Sakerfalcon continues to struggle up Mount TBR in 2020 : Part 2

Hello again!

As we are half way through the year and my previous thread had grown quite long it seemed like a good time to start a new one.

For those who don't already know, my main reading interests are Science fiction and Fantasy, Classic children's books (especially school and pony stories), and 20th century women's writing, particularly titles published by Virago and Persephone. But I"m a bit of a magpie and some odd things do take my fancy every now and then.

This year I'm thinking of trying this reading challenge, which a good friend of mine enjoyed last year.
Helmet Reading Challenge
We'll see how I get on. Helmet is a region in Finland, hence a couple of locally-specific items which may need to be adapted depending on availability of books.

I started keeping a reading journal a few years ago when I realised that I was reading so many books so quickly that I didn't remember anything about some of them a few months later. I tend to have 3 or 4 books on the go at any time - one for commuting, one to read in bed, one that I'll dip into while checking email and an alternative if none of the others happen to suit the mood I'm in.

I live in London, UK and like to travel to new places, both in real life and in books. Welcome!

I'm currently reading The starless sea, Ingathering, The Theban mysteries, The summer prince, and I'm dipping into The complete poems of Anne Sexton. I will also be joining the group read of That hideous strength, part three of C.S. Lewis's science fiction trilogy.

Yay, new thread!

Number 5 in the Helmet challenge would be a challenge even in Sweden. Which underlines the importance of that one, from a local perspective.

Happy New Thread!

A very happy new thread to you!

Seconding Hugh and Peter.

Happy new thread!

Happy threading!

Happy new thread, Claire!
I haven't commented much lately, as I haven't had anything to say. ;-)

i think the question should be whether there are pints to go with the cheese from clamairy.

I have managed number 5 in the Helmet challenge! Some of Matti Aikio's books are available in English on Kindle; I read The Herder's Chapel. I can't say I enjoyed it very much but it was interesting to learn a little about Sami culture.

Happy New Thread, Claire!

>10 aliphil: Thank you for the suggestion - those look interesting. A friend's grandfather lived in the North among the Sami for a while, and even spoke the language fluently. He said they are a very private people, really difficult to get to know.

>10 aliphil: Well done! I will look for those. I was planning to substitute a Native American author, and read A plague of doves by Louise Erdrich (which I do recommend).

Thank you for the greetings, everyone! I've been having a bit of time away from the screen and doing lots of reading, so I will catch up here later this week.

As promised, here's an update on the books I've read recently.

I finished The starless sea and very much enjoyed the time I spent in this world. When Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a child, he finds a mysterious door painted on a wall, with a real doorknob. He is tempted to enter but holds back. Years later he finds an old book in the university library and starts to read it. He is stunned to find that the third chapter tells of young Zachary Ezra Rawlins finding a door that he doesn't enter. Zachary makes it his mission to try and find the door, or a similar one, and this time go through it. This quest will lead him into a strange, magical underground world, guarded by the Keeper, inhabited by cats and bees, where doors may not lead to the same place twice and where many stories have been told and then lost in time. The narrative wanders through both time and place, which may not be to everyone's taste, and it can be difficult to keep track of characters' movements as the story unfolds, but if you if you want to escape to another world of fantastic stories of love, loss and magic then this is the book for you.

The summer prince had excellent world building, both in its future-Brazil setting and its matriarchal society where power is based in the sacrifice of kings, but the plot was a bit too YA for me. Generational conflict between the young (under 20?) Wakas and the older Grandes is a matter of course, with the Wakas living for art, music and rebellion while their elders work or rule in the city. June is the protagonist, in her last year at school but caring more about her art, which she uses to protest injustice. She and her best friend Gil are drawn into politics when they meet the new Summer King, Enki, and are drawn to him. I'm not sure if there are parallels with the Epic of Gilgamesh based on the character names; it would seem so but I don't know enough about the epic to tell. June is a bit of a brat, although I did like her relationship with Bebel, in which she showed a bit of maturity. If you have a soft spot for hot-headed, idealistic youth then this is a good read.

I enjoyed The Theban mysteries which is the fourth Kate Fansler mystery. This one sees Kate teaching a seminar at her former school, the illustrious Theban School for girls in NYC. When a student's mother is found dead after hours in the school, the head seeks Kate's help in solving the mystery before the school's reputation suffers. I like the academic setting of these books and Kate's good sense; also the supportive relationship with her DA husband.

I've also read Dry by Neal Shusterman, a YA dystopian adventure set in the all-too-realistic scenario of California running out of water. Alyssa and her brother are left alone when their parents fail to come home from collecting water, and the teens join forces with their neighbour Kelton, whose family are preppers and so equipped for anything. Circumstances lead the three of them on a road trip to a hideaway which, they hope, will be stocked with water and supplies. They are joined by two other teens along the way, each with an agenda of their own. This was a very gripping read, showing how quickly society falls apart in a crisis, with everyone looking out for themselves. The ending felt a bit rushed but other than that I recommend the book.

I just finished Merchanter's luck by C.J.Cherryh, which took me a little while to get into but proved to be a good read. Thankfully I found it a lot more engaging than Downbelow Station, with characters who are more sympathetic, even if it takes a while for their motives to become clear. The scenes on the various stations were very much to my liking, and the hardship of life as sole crew member on one's ship was very well portrayed. I enjoyed seeing how Sandor's relationship with the Dubliners evolved, as he has to learn to let his guard down and trust them. The climax was suitably exciting and tense, with no guarantee of how the situation would resolve.

Now I'm reading Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, and so far I think this will be one to add to my favourites, along with Hard boiled wonderland and The wind-up bird chronicle. The remote mountain house where our painter protagonist is living drew me in, and once we meet his mysterious neighbour Menshiki and strange things begin to happen, I was hooked.

I'm also reading The fandom, a YA portal fantasy/adventure which sees a group of friends drawn into the fictional dystopian world they love to follow. However, the reality of life there is even worse than in the books/films, with heroes and villains not so easily defined. I was hoping this would be more about, well, fandom and fan culture and less of a dystopian adventure, but the concept is good, the characters interesting and the plot twisty. The prose isn't brilliant but could be worse.

And I'm reading the contemporary novel My dark Vanessa, which is a grim but topical story of grooming and sexual abuse between teacher and student. Even as an adult in her 30s Vanessa refuses to accept that the relationship she had at 15 with her teacher was anything but a love affair - she will not see herself as a victim. It's a disturbing and very thought-provoking read.

>14 Sakerfalcon: Now I'm reading Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

I enjoyed that book a lot.

My love affair with Haruki Murakami started with my reading 1Q84 Books 1, 2 & 3 in March 2012. It continued with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle in March 2013, Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood in March 2014, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage in September 2014, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World in December, 2014, The Strange Library in January 2015, Wind /Pinball: Two Novels in February 2016, and its last incarnation was with Killing Commendatore and Birthday Girl in January 2019.

I have acquired most of his other books and must try another one soon. I find that his work is intense and while I really enjoy reading his books I need a long rest between them, although the completion dates I have included about may appear to put the lie to that statement. :-)

When I finish my current read, The Empire of Gold, I think I will re-read Use of Weapons by Iain Banks and then read Men Without Women: Stories by Murakami.

I hope you continue to enjoy Killing Commendatore.

Thank you Peter! I can also highly recommend Underground, Murakami's oral history of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo metro which is an incredibly moving and powerful piece of reportage.

>14 Sakerfalcon: Loved Killing Commendatore Claire.

>14 Sakerfalcon: I loved The Starless Sea. Your review is excellent!

>14 Sakerfalcon: The Starless Sea actually sounds pretty interesting to me from your review! I felt like in The Night Circus, rather than it being either a character-oriented or plot-oriented book, it became more of a setting-oriented book. The setting was cool, and I was really interested at first, but then it just became too much for me. My interest came back later in the book when the plot started moving again.

Since you rated The Night Circus highly you probably didn't have the same issues with it I did, but do you (or anybody else who’s read it) think The Starless Sea has a similar style?

I liked the one Murakami that I've read (After Dark) and have told myself that I should read another one: I have had Kafka on the shore on my shelf for a long time now.
One day I'll get there.

I remember enjoying Downbelow station the first time I read it, and I have reread it since, but the last time it just felt like a slog. Merchanter's Luck is much more enjoyable, as is Tripoint, not to mention my favourite in the Company Wars suite: Hellburner. That one is kind of an acquired taste, I think, as I've only met a handful of people who like it as much as I do.

>15 pgmcc: Use of Weapons was my first. I have not dared to reread it. I absolutely loved it, but it is a charged story... and I'm afraid of how I'll experience it now when I know how it will end.

>19 YouKneeK: I didn't like the romance aspects of The Night Circus, which I felt subsumed the last third or so of the book. Completely agree that it was a novel-of-place. Since I don't really like reading about circuses, I didn't like the novel that much. It definitely was a case of a good novel not being a good fit for this reader. Also, I do think it captured the sense of wonder a circus invokes.

I'm inclined to check out The Starless Sea, based on all the positive comments in this thread.

Glad you had an enjoyable reading time, Claire!

>14 Sakerfalcon: Great review of The Starless Sea. I kept mine a lot more vague than you did. (Mostly due to laziness. LOL)

>19 YouKneeK: This one is also very much about the setting, but there are a lot more characters flitting in and out of this book than I remember The Night Circus having, and it's difficult not to form attachments to several of them.

>21 libraryperilous: Ah, yes, the predictable and obnoxious romance. I didn’t care for that part either. But I did like the stuff with that other character who came more to the forefront in the beginning. I can’t remember his name, but the boy who visited the circus and was obsessed with it.

>22 clamairy: It sounds like it might be worth my time to give it a try. It probably won’t be any time soon, but maybe I'll pick it up on sale sometime.

Time for a catch up, I think! Thanks everyone for keeping my thread warm while I've been having a break from the screen.

>17 Caroline_McElwee: Me too! I've finished it now and it's definitely one of my favourites now.

>18 Darth-Heather: Thank you! It's a difficult book to comment on because the plot is quite nebulous and the characters come and go, but I enjoyed the read.

>19 YouKneeK: I would say that The starless sea is primarily setting-oriented, for sure. It is a far more varied setting than that of The night circus though, ranging more widely than that of the Circus. Characters weave their way through the alternate world and the plots intertwine in their wake. There isn't any thread that dominates the book the way the romance did in The night circus (which for me was the weakness of that novel - the whole rivals who fall in love romance is very cliched IMO). The chapters alternate between following our cast of characters, and tales from the various books that feature in the main plot. But some of those tales emerge into the "real" world of the novel, so they are important in their own way. It's far more complex in structure than the earlier book.

>20 Busifer: After dark isn't among my favourite of Murakami's books, so if you enjoyed that it's a good sign that you will enjoy some of his more substantial books. Kafka on the shore was one that I enjoyed a lot.
I have a few other books by Cherryh on the tbr piles, including Rimrunners, Serpent's Reach, and the Faded sun trilogy. I've also got the Complete Morgaine omnibus which I'm looking forward to delving into.

>21 libraryperilous:, >22 clamairy:, >23 YouKneeK: I agree with all your comments on The starless sea and The night circus. I do enjoy reading about circuses so that aspect was a pleasure. "Predictable and obvious" is a great description of the romance and sums up exactly how I felt about it. That I still rated the book so highly is testament to how much I enjoyed all its other aspects.

I finished Killing Commendatore and it has joined the ranks of my favourite Murakami novels. He so skilfully wove the realistic and supernatural elements of the story together, perhaps more effectively than ever before. I love the house on the mountain where our narrator is living; it's the perfect setting in its geographical, spiritual and historical aspects. Our protagonist is pretty likeable - bemused by his wife's wish to separate, lacking the artistic inspiration that he depends on, drifting until his old friend offers him a refuge in the house of his artist father. One night our hero is woken in the night by the sound of a bell ringing. With the help of his friendly but enigmatic neighbour, they uncover the place from where the sound emerged which, in tandem with the discovery of an unknown painting, sets off a chain of strange events involving an Idea personified, an engaging 13 year old girl, tunnels that lead to an alternate underground world and links to an attempted assassination in pre-war Vienna. It's a long book but never slow, and always fascinating and compelling. I think it would be a great place to start if you haven't read any of Murakami's work before.

The fandom took a while for me to get into, but I ended up enjoying it. It takes potshots at many of the cliches of the YA dystopian genre, as four friends find themselves living in their favourite fictional world and learn that things are a lot less heroic than the books/films made it seem. The Good characters are not especially nice or trustworthy, but Violet, Katie, Alice and Nate must work with them to cause the chain of events that will allow them to return to their (our) world. When they accidentally cause the death of the franchise's heroine before she has overthrown the tyrants, Violet must take her place to make sure that the story runs its course. However the leader of the rebels has a backup plan which threatens to ruin everything and trap them all forever. I thought that the chapters immediately following the arrival in the dystopian world could have been shortened, but once the story really kicked off it was very good.

My dark Vanessa was a good, challenging read. The most striking aspect of it is Vanessa's refusal to accept that she was abused and did not consent to the relationship with her teacher. That would make her a victim, and she is nothing of the sort. The story alternates between the present, when Vanessa is in her 30s, and the past when she was a 15 year old schoolgirl. It's a chilling examination of grooming and abuse, and their lasting effects.

I finished That hideous strength and enjoyed it much, much more than the previous books in C.S. Lewis's "Science Fiction Trilogy". This one is set in a small university town and contains a lot of academic satire and political machinations as the sinister N.I.C.E. (National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments) gains a foothold in the town. Presented as an amazing opportunity for job creation, groundbreaking research, social improvement and all other good things, it is very clear that this is the Enemy's foothold into conquering Earth. Character have to choose whether they will be on the side of Good or Evil, when it is far from clear which is which. Mark and his wife Jane are caught in the middle of the battle on opposing sides, and their story is at the heart of the struggle. The book was fast moving and engaging with very little of the long descriptions and philosophical exposition that dominated the previous two books.

For fun I read another of Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine books, The elusive grasshopper, which is set in Rye and its surroundings. As usual the sense of place is superb; you really feel as though you are there in the lonely villages on Romney Marsh and by the coast. Jon and Penny take the lead in this story, although David, Dickie and Mary have important roles to play, as does Mackie the Scottish terrier.

