Sibylline's (Lucy's) 2024: Winter Into Spring

Welcome to 2024!

start of eclipse, 4.8.24


Currently Reading in April
♬

new Love-in-a-Mist Victoria Goddard fantasy
new Waverly Sir Walter Scott hist fic 18th
new Wellington: The Years of the Sword Elizabeth Longford biography, LFR biblio

♬ The Regency Years Robert Morrison history British 19th

Finished in May
41. new wbg Things I Don't Want to Know Deborah Levy memoir ****
42. new Stargazy Pie Victoria Goddard fantasy ****
43. new Bee Sting Cake Victoria Goddard fantasy ****
44. new We Don't Know Ourselves Fintan O'Toole Ireland history 20th *****
45. new WhiskeyJack Victoria Goddard fantasy ****
46. new Blackcurrant Fool Victoria Goddard fantasy ****

♬ audio
lib duh, library
new - new to me as well as just plain new
✔ been on my shelf for tooooo long
RR reread
*bbg stands for Bridgeside Book Group
*wbg stands for Wally Book Group
** DNF I read 100 pages attentively, then paged through the rest. I count this as read. If I can't even get that far, I do not count the book as read.

Best of 2023

FICTION
Contemporary Fiction
The Vulnerables Sigrid Nunez
The Painted Drum Louise Erdrich
The Half-Life of Home Dale Neal contemp fic
Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver
The Years Annie Ernaux

Historical Fiction
Dark Earth Rebecca Stott (post-roman britain/london)

Fantasy
The Aeronaut's Windlass Jim Butcher
Hands of the Emperor series -- ALL. Victoria Goddard
The C.J. Cherryh Fortress Series
Foundryside series Robert Jackson Bennett

SF
Hmm, don't see any five star reads!

Mystery/Thriller
The Mick Herron Slough House series!

NON-FICTION
Bio and Memoir
This Boy's Life Tobias Wolff

History
Waterloo: Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles Bernard Cornwell
The Napoleonic Wars Alexander Mikaberidze
Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters Mark Urban

Nature & Science
Surprisingly nothing for here.

General Comments
forthcoming

Regency Period and Fiction in Particular
forthcoming

Read in January
1. new System Collapse (7) Martha Wells sf ****
2. new The Lost Bookshop Evie Woods fiction magic realism ***1/4
3. ✔ The Marrow Thieves Cherie Dimaline post-apoc fic canadian *****
4. new Captain of the 95th Rifles Jonathan Leach memoir ****
5. new The Candy House Jennifer Egan contemp fic ****1/2
6. new Chouette Claire Oshetsky contemp fic can't rate
7. ✔ ♬ A Sinister Revenge Deanna Raybourn (audio) mys ****
8. ✔ A Catalogue of Catastrophe (audio) Jodi Taylor (audio)
9. new The Lost Book of the Grail Charlie Lovett mystery british grail
10. RR ♬ The Unknown Ajax Georgette Heyer regency romance
No# DNF Shadow Tag Louise Erdrich Just couldn't.
11. new Wellington: The Iron Duke Richard Holmes bio ****
12. e-book Eye of the Law Cora Harrison mystery irish ****
13. ♬ The Good, the Bad and the History Jodi Taylor sf time travel

Finished in February
14. new wbg Flights Olga Tokarczuk contemp fic *****
15. new bbg River of the Gods Candice Millard Egypt, Travel, Nile ***1/2
16. ✔ Saturn's Children Charles Stross DNF
17. ♬ Saving Time Jodi Taylor*****
18. ♬ About Time Jodi Taylor *****
19. ✔Scales of Retribution Cora Harrison hist mys irish ***1/2
20. ✔Deed of Murder Cora Harrison hist mys irish ***1/2
21. ✔ Britain AD Francis Pryor history british ****1/2
22. ✔ On the Steel Breeze Alastair Reynolds sf ***1/2

Finished in March
23. ✔ Poseidon's Wake Alastair Reynolds sf ***
24. new bbg DNF This Other Eden Paul Harding fiction american
25. ✔ The Passage(1)Justin Cronin post apoc ***1/2
26. new wbg Trespasses Louise Kennedy
27. ebook The Twelve(2)Justin Cronin post apoc ***
28. ebook City of Mirrors(3) Justin Cronin *
29. new Rifleman Costello Edward Costello bio, 95th, history british 19th, Peninsular War ****
30. ✔ Daemon Voices Phillip Pullman essays on writing/books
31. new The Madness of Crowds (17) Louise Penny mys canadian
32. new The Olympian Affair Jim Butcher fantasy ****1/2
33. new Diary of William Tayler Footman 1837 Dorothy Wise ed. *****

Finished in April
34. new An Elegant Madness Venetia Murray history british 19th ****1/2
35. ✔La Belle Sauvage The Book of Dust vol 1 Philip Pullman fantasy ****1/2
36. new (e-book) wbg Small Things Like These Claire Keenan contemp fic ****
37. new The Secret Commonwealth The Book of Dust vol 2Philip Pullman fantasy ****
38. new Hurry Home Ann Scott Knight ss ****
39. ♬ The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Garth Nix fantasy ****
40. new bbg The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven Nathaniel Ian Miller hist fic 20th *****

Welcome back, Lucy!

Hi Lucy!

Wishing you a great one!

Happy reading in 2024, Lucy!

>5 drneutron:, >6 quondame:, >7 FAMeulstee: Thank you! And the best New Year to you too.

1. sf ****
System Collapse Martha Wells

Murderbot is feeling shaky and doesn't like that at al, feelings are, generally, suspect and feeling unsure of itself is far too human for comfort. Not optimal functioning. But the thing is, something happened during a mission, and it shut down. The humans want it to deal with it, but it isn't ready. But here they are, it and his other Preservation/University comrades still on this horrible, alien contamination planet (book 6) trying to kill off the contaminated bots and help the colonists when Barish-Estranza (corporation) shows up offering the colonists their (bogus) help. Not only that but there is a hidden colony that separated from the others decades ago. And Murderbot just isn't feeling itself, but soldiers on. Slowish start to this one, while we wait to find out what the problem is, but then things get moving. A bumpier ride than previous books, but still very good and by the end all makes sense. ****

Happy new year, Lucy. And...Yep I'd say those are happy kitties :)

>9 sibylline: Merry 2024, Lucy. I was much like you as I read along, thinking the pace was slower than I was accustomed to. A good series book, but not one I'll point to as among her most sparking achievements.

Glad to see you here.

Happy reading in 2024!

Happy New Year, Lucy!

Happy new year, Lucy.

Love the cat condo! You may make me finish The Lost Bookshop now rather than later. I liked it but wasn't in love with it last year.

I mainly came by to wish you Happy Thingaversary + a Day. I completely forgot about it, and it used to be important to me.

