Sakerfalcon continues to struggle up Mount TBR in 2020

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2020 will be a good year for us all, in life and in reading.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my thread last year and who hit me with book bullets. As usual I hope that my reading will exceed my book purchasing, but as always I expect to fail.

My main reading interests are Science fiction and Fantasy, Classic children's books (especially school and pony stories), and 20th century women's writing, particularly titles published by Virago and Persephone. But I"m a bit of a magpie and some odd things do take my fancy every now and then.

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

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

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

Hippo Gnu Ear!

Happy 2020, Claire! I hope it is a great one for you.

Happy New Year Claire.

Happy 2020 to you as well. I'll be riding the thermals along with you again this year.

Looking forward to many exchanges of book bullet friendly fire again this year. ;)

Happy New Year and happy reading!

Happy 2020 readings!

Happy reading in 2020, Claire!

Happy New Year - your plans for the reading challenge looks exciting - I hope it helps you find your way to many enjoyable books.

Happy New Year! Hope you're reading is successful and enjoyable.

Hi, Claire - best wishes for a great reading year!

Happy New Year! Wishing you a great reading year.

Happy Reading, Claire! I suspect many bullets will find their marks in this thread.

Thank you all for stopping by and sending your good wishes.

I've just looked at my 2019 reads and posted my top 5 in the relevant threads. Now I'm ready to get started with 2020.

I finished Labyrinth lost which was an entertaining YA portal fantasy about a girl who manages to magically exile her family and who must rescue them. The first quarter of the book introduces the characters and establishes the dynamics between them so that by the time the crucial event happens we are invested in their fates. This was actually my favourite part of the book as it's set in a warm Latinx family in Brooklyn with an interesting magical heritage. The main story though becomes a linear quest narrative as Alex and her companions travel through a dangerous magical land to try and defeat the enemy and save her family. It's a good book overall and I do want to read the sequel, which is from the POV of Alex's older sister.

I'm still reading Prairie fires, the Laura Ingalls Wilder biography, The magician's book, about the Chronicles of Narnia, and Rose Point, which is another extremely enjoyable entry in the Earthrise series by M. C. A. Hogarth. And after seeing an excellent exhibition about the Trojan War at the British Museum recently, I've started The silence of the girls by Pat Barker.

I hope you have all found time to start the year with some good books.

Oh, I'll look forward to your review of The Silence of the Girls: one of the most meaningful novels I've read in the last five years. Labyrinth Lost sounds fantastic!

Are you looking for book recommendations? Have you read The black witch. We seem to read some of the same genres, so I'm looking forward to what note worthy reads you run into this year!

Happy New Year and good reading!

Happy New Year, Claire!

>16 libraryperilous: I just finished it and loved it!
Labyrinth lost was very good. It's one of a few recent YA titles about witches (Undead girl gang, These witches don't burn that I've read and I've enjoyed all of them.

>17 RRAdams: I haven't come across The black witch but it does look like something I'd like.

>18 reading_fox: Thank you, you too!

>19 kidzdoc: Looking forward to seeing you in March (fingers crossed!). I thought this might appeal for a day out while you are over.

The silence of the girls was a fantastic read. It's a retelling of the events of The Iliad told with a focus on the women whose stories are not told by Homer. Briseis, who narrates most of the book, is the cause of Achilles' refusal to fight for so long, which caused devastating setbacks to the Greek army. Once a queen, she is given to Achilles to be his slave as a prize for his prowess in battle. As she mixes with Trojan slaves and Greek soldiers and kings alike she is an ideal voice to give a wide picture of the conflict and its consequences. Though rape is a major fact of life for Briseis and her fellow women, it is not graphically portrayed and she tries to focus on other aspects of what her life has now become - her work in the healers' tents, supporting the other women, spending time in the sea, building a cautious friendship with Patroclus who is one of the only men to show kindness to the captives. However, the book isn't a man-hating rant. Briseis' feelings are frequently conflicted, hating the men for their brutality and the way they treat women and children as objects, yet acknowledging their good qualities. I came away feeling more favourable towards Achilles than I expected, for example. Briseis' narrative forms most of the book, but Barker narrates some parts from an omniscient POV, and these sections were not so strong, I thought. Sadly, the book is still timely as women continue to be used as pawns and suffer rape and violence as part of war. It is an excellent with a wry humour to be found in Briseis' irreverent (but not anachronistic) voice.

I finished Rose Point which is a great adventure with the crew of the Earthrise. This book takes them to the planet of the Eldrich, which very few outsiders have ever seen. They become entangled in court politics and the book ends on a cliffhanger as events explode. This is a great series with engaging characters and creative worldbuilding.

I borrowed some books from a friend over New Year (because the piles of my own unread books are not high enough) and read one of them already. The children on the top floor is not one of Noel Streatfeild's best known children's books (it was never given a "Shoes" title) but it revisits many of her popular themes. It's about a found family of four children, all of whom were left as babies on the doorstep of a TV personality, and the various servants who look after them as they grow up. Due to the celebrity of their adoptive father the children are entered into advertising contracts with various clothing, toy, interior design and other companies, who provide for all their material needs in exchange for publicity. This sounds unrealistic, but it made me think of those child influencers who are paid to make YouTube videos about toys and products they are sent by companies. There are strong parallels with Ballet shoes - the found family, children having to make a living in showbusiness, an adoptive parent who disappears leaving little money - but overall it's not as good as the earlier book. It all feels a bit diluted by comparison. That said I enjoyed the read and was keen to see how the children's fates were resolved.

My commuting book is Chernobyl: history of a nuclear catastrophe which is a non-fiction account of the 1986 disaster. In addition to reporting and analysing the events at the power station, the book sets them firmly in the context of the Soviet political regime of the time - a culture of denial and suppression caused by fear of denunciation by the Communist Party leaders. It's very good.

Still reading Prairie fires and The magician's book, both of which are excellent. My slow progress is because both books are hardbacks so I can't carry them around with me. And I'm reading a dystopian SF novel, Cataveiro, sequel to Osiris which I read last year. This one broadens the worldbuilding, taking us to the former countries of South America where settlements are now few and far between because of climate change and other upheavals.

>20 Sakerfalcon: Great idea, Claire! It looks as though my request for vacation from 21-29 March will be granted, but I won't know for certain for another week or two. Once my group's work schedule is posted I'll let you know.

>20 Sakerfalcon: And the book bullets have started. I'm putting The Silence of the Girls on my wish list.

>20 Sakerfalcon: that Chernobyl book sounds interesting!

>20 Sakerfalcon: I've wavered over Silence of the Girls despite being a fan of Barker, Claire. Maybe it's because I read The Odyssey last year, and wanted a gap.

>21 kidzdoc: I'll keep my fingers crossed! It will be great to see you again and catch up.

>22 Narilka: Silence of the girls really was good. I should have read it sooner.

>23 NorthernStar: It was!

>24 Caroline_McElwee: Sometimes I read a book on a subject and want more of the same, but like you, other times I want a break. There's no rhyme or reason to it!

Chernobyl: history of a tragedy was a very interesting read. It starts by setting the cultural and political scene in the USSR at the time (1980s) to establish the context in which the disaster and its aftermath took place - a willingness to cut corners in order to establish the USSR as superior to the West, a culture of secrecy surrounding their technology, loyalty to (and fear of) the Communist Party authorities, which overrides any safety and public health concerns. The account of the explosion itself is gripping and terrifying but not made melodramatic, and I found Plokhy's explanation of the causes to be quite clear despite my lack of knowledge of the working of nuclear reactors. However most of the book covers the aftermath, both on the ground at Chernobyl and in the corridors of power, as blame is sought and assigned and everyone scrambles to try and cover themselves. Plokhy makes it clear that the consequences of the disaster could have been much, much more severe than they were and his afterword is a solemn warning that we must learn important lessons from Chernobyl.

I also finished Cataveiro, which was fine. It follows two main characters, and also reintroduces one of the protagonists from Osiris. It's a perfectly serviceable dystopian SF trilogy and I'll read the final volume as I own it but probably won't reread it.

I'm nearly at the end of Prairie fires which has been a very good read. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a complex woman living through times of great change and while she was certainly not always likeable there is much to admire about her. I was less interested in Rose, and she takes up quite a lot of page time, but as her life was so closely entwined with her mother's it's not unreasonable to follow her in detail.

On kindle I read a delightful anthology of fantasy short stories called It happened at the ball. It includes a story by our own Marissa, which was one of my favourites, set at Almack's in Regency London. There were a couple of other Regency inspired stories, some set in secondary worlds, one in Civil War era Galveston, and a couple in the present day or future. Highlights, in addition to Marissa's story, were those by Sherwood Smith and Francesca Forrest. This was a very strong anthology overall.

I'm currently reading an American crime novel that was given to me by a good friend. It's called Bluebird, bluebird and is set in East Texas, with a black Texas Ranger as the main character. He is asked unofficially to investigate a pair of murders in a neighbouring county, and soon stumbles into small town conspiracy and racial tension, to put it mildly. The author originates from this part of the world and her portrayal of it feels authentic, characterised by a friction between love for the area and hatred for the racial politics. It's a very gripping read - I keep finding myself reading "just one more chapter"!

I'm also reading a fantasy novel, The mountain of kept memory, which is set in a kingdom under invasion, and Sound mind, a strange science fiction novel that is playing with different realities. It's the sequel to Double vision which I read last year.

>25 Sakerfalcon: I made hotel and flight reservations for my visit to London from 21-28 March yesterday. I'll be in closer touch soon.

>25 Sakerfalcon: I really liked Bluebird, Bluebird.

>26 kidzdoc: That's great!

>27 littlegeek: So did I! I will definitely be tracking down the next book.

I thought Bluebird, bluebird was an excellent read, in a genre that I'm not usually a fan of. It's a police procedural set against a vivid background of racial politics in Texas and all the resulting social nuances. Darren is a flawed hero, admirable for his sense of justice and determination to see that the law treats African Americans fairly, but inclined to act impulsively, especially when he's been drinking. When the murder of a black man is followed by that of a white woman Darren is sure there's a link, and he doesn't care who he upsets in order to find out the truth. The supporting characters are complex and realistic - Geneva, who runs a cafe across the road from her powerful white neighbour; Keith Dale, the redneck whose wife is killed; Wally Jefferson who makes sure the town is run to his liking - as is the landscape of the region. This is both a gripping mystery and a nuanced depiction of race relations in modern day East Texas. This book filled the category of "A book that someone else chooses for you" in my reading challenge (linked in post 1). It was a Christmas present from my friend Sasha.

I've also finished Prairie fires, which was very good. The author gives a well-rounded portrait of Wilder, showing her flaws as well as her virtues, and exploring her relationships with the family who featured in her books and her daughter Rose. She examines the process of writing and editing the Little House books to try and ascertain just how much of a hand Rose had in them, concluding that for the most part they are Laura's work. Rose herself comes across as unscrupulous and grasping, but willing to work hard to get what she wants. She is idealistic, and often those ideals led her to make bad choices. The relationship between mother and daughter was close but strained, and much of the middle and later parts of the book focus on it - far more than on Laura's marriage to Almanzo. I appreciated the way that Wilder's life was clearly shown in the context of the ages through which she lived - the clearing of the native peoples from the Great Plains, the boom and bust years, the dustbowl and the great Depression. The end of the book deals with the ignominious battle over ownership of the copyright to the Little House books, and how they have been celebrated, castigated and exploited over the decades. If you have any interest at all in Wilder or the times through which she lived, I recommend this book. This book filled the category of "The title of the book contains a word related to nature".

In addition to still reading The mountain of kept memory and Sound mind, I've started Orsinia by Ursula K. Le Guin. This is an omnibus edition of Malafrena and Orsinian tales. Unlike the books for which she is best known, this is neither fantasy or SF but a Ruritanian novel of revolution in C19th Europe.

>28 Sakerfalcon: I used to loathe the Ruritanian conceit, but I've come round in the last couple of years. I might have to check out the Le Guin spin on it.

>1 Sakerfalcon: I see how "26. The author’s last name begins with the letter X, Y, Z, Å, Ä or Ö" could be a challenge. Especially the last three, though I think the original Martin Beck crime novels are available in English (the author being Per Wahlöö). They haven't aged that well, and the cultural context is extremely local and not easy to understand for anyone who wasn't living in Sweden in the late 60's and early 70's, though.

>20 Sakerfalcon: Oh, the Chernobyl book hit me straight between the eyes. Ouch!

>30 Busifer:, >1 Sakerfalcon: For Z I would recommend Zelazny or perhaps some more Zamyatin. For Y, Jin Yong.

And I am now tempted to try this challenge myself...

>30 Busifer: I recommend the novellas of J. Y. Yang.

>30 Busifer:, >31 -pilgrim-:, >32 reconditereader: I was thinking of E.H.Young or possibly Jane Yolen, both of whom have unread novels sitting on my shelves. Zelazny came to mind but I've read all that I own by him and am trying not to use the challenge as an excuse to buy books!

>30 Busifer: I'm expecting more trouble with no. 6 - finding a book by a Sami author. I will have to see if any have been translated into English. Otherwise I might substitute something by a Native American author or other equivalent.

>33 Sakerfalcon: Thomas King is a Native American author whose work I have found rewarding.

Well I have been away for a little while, in bed with a rotten cold. I usually soldier on because I feel ok, but this one really knocked me out. I was asleep most of the time, so didn't even get much reading done.

>29 libraryperilous: I finished Orsinia and really the only way in which it is Ruritanian is that it is set in an imaginary East European country. I tend to think of the genre as being swashbuckling adventures but, as I should have expected from Le Guin, this is a much more serious, thoughtful book.

>34 pgmcc: Thank you for that author bullet. I shall look for his books at the library, but otherwise I have a couple of unread titles by Louise Erdrich and Leslie Marmon Silko already on the TBR piles.

I have finished a few books since I last posted. Orsinia was a very good read. I should clarify that although my edition is an omnibus of the novel Malafrena and the collection of Orsinian stories, I just read the former as I've read the stories before. Orsinia starts out with an idealistic young hero who chafes under his country's subservience to heavy-handed rule by the Austro-Hungarian empire. He moves from his home in the provinces to the capital city where he expects to find a like-minded mass of people working towards revolution. This is not the case but he determines to try and work towards freedom in his own way, starting to publish a radical journal. His journey encompasses imprisonment, romance, friendship, loss and, at last, the acquisition of wisdom. Orsinia, the land and its people, come to life on the page, through worldbuilding as meticulous as any of Le Guin's SF or fantasy lands. This is not an action packed novel but a beautiful read to immerse oneself in. I'm not sure why, for there are no obvious parallels, but it put me in mind of C. J. Cherryh's Fortress in the eye of time.

I also finished Sound mind which was well-written but too confusing for me to review well. Cassidy is a student at Bard College when the world around her suddenly seems to fracture into alternate realities. Fleeing the chaos she finds herself in a New York State where Bard and its environs have been erased from the map. I enjoyed the sections where Cassidy is trying to make sense and survive in this new world. Then the novel switches to the POV of Karen "Cookie" Orbach, and it becomes clear that this is a sequel to Double vision. (I knew this from reading reviews but there is nothing on either book to link them.) This is where I got lost. I like both Cookie and Cassidy as characters so I kept reading even when I didn't really know what was going on. I know in theory what the point of the books was, from reading reviews, but I'm not sure I'd have realised from the text alone. That said, this is SF that takes risks and is truly different to most other things I've read in the genre, so I have to respect Sullivan for that. If you want a unique trippy reading experience then go for it!

The mountain of kept memory was a much more comprehensible read! It's a fantasy novel with royal brother and sister protagonists, set in a country under attack. Oressa and Gulien are likeable young adults (20 and 25 years old) who must take responsibility suddenly when they realise that they cannot trust their father, the king. One of the five princes of a neighboring kingdom decides to invade their land, Carastind, in search of a throne of his own. Carastind has always relied on the mystical protection of the all-powerful Kieba, who dwells in the titular mountain. When the King refuses to seek help from her, Gulien seeks her wisdom on his own. This story arc would be the whole of some novels, but it's just the start of this one. Resolving the initial problem only leads to more difficult situations, as events escalate and both new enemies and allies appear. This is a well-written book with good character development, some humour, and a plot that unfolds relentlessly. Oressa tends to act on impulse, but her instincts are usually right. She's not a Mary-Sue - she knows her limitations but also her strengths, and is not slow to take action when she knows she can achieve something. Gulien is more thoughtful and trusting, but quietly brave. Both of them have to question their assumptions and prejudices as events unfold. This isn't the fastest-moving fantasy book but it is beautifully written and ultimately very satisfying. It's marketed as an adult book, though there is no content that couldn't be read by a young teen, but I think the measured pace and focus on character growth mean that it doesn't give the instant gratification that many expect from YA fiction.

Recently I found a few of the Murder most unladylike mysteries in a charity shop and, having enjoyed the first one, decided to buy them. I read First class murder while I was ill and it was a very suitable read. Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are schoolgirls in 1930s England with a penchant for solving mysteries. This is their third case and it takes place on the Orient Express - the Agatha Christie book is referenced in the novel. On one level it is a couple of jolly schoolgirls outsmarting the adults by identifying the murderer first, but the books also contain a lot of social history and character development subtly woven in. Hazel is from Hong Kong and knows what it's like to be seen as Other; in the early books in the series she is somewhat in Daisy's shadow as the more extrovert English girl takes the lead. But in this book Hazel starts to assert herself a bit more and we can see the friendship becoming more equal. The other characters - many of them suspects - are well characterized, and the solution to the crime isn't immediately obvious. This is a very enjoyable, light series, aimed at pre and early teens, I think, but certainly readable for adults.