I also read Foxybaby by Elizabeth Jolley. This is set at an Arts Summer School for adults, at a remote Australian estate. It sounds absolutely ghastly - the artistic activities run alongside a weight loss programme, so participants must rise early for morning exercises - "Full Knees Bend!" - and meagre meals, before taking part in their chosen arts. Alma Porch is invited to teach a drama module based on her work-in-progress Foxybaby which is about the difficult relationship between a father and daughter. The head of the school keeps intervening with her own ideas about how the drama should be staged and Alma seems unable to argue. The caretaker and his wife are rogues who seek to make a profit on anything they can - renting a video camera, but then selling it while they still need it. They also have a nice little business serving proper cooked meals in secret, after the official dinner of lettuce and carrots. This is a very strange and amusing novel, with exaggerated characters and events which I enjoyed a lot.

I finally finished the Others series with Etched in bone. This takes place after the devastation of the human controlled communities which happened at the end of the previous book. Now the Elders are trying to decide the extent to which they should let the remaining humans live and work, and they are using Lakeside Courtyard as an example on which to base their judgement. But Lakeside faces disruption in the form of Lieutenant Monty's no-good brother Jimmy, who turns up seeking free accommodation, food and anything else he can get without working for it. He will sacrifice his sister, his children and anything else to get what he wants for himself. He is not a physical threat, as were the men with weapons in previous books, and the Elders seek to understand how such a person can be a source of danger. Jimmy has no redeeming features; he is bad through and through so there isn't really a moral dilemma here and deserves the worst that the Others might deliver. It's a given that Meg, Simon and the other Lakeside residents will prevail, but how they do so makes a compelling read and a good end to the series.

I've also read a couple of lovely middle grade books, both in series that I've been following. The Penderwicks at last is, as the title suggests, the final book in this series about four (later 5) sisters and their adventures. This one is about preparing for the wedding of the oldest sister. This is a lovely series with an old-fashioned feel about it, like the Melendy family books of Elizabeth Enright. Summer are long and carefree, trees are to be climbed, dogs and chickens are part of the family, and the worst enemy is a nasty old lady who is terrified that one of the girls will try to marry her son for his money.
The other book was A spoonful of murder, sixth in the Wells and Wong series about two schoolgirl detectives. This is the best entry so far. The girls go to Hong Kong after the death of Hazel's grandfather, and are soon plunged into a murder-kidnapping that strikes at the heart of Hazel's family. The HK setting is vivid and feels real rather than exotic; Daisy has to adjust to being a fish out of water in a foreign land; Hazel struggles to adjust to a huge change in the dynamics of her family. The book is well plotted and the characters are a nice mix drawn from different backgrounds and social classes.

Now I've started Empress of forever by Max Gladstone - I love his Craft series that begins with Three parts dead, and this is his first SF novel. I've also started The terranauts by T. C. Boyle, my first book by this author. It's a novel about the real-life Biosphere 2 experiment where 8 people lived in a dome, self sufficiently, for 2 years. At least, that was the plan ...

>24 Sakerfalcon: That helps a lot regarding The Starless Sea, thanks! I'll probably give it a try, although it may be a while because the path from "on my radar" to "reading right now" is usually a very long one for me. :)

>24 Sakerfalcon: Glad you enjoyed That Hideous Strength so much. I've always preferred Out of the Silent Planet of the 3.
I think Lewis was trying to show what people who weren't already committed to either side felt by using marc and jane. Of course, the whole thing with Merlin got me the first time around and had me convinced the good guys were the bad guys, so thank goodness for re-reads :-D

>24 Sakerfalcon: I enjoyed Etched in Bone immensely too. It was a great end to the series. I'm seriously behind on my reviews :)

The Starless Sea has come in for pick up at the library, so I'll try to get to it soon.

>25 YouKneeK: Hah! Yes, for me too! It can take me months, if not years, to get round to reading something that I bought because I HAD to read it RIGHT NOW!!! Hope you enjoy The starless sea whenever it gets onto your reading rota.

>26 BookstoogeLT: Yes, I agree about the roles of Mark and Jane. They give us the perspectives of ordinary people caught up in this spiritual conflict and allow us to think about what choices we might make and how we might act in that situation.

>27 Narilka: Glad you enjoyed it too! I have the two related books on my TBR pile but I will wait a bit before reading them.

>28 ronincats: Excellent! I hope you enjoy it.

I just finished reading Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. I usually love her books, but wasn't at all keen on this one. The villains are evil and sadistic for no reason, and there is a lot of very unpleasant emotional and physical violence towards the main characters and those around them. If you like books where vulnerable young people are treated as pawns then go ahead and give it a try. If I haven't put you off I'd love to see some other opinions of the book!

I read the last of the Wells and Wong mysteries that I own, Death in the spotlight which is set in a London theatre where Daisy and Hazel have bit parts in a production of Romeo and Juliet. This is a fun read with realistic for the time appearances by POC and queer characters.

I'm enjoying Empress of forever though not finding it quite as original and captivating as his Craft series. It's more a "chase across the universe" SF rather than a deep exploration of other worlds and societies, but it is well done.

I'm not very far into The terranauts but it's good so far. I think it is going to be one of those books with iots of characters that I will love to hate.

I'm also reading Gods of jade and shadow. I've loved everything else I've read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and so far this one is not disappointing. It's set in Mexico in the 1920s and features the mythology of the Popol Vuh.

I'm still dipping into Ingathering and am up to some stories set earlier in the history of the People which show their first experience on Earth. There is some darkness in the tales, but always a strong vein of hope and love.

And I keep forgetting to mention here that I'm joining in the group read of James White's Sector General books. I've read Hospital station and am now into Star surgeon. These are great SF reads (albeit with some sexism of the period in which they were written - I have been assured that this improves as the series develops) which are set on a hospital space station that cares for every alien species that comes its way. This may mean trying to treat a being that has never previously been encountered by the doctors, which leads to some tense but often humorous situations. It also means that the hospital has to cater for beings that breathe gases other than oxygen, that require water in which to live, that may be telepathic, and many other requirements. The medical staff are as varied as their patients, and everyone must work together harmoniously.

>24 Sakerfalcon: >29 Sakerfalcon: Wow, you have been reading a crazy amount! Will avoid Middlegame for now, though I see it's pretty highly rated here on LT. I already own a few of her others so I'm likely to read those first anyway.

>30 clamairy: I have an incentive to read a lot at the moment, as my landlady wants to redecorate my flat next month, and I'm trying to shrink some of the book piles before then! I'd rather not have to move too many books to the loft, at least ones I haven't yet read. Fortunately I have a lot of reading time at the moment.

I finished Empress of forever and wasn't impressed. This had none of the strengths of Gladstone's Craft series - original world-building, compelling plots, three-dimensional characters who must make tough decisions and grow from the experience. EoF was a far-future galactic chase with lots of technobabble in place of worldbuilding, and a main character who is something of a Mary Sue. Viv is a tech genius in our world, but finds herself transported into a far-future, post-human universe ruled by the tyrannical, all-powerful Empress. But despite being disadvantaged in every way in this unfamiliar setting, she somehow makes all the right decisions, that no-one else ever thought of, to win the day. There were a couple of twists that momentarily raised my interest, but the new tracks contained the same old problems. I liked the way Viv assembled a group of allies around her, and their interactions, but none of the characters were really developed enough for this to save the book for me. I guess I prefer immersion into an SFnal culture (e.g. A memory called Empire) rather than a frantic chase across the universe.

Thankfully, I enjoyed both The terranauts and Gods of jade and shadow a lot more. Terranauts was quite a fun read in the way that soap operas can be fun - watching how a small group of characters interact and how their relationships change when faced with adversity. In this case the situation is extreme - 8 people locked into a closed environment, growing their own food for survival, for two years. This is based on the real life Biosphere 2 experiment in the Arizona desert. The book has three narrators, none of whom are especially admirable. Dawn is pretty and naive but with a strong streak of selfishness. Ramsay is shallow and womanising. Linda is jealous as she was not selected to go into the dome. For me, the book's main weakness was that we never really get to know the other 5 team members, as the three narrators mainly interact with each other and don't seem to think about the others beyond the minimum daily interactions. I have seen complaints that the novel focused on character relationships rather than on the science, but I didn't expect that so wasn't disappointed.

Gods of jade and shadow was great. Firstly, it's unusual to find a novel set in Mexico during the Jazz Age and to see how the importation of US culture influenced Mexican social life and customs at the time. Secondly, the plot is strongly based in Mayan mythology, something else that is refreshingly different. Thirdly, the author is Mexican so we see everything from the POV of a cultural insider. And, it's a great read! Casiopea Tun is treated as a servant by her grandfather and cousins and can see no future for herself in the sleepy town that her family dominate. Then she opens a chest in her grandfather's room and inadvertently frees a Mayan god of death. The two become linked, each dependent on the other for survival. Casiopea must accompany Hun-Kame on a journey across Mexico to try and overcome his usurping brother and set things to rights in the afterworld. Casiopea is a good heroine with a strong sense of self respect and pride despite the bullying she has suffered. It is very rewarding to see her grow and realise that she might be able to achieve her dreams. The characters they encounter along the way are well drawn and memorable even though we only see them for short scenes. I also appreciated the treatment of Casiopea's cousin Martin, who has bullied her constantly and is picked to be her adversary in the final quest for supremacy between the gods. Highly recommended.

Now I've started reading something completely different - The Orlando trilogy by Isabel Coleman. This is set in England from the 1930s-1950s and follows the rise and fall of Orlando King. It is also a penetrating look at the English class system and politics of the day.

>31 Sakerfalcon: Stangely my eye briefly rested on The Orlando Trilogy too, earlier this week Claire. Maybe I'll pull it off the shelf next month.

>31 Sakerfalcon: Glad you enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow! I have it on my Kindle waiting for me :) I've also seen a ton of buzz about the author's new book, Mexican Gothic, and my interest has definitely been piqued.

>31 Sakerfalcon: I understand. Physical books are a horror to move in bulk.

Glad to hear you enjoyed The Terranauts! I've enjoyed most of what I've read of Boyle's quite a bit. The only one I didn't love was Riven Rock. He and I attended the same college and were taught by many of the same English professors. He was gone at least a decade before I arrived though, so I never had the pleasure of meeting him. But the Chairman of the English department used to drop his name long before I ever saw his books in print.

>32 Caroline_McElwee: I've now read the first 2 novels and it is very good. It depicts the pre- and post-WWII years and their impact on individuals very vividly, as well as showing us the political and social developments.

>33 curioussquared: I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on Mexican Gothic but will try and wait for the paperback. It sounds great.

>34 clamairy: I have Drop City by Boyle so will try and read that when it comes out of its new home in the loft! I was impressed at how he wrote unlikeable characters that kept me wanting to read about them.

The Orlando trilogy is great so far, really compelling reading. The second novel in the trilogy takes us from London to Tuscany, and I could almost feel the heat of the sun as I was reading!

I'm also reading An illusion of thieves which is by Carol Berg writing under a pseudonym. So far I'm not as impressed by it as I was by her other books. It's well written but just feels a bit lightweight. The depth of characters and world building that is so strong in her other novels is just lacking here. Romy is the first-person narrator but I feel like I'm watching her act, rather than being immersed in her story, as I was with Berg's other narrators, such as Anne in The soul mirror or Valen in Flesh and spirit. I will keep reading though because the plot seems as though it's about to take off.

And by contrast I'm reading Cancer ward which I've been meaning to read for years. It's not as depressing as you might expect; it gives insight into Soviet society through the lives of the patients and doctors on the ward. Rather than being set in Moscow or another major city, the hospital is in one of the Soviet republics, probably Uzbekistan, and the main character, Kostoglotov, is a political exile. The legacies of Stalinism are still strong, and the book is a critique of the Soviet system as he shaped it, as well as a moving look at life with a terminal illness. It's a very good read so far.

>35 Sakerfalcon: I had been curious about Carol Berg’s work published under Cate Glass since I consider her one of my favorite authors. I’m sorry to read you aren’t enjoying it as much as her other work! I wonder if she’s doing something along the lines of what Robin Hobb / Megan Lindholm does in terms of using a different style under different names.

>35 Sakerfalcon: I'm curious to see if you enjoy Drop City. (I have it sitting somewhere, along with a few others.)

>36 YouKneeK: I suspect you are right in Berg's intentions being similar to Hobb/Lindholm's.

>37 clamairy: I will try and find it when I can take my books down from the loft again!

I finished three of my books in progress since I last posted.

An illusion of thieves was much stronger in the second half of the book, when the main plot started. Until then it had been a lot of "Romy tries to make a living" "Romy tries to stop her brother being a complete brat", "Neri behaves like a total brat", and other everyday things. Normally I love a slow build, but in this book these scenes didn't really tell me more about the characters and their world than I knew already. We are introduced to two more key players who will be important in the heist part of the book, but again, I didn't feel that I got under their skin into who they really were. I think the reason I enjoyed the heist plot (when usually I don't like them) is because this one is less about "we're trying to commit an audacious crime" and more "we're trying to see that justice is done, although our means are not exactly legal". Perhaps now that the background is established the second book will be faster moving, but I'd also hope that it shows us more depth of character.

The Orlando trilogy was a fantastic read. It's based on the Theban plays of Sophocles that tell of Oedipus and his daughter Antigone, with Orlando and Agatha in those roles. We see Orlando's rise from obscure beginnings to prominence in commerce and politics in the run-up to WWII. But his stance of appeasement towards the Third Reich puts him on the wrong side politically, and he falls from public grace at the same time as secrets about his personal life are revealed. The middle book sees Orlando and Agatha in Tuscany, scenes which are rendered so skilfully that I felt the heat of the sun on stone as I read. The circle of expats in which they move is an entertaining mix of personalities who spring off the page in just a few words. The final volume takes us back to England where Agatha faces a moral dilemma involving her brother Paul who has been convicted of treason. This is a great book, the classical references subtle but forming the core of the book's structure, with the period details of 1930s-50s Britain and Italy fleshing out the rest. It has just been reissued by Daunt Books, under the title Orlando King and I hope it gets a new and appreciative audience.

Cancer ward was another good read that vividly depicted a particular time and place. It is both a moving portrayal of terminal patients and their doctors, and a critique of the Soviet system. Kostoglotov and his fellow patients discuss politics and philosophy, life and death in between visits and treatments. They represent a cross-section of society - political exiles, loyal party members, native Uzbeks and Kazakhs, and students among others. The doctors we see most of are women, and we learn of the physical and emotion toll their work takes from them. I'm glad to have finally read this, as it's been on my TBR pile for a long time.

