Elizabeth's 2010 Challenge: Read 75 books, write at least one

Keeping the goals simple . . .

Glad to see you back, Elizabeth! Good luck with both your goals.

Welcome back! Hope you'll share some of that second goal as we go!

Huzzah, another writer! I'm in the process of writing two and editing two, so I'll definitely be here to cheer you on :D

Love the thread title! :)

1. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. Phew. I finally finished a book this year; I'm feeling behind already! On the other hand, there were and are some extenuating circumstances. This is a fairly long book, historical fiction about Llewelyn the Great of Wales and John I of England. The central character is really Joanna (sometimes known as Joan), John's illegitimate daughter who married Llewelyn. She is torn between the two men she loves, who are frequently at war. Penman paints John as responsible for some extremely cruel and vicious acts (some supported by history and some simply speculation). Ultimately, the book is a love story about Joanna and Llewelyn, including a famous scandal in which Joanna is caught with another man in her bedchamber; Llewelyn hangs the other man and imprisons Joanna for nearly a year before restoring her to her position as his consort.

Penman of necessity takes liberties with history--too many details are simply not known, and certainly the feelings and conversations can only be imagined. But they are well imagined.

Congratulations for getting the first book of the year under your belt! And a good one, to boot. I have not read any of Penman's historical fiction, only her mysteries, but I mean to rectify that this year.

2. Hellburner by C. J. Cherryh. This is yet another book I thought surely I must have read before and yet did not remember in the least. There were some familiar Cherryh elements, specifically the beset young man who seems to have everything against him and only innate talent and bullheaded determination in his corner. The young man in question is Paul Dekker, injured in a simulator accident while training to pilot a new aircraft, the Hellburner. Dekker is in the hospital and incoherent when Ben Pollard is summoned from the brink of a promising career on Earth to the space station hospital. Ben tries to help Dekker back to reality; soon after, two women the men know arrive and the four of them are pushed into training as a crew for the new ship.

Cherryh is, as always, able to create plenty of suspense through intimations of political maneuverings and the sense that one never quite knows whom to trust.

I'm going to look for something fairly light for the next book; I know I'm behind the pace for the year already. Well, it's been a tough month, after all.

The year is long, Elizabeth. I am sure you will pick up the pace somewhere along the line, so do not sweat it.

3. The Thorns of Eden by Diana Ballew.

Edited in 2011 to note that the review below is for an earlier version of the book, which was edited extensively before its publication, scheduled for this year. So the comments may not be accurate for the book as it now exists.

Not touchstoning correctly, not surprisingly, as it's an unpublished work by a friend, for whom I edited it. It's a historical romance set during the Peninsular campaign of the Civil War. I really hope she finds a publisher, though, as I think it's a fine example of the genre--the history is well researched and the romance is a scorcher. She keeps the plot humming along, with a fair sprinkling of surprises, and there is ample room for a sequel. So much fun it's hard to remember that it was, technically, work.

Keep me posted if your friend gets it published. I like well-done historical fiction.

4. The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry. I'm glad, having read this book, that I took your advice, Stasia, and started the series with the first book. I have two of the later books in the series but will be requesting at least the next two through ILL so I can read them in order.

The book starts with a great premise: a man wakes up in a hospital after an accident and has lost his memory. He discovers that he is a (Victorian-era) policeman, and, worried that if his loss of memory is discovered he'll lose his job and end up in the workhouse, he hides his condition and goes back to work. Handed a murder case, he tries to discover the killer at the same time he attempts to discover who he is himself.

I read Perry's first book, which is also the first book in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, and this later book shows the improvement that practice brought her. I'm looking forward to reading more in both series.

I started Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka as my next book, but in four pages I've found at least four editing errors, and I'm not sure I'll be able to read the rest of the book--the errors are just too distracting. But a friend recommended it, so I'll try a bit more.

#12: I am glad you liked the first Monk book. I really like the series taken as a whole.

Stick with Amuse Bouche, if you can get past the editing errors. It is not the best first book, but it does show promise.

I wrote to the publisher to complain about the errors in Amuse Bouche, and they responded that later editions featured correction of many of the errors, so I'm going to wait to see if I can find a later edition--there were mistakes on just about every page I read, and I couldn't enjoy reading a book when I was just infuriated by the sloppiness of it.

So, onward: #5 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. What a fantastic book! I want to get the other two books by him as soon as I can; I think it's heartbreaking that the author delivered these three manuscripts to his publisher and then died before being able to enjoy the success he would have had.

The main character is a Swedish journalist for a financial magazine, Mikael Blomkvist, who is convicted of libel against an industrialist. Depressed by the verdict, he accepts an unusual but lucrative offer by a retired business magnate, Henrik Vanger, to write a history of his family. That's his cover assignment; what Vanger really wants is for Blomkvist to discover what happened to his niece, Harriet Vanger, who has been missing for forty years. Henrik believes she was murdered and wants to know the truth about her fate before he himself dies.

The book is also the story of the troubled and brilliant Lisbeth Salander, the tattooed girl of the title, a computer hacker who initially vets Blomkvist for his new employer and then is drawn into his investigation as his assistant.

I'm deeply impressed with this book and eager to read the other two books--how soon can I get them?! But I have a few other obligations first--I started a thread to discuss The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and I have a book to read for the book club soon. One of my resolutions for this year was to meet my goal but also to read better books, and I think I've made a great start.

I loved the first 2 books of Larsson's Millennium trilogy, but although I have bought it, I have not yet read the third book. I will be reading it some time this year though.

I can't wait to read the other Larsson books, except that I have to--I have a bunch of books from the library and I have to read most of them, at least, before requesting more.

I'm about a quarter of the way through Hedgehog, but paused to read the book club book for Tuesday:

#6. The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini. The main story takes place just before and during the Civil War, but is bracketed by a modern-day introduction and epilogue. I found those much less compelling than the main story, as the character there seemed to have one of those perfect lives with a beautiful home, terrific friends, lots of interests, the ability to travel at the drop of a hat . . . yeah, whatever. Also, there's certainly the sense that this book is one of a series (which it is), and many readers probably are quite familiar with the characters and setting.

Okay, but that's minor, really: the main story concerns a runaway slave, Joanna, who is recaptured and returned to her master in Virginia, who has her whipped and then sent to his brother in South Carolina. What her master does not know is that she was pregnant with his child when she ran away, and her child has been left in Pennsylvania with the family that took her in. Determined to run away again and find her child, Joanna carefully pieces together a quilt with squares reminding her of landmarks on the way to freedom and her son. But before she has a chance to run again, she marries and has another child, then is torn from them when her master gives her to his daughter as a wedding present. Living in Charleston when the war starts, she continues to look for a way to protect her loved ones and be reunited with them.

Fewer stories have brought home so completely the horrors of slavery, not only in terms of beating, hunger, and hard work, but in the soul-destroying casual way in which families are torn asunder and feelings disregarded. Daily, the slaves lie because it is expected of them, assuring their masters that they are happy, concerned, or the like, when their souls burn with resentment and hatred--or sheer indifference.

This was a very quick read; I started it last night and finished it today. Even though (sigh) I should have been doing some other stuff.

#7. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Wow. This is a book I read because of recommendations here on LT, and there's a discussion thread about it as a result of that.

The story takes place in an exclusive Paris apartment building. There are three main characters: Paloma, a precocious 12-year-old who has decided to commit suicide on her 13th birthday--she searches for meaning and beauty around her but finds her family unbearably mundane; Renee, the 54-year-old concierge, who hides her intellect and interest in culture from those she works for; and Mr. Ozu, a new resident, a wealthy Japanese man who recognizes in Paloma and Renee kindred spirits. He not only draws them into his circle, he is instrumental in making them recognize each other for what they are.

The story alternates between the two female characters, with plenty of philosophical musings from each of them. Renee has one friend with whom she shares tea and pastries, but even this woman doesn't really understand Renee's interests. She has crafted a comfortable but hidden existence, and even has a television on in the front of her apartment while she curls up in the back, watching foreign films and reading.

I'll be thinking of this book for a long time to come. For all its intellectual digressions, it's really a book about human relationships and the joy of finding people who understand us at our deepest levels.

#17: Glad to see that you enjoyed that one, Elizabeth! Thus far, it is one of my top reads for the year.

8. Still Life by Louise Penny. This is another LT recommendation, a mystery series set in Canada. I enjoyed it very much; the small town is a cosy and comforting place despite the presence of murder. The cast of characters is well drawn; a little confusing at first, they all come to have distinct personalities and lives.

I particularly enjoyed the detective, Armand Gamache. Intelligent without being prescient, he is gentle when possible and stern when necessary. A subplot concerns a young officer, Yvette Nichol, desperate to prove herself but also prickly, rude, and stubborn. Gamache takes seriously his responsibility to train young officers, and he tries to pass along to Nichol some of the lessons he was given in his youth.

The author handles some of the details following the death of a woman who was well loved with a sensitive touch, as she describes the slow, tail-down walk of the dog she left behind. The mystery is well-done also, with the guilty party revealed slowly and plenty of red herrings along the way.

All in all, I'm eager to read the next in the series. That's happening a lot these days!

#19: It is a terrific series, Elizabeth. I hope you get to read them all.

Just found your thread now. I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog a couple of weeks ago and didn't realise till last week that there was a group read of it. I loved it!! (I was sitting in a restaurant in Paris when I was near the end, and had to stop because I could feel myself going to cry.)

