of them have been books I fetched from the library for a specific purpose.

Lyrical. That is the one word I would use to describe this novel. The writing is just beautiful. I was not sure where the story was headed and found the way it unfolded to be lyrical. I don't know whether to feel sad for the narrator or not. For me the book was a way of illustrating that some people aren't meant to be the stay-at-home type and that transience has its advantages. Or perhaps its adherents. It just suits them. It fits with their inner desires and beckonings. It also illustrates that what is housekeeping for one person isn't for another. That is a revelation that my mother and I had about each other long ago.

I loved it too for many of the same reasons.

I finally read a classic and it didn't take me years to get done with it. I listened to My Antonia by Willa Cather as a recorded version. I also had a hard copy of this book on my shelves that was given to me by Carol Hoffman. She couldn't believe that I had not read a book by Cather - especially since I grew up so close to Red Cloud, Nebraska.

I liked this book. It was one of those books were nothing happens, but everything happens. For me the best thing about is was the descriptions of the land. I also thought that the author did a find job of developing the characters, and even though the narrator was a man, the women were the real strong characters. Every woman in the novel had a strong personality and a robust character. They all went out and did something with their lives. Not a one of them lived a romanticized or idealized pioneer woman kind of life. Instead they lived real lives. They worked hard, and very often that work didn't count for much in the sense that it did not help them to get ahead in life. While the narrator was in love with Antonia for me the really interesting woman was Lena Lingaard. In a book full of interesting women she stood out. Her resolve and her sex appeal combined to make her a woman that was hard to forget.

Benita, our book group read My Antonia last year and I am so glad it did. I had not read anything by Cather before and I now know she's a worthy author. I'll be reading Death Comes For The Archbishop this next year along with Mark's American Authors group. Looking forward to it.

Finally! I finished Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. It took me eight months, but I did it. (it became my bathroom book.) In the end it was a more lighthearted book than I thought as what started out as a screed against industrialized farming, and especially corn farming, ended up being a peon to eating. I thought the screed part was going to dominate because when I first heard Pollan tell about this book and his journey as an eater, it seemed to me like a screed, but by the end his stance was mitigated - as was mine. The journey of the eater and the eaten was the topic and it was a very interesting journey at that. I think that Barbara Kingsolver's essay on harvesting meat was the best apologetic on that topic I have ever read, but Pollan's comes close. This is not as readable as Kingsolver's book but it is more in-depth and detailed. Complete with 50 pages of end notes and bibliography.

I listened to The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis and enjoyed every minute of it. The recorded version of this book is a treat to listen to and the reader, Bahni Turpin does an excellent job. Even though this is a young adult novel it is a story that will keep people of any age engaged and learning.

Christopher Paul Curtis has created a delightful heroine and once again brought the Depression era to life. Deza and her brother Jimmie were characters in his Newbery award winning book "Bud Not Buddy" and he has taken them into this book were their lives and character are fully explored. Deza is a verbose pre-teen and her family is faced with real life struggles to survive facing the double problems of the Depression and prejudice and discrimination. Under these pressures the family begins to break down but their will to face adversity and keep going pulls them through, although, not unscathed. Both Jimmie and Deza grow and develop physically as well as mentally, and begin to become adults who can function in a difficult world. Once again the skill, craftsmanship, and imagination of the author makes for great reading.

This book is perfect for use in the classroom. The recorded version is a treat to listen to and the contents of the book is ready made for history lessons of all kinds. I hope that teachers flock to this book.

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch I Pearl Ruled this one. I listened to 3 of the CD's (a little more than 50 pages of the book) on this one and gave up. The novel simply takes too long to get going into the story. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't like stories about poor Victorian children. That includes the works of Charles Dickens. I simply haven't read one of those novels that I liked and this one was no exception.

The narrator doesn't help either. The parts of the story he reads with a cockney accent are too hard to understand and his voice is lazy and slow. This is an adventure story not a bedtime story.

This was a disappointment as usually Books On Tape does an excellent job with their productions. Especially that previous recorded book I listened to - but that one was outstanding and of exceptionally high quality. This was a stinker from them, so I moved on.

Finally Deon Meyer has stumbled. While Seven Days is another sound entry in the police procedural genre by a very good writer, it is not this author's best work. It is most common that the second entry in a series is much weaker than the first. This title breaks that mold in that it is the third in the Benny Griessel series. Set in South Africa, this entry is a solid entry among mystery/thriller titles and reminds me very much of the Martin Beck Scandicrime series. In this book Meyer delves deeper into the morass of South African politics and the economic growth of some parts of the economy and the stagnation of others that is so often the cause of political unrest and social and cultural discontent, as well as the personal life of Benny. The result is that he makes Benny almost a carbon copy of the self-pitying hero of the Jo Nesbo - Harry Hole series. What sets this series apart from these other murder mysteries is that Benny is struggling but he also realizes that he has to change in order to matter to those he loves.

A second aspect of this series is that rather than making South Africa into a hell hole of violence they open up the country in such a way as to actually make the reader want to go there nad visit. Rather than scaring a reader away from wanting to visit this turbulent country, these books make the place appear intriguing and fascinating for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is the struggle its citizens to make the place a safe democratic society ruled by law. Reading these mysteries makes the reader think they have obtained a front row seat in the arena of public thinking, opinion, and action in the South Africa of today. This book doesn't quite get to the level of suspense that the previous two books do, but it is exciting enough that it kept me reading whenever possible for three days, so I highly recommend it as well as the previous works in this series. In fact I can't wait to read the next work by this author.

Scandicrime may be sexy right now, but I find it sad that more people aren't reading this author's work. He is definitely an up-and-coming author. Those readers who like Michael Connelly, the Kate Atkinsosn - Jackson Brody series, and the Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo - Martin Beck series will like this series. I had to order this one through Inter-Library Loan and it took an unprecedented two weeks to get here. This copy came from the Newport News, VA public library and that too is unusal in that it is most common for me to get my ILL fiction requests from a library inside Alabama. It is rare that it comes from out-of-state. That tells me that there are not many people reading his series and that just isn't right. They are better books than to be left languishing in a warehouse someplace destined for the pulp mills.

You make a convincing case for reading this author, I will certainly put him on my lookout list. Thank you!

I listened to Home by Marilynne Robinson. I loved the first book in this series but this one didn't quite reach those heights. I think it may be because I listened to it, and I think a book about these deep religious and philosophical questions doesn't lend itself to being listened to as well as reading. The content demands that the reader think and then rethink the issues that are discussed.

The book is very powerful and emotionally gripping. It is full of questions and discussions about very serious things like end-of-life issues and what drives people to drink and predestination. This is a good book, but it just didn't hit me like Gilead did.