Now I'm reading A jest of god by Margaret Laurence, for All August - All Virago. This is one of her Manawaka novels set on the Canadian prairies and follows Rachel, a single schoolteacher who lives with her mother, trapped by convention in a narrow life. And I'm also reading Mysteries of Winterthurn by Joyce Carol Oates, one of her Gothic novels, which is gruesome but fun. The first mystery takes place in a locked room within a mansion that may be haunted. 16 year old Xavier Kilgarvan fancies himself a detective and takes it upon himself to try and solve the mystery.

I finished A jest of god and thoroughly enjoyed - if that is the right word - the read. It's not an easy book to read, as the reader is immersed in Rachel's self-doubting, awkward consciousness as she lives her life as the spinster schoolteacher in a small Manitoba town. Rachel is the daughter who stayed home and lives with her mother, while her older sister got away and rarely visits from Vancouver. The mother is a nightmare - coy, genteel and totally manipulative "Of course you don't have to tell me what time you'll be home, but I won't fall asleep until you come in. But do enjoy yourself ..." Rachel's life starts to look up when a male acquaintance from her childhood comes back to town and seems interested in starting a relationship with Rachel. But his intentions are very different to hers. As well as being a detailed character study of Rachel, it is also a portrait of the small town and its mores and customs. This is the fourth of Laurence's Manawaka books that I've read and all of them have been superb.

I also read the last two Kate Fansler mysteries that I own, Sweet death, kind death and A trap for fools. This is a series that has improved distinctly as it went along, and I really enjoyed both these books. I love the academic setting and rivalries between different departments and characters. The books are very much of their time - the first couple were rather dated in their treatment of sexuality and gender relations, but other books have covered the anti-vietnam protests and other events in recent US history which adds to the interest of the series.

All of the above were read for All Virago - All August.

Mysteries of Winterthurn was an enjoyable, if gruesome, pastiche of Victorian murder mysteries by Joyce Carol Oates. There are three linked cases in the book, each of which bring to the fore all the prejudices of American society in the late C19th. Oates writes in formal, wordy prose, her narrator a collector of crime tales looking back at three of Xavier Kilgarvan's most famed cases. Few of the characters are likeable, but they are all interesting, and this and the historical aspects kept me engrossed.

Now I'm reading The revolution of Saint Jone, a feminist SF novel from the 1980s which is quite good so far, and Sabella, a vampire SF novel by Tanith Lee.

>39 Sakerfalcon: I watched the film adaptation of A Jest of God several years ago. It was just some random movie playing on TV and I never rewatched it, but for some reason I still think about it from time to time and I've had a sort of curiosity about the book since then; it does sound interesting.

>40 Majel-Susan: I've been deeply impressed by all four of Laurence's Manawaka novels so far. I think you could pick up any of them and get the best of her writing - none of them are weak in any way in my opinion. A jest of god didn't appeal to me for a long time because of the subject matter - woman falls for man and is rejected by him after a sexual relationship but I'm glad I finally did read it.

I enjoyed Saint Jone quite a bit. It is set after a nuclear apocalypse within a movement (the Krischans) that uses the structures, vocabulary and methods of organised religion to spread their doctrines of scientific rationality around the world. Thus Jone is part of a Mission to convert the "ethnics" of Embra (Edinburgh) from their backward ways, by a variety of techniques based on the carrot and the stick - usually more stick than carrot. Jone herself is a protestant, member of a more progressive faction who believe that the orthodox methods of the traditionalists are no longer fit for purpose, but as a junior saint she has to try and conform to the way things are done in Embra. Like many organised religions, there is a loathing of sexuality and ostensibly the Krischans aim to eliminate gender essentialism and sex roles because all that is irrational. However we are shown that in actually fact gender bias in favour of men is still very much present. This is an odd but enjoyable book, thought provoking and often quite amusing.

I also read Alice by Elizabeth Eliot. I didn't expect to fly through this so quickly as I have other books on the go, but I was immediately hooked by Margaret's narrative voice as she tells the story of her friend Alice and the girls' entry into society in the inter-war years. The book is very amusing, but tackles the darker side of women's lives when their success is measured by how good a marriage they make - usually, it seems, after only a month or so of acquaintance with the man. Margaret keeps her own story very much in the background, focusing instead on Alice, her glamorous older sister Sonia, and the various eccentric characters who revolve around them over a period of 10 years or so. I thoroughly enjoyed this and am glad I have another novel by this author in my TBR pile.

I also finished Sabella which was another good read. I enjoyed the blend of vampire tropes with touches of SF, as the story is set on Novo Mars in the far future. Sabella finds her life in danger after an encounter with a hunter at her aunt's funeral (an encounter which was set up by her aunt who had learned of Sabella's vampiric nature) and the rest of the book follows her as she seeks to evade capture and death. Sabella is strong but not invulnerable which keeps tension in the narrative, and the evolving relationship with her pursuer twists and turns throughout this short novel. I'm glad that DAW has brought this back into print, and with a great new cover too.

Now I'm reading The winter of the witch, the third part of Katherine Arden's trilogy based on Mediaeval Russia and its folk and fairy tales. I will also start another book from my All Virago - All August pile, probably The judge by Rebecca West.

Time for another update.

Winter of the witch was a very satisfying conclusion to the Winternight trilogy. I love the way Arden skilfully wove history and mythology together in the series, and how the climax is pivotal for both. I didn't find the romance elements too dominant - Vasya doesn't lose her head or her priorities because of love. Arden is gifted when it comes to describing places and seasons in a way that puts you the reader within the scene, but without sacrificing plot movement. She is also effective at conveying the often frustrating social customs of the time, particularly around the restricted role of women, showing how characters work around them rather than acting like rebels who've dropped in from the 21st century. There is frequent pain and loss but always balanced by hope and goodness which helps to make this a compelling read. People who liked Naomi Novik's Uprooted and Spinning silver should also enjoy this trilogy.

I did read The judge which was admirable but not always enjoyable to read. The prose was often quite dense with a lot of description and internal rumination by the characters. We meet Ellen, a 17 year old suffragette, in Edinburgh where she works in an office. She has no interest in romance, but falls for Richard Yaverland who comes to the office as a client. Following the death of her mother, with whom Ellen was very close, she moves to Essex to stay with Richard's mother, a very different woman. Richard is her illegitimate but adored son by the local squire; Marion was shamed and shunned for her "crime" and so developed an obsessively close relationship to Richard. She has a younger son by the man she married for convenience, but due partly to the circumstances of his conception she loathes him, although she strives to hide this. Needless to say, her relationship with Ellen is not smooth, although once you know her backstory she's not the stereotypical evil mother-in-law either. The melodramatic ending came somewhat out of nowhere, and took me by surprise - its very difference from the rest of the book. It's a good read but the dense prose makes some passages a bit of a slog. However, the depictions of Edinburgh and the Essex marshes are very good. I also liked the comparison of a close-but-healthy mother-child relationship with an unhealthy one.

I've also read a Women's Press SF title, The incomer. I liked the first half of the book a lot, which sees our protagonist, a travelling fiddler, arrive at a remote village somewhere in a future Scotland, which has been reduced to mediaeval levels of technology by unspecified events in the past. The community is a close one and they welcome the newcomer for the music she brings at Midwinter. There is a mystical secret about the village which all the residents seem aware of yet only a few are charged with guarding it. I found this aspect of the book quite unclear and wishy-washy. About half way through the book people start making bad decisions around, predictably, sex, which lead to rape and retribution. I thought the book was well written, with lovely descriptions of the Scottish winter and the warmth of the primitive community, but the plot and the mysterious spiritual secret underwhelmed me.

Now I'm reading Harrow the Ninth and enjoying it a lot, although it didn't grab me the way Gideon the Ninth did. Mainly this is because you are immediately plunged into a confusing situation where it seems that the events reported in Gideon didn't happen, or occurred differently. People you thought had died are alive and well, others are not present. It's good to see things from Harrow's perspective, which is very different from Gideon's - they really are opposites in most ways. As I had hoped, we get to know more about the other houses, and about the wider universe and its powers and threats. There is more of the unique, and often gruesome, magic system, more SFnal elements, and more humour although the latter is not as up front as in the earlier book. It was a daring choice by the author to make such changes in the sequel rather than sticking with the engaging snarky voice of Gideon but I admire her for pulling off a difficult move.

I'm also reading one of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels, Cheerfulness breaks in, which opens in summer 1939. There are already rumblings of war, although our characters are primarily occupied with seeing that the dreadful Rose marries her fiancé (whose attraction to her is inexplicable). The school is preparing for a possible influx of pupils from an inner city school, which I'm sure will allow for many more interesting events.

On my kindle I'm reading Laisrathera, the third of M. C. A. Hogarth's Earthrise novels. This opens minutes after the previous book ended, with our heroes separated and the Eldritch peoples in danger of invasion and destruction. I love these books with their brilliantly characterised humans and aliens.

So I finished Harrow the Ninth and enjoyed it, although not as much as I did Gideon. I felt that Muir kept us in the dark for too long before revealing what was going on, and why there were such huge inconsistencies between the two books. This meant that after the big reveal events seemed to happen relentlessly fast as one thing piled onto another and the plot twisted and turned rapidly. That said, though, I really enjoyed getting to know Harrow and some characters from the other Houses, and seeing more of the world outside the Ninth House and Canaan House. This is still one of the most original Fantasy/SF series out there, and I look forward to seeing how it concludes.

I also finished Laisrathera which was a great instalment in the Earthrise saga. This effectively ends the main story, although there is a shorter book in my omnibus edition which follows that I believe is a little add-on. I loved this series! I thought it balanced humour, loss, action and relationships really well, with a spiky main character who learns to overcome her prejudices and insecurities, varied species of aliens with their own anthropology and personalities, and a mix of science and more "magical" mind-based powers. The world building is good too, with more space-faring adventure in the first book, leading to more planet-based action as the plot progresses. I have the first book in Hogarth's related series, Mindtouch, which I will read when I need another fix of this universe. I think people who enjoyed Small angry planet and similar "found family" based SF would enjoy this series.

I had to move all the furniture in my flat last weekend and managed to put Cheerfulness breaks in down in such a safe place that I forgot I was reading it! So instead I picked up Table Two which was an interesting companion to the other book. Both books are set during WWII, the former in rural Barsetshire in 1939, the latter in central London in 1940, just as the Blitz is starting. Both show us characters "doing their bit" for the war effort on the home front. Table Two is about the women who work in the translation office of a Ministry, and their relationships and rivalries. The main focus is on Else, a very clever woman whose hardships have made her bitter, and Anne, a young girl from a good family that has fallen on hard times. The rest of the women are odd in their own ways, and I honestly think most of them would have driven me mad if I had to work with them. The book shows days when work is almost impossible due to constant air-raid warnings, the impact of the first bombings in London and how quickly they become just a fact of life, and the varying attitudes to the war and life in general. I thought it was a very good look at life in wartime London, and at the lives of women of varying ages and a variety of backgrounds.

I have since finished Cheerfulness breaks in, which was another enjoyable book by Angela Thirkell. I've been reading her Barsetshire chronicles in order, so had to wait a while as this book and two other WWII titles were published out of order. Whether this was so they could coincide with VJ Day commemorations, or because some of the content is offensive in this day and age, I don't know. It features some of Thirkell's regular characters - Mr and Mrs Birkell of Southbridge School for boys, Lydia Keith, Noel Merton and others. Their regular routines are interrupted when a boys school from the city is moved to Southbridge, and a number of evacuee children are brought to the village. There are also refugees from the imaginary East European country of "Mixo-Lydia" whose portrayal is one of the more unacceptable elements of the book by today's standards. There are also love affairs, both happy and not, and rivalries between some of the village stalwarts. In spite of the dated elements of the book, I did enjoy this volume; it's like catching up with old friends to read about the characters again and see how the war is impacting their lives.

Now I'm reading Chaos vector, the sequel to Velocity weapon which I enjoyed last year. This is space opera with a mix of politics, heists, and conspiracies with characters who are complex and interesting.

And I've started to read Amberlough which is fantasy (although with no magic as far as I can tell) set in a world reminiscent of 1930s Germany with the rise of fascism.

>43 Sakerfalcon: Oh, Velocity weapon is still waiting in my TBR pile, thanks for reminding me that I need to bump it up the list. It was a decision between that and the book I ended up reading - A peace to end all peace - but I've started to think that I might need to have a leisure read at the side or I'll not read one more book this year, what with the time it takes to read the Ottoman/European wwI era politics stuff and everything else that I have going on.

>43 Sakerfalcon: Okay. I will read Harrow the Ninth, just probably not right away. My daughter said almost exactly what you said.

I will keep Laisrathera on my radar if it goes on sale, but I still have a few Becky Chambers books that I already own that I need to attend to first.

You have been reading some very interesting books, and I've taken several book bullets as a result! I'm #8 in line for four copies in our library system and am looking forward to it, although I think the big reveal was spoilered by a (not-LT) review I read. Saint Jone and the Earthrise books have gone on the wishlist.

>43 Sakerfalcon: I've got O'Keefe's Scorched continent still on my tbr. I figure with some judicious juggling I can wait on starting that until her new trilogy is finished and then I can have a year of O'Keefe's! *cheers*

>45 Busifer: I hope you enjoy Velocity Weapon when you get around to it. I thought it was excellent and am surprised that the LT reviews aren't more positive.

>46 clamairy: I feel I am in excellent company with your daughter! You definitely need to start with the beginning of the Earthrise books. The first one could stand alone, but the sequels each begin where the previous book left off, throwing you into the middle of a situation.

>47 ronincats: I will be interested to see what you think of the books that struck you! Especially Saint Jone, which doesn't seem to have been very widely read.

>48 BookstoogeLT: Sounds like a good plan! I'll look forward to your thoughts on the Scorched Continent trilogy!

I've managed to finish both Chaos vector and Amberlough recently, and both were excellent. CV takes off where Velocity Weapon ended, with Sanda facing the consequences of killing the villain from the first book, and Biran becoming mired in a tricky political situation. This sequel expands the scope of the universe in many ways, with the introduction of new alien technology and its potential for good and ill. I like that the chapters are pretty short and rotate through three or four equally interesting viewpoints, making the book move along at a good pace while not sacrificing the thoughtful elements for action. I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

I must confess that the first couple of times I started Amberlough I read the first chapter and was utterly unmoved. I just didn't find the characters interesting or compelling. However, this time something grabbed me and I quickly became absorbed in this European-feeling world and the political plot. Amberlough is a city analogous to Weimar era Berlin, with its gender-bending cabarets and liberal social values. However, a neighbouring country in the loose alliance of nations has just voted in a leader with fascist tendencies, and is intent on extending his party's rule more widely. Every character is morally grey, with conflicted loyalties and questionable motives, yet I found myself caring about them. Minor characters are well rounded and have their parts to play. There were some instances of clunky writing that threw me out of the world at times, but I expect that this will improve in the later books. Although I read this in print I was happy to see that the whole trilogy was available on kindle for less than £2! I'm not sure if this low price applies in other markets, but it's a real bargain! Obviously I snapped it up and will be reading the next instalment soon.