2. fiction magic realism ***1/4
The Lost Bookshop Evie Woods

Oh I have mixed feelings about this one. It had moments that drew me in but too many moments where I thought 'Seriously?'. For the right time and right reader the book will be very enjoyable and undemanding, I needed a little something more, more surprise? A little less contrivance (like people running away, losing notes etc, the misunderstanding to prolong the story thing). At the same time as a writer I want to say I admire how well put together the story is, how good the premises are, how well it is all worked out, how hard the writer has worked. That's why I kept reading, there are definitely many good moments. So mixed. ***1/4

>15 LizzieD: Oh my goodness! Thingaversary time! I think I got about the right number of books for Christmas, so that works perfectly!

>16 sibylline: Looks like something I might need after finishing my 700+ pager. Good luck with your 2024 reading!

Happy New Year, Lucy. Great list of 2023 favorites. And you've started the year with Murderbot! My library says there's another Murderbot coming this summer. They have it on order although there isn't a title yet.

Happy new year, Lucy! Looking forward to following your 2024 reads, and looks like you got off to a good start.

Re: your 2023 picks, I also really loved Demon Copperhead and reading a bunch of Victoria Goddard books (I read The Hands of the Emperor in late 2022).

3. fic canadian, fic native american *****
The Marrow Thieves Cherie Dimaline

I flew through this story. The premise is, yeah, a tad hard to suspend disbelief for, but not if you just go with the embedded metaphor. Too many people have tipped the Earth into disequilibrium: earthquakes, storms, disease, etc. but ALSO white people (and presumably pure blood Chinese, Africans and etc) no longer dream and descend into madness. The only 'cure' is using something found in the marrow of native americans, even half or quarter breed, and so the harvesting begins. The story focuses around a teen, Francis, Frenchie, who is on his own but does find a group to travel north with. North is where, hopefully, they can survive, stop the madness. Frenchie is a great character and so are the people in the group he lands in. Great story. Five stars for the couldn't put down factor.*****

4. History British 19th, 95th, LFR
Captain of the 95th (Rifles) Jonathan Leach

I will miss Captain Jonathan Leach, with whom I have spent fifteen or so minutes a night for over a month, perhaps longer, reading his memoirs of 21 years in the 95th. He comes across as a thoroughly decent man, ethical, thoughtful, modest, honorable. From a lieutenant sent to Antigua--one of a small percentage who did not die of fever--in the early 1800's (France and England and even Spain tussling over who would get what in the Caribbean) to Waterloo and beyond, duty in Scotland and Ireland (which he implies was a bore and not to his taste). Probably the most remarkable thing about Leach is that he did not die. He was in all the significant battles, and, once a Captain, generally leading a company and sometimes, when the commanding officers of the battalion of which he was part died, he would command. Not promoted beyond his abilities, a rare thing, and one wonders at that given his lasting power, however, what does come through is that Leach did not want responsibility, he wanted to be there on the ground in the thick of things. When not in battle he was also one of the few who was up and about early, found ways to enjoy himself--hunting, racing, dancing, playing various games--he simply, if that is possible, loved the life, both the thrilling and the boring parts, loathed slavery, loved scenic beauty, was interested in seeing the sights wherever he was, cared for his men. The very last line intrigues -- that all his closest friends died in Antigua. He was young then, and perhaps after that, he did not fear death so much and appreciated life to the fullest. The writing is very matter-of-fact and straight up, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, the work is balanced increasing one's faith in his accounts. Only for those truly interested in the period, and in particular the Peninsular Wars. ****

>22 sibylline: You've made that sound close to tempting. How close? Considering I'm maxed out on checkouts at my primary library, well maybe later. Well, $0.99, I bought it.

>23 quondame: .99 cents sounds safe, because you might find it unbearably dull -- it took a long time to read because 5-10 pages at a time was enough. And I had to look at you tube vids about various battles and had to look at maps, etc. Captain Leach grew on me, though. There are a number of excellent books -- Captain Harry Smith's memoirs and another fellow named Costello. Still have those waiting to be read. Slightly mystified at my interest, but going with it! Currently rather starry-eyed about Wellington. Lots of fun!

>21 sibylline: I've had students rave about this one. I read another by Dimaline that I really liked.

>25 BLBera: -- I think it was my daughter who handed this to me and said "You must read this" -- took me a few years to get to it!

contemp fic ****1/2
The Candy House Jennifer Egan

Borrowing the sf premise of uploading your memories, Egan gives us a near-future alternate history (much as I love sf and fantasy it's all about suspended disbelief . . . I don't think bodily, and I stress other ways might be, time-travel will ever be a thing nor this, but whatever) - accept it and move on to enjoy a story that encircles a group of people who through marriages and work are loosely connected. Brings to mind David Mitchell who has done this successfully. I read attentively and of course some of the people interested me more than others. Egan uses some different modes than straight narrative too, a sort of compressed note form, email, but mostly it is classical narrative. Her insights are often powerful.
Good solid read. ****1/2

These passages struck a chord with me.
"Back when he was the only Black PhD student in NYU's engineering lab, Bix had found himself laughing hard at other people's jokes and trying to make them laugh, a dynamic that left him feeling hollow and depressed. After getting his PhD, he cut out laughing at work, then cut out smiling, and cultivated instead an air of hyperactive absorption. He listened, he witnessed, but with almost no visible response. That discipline had intensified his focus to a pitch that he was convinced, in retrospect, had helped in outwit and outmaneuver
the forces aligned in readiness to absorb him, co-opt him, shunt him aside and replace him with the white men everyone expected to see." p.11

And this:
"Gregory gazed, transfixedm as snow swarmed down upon him like space junk, like disarranged flocks of birds; like the universe emptying itself. He knew what the vision meant: human lives past and present, around him, inside him. He opened his mouth and eyes and arms and drew them into himself, feeling a surge of discovery--of rapture--that seemed to lift him out of the snow."

Lovely homage to Joyce (last paragraph of "The Dead") and lovely on its own too.

6. contemp fic no rating
Chouette Claire Oshetsky

Why can't I rate this novel? I don't want to try. It pulled me in and repelled me, not like, say, Kafka, but because it also irritated and angered me. A woman, a cellist and a good one, gets pregnant, doesn't want the baby, but then the baby makes a demand. She knows from the start it won't be a baby sort of baby but an owl-baby. And off it goes. On the one hand, it is Oshetsky's take on our culture's cruelty to anyone who doesn't fall within perceived normal parameters but on the other she isn't entirely wrong. As a person who doesn't quite fit, with a spouse and child who don't quite fit either, I have experienced a little of that -- we almost fit, so it's not that bad. But. What I object to is that the insistence on metaphor throughout means that the characters, all of them, are two-dimensional, they stand for things, they are not real people, not surprising since the entire book is written as one giant metaphor. So I see the point and care about the situation but I just can't care about any of the people. I won't give the book a rating because I feel the sincerity and effort that went into it, I respect that, but to average out my responses would make me rate it as, say, a three when it is really wildly all over the place. Might be very meaningful to the right reader.

