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Laurel's Chronicles of a Crazy Cat Lady (2025 Lists and Reviews)
#13
The Lady Flirts with Death4.5 blue stars rounded up.
5 blue stars
Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London by her sister Mary, now Queen of England. So she has a backseat role in helping Simon find a way to save his friend Peto the Pope. Unbeknownst to Simon and his wife Hannah, the young pregnant girl seeking help from them is Peto's girlfriend. Hannah helps to deliver the baby and becomes utterly smitten. Frances cares nothing for her own daughter, mostly because she thinks Peto will reject her, the child not being his. Simon uses his skills at disguise, both in navigating the Tower of London, and in looking for answers in Southwark, a rather dangerous part of London. He befriends a young homeless boy, Henry, and I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that Simon and Hannah, will have not one, but two, children by the end of the book. But how they get there is full of danger and drama. Can't wait to read the 4th book in the series, and I wish there were more.
Description: Elizabeth Tudor is accused of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Loyal to a fault, Simon manages to get in to see her, determined to find a way to help her escape. Leaving the Tower, Simon discovers another cause for worry. His friend Peto the Pope has been arrested for a murder he swears he did not commit. At the same time, Simon's wife Hannah takes in a frightened pregnant girl who refuses to identify herself. Hannah is captivated when her guest has a baby girl. Childless herself, she's determined to help this mother and child get a start in life. Distracted by his desire to help Elizabeth and prove Peto's innocence, Simon pays little attention to what's happening at home. Neither he nor Hannah realizes they should be listening to each other. In trying to help others, they have put themselves in deadly danger.
Cumulative pages: 3,495
Laurel wrote: "#10 
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency5 blue stars
I first read this about 11 years ago, after watching the TV series. I couldn't g..."
Laurel, I have read somewhere around 15 books in this series, and I plan to return to it before the end of the year. I have found the characters to be most interesting and amusing.
MARCH PLANSFinishing up:
I have a ridiculous number of books started that still need to be finished, PLUS a number of February reads that I haven't even started yet! Fortunately, there are not a lot of new things for March that I have to read. I am close to finishing
READ Gods and Kings on audio. And working hard on
READ The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family which was February's Perspectives group read.
Groups and challenges:
Perspectives is reading
READ Horse which I have read and won't be rereading.
The Reading Loft is reading
One Day for March. I tried a bit of this on audio, and just wasn't getting into it, so decided I'm not going to read it. The book for April discussion (starts 3-31) is
READ The Twilight Garden - I've place a hold but Libby is telling me 8 weeks right now. So...
The Red Dragons (St. David's Society book club) will be reading
READ Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul for April. I'll start this toward the end of March.
The Reading Through Time monthly prompt is "Revenge" and I'll
possibly be reading
READ Rapunzel's Revenge - hold available soon. It is a YA graphic novel, so should be a quick read. Yeah! And it has brown on the cover for the March cover color challenge. I also own
A Knight's Vengeance - We'll see how March goes. That one is over 400 pages!
The cover color challenge is brown or gold:
fits both colors and is one of my Babylonia theme reads, so I'd really like to get to it SOMETIME this month. But if it goes into April that is okay.RTT 1st quarterly theme: still The Renaissance:
Would like to get to
Wolf Hall and sequels, and knock these off my list, but it's not looking likely. I'd also like to finish the 4th and last of the Simon and Elizabeth books
READ Her Majesty's Mischief
MARCH LOGFinished:
Gods and Kings - finished Mar 3
The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family - finished Mar 5
Wales: The First & Final Colony - finished Mar 8
Rapunzel's Revenge - finished Mar 13
The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology - finished Mar 16
Calamity Jack - finished Mar 16
Song of Redemption - finished Mar 17
Gingerbread - finished Mar 31
Currently reading:
First Knight (Archive.org) - started Jan 5
Color: A Natural History of the Palette - started Mar 12
Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation - started Mar 14
Her Majesty's Mischief - started Mar 17
The Twilight Garden - started Mar 23
Next up:
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel
Closure
The Assyrian - Audible
Murder at Melrose Court
The Secret Lives of Color
Gilead
The Whole Cat and Caboodle - Libby
Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul
Waiting for holds:
Lending a Paw - Libby
Isaiah's Daughter - Libby, print
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club
The Crow Trap
Still might read:
Queen By Right - restarted Nov 1 (PAUSED)
Chocolate House Treason
New Acquisitions:
New York - Kindle, $1.99
Murder at Melrose Court - Chirp audio boxed set, $2.99 each...
The Black Cat Murders
The Curse of Braeburn Castle
Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound - Chirp audio, $2.99
Pillar of the Sky: A Novel of Stonehenge - Chirp audio, $3.99
Mod
#14
Gods and Kings3 yellow stars
A decent retelling of the historical time period when the kingdom of Judah under King Ahaz is falling under the influence of the powerful and aggressive kingdom of Assyria. It is also the story of a people of faith who have allowed themselves to stray from their roots, abandoning their belief in one true God and falling back into pagan idolatry and child sacrifice. This account is well researched and follows the Biblical account pretty closely. I do think there are some things that warrant my "yellow" caution label however. It starts off with a very graphic description of child sacrifice, and while this is true to the history, it may be quite difficult to read for some people. Secondly, the depiction of Judaism here is decidedly colored through the lens of a certain kind of "Christian" interpretation. Not saying that is necessarily right or wrong, but it does color the story in a particular way. There is plenty of action, and I have already said that the author does not shy away from violence. That can carry the story quite a long way, but it does teeter on being a bit too melodramatic at times, with "good" vs. "evil" a bit too black and white. I would have liked more nuance, more character development, and less "magical" thinking. Some of that was certainly present in religion and society at the time, also the deep patriarchal beliefs - but I couldn't help feeling a certain distaste for the experience. I won't rule out reading more of the series, but I won't be rushing to do so.
Description: Though born the second son of King Ahaz, Hezekiah is not protected from his father's perverted attempts to gain the favor of the idol Molech. Terrified and powerless at the foot of Molech's altar, Hezekiah encounters for the first time the one true God of his royal ancestry, Yahweh. But his journey to the Holy One is riddled by influence from an assortment of men: Zechariah, a grandfather of noble standing who has fallen into drunkenness; Uriah, the High Priest whose lust for power forces him to gamble the faith he proclaims; and Shebna, the Egyptian intellectual who guides Hezekiah's instruction. For the two women who love Hezekiah, the meaning of love--and its sacrificial essence--will direct the course of their lives and help shape the young prince's future.