I'm going to investigate the Louise Penny series, but I am terrible at finding new mystery series and not getting through them.

Edited to change poor Lousie Penny back to Louise ;)

I'm always happy to find another Three Pines fan! I've read the first 4 and they just get better and better.

I'm definitely looking forward to more of the Three Pines stories now.

>21 cushlareads: I've found several promising series lately--I don't know if I'll get to read every book in every one, but so far I'm glad I've started at the beginning of each series. I've been trying to get the first couple in each series I want to read (not always successfully, but then there's always the library). I want to get the next couple of books in Anne Perry's William Monk series, the second and third of Stieg Larsson's books, and I've got the next couple of books in Sharon Kay Penman's The Queen's Man series.

Wish I had nothing else to do but read, with occasional breaks for food and sleep.

#23: Wish I had nothing else to do but read, with occasional breaks for food and sleep.

Who doesn't?

SPOILERS!

9. No Night Without Stars by Andre Norton. I did not love this book. It's science fiction, published in 1975; my first thought was that it doesn't wear its age well, but I don't think that's the problem I have with it.

The story is set in the future, many generations after a cataclysmic disaster has pushed humanity back to primitive societies and created a variety of fearsome mutants and a landscape in twisted ruins. Sander, a smith, and Fanyi, a shaman, each with animal companions, encounter each other by chance and travel together for protection. He seeks better ways of working with metals and she seeks more powerful weapons so she can wreak vengeance on those who killed her people--they believe they can find the knowledge they seek left by the "Before Men," those who lived before the disaster.

They travel and face various dangers together; finally, they find an underground installation with advanced technology. But neither really finds what they are after, and I guess it's that failure that disappointed me in the end. It seemed that they simply decided to give up and face the future with their own strengths--admirable, I suppose, but unfulfilling as presented.

#25: Too bad about that one, Elizabeth. It sounds like something I would have liked. I hope your next read is better for you.

SOME SPOILERS!

10. South of Broad by Pat Conroy. Finished this last night and it's still percolating. The novel is set in Charleston and is a love letter to the city, among other things. The main character is Leopold Bloom King (his mother is a James Joyce scholar), also called "the Toad" for his thick glasses and bug eyes. He's not very attractive and has been scarred by finding his beautiful, golden-boy ten-year-old older brother dead in the bathtub, a suicide.

The novel starts in the summer before Leo's senior year of high school, when he's fought his way back to sanity; he's an accomplished and respectful paper boy and altar boy; he's also working off his community service in the antique store of a curmudgeonly old gentleman. Pushed by his high school principal mother, Leo befriends several new students: a pair of twins, Trevor and Sheba Poe, who move across the street from his family; brother and sister orphans Niles and Starla Whitehouse; the son of his school's new black coach, Ike Jefferson; and several of Charleston's socialites, Molly Huger, her boyfriend Chadworth Rutledge, and his sister Fraser. Together with Betty, Ike's girlfriend, this group begins a tight-knit friendship that will last through the years, as many of them marry (Niles and Fraser, Chad and Molly, Ike and Betty, Leo and Starla) and begin families.

But there are many dark secrets that haunt the friends, from Trevor and Sheba's evil father to the question of whether Niles and Starla's mother and grandmother could be looking for the two children, runaways from many orphanages. Somehow, Leo's kindness is the glue that holds this group together, bridging the gaps in social status and the vast divide between Ike and Betty's experience as black students and the newly integrated white school, football team, and society.

The story moves back and forth between high school and twenty years later, when a surprise visit from the famous and glamorous Sheba Poe brings the friends together for a traumatic trip to San Francisco at the height of the 80's AIDS crisis to find Trevor. The descriptions of men dying in fleabag motels in the Tenderloin district, alone or supported only by equally sick partners, abandoned by families who condemn them, is as heartbreaking as anything I can imagine.

The book is peopled by memorable, real characters; of particular interest are the fathers in the story. Niles and Starla's father is eventually described in a less than flattering light, and Trevor and Sheba's is simply evil, but as a counterpoint, both Coach Jefferson, Ike's father, and Jasper King, Leo's father, are men of strength, decency, and heart, who raise sons they can be proud of.

A lot of strands are woven together to tie this story up, and even the mystery of why Leo's brother killed himself is explained.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will be pondering it for a while. On the other hand, I think that sometimes Conroy strains a bit in his efforts to be descriptive; I also found one scene in particular, when the friends in their late 30s begin re-enacting high school cheers and football introductions (most of the male characters played, and there are several quite detailed descriptions of games), annoying in its preciousness. Still, even that scene is interrupted by the reality of their adult lives, which saved it.

There are also quite a few emotional hot spots for me with this book, from the AIDS epidemic (I've lost two very dear people to that particular scourge) to the hurricane (way too reminiscent of the flood we endured here), but I guess that's the price one pays for having been alive for a while. Eventually one will find one's pain portrayed on the written page.

#27: I have that one around my house somewhere waiting for me to read it. I will get to it one of these centuries.

I have South of Broad and started it. It was lengthy and descriptive and put it down. I'll be picking it back up again after your description.

That sounds like a very good book. Thanks for the review.

11. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. The second of Larsson's three books, this also featured the journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the eccentric genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist hasn't seen Salander for a year or more; she's been out of the country (Sweden) traveling, enjoying the fortune she stole. Blomkvist and his colleagues are planning to publish a magazine edition and a book exposing Sweden's sex trade, naming many highly placed "johns." But the author of the book and his fiancee, whose doctoral dissertation contains her research on the subject from the viewpoint of the victimized prostitutes, are murdered, and Lisbeth's fingerprints are found on the murder weapon. Blomkvist is one of very few who believe in her innocence, and while the police institute a hunt for her, Blomkvist searches for the real motive behind the killings.

The book ends with a lot hanging in the balance and there I sat last night, glumly reading online that the third book won't be available in the United States until late May. But it's available now on Amazon UK . . . with a pricey shipping cost. I barely managed to keep from trying for immediate gratification, but I would pick up the third one and read it immediately if it were available. What a tragedy that this author is lost.

> 31 I've been holding off reading the Larsson books. I have heard there was supposed to be a 4th and 5th in the series. I'm concerned there will be cliffhangers or such that will never be resolved. I'm waiting to see what folks say when they have read the third one before I make a decision.

I love that your goal is to write "at least one"! Leaving the possibility open for an enormously prolific year but allowing yourself a simple definition of success. I hope your goal is going well so far!

>32 profilerSR: I can't see how there could be a 4th or 5th in this series--the author delivered the three books and then died. I have no idea, though, if the third one ends with things unresolved. I guess it wouldn't surprise me--but I'm really eager to read it anyway.

ETA: Read one web post that said Larsson left about 200 pages of another book but it won't ever be published. Never say never . . .

>33 Sarasamsara: I haven't done much with this so far this year but my intention is to get right back to it any minute now . . . I have about 20K words written but really need to get back into the habit. NaNoWriMo was a wonderful spur for me.

#31: Elizabeth, I ordered the third book last year from The Book Depository - no shipping costs worldwide. You might want to check here: www.thebookdepository.com.

OMG! Stasia, you have made me sooooo happy! I just ordered the book. I can't wait!

#36: Glad I could oblige!

12. Women of Wonder, edited by Pamela Sargent. This is an older collection of sci fi stories by women writers. They are:

--"The Child Dreams" by Sonya Dorman (a poem)
--"That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril
--"Contagion" by Katherine MacLean
--"The Wind People" by Marion Zimmer Bradley
--"The Ship Who Sang" by Anne McCaffrey
--"When I Was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman
--"The Food Farm" by Kit Reed
--"Baby, You Were Great" by Kate Wilhelm
--"Sex and/or Mr. Morrison" by Carol Emshwiller
--"Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. Le Guin
--"False Dawn" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
--"Nobody's Home" by Joanna Russ
--"Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" by Vonda N. McIntyre

I guess this is another reminder that I'm not that keen on short stories. All too often, I'm left wondering "what's next?" or "so what?" as I try to figure out the point of the story. Still, some of them were interesting and thought-provoking; I imagine I'll think about them later. But I'm back to full-length stories next.

*Minor spoilers*

13. Vivien by Alexander Walker, a biography of Vivien Leigh. I've read this at a leisurely pace, but it's pretty straightforwardly chronological, so easy enough to read this way. I have, of course, seen Leigh's major roles: Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the lead in Anna Karenina, and the unfortunate woman in Waterloo Bridge. I wasn't as aware of her career on the stage, but that was at least as important in terms of the time she spent appearing there and her reputation during her lifetime. Walker repeatedly makes the point that Leigh's talent, while versatile and adaptable, was no match for the towering talent of her famous (second) husband, Laurence Olivier.

Together, the two were "the Oliviers," epitomizing talent, looks, glamor, and fame before, during, and after World War II. And there is no doubt that they loved each other passionately; each of them had to divorce a spouse before they could be married. However, their marriage could not survive her illness.

Ultimately, the book is most illuminating on the subject of Vivien's illness; I knew that she suffered from bipolar disorder, but it was a bit harrowing to read of her frequent electroshock treatments. Still, I don't know that the portrait painted by Walker would have brought home to me the devastating nature of the disease if I had not experienced it more or less firsthand (a friend and former boss suffers from it). Vivien's extravagant shopping expeditions could have been no more than generosity to others and the result of her high income, rather than the manic symptom that I know they are.