I've also been reading more of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books, Northbridge Rectory and Marling Hall. These continue to tell of wartime life in close-knit rural communities, with their small intrigues, romances, servant troubles and war work. Some residents have joined up and been sent away, but there are newcomers in the form of refugees from London and officers billeted in the villages. Events are on a small scale, but hugely significant to those involved. While some aspects of the novels have dated badly (references to foreigners and those with mental disabilities) overall these are very enjoyable humorous reads.

I also read a wonderful middle grade book, Pony on the twelfth floor. Kizzie is horse mad so can't believe her eyes when she sees a pony in the bakery aisle at her local supermarket. She impulsively claims it and takes it home to her 12th floor flat where she lives with her mum and brother. The rest of the book revolves around her various strategies to hide Flapjack, while resisting her best friend Pavel's insistence that she needs to report the pony to the authorities so its real owner can claim it. This is a lovely book, which shows how Kizzie connects to the people around her as she seeks to find a home for Flapjack that doesn't mean losing him. It's an affectionate portrayal of life in a London suburb with lots of humour and some titbits of horsey knowledge. Recommended for anyone who ever tried to convince their parents that they could totally keep a horse in their back garden!

Now I'm reading a couple of SF books, Dead astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer, which is a follow-up to Borne, and Debris, set in a future where people can manipulate particles called pions to create architecture, power cities, and many other things. Tanyana is a master builder, until the day when the pions seem to rebel against her, resulting in disaster. This is an intriguing concept and I'm enjoying the book so far.

On my kindle I'm rereading Queen Lucia, as I'm still in the mood for small English village humour but wanted a change from Barsetshire.

>49 Sakerfalcon: I made the mistake of trying to read Amberlough in mid-November of 2016 and bounced hard off it. I left it on my TBR, though, because I thought I probably would love it if I tried to read it later. Thanks for the heads up about the Kindle deal!

>49 Sakerfalcon: I was also struggling with Amberlough and have yet to find a way to try it again. I am encouraged to hear that it took someone else a few attempts to get into the book.

>49 Sakerfalcon: OK, mark another notch on your BB gun.

I read >50 libraryperilous: first and followed the link to >49 Sakerfalcon: and saw that you thought Amberlough was excellent. (I have been studiously avoiding all comments about Velocity Weapon but I do not think I will be able to continue with that approach for much longer.) I then popped onto Amazon (I know, the easy route is always the most evil) and read the bumf about the book. I was intrigued and considered getting the paperback for c£10. Something caught my eye lower on the page and I realised there was a trilogy, and the Kindle omnibus edition was on sale at less than £2. I snatched it up. I had not taken in >50 libraryperilous:'s comment about the Kindle deal on my first reading. What caught my attention was failed attempts to read this book but that when you managed to read it you thought it was excellent.

Then I went back to >49 Sakerfalcon: and read your next paragraph. Everything you say about the book makes me glad I have access to it. Thank you!

I suppose >50 libraryperilous: can take a share in that BB score. >51 BrokenTune: even deserves a minority interest as the >51 BrokenTune: post added to the intrigue.

Your comments on Amberlough had me thinking of other works that I like, namely some books by Stefan Zweig, Eric Ambler's between the wars/ early WWII novels, and the opening scenes of the film, Shadow of the Vampire.

I do not know if you have watched Shadow of the Vampire but it is a spoof film about the making of Nosferatu. Unbeknown to the rest of the cast and crew, the director has hired a real vampire to play the role of Nosferatu. It is very funny. Even funnier if you have seen or are familiar with iconic images from the original Nosferatu film and can recognise the use of these scenes in Shadow of the Vampire.

>52 pgmcc: You're welcome for my small role in your Kindle adventure. I need to try one of Zweig's books. They sound right up my alley.

>50 libraryperilous: I hope you have a similar experience to me, where it just clicks on a later attempt!

>51 BrokenTune: I'm glad I'm not the only one. Hope you can get into it at a later date. There is definitely some clunky writing in the first chapter that doesn't help.

>52 pgmcc: I am very glad you spotted the omnibus edition before you clicked to buy the individual volume. I hope you'll enjoy it. Shadow of the vampire sounds excellent. Just checked, we have it in our DVD collection at work!

I finished reading Debris and enjoyed it enough to buy the sequel when I saw it marked down in price at Forbidden Planet. The worldbuilding is well done, a city divided between technologically advanced districts and poor areas with mediaeval levels of advancement. (I do always wonder where the middle classes are in these novels - but perhaps it's a sign of things to come ....) Tanyana falls from the former to the latter, but is reluctant to give up her connections to her former life. I could understand this, even though the rational thing to do is to give up the home she can no longer afford, emotionally she can't bring herself to do so. The one thing I didn't feel was well developed was the relationship Tanyana enters into; we didn't see any attraction from her towards her partner and it came out of nowhere. I also thought that the architects should surely have been taught something about debris during their training, given that it is the destructive by-product of their processes and if left unchecked can cause the destruction of what they've built. But other than those niggles this was an enjoyable and original read that falls on the border of SF and Fantasy.

Upon finishing Dead astronauts I have no idea how to rate the book. It reaches new heights of weirdness even for Vandermeer, and I was left wondering what I'd just read. The narrative is fragmented, at book, chapter and sentence level and it's hard to follow the different versions of reality. There is a large blue fox, a fish creature, three explorers, the son of a mad scientist, the mysterious and powerful Company whose strange biotech experiments have poisoned and corrupted the city, and more besides. It is set in the same world as Borne, but much more challenging to read. There is a strong theme of environmentalism which eventually comes through, and some beautiful writing, but overall this is not an easy book in any way.

Now I'm reading an American middle-grade novel, Greenglass House, which is set at a snowed-in Inn over Christmas. Milo is expecting a peaceful holiday with his adoptive parents, when all of a sudden 5 strange guests turn up. It soon becomes clear that each one has secrets to hide, and motives beyond a Christmas break for their visit. I love the setting in the rambling old Inn, and Milo is a sympathetic protagonist, but I'm less enamoured of the device of him and his companion taking on role-play identities as they investigate the crime. It's supposed to show them taking on the characteristics and skills they wish they had, but it just seems a bit silly to me. Maybe a younger reader would find this aspect more appealing.

I'm also reading The warehouse, a dystopian novel set in a behemoth of a corporation, Cloud, that has taken over all aspects of life in a near-future America. There are three narrative viewpoints - Gibson, the founder of Cloud who is writing blog posts as he faces terminal illness, Paxton, who goes to work for Cloud after it puts him out of business leaving him with no other options, and Zinnia, who has been tasked with infiltrating Cloud in an attempt to destroy it. There are some similarities to The circle, with the setting of the seemingly benevolent, actually evil corporation that traps people into becoming dependent on it for everything, but Paxton and Zinnia are far better protagonists than Mae in The Circle. Is this a good book? I'm not sure, but it is certainly addictive - I can hardly stop reading!

>54 Sakerfalcon: I DNFed the Milford about 25% in. I read a ton of middle grade books, and I love holiday adventures and inns. It was not an interesting story, and the writing was clunky. :(

>54 Sakerfalcon: I'm in my 40s and I thought Milo's LARPing DnD in Greenglass House was adorable.

>55 libraryperilous:, >56 reconditereader: Ha! Great to have two such different reactions! That is what makes LT such a great place. I'm persevering because I love the setting and want to find out what happens.

I finished The warehouse which was a fun read. I couldn't look away as the dark secrets of Cloud are revealed and Paxton and Zinnia face some hard choices. A few of the revelations are rather far-fetched, but the ultimate consequences for society of letting "the market decide" feel worryingly plausible.

My current reads are:
Braiding sweetgrass - this was a BB from a LibraryThing treasure hunt! It's a gorgeous and thought-provoking book about the relationships of people and plants, woven with Native American mythology and traditions and personal reflections from the author.
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - what Cordelia did next after Aral died and Miles is married with children. The final (at present) entry in the Vorkosiverse.
Armistice - book two of the Amberlough dossier, which sees the characters from book one in exile in a tropical land. (I wish there was a better map.)
Greenglass House - see above.

I've left it too long since I last checked in and I have loads to catch up with now!

Gentleman Jole got off to a slow start for me, as the first half of the book is focused on bringing Jole and Cordelia together. It's a nice change to have older, mature protagonists but in this case their characters are very much fully formed already and they are both extremely competent at what they do, so things felt a little flat and easy to me. But once Miles, Ekaterin and their family arrive, things become much livelier and more fun. Broadening the cast of characters was a very good move on Bujold's part. There are no big events or crises in the book and very little tension, but there is humour and a thoughtful take on beginning a relationship later in life and having to take into account one's existing family and commitments. Not my favourite Vorkosigan book, but still a worthwhile read.

Armistice was a great follow-up to Amberlough, beginning a couple of years later with the characters having taken refuge in a tropical country from the totalitarian regime at home. Aristide has found a role in the film industry, which gives the opportunity to introduce many new characters and settings. Cordelia has been working for the resistance and by chance is reunited with Aristide and the two of them are drawn into further plots. I have to admit that I found all the double and triple crossing very confusing, but I just went with it and enjoyed the ride. I'm very much looking forward to the final instalment in the series, Amnesty.

I finished Greenglass House but it couldn't overcome the reservations that I had with the story and characters. It all felt quite contrived to me, the guests were too odd to be believable as real people, and I never really warmed to the role-playing. I did like Milo's relationship with his parents, and I loved the setting of the Inn. I'd like to read more about the town but from what I can tell the sequel doesn't really expand on the first book. I wanted to love this, but sadly it was a miss for me. I think I will reread Kage Baker's The hotel under the sand for an alternative MG book set in a hostelry.

I also read and enjoyed Growing up, the next in Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire chronicles. This is set about 3-4 years into WWII and shows us more of what is happening on the home front. We meet Lydia Merton and her husband again as they lodge at Beliers Priory with Lord and Lady Waring. The cast includes convalescent soldiers, railway station staff, a sinister gamekeeper, and some old friends from previous books. Lovely as always.

I've also read The disaster tourist, a recent Korean novel about a woman who works for a travel agency that specialises in holidays to areas that have suffered catastrophes. War zones, earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, all these are attractions around which carefully curated trips have been built. When Yona reports an incident of sexual harassment at work she finds herself being sidelined, and is persuaded to temporarily leave the office and go on an assignment to join one of the company's holidays to assess whether it is still viable. After an underwhelming week the party are on their way home when Yona becomes separated from the group, without her passport or wallet. She returns to the resort where they had stayed, and finds that things are very different with no tourists around. Yona becomes embroiled in a plot to fake a disaster in order to keep visitors coming to the region and prevent its economic decline. But the best-laid plans can go awry ... This is a dryly humorous book, surreal at times but entertaining and intriguing. I don't know if it is the original prose or the translation but I did feel quite distanced from the action and from Yona, but that actually added to the surreal nature of the events which take place. It has an odd, dreamlike feeling. A short, intriguing read.

I'm still enjoying Braiding sweetgrass. This is a lovely and thoughtful book to dip into and learn about the natural world and think about our relationship to it.

Now I've started several other books.

Mordew is like a mash-up of China Mieville and Frances Hardinge. It has amoral orphans, exploitative adults, mud from which strange creatures are born, people with great privilege and people with none, taking dogs, ooze and grime, cruelty and humour. The city of Mordew is a character in itself, built upon the corpse of God, which provides the strange dark powers that infest the city. Nathan is the only child of an ailing father and desperate mother, who possesses mysterious powers that seem more of a liability than a benefit. He falls in with a gang of street urchins who dwell in the labyrinths below the city and survive by their wits and a willingness to engage in petty crime. There are elements of Gormenghast in the gloomy atmosphere and grotesque characters but Mordew feels unique despite that. There are some gruesome images and a prevailing sense of decay, so if those things bother you then avoid!

I'm also reading Real life by Brandon Taylor, a Booker shortlisted novel that tells of a gay African American college student's experiences over one weekend. Wallace is several years into his postgraduate studies in Biochemistry at a midwestern university, one of the few nonwhite students there. We see him hanging out with his friends, working in the lab where one of his experiments has been ruined, and all the time dealing with misconceptions and microaggressions relating to his race and sexuality. It's an uncomfortable read, and one that is frequently making my blood boil as I read about what Wallace has to put up with. The book is very well written, in cool clean prose that conjures up clear images and is a pleasure to read - in contrast to the difficult subject matter. A very timely and compelling read so far.

On my kindle I'm reading Q, a dystopian novel that imagines a near-future USA where everyone is judged by their Q score - a combination of IQ, income, social class, etc. The narrator, Elena, as an intelligent but bullied child was happy when the changes came in that recognised and rewarded her brainpower and as she grew up she and her husband embraced the system. It was only later that Elena came to see its flaws and injustices, although her husband is one of its architects. When her younger daughter fails an important test at school and is sent away to a third-tier school, where she can only see her family a couple of days a year, Elena is motivated to try and fight the system. The parallels with the rise of Nazism are very heavy handedly pointed out, but the story is gripping and emotive. One can see why the system was initially embraced by influential parents and teachers - those who resented the least able children in a class getting the most attention and teacher time were keen to see their exceptional children given the focus they deserved. But as Elena discovers, it is a slippery slope from there to a society in which inequality is permanently entrenched.

Just to report that I finished Real life last night and was very impressed with this debut novel. Wallace is a complex and not always likeable character, scarred by abuse in his past and prejudice in the present, who over the course of a weekend is forced to think about his future and what he wants from life. Several intense confrontations, in his lab and within his group of friends, and the awkward start of a possible new relationship shake Wallace out of the rut of patient forbearance and resentment that he is in. There were times in the book when I wanted to protect and defend Wallace, but others when I could have shaken him in frustration! Silence and solitude are strong themes that run through the book - Wallace retreats to escape the world and maintain his sanity, but we see that sometimes this isn't always the best response. This is not an easy book to read, but it is very worthwhile and thought provoking.

>59 Sakerfalcon: Your comments on Armistice move Abmerlough closer to the "being read" category.