Cumulative pages: 3,812
#15
The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family4 red stars
Wow! A lot of information here and very well researched, although I did question her interpretation of things at times. The narrative did jump around a bit, and sometimes I lost track of who was white and who was black, or mulatto. The later part of the book was the most interesting to me, where the author focuses on Angelina (Nana) Weld Grimke, and the heart-breaking heritage of trying to live up to the ideals of the "colored elites", not even knowing that her father had been enslaved by his half-brother at one time. Constantly criticized by her family, she could never meet their expectations. Nor could she relate to the experience of southern blacks with its violent culture of Jim Crow and lynchings.
Description: A stunning counternarrative of the legendary abolitionist Grimke sisters that finally reclaims the forgotten Black members of their family. Sarah and Angelina Grimke—the Grimke sisters—are revered figures in American history, famous for rejecting their privileged lives on a plantation in South Carolina to become firebrand activists in the North. Their antislavery pamphlets, among the most influential of the antebellum era, are still read today. Yet retellings of their epic story have long obscured their Black relatives. That the Grimke sisters had Black relatives in the first place was a consequence of slavery’s most horrific reality. Sarah and Angelina’s older brother, Henry, was notoriously violent and sadistic, and one of the women he owned, Nancy Weston, bore him three sons: Archibald, Francis, and John. While Greenidge follows the brothers’ trials and exploits in the North, where Archibald and Francis became prominent members of the post–Civil War Black elite, her narrative centers on the Black women of the family, from Weston to Francis’s wife, the brilliant intellectual and reformer Charlotte Forten, to Archibald’s daughter, Angelina Weld Grimke, who channeled the family’s past into pathbreaking modernist literature during the Harlem Renaissance.
Cumulative pages: 4,244
#16
Wales: The First & Final Colony3 green stars.
Most of the essays collected here are over ten years old. It spans about 25 years with the most recent being from 2018. I imagine it was published to drum up support for the 2021 elections. As an American, I know virtually nothing about Welsh politics. From a purely historical point of view, the essays appear somewhat random and not in chronological order, so I really got no sense of how or if his views changed over time. Or how Welsh politics changed over time. Except for one speech arguing for a Plaid/Labour coalition, most of these bemoaned the failures of the Labour party. I got the impression that Wales is mostly pretty complacent about its politics, and that nationalism only speaks to the Welsh language speakers who make up barely 25% of the Welsh population, so it feels like an uphill battle. I was most interested in the speeches that did talk about history and laid out some of the reasons for why the idea of Welsh independence has been so beaten down. Nevertheless, he presents his arguments well, he is witty and obviously learned. He also cares deeply about his country and is a very inspirational speaker. If I lived in Wales, I would absolutely be on team Plaid.
Description: Wales - The First and Final Colony is a collection of essays and speeches by Adam Price, leader of Plaid Cymru and one of the great thinkers in Welsh politics. It includes some of his most famous speeches to the House of Commons and his rousing speech at Harvard University. The title essay on the history and colonisation of Wales is a great assessment of the current Welsh situation, and in this book he offers ideas for securing a brighter future for Wales. The book is an attempt to add some depth and weight to the growing debate over the viability of Welsh independence.
Cumulative pages: 4,506
#17
Rapunzel's Revenge3.5 pink stars.
Teen graphic novel. Fairy tale mash-up plus Western. Rapunzel uses her braids like a lasso or a whip to escape her captor, fight off the "bad guys" and rescue her mother with help from her new friend Jack and his (stolen) pet goose. Sort of reminded me of Pippi Longstocking. Jack is a bit shallow, but that allows Rapunzel to be the hero of the story. Some nice tongue-in-cheek humor too. Gets a bit repetitive, but it's short. I've already got the sequel lined up.
Description: Rapunzel escapes her tower-prison all on her own, only to discover a world beyond what she'd ever known before. Determined to rescue her real mother and to seek revenge on her kidnapper would-be mother, Rapunzel and her very long braids team up with Jack (of Giant killing fame) and together they preform daring deeds and rescues all over the western landscape, eventually winning the justice they so well deserve.
Cumulative pages: 4,650
#18
The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish MythologyComments made in 2008: ILL book - had to be returned. May try and finish later, but I have other things I want to read. The theory of the Celtic gods and other mythological figures being comets was touched on in Exodus to Arthur, and this book isn't really adding anything new.
2025 update: Glad I finally got back to this book. The topic of astronomical and meteorological phenomena and its impact on history is quite interesting to me. I would like to find something that might update these theories, since it has been over twenty years since this was written. I am not certain that all of his arguments regarding Irish mythology are supported, but I do think there is compelling evidence for a near strike with a comet in the mid-sixth century that had significant impact on the environment. In particular, I would like to see more archeological research into the ritual ponds in Ireland being evidence of impact craters. I thought that was a particularly interesting chapter. The interpretation of all these Irish myths derived from his comet framework got a little bit repetitive, but it will certainly be in the back of my mind the next time I encounter them. Where I think he may have lost me was in trying to relate everything to comets. I can certainly see the descriptions being influenced by such phenomena, but as with his examples of Saints who presumably were actual people, I give the ancient story tellers a little more room for artistic license than believing that comets were actually gods - something a bit closer to the tall tales about Paul Bunyan that I loved as a child for example.
Description: The Celtic myths, involving heroic warriors such as Finn and CuChulinn, can be read as simple primitive stories, but closer examination reveals strange descriptions and relationships. The authors of this groundbreaking book argue that all the principal characters are aspects of the one Celtic sky god, Lugh, who was a comet. Against the background of a comet scenario, this re-interpretation of about 10 key Celtic myths shows how many of the descriptions in the myths fit the appearance of comets.
Cumulative pages: 4,874
#19
Calamity Jack3 green stars.
I did not find this as engaging as Rapunzel's Revenge. We leave the fairy tale forest and the wild west behind, and return to Jack's hometown, which has now been taken over by the giants. We get into a bit of Jack's backstory, and then we pick up with Jack and Rapunzel as they set out to rescue Jack's mother this time. With help from Freddie Sparksmith and his futuristic inventions, we get a bit of a steampunk feel here, but it just didn't have the charm of the previous tale. Add some more talking animals, and the Jabberwock, and it's all a bit too much of a mash-up. I do like Jack, despite all his flaws. This was still a fun little "snack" between more serious books. And kids of a certain would enjoy this.