One more small point: the author mentions that the South American tour for a play Vivien was in started in Mexico City; this error made me suspect other details. I'm sure his research into her life and work was painstaking, but such minor but easily correctable errors of fact affect my opinion of the work as a whole.

The overall impression left by the book is of a woman who was beautiful (yet who resented being complimented on her beauty, as if that were all she had to offer), talented (though not as talented as her famous husband), determined (yes--it was rather remarkable that an almost-unknown British actress should nab the plum role of Scarlett O'Hara against so much competition for the role), funny (apparently she had a very bawdy sense of humor), and tortured (as anyone would be by her disease). She wasn't much of a mother to her one daughter (with first husband Leigh Holman), but her daughter seemed to accept her ambitious mother and Holman, whom she left for Olivier, remained a lifelong friend whom she continued to visit. As much as her beauty, her taste and charm seemed to endear her to others, along with a genuine desire to please--she was a popular hostess if sometimes less than restful.

Re Stieg Larsson: Glad you ordered volume #3! I admit I plumped for an Amazon.co.uk pre-order, simply because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next... I don't think vol. 3 is as good as the first two, but that still left a lot of room to be v. good indeed.

The reading part seems to be working for you -- how is the writing going??

>40 Chatterbox: Have not been doing great on the writing front, though I am always meaning to get myself in gear with it. Daily life has been intruding a lot.

I can't wait to read the Larsson book, which arrived a couple of days ago, but I have some work I have to finish first--and I think I need to read my library book club book first, too, as it's already due back at the library. Eek. But in the meantime, thanks mostly to the LT ReadaThing, I finished:

(bulk of review taken from what I already posted to the ReadaThing thread)

14. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It was one of the books most recommended by the Sci Fi group in the thread on recommending books to new readers of the genre.

I found it a bit hard to get into initially, but have been rewarded by sticking with it, as it's an extremely well-imagined future world (not too far in the future), in which centralized governments have disappeared and been replaced by associations geographically scattered around the world, including the Mafia, introduced as the management behind Uncle Enzo's pizza delivery service, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, and a somewhat sinister quasi-religious organization.

The two main characters, Hiro Protagonist and Y.T., are each self-sufficient, resourceful, and adept with advanced technology. Hiro works for the pizza delivery service but is almost immediately fired after taking a wrong turn into an empty swimming pool, and Y.T. is a Kourier, who delivers packages on a very advanced skateboard. Hiro's also a hacker who collects information for the Central Intelligence Corporation, the re-imagined CIA.

I can't explain this story but I'm having that "wow" reaction to the imagination on display here. Mixed in with the technology and a fair amount of action (Hiro carries a katana around with him) are musings about Sumerian mythology. And it all makes a kind of sense.

Yep, wow. And, as someone pointed out, this was written before the internet really took off, though the "Metaverse" of Stephenson's imagination has a similar grip on the lives of his characters.

#41: I have Snow Crash sitting on my nightstand just waiting for me to get to it. One of these years I actually will :) I am glad you liked it, Elizabeth!

15. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. This was a light, pleasant book about a cooking class--the food they prepare and the lives of the members of the class. The descriptions of the food are evocative and sensuous; Lillian, who gives the class and owns a restaurant, has the ability to draw her students into both memories and new experiences. It's a bit hard at first to keep all the characters straight, but each has a section of the book to take center stage. There's a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's, an older couple solidifying their recovery from adultery, a widower mourning his loss, a man and a woman beginning to connect, and a young girl finding herself.

The book is at its best when simply describing the process of making the dishes and the transitory wonder that is good food--the scent and feel and look of food, the way in which intuition is at least as important as knowledge in preparing it. Lillian doesn't use recipes, even making a wonderfully light white cake without one.

There's a certain facile quality to the way that food has the desired effect on each person, whatever the circumstance; it's a nice conceit, but not entirely believable.

This is the book club book for next week, so at least I'm ready for it. And it's due back at the library . . ,

#43: I enjoyed that one when I read it last year. Nothing earth-shaking, but a good read, all in all.

16. The Splendid Quest by Edison Marshall. This is a story very much of its time; it was published in 1934, and it seems longer ago than that when considering the sea change in attitudes since then. The story begins with two young Americans, Joe and Charley, setting forth by boat from Seattle to Shanghai to make their fortunes. Joe is a mining engineer; Charley is a doctor. No sooner do they get underway than Joe spots Donna, an American girl traveling with her mother and headed to Shanghai to meet her finance, Keith. Joe falls for Donna and the two keep company, though she makes it clear that she's not available.

When they arrive in Shanghai, they find that Keith is under the spell of Sonia, a beautiful Russian emigre. Donna's mother is adamant that Donna should fight for her man, so when Keith is headed off for Vietnam to investigate reports of gold fields there, Donna and her mother show up with a gift for him and find that Sonia has joined him on the ship, and Donna's mother suggests that they all go. A note from Donna to Joe prompts him and Charley to show up, also, so the whole group sets off together. Donna gives Keith his ring back after finding Sonia with him, but agrees not to make a final decision about their relationship until they return to Shanghai.

The travelers, in the care of native boatmen, choose the wrong fork in a river and are soon stuck on an island in the jungle without their boat. They go about their own little game of Survivor, complete with everything from smallpox to gangrene.

I had an easier time accepting the casual racism that litters the text (yellow hordes, savages, little natives, and the like), but I had some trouble with scenes between Donna and her mother, including one in which her mother seems to be saying that Donna's father cheated on her but men are like that and she thought it was worth hanging on to the marriage. When her mother suggests accompanying Keith and Sonia to Vietnam, I wondered what on earth she was thinking, although she's painted as a wise and knowing woman; as events unfold, Donna figures out what she really wants.

Somehow, the author manages to make everyone seem noble in his or her own way, although I'd characterize at least one of them as very badly behaved, indeed, not to mention weak.

I can say that although the end was extremely predictable, the journey there was not entirely what I expected; despite my irritation with the outdated views (oddly, this may be more evident in books from this period than ones written a hundred years earlier, though maybe it's just a reflection on the quality of the writer), I did keep turning the pages and wanting to know what happened next--which is, to me, the litmus test of a book. Plot rules!

#45: If I ever run across that one, I may give it a shot. Thanks, Elizabeth!

17. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson.

*Mild Spoilers*

This is the third book in the Millennium trilogy and offers a pretty good conclusion to the series. The story opens with Lisbeth Salander in the hospital after having been shot several times, including one bullet to the head. Even after successful surgery and while facing a long recovery, Salander has significant problems--the man who shot her is down the hall recovering from injuries she inflicted on him and she's facing trial for that attack. From her hospital bed, cut off from the outside world, Salander has to find a way to protect herself.

She's not without allies, including Blomkvist, the journalist, who decides to publish a special issue of Millennium and release a book on the same day (timed for the third day of Salander's trial) that blow the lid off the secret organization within Sapo, Sweden's state security police. This powerful inner circle of men has victimized Salander for years and protected the Russian defector who brutalized her mother.

The trial at the end of the book was extremely satisfying, as various villains get their just desserts handily. Various personal relationships seem to be untangled to some degree, although there are still plenty of open questions, such as the nature of the future relationship between Blomkvist and Salander. But that's a minor quibble--in general, questions are answered and conflicts are resolved. Larsson is a great loss--it's both hard and sad to imagine what he might have written had he lived.

#47: Larsson is a great loss--it's both hard and sad to imagine what he might have written had he lived.

I agree. I know that what ended up being a trilogy was supposed to be a series of 10 books. He had basically finished book 4 and done extensive notes and writing for books 5 and 6 at the time of his death is my understanding. I have no idea if there are plans to develop any of those books further.

I will be re-reading books 1 & 2 of the trilogy over the summer just to refresh my memory before I tackle book 3, which I am looking forward to with great anticipation. I am glad you liked it, Elizabeth.

What I read indicated that there were 200 pp. or so of the next book written but his family has said it would never be published. One website said that his longtime girlfriend controls his literary legacy but his family is fighting it . . . I'd be surprised if whatever he left doesn't eventually get exploited, but I don't expect it to be nearly as good. Alas.

#49: I agree - even if someone did write the books, they would still not be the same and probably not as good.

18. Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I have the trilogy in one volume but intend to list them as three books, both because they were, originally, and because I really need the numbers. The first book tells the story of Hari Seldon, the greatest practitioner of the science of psycho-history; he sees that the great Galactic Empire is coming to an end and predicts that without action, there will be thirty thousand years of barbarity and chaos. Seldon plans for two Foundations; the first is placed at the far end of the galaxy on a planet called Terminus. In its first several hundred years, the planet goes from being merely the home of scholars working on a great encyclopedia to the local power, based in large part on their ability to continue innovating while technology elsewhere stagnates and crumbles.

Asimov does reflect his period in various ways; more than the political and economic points of view he presents, however, I'm struck by the almost complete absence of female characters. All the positions of power, all the decisions, all the action is performed by men. Women are briefly introduced to hang jewelry on or as a market for household appliances.

I still enjoy the story and find it easy reading, but my awareness of this factor colors my reading in a way that it probably didn't when I first read this trilogy thirty years ago or so.

I happen to think the Foundation trilogy is vastly over-rated. But that's not a popular opinion, as I have learnt to my cost...