"At first we recognize the existential threat that is growing inside us, but gradually evolutionary imperatives overcome the conscious mind's objection, and the will to reproduce overcome the needs of the host, until the only choice left for us women is to be willing, happy participants in our destruction." p. 29

Some women do feel that way, but not ok with me to make a blanket statement such as 'us women'.

7. ♬ mys British Vict ****
A Sinister Revenge Deanna Raybourn

The usual fun. Some well-done character development, Veronica just can't completely open up to Stoker and he is frustrated. They get caught up helping Stoker's older brother unravel what appear to be murders from his group of friends 'the seven sinners' from long ago Grand Tour days. This too leads to some changes in the relationship between the brothers. I did figure out fairly early on who dunnit, but I didn't really care, the characters are where all the real fun is. The narrator is perfect. ****

>28 sibylline: Beautifully and insightfully written, Lucy!

>30 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you so much, Reba. I'm glad it resonated. Hard one to write. And wonderful to hear from you.

Posey and me at "Qi Veterinary" where I take Po to have acupuncture and massage, and this time, laser treatment (really mild heat and light meant to penetrate a way in -- apparently used effectively on people too). You have to put on protective eye wear, yep, even the doggo! Very punk!

>32 sibylline: AWWWWW - just isn't enough! Love the pic! Love you both!

>32 sibylline: Love the photo and hope you both feel wonderful after the treatment :)

contemp fic
Amy & Isabelle Elizabeth Strout

I seem to be awash in mother-daughter books and media -- first Chouette, second we are watching *The Gilmore Girls* this winter (not bad), and now Amy & Isabelle. All are fraught in various ways, in two of the three the mothers are single, got pregnant 'by accident' at 16-17 and in the third the mother might as well have been. Here, isolation is central and, as the daughter reaches adolescence the strain increases, until, inevitably the connections breaks. Amy knows nothing about her parentage, her mother has kept the story a secret. When she gets involved with her math teacher (who is a sh** but . . . while Strout is not kind but she is fair to him) there is an inevitability to this as well; the implication being that the secret that Isabelle hides from Amy condemns them all to this scenario. The best parts of the book take place in the business office of the paper mill where Isabelle has worked for fifteen years and are made of the interactions, conversations, etc between the women who work there together. These lifted the book to another level for me. Amy's friendship with Stacy also rings true. A good solid story with some fine moments. ***1/2

quotes: Isabelle towards the end, as the drama plays out: " the starkness" of what she had done "bothered her the most. What we do matters is a thought Isabelle had again and again, as though, just now, well into adult years, she was figuring this out." p297 yep. Not rocket science, and yet, hard to hold onto.

"she (Isabelle) was struck with the extreme ease with which lives could be damaged, destroyed. Lives, flimsy as fabric, could besnipped captriciously with the shears of random moments."p274
This one is a bit over the top!

That bit of advice and Don't keep secrets, they'll come back around and bite you in the butt are the lessons. Strout is nothing if not a New Englander!

>32 sibylline: You both look as though Andy Warhol and his Factory will be your next destination, so mod and glam you are!

>35 sibylline: Very thought provoking review, Lucy. I've liked the Strout books I've read before and am tempted to try this one.

>35 sibylline: Except that there are secrets that should not be passed down and which, held by one person, aren't subject to anyone else's decision or discovery.

>32 sibylline: Posey is a lucky doggo to have such an attentive mom! ❤️

>35 sibylline: I see the value of all you have to say, and yet you have just reinforced my feeling that Strout is not for me. Go figure.

>37 RebaRelishesReading:, >38 quondame:, >39 PlatinumWarlock:, >40 LizzieD:
I think Strout is reliable, so if you like one you will likely like others. I have read most and some seem better than others. I would put this one in the high middle?

Thank you all for stopping by! The secret issue is interesting - I am currently reading The Lost Book of the Grail where to keep a secret (until time to pass it along to the next keeper) is more than very important!

Posey is worth every bit of adoration!

Heh, there is a dour aspect to Strout's work. And she is adept with the delicacies of social strata of New England towns and villages.

8. ♬ sf time travel *****
A Catalogue of Catastrophe Jodi Taylor

I love these stories, the characters (Markham!!!). The research Taylor puts into whatever period we visit (Magna Carta among others, this time). And Zara Ram (not sure of sp) the narrator on audio. *****

9. fic british ***1/2
The Lost Book of the Grail Charlie Lovett

As far as being engaged really the book was a 3 star for me. But a LOT of thought and effort went into it and some parts were excellent -- the reimagining of how a sacred relic was passed on secretly from generation to generation. St. Ewolda's story is excellent fun. And it was also fun to visit this imagined Barsetshire. As with many very very carefully thought out books the characters suffered and that is where my interest waned. There is a 'solving the puzzle' aspect which I skipped over. But the 1/2 is because I KNOW that quite a few readers love this sort of book so that is for them. ***1/2

10. reread regency romance *****
The Unknown Ajax Georgette Heyer

A re-listen by an excellent reader, Daniel Philpott of one of Heyer's 'best'. I've been studying this time period intensely which ratchets my admiration -- even awe -- of Heyer's accomplishment ever higher. (sorry about that!) Not only are all the ingredients for a ripping good story here (a forced--sort of--marriage, smuggling) and the characters marvelously rendered, but every detail of dialogue and of description (house, food, clothes, politics, equestrian affairs) is accurate. I've been reading about the Peninsular Wars enough to know that Hugo was in the 1st/95th, just from the references of where and when. Whenever anyone mentions a Forlorn Hope, that is what the soldiers called orders to proceed on a suicidal mission. I'm sure people at that time used the phrase casually for any hopeless endeavor. It helps to know all this, makes the story more grounded and even richer. For example, if a friend at a social gathering looked at you and said, "Begad, you are chaste!" What they mean is that you are not supplied with a drink! In short, Madame Heyer was a complete hand!
*****

11.
Wellington: The Iron Duke Richard Holmes

This is likely the best biography for the neophyte Wellington enthusiast (me) well written but not overwhelming in detail or very long. Some but not a great deal about his early life and family, the main focus is on the Duke's fighting career--where he finds himself and recognizes his abilities-- in India, then on to the major battles of the Peninsular Wars and, of course, lastly, Waterloo. His 'afterlife' is more or less summarized with longer pauses on the high moments (such as Catholic Emancipation for Ireland--very much his achievement). Wellington was a master of the pithy remark and Holmes sprinkles these throughout. Bits and bobs about his social life, his marriage, almost nothing about his relationship to his own two sons . . . The ending of the biography was very moving as Holmes himself comes forward to say that the more he learned of the man the more he admired him. That isn't always the case, many biographers end up disillusioned. I am utterly captivated and fascinated by the man -- one of a rare breed who rise to meet a need, have no lust for power over others, and retain a sense of balance throughout his life. I can't wait to learn more. ****

mys irish ****
The Eye of the Law Cora Harrison

I love these mysteries, set in the 17th century before the English have overrun the country destroying much of the native culture. I love Mara the 'Lady Judge' and her School of Brehon law where she instructs aspiring lawyers of Brehon law and for the setting, The Burren in County Clare, both utterly irresistible for me. This time, two men from Aran turn up claiming the younger to be the son of a local taoiseach (chieftain) and thus the heir as the man, as yet, has no heir.
Mara has to figure it out. And, as ever, in a hurry! The stories are solidly constructed, a little podgy here and there, but I love many of the characters-- the students, and all the various people in her community. Mara, in order to make the plots work, has to do some bone-headed things, but that's ok with me because I am so content with the rest! ****