My current commuting book is A conspiracy of truths, a fantasy novel that I'm enjoying a lot. It's narrated by Chant, (that's his title, not his name), an elderly man whose vocation is to travel the world collecting and disseminating knowledge, usually in the form of stories. Unfortunately some unwise actions have led to his imprisonment on charges of witchcraft, and his attempts to wheedle his way out of danger only land him in more hot water. Chant's narrative voice is very amusing and fun to read, and the plot is twisting and turning all over the place as Chant's web of stories sets different factions against each other, with major political ramifications. Many stories are woven into the narrative and so far the book seems to be a testament to the power of words and tales.

At home I'm reading The ten thousand doors of January which, as its title suggests, is a portal fantasy. January grows up as the ward of wealthy Mr Locke, in his chilly mansion full of rare and wonderful objects. Her father comes and goes, sent all over the world to collect things for Locke; she knows nothing of her mother. One day January finds a book which tells her of the doors to other worlds - which verifies an experience she herself had as a child. The story in the book turns out to have even more personal relevance to January as she reads on. The book is slow moving to start with, but it builds lots of lovely details into the narrative which become important as the story progresses. This debut novel has received a lot of praise and so far I would say that it is well deserved.

Sorry to hear you have been poorly, Claire.

I like the sound of Murder most unladylike and my library has the whole series available for loan as ebooks so I shall be making a start on them soon!

>35 Sakerfalcon: Yikes! That must have been one doozy of a cold, or it hit when you were already dragging a bit. Hope you're feeling much better.

>35 Sakerfalcon: I am glad you are over the worst of your cold.

Your comments on The Ten Thousand Doors of January are reassuring. I bought a copy of it on a whim. (Yes, I liked the cover.)

>35 Sakerfalcon: Ouch. I'm glad you're feeling better. And on >33 Sakerfalcon: I think a Native American author should do. The sapmi has various exchanges especially with Canada, I think: Saskatchewan rings a bell.

I'm glad to know that Hazel and Daisy's relationship becomes more balanced in the later books. I tanked on the series, but one of this year's World Book Day offerings is a seaside mystery in the series. I already had pre-ordered it shortly before reading your post. Orsinia does sound wonderful. I've never read Le Guin. I believe I have a copy of The Left Hand of Darkness from a past SantaThing.

>35 Sakerfalcon: I hope you are fully recovered now Claire.

Thank you, everyone, for your good wishes. I am over the worst of the cold, but lacking my usual energy. Thank goodness it's Friday today!

>36 CDVicarage: I hope you enjoy the series! They are nice light reads that do a good job of combining the schoolgirl and murder mystery genres in a period setting. I will probably offer my copies to my older goddaughter after I've read them.

>38 pgmcc: It is indeed a most alluring cover. And the contents are good too!

>39 Busifer: That is interesting - I know that Plains of USA and Canada were largely settled by Scandinavians and Finns so it makes sense that the Sami would have connections there too.

>40 libraryperilous: I'm thinking of passing the Wells and Wong books on to my 7 year old goddaughter, who is already a big fan of school stories. I think she'll love them when she's a little older.
I thought Left hand of darkness was amazing - not so much for its treatment of gender, which must have been more striking when it was first published, but for the portrayal of a long, difficult journey, which totally immersed me.

I seem to have got back up to my usual reading rate this week and finished a couple more books.

The ten thousand doors of January was a lovely read. It was a little slow to draw me in, but I kept going because I liked January and wanted to learn more about her. Once the doors start to reveal their secrets I was hooked. January is a very well-drawn character - an intelligent girl, sheltered by her wealthy guardian from the exclusion and discrimination she would otherwise face as a mixed-race child in c.1900 USA. Her natural boldness is tempered (sometimes hampered) by her upbringing which has impressed upon her the need to be a "good" girl and to please people. When she is forced out of her safe haven she has allies to help her - the Italian immigrant boy Samuel, the fearless warrior Jane and her loyal dog Bad. But both they and January herself will suffer physical and emotional pain and loss as they try and battle against dark and powerful forces. The author subtly weaves in commentary on race, class and gender but never beats you over the head with a Message; it just makes the world feel more real than we often see in historical fantasies. Mostly we only get glimpses of the worlds beyond the doors, but the one that we do see in detail is richly drawn and filled with real people, not exotic fantasy folk. This is a very strong debut novel that deserves all of the praise it has garnered.

I also finished A conspiracy of truths which was a very entertaining read. Despite the narrator spending most of the book in prison we get a very clear picture of the country of Nuryevet and its people. It is ruled by five Primes who, despite their titles of King and Queen, are elected by the people for fixed lengths of service. When our narrator, Chant, is arrested on charges of witchcraft he plots to win his freedom by playing the primes off against each other. Sometimes his plans succeed; sometimes they backfire dramatically. His apprentice Ylfing is a sweetheart, earnest and naive but absolutely loyal to his master; the lawyer Consanza is shrewd and intelligent under a laissez-faire facade; the other supporting characters are equally well rounded. There is plenty of humour in the book, but I wouldn't class it as humorous fantasy as some reviewers have; it's not like Pratchett or Adams. I would call it a testament to the power of words and the value of finding the right story for every situation.

I also read Speak, a now-classic YA novel about the aftermath of rape. (I think most people know the premise of the book but I've hidden it just in case.) Melinda is in her freshman year at High School and her old friends want nothing to do with her. She called the police at a wild party over the summer and got a lot of people into trouble as a result. She had very good reason to make the call, but finds herself unable to tell anyone why. In fact she can barely speak at all, and retreats into herself as the school year progresses. The novel is narrated by Melinda and her voice felt authentic, as did her emotional journey throughout the book. As an older reader than the target audience I did find some aspects a bit cliched, but if teens respond to the book and learn from it then that is the most important thing.

I'm now reading the novella Sweep with me, which is the fifth instalment in the Innkeeper Chronicles. I would call this series a mix of SF and Urban Fantasy, quite unlike anything else I've come across. Dina is in charge of the Gertrude Hunt, a sentient Inn which provides rest and relaxation to species from all over the galaxy. At least, that's the theory. In fact, Dina finds herself trying to keep the peace between warring parties, hosting peace summits and, in this story, playing host to two rival groups of philosopher aliens who just happen to resemble large chickens. Of course these are humorous books but there is deeper emotion there too and a real sense of danger.

>42 Sakerfalcon: On Sapmi/Scandinavians/Plains US/Canada: That's actually unrelated to the connections between the various native peoples. They have connected through having been subjected to much the same colonial attitude from settlers. Until not long ago, historically speaking, sapmi children were taken (abducted, really) from their families and "adopted" by Swedish families, as a way to erase the inferior sapmi culture. The sapmi languages were forbidden, meaning sometimes children could not speak with parents and grand parents, even if they were allowed to stay with them.
But those were not the people who fled Scandinavia to find a new life in the New World, not generally speaking.

BTW I feel the same way as you about The Left Hand of Darkness and was floored when I lent it to a colleague, many years ago, and he returned it without having finished it citing "treatment of gender" as his reason.
I hadn't even thought about that. At all.

>35 Sakerfalcon: You got me with the Murder Most Unladylike books. They'll be perfect to move into after I finish the Nancy Mitford I'm currently reading.

I'd picked up The Ten Thousand Doors of January when it was on sale at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. It has moved up a few places in the TBR list.

>42 Sakerfalcon: Conspiracy of Truths sounds tempting.

I am glad you are feeling better and back to reading again.

>42 Sakerfalcon:, >43 Busifer: Well, now I think I'm going to read it tonight. I'm intrigued by the "long, difficult journey" and also by the idea of its gender politics pissing off a dudebro.

I didn't like The Ten Thousand Doors of January, so I read your review with interest. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much and it lived up to the hype for you. I did like Julian's home city, and I'd be interested in reading a book set principally there. Its culture, especially the deep love of scholarship the academics have and the oceanside setting, was wonderfully written. I feel like you could have endless adventures just at the university.

If your goddaughter ends up liking Wells & Wong, she might also like Katherine Woodfine's Sinclair's Department Store mysteries when she's a bit older. They are very high-spirited mysteries featuring two great girls, and there's some subtle look at class and labor. They're not school stories, but if the mystery elements in Stevens' books ends up appealing, I'd recommend them. Oh, and A Girl Called Justice is a great boarding school girls' own mystery.

>42 Sakerfalcon: So glad you enjoyed The 10k doors :) And it sounds like you're having a great visit at the Gertrude Hunt!

>42 Sakerfalcon: And the contents are good too!

Another reassuring comment.

>43 Busifer: I think I misunderstood what you'd said previously. Thanks for the expanded explanation, that makes much more sense! Though I'm saddened to learn that Sami families were treated just as badly as the American, Australian and other native peoples.

>44 Marissa_Doyle: I hope you enjoy the Wells and Wong mysteries. They are engaging light reads which I think are very effective at combining the crime, school and historical genres. I will look forward to seeing what you think of them, and of Ten thousand doors.

>45 -pilgrim-: Thank you! A conspiracy of truths managed to keep me entertained despite the narrator spending most of the book in one prison cell or another!

>46 libraryperilous: Ooh, I look forward to your thoughts of Left hand of darkness!
Yes, I agree that I'd love a book set in Julian's world. It reminded me a bit of Earthsea which is a place I always enjoy spending time.

>47 Narilka: I always love visiting the Gertrude Hunt! This is probably my favourite UF series for the way that it uses and skewers the tropes. I also like that Dina is competent and calm in a crisis.

>48 pgmcc: I will look forward to your thoughts when the book reaches the top of your TBR pile.

So I read another Wells and Wong mystery this weekend, Jolly foul play. This one saw Hazel and Daisy back at school, where the unpopular new Head Girl is found dead during a fireworks display. The Detective Society springs into action, assisted by the three other members of their dormitory who add their own skills and personalities to the case. We also see a crisis in Hazel and Daisy's friendship which reveals a surprise about the power balance between the girls. I like the school setting best and it was nice to see some of the younger girls get involved too.

I finished Sweep with me which was another delightful and chaotic installment in the Innkeeper Chronicles. The various aliens with which she has to deal are as entertaining and creatively imagined as usual, as are the solutions that Dina finds to cope with them. I especially enjoyed Orro's plot in this story. My only complaint is that this is a novella and I would have liked it to have been much longer.

Now I've started a couple of very different books. The eighth life is a weighty (literally - it's over 800 pages long in hardback!) historical novel which follows several generations of a Georgian family in C20th century Europe. Georgia the country, not the US state. I'm not very far into it yet but it promises to be a colourful and dramatic saga.

And I'm also reading Ghostland which is a combination of memoir, geography and literary criticism as the author travels around the UK visiting places that have been used by British writers of the supernatural. It starts in the author's native Fen country, a flat and watery landscape, talking about the work of M. R. James, L. M. Boston and Robert Aickman among others. It's quite a rambling narrative, prone to digressions, but that seems appropriate for a book that is part travelogue. The author drops crumbs along the way alluding to a family trauma in his past which he is haunted by as he takes this journey. So far it is an intriguing and atmospheric read that will probably grow my TBR list.

And on my commute I'm reading a new dystopian type novel, Followers. It takes place in two time periods, 2015-2016 when roomates Orla and Floss are trying to find celebrity in NYC, and 2051 when Marlow is living in an artificial community in California whose inhabitants lives are plotted and filmed for the public to follow at all times. Links between the two timelines soon appear and the mystery of how we got from one to another is keeping me gripped.

I finished Followers quickly as it was a difficult book to put down. Both the past and future timelines were gripping and intriguing and although I guessed quite soon how the characters were connected I wanted to see how it all came about. The author sows tantalising seeds throughout both timelines, as characters refer to things that they are so familiar with they don't need to explain them. It may be several chapters later before we find out what those things are. I enjoyed this approach, it just required a little patience. The portrayal of social media and how its use spirals out of control was very realistic but I had to suspend disbelief about some aspects of how "the spill" came about. You can isolate just the electrical current that powers clocks and other time-telling devices? Really? And didn't anyone have an analogue watch, like a Rolex? Floss and Orla were not particularly sympathetic characters, although they seemed believable as products of our own Instagram-obsessed age. Marlow, from the future story, is easier to empathise with although she still has her flaws. I saw one review, either on here or Goodreads that compared this with The circle only "without the terrible sex scenes and unrealistic protagonist", and I wholly agree that the female characters are far better drawn - as one would hope from a female author. (There aren't any sex scenes to comment on.) If you want to read a fairly plausible novel that realises your worst fears about social media technology then I'd recommend this one over The circle.

Now I'm reading something very different - Marilla of Green Gables. This is a prequel to the Anne books, telling Marilla's story. I was a little unsure that the author had captured Montgomery's Marilla to start with, but by the time she meets Rachel Lynde-to-be (who is spot on!) I was convinced. McCoy doesn't try and imitate Montgomery's rapturous prose but the authorial voice is suitable for the story and I'm enjoying it so far.

Ghostland is excellent; we've moved from the Fens to the woods in this journey through the supernatural fiction landscape of Britain.

And The eighth life will take a very long time for me to read, but it's great. So far we are still in the early C20th during the Russian Revolution; it's interesting to see how this was viewed in Georgia.

You got me with Ghostland, but it won't be available in the US till later this year. :(

>51 Marissa_Doyle: I'm enjoying it a lot, although it does ramble and jump between topics quite a lot. The author is a birdwatcher as well as an author so his focus on natural history as well as the literary connections to sites is something I appreciate. He talks about films as well as books so it's a comprehensive survey of the British supernatural. So far we've visited fens, woods, churchyards and lighthouses, discussing the work of Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, Robert Aickman, L. M. Boston, John Buchan and Graham Swift among many others.

I finished Marilla of Green Gables and enjoyed it a lot. I was convinced by Matthew and Marilla's journeys from youth into the people they are when Anne arrives, and the events which shaped their lives were well told. McCoy brought in some Canadian history which I hadn't known about, such as the attempted rebellion against British rule, and she also looked at Canada as the destination for slaves escaping via the Underground Railroad. I could well imagine Marilla, with her stern sense of justice and fairness, supporting this cause. I'm sure one could enjoy this in its own right, without having read the Anne books.

In its place I've started a Scottish novel from 1920, Open the door! which is based on the life of the author as she leaves her religious home to go to Glasgow School of Art.

This weekend I had a lot of time on public transport so I managed to read a British YA novel, Rose interrupted. It's about a 17 year old girl and her younger brother who, with their mother, have left a strict Christian sect. Rose is determined to reject everything from her past and wholly embrace the ways of the Worldly Wise, but Rudder is torn between his new freedom to indulge in Harry Potter fandom and the security of knowing his place as one of the Saved. When Rose lets her boyfriend take topless photos of her, both siblings learn the hard way about the dangers of the outside world. The issue of sexting and sharing images without consent is handled well in this story, without becoming preachy. Rudder in particular is a very sympathetic character, who nearly broke my heart at times in his confusion. Rose is impulsive but wants what is best for her mother and brother, even if that means returning to the sect she hated. This was a good read that I'd recommend to teens and those who know them.

I'm also reading for comfort an Angela Brazil school story, A harum-scarum schoolgirl. Diana arrives at her new boarding school and soon makes her mark with her outgoing personality and fondness for pranks. She means well; it's just unfortunate that that doesn't stop her from getting herself and her friends into trouble. This is set in the last year of WWI.

>52 Sakerfalcon: Ooh! There was an Angela Brazil novel along the books that my mother passed on to me, when I was little, and it had A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl listed on the "also by this author" page. I think the book that I had was Schoolgirl Kitty.

Now I want to go up in the attic and see whether I can find those books from my mother's childhood...

I tried the Circle when it was Librarything read. I wasn't impressed, although the concept was good. Maybe I'll try the Followers and see if I get on better.

>53 -pilgrim-: I've not read Schoolgirl Kitty but I've enjoyed the others by Brazil that I've read. They are set a generation or so earlier than the Chalet School, Malory Towers or similar series and there are very real social and cultural differences. I enjoy reading about the smaller schools that Brazil describes, which are far less regimented and often with something of a family feeling about them. The illustrations of girls playing hockey, for example, in ankle-length skirts are quite wonderful too! Having a rummage for your mother's books sounds like it could yield some treasures!

>54 reading_fox: I would say that The circle is a critique of large companies such as google, whereas Followers is more of an examination of social media as used by individuals rather than the corporations behind it. I thought it worked well in showing how toxic the instagram culture can become.

I finished A harum-scarum schoolgirl this weekend and enjoyed it as much as other books by the author. Diana is an American girl who has to attend a British boarding school for a year while her parents are working in Paris. Her high spirits and impulsive nature win her many friends, even though she frequently lands them in trouble. The book is set in 1918 and there are mentions of the end of WWI and its aftermath to give some period detail. One less savory indicate of the book's age though is the condescending mention of a "Hindoo" doctor who misdiagnoses a rash as measles. Other than that this was a lovely read.