Description: Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind . . . with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler . . . maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk. With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack's past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people . . . while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure.
Cumulative pages: 5,018
Love your reviews, Laurel! Now to see which ones I need to add to my tbr
#20
Song of Redemption4 red stars
Obviously, I liked this book a lot better than the first one. So what made it better? I do think these books are well-researched. Still a bit melodramatic, but the characters were not as black and white. They really came to life for me with all their flaws, their misfortunes, their inner struggles to be good people, and to make good decisions. These were characters who struggled with their faith in God, and overcame unimaginable traumas. Jerusha's was such a powerful and moving tale. I was glad to find a strong woman with a fierce will to survive, and who ultimately is the key to saving not only the man she loves, but an entire city. Hephzibah, the wife of King Hezekiah, is more of a minor character, but there is plenty of foreshadowing that there may be trouble coming in the next book with her back-sliding into idolatry. If I have any quibbles, it is the too-good-to-be-true change in Jerusha overcoming her past trauma, and the inexplicable sort of "deus ex machina" ending where the Assyrians just pack up and go home without any explanation. Nevertheless, I am now eager to continue with book 3.
Description: As King Hezekiah embraces God's Law, he leads his country into renewed prosperity. But following the will of Yahweh is a perplexing process, requiring unpopular choices--for both his personal life and political career. Now his archenemy's demands for tribute are forcing Hezekiah into a precarious situation. Jerusha, a young Jewish woman far from home, has seen firsthand what the dreaded invaders are capable of doing. As the powerful Assyrian army sweeps through the northern provinces, leaving little but devastation in its wake, Jerusha longs to escape. Her desperate will to live could become a link to Jerusalem's survival. With Assyria on the march, moving closer to the heart of Judah, Hezekiah's decision to follow the everlasting One is about to face the ultimate test.
Cumulative pages: 5,367
A late month update:My hold on
READ The Twilight Garden came in unexpectedly soon, so I'm currently listening to that. It's due back in a few days, so I may need to do some listening not in the car...
Then two of my books for the RTT "color" theme came in. Yeah, I know it was the February theme, but I'm just getting to it...
READ Color: A Natural History of the Palette
The Secret Lives of Color
These are print books, and nonfiction. I'd really like to read both. Fortunately, I finished up my non-fiction backlog, so these are now on deck. I'm also reading
READ Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation
Two of these are Interlibrary loans so not renewable.
Soon, I need to start
READ Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul which is up for bookclub discussion in early April.
I also need to get back to
READ First Knight which I started reading on the Internet Archive and it has gotten stalled.
I'm going to be going out to see my mother next week. She sounded so lonely on the phone this week, it just about broke my heart. But I have more audiobooks lined up, and those holds have been coming in:
READ Gilead - for Perspectives. Discussion isn't until the 15th but it's due before that.
READ Gingerbread - I thought I would read this in print, but it has already gotten stalled, and the audiobook was available so I checked it out again. Then a nice light cozy mystery -
READ The Whole Cat and Caboodle
Almost time to post my April plans, but I can't seem to think more than about a week ahead, so until next week....
#21
Gingerbread3 green stars
I really wanted to love this more. Fairy tales. Shakespeare. Gothic houses. Magical realism. But in the end I just didn't get it. Maybe I should have listened to my inner voice telling me to read the book. Audio was not the way to go. But truthfully, if I had it would be months yet before I managed to finish it. I could appreciate all those things above. The Hansel and Gretel. The hints of Jack and the Beanstalk. Maybe even bits of Rapunzel's tower, and Baba Yaga's hut. But though I had carefully read a lot of scholarly commentary on Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, it really didn't figure in any meaningful way. I was all set to wisely nod my head at recognizing certain themes, and they just weren't there. Just going to go with the flow and say that was.... interesting. And not try to make anything more out of it.
Description (from Amazon): Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories, beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel Kercheval —a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.
Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.
Cumulative pages: 5,739
APRIL PLANS:I'm not going to rehash the old stuff I'm still working on finishing. I'll finish The Reading Loft group March read today and start
READ The Whole Cat and Caboodle for my drive home from Rapid City tomorrow - just a nice light cozy mystery. Easy listening while driving. (Mom is doing great!) Then I'll start
READ Gilead which is the Perspectives book club book for April. The Welsh society book club book is
READ Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul - I have the print book. We meet Saturday and I'm way behind because I need to get those ILL books read first.... Not having as much time to read here as I had hoped. Good thing none of my goals are written in stone...
I have
READ Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club lined up for the cover color challenge (yellow and blue). I'm also looking at
READ Wanderland to read ahead for next month's Perspectives. We are postponing the read we had planned, and I said I could lead this....
I'll worry about the RTT April themes later in the month. Still finishing up some Renaissance things and the Color books...
APRIL LOGFinished:
The Twilight Garden - finished Apr 2
The Whole Cat and Caboodle - finished Apr 3
Gilead - finished Apr 8
Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation - finished Apr 8
Heathcliff Lennox - France 1918 - finished Apr 10
The Charter - finished Apr 14
Murder at Melrose Court - finished Apr 18
Lending a Paw - finished Apr 26
Currently reading:
First Knight (Archive.org) - started Jan 5
Her Majesty's Mischief - started Mar 17
Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul - started Mar 23
Wanderland - started Apr 9
Closure - started Apr 9
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel - started Apr 15
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club - started Apr 27
Next up:
The Assyrian - Audible
The Secret Lives of Color
Company of Liars
Waiting for holds:
The Ghost Cat - 16 week wait. I may use an Audible credit
Color: A Natural History of the Palette - started Mar 12, paused. Left off on "Yellow" - 8 weeks wait
Tidelands - not needed until mid-May
Wandering Stars - not needed until June
Still might read:
Queen By Right - restarted Nov 1 (PAUSED)
Chocolate House Treason
Isaiah's Daughter - Libby, print
New Acquisitions:
The Devil and the Dark Water - Audible, free
Born of No Man - Kindle, free
Box Set One - The Charter, Closure & Complicit by Gillian E Hamer - Kindle, $8.99
A Hunting in Venice: Hercule Purr-row Case Files - Kindle, .99
I fear I went on a binge, and just ordered the whole Gilead quartet, along with some new coloring books, and some books I've had on a save for later list:
A History of Welsh Music
Introducing the Medieval Dragon
and
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel - my book has to go back to the library, and I need to own this. It's wonderful.