13. ♬ sf time travel
The Good, the Bad and the History Jodi Taylor

Max and Markham are still working as 'Recovery Agents' but in the last book they discovered that the notion of changing history to try to tailor-make the future, is going strong and they are determined to infiltrate an organization and put a stop to it . . . thus redeeming St. Mary's etc etc. I love the series -- so no critical faculties in operation here. *****

14. contemp fic *****
Flights Olga Tokarczuk

Someone came up with a name for this sort of memoir-but-also-fiction but I've forgotten. By ordinary standards the book is indescribable. There are short 'essays' on various subjects of interest to the 'narrator' (who is and isn't fictional?) but almost all of these share a common theme: movement, travel, be it in your head or time spent in an airport, or walking somewhere, or staring at a map thinking about going somewhere. In between these are longer 'stories', one about a man whose wife and child walk into a field and disappear while the three are on holiday, about Chopin's heart traveling home from Paris to Warsaw, about Philip Verleyen, who lost a leg in his twenties, and which loss led him to become a foremost anatomist, about the wife of an aging and failing historian on a final cruise in the Aegean. These stories also connect to the theme of movement and perhaps illustrate and deepen the idea attaching them to ways humans experience motion while alive: life/death, body/soul, presence/absence and so forth. Tokarczuk is fearless and I was utterly absorbed. *****

Hi Lucy! How are you?

15. bio, explorers british 19th, Nile ***1/2
River of the Gods Candice Millard

In my view Millard deserves a five for sticking with her chosen subject, Sir Richard Burton, given credit for finding the source of the Nile (although he really didn't). Although Burton, clearly, had extraordinary abilities: strength, determination, great intelligence, a linguistic gift I found myself unable to grasp the whole man. His choices often feel so impulsive, his marriage to a rabidly religious Catholic and his endurance of Speke, a person I found repellant from the get-go (I'm guessing, from the description, a borderline) as his travel partner. The contrast between the man who could meticulously plan infiltrating Mecca with his choices of close companions boggles. I'm even finding writing about the contradictions in his choices and actions difficult to comprehend. Was it the fetters of Victorian life? Was it a naivete about people that blinded him? Some sort of empathy--he saw their neediness and thought he could manage them? Was it ego? All of the above? Millard mostly outlines the facts and does not spend much (any?) time speculating about the motivations and inner lives of any of the cast of characters that make up this story. I read it for one of my book groups and never would have endured to the end if not for that. If your interest is in Victorians, exploration, descriptions of horrendous experiences and ailments, you'll love it. I did not, but Millard writes well and worked hard. She also gives space to the one decent person -- a former slave, Bombay, the guide for many travelers in that region during that era in the mid-1800's. ***1/2

16.✔ No rating
Saturn's Children Charles Stross

This has been on my TBR shelf a long time -- I've enjoyed some Stross sf, but this one . . . just didn't grab me. Human beings (and most life forms??) are gone and what is left is a world of created beings, not human, but not entirely cyborg evolving into, well, that is the question. They're awfully like human beings. Nasty and nice, in equal measure. The protagonist was designed to be a perfect sexual partner -- she's part of a series and many of them are still around. There is some sort of plot afoot, perhaps to regenerate 'real' humans from DNA/RNA, whatever. But maybe something else? I can't care. For me the book had the taint of male fantasy, frankly, as well as being just a wee bit too complicated, so the complications get in the way of the story if that makes any sense. Some sf readers might love all that, but at about halfway through, I stopped and thought, why bother, I am not engaged. So no rating. DNF

17. sf time travel *****
Saving Time Jodi Taylor

The next generation, Matthew Farrell is now a fully fledged officer in the Time Police and with Jane and Luke, team 236, Team Weird get sent out on their first mission, to check up on a fellow who was pardoned for his time crimes but then, of course, . . . . Delightful. Jane and Grint also go out on a date! *****

18. ♬ sf time travel *****
About Time Jodi Taylor

Someone is trying to stop time altogether -- but it is a bad bad idea. Team Weird is in the thick of it. Luke finds out that he's had a lot of mistaken ideas about his family. Grint and Jane get tied up by baddies in a lawn shed and . . . well, stay tuned. *****

19. mys ireland 16th ***1/2
Scales of Retribution Cora Harrison

Nuala, the apprentice physician comes under suspicion for killing her father (a physician but not a good one) in this 6th Burren mystery and Mara, being a 'new' (for the second time) mother is struggling with energy and distractions. I like this series very much, careful crafting, just enough draw in the characters, beautiful descriptions. ****

20. mys ireland 16th ****
Deed of Murder Cora Harrison

The king and Mara are hosting guests at their castle at Ballinalackan. The time for the annual deed for the lease of a 'flax garden' has come around again and someone new steps in at the last minute, causing a crisis for the family that's been leasing for over a decade. There is a new student, a girl, at the law school (very pretty, and breaking hearts) and also a guest, Eamon, a new lawyer who is a bit full of himself. Some of the young ones go missing at a party at the castle and then Eamon is found dead. Mara is also struggling with the question of foster-care for Cormac who is now about one. But she had to focus her attention on the murder, something about it isn't right and one of her other, favorite, students goes missing, she doesn't know who to trust of the king's relatives and friends . . . The usual mayhem. A lively one! ****

21. archaeology british ****1/2

As a fan of Time Team I'm a fan of Francis Pryor-- his enthusiasm, intelligence and eloquence is irresistible. He writes well also. Here he examines the evidence for a) an Arthur b) a saxon invasion. Both, he argues should be ascribes more to a metaphysical/emotional need to connect the dots of pre-Roman Iron age Britain to post-Roman Britain, to create a 'story'-- archaeologically and more and more definitively, the DNA record, makes it evident there was no invasion of actual people from the continent, but a few people and a lot of ideas, did the job, the same way the latest fashion catches on here. What you do have is a difference in attitude from east (especially the southeast of Britain--the heart of 'England' to west and north. At its simplest the differences might simply be an openness to the continent and new ideas and ways . . . He presents a convincing argument that makes sense. Always a pleasure to read too. ****1/2