Ian, I haven't been able to even think of reading this trilogy without keeping your remarks in mind! I don't know that I'd characterize Asimov as a bad writer, but he is a graceless one. Probably one of the most interesting aspects of the re-read for me is simply the difference in me since I first read this. I am more politically and socially aware, not to mention much more widely read. Still . . . for good or ill, this is an iconic series. I'm planning to read a lot more from the list compiled in the thread about books to recommend to new readers of the genre--that led me to Snow Crash, for which I'm grateful, and possibly to No Night Without Stars, which I enjoyed a lot less. But it's all grist for the mill . . .

I suppose that to me Asimov's biggest flaw is that he's held up by so many as a paragon among sf writers. The books are products of their time, and of a young author just starting out. What they're certainly not is the best the genre has ever produced. It's that latter belief that I find really inexplicable.

I, for one, agree that Asimov is over-rated. I liked his stuff when I was a young teenager, but I'm way beyond that now and I completely understand that his books make me see how I've changed since then.

As with other early sf works like Doc Smith's Lensman series, I can still appreciate Asimov's work, but more for the nostalgia factor than for anything else. And I do still read 'em occasionally and enjoy 'em - especially the Robot stories.

I suspect I'd find the Robot stories would hold up better, and I may re-read them at some point.

19. Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster. I read this online, prompted by someone (Stasia?) having mentioned it . . . it's a short novel and very sweet. Interestingly, and perhaps because it's written by a woman, it didn't really seem that dated--the main character, a college student named Judy Abbott, muses that it's a shame women can't vote as it seems a waste of perfectly good citizens. Are women citizens?, she wonders. While hardly a feminist manifesto, there are a few comments along these lines that make the book seem quite modern, though it's about a hundred years old.

Now, back to Asimov . . .

#56: I was one of several people mentioning Daddy Long-Legs. I am glad you enjoyed it, Elizabeth.

Oh! I should have mentioned that Daddy Long-Legs was a re-read; I've certainly read it three or four times, I guess, before now. But I am reading Dear Enemy (online, also) for the first time, though I suspect the title rather gives the ending away. Should find out tomorrow.

#58: I have Dear Enemy home from the library now but it will be several weeks before I get to it. I hope you enjoy it. I will be looking for your comments.

How's the writing going?

>60 blackdogbooks: Umm . . . er . . . ah . . . well . . . That's about how it's going. I'm dreadfully behind on my goals for the year and have made almost no progress; I fail to see how May arrived already. And this month I'm meant to be writing every day, but here it is the 7th already. Yikes. But I have been reading quite a lot this week, for what that's worth.

20. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster. Read this online. Like Daddy Long-Legs, this is written as a series of letters. Most, but not all, are from Sallie McBride to Judy Abbott Pendleton. Judy and her husband Jervis have asked Sallie to take over the management of the John Grier Orphanage (in which Judy grew up); she arrives with the desire to make many changes but soon finds herself somewhat overwhelmed and begs them to find a replacement for her. Gradually, though, she grows to love the children and the challenge of the job, and manages to make many changes.

Sallie's life is made more complicated by her fiance, Gordon, a handsome young politician, and by the orphanage's doctor, Dr. MacRae, whom she sometimes addresses as "Dear Enemy." This made me think I knew where the book was going, and I wasn't far wrong, but it's still an amusing and delightful trip with Sallie and her 107 (or so) children.

There are some interesting bits in here about heredity and the nature vs. nurture question. Webster again makes a few comments in passing about the role of women and the fact that they cannot vote--I think I'll go find a bio of her online and see if they mention that she was a suffragette, because I'm betting she was.

ETA: Not only a suffragette herself, she was descended from suffragettes. Fascinating and somewhat sad bio on Wikipedia--she died quite young, just after giving birth to her only child.

#61: I am hoping I like Dear Enemy too!

Hang in there. Don't beat yourself up too much.

>63 blackdogbooks: Thanks, BlackDog! But I do have an endless battle with procrastination, as evidenced by my lack of progress in this area.

21. Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov. The second book in the Foundation trilogy, this is itself divided into two parts--unfortunately, the two parts don't seem to have much to do with each other. They tell of different people and different challenges in the history of the First Foundation; the second is a much stronger story, centering as it does on the rise of the mysterious Mule, a mutant ruler whose effect on the Foundation has not been predicted by the Seldon plan. A few members of the Foundation decide that they ought to seek the Second Foundation, believing that there might lie the secret to defeating the Mule.

Once again, Asimov's (probably unintentional) misogyny grates a bit. There is finally an important female character in Bayta, but in several places he writes something along these lines: "There were three men . . . and a woman striding among them like an equal." Not actually equal, of course! The qualities emphasized about her are her beauty, her tenderness, her acceptance of the unattractive, frightened clown Magnifico, and her ability to make tea or prepare meals under nearly any circumstances.

Still, the creation of the Mule as a concept and a character in this novel was one of Asimov's better bits in this series, as the Mule is the character I remembered best years after first reading the trilogy.

22. Second Foundation wraps up the trilogy. Overall, and perhaps because I was influenced by Iansales' opinion (!), but I have to say that the trilogy didn't wear well for me. I was annoyed not just by what seemed to me to be Asimov's misogyny, but also by some of the basic assumptions. The Mule, as a mutant, was born with the ability to manipulate people's emotions. The mental powers developed by the Second Foundation seemed to be pretty much the same--why? Why not telepathy or telekinesis or some other mental power?

Oh, well. Time to move on to something else!

I think I may just stick with reading the original Foundation book and leave the others be.

#65 aha, so my evil plan is working muahahaha :-)

Thing is, I simply don't understand the awe in which Foundation is held. Asimov was scarily prolific, and something of a figurehead for US sf, and Foundation was his first novel - so some degree of reverence is I suppose understandable. But that's liking it for the wrong reasons. It's not especially well-written, and its sensibilities are firmly mired in the 1940s. Despite claims to the contrary, it was not the first to demonstrate anything in the genre. Besides, Ralph 124C 41+ was the first true sf novel, and no one suggests you should read that.

>66 alcottacre: Well, the trilogy really is one story and you do need to read all three if you are going to bother at all. But Ian is certainly right: there's a lot better SF out there.

>67 iansales: Yes, I have been "Converted." Are you really the Mule?

23. Malice Poetic by Betty Rowlands. I have mixed feelings about this mystery. The main character, Melissa Craig, is a mystery writer who leaves her charming cottage and policeman boyfriend for a writer's retreat at a nearby school. The school combines foreign language training with crafts (supposedly doing the latter helps one learn the former) and is run by a detestable man who soon gets himself murdered. Melissa does no writing on her retreat, but gets right down to sleuthing.

The author does a good job of presenting a few plausible suspects until the real killer is unmasked. I had two issues with the book: one was some sloppy grammar, as, for example, the frequent use of "try and ____" where "try to ____" would have been correct (not that I would have noticed this if the LT Pedant's Corner group hadn't discussed it recently!).

My other issue was with the relationship between Melissa and her police detective boyfriend, Ken Harris (called "PC Plod" by Melissa's friend and neighbor). At the beginning of the book, he's trying to get Melissa to move in with him; she resists, realizing she likes her cottage and her independence. Through most of the investigation, he's either formally interviewing her as a witness or dismissing her theories about the crime. He does show up with the cavalry (er, police) to rescue her at the end, but there's little sense of tenderness or heartfelt emotion in their relationship.

It was a decent enough mystery but I'm unlikely to seek out others in the series based on this one.

#69: I think I will give that one a pass, Elizabeth. I hope you enjoy your next read more!

24. Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark. This is an Early Reviewers book that I started and then put aside quite some time ago. After some polite reminders from LT, I took it up again. I'm sorry I waited so long.

The story is set in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the late 1930s. Lieutenant Wesley Horner is investigating the strangulation death of a young "dime-a-dance" girl. Suspicion soon settles on Herbert White, an amateur photographer who takes cheesecake photos of the dance-hall girls. White has a peculiar problem--he can remember his distant past and the immediate past, but what's in between is a mystery to him. He keeps extensive notebooks, writing about his days and pasting in newspaper clippings, as an aid to memory.

The story goes back and forth between Horner, a lonely man who unexpectedly finds love, and Herbert White, a gentle romantic who is confused by his malady. Herbert is also a very big man, and his relentless honesty in admitting he doesn't know whether he committed the crimes he's charged with leads to his arrest.

The author varies his style for the two main characters, with Horner's sections reflecting the tough, straightforward cop who eventually becomes convinced to pursue the murder inquiry when everyone else considers it solved. Herbert's sections reflect his longing for a normal life and love, an interest in nature and the beauties of life, and his fond reflections of his early life with his grandmother. He describes his growing relationship with a young girl thus: "It is as though I were standing on my doorstep on a winter's evening with my hat and gloves and scarf, preparing to set off on a journey, holding my hat before me absentmindedly, and into it, with a little sizzle like a firework, fell a shooting star."

Although the mystery is sufficiently explained, the real interest in this book lies in the characters, especially that of Herbert White. I'm sure I'll remember him long after I've forgotten dozens or hundreds of others. This book is highly recommended.

#71: That one looks very good! Thanks for the recommendation, Elizabeth.