I've nearly finished Open the door! which is a detailed character study of a young Scottish woman in the early C20th. It's also a portrait of Glasgow, the city where most of the story takes place. Joanna is an interesting character, raised by evangelical parents who fail to pass on their faith to any of their four children. She seeks to get all she can from life and searches for independence and love, finding both but learning that happiness may not necessarily result from either.

I'm also reading a space opera called Chilling effect. This is a fun novel along the lines of Small angry planet and Earthrise, although I personally find these characters a bit less well drawn and likeable. Eva is the captain who finds herself being blackmailed by a shady organization who have kidnapped her sister. She must carry out the tasks they assign her so that she can raise the ransom demanded, while trying to keep this a secret from her crew.

I'm also still enjoyed Ghostland and The eighth life but am making slow progress due to busyness.

Another week, more books finished.

Chilling effect was quite disappointing in the end. Compared to book with a similar set up (found family on a spaceship who must pull together to solve problems), this one didn't bring the characters to life or show them working especially well as a team. In fact the crew are separated for large chunks of the book, and we only follow Eva which doesn't help us to get to know the others at all. Lots of alien races are mentioned but we only get to know one non-human character well - the ship's engineer, Vakar. Although the plot has lots of action I found myself getting a bit tired of it all at times because I didn't really care about the characters. Eva is often rash and doesn't listen to sensible advice which might be good for drama but I find it annoying. And perhaps the most egregious crime of the book - the author introduces 20 psychic cats on board ship but then doesn't make any use of them after the first chapter. It would have been better if they'd been offloaded in some way rather than kept in the background and wasted.

After finishing Open the door! which was a satisfying read, I turned to urban fantasy in the form of book 4 of Anne Bishop's Others series, Marked in flesh. The unpleasant Humans First and Last organisation continues to try and seize land and power from the terra indigenes and they do inflict some losses upon them - but there are greater forces in play. I love the characters in this series and the co-operation between them, but also the fact that the shifters are beasts who can take human form, not humans who change into animals. I also like the lack of romance - something seems to be building very slowly but it is very much in the background and is part of the characters' growing self-awareness.

I've also read an Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novel, Before lunch. It's the usual inter-war British social comedy, with mostly middle to upper-class characters negotiating the trials of family life, budding romance and local politics. In this episode we have the county agricultural show, attempts to thwart planned building on a local beauty spot, some young love and misunderstanding, a grumpy butler and a lovestruck maid. All good frothy fun, if a little dated.

Now I've started Come away death which is a Mrs Bradley mystery. Mrs Bradley is a great character, nothing like Diana Rigg's portrayal on TV. She looks like a crocodile and her cackling laugh makes people jump out of their skins. But she is as sharp as a knife and can be relied upon to get to the bottom of a mystery. This one is set in Greece where an antiquarian enlists his family and friends to recreate the rites of Eleusis in attempt to discover what the Mysteries actually were. As the party consists of two attractive young women, three naughty schoolboys, two rival scholars and various more or less willing others, drama is sure to ensue.

Ooh! I love the others books! I like that Meg is mostly quietly persevering, and is not the usual kick ass hero type. With the romance almost nonexistent in the background.

And hi, by the way... Haven't been on LT for a long time... it's nice to see your thread is still very active!

>56 Sakerfalcon: I struggled to enjoy Chilling Effect, so I shelved it to try at a later date. Now that I know the cats are underutilized, I'm not sure I'll bother.

I'm impressed by the amount you're reading! Also slightly ashamed at my own slackage. LOL

>57 zjakkelien: It's great to "see" you zjakkelien! I might make a visit to the Netherlands later this year; if so I will let you know. It would be great to meet up. Yes, I like Meg a lot for her quiet strength as she struggles with her demons and finds confidence in herself. I also like that the Others are animals first even when they take human shape.

>58 libraryperilous: The book has all the ingredients to be great, but the author just didn't use them effectively. It was very disappointing.

>59 clamairy: No need to feel ashamed, you are getting out for all those beautiful walks by the sea. If I had that I'd probably not spend as much time inside reading! Also, I get through a lot of books while taking public transport, which is all the time as I don't drive.

So yes, I've been reading a lot but not posting - bad reader! Since last time I've finished Come away death and two other books and made more progress with Ghostland and The eighth life.

Come away death was a very enjoyable read. I always like spending time with Mrs Bradley, and the sunny setting of Greece was a welcome escape from the stormy weather we've been having recently. I like that Mitchell takes a long time setting up her characters and their relationships before the crime happens, so that you are invested in their fates and know their stories and motivations. It is certainly a motley group that she has assembled for this story and I think I found their activities and side plots to be more entertaining than the main murder plot. Mitchell writes children especially well, and the three schoolboys in this adventure are wonderful, very convincing and engaging. Some will find the book slow going, especially if they are hoping for a traditional whodunnit that focuses on the crime, but for me the antics of the characters were entertaining in their own right.

I also read a recent British supernatural tale, The honours, which was quite good. I enjoyed the first part of hte book, as our teenage heroine explores her new home - a stately but crumbling mansion in the countryside, peopled by a rather strange group of individuals who call themselves the Society for the Perpetual Improvement of Mankind. The book is set in 1935 and Delphine's father is clearly suffering from PTSD after serving in WWI. Her mother is cold and distant towards her daughter, so Delphine spends a lot of time alone as there are no other children in the community. She explores the estate, sometimes in the company of the gamekeeper who reluctantly agrees to teach her to shoot - a skill she covets as she believes that there is a conspiracy afoot to overthrow the government. However, as the novel proceeds it becomes clear that the society is merely a cover for far more sinister activities involving supernatural forces. The book is atmospheric with a good sense of place and period, but I found the plotting to be confused, and some of the action unclearly written. There were times when Delphine was in a tunnel or climbing out of a window and I'd think "wait a minute, shouldn't she be facing the other way?" or "How did she get there?" This is a first novel so hopefully the author will fix these problems in future.

And I just finished a delightful novel by Eva Ibbotson, Madensky Square, which is set in Vienna in 1910. Unlike her other adult books, this one is not a romance (although there are romances in it) and the heroine is a mature 37 year old with her own business, not a dewy-eyed ingenue. I wish I had had this to read when I was in Vienna last year, because it is a lovely portrayal of the city and its neighbourhoods. Suzanne is the first person narrator as she keeps a diary, telling of her dress shop in the square, her various neighbours and customers and their intrigues and affairs. The Schumachers are expecting their 7th child; maybe this time it will be the longed-for son? Sigi the Polish child piano prodigy is expected to make his fortune after his uncle sacrifices everything to move him to Vienna, the city of music. The good-natured middle aged butcher Huber comes to the shop to order a trousseau for his saintly, beautiful young bride - but what is her reason for choosing him of all her eligible suitors? These are just a few of the stories which are told in the book - and of course Suzanne has her own secrets too. One could complain that Suzanne is inclined to judge people by their looks, which is not always pleasant to read - yet her vocation is based upon appearances so perhaps that is natural. I'm sure that when I worked in retail I was at least as harsh about my customers as she is! This was a lovely light read with some fairy-tale endings but real heartbreak and sacrifice along the way.

I've just started The queens of Innis Lear as my new commuting book. This is a fantasy novel inspired by King Lear, and so far it is beautifully written.

Ghostland continues to be a very good read, as the author has a gift for portraying the spirit of some of Britain's most haunting landscapes, and linking them to the books, films and TV that they inspired. His own story is very slowly unravelled along the way but most of the time it remains below the surface. The current chapter I'm on is talking about W. G. Sebald and his travels in Norfolk. It is safe to say that this book is adding authors to my wishlist.

The eighth life is excellent, a very absorbing read that I would be devouring a lot faster if it were a smaller book! This is the chronicle of a Georgian family over the course of the 20th century with all its upheavals. Each section is nominally devoted to a different character but in practice the stories all intertwine like threads in a carpet, a metaphor used by the narrator. The story is told by a woman for her niece, Brilka, making it a personal history. I'm about a third of the way through and we've just reached the end of the second world war. There has been some brutality, as one would expect from the Soviet regime, but it's not graphically described and the narrative doesn't milk tragedy for effect.

Ooh, Madensky Square sounds charming. I've only read her children's fiction, and Journey to the River Sea is an all-timer for me. I need to check out the Mrs. Bradley series too.

>61 libraryperilous: I'll look forward to hearing what you think of Madensky Square and the Mrs Bradley books if you get around to reading them!

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

I've almost finished The queens of Innis Lear - I got tantalisingly close to the end before I had to get off the train this morning! Unless something goes horribly wrong with the resolution, this is set to be one of my best reads of the year so far. It is a beautifully written, detailed narrative that follows the three sisters in the aftermath of the King's disastrous decision about the succession. The island of Innis Lear is imbued with natural magic in the trees, soil, wind, stars and water, but Lear has forbidden the study of anything but the stars, causing a decline in the land's fertility and prosperity. The way that Gratton writes of the land and its magic reminds me of Juliet Marrilier's work, as does the vaguely Celtic feel of Innis Lear. King Lear is not a play that I know well; perhaps if I did it would change the way I feel about this book. At the moment though I am gripped by its flawed characters - for most of the book I don't feel that any of the sisters would make a good ruler - twisting plot and haunting atmosphere. It's a slow burn of a novel but I'm loving it.

>62 Sakerfalcon:
I have Ghostland and your comments urge me to get to it sooner rather than later.

M. R. James and Robert Aickman are writers whose work I love. You will find that many of the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas are adaptations of stories by M. R. James.

We spoke before of Dorothy L. Sayers's novel, The Nine Tailors. There are several allusions to elements of M. R. James's stories in that novel. Sayers was a great fan of James.

>63 pgmcc: I thought Ghostland would catch your interest as I remember that you are a fan of Aickman and other similar writers. I hope you enjoy the book when you get round to reading it. I have been dipping into the enormous Weird anthology on my kindle and so have sample a couple of the major stories by Blackwood and James, but would now like to explore further. I have also seen that the Ghost Stories for Christmas are available on DVD but quite expensive so I shall hold off on those.

I finished The queens of Innis Lear last night and was not disappointed by the ending. Having just read a summary of King Lear I can say that it was slightly less gruesome than the original, but still had a high body count. I enjoyed how Gratton fleshed out Gaela (Goneril) and Regan, giving them some sympathetic characteristics and motives and showing how the rift between them and Elia (Cordelia) came about. Ban the Fox (Edmund) was also made more three dimensional and conflicted instead of an outright villain, although I still think he ended up treated more kindly than he deserved. Based on my enjoyment of this one I will be looking out for Gratton's next book, Lady Hotspur, which is based on Henry IV part 1.

In its place I've started Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson, which starts with Mary Shelley being inspired to write her famous novel then jumps to a modern-day robotics expo. The book is discussing some serious issues - gender, sexuality, AI, bodies and the Singularity - but so far it's pretty hilarious. A maker of sex dolls explains that there aren't any male dolls because they can't give a satisfactory experience. But he's thinking of experimenting: "Women might enjoy sitting on top if I can get the action right. I've got some ideas from when I used to repair pop-up toasters".

I'm just over half way through The eighth life and still enjoying the journey. One character has escaped to exile in England after falling afoul of the Stalinist authorities; characters find themselves in Prague during the attempted revolution in 1968; the family fractures but is held together by the elderly sisters who are at its head. There is a touch of magical realism running through the book, in the form of a recipe for irresistible hot chocolate that may bring disaster to all who drink it - but one can just as easily interpret that as coincidence, as indeed some of the characters do.

And I've started to read Deep roots, the sequel to Winter tide. I enjoy the author's take on the Lovecraftian mythos that includes and empowers the women and racial minorities which he rejected.

>64 Sakerfalcon: I remember being frustrated by the BBC Christmas ghost stories time-slot. It was on Christmas Eve and I always had to stop watching it before the end because we would be heading out to midnight Mass. Midnight Mass was often at 9pm for security reasons.

I have also noticed that the DVDs are a bit expensive.

I picked up Frankissstein a while ago. I have read and enjoyed some Winterson before. Written on the Body as far as I recall. She did a great job of making the gender of the main character ambiguous. You could read it think the person was male, but if you thought about it the book never specified the characters gender and they could just as easily have been female. How she handled the emotions and thought patters in the situation was wonderful.

Your comments on Frankisstein have pushed it up the TBR stack.

>65 pgmcc: I think they must have rescheduled it just to annoy you. I remember BBC'S ghost stories being on at 10:45pm - just timed to frustrate those attending midnight masses held at a more conventional hour.

>64 Sakerfalcon: I enjoyed Frankissstein Claire, and saw Winterson performing some of it. She does more than just read.

>65 pgmcc:, >66 -pilgrim-: Hmm, sounds like an attempt either by the church to deter people from watching, or the BBC to deter people from attending Midnight Mass! How annoying!

>67 Caroline_McElwee: That must have been a great experience!

I finished Frankissstein on my final day of commuting for the time being. It was a great read. Winterson's narrative takes in Mary Shelley, sexbots, post-humans and much more besides. It makes you think about issues of identity, the body, AI and many more, but not in a preachy way that tells you what to think or offers morals. As I showed in my quote above, there is humour along the way and, as much of the story is told in dialogue, I was compelled to keep reading. Some may not like the lack of quotation marks but I didn't find it hard to keep track of who was speaking and when. This was, shamefully, my first book by Winterson, but it won't be my last.

I've also read an amusing non-fiction book, The Western lit survival kit. This is a snarky guide to the landmarks of Western literature, with a brief history and summary of each work, plus points out of 10 for Importance, Accessibility and Fun. I disagreed with some of the assessments, but that is half the fun of a book like this. Recommended both to those who read lots of English Lit at university or school and those who didn't but are thinking of dipping a toe in the water.

Over the last year or so I've been dipping into the anthology of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 and finally finished it. This is what it says on the cover, at least in the opinion of editors Joe Hill and John Joseph Adams. Overall the stories tend toward the literary and many could probably be classed as Slipstream rather than true genre. Yet I really enjoyed most of the contents. Stories by Sofia Samatar, Carmen Maria Machado, Cat Rambo, Seanan McGuire, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Neil Gaiman were among the highlights for me. I like that this series will have a different co-editor each year, working alongside Adams to select the stories. This should give each volume a different feel and keep the series surprising.

Still reading The eighth life and enjoying it. Deep roots is drawing me back into its post-war US/Lovecraftian world with its engaging found family of characters. I've also started reading quite a dark YA book, Wilder girls. This is set in a girls' school on an island off the coast of Maine which has been infected with a strange disease, the Tox, which mutates plant, animal and human life. The girls that survive have all been changed in some odd way. The US Navy drops off supplies for them every few days, and it is when our heroine Hetty joins the team to collect these that she starts to uncover some secrets. There are strong elements of body horror here in the girls' mutations, but other than that I'm intrigued and keen to keep reading.

And for nostalgia's sake I'm reading Lone Pine Five, where our child protagonists are trying to foil some dastardly deeds.

>68 Sakerfalcon: Hmm, sounds like an attempt either by the church to deter people from watching, or the BBC to deter people from attending Midnight Mass! How annoying!

Or both!

>68 Sakerfalcon: I enjoy Sandra Newman's Twitter feed.

Ooh, I have a GGBP copy of Lone Pine in London. I might have to do a reread.

>70 libraryperilous: If she is as snarky on Twitter as she is in the book, you would enjoy The western lit survival kit. I have her novel Ice Cream Star on Mount Tbr; maybe I will get to it this year.
The Lone Pine books have a lot more substance to them than, say, the Famous Five. There is a very strong sense of place (which for me is the main draw) and more nuanced characters and relationships. They require a bit more work than Enid Blyton but I find them more satisfying.

So I've finished most of what I was reading when I last posted.

The eighth life was a huge read, but very well worth the investment of time and energy. The Jashi family live through turbulent times in 20th century Georgia as the USSR rises and falls. We follow four generations, each with its strong, flawed characters caught up by fate. Half sisters Stasia and Christine begin the saga during the Russian Revolution; Niza brings it to a close by handing over to her niece Brilka in the early 2000s. Along the way there are nationally and personally harrowing events which afflict our characters; some react with strength, others are overwhelmed. It was interesting to see the events of the "Red Century" from the POV of a republic, rather than Russia itself, and there is a strong sense of Georgian culture and identity through the book. I enjoyed the framing device that this book is written by Niza for her niece, and the final section which tells how this came about makes for a very satisfying and optimistic end to the novel.

I also finished Deep roots which was a nice sequel to Winter tide. I like Aphra and her found family, and this book finds them in New York trying to reestablish the colony at Innsmouth that was destroyed by the US government. However they soon find that there is an otherworldly threat to humanity, which Aphra and her motley band must overcome. I like these books because the solutions are not violent; they involve working together and negotiating and trying to do as little harm as possible. I think this is the final book, and I will look forward to seeing what Emrys does next.

And I finished Wilder girls, which was almost very good. There was just too much left unexplained and I wondered if that was because the author couldn't figure out the reasons behind her set-up. Where the book was strong was in its portrayal of young women who are forced into survival mode and who don't care if they are likeable or not. They cooperate up to a point to ensure their safety, but still have loyalties and factions within the school. Ultimately a bit unsatifsying, but interesting.