22. sf ***1/2
On the Steel Breeze Alastair Reynolds

If I didn't respect Reynolds so much I might give this a three. Something is missing, some kind of energy, verve, sense of fun. The story is reasonably interesting, but the human characters are all kind of flat and the AI's also humorless, predictable. The most interesting characters might be the 'blend' and the naughty physicist - but I can't say more than that without spoiling. I think I found Blue Remembered Earth reasonably compelling, but this . . . As the Israel-Palestine debacle drags on (and Russia/Ukraine) the behaviour of humans depressed me thoroughly. The love of all things elephant carries over from BRE but that too just wasn't compelling for me. I did kind of speed read this once I realized the most compelling piece was the actual plot and some of the science ideas and I'll read the last book, probably the same way. This is also one of those comments that a lover of hard sf should take with a grain of salt. I require humor and good characters, big agenda, if you don't you might love it! ***1/2

22. sf
Poseidon's Wake (3) Alastair Reynolds

I consider myself a sturdy Reynolds fan, so I stumbled, dragged, trudged through this final volume. The problems encountered in Books 1&2 did not go away. That is, I was so bored with the interactions, attitudes, dialogue between all the characters with the EXCEPTION of Swift/Kanu in this one that it was unbearable. Why didn't anyone at Orion tell him? I'm sorry but it is not enough to have 'cool' sf ideas and such clunkiness and over-complexity. Not one moment of humor, either. The elephants are as dreary as the people. Something missing here. Sorry to be so critical. The cool sf idea IS pretty cool, but so convoluted! As I say if you don't care about anything but the how-to and the ideas then you might love it. Three stars out of respect for A.R.***

23. hist fic
This Other Eden Paul Harding

NR -- DNF (did not finish, just skimmed after awhile). I just couldn't. I felt manipulated and damned. I've read plenty about eugenics shenanigans of this time period -- my own village here in New England suffered the attentions of the local university and terrorized some members of the local population back when. The people on Apple Island are presented as being in dire straits but also, somehow, quaint. Seriously? What happened to the people was cruel, but would any Social Services organization tolerate people living in these conditions nowadays? They would be just as bad, probably, although differently, and let us hope they would not dig up the bones of the dead. That was the last straw. Harding is relentless and so depressing -- he did not structure the book to offer one iota of . . . optimisn? forgiveness? for human beings. I should have guessed, for whenever I see the word 'lyrical' in a description of a novel I know it will be a) tragic and b) I will hate the overflowing puddle of pitifulness and sentiment I'll have to wade through. My book group chose this, so I gave it my best, not that that is saying much. Yes yes yes, the writing is quite beautiful in places, I have no issue with that so you might love it. So NR, no rating.

>59 sibylline: Oh dear! I recently bought that one because it was Booker shortlisted and despite really disliking Tinkers which somehow won a Pulitzer.

I hope your next read is better for you, Lucy.

25. post-apoc ****1/2
The Passage Justin Cronin

So not my usual fare, but it's been hanging about on the tbr shelves for yonks. I must have read something very positive and then bought it for the spousal unit who is of no use asking 'Did you read this?' because he won't remember. All that aside, I couldn't stop reading. Some reviewer called it a 'literary' thriller and made fun of the poetry quotes at the beginning of various sections and so on, but it led me to think about the fact that Cronin can write. The best genre books are written by terrific writers who could, should they so choose, likely write a good literary novel. He can create characters you care about, descriptions that take you there, and the story is, yes, horrible--the nastiest vampires ever--but I was solidly hooked within a very short time. Then my computer broke down. So I read. And read. I've almost finished book 2, in fact, and will read book 3. My computer is repaired now. Will my attitude toward Cronin's epic change with my 'normal' life restored? We shall see. I won't read for quite such stretches, I imagine. In the meantime, no doubt in my mind that this is a book that, if you need an escape and you like gritty, and sometimes ugly, post-apoc but not inane gritty or pointless ugliness, this will probably work for you. A rip-roaring yarn. I don't know how to rate it. As a work in the genre it is a four-star, as a gripping read, five, really. So ****1/2 it is.

26. fiction irish ****
Trespasses Louise Kennedy

Belfast, late 70's, amid some of the darkest days of the Troubles. Cushla Lavery, teacher of age sevens, 24 and a half (what's with the half?), unmarried, living at home with alcoholic mother, meets and falls in love with Michael Agnew, a protestant lawyer who defends the indefensible, both sides, angers everyone. He's older, outrageously handsome, unhappy in his marriage-but that's a complicated situation. Everything is complicated. I kept seeing elements of a romance novel crammed into this searing portrait of a terrible time- when being compassionate and acting on it can lead to unintended disaster in the blink of an eye, when falling love can lead to something more than heartbreak between you and your lover. Upon reflection too, I think this was a true love affair: both of these characters act on their values--they both take risks and work responsibly to care for those around them as best they can. No wonder they are drawn to one another. Agnew's work is more public, but Cushla cares for those in her orbit, a child in trouble, her mother and so forth. The writing is emotionally contained, you could even say flattened, but you can sense the tension in holding that position. Kennedy stays in a fairly close third and yet it seems more distant as she maintains that tone, in part because the story is being told many years on. Within the present of the main book the reader is moved from setting to setting, scenes only without a lot of explanation and it works brilliantly, might be technically the best craft aspect. A good novel, good story, well done. ****

Welcome back, Lucy!!!!

>62 sibylline: Hi Lucy! I really liked Trespasses -- 4.5 stars from me. I enjoyed reading your comments about the writing.

I also loved Trespasses.

I haven't heard of the Cora Harrison series, but it sounds like one I would like. Good historical mysteries are the best. I will look for it.

You remind me that I haven't read any by Jodi Taylor for a while, and I do enjoy her.

I wonder if we both heard about The Passage here? I have a copy (unread) as well, and it certainly isn't something I would normally pick up.

27. post apoc
The Twelve Justin Cronin

Well, I can't help myself, I'm a finisher unless I truly loathe a book or series and Cronin has me attached to some of the (surviving) characters. I found book 2 uneven--occasionally veering awful close to the egregiously gross/graphic-- but the characters, as I say, hold me. Some stuff toward the end during the climactic scene got too vague, as in, I could not figure out what was happening, or what I was meant to be thinking was happening. And a couple of other things had me cringing, but I will give Cronin the benefit of the doubt and move on to book 3 as, with some aspects of the 'situation' resolved (or appearing to be, who knows, I'm not spoiling) one character is venturing out into the rest of the world, off the north american continent and I am sure much else, still needing resolution will be tackled.***1/2

How have I missed your thread until now? It's not in the 75ers wiki list.

I, too, am still loving Jodi Taylor's books and am looking forward to the next ones.

>67 CDVicarage: Oh whoops, maybe I never signed up? Will go look. Thx for letting me know!