25. Dear Mr. President by Adam Fitzroy. Touchstones seem to point to other works; this is an e-published book for which I wrote a review (under a pseudonym!). I won't post my review here, as it was written at another's request: suffice it to say it was a gay romance, not my usual reading material, but not badly written. Rather sweet but stretching one's credulity a lot--the two lovers are an Air Force officer and the US president: what I couldn't believe was the nearly universal acceptance of the relationship by the president's wife, daughter, advisers, Secret Service agents . . . the path of true love rarely runs quite that smoothly!

I'm reading a couple of other books, one about a murder mystery/trial from the point of view of one of the accused's lawyers; the other a spy/thriller set in Soviet Russia.

#73: I think I will skip that one, Elizabeth. It does not sound like my cup of tea. Good luck with the editing job though!

26. The Charm School by Nelson DeMille. As one might expect from DeMille, this is a page-turner. It begins with a young American tourist, Gregory Fisher, driving his Pontiac Trans-Am across Soviet Russia. He unexpectedly comes across an American in the woods near Borodino, a man with a fantastic story of having been a Vietnam War POW who has spent 15 years at a KGB school dubbed "Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School," a facility training Russians to infiltrate American society and pass as Americans.

Fisher reaches Moscow and calls the American Embassy, reaching Lisa Rhodes, an information officer. She immediately calls Sam Hollis, an attache who is also a naval intelligence officer; the two of them share the information with Lisa's former lover and the CIA station chief, Seth Alevy. Lisa and Hollis become attracted to each other and set out to find the truth behind Fisher's story, particularly as he soon disappears and turns up dead, the victim of a supposed automobile accident.

There are plenty of tense moments as the tale moves along, and there's an action-packed, bloody finale in which there's a staggering death toll and a final twist. It's interesting reading this story (written in 1988) with the history of the pivotal period since then, especially the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. In DeMille's tale, the Cold War is very much a reality--and not all that cold.

To give a nod to my usual hobbyhorse, let me note that DeMille's Lisa Rhodes comes across as a fairly typical female character (written by a male author): she's pretty, she's sexy, she falls immediately in love with our hero and runs into his arms at appropriate moments; she cries quite often but sticks steadfastedly by her man even when enduring hardships, horror, and torture.
About the only thing really interesting about her is that she's interested in Russian history/art/religion/people, having Russian heritage herself, so she carries around an icon and takes Hollis to church services (an occasion he uses to make contact with a Russian double agent).

I think I'd better read some women authors--need some strong, well-rounded female characters!

I have never read anything by Nelson DeMille. I may give The Charm School a try for when I am in the mood for something along those lines.

27. City of Gold and Shadows by Ellis Peters. Better known for her medieval Brother Cadfael mysteries, Ellis Peters also wrote contemporary mysteries. This one, set at an ancient Roman archaeological site on the border between England and Wales, offers a well-defined cast of characters and some truly suspenseful moments. Charlotte Rossignol, half-English, half-French, is drawn to the site of Aurae Phiala when her great-uncle has not been heard from a year after his last visit to the site. Soon after her arrival, a teen boy is found dead down river from the site, apparently the victim of foul play.

One of the many things I enjoy about Peters is her ability to write lovely descriptive prose, not only about scenery but also about human emotions and motivations. Under her own name, Edith Pargeter, she wrote some of my favorite historical fiction, The Heaven Tree trilogy. I'd read pretty much anything she wrote.

#77: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Elizabeth!

Stasia, to be honest, even though I enjoyed the book, I think her Cadfael books are better and I think The Heaven Tree trilogy (which wasn't touchstoning correctly) is even better yet. That one belongs on my list of favorite books of all time.

I read the first book in the Heaven Tree trilogy, but have not made it back to read the other two. Thanks for the reminder!

> 75 I love Nelson DeMille but your point about stereotyped characters is a good one. I think I've read all of his major books except The Gate House. I've always thought Demille's strength was taking whatever political situation is prominent at the moment and writing a cracking-good suspense novel around it. (i.e., Cathedral, The Lion's Game, Night Fall). Unfortunately, as you point out, it means his books date quickly.

> 77 I know so many people who read Ellis Peters and I've always heard good things. I've never read anything of hers, I don't think.

>81 profilerSR: That's not necessarily a bad thing about DeMille's work--after I checked the pub date of that book, I had to think about how much the political landscape has changed since the days of the perceived threat from the Soviets. I have a friend who is on a second tour of diplomatic duty in one of the former "-stans"--where there presumably would not have been an embassy at all twenty years ago or so.

For Peters, I'd probably recommend the Cadfael books--I think they are probably the most popular of her works, not without reason. She is very good at painting a convincing picture of medieval life, the mysteries are good, and the characters are interesting.

SPOILERS . . . but most people have heard all this already.

28. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, I did. Here's the thing--I'm taking my great-nieces to see the latest movie (tomorrow night at the drive-in, whee!). So I figured I should read the books so I had some idea what was going on.

I don't think the books are particularly well-written, and I have an overwhelming urge to slap some sense into Bella most of the time, but I think I'm beginning to get the appeal of the story. Meyer does perfectly capture the all-consuming, obsessive, I-must-see-him-or-die love felt by teens, and, despite whatever disclaimers she's inserted into the book, this is a teen wish-fulfillment fantasy. Bella is clumsy and feels ordinary and not particularly attractive, so she has a hard time believing the beautiful, sparkly, brilliant, rich, musically gifted, clairvoyant, eternally young Edward could possibly love her.

I suppose her doubt is understandable in this book, as Edward is gone for most of the time and Bella is distraught, emotionally removed, and self-destructive until she forms a strong friendship with Jacob Black (who turns out to be a werewolf). Jacob has feelings beyond friendship for Bella, and at least she's happier when she's with him, but Edward's return by the end of the book seems to quash Jacob's hopes, given the traditional enmity between vampires and werewolves. There are some additional complications, some involving an old Italian vampire family, that leave plenty of issues to be resolved in the next two volumes.

#83: My daughter Beth went to see the movie with her boyfriend and of course, loved it. While I do not expect you to love it, I hope you at least moderately enjoy it, Elizabeth :)

The movie was fairly enjoyable and helped me understand the frenzied appeal the series exercises on some of the fans.

MINOR SPOILERS!

29. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I saw the movie before I finished the book, but I'm still a fan of getting the more nuanced picture provided in novels, so I persevered. And I'm going to plunge into the fourth book, even though I've heard at least one eye-rolling spoiler that had me going, once again, "really? seriously?" But, I remind myself, it's all about the romance.

So I tried to focus on that even while asking myself why Edward, a dead person, breathes. Such quibbling does no good, though; one must just accept that Bella loves him, he loves her, and nothing else will stand against that, even her very real feelings for Jacob. This book crystallizes Bella's (dare I say, insane?) desire to become a vampire so she can be with Edward forever, because nothing else matters to her. In some parody of my forty-year-old friend's fear of aging, Bella is upset by the prospect of turning nineteen and being that much older than Edward, frozen at the height of his seventeen-year-old perfection. She's in a great hurry to die, become a vampire, and leave every vestige of her former life behind, pausing only briefly to reflect on her fear that she might have uncontrollable desires to kill humans in her new life.

I roll my eyes, I shake my head--but I'm reaching for the next book, all the same. I abhor the message, but Meyer has me wondering how it will all turn out.

SPOILERS, probably.

30. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. A friend told me this was the best book of the lot, and I'd have to agree. It's chunky (754 pp.) and it's completely evident where the split will occur when this is broken up into two movies. The first half of the book begins with Bella and Edward's marriage and their odd, uncomfortable honeymoon, then the perspective switches to Jacob, who watches in horror as Bella's health deteriorates.

The second half switches back to Bella, as the Cullen family adds an interesting new member and then gears up for an expected showdown and battle with the Volturi. There's a fair amount of tension generated as the Cullens fully expect to lose the battle; the "surprise" at the ending regarding Alice came as no surprise at all, as it was well telegraphed by Meyer. The last chapter is entitled "The Happily Ever After," so it didn't come as much of a surprise to find that Bella and Edward survived and were facing an endless future together. I might not think eternal life (without even the need to sleep) is the ultimate happy ending (wouldn't you get bored generally, and specifically get really sick of any other person you spent 24/7 with forever?), but I guess if you bought into this fantasy from book 1, this might be a perfect ending.

At the very least, though, I admit that I want to see the other movies, both those already made that I missed and the two to come in the future.

*Edited because I put the wrong title. Duh.

31. The Sculptress by Minette Walters. Really good mystery by an accomplished writer. The story is about a writer, Rosalind Leigh, who is urged by her agent to write a book about the confessed killer Olive Martin, nicknamed "The Sculptress." In prison for the brutal murder of her mother and sister, Olive touches some chord in Roz, who begins to wonder if she is guilty after all.

The book abounds in mysteries--why is Roz so depressed herself? Another important character is the ex-policeman, Hal Hawksley, who owns a restaurant that never has any customers, although Roz discovers that he's a wonderful cook. When she first meets him, he's bleeding and stinks of fish, but despite their prickly first encounter, she's soon wondering why she's attracted to this man. He has his own secrets--who's beating him up? and why is his restaurant so empty?

Walters keeps the reader turning the pages to find out the answers to all of these mysteries, and she ties up the story very satisfactorily at the end. I'll be seeking out more works by Walters.

#87: I have only read one of Walters' books, The Chameleon's Shadow, and liked it, so I will give that one a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Elizabeth!