I've started another YA fantasy, Havenfall which is set in a remote Colorado mountain town in an Inn that is the gateway to other worlds. Maddie is the current Innkeeper's niece and it is her ambition to take his place one day. I love the premise and setting, but so far the book is YA in the ways I don't like. Maddie supposedly has this massive ambition regarding the inn, but she ignores her uncle's advice on how an Innkeeper has to manage the otherworldly guests and instead sneaks off for kisses with her childhood sweetheart. This leads to betrayal and disaster with heavy consequences. I'm sure this is much more relatable to a teenager! My other complaint is that the two otherworlds are pretty forgettable. Admittedly we don't get to go to them; so far (and I'm halfway through) all the action takes place in our world. But we are told their characteristics and we meet characters from them, but honestly I can't remember a single distinguishing thing about them. Oh except people from one of them wear a lot of jewels in their ears. I will finish this but at present it is not the book for me.

I've also started Floating worlds, an older SF novel set 2000 years in the future when Earth is flooded and people have to live in domes on the surface. Mars and the Moon have been settled, and Earth is trying to expand further out, but they are attacked by by the mutant Styths. Paula Mendoza, an earth woman, is chosen to negotiate with them due to her knowledge of their language. Paula is an interesting protagonist, unconventional and amoral, not caring for protocol or etiquette. She will do things her way. I'm enjoying the read so far.

Removing double post.

>71 Sakerfalcon: I think I read it around the same time I read Beowulf on the Beach, but I'm not certain.

I've not read Blyton to compare, but I liked Saville's use of location in Lone Pine London. I gather his books set in Rye and Shropshire are even more atmospheric. I also have heard good things about Monica Edwards' Romney Marsh series.

>73 libraryperilous: Monica Edwards is wonderful! Her Romney Marsh and Punchbowl Farm series intersect, as characters visit each other across the books. I visited Rye last year and was probably driving my boyfriend made by relating everything we saw to the books! And I've been hiking around the Devil's Punchbowl but never managed to find the farm where Edwards lived and on which she based the books.

I finished Havenfall and was disappointed. I didn't find Maddie a very appealing heroine because she kept making bad choices for no good reason - just because the plot demanded it. We don't really get to know the other characters. I guessed several of the plot twists ahead of time, and found the pacing to be frustratingly slow. I like a slow-burn novel but this wasn't that; the slowness wasn't really building towards anything or developing the characters. The premise was fantastic, but Ilona Andrews Sweep series is a million times better.

Now I've started yet another YA book which is far more to my liking - Break the fall which is set in the world of competitive gymnastics. Audrey has just been selected for the US Olympic team but a shocking revelation about the national coach throws their preparations into turmoil. I love reading about gymnastics - I took classes as a child but never got much beyond handstands and cartwheels - and used to follow it avidly, so books like this are catnip to me. Audrey is determined to come home with a medal - ideally 2 - despite her ongoing back problems and the new crisis, and even the cute boy who likes her won't get in the way of her ambition.

>71 Sakerfalcon: So glad you liked The eighth life, Claire. I did read some Russian books from that period, and was glad to read a book from Georgian perspective. I hope to read Haratischwili's next book later this year.

(>72 Sakerfalcon: looks like you double posted)

>75 FAMeulstee: I would be interested in Haratischvili's other books if they get translated into English.

I finished Break the fall and really enjoyed it. There are faults I could pick with it, but for sheer enjoyment it deserves 5 stars!

I'm still enjoying Floating worlds, especially as we have now travelled away from Earth and are exploring some of the alien settlements on Uranus and its moons. Paula is an interesting lead character determined not to follow protocol or rules.

I read a couple of books this weekend.
Dread nation is an excellent alt-historical novel with zombies, set after the US Civil War. In this world, slavery was ended just as the dead began rising en masse from the battlefields and so it was decided that all these newly freed men and women could be trained to put down the zombies. A few years later a system of training colleges has been established for Black and Native children. As well as being a very good story, this book is an excellent examination of race, prejudice and injustice.Our lead and narrator, Jane, is a student at one of the best-regarded colleges, but her curiosity and feistiness soon see her and a classmate sent into exile from the supposedly safe East to the dangerous West of the country. Jane and Kate have always been enemies at school but now they are forced to work together and support each other if they are to survive. Their relationship is less cliched than I've made it sound. I thought this was a great book and I highly recommend it. I will be looking for the sequel when we can go to bookstores again.

Peril en pointe was recommended to me by libraryperilous who enjoyed this last year. It's a middle grade book set in a ballet school where all the students are also being trained as spies. It's an engaging premise with lots of potential. I was disappointed by the relative lack of actual ballet that we see though, and especially how Millie, our heroine, improves her performance in the short time in which the book takes place. I enjoyed the characters, especially Spencer, who I am glad didn't turn out to be a Draco Malfoy type and betray Millie and Mr Stubbs the shoemaker. However I found the mean girls to be stereotypical and the staff exaggerated. I'm glad I read it though and I can think of a friend with ballet-mad girls who will enjoy this a lot.

I also read The boatman's daughter which is supernatural/horror set in the swamps of Arkansas. Miranda's father died when she was a child, on a night of dark magic and mystery. She has made a living for herself ferrying packages for some of the corrupt men who trade drugs around the area, while trying to stay out of their intrigues. She is supporting the witch and the strange boy with webbed hands and feet who was born on the night her father died. They live on a secret island in the swamp. But the corrupt police officer and preacher who control the local drug trade have secrets and desires that will impinge on these innocents' lives and force Miranda into danger. This is a dark book with some violence, but also hope and love. The setting is a character in its own right - the overgrown bayous, the dilapidated buildings along the river, the flora and fauna of the swamp - and plays an essential role in creating the atmosphere of the book. Interestingly, the supernatural elements in the story are inspired by Russian folklore, but it fits surprisingly well into this landscape. This is more what I wanted Cheri Priest's The toll to be like - I felt that book pulled its punches in the end and was a bit weak. The real-life elements of this story were darker than I usually read, but this was a very worthwhile step out of my comfort zone.

I've just started Wen Spencer's series Steel City Magic. I have an omnibus of the first two books and so I'm just a chapter into Tinker.

>76 Sakerfalcon: Yes. From my notes, "It's a bit clunky in places. I wanted more of the ballet-spy blend, including, perhaps, ballet moves as spycraft. Instead, the two are halves, not a whole." The author is working on a second book in the series. I hope there's a bit more actual ballet and a little less of the caper stuff.

>74 Sakerfalcon: Sounds like a great trip! I'm keen to visit Rye after reading Secrets on the Shore.

>76 Sakerfalcon: I really enjoyed Dread Nation earlier this year especially the growing friendship between Jane and Katherine. I'm really struggling to get into any books at the moment but started the sequel, Deathless Divide last night and I'm hoping that's going to work.

>74 Sakerfalcon: Next time you visit, I will take you to Monica Edwards's farm. Michael and I found it once and it is not very near the bits of the Punchbowl accessible from the NT end.

>79 aliphil: That would be great! If it's not near the NT areas of the Punchbowl that would be why I've never found it! Do you think Joanna might like the books yet?

>77 libraryperilous: Yes, I agree with your review of Peril en pointe. The premise - ballet dancers as spies - is a great one and could be plausible if better executed.

>78 souloftherose: I'll look forward to your thoughts on Dread divide. Sometimes I'm reluctant to read the sequel to a book I loved in case the author messes it up for me!

I'm still enjoying Floating worlds. Paula is an interesting protagonist, resourceful and manipuative, who often finds herself in situations outside her control, yet she seeks ways to turn them to her advantage. She is amoral and happy to use others to get her way, but she does form genuine bonds with both aliens and humans. Her role as liaison between the Styth and humans - both of whom are far from united within themselves - puts her in danger on all sides, and she must use her wits - and if necessary, her body - to survive.

I read a Japanese mystery novel, The Aosawa murders, which was very good. At a birthday party for three generations with the same day of birth, all but one of the family were poisoned and died. The sole survivor is Hisako, the blind daughter. There is a major police investigation which ends with the suicide of the main suspect. But several people are not convinced he was guilty. The novel is told in a series of one-sided interviews - we read their testimony but not the questions they were asked. This means each chapter is basically a monologue from someone connected to the crime. It's an ingenious way of telling the story and enables you the reader to try and fit the pieces together. The novel takes place about 30 years after the murders and it isn't until the end of the book that we learn who the interviewer is and why they are making their enquiries. It's a very good read.

I've also been reading some short stories from the enormous anthology The weird on my kindle. This is a compendium of dark delights and authors I've read so far include Bradbury, Borges, Blackwood, Kafka, Lovecraft, Ashton Smith. Leiber and Leonora Carrington, with many, many more to come. I really appreciate the convenience of my kindle for dipping in and out of collections like this.

For those of you who are not on facebook, my father passed away in his sleep last week. He had not been well for a while and died just after being transferred to a nursing home. He had suffered from severe dementia for a couple of years now and found the world increasingly confusing and unrecognisable. While there is a hole in my life, I am glad he can now rest in peace.

I'm sorry about your dad. We lost my husband's father in exactly the same way. Cherish the good memories.

>80 Sakerfalcon: Massive hugs to you and all of the rest of your family. I do hope you managed to gather in his memory at some point when things have calmed down.

>81 Bookmarque: Thank you. Now that he is gone I can look back to who he was when he was a wonderful person and not the sad one he had become.

>82 clamairy: Thank you. The vicar of our church has said that we can inter his ashes in the churchyard and have a memorial then.

>80 Sakerfalcon: I'm sorry, and I hope your memories will help you in the healing process.

>80 Sakerfalcon: Big hugs. He's in a better place now. May he rest in peace.

>80 Sakerfalcon: I'm sorry to hear of your loss Claire. It was the second anniversary of my own dad's death last week, and he is much missed, but remembered with humour and love. I'm glad he didn't have to experience this pandemic. My thoughts are with you.

>83 Sakerfalcon: Exactly. My best to you also.

>80 Sakerfalcon: Sorry to hear of your loss. No matter the circumstances it's never easy to lose a loved one. Take care of yourself.

>80 Sakerfalcon: She might enjoy Wish for a Pony but is probably a bit young for the rest, and as she's not particularly horse-minded (sorry!) I'll leave it a bit.

>89 aliphil: I know she has lots of other good books lined up, and there is plenty of time!

>84 libraryperilous:, >85 Busifer:, >86 Caroline_McElwee:, >87 haydninvienna:, >88 AHS-Wolfy: Thank you all so much for your kind words and thoughts. In this time of social distancing I have been quite overwhelmed (in a good way) at all the support and love that has come through online. It has helped enormously.

>80 Sakerfalcon: So sorry for your loss.

I am still reading!

I finished Floating worlds and really enjoyed it. The story moves between Earth, Mars, the Moon, Uranus and the floating worlds of the title which are Dyson spheres where the Styth live. This is political and social SF, set almost 2000 years from now. It's a long read but I found it very worthwhile. It's back in print in the UK, and IMO deserves its place in the Masterworks series.

Now I'm reading Tuesday Mooney wore black, which is an adult novel based on the same concept as the children's classic The Westing game. An eccentric billionaire dies and leaves a treasure hunt for the public to find his fortune. The book takes place in Boston and visits some familiar locations. Tuesday is a likeable heroine, practical, blunt and down to earth, but haunted by the disappearance in childhood of her best friend. Now her main buddies are Dex, a gay financier, and her teenage next-door neighbour Dorry. Tuesday also gets to know the mysterious scion of the wealthy Arches family, Nathaniel, but is he actually mysterious or just a jerk? This is quite good fun so far and for me has the added unexpected bonus of a character from the author's earlier novel Bellweather rhapsody making an appearance. It's not quite as engaging as The Westing game, however!

I've got a little further into Tinker and am quite enjoying the mix of SF with elves and magic, but finding some aspects of it to feel a bit dated. The treatment of sexism seems a bit casual - Tinker doesn't really challenge it and nor do other characters, although in the first chapter one character's behaviour is way out of line. But I am looking forward to seeing where this is going.

And I'm rereading The Chalet School and the Lintons, which I have just received an unabridged copy of. It's nice to revisit this comforting school story!

I am only just catching up on reading threads now, so please accept my apologies for the lateness, as well as my sincere condolences on your loss.

My own experience was as you describe; after my father's death I was able to remember him as he was in happier times, rather than in his latter years.

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your father - my thoughts are with you and your family. x

>93 -pilgrim-: Thank you Pilgrim. I know you have been going through a lot recently and so there is no need to apologise at all! I'm glad to hear that you were able to remember better times after your father's death; that gives me hope that I will be able to do the same.

>91 Narilka:, >94 Peace2: Thank you both for your kind words and thoughts.

I finished Tuesday Mooney wore black and ended up enjoying it quite a lot. I see that in the US it has a different title, Tuesday Mooney talks to ghosts, which I feel might be a bit misleading as this isn't really a supernatural novel and the loss of Tuesday's best friend in childhood is a relatively minor part of the story. Tuesday is not always likeable; when she suffers a crisis in her life she behaves horribly towards her friend, but she later acknowledges this and apologises sincerely. Over the course of the book Tuesday comes to recognise that her emotional distance and tendency to seek out her friends on her own terms means that she isn't always a good friend, and she learns to give as well as take. The treasure hunt plot is fun, and will be even more so to anyone who knows Boston well, and the whole book is a tribute to Edgar Allen Poe and his sensibility. It was a fun read.

I also read a historical novel set in C17th Iceland, The glass woman. This has elements of Jane Eyre and Rebecca in that it is the story of a second wife entering into marriage with a stern man who has secrets, and whose first wife was lost in mysterious circumstances. The Icelandic setting and historical period are vividly evoked - the beautiful but cruel landscape and weather help to show how hard life was for the characters. Rosa's meekness was a bit frustrating at times - I recognise that around her husband it was a survival strategy, but she also seemed unsure of herself around the women who showed kindness towards her and she had an annoying tendency to let her sentences trail off unfinished. One thing I did admire in Rosa though - her childhood sweetheart comes to work for her husband, and shows signs of wanting to start a romance with her, but Rosa resists and keeps him at arms length. Such sensible behaviour was a nice change from heroines who lose control and get themselves into a whole mess of trouble. The final quarter of the book was especially strong, and benefitted from the author's inclusion of sections from Jon, the husband's, point of view. Overall this was a good read.

In addition to Steel magic I'm also reading Gideon the Ninth, which was hugely hyped by the publisher, Tor, last year. So far it is quite unique, and well written. It's a crazy mix of fantasy, SF and necromancy. Gideon is an indentured servant to the Ninth House, and as the book opens she's making her 87th attempt to escape. She is foiled though, and given an ultimatum; if she will serve as Cavalier to the heir to the house, Harrowhark, then she will be given her freedom. But of course it won't be that easy. The world is being slowly revealed as the story progresses, and I am intrigued.

I'm also reading short stories from The best American fantasy and science fiction 2017 and The Weird. What I am appreciating about the latter collection is that the stories are drawn from all traditions and origins - as well as a range of US and UK writers there have also been works in translation from Japan, Latin America, Spain, France and others - and I'm only 1/3 of the way into this huge anthology!

I await your review of Gideon the Ninth. I'm not certain it will be SF enough for me, and I'm iffy on the necromancy. If you like it, I might give it a try in a few weeks.

norabelle414 also reviewed Tuesday Mooney favorably. I think I'll leave that one on the TBR and read it in Boston when next I'm there.

>95 Sakerfalcon: I enjoyed The Glass Woman too Claire. Though it also put me in mind of Hannah Kent's Burial Rites.

>96 libraryperilous: I've finished Gideon the Ninth and I think your impression is correct. I'll review it below.
Tuesday Mooney would a great book to read while in Boston!

>97 Caroline_McElwee: Yes, the two books have a lot in common. Both are vivid depictions of the harsh beauty of the Icelandic landscape and how it shapes the lives of men and women. It is high on my list of places to visit in the future.

Gideon the Ninth falls into the category of Science Fantasy, combining as it does spaceships with swords. After this first book in the trilogy, I felt that it didn't really need the Sfnal elements; however I expect that these will be expanded in the next two books. Gideon is an amusing, and occasionally irritating, protagonist - irreverent to the point of rudeness, with a "couldn't care less" demeanour. She has an adversarial relationship with the head of her House, Harrowhark, and the two young women have spent their whole lives basically trying to kill each other. Now they must work together. Gideon's one liners aren't always as funny as they're supposed to be, but I generally enjoyed the black humour which permeates the narrative, and I was happy to follow the relationship between the two as it develops. The story is essentially a combination of treasure hunt and locked-room mystery. The necromancer and cavalier (essentially "brain and brawn" pairings) from each of the Houses have been summoned to the First House to compete for the honour of becoming a Lyctor and serving the Undead Emperor. But it's not long before people start dying, and our characters have to try and find out who is the culprit while trying not to become victims themselves, and still solve the puzzle to win the contest. I didn't find the book too disturbing until the end, which was a very gory denouement. But the necromancy generally involves creating skeletal constructs rather than defiling dead bodies so I was okay with that. I would have liked the different nature of the houses to be made clearer - they obviously have different attributes and roles which are never spelled out. And I'd have liked to have spent more time with the other houses before people started dying. But despite these flaws this was a world that I enjoyed spending time in, and I will be going back there when the sequel is published. Like it or loathe it, it is unique.