Company of Liars - Audible credit
SOME TOUCH OF PITY TRILOGY three compelling historical novels - Kindle .99
The Song of the Lark - Chirp $1.99
#22
The Twilight Garden4.5 blue stars, rounded up.
From the cover, I think I had been expecting a fantasy. Instead it was the delightful story of two generations of residents living in two flats in Stoke Newington, London with a shared garden between them. With its community vibe, I could liken this to Alexander McCall Smith, but much more tightly focused on a few people. This is a slow moving novel about "life", so don't expect a lot of action. It is about people and community and finding where you belong. We start in the present with a garden that has been neglected for 20 years. Winston is believing that his life has been a failure, and he is trying to cope with his new next door neighbor Bernice who is going through a divorce and is very over-protective of her young son. But when mysterious photos and letters start being put through the mail slot of both houses, Winston gets the idea to renovate the garden, hoping to "get back" at his overly controlling neighbor. Eventually, he wins over the boy and they convince Bernice to help them. 20 years early, Maya and Alma and their families were immigrants from India who created the neighborhood garden. Eventually, we learn what happened to them, and the two stories come together in resurrecting the garden. I thought it was beautifully told. I loved the descriptions of bringing the garden back to life, of the foxes who made a home there. And for everyone involved the garden represented home and community and belonging and was a place of healing.
Description: In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. Now it’s overgrown and neglected, an empty patch of greenery lost to time. Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it – anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they’re not exactly neighborly. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted…
Cumulative pages: 6,139
#23
The Whole Cat and Caboodle4.5 blue stars
Series: #1 of Second Chance Cat Mysteries
I listened to this in one day, and finished it with a big smile on my face. It's cozy. The cat is believable, and central to solving the mystery without being over the top. And I loved the whole set up of the seniors working together to solve the mystery. There's a mix of generations all working together, but the senior team was just a lot fun, especially Mr. Peterson who decides to offer his services when the model for an art class fails to show up (of course he gets the location and the dress code wrong...), and (view spoiler) Although this takes place in Maine, it wasn't a big element of the plot or setting. I didn't round up to 5 stars, because there were a lot of scenes and dialogue that just didn't really go anywhere toward advancing the plot, so it did drag a bit at times. And I think there could have been a little more explanation of Sarah's and others backstories. Perhaps that will come out in future books. All the descriptions of clothing, food, and refinishing furniture might be tedious for some, but I didn't mind it. It all adds to the feeling of community, including mending a rift with an old friend, and setting up a couple of potential future romantic interests. 4.5 stars may have been a tad generous, but I will read more of this series.
A note about the author: She also writes the Magical Cats series under the name Sofie Kelly.
Description: Sarah Grayson is the happy proprietor of Second Chance, a charming shop in the oceanfront town of North Harbor, Maine. At the shop, she sells used items that she has lovingly refurbished and repurposed. But her favorite pet project so far has been adopting a stray cat she names Elvis. Elvis has seen nine lives—and then some. The big black cat with a scar across his nose turned up at a local bar when the band was playing the King of Rock and Roll’s music and hopped in Sarah’s truck. Since then, he’s been her constant companion and the furry favorite of everyone who comes into the store. But when Sarah’s elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, the kindly old lady becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Even Sarah’s old high school flame, investigator Nick Elliot, seems convinced that Maddie was up to no good. So it’s up to Sarah and Elvis to clear her friend’s name and make sure the real murderer doesn’t get a second chance.
Cumulative pages: 6,475
Mod
#24
Gilead5 purple stars.
Reread.
Coming from a long line of ministers on my father's side, and a long line of Kansas settlers in my mother's side, this had a lot of resonance for me. This is a meditation on life, on inheritance, and on what we leave behind. John Ames addresses his rambling meditations to a young son that he likely will not see grow up. This could be my grandfather, a Congregational minister, who lived in small towns in Iowa and Kansas, but who espoused both civil rights, liberation theology, and ecumenism. Today, we think of the midwest as the hotbed of conservative Christianity, but I can testify to the fact that this sort of non-dogmatic, self-questioning and reflection is very much part of the Congregational inheritance. Here we have a man whose grandfather was a militant abolitionist, a father who was a pacifist and very much at odds with that. His older brother left home and came back an atheist. John loves life, but wrestles with what it means to live a good life. He is the obedient son, trying to come to terms with the loss of his first wife and child, finding love again late in life, and dealing with the fears and resentments triggered by the return of a fellow pastor's son and his namesake - a prodigal son in every sense of the word - who may come to take his place in his own young son's life when he dies. While this kind of stream of consciousness writing maybe isn't for everyone, it has its moments of beautiful insight and wisdom. Along the way, he does find that he can let go, he can forgive, he can find healing, and he can leave his love and his blessing to those around him. I will probably buy the book, because it invites dipping into it again and again.
Description: In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend Ames writes to his son about the tension between his father--an ardent pacifist--and his grandfather, whose pistol and bloody shirts, concealed in an army blanket, may be relics from the fight between the abolitionists and those settlers who wanted to vote Kansas into the union as a slave state. And he tells a story of the sacred bonds between fathers and sons, which are tested in his tender and strained relationship with his namesake, John Ames Boughton, his best friend's wayward son. This is also the tale of another remarkable vision--not a corporeal vision of God but the vision of life as a wondrously strange creation. It tells how wisdom was forged in Ames's soul during his solitary life, and how history lives through generations, pervasively present even when betrayed and forgotten.
Cumulative pages: 6,722
#25
Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation5 purple stars.
This is a little gem of a book. I only wish it was bigger. My aging eyes struggled with all the detail in these little pages. This is not an artist I was very familiar with, and his oeuvre is not large. But I love the bright colors, the fanciful buildings, the animals (especially that "Carpaccio" dog) - who can resist that smiling lion, and the glimpses of what Venice might have been like in his time. Jan Morris brings all of this to life, and I have loved everything I have read by her.
Description: In the course of writing Venice, her 1961 classic, Jan Morris became fascinated by the historical presence of a sometimes-overlooked Venetian painter. Nowadays the name of Vittore Carpaccio (1460–1520) suggests raw beef, but to Morris it conveyed far more profound meanings. Thus began a lifelong infatuation, reaching across the centuries, between a renowned Welsh writer and a great and delightfully entertaining artist of the early Renaissance. Handsomely designed with more than seventy photographs throughout, Ciao,Carpaccio! is a happy caprice of affection. In illuminating the life of the artist and his paintings, Morris throws in digressions about Venetian animals, courtesans, babies, ships, architecture, and history, and caps it all with thoughtful analyses of Carpaccio’s spiritual convictions. Part biography, part art interpretation, part personal odyssey, and all lots of fun, Ciao, Carpaccio! will no doubt help to rescue the name of a noble artist from its popular interpretation as an item of cuisine. 75 color illustrations.