Back again - - I am listed in the threadbook. Sibylline. Phew! I don't think I ever posted on the Intros though. That might have been a problem for some.

I so love St Mary's and the Time Police.

>68 sibylline: Of course it is - I was, mentally, mispelling your name!

>69 CDVicarage: Whew! It wouldn't surprise me if I missed someone, though. :)

28. post apoc, vampires *
City of Mirrors Justin Cronin

Disappointing. Bloated. Unedited. If Books Two and Three had been slashed and mashed together, yeah, maybe what would have remained would have had the oomph of the first volume. We'll never know. In essence we get a long unbelievably irrelevant and tedious backstory of the two men, Lear and Fanning, at the epicenter of the virus disaster. All it did, for me, was make it hard to sustain any kind of suspension of disbelief. The problem is when one has invested this kind of page-turning time, just throwing the book out the window won't do it. Oh and the Hollywooditis of the last big blowout in NYC was . . . shameful, may I say that? One reason I usually quit a less than three star book besides the fact it is wasting my time, is that posting a one or a two star seems so . . . unkind? It's a lot of work writing a book, even a bad one. Anyhow, this is unavoidable as I did spend the time. A lone star, appropriate given the Texan setting.*

>70 drneutron: It would surprise me, Jim. You are thorough and so generous to do this!

Thanks for stopping by --Not long ago I read an obit or article about someone whose husband died recently who worked at NASA on the solar probe biz . . . why did I not write this down? I thought, oh, I'll just ask Jim. Several weeks ago now, of course.

Hmm, haven't heard of anyone that's recently died, but I'm not in contact with most of the science teams these days. I'll ask around.

>73 drneutron: And maybe it was just a glancing reference to someone with a family member/friend who worked on it. Could have been you! It did not get filed anywhere, sadly unretrievable.

I see Cronin has written some books you liked. He can write well, that's not the issue.

29. memoir, 95th, history british 19th, Peninsular Wars ****
new Rifleman Costello Edward Costello

The four stars are a huzzah for Ned Costello for surviving his arduous soldierly career then taking the time and effort to write up his memoirs (which he admits at the end was hard work!). Really he ought to get a five star huzzah. Of course, you must be interested in the topic and not expect a four or five star writing style for what you have here is a lively and unvarnished account of what it was like to be an ordinary soldier, albeit in an unusual regiment--the 95th Rifles in the early 1800's. This is one of the first times soldiers were encouraged to exercise some autonomy and independent thinking (when out in battle). I say some, as discipline was still # 1. The 95th mostly backpedaled corporal punishment, and even in some cases encouraged the spread of literacy as well. Unusual for the time -- and inspired, in part, by what the 'redcoats' had experienced in America. This is the second memoir I've read -- the first, by Jonathan Leach, is more considered. Costello is from that class of families doing well enough to educate sons to some degree, then release them into the wild to fend for themselves. That Costello survived the full seven years of the wars in Portugal and Spain AND Waterloo AND was clearly a well-liked and well-regarded man on the whole -- rising slowly through the ranks and retiring as a Captain in the mid 1830's after a disastrously disappointing sojourn in a British Legion regiment, hired to fight (on which side, what faction) is still a bit obscure to me in internal Spanish war. (He did have a score of injuries, none terribly serious). He comments after his return there 20 years later, that anyone contemplating civil war should take a look at Spain -- ravaged by then by nearly thirty years of war and more on the way. The toughness of these soldiers is mind-boggling, as does the fact that so many young men were willing to sign up for this life (ahem, death) reveal how few choices there were -- both he and Leach remark on occasion that they count themselves lucky to be out into the world able to see so many unexpected sights, beautiful or awful and to experience the camaraderie of their companions. Worth dying for, better than staying at home and shearing sheep or working as a footman or servant or in some 'dark, satanic mill'. These are comments, mind you, not a review. I am reading a great deal from this period as I am writing an historical novel, a romance, and am immersed in the period and loving the experience. At moments, especially when reading these open-hearted and ingenuous memoirs, I am transported. Not always comfortable either but always enlightening. ****

30. essays literary *****
Daemon Voices Philip Pullman

I've been reading Daemon Voices a few pages at a time for over a year. I've given a workshop on one essay (so far) (on the power of gesture in art), have read several of the essays over and over, had to go find and read books he writes about as having inspired or delighted him . . .. And what are the salient points? That beliefs/imaginings/stories are necessary even though reality, the physical world in which we exist, is a fundamental fact: this present the living live in and that the dead used to be part of is all there is. Accepting this reality as the plane on which we exist doesn't mean that our beliefs, imaginings and stories aren't essential to our well being however. The mistake the hard-core 'sciency' folks make is in not recognizing our absolute need for . . . lack of a better word . . . the fantasy of immortality which art, stories, and imaginings provide along with a connection to and continuity with the past, which in itself offers a kind of immortality. Our 'predicament' -- of self-awareness combined with the brevity of our individual lives -- creates a terrible tension, one so awful that without art, stories, etc reality becomes crushing. The great works of literature recognize this paradigm: Many of the greatest works address this fundamental paradigm. He makes the point that the literal interpretation of the Bible only began in the 19th-20th century as a response to scientific insistence that everything that isn't provably REAL doesn't exist, doesn't matter. No no no, says Pullman. We must, in essence, be allowed to delude ourselves, but we must also at the same time, recognize that we are deluded, but that we must be to survive, to be whole. A paradigm. Contradictory truths. The solace and security of a Republic of Heaven is what he wants as a reader and as a writer to find and create. Along the way he introduces many other ideas, such as the power of gesture (how we are so conditioned to the 'meaning' of certain actions, say, pouring, that we respond viscerally to any suggestion or image). It's a dense and rewarding read if you like this sort of inquiry. Which obviously I do. *****

>76 sibylline: I love essays, and you have sold me on this one.

I think you've also convinced me that I can pass on Cronin.

31. mys canadian ***1/2
The Madness of Crowds Louise Penny

Hard to put down, as always. Penny has become adept at handling complex plots and many characters. I had a little trouble with the basic premise, that someone could propose such an idea so successfully . . . but that premise did weave in very well with the 'true' piece of the story. One of Penny's strengths is that at the core of every book is something that really did happen or, at the least, is hard-core lore. Anyway, a good read. ***1/2

Hi, Lucy! I'm another who didn't find your 2024 thread until just now. (I missed several in the start-up, unfortunately.) I recently read Olga Tokarczuk for the first time (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead ), and "totally absorbed" pretty well described my reaction. I really wanted to get to the resolution, but I did have some quibbles with the main character's obsessions, which I found distracting. Nonetheless, I have a copy of her massive The Books of Jacob on hand, and I am looking forward to sinking into it.