I also read one of Molly Keane's novels which are set in Ireland among the decaying Anglo-Irish gentry. It is the world that the author came from, and she depicts it with a merciless eye. I read Loving without tears, which centres around Angel, a woman who doesn't want to lost control of her children now they are adults. Her son Julian is on his way home from WWII and Angel is excited preparing for his arrival in ways that his sister and cousin know he will hate. But any suggestion that he might not be the boy he was when he left to fight is met with "Do you think I don't know my beloved children?" Her daughter Slaney is 18 and just discovering love, but Angel isn't happy that this is happening without her guidance and seeks to put a spanner in the works. Her grateful, obedient niece Tiddley (this can't be her real name surely, but she's never called anything else) is also showing signs of rebellion. Julian's return brings all these and other matters to a head. Angel's stratagems to regain control are pretty obvious and you think the characters should have realised that they were being manipulated, but if you turn a blind eye to that then this is a lovely light read. It has something of the feel of a play to it (not surprising as Keane wrote some plays), in that most of the action takes place in and around the house and scenes have something of a stagey feel to them.

I also finished the stories in The best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017. I really enjoy these anthologies which draw content from sources such as tor.com. Lightspeed, The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, as well as more literary sources like The New Yorker and Tin House. This volume included stories by E. Lily Yu, Leigh Bardugo, Genevieve Valentine, Catherynne Valente and Peter S. Beagle among others.

Now I've started a couple of new books - the Booker Prize shortlisted The overstory which is all about trees, and Journey under the midnight sun which is a Japanese murder mystery. And I'm continuing with Steel City magic although I'm not enthralled enough to pick it up every day.

>98 Sakerfalcon: Gideon sounds interesting. I'm adding it to my watch list to see if it goes on sale.

>99 Narilka: I have Gideon the Ninth on my Overdrive borrow list at the library. Looks like it's part of a series though so I intend to wait until the full story is published since I tend forget too much of the preceding book(s) if I can't get to the next installment timely.

I look forward to your take on The Overstory, Claire. I own a copy, but I haven't read it yet.

If Steel City Magic is set in Pittsburgh I'll be interested in it as well.

>98 Sakerfalcon: I loved The Overstory Claire.

How are you coping Claire. Having the loss of your dad as well must be hard. That said, you have some time to spend with your memories. Are you able to work full time?

>98 Sakerfalcon: I think I'll leave this one buried on the backup TBR, although I do like sci-fi mysteries. Not enough to tempt me, though, to a bump up.

>99 Narilka: Hopefully the ebook version might go on sale when book 2 is released this summer.

>100 ScoLgo: I have that problem sometimes too, but in this case I just felt like going ahead anyway! The next book is this summer so I don't have too long to wait for that at least.

>101 kidzdoc: I'm about halfway through The overstory and it is good so far. I find it hard to read about the destruction of the environment though, so some of the scenes of the ancient trees being felled are tough.
I've finished the first volume of Steel City magic and I can't recommend it to you, I'm afraid. Comments below.

>102 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you Caroline. I'm doing ok at the moment. I am working full time, although I have to admit that some days are very slow. I've been going to see my mum and sister at the weekends and that is good. Otherwise I'm actually quite enjoying the solitude.

>103 libraryperilous: As I was reading I thought it probably wasn't your kind of book, especially not at this particular time!

So I finished Tinker, which is the first volume in the anthology Steel City Magic, by Wen Spencer. Tinker is an eighteen year old woman who is an engineering, mechanical, scientific genius, but hopelessly naive in a lot of ways. She lives in Pittsburgh but not as we know it, because some years ago an interstellar gate opened up which transports the city to a planet called Elfhome for 28 days of each month. The odd days it returns to Earth. This premise made my head hurt if I thought about it too much. But that wasn't the main problem I had with the book. I hated that so many of the male characters lusted after Tinker and acted like complete perverts around her - and everyone just kind of shrugs it off. It's not challenged in the narrative. One guy confesses that he has been in love with her since she was 14 (he's 10 years older) and was just waiting for her to be legal before he asked her out. She agrees to go on a date with him, feeling amazed and flattered that anyone would feel that way about her. Then there is the hero, an Elf called Windwolf, whose life Tinker saves, and who is also attracted to her. He marries her and transforms her into an Elf without her consent because she has agreed to things she doesn't understand and that he hasn't explained. The worst moment for me was an incident of rape as punishment (not with Tinker as the victim) which, although not graphic, was sadistic, and yet was never referred to as rape. In spite of all this I did like some of the secondary characters and there were some parts that were fun to read. It's also nice to have a heroine who is so strong at STEM subjects. It's just a pity I can't actually recommend this to anyone who needs such a role model. Darryl, the book didn't give me any sense of Pittsburgh as a city because the focus was more on the fantasy and SF elements (and the "romance").

I'm also reading Wolf winter, a Swedish novel set in the remote north in 1717. It is set on a mountain where a few homesteaders eke out a living. Maija and her daughters (14 and 6) struggle to survive the bitter winter that follows the mysterious death of a fellow settler. At first people are inclined to blame his death on wolves, but Maija is sure it was murder. Fredericka, the older daughter, is at odds with her mother as she grows up, and the two have a largely silent relationship, which becomes more strained when Fredericka starts to have visions of the dead man and developing shamanistic gifts. She goes to the Lapp people who camp nearby in the winter for help which they are reluctant to give. This is an excellent picture of life at this moment in history, where a distant king's decisions and far-off wars can impact people's lives, religion and superstition mingle, woman are expected to be physically strong yet submissive and silent and life is harsh and full of danger. Although there is the mystery of the killer to be solved, this is more a book about identity and survival in a bitter world. It's very good.

The overstory and Journey under the midnight sun are both going well.

To take the place of Tinker as my fantasy/sf read, I've started The Grand Dark, which is set in a Weimar Republic-esque alternate city with some steampunk elements and a very strong Weird vibe. I'm not grabbed by the characters but the world building has me hooked.

>104 Sakerfalcon: LOL, definitely will skip it if you thought that. I trust your judgement. :)

Tinker sounds like a big ol' nope.

>104 Sakerfalcon:, yeah, that was pretty much my impression of Tinker, too. I was never really sure who it was FOR. If you want urban life mixed with elves and magic, go to Bordertown. If you want some of the edgier elements and more of a focus on technology, just read The Iron Dragon's Daughter, which has some genre similarities but NEVER paints any of the sexual attention that the main character unwillingly receives in a positive light. I mean, it's definitely not to everyone's taste, but at least these elements are included to make a point.

>104 Sakerfalcon: - I've read and liked several Wen Spencer books, and read the later books in the Tinker series first because I was able to get them. I got hold of a copy of Tinker after I had read all the rest, and might not have read the others if I'd read it first. Not what I'd expected.

Wolf Winter still makes me shiver. There's a certain scene involving one of the sisters after skiing that almost made me cry. The hardship was unbelievable. All the crybabies whining about their stay at home orders ought to read this. Have you finished yet?

I'm glad that you're enjoying The Overstory so far, Claire.

Thanks for the warning about Tinker. Oof.

>105 libraryperilous:, >106 Kanarthi:, >107 NorthernStar: Thanks for your comments! I'm glad I wasn't alone in my reaction to Tinker. I have heard that the later books have fewer problems, but I doubt I will get that far. I did enjoy The black wolves of Boston and hope she writes a sequel to that.

>108 Bookmarque: I finished Wolf winter this weekend and thought it was excellent. It's like a bleak version of The long winter with extra frostbite and abuse. I know nothing of Swedish history so it was interesting to learn about the wars that the king was involved in and how those far-off events impacted people who were already struggling to survive. There are several tough scenes in this book, and not a lot of love and comfort, but it is a great read and strangely satisfying.

>109 kidzdoc: I enjoyed The overstory. I can see why it won the Pulitzer.

So I finished some of my books over the weekend.

Wolf winter was a very good read, chilling both in its physical depiction of winter and in the cruelty that humans can show to each other. Winter in medieval Sweden, with its long nights and bitter cold, doesn't allow for much more than the basics of survival, and tenderness is a luxury. Strength is what is most necessary. But Maija is determined to uncover the mystery of the death of one of the nearby settlers, even if she does uncover some dangerous secrets while doing so. The characters seem to have the right values and attitudes for their time which mean that they don't always do or think the way we would and aren't always likeable. The women must be physically strong and capable, while remaining submissive and silent; men can be brutal in order to hide their weaknesses; and for children, every day of survival is a victory. This is a gripping novel that, while tough to read in places, I highly recommend.

The overstory is a big novel that nevertheless read quite quickly. The first section is like a series of short stories in which we meet nine characters, all of whose lives have been impacted in some way by trees. In the next sections we see connections forming between these people - some meet physically, others never do but are somehow influenced by others. The climax of the second and longest section is an act of environmental protest against the destruction of ancient forests, about which I felt as passionately as the characters. This section ends with a tragedy that separates the characters, and the rest of the book shows them going their separate ways yet still remaining connected. You will learn a lot about trees in this book; I imagine that the author feels as passionately about them as his characters do, given the amount of information he gives about these wondrous beings with which we share the earth. But the book is far more complex than just being a cry against destruction. It leads us to think about right and wrong, effective and wasteful, ways to protest and raise awareness of issues; the relative value of human and non-human life; what makes some people care and others not. I wish there was a bibliography provided though, as I would love to read further and find out if some of the most radical research findings in the book were based in reality.

I also finished Journey under the midnight sun, which was an intricately woven Japanese mystery novel. The book description is misleading, because it makes it sound like a police procedural, whereas in fact the detective appears in the first chapter and then not until the final 150 or so pages of the book. In between, it follows a large cast of characters who are subtly linked by a chain of events which gradually emerges as the book progresses. We soon see that 2 main characters are key to what takes place over a period of 20 years, but we only glimpse them through other people's eyes, and have to discern their motives for ourselves until the final revelation. It is not easy to watch the impact that the two sociopaths have on others, but it is weirdly fascinating. The passage of time is mainly marked by changes in the background, such as developing technology and mentions of current events; we are rarely told the year. There are a lot of character names to keep track of and I notice several reviewers suggest making a list, which I think would be helpful. The web the author weaves is skilfully done, and I both admired and enjoyed the read.

I also finished The grand dark and enjoyed it more than I expected. For me the city of Lower Proszawa was the best character, but the protagonist Largo grew on me as he was changed by events, and there were some interesting supporting characters too. Lower Proszawa is crumbing and corrupt - it has a lot in common with New Crobuzon (China Mieville's creation) but is clearly inspired by the Weimar Republic. It is populated by industrialists and scientists, couriers and actors, disfigured soldiers and fallen gentry. The secret police will arrest and torture anyone they suspect of fomenting revolution but this doesn't stop various groups intent on sedition from forming. Largo is unwillingly drawn into events despite his self-confessed cowardice and apathy, but as the book develops he does mature in ways that fit with his character as it was established - he doesn't miraculously become a hero but he starts to take risks for others. This doesn't rate among my favourite Weird Cities - those would be Ambergris and New Crobuzon - but it is a good addition to their ranks.

Not sure why I have been reading so many dark books at the moment, but for a change of mood I'm reading an enjoyable SF romp, Like a boss. This is the sequel to Windswept, which was a book bullet from several people on LT a couple of years ago. Padma Mehta has achieved her ambition to become the owner of the Windswept rum distillery, but finds herself unwillingly drawn back into Union activities as a planet-wide strike threatens to tank the whole economy. The city of Santee comes alive with its tropical heat, lively streets and diverse population, and for once the economics of the world seem plausible. Padma's enemy from the first book reappears, a seemingly changed character who has started a church movement which is helping people in need - but it is also behind the mass strike which surely can only do harm? Padma has to get to the bottom of things while not missing her daily 6 o'clock glass of rum.

I've also started The raven tower, Ann Leckie's foray into fantasy. So far it hasn't grabbed me the way the Ancillary books did, but I'm not very far along yet.

>110 Sakerfalcon: I'm very much a SF fan, and loved her Ancillary trilogy, but have to say that The Raven Tower grew on me. And while I don't rate it as highly as her SF I did like it very much.

My son liked it, too, and he's more hardcore fantasy, but when we talked about it he especially mentioned that he struggled with the switch of perspective. He didn't enjoy reading all perspectives equally, so lost engagement when the story switched to someone who hadn't grabbed him. He also felt that the switches came too unannounced, that the sometimes didn't know whose perspective he was experiencing the story from. But he also mentioned that he thought his enjoyment was lessened by the fact that he was reading it for school and had to analyze the text as he read it, to be able to report on it in a way that benefited his grades: he was sure he'd enjoyed it more if no one had forced him to intellectualize the experience.

Nice review of The Overstory, Claire. I'll move it a bit higher in my TBR queue. I wonder if our arborist friend Paul Harris (Polaris-) has read it.

I think you'll enjoy The Raven Tower, Claire. Stick with it.

I DNFed The Raven Tower and Provenance, but I loved Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy.

I'm intrigued by the Windswept series.

>111 Busifer: I'm with you on The raven tower. I did get into it, but I prefer the Ancillary trilogy. I thought your son's reaction to the change of perspective, as this is a common technique in fantasy books (Game of Thrones, etc) and I think a lot of people have difficulty when the narrative switches to a character or plot that they are less interested in. I did find the god's story to be much less compelling than Eolo's experiences, but enjoyed how they eventually came together.

>112 kidzdoc: Yes, I was thinking of Paul as I read The overstory! It made me want to go back to the PNW and see the redwood forests and the rainforests before they disappear. I saw a very depressing piece in the Guardian yesterday about how the BLM is pressing ahead with opening up public lands in the western US for development. But I shan't say more so as not to break the rule on discussing politics.

>113 clamairy: I did enjoy it in the end, but it took a while to grow on me. Your comment helped me to keep going!

>114 libraryperilous: The raven tower does seem to have divided people! I still need to try Provenance. See my comments below about Windswept.

I finished Like a boss which was a really good read. While the plot and setting are totally different, something about it made me think of K. B. Wagers' space operas. Both series have the same kind of tough but thoughtful heroine who is thrown into a situation out of her depth and forced to form alliances and use her smarts to save herself and the world. The Windswept books are much smaller scale, being based on just one planet, but the blend of humour and action is similar. Padma will kick ass when she needs to but would rather rely on her words and, more importantly, her willingness to listen. The plot is based around issues of labour economics and Padma's challenge is to unite all those who are being exploited to take action against the big bad, rather than blaming each other and not achieving anything. So far there are only two books, but I would welcome more.

I admired but didn't love The raven tower. Leckie managed to avoid the usual tropes in this story of power struggles by telling it from the perspective of a god. I have to say that I found the god's story from its origin to the struggles in the book's present to be mostly uninteresting. Eolo's story was much more interesting, dealing as it did with individuals rather than collective groups of people, or with gods. I felt that we were being told rather than shown the events in the origin story, which made it much less engaging. I don't know Hamlet well enough to get all the parallels with Eolo's storyline (lots of reviews have mentioned that there are strong resemblance between the two) but I did enjoy watching him navigate the political and religious machinations. The book is very well written, original and brave, but I can't see myself returning to it as I will the Ancillary books. But I will be very interested in whatever Leckie writes next. One final, rather irrelevant comment - the cover of this book does absolutely nothing for me and if I didn't already know and like the author's work I would never have picked it out.

I'm still dipping to The weird on my kindle, which is proving a real treasury of marvels. Not all of the stories are to my taste, but recent ones that grabbed me were The hospice by Robert Aickman, and The little dirty girl by Joanna Russ. getting this on kindle when it was on sale for £1.99 was one of the best decisions I've ever made!

In print I've started reading another SF novel, Escaping Exodus, which is set inside the body of a giant space-faring creature in which humans make their home. And for completely a different mood, I'm reading Return I dare not by Margaret Kennedy, about a young playwright who has become a victim of his own success - forced to maintain his social persona to meet the public's expectations - and this is well before social media! An invitation to a weekend house party seems likely to trigger a cataclysm for Hugo. I love Kennedy's books and am so glad that Vintage is making the rarer titles available again.

>114 libraryperilous: I liked Provenance, I liked how the story came together in the end. It's a lot of book to get through if you don't enjoy it, though, so I can see why you DNF'd it.

>115 Sakerfalcon: Yes, I talked to him about that, noting especially that multiple main characters/pov's is quite common, especially in modern literature. His take is that he would had had no problems with it if the switch had been more obvious, i.e. separate chapter headings or the like. Now he was left hanging a bit, to wonder whose pov he was now experiencing.
To me that's one of the good things with the story, but I can see how others might not appreciate the uncertainty.

I personally liked and appreciated the god's perspective: how they gained power from people believing in them is pretty standard but I liked how they could communicate with each other while humans just didn't manage to get it.
Had I not read her other work I would not had read this, though, and I would never had "found" her through reading The Raven Tower.

(None of us enjoy GoT, btw, though I haven't read any of it: I decided years ago that I would start it when the series got finished, but the televised version came in-between. And the first episodes had me laughing at the incredulity of it all, so I just could not continue watching it. Mind, I don't like Arthurian retellings either, though I appreciate the historical role the legends has played in the shaping of England. Not judging - we enjoy different things and that's for the better.)