>60 Sakerfalcon: Interesting, but I think there is too much Real Life going on in different areas at the moment to give me time to read it.

Why has there been so much spam lately?

Must be a new bot in town.

>60 Sakerfalcon: Real life is definitely not an escapist read! Although it doesn't contain a pandemic, at least ...

Amberlough, however, although it deals with issues of totalitarianism and loss of rights, is a great adventure.

>63 clamairy: Clearly people have too much time on their hands at the moment.

I'm glad that you liked Real Life, Claire! I'll probably read it next week, as I make my way through this year's Booker Prize shortlist.

>60 Sakerfalcon: I've been wavering on this one Claire, but your comments will see it added to the list. I read a random page in a bookshop that was quite gritty, and couldn't face a whole book of that. It was likely my mood that day too.

>60 Sakerfalcon: I listened to an interview with Brandon Taylor on NPR and was intrigued, as this work is semi-autobiographical. Timely topic, too. I will keep an eye out for it.

>66 kidzdoc:, >67 Caroline_McElwee:, >68 clamairy: It's not an easy read by any means, due to the subject matter and the experiences of the main character. It is, however, timely and gives a valuable insight into what others may be going through that they keep hidden from us. Clam, I had wondered how much might be autobiographical; I saw that Taylor went to university in the midwest and studied Biochem at undergraduate level. Taylor's prose is beautiful, very smooth and clean yet rendering dialogue in a way that felt realistic, including several awkward conversations.

>68 clamairy:, >69 Sakerfalcon: Here are the links to two NPR interviews of Brandon Taylor:

Short Wave: Science Is For Everyone. Until It's Not.

All Things Considered: Author Brandon Taylor On His Coming-Of-Age Novel 'Real Life'

Taylor also submitted an essay to BuzzFeed about his personal experiences, and how it influenced his novel:

Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That’s Why I Left.

I listened to the very enlightening. Short Wave interview with Maddie Sofia, the co-host of Short Wave, just now. She has a lot in common with Taylor, in that she also was a graduate student in the biomedical sciences, having earned a PhD from the University of Rochester, so she was a good choice to interview him. This novel is now even more interesting to me, for two reasons: first, I was just about to enter graduate school at NYU School of Medicine's Molecular Biology program before I made the decision to apply to medical school, as the only African American laboratory technician in the Department of Pathology, and second, because Taylor was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where my best friend from medical school lives, a city that I've been to well over a dozen times in the first decade of this century. I didn't enjoy working in the lab at NYU Medical Center, although I was accepted and even embraced by the head of the lab, my immediate boss and my lab mates, so my experience was very different from Taylor's. However, in the interview Taylor describes his experiences with racism and being repeatedly called a n***** and experiencing physical abuse when he would walk home from the lab to his apartment; I did not experience overt racism when I was in Madison, probably because I was essentially always in the company of David, a Chinese American, or his wife Murielle, a tall thin Belgian with a thick French accent who, like Dave, has a PhD in Chemistry, but we were frequently stared at, sometimes with interest, and other times with derision and hostility, especially if we ventured outside of Madison, a very liberal though not diverse city which is the state's capital, and Middleton, the town immediately west of Madison. Madison was very segregated, which was obvious whenever Dave or Murielle drove me to or from the Dane County Airport, which passed through the largely black and poor neighborhood of West Madison. The University of Wisconsin came under public criticism last year when it posted a homecoming video about diversity, in which everyone in it was White! Although I haven't seen them in several years I remain close friends with Dave & Murielle, and although I miss seeing them I don't miss feeling uncomfortable while I was there, and I was happiest when we stayed in their home or in their neighborhood, where their friends and closest neighbors knew and accepted me, and didn't venture out of that cocoon of safety.

I'll start reading Real Life tomorrow, on the plane ride from Atlanta to Philadelphia to visit my parents, after I finish Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi, another novel on this year's Booker Prize shortlist.

>70 kidzdoc: Thanks for those links, Darryl, and for sharing your own experiences. I will be very interested to hear what you think about Real life (and am sad that we can't discuss it in person yet).

I finished reading Q yesterday while travelling to work, and found it to be a gripping read. I appreciated that Dalcher made her protagonist initially complicit with the dystopian regime, as she embraced its tenets when they seemed to benefit her. However, she certainly reaps the consequences, finding herself trapped in a nightmare marriage, scared for the future of her younger daughter, and putting herself danger to try and undermine the regime. The novel draws on the history of eugenics in America to portray a movement which is attempting to create a perfect society by those methods. And indeed, some of the practices shown in the book are happening as we speak. Not a subtle read, but a very compelling one.

Now I've started to read Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates, her first Gothic novel. This is surprising difficult to find in the UK; I had to find a used copy online. Considering it seems to be regarded as one of her best books I'm surprise no UK publisher has a contract for it. It's a sprawling family saga set at the castle-like family home in a region rather like the Adirondacks.

A colleague and I have discovered that we both enjoy reading Japanese and Korean literature, so we have been swapping books since we've been back on campus. She lent me Territory of light and Ms Ice Sandwich, two short novels by women that focus on loneliness and solitude. The former chronicles a year in the life of a woman separated from her husband, living in a apartment with her 3 year old daughter. The portrayal of the relationship between mother and child felt spot on - the mixture of love, frustration, and resentment that the mother feels seemed very plausible. Her husband, although living with another woman, can't seem to stop interfering with them and still trying to influence their lives. I liked the way the author showed us the woman's dreams and how they interweave with her actual experiences. The other novella is told in the voice of a young boy, who I guess to be around 8-10 years old (Year 4 in school). He becomes fascinated by the young woman who works at the counter in his local convenience store, admiring her large, blue-eyeshadowed eyes and cold efficiency. The boy is quite solitary, his father dead, his mother ignoring him, his beloved grandmother dying. However, during the course of this short book his world begins to widen, and the story ends with a hopeful sense that both he and Ms Ice Sandwich have found their way out of solitude.

I'm still enjoying exploring the world of Mordew, which is one of the most creative, if dark, fantasy worlds I've come across. It's very well written too. Braiding sweetgrass is still a delight and an education; I'm reading it slowly to draw it out. And I'm nearing the end of Ingathering - just 3 more stories to read. These tales which feature the truly good, nurturing People are full of hope and a lovely read at this time.

It's been a while since I updated, mainly because I've been stuck in a couple of long slow reads. But I have made progress!

I finally finished the Ingathering omnibus by Zenna Henderson, which I have been reading slowly over the last year or so. The People stories are gentle SF about a seemingly human race who crash-landed in SW USA when they had to leave their home planet. They possess various psi powers which they hide from humans for fear of persecution, although their motives are genuinely good and outwardly they seem like wholesome American pioneer stock. Many of the stories concern lost members of the People reuniting with their own kind, often seen through the eyes of humans. The People are who we could be, if we put aside fear and pride and treated others as we'd like to be treated ourselves. There is a strong, Christian-like faith that runs through the stories, although with the focus on love, joy and care and not judgement, division and punishment. This was a hopeful read during difficult times.

I've read most of Mordew, just got the very long Glossary to read. This was a very well written fantasy book with elements of weird and whimsy running through. The city of Mordew has several levels, starting at the bottom near the sea wall where the poorest people live and strange beings emerge from the living mud. Our protagonist Nathan lives here with his ailing father and seemingly careless mother. He has the power to shape things from the mud, but has always been told that this will lead to no good. In an attempt to buy medicine for his father, Nathan falls in with an Artful Dodger type and his gang who engage in raids and heists that take them into the richest parts of the city. But Nathan's journey will take him farther still, into the house of the Master who rules the city and defends it from the evil Lady of a neighbouring land. The world building is the star here, as Mordew comes to life in all its squalor and glamour. Many of the characters could have stepped out of the pages of Gormenghast, with their exaggerated and often grotesque personalities and personages. I was also reminded of Frances Hardinge's books, with their young protagonists surviving in strange, harsh adult worlds. This is definitely not a children's book though, as it does contain cruelty and gore. It's the first in a trilogy and I will be looking for the sequels when they are published.

On my kindle I read Amnesty, the final part of the Amberlough trilogy. The three books are each set a couple of years after the preceding volume, so we find that our characters, and the political situation, have moved on from when we last encountered them. Amnesty opens with the Ospie government having fallen and our protagonists returning to Gedda during the run-up to an important election. I've really enjoyed the mix of alternate history and political intrigue in these books, and seeing the moral and emotional dilemmas which the characters must resolve.

I've also read one of Gladys Mitchell's Mrs Bradley mysteries, The twenty third man, which is set on the Canary Islands. The mummified bodies of twenty three kings rest in a cave which is a popular tourist attraction. However, one day someone counts that there is an extra figure. Who is it and how did it get there? Fortunately Mrs Bradley is on holiday on the island and she soon turns her formidable intellect to the issue. Uncovering the mystery will take her back to London to untangle a complicated web of connections. I always enjoy these mysteries. Mrs Bradley is an excellent character - no deceptively gentle Miss Marple she! - not afraid to put people on the spot and make them uncomfortable. Mitchell writes particularly good children, and the boy in this book is no exception. I have ordered a few more titles in the series to keep me going over the winter.

I'm still reading Bellefleur and enjoying this sprawling family saga with elements of the supernatural. The stories of the many generations of Bellefleurs are interwoven but thankfully there is a family tree provided to help you keep the characters straight. The family has had good luck and bad luck, gained and lost land and money, made good and disastrous marriages, gone to war, committed crimes, adopted those in need, and had many more happenings large and small over the decades. Oates writes very long and complex sentences for this novel, almost worthy of Henry James, but it suits the period Gothic feel of the book.

On my kindle I've been rereading the Mapp and Lucia books by E. F. Benson, which are gloriously bitchy social comedies of small town intrigues, social climbing and one-upmanship. Lucia is a ghastly snob who loves being the Queen Bee of the village of Riseholm. But she cares so much about the things she throws herself into that you can't help feeling a little bit sorry as well as glad when things go wrong for her. Mapp, on the other hand, is plain nasty and enjoys humiliating others, so it's a pleasure when she gets shown up. I haven't get got to the books where these two titans meet, but I'm looking forward to it!

I'm still reading and loving Braiding sweetgrass. I especially enjoyed the two essays I've just read about some of her teaching experiences and how she has tried to convey a symbiotic relationship to the land to her students.

And I'm also reading a contemporary Japanese novel, Breasts and eggs, about life as a woman in modern Japan.

Ingathering sounds delightful, and perhaps a bit like a Christian version of some of the themes Janet Kagan touches on in her short fiction?

I've added both it and The Twenty-Third Man to my TBR.

>72 Sakerfalcon: The Twenty-Third Man is one of the good ones, and if I remember correctly it also features Mrs. Bradley's assistant. I seem to remember Mrs Bradley voicing an opinion about badly-behaved children and their parents in that one.

And the Mapp and Lucia books are some of my favourite comfort reads, too.

Mordew sounds really interesting. One for the wishlist.

I've only read Queen Lucia. Are the rest of the books as good?

>73 libraryperilous: I haven't read anything by Janet Kagan but I will look out for her work.

>74 BrokenTune: Yes, Laura plays an important part in The twenty third man. She is a great characters, so competent and sensible with a great sense of humour and irony. And Mrs Bradley doesn't hold back when faced with a spoilt child and his parents! She is great!

>75 reading_fox: It was a good read. I will look forward to your thoughts if you get a copy.

>76 SylviaC: I think so (although I haven't yet read the last 2). Sensibly, Benson doesn't stay in Riseholm and risk growing repetitive; he takes Lucia to London where she takes society by storm, to the disgust, bemusement and delight of those around her and at home (and it is interesting and amusing to see life in Riseholm without Lucia); he then moves to Tilling (the small town of Rye in reality) where Lucia meets her nemesis, Miss Mapp. If you enjoyed the social comedy and one-upmanship of Queen Lucia then you'll find lots more of it in the rest of the books.

I finally finished reading Bellefleur which is a sprawling family epic set in C19th and early C20th America. The story of the Bellefleur family is not told chronologically; incidents from past and present are intermingled, and several chapters focus on a theme (cars, horses) and follow it through generations of the family. Names recur, and it may take a paragraph or two to work out which Raphael or Germaine we are reading about. The family's wealth and status rise and fall over the decades; they are admired and reviled, attacked and feted. There are mass murders, elopements, mysterious cats and birds of prey and many more elements both mundane and supernatural. It was a very good read, although one that took me a lot longer than usual to finish.

I've also read The Pear affair, which was a book bullet from LibraryPerilous. I loved this adventurous romp around 1960s Paris. After being unimpressed with Greenglass House I wondered whether middle grade fiction was no longer for me, but this proved that not to be the case. It did help me clarify my feelings about what works and doesn't work for me though. The Pear affair had a sense of urgency and made me feel that there was a lot at stake for our heroine and her comrades. With Greenglass House, the events were made to seem like a game and it didn't really feel important that the mystery was solved. Nell, however, is desperate to find her beloved au pair who abruptly stopped writing to her 6 months before the story opens. Upon arrival in Paris, she falls in with some local children whose families have been affected by a mysterious spore that is putting boulangeries out of business. Both Nell's quest and the wellbeing of the children and their families were shown in a way that made me care deeply about them and read eagerly to find out the resolution. Highly recommended.

I'm still reading and enjoying Breasts and eggs, which explores the lives of Japanese working class women.

I've started a YA fantasy novel recommended by a good friend of mine - The merciful crow. This is set in a caste-based society where each caste has a different birthright. Only the Crows have none. Their are despised as their role in society is to dispose of the bodies of plague victims - and, if necessary, to put them out of their suffering. Fie is being trained as the next chief of her band, but they are plunged into danger when they become entangled in the fate of the rightful heir to the throne. It's a good read so far.

And having finished one family saga, I've started another one - The family Moskat. This is set in the Jewish community in Warsaw, opening in the early C20th. It's a fascinating portrait of a family and a community at a specific point in time.

>77 Sakerfalcon: I love both Hellspark and Mirabile and rated each five stars.

re: The Pear Affair, I liked that Eagle showed how each child's perception of the stakes is different. They each are given space to react based on what might happen to them.

"Sense of urgency" is a great way to describe middle grade stories. It's an age in which the world is becoming less black-and-white and you're struggling to understand complex ideas, yet adults don't take your questions seriously. You also still are young enough to love adventures and make-believe. I think the best middle grade novels explore these tensions. It's no accident that the market is filled with nasty or indifferent adults and plucky children who just want to be independent from them.