Cumulative pages: 6,882
I started listening to Closure yesterday, which I had purchased on Audible, but it seems the narrator (Catherine O'Brien) has no clue how to pronounce Welsh. Ty Mawr is pronounced "Tee mawer" not "Tai more" which I could live with, but when the boy in the story starts speaking Welsh in his dreams I can't recognize what it is supposed to be because of her mispronunciation. So I purchased the Kindle version. Not terribly expensive, so I don't mind. Then I realized that it isn't the first of a series (even if they are stand-alone) so I returned it and got the set. I may start over with the first book The Charter just because, or not. It's not a bad narration otherwise, just sloppy. How hard is it to check the pronunciation of a few words? It took me less than 2 seconds to find Ty Mawr on Google and listen to the correct pronunciation. Come on, people! Would you do that with French? Read it as if it were English? No, you wouldn't!Rant over.
#26
Heathcliff Lennox - France 19182.5 yellow stars.
There really isn't enough here to give a rating. This is a sort of prequel freebie to the Heathcliff Lennox mystery series. It is very short, and there is no mystery here. It show us that Heathcliff and his butler Greggs were in France during WWI. They are downed behind enemy lines, and a young French woman helps them to escape. That's it. I couldn't really make a love story out of this. They return at the end to find that she has died. It hasn't put me off the series, but there's nothing here that makes me want to continue either. So maybe just skip it.
Description: Spring, 1918. The Great War is at a crucial stage, the Germans are making one last push into France and the Allies are struggling to hold them back. Battle lines are shifting and men, and their machines, are being sent up and down the front to shore up defences. Major Heathcliff Lennox, and his batman Greggs, are told to report to their new HQ. They set off on a sunlit day to fly the distance, but the enemy is never far away, and disaster strikes. They're sent crashing to the ground behind enemy lines, where life, death and love await.
Cumulative pages: 6,930
#27
The Charter5 blue stars.
Kept me up until 3:30 am to finish the book. Based on the true story of The Royal Charter, bringing back Welsh miners and their families from Australia, which foundered in a storm off the coast of Anglesey killing over 400 people in 1859. The novel imagines descendants of some of the survivors, still obsessed with finding the gold brought back by those miners. And it starts out with a ghost - an 11-year-old girl who died in that shipwreck - still trying to find her family. The paranormal aspects were open-ended enough to allow for interpretation. Is she real or not? Sarah Morton has come back home to bury her father, an archeology professor obsessed with the shipwreck. Has he found the gold? He leaves an elaborate game, a treasure hunt of clues, for his daughter to to solve in order to find out. He was extremely paranoid, not trusting anyone, and believing that someone was trying to kill him. Well, he was right, and before we reach the end, more people will die. I thought the ending was perfect, and I very much enjoyed this snapshot of Anglesey, its history, and its beautiful landscape.
Description: Sarah Morton hopes discovering the truth about the 1859 shipwreck of the Royal Charter will silence the demons of her past. But, tormented by visions and threats on her life, Sarah fears the ship may claim her as its final victim. Set along the dramatic and dangerous Anglesey coastline, The Charter is a story of greed and forgiveness - when the treasures of the past evoke the crimes of today.
Cumulative pages: 7,200
Mid-April update:Will finish up my current audiobook tonight and start
READ Lending a Paw
For the April RTT theme, I'll be reading
READ Company of Liars - I've only got 11 more days and a person is waiting, so I need to start this ASAP. But first, I'd like to finish ,,,, no, actually I just decided to use an Audible credit and purchase this. So it will be on deck after Lending a Paw.
I have finished The Charter and resumed reading
READ Closure
After that, I'd really like to finish
READ First Knight which has gotten stalled. And I'm still reading
READ Her Majesty's Mischief to finish out that series and the Renaissance for RTT. Then it'll be something 17th century. Maybe
READ The Chocolate Maker's Wife or
The Seeker or
The Crown Jewels Conspiracy: Book one in the gripping action-packed covert ops military thriller series which has been on my TBR for a long time...
Confession: I fear I went on a book buying binge this week, and just ordered the whole Gilead quartet, along with some new coloring books, and some books I've had on a save for later list:
A History of Welsh Music
Introducing the Medieval Dragon
and
READ Watership Down: The Graphic Novel - my book has to go back to the library, and I need to own this. It's wonderful.
#28
Murder at Melrose Court3 green stars
Perhaps I just wasn't really in the right mood for this, or it didn't quite work as an audiobook. But I bought the boxed set, so I will probably give the other two books a chance. And sometimes a series needs time to grow on me. The narration was a bit theatrical complete with occasional barking dog. There was humor, but very much on the dry side. I thought we would see more of a relationship between Lennox and his butler Greggs, but beyond the opening scene Greggs wasn't there at all. It was clever enough. If you like the 1920s, British humor, and upstairs/downstairs stories you'll probably do fine with it. Just not quite my cup of tea.
Description: It's 1920 and Christmas is coming. Major Lennox finds a body on his doorstep - why on his doorstep? Was it to do with the Countess? Was it about the ruby necklace? Lennox goes to Melrose Court, home to his uncle, Lord Melrose, to uncover the mystery. But then the murders begin and it snows and it all becomes very complicated.... Major Heathcliff Lennox - ex WW1 war pilot, 6feet 3inch, tousled dark blond hair, age around 30 – named after the hero of Wuthering Heights by his romantically minded mother – much to his great annoyance.
Cumulative pages: 7,462
Mod
Will finish up my current audiobook tonight and start
Lending a Paw
For the April RTT theme, I'll be reading
Company of Liars - I've only got 11 mo..."
I've been buying and enjoying a few novels that have been reimagined as graphic novels. They are all so well done.
Bill wrote: "I've been buying and enjoying a few novels that have been reimagined as graphic novels. They are all so well done."Bill,
I just purchased Watership Down: The Graphic Novel. The library book had to be returned, and I was loving it. Really well done. The illustrations are just marvellous. And I sort of collect Watership Down books. I have another one that could be considered a graphic novel. It is from the film: The Watership Down Film Picture Book. And I have the Atheneum edition illustrated by Aldo Galli. Not a graphic novel, but it has some lovely full-page plates.