>116 Busifer: At the time, I put Provenance on my mental list of novels to try again later. I was intrigued by the concept, and there was enough there for me to think it might have been a timing issue. The Raven Tower I just straight DNFed.

re: changes in POV: Sometimes authors struggle to make these smooth because they don't shift the voice of the characters enough. I.e., everyone sounds the same, so it's harder to keep track. Some authors also struggle to differentiate enough when writing dialogue. It isn't a problem solely caused by, or limited to, multiple story arcs.

I also think the multiple POV convention is common enough that a number of authors utilize it without putting much thought into it. Some authors use popular or trendy tactics as a substitute for crafting a good story.

>117 libraryperilous: Definitely. I just expect higher standards from Leckie. That said I did not have a problem with the shifting perspective - I rarely have - not other than the sometime lack of interest in the specific character or sub-plot. So in this case it could well be that son isn't that used to reading books not specifically targeting the YA segment. The only other not-YA books that I know he's read has been LoTR, Jurassic Park, and, lately, Good Omens: other than that it has been non-fiction, or stuff like Harry Potter (which he has reread multiple time, as it was his first real fandom).
And while GO has multiple perspectives they are all clearly indicated, as I remember it.
I need to get him reading more!

>115 Sakerfalcon: The Hospice is one of my favourites. Have you read any other Aickman stories? I am very fond of his work.

>118 Busifer: I sometimes dislike dual timeline narratives, and it usually is because I find one of the timelines crashingly boring compared to the other one. I especially don't seem to do well with those "Woman finds a letter and it unlocks the past" sorts of historical fiction novels that have been popular the last several years.

So in this case it could well be that son isn't that used to reading books not specifically targeting the YA segment.

Also, reading a bit more closely becomes easier the more you do it. As he discovers more about his likes and dislikes, he probably will find that authorial choices don't take him out of the narrative as much.

Is your son interested in genres other than fantasy? I think you mentioned on your thread that he's not super into sci-fi?

>120 libraryperilous: Well, he's into sci-fi as long as it's televised, so to speak - I have yet to manage to tempt him into reading any books in the genre. His genre is fantasy (he can talk for hour about LoTR, a lack of understanding on Tolkien's part of his colonialist bias, how the lack of redemption makes LoTR less compelling than more modern works... and so on and so forth). I'm trying to nudge him towards C.J. Cherryh's works, because I think some of them would work well for him, but as a parent there's a limit to how much you can do before it turns into an anti-reaction.

>121 Busifer: How old is your son? Maybe try suggesting Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin to him? If he likes her take on fantasy, he might be willing to explore some of her more SFnal works.

>122 ScoLgo: He's 16, 17 this autumn, and is totally uninterested in Earthsea: I think it has been a case of me pushing it a bit too hard. I do think it would sit very well with him, both because of the genre and topic/s and because he appreciates the historical aspects (the world at the time it was written, how the work has influenced future authors, and so on). Le Guin is one of my all time favourite authors.

I also think the humour and satire of the Discworld universe would sit well with him, and I especially expect him to love Vetinari, the Igors, and all of that. Again, I think I have tried a bit too hard to get him to try it.

I definitely think he'll try both, eventually.

>116 Busifer: I read the first four GoT books when they were published, but the wait for book 5 was so long that I forgot most of what happened by the time it came out, and the thought of rereading all that blood and gore was too much. Re: switching viewpoints - what is interesting about The Raven Tower is that even when we are following Eolo's story, it is still seen from the god's point of view. We never actually get Eolo's own view of things. So that potentially makes it even more confusing when the narrative section changes - is it the god telling his own story or someone else's?

>117 libraryperilous: Your comment about some authors not having the ability to create distinct narrative voices for each character is a good one, and something I have found in the past when reading books with different first-person narrators. A teenage girl's voice shouldn't really be interchangeable with that of a middle aged man!

>118 Busifer: I'm glad your son is a fan of Good Omens! It's such a good book and the TV adaptation was great too.

>119 pgmcc: I have not. I would appreciate any recommendations, especially if there is a collected volume that contains some of your favourites.

>121 Busifer:, >122 ScoLgo:, >123 Busifer: I know my friends with children have had trouble getting them to accept book recommendations. It is hard to hold back and play it cool when you love a book so much that you really want someone to read it! I'm glad that you think he will come around to reading Earthsea and Discworld on his own eventually.

I finished Return I dare not this weekend, and enjoyed it although I don't think it is one of the author's best books. Most of the characters are fairly unlikeable, selfish and amoral, with little thought for the consequences of their actions. Hugo himself is stretched thin trying to be what they expect him to be and perform his social duty but he has to learn the hard way that one can't be all things to everyone and still retain any integrity. I liked the matriarch Lady Geraldine, who can't remember people's names, and her granddaughter Marianne and her friend Solange, who provide a refreshing breath of common sense in the hothouse of emotions. The depiction of a house party at a stately home is a nice glimpse into the past as it was for those of a certain social class, and the book is an enjoyable escape. I would recommend Together and apart or The feast over this one though.

I'm quite enjoying Escaping Exodus so far. The two viewpoint characters are fairly sympathetic, though I do sometimes want to slap them for making silly decisions at times. They live in a matriarchal but far from utopian society, with rigid social divisions and strict rules. The setting within a huge space-faring beast, which the humans exploit in order to survive, is vivid and disturbing; part of the plot is one character realising that her people are dependent on destroying another living being for their survival. There is some gore, as you might expect, but it is not nearly as gruesome as The stars are legion which I found quite gross. YMMV though.

I've just started two other books from my TBR piles, one older and one new. Mythago Wood is soaked in British folklore, as two brothers return to the wood that haunted their father in the years following WWII. And Ninth House was a book bullet from several people on LT. It's set at Yale University among the secret societies. I've only read the first chapter so far, but I'm hooked. That chapter will, I think, give most readers a very good idea of whether this book is for them or not- it's pretty dark and gruesome.

>124 Sakerfalcon:

I was introduced to Robert Aickman by the friend from The Philippines that I met up with in Foyles' Bookshop the same day Caitríona and I met you and -pilgrim-. He had mentioned a few of Aickman's stories around 2006 and once I tracked them down I was hooked.

Until a few years ago access to Aickman's works was limited as buying first editions was about the only way one could get to read them. Tartarus Press published limited editions and that is how I gained access to these stories. A few years ago Faber & Faber started republishing the collections in a print on demand format that is quite a good paperback and at a reasonable price (compared to the prices of the first editions). The collection, Cold Hand in Mine contains The Hospice and many other stories that I loved. The inside cover of my copy is covered in notes.

I have never been disappointed by a story written by Robert Aickman. If you have enjoyed The Hospice you will realise that Aickman's stories are "Weird" and, as you read that story in The Weird, you will be prepared for the stories in his collections.

His writing is one of the standards I use when I am trying to work out why I liked or disliked another author's work. Aickman's stories give me that little bit extra I am looking for that goes beyond simply telling a story. Some of his stories will include elements of humour, or pose questions about life making the reader reflect on some aspect of society. I also get a great sense of place from his stories and he portrays the ambiance of a room, a house, a street, or even a town with marvelous aplomb and apparent lack of effort.

Many of his stories remind me of the 1960s. There are some of his stories that are difficult to place in time. One of his novels, The Late Breakfasters, is very hard to place. The first half takes place in a stately home and you could imagine it being Dalton Abbey. It very much has the feel of the pre-WWI era, and even the politics discussed would imply that. However, there are elements of the story that make you think it is taking place in the 1960s or between the wars. I suspect this is all part of Aickman's skill at unsettling the reader and putting them in a limbo that he controls.

I could go on. As you will have inferred, I recommend starting with Cold Hand in Mine. Happy reading. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have.

>124 Sakerfalcon: Well, I had Escaping Exodus on my TBR. Oof. Honestly, appreciate your taking one for my TBR team again.

I read Mythago Wood a few years ago and was underwhelmed, but I think it's because I have little interest in British folklore. I found the friend more compelling than the brothers. It was easy to understand why the book is considered a classic, though.

A teenage girl's voice shouldn't really be interchangeable with that of a middle aged man!

It amazes me, each time I read an egregious example, that no one involved in the editing process said, "Back to the drawing board on these chapters!"

>124 Sakerfalcon: In contrast, the depiction just made Escaping Exodus an immediate book bullet for me.

Oh, and yeah, >126 libraryperilous:, that's definitely a pet peeve. Do either of you have recommendations for authors who are especially good at this? Because glancing back on books I can think of, it's easier for me to recall bad implementations than skilled ones.

>124 Sakerfalcon:, >126 libraryperilous: I am looking forward to what you make of Mythago Wood; it has been on my TBR pile for a very long time.

British folklore is a particular interest of mine (as are certain theories about the universality of certain mythic tropes).
But the same person who enthusiastically recommended this to me also tried to get me reading Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance! Reading those books was quite enough to determine that this friend had a rather different attitude towards gore, and the gruesome used as shock tactic, to mine. I have been fighting shy of Mythago Wood ever since...

>128 Kanarthi: Well, this was an interesting question, and I didn't come up with any good answers. I do recommend Theodora Goss' Athena Club series, as she is grand at giving each of the women distinctive voices. Also, One Hundred and Twenty-One Days uses a number of narrative voices and techniques and is just a beautiful novel overall. Spinning Silver also is effective at creating distinctions between the female characters' voices. Not quite what you were asking, I know.

>129 -pilgrim-: I'll be interested in your thoughts on Mythago Wood if you read it. It definitely combines British folklore with commentary on the universality of myths. I don't recall gore being a problem, and I'm rather sensitive to that. My problem was that it was too mystical for my tastes. It's quite Jungian in its philosophy.

Gene Wolfe is an author who's long been on my TBR. Should I skip him?

>129 -pilgrim-: I got about one third of the way through The Shadow of the Torturer before the details of techniques and psychology of torture got too much for me and I bailed.

I have been told by other people that Gene Wolfe was doing this for a specific purpose here, as opposed to being his generic writing style. And, as we were discussing in my earlier thread, I have a much lower tolerance for invented fantasy violence, than when it comes up because necessitates by historical accuracy.

So, I may give his The Knight a try some day, before giving up completely.

But I would suggest you skip The Book of the New Sun, which spends all its time inside the head of a young man raised from birth to be a torturer.

ETA: Your description makes Mythago Wood sound somewhat more appealing.

>130 libraryperilous: I’m also interested in the answer about Gene Wolfe. I have had The Book if the New Sun unread on the shelf for lo! these many years, and have never been game to start it.

>131 -pilgrim-:, >132 haydninvienna: I believe I shall skip this one. The Latro in the Mist series was the one on my TBR. I've just reread a description of it, and it would not be to my taste. Perhaps Pirate Freedom instead?

I didn't get into SF/F until I was in my thirties. I've hit upon a number of excellent older titles, but, in the main, I seem to prefer contemporary novels.

>131 -pilgrim-: I made it through the first book of the New Sun, then tried Wolfe again with his Wizard Knight duology and decided that he really wasn't for me. I'll leave him to those who enjoy him. I didn't like either of the stories, or the writing style or pretty much anything :-D

>123 Busifer: I should have guessed that you would already have suggested Earthsea to him. I hope he comes around to it at some point. I first read LotR at 11 years of age and was completely enraptured. I discovered Earthsea 4 or 5 years later and re-reads have held up better for me than the Tolkien. I still absolutely love the Tolkien books but Le Guin explores themes not usually found in standard fantasy tropes and that makes re-reads of Earthsea more relevant for this adult, (notice I do not say 'more mature'), reader.

>124 Sakerfalcon: >126 libraryperilous: "A teenage girl's voice shouldn't really be interchangeable with that of a middle aged man!"

I ran into this recently while reading N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy. I really liked those books, (solid 4 stars through all three volumes), but the 10-year old daughter, (Nessun), is wise beyond her years and her vocabulary was incredibly well-developed. I had a tough time understanding how a writer of Jemisin's caliber could let that slip through. Did none of her beta readers or editors mention it to her? Or did she ignore their advice? Oh well, it was one relatively minor bad note in an otherwise excellent story.

>127 Kanarthi: Me too. I have just added Escaping Exodus to my Overdrive list. I really liked The Stars Are Legion. Yes, the gross & gory parts were gross & gory but the world-building, characters, and story kept me reading. Hurley is an author I plan to read more of soon.

>129 -pilgrim-: >130 libraryperilous: >132 haydninvienna: Gene Wolfe... hoo boy... Wolfe is one of my top five favorite writers. That being said, I recognize that he is not for everyone. For me, the way he drops little gems of historical relevance and twisty little ribbons of thought into his stories is part of the fun. Other people seem to find it enraging though so YMMV...

There are quite a lot of historical events referenced in The Book of the New Sun. For instance, chapter XI of The Shadow of the Torturer recreates the martyrdom of Saint Katharine of Alexandria at the hands of the Emperor Maxentious in the 4th century. Of course, the actual history of Saint Catherine, (or Saint Katharine), is lost to the people of Severian's far-future time but the legend remains as a rite of passage within the Torturer's Guild. Upon first reading, it appears to be a pantomime of a decapitation of a female servant gussied up to play the part of Katharine. Closer scrutiny of the text leaves the reader wondering if the ceremony involves a fake beheading or is it perhaps an actual beheading of a robot or android who, upon completion of the ceremony simply picks up their head and re-attaches it...? I have read that passage numerous times and am still not certain of what actually happens. The servant definitely leaves unharmed at the end of the scene but...

So that, in a nutshell, is how Gene Wolfe writes. Very little is fully spelled out. He constantly drops little things into the narrative and leaves it up to the reader to interpret. In other words, his books are full of easter eggs. His narrators are also almost always unreliable and Severian is perhaps his most famously unreliable narrator.

Major spoiler: Many of the characters that we meet in The Book of the New Sun turn out to be clones. In fact, there may only be a small handful of authentic people left in the world. Almost everyone that Severian interacts with seems to be another version of himself - although Wolfe never comes right out and tells you any of this. Severian just 'notices' things here and there so, if you are not paying attention, it's easy to miss the hints and allusions. A few decades ago, I finished my first read of the tetralogy without sussing out any of it. Subsequent re-reads combined with perusing online discussion forums and other references brought these aspects to light. There are many, many depths in these books that are not readily apparent. There are literally hundreds - if not thousands - of rabbit holes to google into, if one is so inclined. It's not necessary to do more than read the books but delving further abroad than the novels themselves really does help to illuminate what he was trying to accomplish. But yes, it's very, very complicated and many people simply don't have the patience or the inclination or are otherwise not enamored with Wolfe. I get that but it all works rather wonderfully for me.

>131 -pilgrim-: I have not yet read the Latro books, (they are on my TBR shelf), but I did read The Wizard Knight duology last year. I do not recommend it as a starting point. I also have Pirate Freedom on my shelf but have not yet read that one either. From remarks made by the guys during their Alzabo Soup podcast, I gather it might be a decent Wolfe title to dip the toes, as it were. The Fifth Head of Cerberus might also be a good first Wolfe novel. I also really liked Peace. Both are stand-alones, (although Fifth Head might be distantly related to TBotNS).

As another example of the type of thing that Wolfe does, here are a couple of exerpts from the appendix at the end of The Shadow of the Torturer...

A Note on the Translation

In rendering this book -- originally composed in a tongue that has not yet achieved existence -- into English, I might easily have saved myself a great deal of labor by having recourse to invented terms; in no case have I done so. Thus in many instances I have been forced to replace yet undiscovered concepts by their closest twentieth-century equivalents. Such words as peltast, androgyn,and exultant are substitutions of this kind, and are intended to be suggestive rather than definitive....

... To those who have preceded me in the study of the posthistoric world, and particularly to those collectors -- too numerous to name here -- who have permitted me to examine artifacts surviving so many centuries of futurity, and most especially to those who have allowed me to visit and photograph the era's few extant buildings, I am truly grateful.

G.W.

This type of snarky subtlety appeals to me.

Sorry everyone! This post ended up being a lot longer than I intended when I clicked 'Reply'.

>134 BookstoogeLT: Is the Wizard Knight as heavy on descriptive gore as The Shadow of the Torturer was?

>136 -pilgrim-: No. But to be honest, that type of thing doesn't bother me so I might not have noticed it in Wizard Knight, but my recollection is that it wasn't there.

>135 ScoLgo: I posted at >136 -pilgrim-: before my screen refreshed to show your post. Thank you, I enjoyed your in depth explanation of what you liked about Wolfe.

And that, in a sense, is the problem that I have with Wolfe in a nutshell. I never had the sense that what he was writing was for gratuitous schlock value; I had the niggling sense that he was trying to achieve something specific. So I didn't discard him simply as "a bad writer". I don't think he is.

But at the same time, he did go past my "spelt-out violence threshold.

Is that a feature of all his work, or is it something that he was quite specifically going for with Severian?

The nearest analogous book than I can think of is Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Sorokin. There are similarities in terms of the type of future setting, and Komiaga has quite as disturbing a worldview as Severian starts with. It is also extremely allusive, both to Russian history and contemporary politics.

Have either you or BookStoogeLT read it? If so, how do you think it compares?

>138 -pilgrim-: Sorry, I have not read the Sorokin so have no basis from which to draw a comparison.