>78 libraryperilous: Thanks for the Kagen recommendations! They both sound great and aren't too expensive on kindle. (In print it's another story!)
I looked in Waterstones yesterday for The secret starling but they only had The Pear affair. Now it will have to wait until after we come out of Lockdown 2.0

I finished The merciful crow and enjoyed it quite a lot. The world building, with its caste-related magic was very well done, and provided an unusual twist on the typical feudal fantasy world. Fie was a good lead, feisty and clever but not flawless or infallible. Leadership is thrust upon her before she is ready, and she has to learn and adapt quickly. The two noble youths with whom her band have made a contract are fairly stock figures, but likeable nonetheless, and thank goodness there was no love triangle. The romance was a bit insta by my standards, but it wasn't too bad as YA love stories go. I look forward to the story concluding in the next volume, The faithless hawk.

I also finished Breasts and eggs which was a very good view of life as a woman in contemporary Japan, a society where women's lives are still often more limited than men's. The books contains two linked novellas, the first set 10 years earlier than the second. In the earlier story we see Natsu's sister and her young daughter come to visit in Tokyo, where the sister hopes to get breast enlargement surgery. We hear about her life living hand to mouth as a hostess at a bar, and see her difficult relationship with her daughter. Natsu observes this and tries to keep things smooth. The second section sees Natsu now a published author struggling to complete her second novel. She starts to contemplate motherhood, but she is not in and doesn't want a relationship. We see how the odds are stacked again women in her situation in Japan, where fertility treatment tends to be reserved for couples. For most of this section I thought Natsu was crazy for wanting to add a child to her already difficult life and couldn't really empathise with her, but by the end of the book her journey has brought her to a place where things fit together satisfactorily. There are interesting side characters all the way through, each with their own burdens, and there are many memorable scenes as the story progresses. This was a good read that I read along with my colleague, and we both enjoyed it.

On my kindle I read The last emperox which was a fun and unexpected ending to Scalzi's trilogy. This wasn't an especially deep read, but it gets points for a twist that I didn't see coming at all. For SF about female leaders who have unexpectedly taken power I prefer K. B. Wagers's Indranan War books, but this was a quick and entertaining read.

I've also read another light, funny book, Grave secrets which is a contemporary British fantasy - I would call it urban fantasy but it is set in rural Staffordshire. Toni is an estate agent by day, a necromancer by night, compelled since childhood to raise the dead on a daily basis (don't worry, she lays them to rest again quickly). Vampires also populate this world alongside humans, with some controversy as you'd expect. Europe has a treaty with its vampire population, while the US seeks to slaughter them on sight. The UK is somewhere in between. When a vampire client comes to Toni in search of a house, she becomes drawn into a very bloody battle with some exiled American vamps who are preying on the local residents. This is a first novel and the dialogue is quite clunky in places, mainly to due to an odd lack of contractions in places - for example, "I do not" where "I don't" would have felt more natural. However, the sheer fun and larger than life characters helped me to overlook these faults and subdue my urge to get out a red pen. There is a lot of blood, some gropey men, some very charming men, great female friends, a game of croquet and a very gallant zombie. The plot is resolved but this is marketed as the first in a series, and I shall certainly be continuing.

Now I'm reading another Barsetshire book, The headmistress by Angela Thirkell. This is still set during WWII, and sees village life gently disrupted when a girls' school occupies the local Manor House.

I'm also reading a new Chalet School fill-in novel, The Bettany twins and the Chalet School, because this seems like the perfect time for some comfort reading.

Still making progress with Braiding sweetgrass, and The family Moskat.

I'm intrigued by the Chalet School novels. I've never read them but have heard of them. Val McDermid was(is?) a fan. Which one would be a good one to start with?

>80 BrokenTune: Always best to start at the beginning: The School at the Chalet.

>80 BrokenTune: >81 tardis: Agreed. Many of us grew up reading them out of order, as they were never in print at the same time, and it got quite confusing. The first book is lovely as it shows you why the school is in Austria and its first days with a handful of pupils.

I love that Val McDermid credits the Chalet School for her going to Oxford. She said in an interview, I knew from the Chalet School books that girls either went on to Oxford, the Sorbonne or the Kensington School of Art Needlework. I couldn't sew, I couldn't speak French, so I had to go to Oxford!

>80 BrokenTune: & >81 tardis: Great. Thank you both. I'll go and find a copy. They do seem hard to get a hold of.

>81 tardis: That story made me laugh, too.

Another week, more books read.

I finished The headmistress and The Bettany twins and the Chalet School. The former is about the effect on the village when a girls' school from London is evacuated to the local manor house. There are the usual gentle tensions between potential romantic partners, parents and children, and locals and outsiders. The scenes set in the school are amusing and perceptive, especially the emotional growth of Heather Adams, an awkward 15 year old.

The Bettany twins is also set during WWII while the school is housed on the Welsh borders. Second Twins Maeve and Maurice Bettany are returning to Britain with their parents, having lived in India for their first 8 years. They will meet their older siblings - First Twins Peggy and Richard, and singletons Bride and Jackie - for the first time. How will they like being the youngest in a large family, and having to go to separate schools? Maeve is at first reluctant to settle in at school or at home, but soon the family uncover a mystery connected to the house their father has inherited. Helen Barber effectively combines the family, school and mystery genres while writing in a style that channels EBD's original books.

I also finished Braiding sweetgrass, having been reading this beautiful book slowly over the course of this year. Kimmerer effectively weaves botanical science, Native American beliefs and mythology and a genuine love of the land into a thoughtful meditation on the earth and how we relate to it. We see her trying to pass this on to her students and daughters and, through the book, to a wider audience. She is trying to show that not all human interactions with the earth need be harmful to the environment, despite the evidence we see around us. This is a lovely and important book that deserves to be widely read and its philosophy put into action.

I've also read two more Japanese novels shared with my colleague. These books are really novellas, brief as they are, yet they are emotionally penetrating. Building waves shows the changing nature of both the landscape and the female protagonist. The hill country in which she lives is being developed into housing, built on top of ancient archaeological sites. At the same time the social landscape is changing as women start to break away from the expectations of being a wife and mother. Kyoko is married but in a relationship with another man, seeing no reason to feel guilty about this. We have no idea whether her husband knows about this and accepts it, or is in the dark; we never see him on the page and for quite a while I wondered if he even existed. But her affair will have consequences, if not for her then for a friend who is caught up by chance. This is beautifully written and translated, and I particularly liked the portrayal of the landscape with its hills that undulate in waves to the horizon. Kyoko was difficult for me to understand and relate to, but her inner life was examined in a way that made it interesting despite the lack of connection.

The other short novel I read was Vibrator - no sex toys are mentioned in the book, just to clarify! This is another book that explores the emotional life of a young woman, in this case one who is very troubled. Rei hears voices, is bulimic and alcoholic, although on the surface she is a quite successful freelance journalist. On impulse, she takes up with a long-distance trucker whom she encounters in a convenience store and starts an intense sexual relationship with him as they travel across Japan. It can be difficult to tell what is actually happening in the novel and what is in the narrator's head, but that is how life is for her, it seems, and the author conveys it well. It is the "vibrations" Rei feels around her that direct her actions and from which she is trying to escape. An interesting read, and one I will look forward to discussing with my colleague.

I also read The hollow places which is T. Kingfisher's second horror novel after The twisted ones. On balance, I preferred The hollow places. It was definitely creepier (anyone who thinks plants can't be scary should read this!) and the main character was less snarky and more engaging. There is a cat who plays an important role, but he never dominates the narrative as the dog did in Twisted. The novel is based on Blackwood's short story The willows. I was initially unsure of how the author was going to link that story to the setting of a small town in North Carolina and the museum of freaks and wonders in which the heroine lives. But in the end I was convinced by the integration of threads and found the book very difficult to put down. A great read for this time of year.

Finally this morning I just finished reading Lost children archive on my way to work. This is a story about the crisis of the migrant children arriving on the southern border of the USA. However the author didn't try to put herself in their shoes and tell the story from their point of view; rather she narrates as the mother of a middle class mixed family (mother with daughter married man with son) who are travelling from New York to the SW desert to pursue separate projects. The man is seeking to explore the last days of the Apaches, while the woman hopes to locate the lost daughters of a friend, who were crossing the border from Mexico to join their mother. The woman has been working with migrants in NYC, hearing and translating their stories. We can see that their marriage is coming apart, though the step-siblings are very close to each other. Through their experiences we learn of the plight and fates of migrant children, the risks they face at every stage of their journey, and the desperately slim chance they have of a happy ending. By using this distancing technique the author effectively avoids any charges of emotional manipulation or appropriation, but at the same time possibly lessens the appeal of the book. It is perhaps one to admire rather than love, although I certainly stayed engaged with it.

I've just started to read The secret commonwealth, Philip Pullman's most recent novel in the His Dark Material universe. I've also started Architects of memory, a space opera. And I'm still enjoying The family Moscat, a historical novel set in the Jewish community of early C20th Warsaw.

I had wondered which Bettany twins the book was about. I assumed from the title that both twins would be attending the school, and I couldn't think of a pair of Bettany girl twins. I still haven't read any of the fill-in books, and am unlikely to start at this point, but I'm glad to hear that many of them are well done.

>85 SylviaC: Those published by Girls Gone By are very good. The editors only accept manuscripts where the style, plots and characters are true to the originals by EBD. It's nice where authors have chosen to fill in terms that were skipped in the original series, and flesh out characters who only played a small role.

As I finished my kindle book on the way to work this morning (Lost children archive) I need to start a new one for the way home, I'm going to read The black flamingo. This is a YA novel written in verse, which fills one of the categories for the Helmet reading challenge.

>84 Sakerfalcon: I have Braiding Sweetgrass in the pile Claire, and have been dipping into her other volume Gathering Moss.

>86 Sakerfalcon: I've heard good things about Atta's book, and I find the verse novel format refreshing in general. It also is a rare case of my preferring the US cover. :)

Ah. I may have taken a bullet on The Hollow Places, if you found it better than The Twisted Ones...which, as you said, wasn't bad, but the dog and the narrative voice got old in a hurry.

>87 Caroline_McElwee: I think Kimmerer's books are perfect for dipping in to. Each time you will come away with a little nugget of wisdom and beauty.

>88 libraryperilous: This was a fast read but one that I enjoyed a lot.

>89 Marissa_Doyle: I think you will enjoy The hollow places quite a bit more than the earlier book - at least I hope you will!

So I read The black flamingo in one sitting, as it is a fast read due to the verse format. I found this an effective style for the story. The narrator, Mike, is a poet and it makes sense that he would choose that way to tell his story. Individual poems are woven in throughout the main narrative. Mike is mixed race, not black enough to be part of the black community, not white enough to be accepted as truly British. He is also gay, as he realises from an early age, and prefers the company of girls to boys. We follow him from around 6 years old, when he is hoping to get a Barbie doll for Christmas, to his first year at University where he hopes to find a place where he can truly fit. This is a moving story, told with immediacy, that sees Mike facing racism and homophobia, but also finding true friends and supported by a loving family. Recommended.

Last night I finished Architects of memory which was a good SF novel of corporate greed and first contact gone horribly wrong. Ash is an indenture, hoping to earn citizenship in the Aurora corporation by working as part of a salvage team retrieving weapons tech left by the alien forces after they attacked and destroyed some human colonies. Treachery from a rival corporation splits the team, putting them all in danger, and leading Ash to discover something even more devastating about the alien artefacts than their destructive power. This is an adventure that is full of moral choices and tough decisions. It has some gore and quite a high body count. I found the ending very powerful, but bleak. It is a very good read, but not easy at times. The book is the first in a series, but it felt complete to me.

I'm still enjoying The secret commonwealth and The family Moskat. I've also just started another Mrs Bradley mystery, Death at the opera, and on kindle I'm reading To be taught if fortunate.

So I finished both Death at the opera and To be taught if fortunate and enjoyed both.

Death at the opera actually takes place in a school with the murder occurring during a performance of The Mikado. As Mrs Bradley uncovers the opportunities and motives of those around the victim, the plot leads her farther afield to some other cases which may be linked. I liked the school scenes in particular, and also little cameos from characters in earlier novels in the series.

To be taught ... is a novella but reads like four linked short stories. Ariane is part of a team of four scientists sent on a long term space mission to explore four planets in a distant system. They try to leave as little impact on the planets as possible, and to that end scientists have developed a way to make the human body adapt to its environment, rather than force changes upon a hitherto unspoiled planet. I enjoyed the descriptions of the mission and the discoveries made, and the interactions between the characters. I felt that the ending was very rushed, however; I'd have liked more time spent on the ramifications of the reports from earth. But this was a great little read.

I've also read a non-fiction book that I borrowed from work, Horror in architecture. This looks at how some of the tropes from the horror genre - duplication, cloning, gigantism, etc - have found their way into architectural design, whether intentionally or not. It was quite an interesting read, with lots of illustrations of most of the examples, but with quite a lot of critical theory jargon. It fills my category of "A book on a subject you are unfamiliar with" for my reading challenge however. (The book I had already chosen for this is now packed away in a box and I can't find it!).

Now I'm reading Three men in a boat, which is for the category "A book you have prejudice against". This is because I was given a copy when I was about 13 or so and started reading it but didn't find it at all funny. I thought the characters were complete idiots and couldn't understand why the book was considered a classic. Since then many people whose judgement I trust have praised the book, so I am giving it another try now that I am older and supposedly more mature!

Still reading and enjoying The secret commonwealth and The family Moskat.

I was inspired to complete the challenge posted by fuzzi last week. Here are my results:

1. Name any book you read at any time that was published in the year you turned 18:
Wise Children by Angela Carter

2. Name a book you have on in your TBR pile that is over 500 pages long:
Red comet: the short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath

3. What is the last book you read with a mostly blue cover?
Building Waves by Taeko Tomioka

4. What is the last book you didn’t finish (and why didn’t you finish it?)
The lost steps by Alejo Carpentier (reread). Very sexist - horribly stereotyped female characters.

5. What is the last book that scared the bejeebers out of you?
Nothing is scarier than reading the news right now.

6. Name the book that you read either this year or last year that takes place geographically closest to where you live?
Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski (London)

7.What were the topics of the last two nonfiction books you read?
Botany (Braiding sweetgrass) and books (The Western lit survival guide)

8. Name a recent book you read which could be considered a popular book?
The last Emperox by John Scalzi

9. What was the last book you gave a rating of 5-stars to? And when did you read it?
Pony on the twelfth floor by Polly Faber. Read September 2020.