Mod
Bill,
I just purchased [book:Watership Down: The Graphic Novel|6026..."
That's one I'll have to get. The graphic versions give a lovely perspective on a story you've already enjoyed.
#29
Lending a Paw3.5 pink stars
I liked this well enough. The setting is idyllic - I think I'd like to live there. Too bad it isn't a real place. The characters are interesting and have potential. But I have my reservations about Minnie. Or more specifically, Minnie as a librarian. Granted it's probably a very small town and a very small library. But then how can they afford to have a bookmobile? Even with a generous donation. And the cat. Oh Eddie is great. Definitely loveable. But just a tad too conveniently acts to lead Minnie to the murder, and later seems to just "know" that she is about to do something incredibly stupid, and somehow saves her life in the end. And Minnie does a lot of stupid things. So I did a lot of eye-rolling. Good thing she is cute, and the cat is cute. And the plot was okay, despite all the improbables. The author did have an interesting twist on the bumbling cops stereotype. So the jury is out. I may have to read the next book to decide what I think about the series...
Description: With the help of her rescue cat, Eddie, librarian Minnie Hamilton is driving a bookmobile based in the resort town of Chilson, Michigan. But she’d better keep both hands on the wheel, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride… Eddie followed Minnie home one day, and now she can’t seem to shake the furry little shadow. But in spite of her efforts to contain her new pal, the tabby sneaks out and trails her all the way to the bookmobile on its maiden voyage. Before she knows it, her slinky stowaway becomes her cat co-pilot! Minnie and Eddie’s first day visiting readers around the county seems to pass without trouble—until Eddie darts outside at the last stop and leads her to the body of a local man who’s reached his final chapter. Initially, Minnie is ready to let the police handle this case, but Eddie seems to smell a rat. Together, they’ll work to find the killer—because a good librarian always knows when justice is overdue.
Cumulative pages: 7,806
May Plans:Both of my choirs will wrap up for the summer in the next 3 weeks, which will mean more free time, but less driving time. With warmer weather, the yard and garden will take up more of my time. And I have splurged on a huge set of Ohuhu alcohol markers and some new coloring books. And genealogy is always a huge siren call. And I'm a bit discombobulated by my mom's death. She passed away the day before Easter. Although she had been in hospice care for a couple of months, she had cheated death so many times this past year, I really didn't expect this simple and peaceful exit. Especially since I had just visited recently and spoke to her the day before. It will take awhile to wrap my head around it I suppose. We won't have a service until sometime this summer. So I can't predict how reading might fare.
Bookclubs:
READ Wanderland - for Perspectives
READ Tidelands - for The Reading Loft
READ Sugar and Slate - for the Red Dragons
Finishing on audio:
READ Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club
Next up is
READ Tears of the Giraffe because it came up in my holds.
Still reading:
READ Watership Down: The Graphic Novel and
READ Closure
Next up, I got my hold to resume reading
READ Color: A Natural History of the Palette
Still on deck:
READ Company of Liars - purchased on Audible
and any of the 17th century reads I mentioned in my mid-April update.
New:
May RTT theme (fairy tales):
Thinking about
READ Court of Swans
Also considering
White Ravens or
The Mab: Eleven Epic Stories from the Mabinogi
MAY LOGFinished:
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club - finished May 4
Closure - finished May 7
Tears of the Giraffe - finished May 11
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel - finished May 22
Murder Past Due - finished May 22
Court of Swans - finished May 25
Color: A Natural History of the Palette - finished May 28
Currently reading:
First Knight (Archive.org) - started Jan 5
Her Majesty's Mischief - started Mar 17
Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul - started Mar 23
Wanderland - started Apr 9
Castle of Refuge - started May 26
Sugar and Slate - started May 28
Next up:
Company of Liars
Tidelands
Waiting for holds:
The Ghost Cat - 16 week wait. I may use an Audible credit
Wandering Stars - not needed until June
The Strength of His Hand
Still might read:
Queen By Right - restarted Nov 1 (PAUSED)
Chocolate House Treason
Isaiah's Daughter - Libby, print
The Assyrian - Audible
New Acquisitions:
Daughters of the Grail - Kindle, .99
Avalon - Kindle, $2,99
The Evening and the Morning - Audible, 2 for 1 sale
The Bright Sword - Audible (free, see above)
The Whalebone Theatre - Audible, 2 for 1 sale
The Lost Queen - Audible (free, see above)
The Stolen Crown: The brilliant historical novel of an Empress fighting for her destiny - Kindle, .99
Sugar and Slate - Needed for Welsh book club - Kindle, $7.99
Mysteries of Shakespeare, 4-book set by Leonard Tourney - Kindle, .99
Laurel wrote: "MAY LOGCurrently reading:
Color: A Natural History of the Palette - started Mar 12, paused. Left off on "Yellow" - Ready to resume..."
Good reminder for me to get back to this too. But I'd like to buy a copy of it
#30
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club4 red stars.
Another delightful slice of Minnesota life. The author absolutely nails Minnesota culture. Multi-generational, family dynamics. There's romance, tragedy, humor, conflict, and forgiveness. My only complaints were the disjointed jumping back and forth in time, which I'm not sure served this particular story. And unfortunately the audiobook narrator did not know how to pronounce Edina. And since this was part of a character's name, it came up over and over and drove me a little crazy. Not enough to switch formats. Overall I enjoyed this very much. And the author really shines with his women characters. But The Lager Queen of Minnesota is still my favorite.
Description: Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed. Ned is also an heir—to a chain of home-style diners—and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation? In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.
Cumulative pages: 8,146
Laurel wrote: "#30 Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club4 red stars.
Another delightful slice of Minnesota life. The author a..."
This book is already on my TBR but I need to bump it up. Great review!
#31
Closure4 red stars, rounded up to 4.5
Goodreads doesn't allow 1/2 stars, but I rounded this up to reflect the wonderful setting and the descriptions of North Wales, Anglesey, and the coastline. The photo on the cover is the real Twr Mawr on Ynys Llanddwyn, and the Rothsay Castle shipwreck was a real event. I loved the paranormal aspect, but this just wasn't as tightly written as The Charter. There were too many frequent shifts in the action with at least 4 different threads going on, until they finally all come together. I loved the story of Jake/Jacob very much, the tie-in with a present day serial killer not so much, the only connection being that it took place on the island where Jacob had died. The Welsh language (which I am familiar with) was a little strange. I don't know if the author was trying to represent a 19th century dialect or not, but it just seemed wrong to me. I also couldn't listen to the audiobook, because the narrator obviously didn't know how to pronounce the Welsh words. Aside from that, I do look forward to reading more by this author.