I get the sense that every word Wolfe put on the page is there for a reason. Even the naming of his characters is significant. Here is a Reddit thread that discusses a few of Wolfe's character names. The anecdote about the real name of "Number Five" from The Fifth Head of Cerberus is especially Wolfe-ian, (if you'll pardon the pun). The description Kim Stanley Robinson gives of how he figured it out is so very much the type of easter egg that Wolfe would include. In the last novel published before Wolfe died, A Borrowed Man, the narrator is a clone of a deceased detective novel author. He is literally owned by the library system and can therefore be 'borrowed' by real citizens. The clone's name, "Ern A. Smithe", can be parsed as "an urn in which a smith resides, a maker you can rent", (copy/pasted from Wikipedia).

Wolfe does not shy away from violence and other disgusting subjects. Neither, in my view, does he dwell upon them. His other books delve into similar territory as TBotNS but I would say not quite as much, (Severian is, after all, a torturer). Let's also not forget that he is also a liar. Throughout the books, he remains the hero of his own journey, even as he tells of terrible crimes that he has committed. But who is not the hero of their own story? That being said, I don't believe the reason for the story is to portray violence or misogyny or otherwise disgusting things. Severian is portrayed as a deeply flawed anti-hero that somehow becomes The Savior. This is actually a common thread in many of his novels because Wolfe's Catholicism informs much of his writing.

In general, I think The Shadow of the Torturer is as good a place as any to start with Wolfe. If that one is too violent or otherwise offensive or unappealing, The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a good science-fiction book to attempt. Fans of contemporary fantasy might prefer The Sorcerer's House or Peace. As I mentioned before, I have not read Pirate Freedom yet but my understanding is that it is one of Wolfe's less convoluted stories. Hmmm... maybe I will pick that one up next.

Most all of his books feature first-person narration with unreliable narrators. Some people dislike that approach. I prefer it since it forces me to read between the lines - and there is nearly as much information found between the lines in a Wolfe book as there is in the prose itself. I think that is why I enjoy reading him so much. Linear plots that go from standard A to B to C... can be good for comfort reads but they are often not very challenging. If you want to engage your brain and participate in a story, Wolfe is one author that provides that opportunity.

I should probably mention Lexicon Urthus and Gate of Horn, Book of Silk by Michael Andre-Driussi. These are reference works for The New, Long, and Short Sun series. And then there is Ultan's Library and the rest of the internet.

>138 -pilgrim-: I have not read Sorokin either. But everything that >139 ScoLgo: wrote I agree with. I just have the complete opposite reaction to it :-D

ps,
Sakerfalcon, not trying to hijack your thread, honest!

>140 BookstoogeLT: Yeah, he's not for everyone. ;)

>128 Kanarthi: I thought Joe Haldeman did a fantastic job of writing a young girl who's "voice" grows up as she ages during the story arc: Marsbound. The character growth is quite subtle but that's what made it so remarkable, in my view.

>124 Sakerfalcon: I second the hi-jacking apology!

>139 ScoLgo: That pretty much encapsulates my problem with Wolfe. Everything I hear about him suggests that he writes the sort of thing that interests me, but in actual experience, the gruesome detail level went past my tolerance level for fiction. (I have read too much history to have any illusions on the subject, but I prefer not to revisit that knowledge recreationally.)

Sorokin visits the same territory, in some ways. But although the world he is envisaging is quite as appalling - and his narrator, Komiaga, is an unrepentant torturer - the specifics are rarely described in such detail. I would like to see what you think of it.

If you can suggest something of Wolfe's that dsplays the virtuosity without the Grand Guignol, I would be interested.

And given the aspects that you enthuse about, and deep hidden meanings, I would strongly recommend The Doomed City by the Strugatskys, or almost anything by Viktor Pelevin. (I finished my first read of his Empire V in February. I may review it later, when I have got my head around more of it!)

Oops, yes. Hijacking apology from me too.

>142 -pilgrim-: Welp... I just cracked open Pirate Freedom and in the Preface, the (first-person) narrator describes murdering another man by bashing his head with an iron-tipped pike so... probably also not a great choice if you wish to avoid descriptions of violence from Wolfe. I'm frankly at a loss for any other recommendations.

For whatever reason, Wolfe's delivery of horrific acts don't affect me all that adversely. If I saw something like the described head-bashing graphically represented in a movie, I would want to stop watching. In a book, it's not as visceral to me.

Also, there is that whole 'cozy murder mystery' thing... I truly fail to see anything cozy about murder but it remains a very popular genre despite my lack of understanding it... ;-)

Thanks very much for the recommendations. I have read Roadside Picnic but nothing else by the Strugatskys. Empire V looks interesting too. I'll keep an eye peeled for that one.

>144 ScoLgo: I agree with you completely about the whole "cozy murder mystery" mindset; there should never be anything "cozy" about violent death. I notice that in the older exponents of that genre, like Conan Doyle and Chesterton, there is generally great care taken that the victim should have been an unpleasant person, whom no one will miss. But there is still something slightly disturbing about treating a murder like a puzzle game.

I think you may be misunderstanding about my limits. It is not the events, per se, so much as the level of loving detail in the description.

Komiaga organises an official, punitive gang-rape in the opening chapter of Day of the Oprichnik, but it is dealt with in a single paragraph. Severian spends almost an entire chapter of Shadow of the Torturer describing details of various methods of torture to Thecla. The events of the former chapter are the more horrifying, but the prose is spare (even though Komiaga's language is offensively crude). It was the level of detail in Wolfe's writing that got to me.

In the course of research, I have read real accounts by both victims and torturers. Revisiting that in fiction is not something I would choose to do.

>145 -pilgrim-: "I think you may be misunderstanding about my limits. It is not the events, per se, so much as the level of loving detail in the description. "

Ah, ok... In that case, the head-bashing in Pirate Freedom is dealt with in 2 or 3 sentences so perhaps that won't be a trigger for you...? I can't speak to the rest of the book, since I haven't read it yet but I don't recall extensive detailing of violent acts in any other Wolfe books I have read. His prose lends an almost dreamlike quality to his narratives so that also helps to obfuscate any horrific details. Again, I don't have the same reaction to The Shadow of the Torturer as you - perhaps because I am trying so hard to 'read between the lines' that the graphic details don't hit me as directly? I can't put my finger on the why of it - but I will pay closer attention next time I re-read the tetralogy, which will likely be later this year or next.

BTW... thank you for the 'Grand Guignol' reference above. I was not familiar with that. Definitely not something I would have been interested in attending but fascinating to read about all the same.

Happy birthday, Sakerfalcon!

Thank you everyone for keeping my thread warm while I was offline. I had a four day weekend (thanks to a bonus day off as a thank you from the big bosses at work, and a bank holiday) and as I'm low on data I chose to spend most of my time away from the screen.

>140 BookstoogeLT:, >141 ScoLgo:,>143 -pilgrim-: No apologies needed, I'm thrilled to see such fantastic discussion going on.

>125 pgmcc: Thank you for your detailed answer, Peter. Cold hand in mine is now on my Wishlist and will, I suspect, shortly be in my collection. The late breakfasters also sounds intriguing. House party type settings are something I enjoy and the added weirdness adds to the appeal. I remembered that you are a fan of Aickman so I suspected you would steer me right as I explore his work further.

>126 libraryperilous:, >127 Kanarthi: I do love to see how different books appeal (or not) to people. It would be very boring if we all felt the same way about them. See below for my thoughts after finishing Escaping Exodus.

>128 Kanarthi: Hmm, that's a challenge, mainly because my mind goes blank when asked a question like that! Juliet Marrillier did a good job in her Blackthorn and Grim trilogy; the characters had distinct voices which reflected their background, education and experiences. Sarah Monette's Melusine books are written in alternating POV between two half brothers who have grown up in very different circumstances, with voices and language that I found very convincing.

>129 -pilgrim-: >130 libraryperilous: I must apologise but I have DNFed Mythago Wood. It wasn't gory or especially violent (some use of bows and arrows and clubs aside) but I found it dull. It was very much about obsessive men trying to analyse and control the strange forces in Ryhope Wood. The mythagos of the title I interpreted as archetypes - the Arthur figure, the Robin Hood figure, the Bronze Age warrior chieftain and, of course, the beautiful, wild primitive maiden. All these and more appear in the wood but seem to be formed by the men's minds and thoughts, consciously and unconsciously. The father, George, first become obsessed with the wood and mistreated his wife and sons because of it. Christian and Stephen discover their father's diaries after his death and become obsessed in their turn. Of course, the main focus for them all is the wild girl, whom they all in turn want to possess (insert eyeroll here). Apologies to those who enjoyed this book and appreciated it; it just isn't for me.

>131 -pilgrim-:, >132 haydninvienna:, >133 libraryperilous:, >134 BookstoogeLT: Interesting discussion about Gene Wolfe. I did enjoy the Book of the New Sun although I don't claim to understand much of it at all. I liked Book of the Long Sun even better. I didn't find the violence or torture too much (perhaps I skimmed the worst of it?) although I didn't really like the treatment of female characters, most of whom were objectified and all seemed attracted to the male narrator! I recently reread The fifth head of Cerberus and that held up very well. I've started The knight several times but in the end I just had to give up as it wasn't engaging me. I know that with Wolfe there is more going on than meets the eye, but the experiences of a teenage boy who suddenly finds himself in a man's body and then meets a gorgeous elf maiden just felt like wish fulfilment. I think it is the world building in the Sun books which appeals to me so strongly. The fantasy landscape that reveals itself as being far future SF, the set pieces such as the plucking of the averns and subsequent duel, the streets and houses of Patera Silk's neighbourhood all captured my imagination and linger there, although it's been a few years since I last read either tetralogy. That said, I can totally see why people don't get on with these books, and may strongly dislike Wolfe's writing. "I like it, but I can see why you don't."

>135 ScoLgo: >139 ScoLgo: We seem to be in agreement about Wolfe, although you are way ahead of me in your understanding of the books! I do enjoy his use of archaic terms throughout the Book of the New Sun - it adds to the SFF atmosphere but is actually grounded in reality. They are great for expanding your vocabulary! I own the first two Latro books and will give them a try at some point.

>138 -pilgrim-:, >142 -pilgrim-: Day of the Oprichnik is on my Wishlist. It sounds as though it has some things in common with A clockwork orange. Would you agree? I do need to read The doomed city, which is actually sitting on a TBR pile. The only one of Pelevin's books I've managed to acquire is Omon Ra (also TBR).

>144 ScoLgo:, >145 -pilgrim-: I agree about cosy murders, what a contradiction in terms! "Murder-lite" so to speak. And series are set in the same town - how do they have any residents left by book 20, and who would move there? The number of sub-genres is a constant source of fascination to me - cat detectives, rabbi detectives, bakery detectives .... there is no end to them!

>147 clamairy: Thank you! I got some new books :-)

So I have finished some of the books I was reading before the weekend.

Escaping Exodus was a good read. The characters grew and changed realistically over the course of the novel as they learned some of the secrets of their people, and had to reach out of their familiar social groups to form new alliances. This is a good example of a book with two first person narrators who have distinctive voices. Seske is the privileged heir to the matriarchy who has always been at the top of the social tree despite having made friends with one of the lower class of beast workers, those responsible for creating their home within a living organism. Adalla is excited to be promoted to work on the creature's heart, shaping it to better meet the needs of the settlers, but a misstep sees her relegated to the lowest ranks where she learns secrets that put her in opposition to Seske, her former friend, and the ruling class. Both Adalla and Seske have learned that their society must change in order for the people to survive, but can they agree on a way forward together? I thought the book was well told and constructed, with a fascinating setting that raised moral questions and used them well in the course of the plot. There was one encounter towards the end of the book that I found really interesting Seske visits another beast which has been inhabited by, essentially, a society of dudebros who are desperate for women. Yet despite their obvious faults it is they, not the matriarchy, who have learned to live in harmony with their host and not kill it to meet their needs. My main criticism of the book would be that it wraps up very quickly. The last couple of sections round off the story quite suddenly compared to the much slower pace of the previous 3/4 of the book. But for the unusual setting and thought-provoking issues, I would recommend this.

I also finished Ninth House which was a great, addictive read. I didn't immediately warm to Alex but she interested me right from the start and she grew on me as I learned more about her. Dawes was far and away my favourite character and I'm glad she got to have more of a role towards the end of the book. The setting on the Yale campus among the secret societies is just the sort of thing I enjoy - I do like books that take place in an academic setting - and having been to Yale several times meant that I could picture many of the locations. (I was disappointed at no mention of Atticus Bookstore though!) This is a dark book and quite brutal in places - as I mentioned before, you will know from the first chapter if this book is for you. But I very much enjoyed it and am eagerly awaiting the sequel.

I've also read a humorous novel by Margery Sharp, Martha in Paris, which is a sequel to The eye of love. Nine year old Martha from the earlier book is now 18 and off to art school in Paris, a fact by which she is relatively unmoved. Martha is large, stolid, completely unemotional, determined to keep drawing in her own way and totally unconcerned about what other people think about her or whether she fits in or not. She just wants to be left to get on with her work. But her desire for a proper hot bath leads her into a situation that she didn't expect. Martha is a great character - she makes me think of a badger, set on reaching her destination, ploughing over or through any obstacles that might be in her way without really seeing them. You have to pity those around her, even while admiring Martha's stubbornness. I have the third book, Martha Eric and George lined up to read next.

I'm currently reading The winged histories which is a gorgeous fantasy by Sofia Samatar. Told in four parts by four different women it tells of the struggles for freedom and identity in a colonised world. The prose is beautiful and gives a clear sense of place without indulging in reams of description. I'm only 1/4 of the way in, but I feel like this might appeal to fans of Patricia McKillip.

Whew! And that is all for now! Thanks everyone for your comments, it has been fun to read and catch up with you all.

Oops! Forgot to say that I"m also reading Out of the silent planet for the group read. I'm enjoying this a lot more than I expected, finding the planet of Malacandra and its denizens very engaging and well drawn.

>148 Sakerfalcon: Glad you had a good weekend, Claire!

Your reaction to Mythago Wood leaves me intrigued. I will probably give it a try, once I can get to where my copy is.

The Clockwork Orange is actually a very good analogy for Day of the Oprichnik - although I am more familiar with the Stanley Kubrick film than the Anthony Burgess original. Both were considered extremely shocking when they first came out, but are trying to make serious points in depicting forms of society that have been desensitized to violence.

If my memory serves correctly, Day of the Oprichnik is actually considerably less graphic than A Clockwork Orange. (Then again, there is that conga line...!!) But then, literary fiction in Russia had always been accustomed to censorship, so its norms are considerably more reserved in terms of what can be actually described, as opposed to implied. (Russian pulp fiction is a completely different matter, and quite eye-watering.)

Solokin is infamous for being prosecuted in Russia for pornography. I have not read the novel in question - Blue Salo - but I am not sure whether it would have caused such uproar if it were not for WHO the characters in the relevant sex scene were. The participants are Krushchev and Stalin... and "blue salo" could also be translated as "gay fat".ETA: I have not yet dared to tackle that one; I don't know if there is an English language translation yet.

Once you start comparing with the activities of Ivan the Terrible's Oprichina, the orders Komiaga's men obey do not sound so extreme.

Omon Ra is actually one of Pelevin's that I have not read yet. Do you fancy scheduling a joint read sometime? It would be good to have someone to bounce ideas of interpretations off.

And yes, you DO need to read The Doomed City. ;-)

Belated Birthday wishes Claire. I hope you managed to fill your day with pleasures.

>130 libraryperilous:, >141 ScoLgo:, >148 Sakerfalcon:. Thanks for the suggestions! The only one of those I've read is Spinning Silver -- and I'm not sure about distinguishing voices in that book. The different points of views in that book reminded me a little of Dianna Wynne Jones, which is certainly not a bad thing! But it does mean that I feel that the different motivations and asssumptions of the characters are really well distinguished but not so much the narrative voices, per se. I'll have to check out the other suggestions!

And unfortunately Escaping Exodus isn't available from my library so that will have to wait ... but I'm first on the waitlist for Ninth House!

>148 Sakerfalcon: Holy shazboticon, that is a long comment! I love it!

Have you read Lewis's space trilogy before or is this the first time?

>148 Sakerfalcon: Hope you had a good birthday! A four-day weekend sounds like a very nice break.

I can't claim to fully understand Wolfe's books. Much of his references go over my head because I'm not all that well-read when it comes to legends and ancient history & culture - but I have learned a lot from Lexicon Urthus and the Alzabo Soup podcast. They are both great references for TBotNS, as is the Ultan's Library website.

In The Book of the Long Sun, my favorite character has to be Oreb... ("No cut!"). Maytera Mint is my 2nd favorite character.

You said,

"I've started The knight several times but in the end I just had to give up as it wasn't engaging me. I know that with Wolfe there is more going on than meets the eye, but the experiences of a teenage boy who suddenly finds himself in a man's body and then meets a gorgeous elf maiden just felt like wish fulfilment."

Yes, there is more going on there but... the 'teenage boy in a man's body' thing is definitely an intentional theme. It's also one of the reasons I don't recommend The Knight as a starting point with Wolfe because it's pretty annoying to hear those types of adolescent musings about women coming from a self-described hero-knight, (Sir Able shares quite a few traits with Severian in this regard). Granted, writing women is not one of Wolfe's strengths, (I think Maytera Mint may have been a conscious attempt by him to answer that criticism but then he placed Hyacinth in the same story so he sort of shot himself in the foot there).