10. Name a book you read that led you to specifically to read another book (and what was the other book, and what was the connection)
Ghostland by Edward Parnell led to short stories by Robert Aickman (discussed in the Parnell book).

11. Name the author you have most recently become infatuated with.
Joyce Carol Oates I don't really become infatuated with authors, but JCO's books are all so different from each other that I have to admire her.

12. What is the setting of the first novel you read this year?
Brooklyn (Labyrinth Lost)

13. What is the last book you read, fiction or nonfiction, that featured a war in some way (and what war was it)?
The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell (WWII)

14. What was the last book you acquired or borrowed based on an LTer’s review or casual recommendation? And who was the LTer, if you care to say.
The Pear affair recommended by LibraryPerilous

15. What the last book you read that involved the future in some way?
Architects of memory by Karen Osbourne

16. Name the last book you read that featured a body of water, river, marsh, or significant rainfall?
Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates

17. What is last book you read by an author from the Southern Hemisphere?
Debris by Jo Anderton

18. What is the last book you read that you thought had a terrible cover?
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold

19. Who was the most recent dead author you read? And what year did they die?
Most recently dead: Ursula Le Guin (2018)
Dead author read most recently: Angela Thirkell (1961)

20. What was the last children’s book (not YA) you read?
The Pear affair by Judith Eagle

21. What was the name of the detective or crime-solver in the most recent crime novel you read?
Mrs Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley Death at the opera

22. What was the shortest book of any kind you’ve read so far this year?
Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami

23. Name the last book that you struggled with (and what do you think was behind the struggle?)
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. Gratuitously nasty, gruesome, dull

24. What is the most recent book you added to your library here on LT?
World of wonders by Aimee Nezhumakumatathil

25. Name a book you read this year that had a visual component (i.e. illustrations, photos, art, comics)
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (still reading)

BONUS QUESTION!
26. What is the title and year of the oldest book in your physical library that you have reviewed on LT?
A popular schoolgirl by Angela Brazil. Edition undated.

>91 Sakerfalcon: I do hope you find the joy in Three Men in a Boat. I loved it, but I have learned over the years that humor is not universal. We all like to laugh, but not all find the same things amusing. :)

>92 Sakerfalcon: Fun list :)

I tried to read Three Men in a Boat too. I've often wondered what is wrong with me that I don't find it funny. But OTOH I do find To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is sort of based on it, very funny.

>92 Sakerfalcon: ..led to short stories by Robert Aickman..

I love Robert Aickman's stories. Thanks to Faber & Faber they are available to more people at a reasonable price.

I have copied the questions into an MS Word document and will complete them over time.

Your answer to No. 5 is so accurate.

I bounced off Three Men in a Boat as a teenager as well.

>93 MrsLee: Wise words.

>91 Sakerfalcon: I read Three Men in a Boat last year, inspired by To Say Nothing of the Dog which >95 haydninvienna: mentioned and which references that book a lot. I had mixed feelings, but did find parts of it fairly funny. It just didn’t have much of an actual plot to it, and I had expected more in that regard. I really enjoyed the humor that was based on observations of human behavior, but didn’t care as much for the more slapstick type humor. I think the observational type humor would be especially difficult for kids to really get. With less life experience, they might not even recognize what’s supposed to be funny in order to decide whether or not they think it’s funny.

>97 libraryperilous: I hope you knew how to swim. :)

>91 Sakerfalcon: I had the same reaction to Three Men in a Boat at about the same age as you did. I'm interested to see what you think of it now, since our tastes tend to match up pretty well.

>99 YouKneeK: I too came to Three Men in a Boat from To Say Nothing of the Dog and had a similar reaction. I liked Jerome's book ok but the Willis was much more to my tastes than her source material.

>99 YouKneeK: and >101 ScoLgo: You've got an answer for #10 already. Keep going!

>102 Jim53: YouKneek already posted in her thread, and I (hilariously) mis-posted in the general discussion thread.

I enjoyed reading your answers over in your thread!

>92 Sakerfalcon: I've been meaning to pick up Ghostland. Did you enjoy it?

>102 Jim53: Haha, yep, #10 was one of the easy ones for me! Some of those other questions took a lot more research.

Thanks for all your comments!

>93 MrsLee: I remembered that you had read and enjoyed Three men in a boat and that was one of the factors that encouraged me to try it. You are right that humour is so subjective.

>95 haydninvienna:, >97 libraryperilous:, >99 YouKneeK:, >100 SylviaC:, >101 ScoLgo: I'm glad I wasn't the only person who bounced off Three men in a boat at a young age. Having just finished it this morning, my reactions correspond closely to those of >99 YouKneeK:. It was a pleasant and mostly enjoyable read, but some of the funny passages just went on for too long, to the point where the humour fell flat. The story of the uncle trying to hang a picture on the wall is a case in point, as were the comic song anecdotes. But I loved seeing Montmorency faced down by a cat, and really enjoyed the descriptions of the Thames. In fact I'd quite like to follow their journey, only in a narrowboat which is similarly slow-paced but a lot less effort. So I'm glad to have read it, but it's not really to my taste. Like a couple of you though, I very much enjoyed To say nothing of the dog and will have to reread it now.

>96 pgmcc: I have managed to acquire a couple of the Faber collections as well (on your recommendation) The late breakfasters.

>104 Marissa_Doyle: I did enjoy Ghostland, although I felt that the narrative wandered off on tangents and back again to the topic at hand in a way that made it hard to follow at times. Here are my thoughts upon finishing the book:
I finished Ghostland and now have a long list of authors to check out and films to try and track down. M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Aickman, Alan Garner, Lucy M. Boston and Susan Cooper are some of the big names whose work he references while visiting the locations and landscapes that inspired them. Parnell also talks quite a lot about programmes made by the BBC, such as the annual Ghost stories for Christmas, the children's series The owl service and Children of the stones, and films such as The wicker man. He often has personal reminiscences of the places he visits, which link back to the tragic story of his family, with which he is coming to terms. His passion for birds adds another layer of interest for me - I'm very jealous of some of his sightings! The main fault with the book is that it rambles; Parnell frequently goes off at tangents and sometimes it's hard to tell whether he has wandered onto another subject or is still talking about his original topic. But for me the combination of literature, landscape, the supernatural and birdlife made this a worthwhile read.

I finished The secret commonwealth and loved it. It was so good to be back in Lyra's world and see how it has changed since the events of the original trilogy. I found the first few chapters a bit slow going, but soon I was hooked and racing through the pages. As well as Lyra we also follow Malcom, and meet many characters old and new along the way. The Magisterium is still up to no good and its plotting is having a devastating effect on people across Europe and Central Asia. The book ends on a cliffhanger, so I hope he won't make us wait too long for the final book.

>106 Sakerfalcon: I will be interested to hear what you think of the Aickman stories and of The Late Breakfasters.

I recently acquired the Tartarus Press edition of Aickman's novel, Go Back At Once. Apparently this is the first time it was was published. It was an unpublished manuscript and Taratarus go the rights to publish it. I am not suggesting you go off and buy it. It is a £40 limited edition. Tartarus has, however, started publishing some of its limited editions in paperback at more reasonable prices. I will let you know what the story is like when I have managed to read it.

>106 Sakerfalcon: I recently read Three men in a boat (in Dutch translation). It was funny at times, and like you I liked the descriptions of the river Thames. Sadly To say nothing of the dog is not available in translation.

>106 Sakerfalcon: Now see, I read the passage of the uncle trying to hang a picture on the wall out loud to my husband because it pictured him so well! lol I'm not sure he appreciated it as much as I did. ;)

>107 pgmcc: The Aickman stories seem like good reading for these long winter nights. I will get to them soon.

>108 FAMeulstee: That is a pity about To say nothing of the dog. It has some inaccuracies but I found the humour and characters more than made up for that.

>109 MrsLee: Now the image of you reading that scene to your husband, and his reaction, is funny!

I've read a couple of YA books since I last posted.
Harrow Lake falls into the horror genre and I found it genuinely creepy in places. Lola's mother abandoned her and her film director father when Lola was a child, and she has grown up somewhat sheltered from the world by her privacy-obsessed father. One day Lola comes home to their apartment to find that he has been attacked and is in critical condition. She is sent to stay with the maternal grandmother she has never met in the small rural town of Harrow Lake. This is the setting of the film where her parents met, and it has become an iconic site to horror movie fans. Soon after her arrival Lola finds herself becoming influenced by local superstitions and stories, and wondering about the secrets that everyone seems to be hiding. The town and its residents are creepy, and Lola proves to be an unreliable narrator, which all adds to the eerie atmosphere. I appreciate that the author seems to leave us to decide whether there really is a supernatural element at play or if all the horrors are human in origin. Lola's voice is slightly annoying - she tends to use the word Optimal several times in every chapter, sometimes more than once on a page - but generally she is a pretty relatable protagonist. A good read.

I also finished Sorcery of thorns, a fantasy novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. How could I not, when large parts of the book take place in magical libraries where many of the books are actively dangerous, and booklice roam the corridors? Elisabeth has grown up in the library of Summershall, having been left on the steps as a baby. She loves her life and desires to become a Warden, tasked with guarding the library and its contents. However, a violent incident involving a book of dark magic leaves Elisabeth blamed and branded a traitor. She has to travel to the capital city in the company of a sardonic sorcerer to face her fate. However, what Fate has in store is far from what she expected as she uncovers a terrible conspiracy that could end the world. Elisabeth is a good heroine, gutsy and sometime impulsive but also willing to be patient and work towards her goals. She learns to change her assumptions based on her experiences and isn't afraid to accept responsibility for her actions. There is humour as well as threat, and a romance that thankfully never detracts from the main plot. This is, IMO a much better book than the author's first novel, An enchantment of ravens which had too much angsty instalove for my tastes (although it was beautifully written, as is this one). Recommended.

I'm currently still reading The family Moskat which is very good, despite my slow reading pace. I've also started Jeff Vandermeer's first YA novel, A peculiar peril, which is just as mad as you would expect, Red comet, the enormous new biography of Sylvia Plath, and the first Mrs Bradly mystery, Speedy death.

>110 Sakerfalcon: I liked A Sorcery of Thorns less than you did, but I agree that it's superior to her first novel. I did like Sorcery's books themselves, and the battle sequence in which many sacrifice themselves was quite well-written.

>110 Sakerfalcon: A sorcery of thorns sounds good! I'm going to have a look at it. And hi! I'm here only very infrequently, even though it's a great place for getting reading tips. Somehow I've been reading less and have also been visiting fora less for a while now. But when I'm here, I'll make sure to look you up!

>112 zjakkelien: It's good to "see" you again! Thanks for dropping by. Hopefully I will be able to travel to the Netherlands in the next year or so and we might be able to meet again in person. I think you would enjoy Sorcery of thorns.

>111 libraryperilous: I will keep a look out for what Rogerson writes next, and hope it builds on the strong aspects of Sorcery.

Speedy death was a fun read, and with a very unusual resolution! Mrs Brady was an unconventional protagonist right from the start.

Still reading the same books as when I last posted - The family Moskat which is excellent, Red comet, and A peculiar peril. On my kindle I read a very good but absolutely horrible dystopian/horror novel from Argentina, Tender is the flesh, which imagines that a virus makes animals deadly to humans and an industry develops to provide "special meat" as a substitute. Sounds implausible until you think about the language used to describe illegal immigrants, the homeless, etc by certain pundits and newspapers. Very gruesome. Brilliant but disturbing. Now on kindle I'm reading Little eyes, another Argentinian dystopian novel that takes the trend for inviting potentially invasive tech into our homes another step beyond where we are with Alexa, etc.

I've also started reading a historical mystery set in 12th century York, A choir of crows. It was a gift from a friend who wanted me to read it soon so that we can talk about it. It's not my usual sort of read but it is very good and seems well researched.

>That would be great!
I've been going through one of your older threads, and am now reading one of the other books you mentioned, Gideon the ninth. Only just started. Came online because I couldn't figure out how to pronounce Nonagesimus, but I found a pronunciation guide. I don't know how often the name is used, but it would be annoying to stumble over it every time... Also nice to know it has meaning.

So I've now finished reading A choir of crows, Little eyes and The family Moskat.

A choir of crows was a very enjoyable mediaeval murder mystery set around York minster in the C12th. Owen Archer is the city bailiff and is ordered to investigate when two bodies are found in the snow one night. A young man with the voice of an angel is discovered in the chapter house the same evening - is he connected to the bodies? Owen unravels a web of religion and politics as he investigates. This is book 12 in a series, but I didn't have any trouble starting at this point. Characters' backstories are filled in just enough to give any information that is relevant to the story; you can tell there is a lot left unsaid but you don't feel that you are missing something important. It's nice to have Owen's family and household involoved, and I imagine that longtime readers would feel as though they were catching up with old friends. I've passed this on to my mum who I think will really enjoy it.

Little eyes was a disturbing dystopian novel which examines issues of privacy and surveillance. In the novel, the latest craze is for kentuckis, cute furry model animals that can interact with their "keepers". This interaction is possible because there is an actual human logged into the animal, observing everything through cameras in the eyes. They can't speak, only make animal sounds, but some keepers have worked out ways to communicate with the "dweller". The novel moves between dwellers and keepers all over the world - a lady in Peru who is observing the life of a young woman in Erfurt, Germany; a boy from Antigua inhabiting a kentucki in Sweden, where he is thrilled to see snow for the first time; an Italian man whose ex-wife demanded that he give their son a kentucki on the advice of a psychiatrist; an artist's girlfriend who develops a very strange relationship with her kentucki. Why anyone would want such a device in their home is unfathomable to me; the first chapter of the novel, which stands alone, shows the obvious openings for exploitation. But we can see that it's not just dwellers who use their observation to hold power over the keepers; some of the keepers find very disturbing ways to impact the dwellers. It's a good read, with no easy answers and no resolution. I would have liked a bit more closure to the story threads.

The family Moskat was a fantastic read. It follows the titular family from the early C20th to the start of WWII as Warsaw is being bombed. The cast of characters is huge and multi-generational - the family trees in the front of the book were essential. Singer was portraying the decline and corruption of European Jewry in this novel, showing characters who range from devout Chassidim whose rituals alienate them from the outside world, to those who have lost their faith but found nothing to replace it. Every character is an example of flawed humanity, prone to lust, greed, indecision, despair, and anger. But that very humanity makes them compelling to follow. One minute I loathed someone for their actions or attitudes , but later on I found myself sympathising with them as the circumstances changed. The male characters are more closely examined than the women, who tend to fall into the categories of idealistic girls seeking marriage and aging harridans who quarrel with their husbands. Nevertheless, we spend so much time with this family that as the book ends with them trying to shelter from the bombardment of Warsaw I felt a real pang for them as I knew the possible fates that awaited them. This is a fascinating and compelling book that is one of my best reads of the year.