Description: Helen West is coming to terms with her husband's death and trying to cope with her six-year-old son's grief. Jake suffers from nightmares, and visions of what he calls his 'other life'. He talks about a boy called Jacob and a place known only as 'the island'. Helen's journey to find the source of Jake's torment leads them to North Wales, where the university town of Bangor is in lockdown following a series of student abductions. When Jake's nightmares start to mirror the abductions, Helen begins to believe her son might have second sight. But what could Jake's 'island' possibly have to do with these crimes? And how can they help without putting their own lives in danger? It seems that decision will be Jake's alone.
Cumulative pages: 8,429
#32
Tears of the Giraffe4.5 blue stars, rounded up
Reread, on audio
Review from 2014:
Now this is more like it. Book #2 seemed much more tightly constructed to me. More of the plot threads were carried throughout the book to their conclusion. It is fun to see the connections between the books and the TV series. One major departure from the TV series (spoiler alert!!) is the adoption of two children from the orphan farm by Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. But Mma Ramotswe takes it all in stride. There is not yet any interaction between Mma Ramotswe and her first husband, Note Makoti, so it remains to be seen if that is in a future volume or if it was added for the TV series.
Book Description: Precious Ramotswe is the eminently sensible and cunning proprietor of the only ladies’ detective agency in Botswana. In Tears of the Giraffe she tracks a wayward wife, uncovers an unscrupulous maid, and searches for an American man who disappeared into the plains many years ago. In the midst of resolving uncertainties, pondering her impending marriage to a good, kind man, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and the promotion of her talented secretary (a graduate of the Botswana Secretarial College, with a mark of 97 per cent), she also finds her family suddenly and unexpectedly increased by two.
Cumulative pages: 8,662
Mod
Tears of the Giraffe4.5 blue stars, rounded up
Reread, on audio
Review from 2014:
Now this is more like it. Book #2 seemed much more tightly ..."
Precious is one of the great characters. Just a lovely person.
Laurel wrote: "#32 Tears of the Giraffe4.5 blue stars, rounded up
Reread, on audio
..."
I think Tears of the Giraffe is one of the best from this series.
#33
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel5 gold stars.
I am giving this adaptation one of my rare gold stars. It is masterfully done, and a true tribute to the original book. Yes, it is necessarily abridged and doesn't have all the beautiful prose and tales of the original. Some of the minor characters are omitted, but it remains very close to the story, and carries the essence and spirit and magic in this visual medium. If more of the original were included this would have been several volumes - and I could wish to have that version! But as an introduction, and something more approachable for young teens/tweens, this is perfect. Some of the gore and violence is toned down - but this is still an adult story - not for young kids. The 1982 movie adaptation was brutal, but I think 12+ should be able to handle this.
Description: Watership Down is a classic tale of survival, hope, courage, and friendship that has delighted and inspired readers around the world for more than fifty years. Masterfully adapted by award-winning author James Sturm and gorgeously illustrated by bestselling artist Joe Sutphin, this spectacular graphic novel will delight old fans and inspire new ones, bringing the joy of Watership Down to a new generation of readers.
Cumulative pages: 9,046
#34
Murder Past Due3 green stars.
I was thrown for a loop at first because the audiobook is narrated by a woman. And librarians in cozy cat mysteries are usually women. So I assumed that Charlie was a woman for several chapters, even after he talked about losing his wife. When I realized my error it took several more chapters to adjust my thinking. It didn't put me off the audiobook, but it was definitely disconcerting until I got used to it. The author is also a man, using a female nom de plume, not that that makes any difference. But I think a lesbian archivist librarian would have been an improvement. The main character is very staid and utterly forgettable. The cat is interesting - a very large Maine Coon cat that he walks around town on a leash. And that's it. The cat has no role in the mystery other than being a sort of emotional support animal. The plot and setting (small college town in Mississippi) are okay but also forgettable. Perhaps I've just read too many other cozy cat mysteries lately. There are a couple of characters that do show potential if the author develops them in subsequent books - Charlie's housekeeper Azalea, and her daughter Kanesha Berry the police detective. There are also hints at the end of the book that Charlie might be ready to break out of his staid widower role, so there is room to grow for this series.
Description: Everyone in Athena, Mississippi, knows Charlie Harris, the good-natured librarian with a rescued Maine coon cat named Diesel that he walks on a leash. He’s returned to his hometown to immerse himself in books, but soon enough he’s entangled in a real-life thriller. A famous author of gory bestsellers and a former classmate of Charlie’s, Godfrey Priest may be the pride of Athena, but Charlie remembers him as an arrogant, manipulative jerk—and he’s not the only one. Godfrey’s homecoming as a distinguished alumnus couldn’t possibly go worse: by lunch, he’s put a man in the hospital. By dinner, Godfrey’s dead. Now it’s up to Charlie, with some help from Diesel, to paw through the town’s grudges and find the killer before an impatient deputy throws the book at the wrong person. But every last one of Charlie’s friends and co-workers had a score to settle with the nasty novelist. As if the murder wasn’t already purr-plexing enough...
Cumulative pages: 9,340
Mod
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel5 gold stars.
I am giving this adaptation one of my rare gold stars. It is masterfully ..."
I've looked at this a few times. The price scares me. However, I've read other adult graphic novels, like The Road, The Lord of the Flies and have To Kill a Mockingbird on my shelf, so maybe I will dig into my wallet and get Watership Down too... They seem to do such a great job recreating the original novels.
#35
Court of SwansA solid 4 red stars.
Series: The Dericott Tales, #1 of 6 (so far?)
Fluff, but satisfying. I enjoyed this clean romance, based on the tale "The Wild Swans." It's inspirational, with plenty of action plus romance. I would be happy recommending it to young teens, junior high level. I can't call this historical fiction, but it's not fantasy either, even though it is based (very loosely) on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. There is also a strong inspirational message - trust in God and all your problems will be solved! Rather simplistic, but it wasn't too preachy. The girl gets to be the hero, rescuing her brothers, and solving the mystery of who accused them of murder and treason and why. And of course it has the obligatory happy-ever-after ending, at least for Delia. I had to immediately start the next in the series, because her oldest brother needs a HEA. It is based on "The Ugly Duckling." Like I said, fluff, but if you need a pick-me-up or a palate-cleanser, this will do the job.