32. The 13th Juror by John Lescroart. The title of this book is ultimately a bit misleading; it refers to the judge in a capital murder case, who can greatly affect not just the main trial but also the penalty phase. The story concerns Dismas Hardy, an attorney who is charged with representing Jennifer Witt in the penalty phase of her trial for the murder of her husband and son. Another attorney handles the defense but loses; after Jennifer is found guilty, it's up to Hardy to argue that she doesn't deserve the death penalty.

The book works as a decent murder mystery--Jennifer maintains she didn't kill her abusive husband (she won't even admit he abused her, as she thinks that will just make her look guilty) and she certainly didn't kill her beloved son. But if she did not--and Hardy is not always convinced of her innocence--who did?

The real subject of the book, though, seems to be the legal system, as the author painstakingly explains details of how it works. The information is mildly interesting but sometimes condescending--who, after twenty years of "Law and Order," not to mention decades of "Perry Mason," "L.A. Law," and other courtroom dramas, does not know how cross-examination works?

There's also plenty of coverage given to the toll this trial takes on Hardy's marriage and family life. In the end, all is explained and there's a sense of life returning to normal--better than normal for some characters who suffered greatly in getting to that point.

#89: I think I will pass on that one. Just not my cup of tea.

33. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This is today's book club selection, a collection of short stories tied together by the presence--sometimes centrally, sometimes peripherally--of Olive Kitteridge, a sharp-tongued woman living in a small town in Maine. She has a patient husband, Henry, and a resentful son, Christopher. Many of the stories (no surprise here, given my book club) center around death, loss, and loneliness: a young man is killed in a hunting accident, a family lives with the shame of having a son who has killed a woman, the town gathers to comfort a young widow who finds her late husband was unfaithful.

Strout has created, in Olive, a character who seems quite unsympathetic on the surface, but then the author gives us glimpses into Olive's rough kindness and understanding of others in need, so that she becomes as complex as real humans are, neither all good nor all bad. She goes to visit her son and his new wife and, trying hard to be accepting of their life together, becomes enraged when she realizes that, while on an outing together, she has dripped ice cream down her blouse and they had not mentioned it to her. Furious at being treated as a helpless old person, she cuts her visit short and leaves, but not until her son has calmly shared his insights from therapy with her (only enraging her more). Still, it's clear that Christopher has some valid points: even Olive knows she wasn't always an easy mother, though she's unshakable in her assertion that she always loved her son.

This was an interesting book and ended in a somewhat surprising way, but it isn't something I would have selected for myself and it does partake a bit too much of the modern literary sensibility in which loss seems a pervasive theme. Or maybe it's only that my book club's choices make it seem pervasive?

Time for a dose of sci fi, followed by fantasy.

#91: I think I enjoyed Olive Kitteridge better than you did, Elizabeth. I hope your next read is more to your taste.

>92 alcottacre: On balance, I did enjoy Olive Kitteridge--I think my quibbling has more to do with my book club's (or some members') fixation on the miserable themes than with this particular book. I thought it was well-written and I liked the idea of the short stories being held together, however loosely, by her character.

34. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. I was about a third of the way into this before I realized I'd read it already, quite a number of years ago. The book has three parts and begins with a scientist questioning the Electron Pump, a seemingly perfect source of energy based on an exchange between two universes. But of course no-one wants to believe his theory that the sun will explode because of the exchange between the universes. The second section of the book takes us to the other universe, where the aliens form triad marriages of a logical male, a parental male, and an emotional female. One particular triad consists of a logical male who is a particularly promising student of science and an emotional female who exhibits an unusual curiosity about her partner's scientific studies. She "feels" that there is something wrong in their exchange with the other universe (ours) and realizes that her world doesn't care if ours is destroyed by our sun's explosion.

Back in our universe, another scientist travels to the moon, finding a society there much more free than that of earth, with casual nudity and sex. I'm not sure why Asimov chose another character who was so much like the original doubting scientist as to be virtually indistinguishable, but this man, accompanied by a perky-breasted tour guide who turns out to be an "Intuitionist" who helps scientists with research, tackles the problem of the impending explosion of our sun, solving it neatly and getting the girl in the end.

It's only on writing this that I realize how sexist the portrayals of women were; I didn't think of that while I was reading the book. Well, it's Asimov. It was a neat little story and the alien culture was interesting--it was that section of the book that I remembered as I was re-reading it.

On to fantasy, lots of fantasy . . .

I cannot wait to see what fantasy reading you come up with! I am always looking for more suggestions in that genre.

No need to wait ;-) It's the second of the Kushiel's trilogies by Jacqueline Carey. Someone told me the third trilogy is better than the second, which I've obviously just started, but I have no complaints as yet.

I look forward to seeing what you think of it when you are done!

*MILD SPOILERS*

35. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey. This is the first of the second trilogy, which takes up the story of Imriel no Montreve de la Courcel, a prince of Terre d'Ange and the son of the traitor Melisande Shahrizai. Imriel has been raised by the heroes of the first trilogy, Phedre and Jocselin, but as he comes of age, he gets caught up in court intrigues (being third in line to the throne yet the son of traitors). Attracted to his cousin Sidonie, heir to the throne, he swears loyalty to her before leaving to study in Tiberium. But in that ancient city, he finds hints of a secret society, has a passionate affair with a senator's wife, and forms a friendship with a troubled nobleman from Lucca. Accompanying his friend home for his wedding, they find Lucca under attack.

Imriel stands by his friend despite some appalling setbacks, and endures a siege, a flood, and an attack, maturing as a soldier and a man in the process.

Carey writes long books, and she takes the time to develop the story. The book seemed to start off rather slowly, but various strands and hints intertwine; some won't be resolved until the third book of the trilogy (if then), I'm guessing. It's okay: I love her imagined world and her characters, and the action certainly heated up in the latter part of the book. I'm looking forward to the next two in this series and it's likely I'll move to the third trilogy in this series as well. She's a new favorite.

I really liked the Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen. I haven't checked out her other books yet but your review just reminded me that I was going to look into her trilogies. Thanks for the tip, Elizabeth.

#97: I need to get to that series too!

36. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This was our book club book, and I'm glad it was selected--very interesting look at some surprising factors that go into making success. Gladwell looks at cultural factors, linking the kind of hard work and attention to detail it takes to make a success of growing rice in paddies in southern China to the creation of an attitude toward the reward for effort that it takes to excel in mathematics. He analyzes the time spent in practicing a specific skill, whether it's Bill Gates practicing programming or the Beatles playing eight-hour shifts in Hamburg, as a critical element in later success (about ten thousand hours is the magic number, although magic is precisely what this isn't).

His report on the analysis of what happens to the reading abilities of children in lower, middle, and upper classes over the course of a summer away from school was fascinating--in short, all three classes gain in reading ability during the school year, but the lower class children gain little or even lose during the summer, while the upper class children (more likely to be surrounded by books, exposed to culture, sent to camps with classes, or simply pushed to learn by their parents) gain significantly over the summer.

This all made me think a lot about the reading I did as a child, to wonder where the books in my household (far from a lending library) came from, and to think about how, when my grandmother died, my mother returned from the funeral in Florida with boxes and boxes of books. Was it that they had sentimental meaning for her, or did she think about the 8-year-old me who loved to read? I devoured those books.

Gladwell has apparently been criticized for cherry-picking stories that bolster his theories; he wouldn't be the first. Whether his assertions are absolutely true or only thought-provoking ideas to consider, I'm interested enough to want to read his other work.

Elizabeth, I liked this as well when I read it. If you haven't yet, perhaps you'd want to read his latest, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures. I found it totally delightful.

#100: Yet another one already in the BlackHole that I need to get to some time!

***SPOILERS***

37. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey. This is the second book in the second trilogy. Prince Imriel de la Courcel begins a secret affair with his (second?) cousin Sidonie, but, realizing her mother, the Queen of Terre d'Ange, will never consent to their marriage, Imriel agrees to marry Dorelei mab Breidaia, niece of the Cruarch of Alba (Sidonie's father).

Imriel accompanies his bride to Alba but runs afoul of the Old Ones, an elusive, powerful folk who have some magic, including shape-shifting abilities. Imriel's desire for Sidonie is used to control him, and he's forced to wear protective charms that dull his feelings and desires. He does his best to be a good husband to Dorelei, coming to appreciate her for her sweetness and goodness, believing that she makes him a better man.

When Dorelei, heavily pregnant with their son, is killed by a bear/man of the Old Ones, Imriel, badly wounded, recovers from his wounds and sets off to track her killer and take his life. It's a long, arduous journey, with a shipwreck, imprisonment, and a lonely trek through a wintry wilderness.

Through the first two books of this trilogy, the reader can see Imriel growing into full manhood and learning to deal with the traumas of his childhood. Throughout it all, the shadowy presence of Imriel's mother, the traitor Melisande Shahraizai, remains an unknown quantity. Where is she, and what plans might she have made that involve Imriel? In the third book, which I can't wait to start, Irmiel will search for her, and political events will take a surprising turn (I've read the flap!).

I really love Carey's work. I want to read the third trilogy, too, but I think only the first book of that is out, and I don't think I could stand the wait for the other two to be published. Better not start until all three are done.

#103: I still have not managed to read anything by Carey. She is on my 'I must get to it eventually' list though. I am just not sure how long an eventually is :)

**SPOILERS**

38. Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey, the conclusion to her second trilogy in the world centered on Terre d'Ange. Prince Imriel and his beloved Princess Sidonie de la Courcel are reunited and openly lovers. Many remain suspicious of Imriel, though; he's tainted by the memory of his traitoress mother, Melisande, who was sentenced to death before he was born. It seems the only way Imriel can prove his loyalty is to hunt the world for her and bring her back to Terre d'Ange for her long-overdue execution.