I also read The memory police by Yoko Ogawa. This is another dystopian novel, this time from Japan. On the island, objects are mysteriously erased from existence. I would compare the situation to when you stare at a word for so long that it loses its meaning and becomes a random bunch of letters. The objects are still physically present, but one looks at them and they signify nothing - the knowledge of how they were used, any memories associated with them, all are gone. After each disappearance, the Memory Police make sure that all the objects are destroyed to complete the erasure. Our narrator is a writer who lives alone after her parents' deaths. The only people she seems close to are an old family friend who lives on the now-disused ferryboat, and her Editor, R. R is unusual in that he does not lose his memories like most people when an object disappears, and this puts him in danger from the Memory Police. The narrator and the old man from the boat come up with a plan to shelter R as the situation becomes more critical, but all three wonder what the future holds as the disappearances continue. This is a beautifully written novel, thoughtful and meditative but also tense . I wanted both to keep reading to find out what would happen, but also to hold back because I feared for the characters' wellbeing. This is not a violent fighting for survival dystopian read - even when food becomes scarce characters are patient and generally supportive, if distant. It's a very different book to The professor and the housekeeper by the same author, but just as good.

Now I'm still reading A peculiar peril and Red comet. I've started another Mrs Bradley mystery, When last I died, Alliance of equals which is book no. ??? in the Liaden series, and on kindle I'm reading Witchmark which is a really nice little fantasy novel set in an alt-early C20th Europe type world.

How is your progress on the Helmet Reading Challenge going?

I think I only need the book in Plain language now. I cheated on the Sami literature and read a book by a Native American author instead. I'll post my progress to date when I'm at home and have my list to hand.

>115 Sakerfalcon: I’m glad The Memory Police worked well for you! I read this about 5 months ago and had some complaints, but the plot has so far stuck with me a little better than I expected it to.

I enjoyed your compelling reviews of The Memory Police and The Family Moskat, Claire. I purchased the first novel after it was shortlisted for the Booker International Prize, and since I enjoyed The Professor and the Housekeeper I'll try to get to it early next year. I own a copy of the Library of America's Collected Stories: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Volume 1, so I'll check to see if The Family Moskat is contained within it.

BTW I greatly liked The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, the winner of this year's Booker International Prize.

>118 YouKneeK: I just went and read your review. I didn't expect this to be an SF novel so I assumed that the cause of the disappearances would not be revealed; your description of it as a thought experiment is a good one.

>119 kidzdoc: I knew you had acquired The memory police but couldn't remember if you'd read it yet. I'll be interested in your thoughts when you do. The family Moskat is pretty long, I would think it needs an LOA volume all of its own!

>117 Sakerfalcon: Thanks to -pilgrim-'s help, I have decided to read Do androids dream of electric sheep as my book that has also been published in Plain Language. The library where I work owns a simplified edition of this title which is adapted to be read by English language learners.

As promised, here is my completed list for the reading challenge:

Helmet Reading Challenge 2020

1. The book is older than you: The nicest girl in the school by Angela Brazil (1910)
2. A happy book: Martha in Paris by Margery Sharp
3. A book that you have prejudice against: Three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome
4. There are many people on the cover or in the description of the book: Beginning operations by James White
5. A book by a Sami (Native American substituted) author: A plague of doves by Louise Erdrich
6. The book’s title begins and ends with the same letter: Etched in bone by Anne Bishop
7. Someone breaks the law in the book: Speedy death by Gladys Mitchell
8. A book that someone else chooses for you: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (my friend Sasha)
9. Someone faces their fears in the book: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
10. The book is located in a country with fewer residents than Finland: The glass woman by Caroline Lea (Iceland)
11. An Alternative history: Dread nation by Justina Ireland (US Civil War)
12. The book has been made into a play or opera: Transformations by Anne Sexton (opera by Conrad Susa)
13. Someone gets lost in the book: The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern
14. A book that is related to sports: Break the fall (Gymnastics)
15. A work of fiction that includes a real person: Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
16. A book plays an important role in the book: The ten thousand doors of January by Alix Harrow
17. A book written by a researcher: Chernobyl by Serhi Plokhy
18. A book on a subject you are unfamiliar with: Horror in architecture by Joel Comaroff
19. A book that you read together with someone: Out of the silent planet by C. S. Lewis
20. A book on biodiversity: Braiding sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
21. You like the first sentence of the book: Harrow the Ninth by Tamsin Muir
22. The book has an unreliable narrator: Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis
23. The book has also been published in Plain Language: Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip K. Dick
24. A book by an author who has published more than 20 books: A leader in the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
25. In the book, someone is on an island: Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
26. The author’s last name begins with the letter X, Y, Z: The disaster tourist by Yun Ko-Eun
27. A story written in verse, narrative poetry or a verse novel: The black flamingo by Dean Atta
28. A book about the future: A people’s future of the United States (anthology of short stories)
29. A book or comic related to Japan: The Aosawa murders by Riku Onda
30. In the book someone’s life is saved: The new prefect by Dorothea Moore
31. The book depicts life in the countryside: Wolf winter by Cecilia Ekback
32. A book originally published in a language you do not know: Cancer ward by Solzhenitsyn
33. A transformation happens in the book: Tinker by Wen Spencer
34. The title of the book contains a word relating to nature: Prairie fires by Caro Fraser
35. Someone in the book uses social media: Followers by Megan Angelo
36. A book recommended by someone famous: Breasts and eggs by Mieko Kamakami (recommended by Haruki Murakami)
37. The era in which the book is set plays a key role: Loving without tears by Molly Keane (post WWI)
38. There is a tree on the cover or in the description: The overstory by Richard Powers
39. Someone flies in the book: Twelve fair kingdoms by Suzette Haden Elgin
40. A book by an author who passed away in the 2000s: Orsinia by Ursula Le Guin
41. Someone cooks or bakes in the book: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
42. There are grandparents in the book: The eighth life by Nino Haratischvili
43. A book published as part of a publisher’s series: Open the door! By Catherine Carswell (Virago Modern Classics)
44. The book contains correspondence: Tainaron by Leena Krohn
45. The first published book of an author: Real life by Brandon Taylor
46. There is a sauna in the book: The boatman’s daughter by Andy Davidson
47. Two books with very similar titles: Journey under the midnight sun by Keigo Higashino and
48. In the month of the midnight sun by Cecilia Ekback
49. A book published in 2020: If I had your face by Frances Cha
50. A book recommended by a member of library staff: Territory of light by Yuko Tsushima (recommended by my colleague Luciana!)

Well done! That's impressive.

>107 pgmcc: Your thread must have been buried so I'm just catching up. I'm so glad you enjoyed The Secret Commonwealth. I also found the pacing to be a bit uneven, but otherwise it was wonderful.

Congrats on finishing the challenge!

>122 -pilgrim-:, >123 Narilka:, >124 clamairy: Thank you! It's been a good year in books, even if not in other things!

>124 clamairy: I am now eager to see what happens in the next volume. I hope Pullman doesn't keep us waiting too long.

I may have finished my challenge but I'm still reading!
I finished Alliance of equals Witchmark and When last I died and all three were very enjoyable reads.
Alliance of equals continued the adventures of Clan Korval after they relocate to the planet Surebleak and seek to rebuild their trading networks. Here we see young Padi, Shan's daughter, start to build her own trading contacts in the face of widespread prejudice against Korval.

Witchmark was a lovely fantasy read set in an alt-c20th European feeling world that is still coming to terms with the aftermath of a Great War. Our hero Miles is a psychiatrist, working with veterans returned from the conflict. With the magic that he has to keep hidden, he can see a strange poisoning that seems to be affecting the men's minds. When a dying stranger is brought to him begging for help, he joins up with the mysterious Tristan to try and find out who was responsible for the man's death, and why he was killed. The world feels quite Edwardian, with cycling the main means of getting around town, and cars limited to the rich. Those with the strongest magical gifts are celebrated, whereas those like Miles whose gifts are supposedly weaker are fated to a life bound to a more powerful magic user, with no freedom of their own. Miles' quest brings him back into contact with the family he left years ago, and into danger. This was a really good read with engaging characters, an intriguing plot and an enticing world. There are two sequels which I shall be looking out for.

When last I died was another enjoyable Mrs Bradley mystery, this one following her as she unpicks a crime from the past. Her grandson discovers a diary in the cottage where they are staying, and she discovers that it purports to have been written by a woman acquitted of murder who later committed suicide. Its contents, however, lead Mrs Bradley to realise that the facts of the case were not what they appeared to be. This book also includes a haunted house and several gothic elements which I appreciated.

I also read a short novel by Penelope Mortimer, The pumpkin eater, which is narrated by a woman who is suffering a breakdown and a crisis in her family life. Mrs Armitage married young and has spent more than half her life in one marriage or another, and amassing a brood of children. She is financially secure and seemingly has everything she wants, so she is startled to find herself crying uncontrollably in the linen department of Harrods. The novel is set in 1960s England when women still tended to have limited options in life. It is slightly autobiographical, drawing on the author's own marriage and mental health problems. A short but powerful read.

Now I'm still reading A peculiar peril and Red comet, and additionally have started The girl with the louding voice, which is set in Nigeria, The year of the witching, a YA supernatural/dystopian novel and on kindle, Starve acre, a British folk horror novel. All three are very good so far.

>121 Sakerfalcon: Very impressive reading challenge! I'm also intrigued by your description of Little Eyes in >115 Sakerfalcon:.

I hope there are some treats, some relaxation, and some reading over the festive season, and that 2021 is a kinder year to everyone.

Hoping there will be some fine reads among your parcels Claire.

I hope you get some of those at least, Claire, as we all look forward to a better 2021.

>127 Caroline_McElwee:, >128 PaulCranswick: Thank you both for the good wishes. I've been spending a quiet Christmas with my mum and sister but will go back to my place for a solitary New Year.

I've had a fair amount of time to read. Before I left my place to go to mum's I managed to finish The year of the witching and The girl with the louding voice. I enjoyed both. Witching has a dystopian alt-history type setting for a YA story of repressive religion and dark forces, with a likeable heroine battling both. Immanuelle has spirit and determination but is not so rebellious as to become a cliche. There is romance but it doesn't derail the plot, and my main criticism is that the ending felt rushed.

The girl with the louding voice gave us a delightful heroine in the person of Adunni, a girl who dreams of becoming a schoolteacher but is married off at 14 years old to become the third wife of an older man. Adunni's journey takes her from one difficult situation to another, but she never loses hope and even in the harshest conditions she makes friends and finds help and support. Perhaps the novel is something of a Cinderella story in how Adunni overcomes oppression with the help of kind intervention from others, but there is no prince at the end, rather the promise of education. Despite reading of Adunni's horrible experiences this is a happy and hopefully novel, told in an unusual and engaging voice.

My colleague and I lent each other some books to read while we were off work, and I've been working my way through them. Friendship for grown-ups consists of three very short stories that are vignettes in the lives of young Japanese people, looking at memory, identity and relationships. I really enjoyed these. The end of the moment we had contained two novellas, neither of which I warmed to. The first tells of the brief connection made by a young couple who spend four days together at a love hotel but never exchange names and agree that they will not meet again. The second is narrated by a young wife who longs for more from her husband, told during a day when she chooses not to go to work but lies on her futon thinking about her husband's jobs, how they met and her thoughts on the blogs she reads. I found her utterly unsympathetic and spoilt and felt sorry for her husband. Now I'm reading The perfect world of Miwako Sumida which is narrated by the three friends of a woman who disappeared and was then found to have committed suicide. I'm enjoying it so far but my colleague told me she thought it was the worst book she'd read this year!

I'm also reading one of the books I received for Christmas, Death goes on skis, which is a humorous murder mystery written in the late 1940s and very much of that period. Solving the mystery is less important than the social goings-on of the characters who are mostly rich socialites. As I'm not keen on the procedural aspects of mysteries, this works well for me.

And on kindle I'm reading Such a fun age, a contemporary American novel which examines racism and bias through the relationship between wealthy white Alix and her black babysitter Emira, who is accused of kidnapping her charge when they are seen together in an upscale grocery store late at night.

I've enjoyed catching up with your threads, Claire. I loved both Jest of God and Sabella , though it must be over thirty years since I read Sabella. Good to hear it's been republished and now I'm going to have a look for it and its new cover!

I've been reminded that I bought the first in the Others series after you mentioned the books a couple of years ago and am now looking forward to getting to it.

>130 Soupdragon: It was lovely to see you at the zoom party the other day! I hope one day we will be able to meet up in person.

I hope you enjoy the Others series. I like that Meg is so different to the usual protagonist, and there is such a strong community feel to the books.

Best wishes for 2021, Claire!

Thank you Anita! I wish you and Frank all the best too.

I'm about to start my 2021 thread; unfortunately I didn't realise I wasn't at the stage to create a follow-on and so didn't request a piffle party in time. Mea culpa.

>133 Sakerfalcon: Oh Claire! A missed opportunity for a Piffle Party, and so close, too. You have my sympathy.

>133 Sakerfalcon: Piffle party? Do you mean enough messages to continue your thread?
I could help with that.

>129 Sakerfalcon: I loved Girl with The Louding Voice and Such a Fun Age and they made my best ofs for this year and last respectively. I can't find your 2021 thread though!

>133 Sakerfalcon: We hardly need a special invitation to throw you a Piffle party. I'm sure we can rustle up some lighthearted postings from any number of persons skulking here in the Pub on a Sunday..

>134 pgmcc:, >135 FAMeulstee:, >137 jillmwo: Alas, I have gone ahead and started my new thread. It can be found here

However I do check back here so feel free to indulge in a piffle party should you wish!

>136 LyzzyBee: Your review of Girl with the louding voice was what made me pick it up when I saw the paperback in Waterstones! It is just as good as you said it was! I was really impressed that the author made a story that contained a lot of suffering an ultimately hopeful and uplifting read.
Glad to see you found the new thread!

>138 Sakerfalcon: I spotted your new thread before posting #134. It was your new thread that brought your missed piffle party opportunity to my attention.

We are only a few posts away from the magical 150 posts.