Description: England, 1381: Delia’s idyllic life as daughter of an earl is shattered when her father dies and his wife accuses Delia’s seven brothers of treason and murder. The youngest is only ten years old, but this doesn’t stop the guards from hauling them off to the Tower of London. There they await a grim fate, as child-king Richard II is executing anyone who poses a threat to his throne. Delia is their only hope for pardon and freedom. Sir Geoffrey did not expect his first assignment as captain of the guard to be the arrest of boys so young. He dutifully imprisons the brothers, but he can’t ignore the feeling, rooted in personal experience, that injustice and treachery are at work. Determined to rescue her brothers, Delia secures a position as a seamstress for the queen. Her quest is all but impossible as the executions continue. Sir Geoffrey offers to be her ally, but should she trust him in a court where everyone has an agenda?
Cumulative pages: 9,668
Bill wrote: "I've looked at this a few times. The price scares me. "I got it at the library first, before I decided I wanted to buy it. I know I will read it again.
#36
Color: A Natural History of the Palette3.5 pink stars.
Ms. Finlay travels to a lot of exotic places looking for the earliest uses of each of the colors in the rainbow spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (purple). I found the historical details interesting as far as it went. The focus here is really on the travel, not the colors or their history. Some of her "facts" occasionally seemed speculative, and if she was really going to all these places for research, she seemed woefully unprepared most of the time. Each chapter stands on its own. There was really no attempt to integrate the colors into any kind of historical framework, and she didn't venture beyond the mid 19th century. Nothing about modern colors here, and kind of superficial about modern attempts to preserve the techniques to recreate these colors today. In several cases - celadon green, and Tyrian purple, for example - we still don't know exactly what these colors even looked like. There is a small section of color plates (not included in the ebook) but I didn't find them very useful or illustrative. She does have some interesting endnotes and a good bibliography for further reading. Bottom line - this is fine if you enjoy travelogues and trivia. It just wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Description: Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish–which probably meant their scent preceded them. In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main. Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America, amazingly enough, by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza. And the popular van Gogh painting White Roses at Washington’s National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes–painted all the more dazzling by Finlay’s engaging style. Embark upon a thrilling adventure with this intrepid journalist as she travels on a donkey along ancient silk trade routes; with the Phoenicians sailing the Mediterranean in search of a special purple shell that garners wealth, sustenance, and prestige; with modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood. The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright.
Cumulative pages: 10,116
Mod
I got it at the library first, before I decided I wanted to buy it. I know I will read it again."
I picked it up yesterday. :)
June plans:This seemed like a good point in the year to assess the backlog of books I've started that got stalled, and books I picked for various challenges that I haven't gotten to yet, but in truth it isn't as bad as I had feared. I'm actually 5 books ahead in my annual goal of 75 books. I finished a couple of stalled books in May, and I'm currently reading
READ Her Majesty's Mischief which I started in March and it got set aside for other challenges that took priority. Next up is
READ First Knight which I actually started in January. It really shouldn't take long to read once I get back to it. Then I really intend to get back to
Queen By Right which got stalled several times last year. I restarted it in November...
For book clubs, I'm currently reading
READ Sugar and Slate - the group meets June 7 and I'm hoping to finish it by then. Then I need to get back to the previous book
READ Braids of Song: Weaving Welsh Music into the American Soul which got stalled after our April meeting...
For May, I am still needing to finish
READ Wanderland - this was for the May discussion which got cancelled (or postponed?) Not sure if we'll pick it back up in the fall, so it isn't a high priority at the moment.
So that brings me up to June. Perspectives will be reading
READ Wandering Stars which also fits the cover color challenge (turquoise.)
That leaves the Reading Through Time theme which is "people on the move." Not sure what I want to read yet for that. Maybe
The Odyssey - I've been listing this year after year and never get to it!
Some other things for challenges that I haven't gotten to yet, and don't necessarily HAVE to read, but I still WANT to....
Chocolate House Treason - picked for the January cover challenge (silver). I might save it now for later since it fits the RTT 3rd quarter challenge (18th century.) The first quarter challenge was the Renaissance and I had really hoped to pick up
Wolf Hall which is a long-stalled leftover, and I want to read the whole trilogy. Whether that happens this year or not, we'll see.... I have yet to read the April RTT theme pick
READ Company of Liars so that is a definite June possibility. Another June "definite" is
READ Tidelands which is The Reading Loft current discussion book and also fits the RTT 2nd quarter theme, 17th century. Then I have yet to read something for the May cover color challenge (purple or beige). Maybe
READ The Chocolate Maker's Wife which would also give me another 17th century book, and dent my chocolate theme... Also
READ The Lady of the Tower which could be either purple or lavender (June cover challenge) and fits 17th century, plus my "chronicles" theme...
A little ambitious, but life should slow down once I get a little more yard work done this week. Next month perhaps I will check in on my pyramid goals stats, and other themes that haven't had any attention yet!
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3 green stars
I rather enjoyed the 2nd book in this series, when Freddie was recruited by the MI6. But this one just didn't appeal very much. I struggled to remember the characters, though the backstories did come back to me, but I really didn't much care for any of them. All the various characters and threads came to a more or less satisfying conclusion, but some of them (Oedipus Snark - REALLY?) in a very strange way. Freddie goes missing, but is found in the end. We finally get to meet the Yeti. Barbara and Caroline have found new loves - I did enjoy the story of Hugh's escapade on a cruise ship - and William, too, has a happy ending. But I think I am glad there are no more tales in this series. I still love Alexander McCall Smith. This just wasn't one of his better efforts.
Description: It seems the universe itself is conspiring against the residents of Corduroy Mansions, as they all find themselves struggling with their nearest and dearest. Oedipus Snark’s mother, Berthea, is still at work on her scathing biography of her son—the only loathsome Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament; literary agents Rupert Porter and Barbara Ragg are still battling each other for first crack at the manuscript of Autobiography of a Yeti; fine arts graduate Caroline Jarvis is busy exploring the blurry line between friendship and romance; and William French is still worrying that his son, Eddie, may never leave home, even though Eddie’s got a new wealthy girlfriend. But uppermost in everyone’s mind is William’s faithful terrier, Freddie de la Hay—without a doubt the only dog clever enough to have been recruited by MI6—who has disappeared while on a mystery tour around the Suffolk countryside. Will Freddie find his way back to Pimlico? Is Corduroy Mansions starting to crumble?
Cumulative pages: 3,250