While he's preparing to do just that, waiting for various spies and allies to give him a clue of where to look for her, a delegation from Carthage arrives with fabulous tribute for Terre d'Ange, with whom they seek an alliance. The reports of the rich tribute blunt the suspicions of most, so the Carthaginians are invited to the City of Elua, where they present the tribute and offer to show the court and the city an astrological phenomenon. The Carthaginian general, Astegal, offers for Sidonie's hand.

The tribute and the spectacle are all a part of a devious plan to cast a couple of spells on the entire city, though. At the last moment, Imriel is saved by a desperate ploy initiated by his mother; he is drugged and condemned to a month-long bout of raving madness. When he awakens with his senses restored, he finds that everyone around him is convinced that Carthage is a long-standing ally; they have forgotten his relationship with Sidonie, and Sidonie herself has sailed away, apparently willingly, to wed Astregal.

Imriel turns to the least likely allies to help him: Barquiel l"Envers, who has long mistrusted him, but who was out of the city at the time of the spell and so is not infected, and, eventually, his mother, whom he finds on the island of Cythera. She's the mistress to the ugly but brilliant leader of Cythera, Ptolemy Solon, dubbed "the Wise Ape." It is he who holds the knowledge of how to reverse the spell. Imriel discovers to his surprise that his mother loves him and will aid him even knowing that he had planned to take her to her death in Terre d'Ange, but among the changes wrought in this new world, Imri comes with the promise that her death sentence will be commuted to exile if she aids him.

Ptolemy Solon weaves a powerful spell in which Imriel is given not only the outward appearance of another man, but is so ensorcelled that he believes it himself. Given the mission of going to Carthage and seducing the young wife of Astregal, Imriel finds himself meeting Sidonie as if for the first time--yet falling in love with her all over again.

That's about the first third of the book: there remains how the spells are broken, new alliances, fierce battles, long journeys, tender reunions, near despair, dissembling, and, at long last, a happy ending, with love triumphant. Fully satisfying.

Now I'm eager to read the next trilogy and to see if any of the same characters reappear. But it's not all written (or published, at least) yet, so I'm going to change gears and read some other things. Time for a mystery, I think. And my book club book, really need to do that. And borrowed a nonfiction book from one of my tenants, need to read that before I sell the house and disappear from his life. Oh, yeah--need to pack. That.

Love that last paragraph, Elizabeth! So, nothing go on around your house, huh? lol

39. Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters. Another mystery by a writer I quite like. Characters and relationships are more important than the actual mystery, I think, though that was fine, too.

I am skipping this month's book club book, which didn't sound that wonderful, anyway, and have gone straight to my ER book, Roma. I'm near the beginning but liking it so far.

Time is running out for meeting any of my goals this year (except for selling the house--probably going to get that done), but I'm getting kind of excited about NaNo, though the timing might be a bit of a problem. Will still give it a go.

#107: I will be interested in seeing what you think of Roma, Elizabeth. I downloaded that one to my Nook a while back, but have not yet gotten to it.

Good luck with the house sale!

Looking forward to your comments on Roma. I've really enjoyed all the Gordianus books by Saylor that I've read.

40. Roma by Steven Saylor. Saylor covers the history of Rome from its founding as an outpost trading salt to just after its transformation from a republic to an empire under Caesar Augustus. The device for this fictionalized account is to tell the story from the viewpoint of two families, the Pinarii and the Potitii. Of inestimable value is the family tree in the front of the book, as there are multiple characters named Lucius Pinarius, Titus Potitius, and Kaeso Fabius Dorso (a descendant of an illegitimate branch of the Potitii).

Saylor provides seemingly logical explanations for such legends as that of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf; in Saylor's story, the twin orphans float downriver after a flood and are adopted by a humble woodcutter and his wife, who is described as a she-wolf either because she is sharp-tongued and difficult, or because she was a prostitute.

Some of the fictional characters are more memorable than others (particularly one who becomes a serial killer), but even more memorable are some of the historical characters, including Scipio Africanus, the Gracchi, Marcus Antonius (aka Mark Antony), and Julius Caesar. Even Cleopatra gets a cameo and comes across as a thoughtful and charming woman.

As the title suggests, though, Rome itself is a central character, lovingly described as the seven hills are transformed from pastoral sites for shepherds' huts to the home of imposing marble temples to various gods. Saylor includes a description of the building of the Roman roads, the aqueducts, the fountains, and the public baths.

It's an interesting way to tell the story of a place, very reminiscent of Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd's novel of the Salisbury plain in England. But the problem with it is that the constantly changing time frame and characters mean that it's difficult to become attached to the characters, to care about their fates--after all, you know that by the next chapter they will be long dead, or even to consider them all as distinct personalities. I enjoyed the novel, as I've long been interested in ancient history, but I didn't love it.

#110: I downloaded that one to my Nook a while back, but I still have not gotten to it. One of these days I will!

41. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. This was this month's book club selection. It's an astonishingly accomplished first novel by Simonson, who creates memorable characters in a small English village. Major Pettigrew, retired, is a widower with one son, Roger. At the beginning of the story, he has just heard of his brother's sudden death from a heart attack. The Pakistani widow from the local shop happens to stop by, and he notices that he's never seen her before without the apron she wears at the shop, before nearly collapsing in grief. Mrs. Ali helps him sit down and makes him tea; in this brief meeting, they discover a mutual love of books.

The book is by turns funny, tender, and sharp with perception about people and society. Many stereotypes are subtly introduced and played with, so that even the local lord of the manor and his rather plain daughter spring to life (the daughter's trip to Scotland and what happens to her there is one of my many favorite parts of this book).

I wouldn't want to spoil any of the delicious bits of this book, so I'll only say, go read it! It won't change your life, but it'll make it sweeter for the time you spend reading it.

#112: I loved that one! I am glad you enjoyed it too, Elizabeth.

42. The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. I requested this book through BookMooch based on something someone on LT said. It is a delightful children's book and an introduction to a series written by Wynne Jones about Christopher Chant, who grows up to be the Chrestomanci in an England not wildly different from the one we know, only with magic widely practiced.

Christopher spends his youth in a comfortable house with parents that communicate through the servants; he barely knows his father. He discovers that by going around the corner in his room, he can travel to other worlds. He meets mermaids and is given some interesting and odd gifts in the other worlds. At some point, his mother's brother, his Uncle Ralph, discovers his ability and gives him tasks to perform, bringing mysterious packages back from the other worlds.

Christopher spends a brief but enjoyable period in boarding school, where he becomes very fond of cricket, but his father unexpectedly takes him out of school and places him under the tutelage of Gabriel de Witt, the current Chrestomanci. Like Christopher, Gabriel has nine lives, although Christopher has an unfortunate habit of losing his--rather carelessly, Gabriel feels.

There are plenty of memorable characters and some perilous situations to be faced before Christopher comes to accept his role as the next Chrestomanci. Wynne Jones leaves me with the desire to find the other books in this series, and perhaps some of her other fantasy creations as well. My local library has some, but I'm not sure whether I need to follow any particular order in reading the other books about the Crestomanci.

Not really, although I'd say read Charmed Life next--that was the first written of the Chrestomanci books and one of the best, IMHO. Conrad's Fate and The Pinhoe Egg are the latest of the books and the latter should be read last. You could read Conrad's fate anytime after reading The Lives of Christopher Chant. The other books in the series just tap in to the main story line tangentially.

Oh, I love the Chrestomanci books! I agree with Roni on the order -- they were written in a funky order, so finding a good sequence is a little tricky. I go back and forth as to whether Charmed Life or The Lives of Christopher Chant is my favorite.

Thank you! I picked up Conrad's Fate and The Pinhoe Egg from the library tonight, but I put in interlibrary requests for Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, and and Witch Week.

In the meantime, I also picked up Anne Perry's A Dangerous Mourning, the second William Monk mystery, which I started over lunch, and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, based on the number of "best of" lists it's been on.

I wish I could just curl up under a comforter and read for the next five months.

I am glad you enjoyed The Lives of Christopher Chant. I have only been able to read that one and Charmed Life in the Chestomanci series since that is all my local library has.

Stasia, I think we have a pretty good library for a small town, but the 4-county system is wonderful for ordering books. I think I'd like to read Conrad's Fate or Charmed Life next in the series, but I'm looking forward to reading them all in the next month or so--good thing they're quick reads, as it's looking dicey for the 75 books this year . . . not to mention writing one, though I'm well pleased with the current state of my NaNo efforts--13,294 words as of tonight!

Congratulations on your NaNo efforts, Elizabeth! You should be well pleased.

43. A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry. This is the second Inspector Monk mystery, and the characters continue to interest me. Monk is analytical and brilliant, but is still hampered by his spotty memory and is still at odds with his superior, Runcorn. Called to investigate the murder of the widowed daughter of the wealthy family of Sir Basil Moidore, Monk soon determines that, despite appearances, no-one could have broken into the house from outside--one of the family or servants in the house must have done it.

Meanwhile, Hester Latterly's work in a hospital comes to an end when she exercises her own judgment in giving a child medicine to break his fever; the doctor in charge is furious with her and dismisses her immediately. Monk uses this opportunity to insert Hester into the Moidore house as a nurse for Sir Basil's wife, in hopes that she can observe something that will shed light on the crime.