32. fantasy ****1/2
The Olympian Affair Jim Butcher

All I can say is that Sir Jim better be working hard on the next installment! I commend him for persisting with the tale as he hints that it wasn't easy. I did feel the book started tentatively and then picked up steam -- perhaps as he saw his way forward. Can't say much without spoiling, but once again Butcher achieves an excellent balance of interactions between the characters, detailed action, fraught situation, and some pure fun. Hope book 3 proceeds more smoothly! ****1/2

33. memoir *****
Diary of William Tayler Footman 1837 Dorothy Wise ed.

In 1837 William Tayler was working in London as a footman when he decided to keep a diary for a year, to improve his writing. In reality, as the only manservant in the establishment, he was somewhere between footman and butler, but he was officially 'in livery', that is a uniform, which butlers do not wear (a huge step up in status). He worked for the Prinseps family, a widow and daughter living in a fine the house in a 'good' neighborhood, Marylebone. The diary is, simply, delightful, edifying, engaging in every way as Tayler is awake to everything--himself and others, One feels in his energetic pursuit of exercise and self-improvement, curiosity and bursts of opinion and wisdom, the impatience at the limitations for people of his background. He visits museums, keeps an eye out for scientific curiosities and inventions, observes and writes with humor about everyone he encounters. He was so very present to me as I read.
The story of the finding and publication of Tayler's diary is equally absorbing, Dorothy Wise lived for a time in a house that this William's grandfather and father had inhabited and became curious about the family, eventually leading her to a relative who handed her a box at the bottom of which lay this diary. What a magical discovery! The five stars are for uniqueness and an excellent presentation and for Dorothy Wise's care and diligence. The book is brief, hard to find, I should add, and mainly of interest to those fascinated by this time period.*****

34. history british 19th ****1/2
An Elegant Madness Venetia Murray

To write proper comments on An Elegant Madness is going to take some time. I would say to anyone who loves this time period, this is essential, rewarding and delightful reading. Venetia Murray covers a great deal, enough so that deciding what to mention here is impossible. She starts with the prince regent himself for he had much to do with the atmosphere. And then she's off: the clothes, the food, the carriages, the balls (like Almack's), the clubs, the gambling, the mistresses, the country houses, snuff, the games, the inventions . . . a treasure trove for the regency devotee! ****1/2

35. fantasy ****1/2
✔La Belle Sauvage The Book of Dust vol 1 Philip Pullman

Lyra is a baby and more than one person wants to have her, most for bad reasons and others know they can't look after her as she would need, partly who they are, partly what they do . . . There is only one solution and the responsibility for getting her to the only safe place (you know what that is if you have read the first books) goes to Malcolm Polstead, age 11. It's a wild ride, floods and villains, more about dust and daemons . . . A great addition to the epic tale. Looking forward to book 2 and I understand book 3 is complete or nearly so . . . so soon! I expect book 2 follows after the events of the first three books when she is older. ****1/2

I'm very attracted to the William Taylor, but not enough to pay $109 for a used pb on Amazon! Hard to find indeed!!!!

I'm looking forward to what you have to say about the *Elegant Madness* since it is sitting with a bookmark in my READ NOW pile.

>84 LizzieD: Elegant Madness might take a little while because I am taking copious notes and rereading . . . I would say, however, to anyone who loves this time period this is essential, rewarding and delightful reading. (Maybe that is all I need to say up there?) One reviewer I came across went on and on about how 'inaccurate' she was about 'many things' (never specified) and my thoughts on that are that Murray had amassed a staggering amount of information in so many diverse areas from clothing to inventions-- and things I have been reading about intensively off and on for most of my reading life-- that the book is, by and large, accurate enough. That reviewer brought to mind the people I saw with the musical notation in hand at the Philadelphia Orchestra . . . wincing and frowning at every 'error'. Arsical nonesense, if you ask me.

The eclipse was AMAZING! in the totality zone. Light shifted, got colder and colder. Then blammo dark. Silence then howling. Not the coyotes but the neighbors! Part way througha pinkish red solar flare appeared . . . breathtaking. The light around the horizon was like an 360 sunset . . . Spousal unit got special filter for camera and took pix. I will post once he has gone through them and sent some to me.
Here's one, just in!


pizza pie with a bite out!

36. contemp fic ****
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan

One could argue endlessly whether this is a novel, novella, or very long short story (such as The Dead) but I suppose it hardly matters -- a man, himself born to an unwed mother in a time when such a thing really mattered had the good fortune that his mother's employer, a Protestant and a widow living in the small town, did not send her off, but kept her and raised the boy responsibly, not as her own, but kindly, paying for schooling and so on. He has made a success of his life running a coal business, but he has four daughters and times are hard, people need coal but often cannot keep up with their bills and he rarely cuts a person off entirely. On a snowy winter's day, just before Christmas he is making a delivery to the convent, which looms over the town in every way, spiritually and politically. Everyone (who pays attention) knows that the convent takes in girls 'in trouble', but no one has any idea what goes on. The girls are sent far away, no one actually witnesses anything, and nothing concrete is known but to a few (say a local doctor and such). On this day he discovers a young girl hiding in the shed where he delivers the coal. Or is she hiding? He must struggle with his conscience. That is the conflict. The writing is quiet and spare, I could cite various short stories Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" -- that being a story all about what isn't being said -- and "The Dead" with its careful and exact prose as the narrator attempts to remain in control of his emotions only expressing his feelings through what he notices (what Keegan has him notice, of course). It is a meticulously crafted story as well as moving as .... comes to a decision whether to act or not to act. I'm currently also reading We Don't Know Ourselves -- a 'personal' history of modern Ireland and the book resonates loudly. ****1/2

Duplicate of above.

37. fantasy *****
The Secret Commonwealth The Book of Dust 2 Philip Pullman

Can't say too much without spoiling, but I can say that the story continues at an almost furious pace as Lyra and Malcolm and Pantalaimon pursue their own dangerous adventures. The book ends on a cliff-hanger and I have to say I cannot barely wait for the third volume which, it is rumored, will appear this year. Totally absorbing, worthy continuation of His Dark Materials. *****

>89 sibylline: squeee! Now I am going to have to reread His Dark Materials with these two to look forward to! Yay!

38. ss ****
Hurry Home Ann Scott Knight

A handful of short stories and a novella, most occupying the territory of late childhood and adolescence, mostly claustrophobic suburban settings in which the misery of the adults surrounds and engulfs everyone and everything. In many the yearning of a young girl for intimacy, aware of herself as being somehow different, even off-putting, to others, lead her into . . . well, more misery but the kind with a little learned wisdom. The writing is crisp and immediate and has that hallucinatory weirdness at times of people talking but not to one another. Excellently done. ****

39. ♬ fantasy ****
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London Garth Nix

Nix manages to combine nonstop action with character development and humor. I appreciate too that he doesn't go overboard inventing some ridiculous and convoluted way for the magic to work! Lots of fun. Good reader on Audible. ****

duplicate post -- see below

40. hist fic (sort of) *****
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven Nathaniel Ian Miller

I have a category for novels that I have loved to pieces that don't get the attention they deserve. (if you are curious go to https://www.librarything.com/catalog/sibylline ) All of these novels share a few features to one degree or another: balance (between dark and light, humor and sadness, good and bad etcetera). Bad things happen, but they are part of a flow of events and fit into them with nothing remotely titillating. The humor is often more on the understated or ironic side. Like a painting you feel you could step into (I don't mean hyper-realism) but something about the images that draw you in. So the second piece, related but a little different, is authenticity (I know, I know, kind of a dangerous word, too vague) but what I mean by that is that the writer convinces me that he or she has channeled (sorry again) something real. Miller has entered this territory. Sven is fictional but Sven is also as real as you or me, lives in the world.