The continuing story of Monk and Hester's friendship, in which moments of rare accord and harmony are punctuated by long stretches in which the two put each other's backs up with amazing regularity, progresses only a little in this book. The mystery is a good one, as the reason for the crime eludes the detectives for most of the book, and the solution seems almost hurried at the end. But Perry's Victorian mysteries are well told, with good period detail, and I'll read further in the series for that as well as the slowly growing relationship at the core of the books.

#121: Perry's Monk series is my favorite of hers. I am glad you are enjoying them, Elizabeth.

44. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. This was my third read of this book, but I had to read it again after seeing the movie last week. The first half of the book, as the movie reflects, is pretty grim: several beloved characters are killed and Harry, Ron, and Hermione seem not only embarked on a hopeless quest, but also somewhat at odds in their relationship with each other.

It's only in the second half of the book that all the threads Rowling has woven for seven volumes come together and resolutions abound. The third reading was, for me, the most satisfying, but I'm pretty sure it won't be my last. Someday, I'll want to take the journey all over again, beginning at the Dursleys' with the Boy Who Lived and ending on platform 9 3/4 with the Hogwart's Express heading off to Hogwart's again.

#123: I read the first 3 books again at the beginning of this year, but got off-track in reading the next 4. Maybe I will finish them off next year.

45. Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. This was the first written, though not the first chronologically, of the Chrestomanci books. Having met the Chrestomanci as a boy in The Lives of Christopher Chant, it was a bit disconcerting to meet him in this book as an adult with a wife and two children, but it hardly matters--he's not really the focus of the book. The main character is Eric "Cat" Chant, an orphaned boy who, with his sister Gwendolen, is brought to Chrestomanci Castle to live. Gwendolen is a witch who is infuriated by being told she cannot practice magic until she's older, and she embarks on a magical series of increasingly destructive pranks to prove her power. She even manages to transport herself into another world, leaving a lookalike, Janet, in her place.

Cat desperately tries to keep this switch from Chrestomanci, finally reasoning that if he and Janet can escape into another world, he might be able to get Janet home and find Gwendolen. But is this such a good idea?

As a children's book, this was a very quick read, but nonetheless enjoyable. Wynne Jones creates a world--or worlds--in which magic is matter-of-fact for the inhabitants, but still magical for the readers. Her appealing main characters do their best even when they have very little idea of what is going on around them, and when trouble comes, they try hard to put it right in the end.

#125: I enjoyed that one too, Elizabeth. Glad to see it has found another fan!

46. SPOILERS: Defend and Betray by Anne Perry. The next in Perry's Victorian mystery series, this details the seemingly inexplicable murder of a respected General by his wife. Hester Latterly, employed in nursing a retired military man, Major Tiplady, is called upon by her friend Edith to help Edith's sister-in-law Alexandra, accused of murdering Edith's older brother, General Carlyon. Before long, Hester has asked Rathbone to defend Alexandra and Monk is called on to investigate.

Interwoven with the main story is Rathbone's developing affection for Hester and Monk's gradual uncovering of his past, mostly lost in the amnesia that has affected him since an accident. Alexandra's predicament awakens in Monk the memory of a woman in his past, also helpless and accused. In retracing his steps, he discovers a woman he had loved--but who, though fond of him and grateful, was uncomfortable with his intensity and his devotion to justice. Monk's disillusionment is still part of his painful journey to discover himself, and the experience helps him realize what he values in a woman.

One very minor quibble I have is that this series is known as Monk's series, but Hester is at least as important a character as Monk, and as important in solving the mysteries the series presents. It is she who discovers the horrifying reason for the murder in this case.

But, as I said, it's a minor quibble--I already have the next book in the series in my TBR stack, although I think I may read one of the Chrestomanci books next, for variety.

I agree with you about Hester being as important as Monk in the series. There are a couple of reasons I think it is known as the Monk series - 1) for brevity's sake and 2) because the first several books especially concentrate on Monk trying to remember who and or what he was and his place in the world. I could be wrong though.

Well, looks like I missed a lot in this thread! Glad you liked Christopher Chant, I liked it enough this year to want to read more of the Chrestomanci series and I have a few lined up to read over the holidays (*cross fingers*).

How did the end of NaNo go for you? Did you reach your goal (whether 50k or a personal one)?

>129 dk_phoenix: Alas, I completely missed any sort of goal with NaNo this year--got caught up instead in silly drama with a friend/neighbor. Stupid me.

I did learn that some stories spill out onto the screen a lot easier than others, with this year's attempt being much, much easier to write than last year's. I fully intend to continue with it, though at the moment I'm all about trying to make money. One of these days, though . . .

How'd you do? ;-)

ETA: I'm continuing with the Chrestomanci books; reading Conrad's Fate now and have three more in the pile. Just fun and fast, which I need when I'm so far from my goal for the year.

47. Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones. Another enjoyable entry in the Chrestomanci series. Conrad is a boy whose sister leaves home, seemingly for good; whose mother is vague and spends her days writing feminist books; and whose grasping uncle dabbles in magic and sends Conrad to work at the huge castle that sits above the town where they live. Conrad is supposedly cursed by karma to find someone he should have killed in a previous life and do the job properly in order to rid himself of his bad fate. But nothing seems to go as planned when Conrad reaches the castle, and he's thrown together with an older boy, Christopher, who is searching for his friend Millie, who seems to have been lost between worlds. Readers of the series know Christopher and Millie already, and their adventures here with Conrad are delightful.

#131: *sigh* Another DWJ book that my local library does not have.

Stasia, at least half the library books I have out now are from other libraries in the 4-county system to which my library belongs. It's a wonderful advantage when one lives in a small town. Today's entry, for example, comes from a library half-an-hour away:

48. The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones. Another fun entry in the Chrestomanci series, although the Crestomanci appears only briefly in a few scenes. Mostly the book centers on Tonino Montana, a boy in the city of Caprona. He's a member of one of two powerful spell-making families charged with protecting Caprona, but something seems to be wrong in the city, which is threatened from all sides.

Both the Montana family and the opposing Petrocchi family are more warmly affectionate and supportive than many of Wynne Jones's families, but they are also alike in their unreasoning hatred of each other. They're extremely suspicious of each other, but Tonino finds himself needing to work with one of the Petrocchis when the two young people are kidnapped by an evil enchanter; the kids need to save not only themselves, but all of Caprona.

#133: I get books from 4 local libraries, but pick them all up at the library just down the street from me. I can do interlibrary loans, but really hate them. The last one I did it took 3 months to get the book, by which time I was no longer in the mood for it!

49. A Sudden, Fearful Death by Anne Perry. Compared with the other books I've read in the Monk series, I found this one disappointing. There are at least two reasons, which I'll mention obliquely to avoid giving too much away. But for about half the book or so, no-one realizes the true meaning of the murdered woman's letters to her sister, even though I thought it ought to have been blindingly obvious, considering what everyone knew of her character. The other problem I had was with the action taken at the end of the book by the defense attorney, Oliver Rathbone.

I'm also beginning to feel that the author is working her way through various Victorian social issues one by one--abortion was a central theme in this book, as child sexual abuse was in a previous book. I'm rather expecting prostitution, drug abuse, and possibly the workhouse to come up in future books.

However, I know I'm going to read a couple more in the series, at least, because of the slowly developing relationship between Hester and Monk. They've about reached the point of realizing that each of them cares what the other thinks of them. I'm wondering if physical attraction is ever going to rear its head!

Elizabeth, I hope you are joining us again for next year! The group is already up and running: http://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin20111

50. The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones. Continuing the Chrestomanci books. In this outing, Cat Chance is at the castle, studying along with Julia and Roger (Chrestomanci and Millie's children), and Janet, the girl from another world who replaced Cat's selfish sister. In the nearby village, the Pinhoes, an extended family of magic users, find that their Gammer, an old woman who heads the family, appears to be senile (or possibly cursed). Over her protests (she grows herself into her bed), she's moved in with relatives and her house readied for sale. During the clearing out, young Marianne Pinhoe finds a huge egg in the attic and gives it to Cat, who is strangely drawn to it.

The egg hatches under Cat's care (and a little magical help); there's a war of curses between the Pinhoes and some neighbors; Cat ends up with a horse named Syracuse, and lives eventually get sorted out satisfactorily through the combined efforts of Cat, Chrestomanci, and others.

But what's in the egg? You'll have to read the book to find out!

#137: Unfortunately, that is one of the DWJ books my local library does not have :( I may never find out what is in the egg! Arg!

>130 ejj1955:: Hah! It's very true. I actually had a false start on the first day and ended up switching to a different novel... the one I'd planned on writing just wasn't coming, so I switched and it came much more easily. I finished and have set it aside until January... which is coming up fast... yikes!

>139 dk_phoenix: Yes, it's just a few days away. Eeek. Except for my determination that 2011 is going to begin a fabulous decade that will put the horrid one just about to be behind me to shame.

51. Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones. Another fun outing, this time to a world in which magic is considered evil and witches are burned. Unfortunately, the book opens with a teacher getting a note that says there's a witch in the class. But who is it? There are a lot of spells and mischief before someone summons Chrestomanci, who appears to sort out a world where nothing magical seems to be right.

Always great to see someone else enjoying Diana Wynne Jones' work.