And what a world! Fascinated by the colder regions of the earth, and unable to find a place for himself in Sweden, Sven goes to Spitzbergen (now named Svalbard) in the second decade of the 20th century to work in a mine. He is injured, his face scarred, vision compromised, but he stays and by staying slowly builds a life that suits him--not that he is ever a man entirely comfortable inside his own skin--he learns to live in and love this harsh environment and makes deep friendships --some very surprising! Quite often I cannot abide a first person narrative for long, but in this case, the voice if Sven is always always welcome. Sven has dogs, loves and understands then, and Miller's dogs are authentic too. *****

41. memoir ****
Things I Don't Want to Know Deborah Levy

This is the first of several memoirs. In this first one Levy examines mainly three time periods of her life, the last years in South Africa as a child, a cameo shot of her life in London, and the whole bounded by a trip to Majorca many years later. Snow features in places where it rarely snows, Johannesburg, Majorca. Also lids. Yes, lids, the kind we all use to close jars and containers. She captures the confusion of a child trying to make sense of the world, her father imprisoned for supporting Mandela, her gradual awakening to the ways white people dominate the Black population. In London she captures the emergence of a self who is both her, a girl, and an emerging writer--whoever and whatever that is--also confusing. These memories are book-ended, start and finish, by a trip, as an older woman (clearly divorced, etc etc) on a trip to Majorca for a writing retreat, a return to a place she stayed in once before). The narrative has an organic quality to it, deceptive, as I believe it is carefully structured, retaining perhaps just the air of how the memoir/meditation began.

Memoirs and biography draw me in more than they used to. And one thing, as an older person, that I can't help but do is compare my own choices to the stories other tell about themselves or about others. Sometimes find I am skeptical of someone's view of the world, but then I realize it is not because I am actually skeptical but because that person makes me feel . . . somewhat inadequate, insensitive, shallow, and chicken-hearted (the list can go on interminably so I'll stop). Levy's memoir affected me that way to some degree. I had to ask myself several times, is she for real? Would a child this young notice apartheid so fully? Would I have written more and better had I left to live alone years ago? I'm a person who has chosen a safer life with boundaries around it. Have I accepted a prison? Or do I need these boundaries? So this how I must take in the world? You can write honestly from anywhere -- the top of a mountain or at a small table in a room you rarely leave. I look forward to reading more of Levy's meditations on her life as a writer and a woman. ****

>86 sibylline: I saw a partial eclipse once and didn't find it all that impressive but your experience sounds amazing.

>96 RebaRelishesReading: I've been around for partials too ... the full eclipse is different, I had NO idea how different. It's the last 3 or so minutes just before total when suddenly it gets darker and darker and then the 3 min of total (which is over in a snap of the fingers because it is.just.so.wierd when the temperature drops instantly, everything hushes etc) and then about a minute or two as the sun returns. You realize how powerful the sun is. People here are still sort of hushed and full of wonder. I totally (ha ha) get why people run around following eclipses. I wouldn't do it, but I understand it.

One of the sweet things was just as the sun began to come back everyone up and down our long skinny valley started howling!!

>97 sibylline: Quite sure I'll never get to experience one :(

42. fantasy ****
Stargazy Pie Victoria Goddard

Jemis Greenwing comes home from college sure that he is disgraced but with nowhere else to go. He missed an important funeral, his father is considered a traitor, he failed his final verbal exam . . . Hardly anyone in the town is friendly to him beyond his friend Mr. Dart, Mrs. Etaris at the bookstore who gives him a job, and his stepmother. And then things start happening. The book is a little frenetic but the atmosphere is so good, I didn't really care. By the end I did get what was going on! ****

43. fantasy ****
Bee Sting Cake Victoria Goddard

more later

>99 sibylline: I am loving the Goddard books! Glad to see another fan.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Lucy!

44. history irish contemporary *****
We Don't Know Ourselves Fintan O'Toole

O'Toole picks up the story of Ireland after Independence. The story he leads the reader through is at once as complex as the celtic knot and simple to grasp. The previous centuries of English exploitation had crippled the country. The Catholic Church in the 19th century had swept in to provide structure lacking elsewhere, but there was no way to curb their power, just as there was no way to curb corruption in government and over time, a conspiracy of silence, of looking the other way, of simultaneously knowing and not-knowing how things were being managed and how they were being swept under the rug evolved. Only with the shattering revelations about sexual abuse coupled in the 90's and aughts of this century and the banking debacles blew the whole of this pattern to smithereens. An example would be birth control. The way it was managed to appease the church was to make pretty much everything illegal, from condoms (!) to abortion. What did people do? Oh, everything! From bribery to expeditions to Northern Ireland for various supplies and trips to England for abortions. Point being, Ireland maintained its myth of virtue in situ, but in fact turned a blind eye as much as was feasible. Same thing with banking and loans and so forth. You knew and you didn't know. Claire Keegan's novel Small Things Like These (reviewed above at >87 sibylline:) takes on this knowing/unknowing situation beautifully. A brilliant utterly readable often painful, sometimes funny and always enthralling read. *****

I'm delighted that you've kept reading *Greenwing and Dart*. You'll soon catch up since I'm reading The Nonesuch instead of Blackcurrant Fool.

104. fantasy ****
WhiskeyJack Victoria Goddard

Book Three and the action never ceases . . . . Goddard juxtaposes wild situations with the calm of the 19th century upper classes. One minute killing a dragon, say, the next fretting about what cravat knot would best do. These are simply fun.****

45. fantasy ****
WhiskeyJack Victoria Goddard

Yet another delightful installment of the Greenwing and Dart series -- I love how the narrative moves from wild action to cravat tying. Jemis has to get used to a changed station in life, and other unexpected unlooked for changes as well. These are fun! ****

46. fantasy ****
Blackcurrant Fool Victoria Goddard

Off the friends go to fetch Mr. Dart's cousin in Orio City in Jemis's grandmother's 'falarode' pulled by six black horses . . . and of course nothing goes as planned. This one takes a dive toward the end that was truly surprising and unsettling. ****

>106 sibylline: Yes, Blackcurrant Fool does go to unexpected territory for what we know of the Nine Worlds, but then again, is it really?