The Wizard Knight duology is also Wolfe playing with Arthurian Legend, as comes clear at the conclusion. It is so obfuscated throughout the narrative though that the 'clever' ending just ends up feeling a bit clunky.

I'm feeling riddled with book bullets for Escaping Exodus, Ninth House, The Doomed City, and Empire V. My library offers the first three via Overdrive and I have just ordered a copy of the 4th from eBay. I appreciate the recommendations!

>148 Sakerfalcon: Yay! Someone else read and enjoyed Ninth House!

(I've been trying to foist it upon my daughter, but you know how that works. No one likes to have books foisted upon them. Even (especially) me.)

>150 -pilgrim-: I'd be happy to post you my copy of Mythago Wood if the PO is still operational ... it seems a bit random in my area!
I've never actually read or seen A clockwork orange but the basic idea I have of it did sound a little like your comments on Oprichnik. I've only read The blizzard by Sorokin which was very strange but a good read.
A joint read of Omon Ra sounds good! I will appreciate your insight into any specifically Russian aspects of the book, which otherwise would likely go over my head.

>151 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you Caroline! It involved good food and new books, which are two of my favourite things.

>152 Kanarthi: I hope you enjoy Ninth House!
Yes, I agree that there is a difference between a distinct voice and distinct attitudes/opinions in characters. I think the latter is easier to pull off than the former.

>153 BookstoogeLT: It's my first time, and I'm really enjoying exploring Malacandra. It's reminding me of The white mountains in that the story is told with little angst or melodrama from Ransom, whereas a more modern book might spend a lot more time on emotional and internal drama. It makes for a more focused story, I feel, and is working well for me in this case.

>154 ScoLgo: Thanks for those resources on Wolfe and the Sun books. I have Lexicon Urthus but wasn't familiar with the online sources. I really must reread Long Sun and carry on to The book of the short sun which I own in an omnibus edition but haven't picked up yet.
I hope the bullet wounds you've received from Pilgrim and I prove to be pleasant rather than painful!

>155 clamairy: It's hard not to press a book you've loved onto people, even when you know it will probably put them off. I'm just the same about being curiously resistant to recommendations - not all the time, but in some cases. I hope your daughter will come round to Ninth House at some time.

>156 Sakerfalcon: said, "I hope the bullet wounds you've received from Pilgrim and I prove to be pleasant rather than painful!"

Thanks, they usually are! I hope you enjoy the Short Sun trilogy when you get to it. It was nothing like what I might have expected after the Long Sun books - but then, they weren't what I expected after the Urth/New Sun books either!

>156 Sakerfalcon: Thank you Sakerfalcon, I would appreciate that

I have ordered a copy of Omon Ra.

And I second that comment, ScoLgo.

I don't see myself going back to the New Sun. But I am inclined to try some other Wolfe if I come across it.

>152 Kanarthi: I've never read Diana Wynne Jones. I've been on hold for Howl's Moving Castle for a couple of weeks now and am slowly moving up the Overdrive list.

Happy birthday, Sakerfalcon!

>157 ScoLgo: I've just started rereading Nightside the Long Sun!

>158 -pilgrim-: I will look forward to our read of Omon Ra when your copy arrives and we can agree on a good time. While rearranging my book piles yesterday I found that I do in fact own a copy of Day of the oprichnik! I found it with a few other C20th Russian novels at the Marylebone Oxfam shop, where I spend far too much money ... So I have moved it to the top of the pile and will get to it soon!

>159 libraryperilous: I can't believe you've not read DWJ! I think she will be just up your alley. She is one of the original middle grade and YA fantasy writers in the UK and I adore most of her books. Howl's moving castle is probably my favourite, so I hope you enjoy it!
(And thank you for the birthday wishes!)

I got quite a lot of reading done last week and this weekend, as I was low on data and so stayed offline.

I did indeed read the third of Margery Sharp's Martha books, Martha, Eric and George. In this book we see that Martha isn't quite so heartless as she seemed, although art still holds first place in her life. This book is set 10 years after Martha in Paris, and we see her established as a famous artist but having to face the consequences of her actions in the previous book. It is delightful and slyly humorous.

I also finished The winged histories, which is a beautifully written, evocative fantasy. It consists of four sections each from the POV of a different woman - a soldier, the scholarly daughter of a fanatical priest, a musician and a woman who moves in high society. Through their eyes we see the consequences of war of one's fate, agency and identity. There is no graphic violence in the book; it is more meditative and thoughtful than action oriented. The world is the same as that of Samatar's earlier novel, A stranger in Olondria, but there is no other link between the two books.

I also read a very enjoyable school story this weekend - The Lower Fourth excels itself by Nancy Breary. This is the second in a quartet, but I haven't read any of the others. The main characters are Drusilla Cathcart, a child film star who has had to come to school after a bout of pneumonia stopped her from working, and her best friend Sally. Drusilla has to be the most down-to-earth child actress ever written, which makes a delightful change from the stereotype we often see. Sally struggles with jealousy - she can't believe Drusilla wants to be her friend and is afraid someone else will steal her away, despite Dru's assurances to the contrary. I thought that this was portrayed very realistically, as Sally recognises the irrationality of her feelings but still struggles to control it. There is a lot of humour in the book with the girls and their dorm mates as the school adjusts to a new headmistress with a very different outlook to what they are used to. This was a great escapist read, and I am looking for copies of the others in the series. It was written in 1945 but makes no reference at all to the War.

I also finished Out of the silent planet and very much enjoyed it. Ransom, while something of the stoic hero, is someone I can sympathise with, and his feelings of fear and bewilderment are expressed clearly but without time spent on angst. The planet of Malacandra seems very utopian, with no hierarchy or power imbalance between its three main peoples - the otter like, poetic Hrossa, the intellectual Sorns and the practical Pfifltriggi. Each has its role to play in the world, and their talents are valued equally. This is very definitely Science Fantasy rather than Science Fiction, although Lewis does make some attempt to show how the lower gravity on the planet has affected the landscape and development of the native peoples. Lewis is clearly critiquing Earth and humanity in this novel; Ransom's initial assumption that the Malacandrians he meets are beasts is quickly overturned, but the attitudes of his fellow men are those of European colonists towards the native peoples they subjugated - attempted intimidation, bribery and deceit. This leads to a scene that is both amusing and disturbing as we recognise our own behaviour in it. As I have the whole trilogy in one volume I will probably go on and finish it, although I'll take a break for now.

I also read two Korean novels. Winter in Sokcho is really a novella, narrated by a young woman who works at a motel in a small town on the border between South and North Korea (the town is in the south). It's the off season, but a French graphic novelist has come to research his latest book and asks our narrator to show him some of the region. But he's not really interested in the real Sokcho; it seems as though he wants to see places that reinforce his assumption about the country. He wants to observe but not engage. This is a spare, dreamlike tale that shows us the reality behind the images that the artist wants to see. It raises the question of whether it is really possible to communicate between such different cultures. It is a book in which very little happens, yet when it is over you feel as though you have inhabited a different place.

The other novel, If I had your face, is very different. The author is Korean American, and she depicts the ruthlessness of life in contemporary Seoul through four different women. Kyuri works as a room salon girl (sort of like a geisha) where, despite receiving generous gifts and tips from her customers, she is still stuck in an eternal cycle of debt and obligation. Miho is an artist who studied in NYC, where she became involved with a group of ultra-rich Koreans who drew her into their lifestyle. Ara is mute after a violent incident in her youth, and works at a hair salon, And Wonna is desperate to have a child although she doubts she can afford to. The prevalence of plastic surgery in Seoul, which is seen as a necessity to get anywhere in life, runs through this book and provides a fascinating hook. How far will people go to achieve their dreams? The surgery is outrageously expensive and horribly invasive, but women and men both feel the need to have it. The four women live in the same apartment building and their lives are entwined. While there are dark themes in the book, I felt that it ended on a hopeful note for all four women. I found the book completely gripping and was reluctant to put it down.

I'm reading another school story, Princess Candida, which starts with an orphaned French-English girl arriving on the doorstep of a school stating that her mother always intended her to go there. It is quite entertaining so far.

I've started reading a biography of the poet Anne Sexton, plucked from my non-fiction TBR pile.

I'm still enjoying the Weird story collection - pgmcc might like to know that copies of The late breakfasters and Cold hand in mine appeared on my doorstep this week!

And I will pick another SF/F book from the TBR piles very soon.

>160 Sakerfalcon:
- pgmcc might like to know that copies of The late breakfasters and Cold hand in mine appeared on my doorstep this week!

You are correct; he did like to know. :-)

I hope you enjoy.

>160 Sakerfalcon: Aarrrggghhh.... you got me again with If I Had Your Face... ;)

Hope you enjoy your Long Sun re-read. Do you happen to have Gate of Horn, Book of Silk handy? If not, Alzabo Soup tweeted about a week ago that they are preparing to dive into that series next so your timing is good!

>160 Sakerfalcon: Omon Ra not yet arrived, unfortunately. I am getting the impression that it would be worthwhile to compare our collections of modern Russian writers.

I am trying to see if I can get an online copy of Out of the Silent Planet, to belatedly join the read on that (have started away from that thread so far, with that in mind).

>160 Sakerfalcon: I'm looking forward to my hold coming in, and I'm even more excited now since you think I'll like her books and you also are a fan of them. The library has several of her titles, so plenty to explore further if she suits my tastes.

I read the Perelandra trilogy about fifteen years ago. I liked Out of the Silent Planet but didn't like the other two books. Iirc, it was because the next two books mostly dump even the tangential science and are philosophical musings. (That could, of course, be wrong. I remember finding them different in tone and scope, but memory is an unreliable narrator.)

>148 Sakerfalcon: I managed to get all the way through Mythago Wood a while back, but was also underwhelmed.

You've scored a hit with the Martha books, though...

>164 libraryperilous: Oh my goodness, I envy your being new to Diana Wynne Jones; how exciting to have all of her to look forward to! She's a marvel.

>164 libraryperilous: Oh, yeah, Howl's Moving Castle is one of DWJ's best, but I also think that it isn't the most obvious example of her character writing (partly because she prioritizes the fairy-tale and comedic tone, partly because Sophie is sort of an oblivious heroine). I would turn to the Dalemark Quartet, Archer's Goon, or Deep Secret for good introductions to how she can write complex characters and character interactions well.

I'm also really curious how Hexwood and Mythago Wood compare, if anyone has read both... I mean, the premises seem similar-ish.

>165 Marissa_Doyle: I like the concept of envy vis-à-vis favorite books. I first encountered it on LT a few years ago, and it's stuck with me. The first read of a favorite sometimes is different enough that you'd envy someone experiencing that immersion.

I now keep a mental Envy Shelf of favorite titles I envy people their fresh-faced first dates with. It isn't that I think the reading experience dulls upon a reread. (Quite the opposite, in fact.) Rather, what I envy is that feeling of discovering a book that is yours. The books I have on my Envy Shelf are books that resonated with me quite fiercely. When I reread them, they still are mine, but the initial intensity has been replaced by something more familiar and comforting. They aren't the only titles I would label favorites, nor are they the only books I reread or would like to reread. It's a small selection of the ones that I would most like to recapture the excitement of discovering.

Then, as you note, you have the additional excitement of exploring a newfound favorite author's oeuvre ...

>161 pgmcc: Thank you!

>162 ScoLgo: Sorrynotsorry for the shooting accuracy! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I haven't got Gate of horn, book of silk but as it covers both the Long and Short Sun series I might try and get hold of a copy. So consider that successful return of fire!

>163 -pilgrim-: My TBR piles are large enough that I can wait until your copy of Omon Ra arrives. All my Russian books are tagged "Russian' in my collection. Mostly these are books by Russian writers although some that are Russian themed by Western authors may have crept in. It should give you an idea of what I have though (and how many I have yet to read!)

>164 libraryperilous:, >166 Kanarthi: Kanarthi, those are some of my other favourite DWJs. I recently reread Archer's Goon because I love the family dynamics (both families ...) and the way that things are revealed to be so far from what they initially seemed. Deep secret is one of her "adult" books and contains scenes that make me cry with laughter whenever I reread it. The Chrestomanci books are probably her best known series, libraryperilous, so I expect they will be in your library's collection.

>164 libraryperilous: I will give Perelandra a try but am prepared to DNF it if it becomes too tedious.

>165 Marissa_Doyle: I'm only belatedly discovering Margery Sharp's books and Martha just captivated me! I think she'd be quite fearsome to meet in real life but she's fantastic to read about.

>166 Kanarthi: Hexwood came to mind as I was reading Mythago Wood because you are right, the concept is quite similar. I found MW very dry though, with the characters never really coming to life (neither the humans or the mythagos in the wood). It's also very much a male POV with (at least as far as I read) the brothers wanting to study and control the wood and its mysteries. I do need to reread Hexwood now. It's one of DWJ's most complicated books and I know a lot of people bounce off it, but I thought it was worth persevering with (unlike MW).

>167 libraryperilous: One of the saddest things to me is when you adore a book and someone you know reads it for the first time ... and doesn't like it. This has happened to me a couple of times, when I have thought the friend would really like the book as much as I did. I think sometimes this particular person reads books in the order that she acquires them, rather than picking them by mood; at least that's what I tell myself when she doesn't appreciate a book I loved! It means that I can be hesitant to recommend something I really adore.
I do agree with you wholeheartedly about the excitement of newly discovering an author and having all their books lying in wait for you. This is how I am at present with Margery Sharp. On the contrary, there is the sadness of knowing you have read their last work and there is nothing more to come. But then you get the pleasure of rereading.

I finished Princess Candida last night, which was a pleasantly entertaining story. Candida is newly arrived in England from a sheltered upbringing in France, and knows none of the unwritten rules of schoolgirl life. Her naivety means that she keeps accidentally getting the other girls into trouble, and so she can't settle in and make friends. She undergoes a series of trials but ultimately things work out in a way that means she can achieve her heart's desire without undergoing a personality change. It is clear from the first chapter that she has a secret, and what that secret is, but seeing how it is revealed and the consequences is engaging. Not one of my favourite school stories, but a nice addition to my collection. This was written in 1920 and does make a few references to WWI.

-pilgrim- : I am about to start The doomed city! I am really looking forward to it!

Just popped by to say hi and a thank you for the warm welcome to the group, Claire.

I have just broken my fast here in Kuala Lumpur and am enjoying my coffee after a long, long day.

>168 Sakerfalcon: Mm, that makes Mythago Wood sound rather boring to my tastes (and also more like sci fi than fantasy ... where's the sense of wonder?). Hexwood might be my absolute favorite by her, although it's not a book I would recommend for someone just starting into her catalog. Meanwhile Fire and Hemlock is the book by her that I just have never clicked with. So many people seem to love it but I could barely bring myself to finish it. Usually she's so good with complicated young adult characters, like in Archer's Goon as you mentioned, but there... bah.

>167 libraryperilous: I love that way of phrasing this experience! Although, as pointed out, the delicate alchemy of these reactions does make them harder to predict or engineer... even when they involve you personally. One reason I have refused to read The Secret Commonwealth or any other recently published books in His Dark Materials is that I strongly suspect the connection I felt when younger will be completely gone.

>170 Kanarthi: Yes. I also have a small mental shelf of books that were perfect for me at the time I read them and that I don't want to reread for fear of tainting the memory. In some cases, that extends to the rest of the author's books. No Jean Rhys for me anytime soon, although I did finally buy a sampler of her short stories.

even when they involve you personally

I agree. My Envy Shelf is a tiny shelf. I love most of the books I read, and I love many of them enough to reread them. Only a fraction speak to me on that different level that engenders envy when I think of readers discovering the books for the first time. There's nothing quite like that realization that a particular title is both a book you love and one that you know will be important to you. Rereads are wonderful, because they help you uncover more of the book's mysteries. They feel different to me than the lightning strike of first regard.

As noted in >170 Kanarthi:, and >168 Sakerfalcon:, evangelizing about one's favorites is a lonely and delicate task, especially to friends. I've recommended The Perilous Gard to a few people who looked at me askance. :(

I do agree with you wholeheartedly about the excitement of newly discovering an author and having all their books lying in wait for you.

Oh, yes, and also your comment about the incipient sadness at finishing the books. But then! Ah, the comfort of rereading favorites. I currently am trying not to binge the Phryne Fisher books because I want to savor them. Still mad I only have two Elizabeth Marie Pope novels to reread.

>171 libraryperilous: The Perilous Gard...*happy sigh*

>166 Kanarthi: I've read both Hexwood and Mythago Wood, and Hexwood was to me by far the better book, for all the reasons Claire stated.

And >168 Sakerfalcon:...The Eye of Love just happened to be on sale for $1.99 on Barnes and Noble today, so... :)

>170 Kanarthi: "One reason I have refused to read The Secret Commonwealth or any other recently published books in His Dark Materials is that I strongly suspect the connection I felt when younger will be completely gone."

I was an adult when I read the original series, so it's unfair of me to make much of a comparison, but I have read both La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth and enjoyed them greatly.

>169 PaulCranswick: Thanks for stopping by, Paul. I can only imagine how long the days are when you are fasting.

>170 Kanarthi: Fire and hemlock was one of the first DWJ's that I read, and although it took several rereadings before I "got" it, something about it captivated me and kept me going back all those times. I think if I'd read it for the first time as an adult, the inappropriateness of the relationship between Tom and Polly would have struck me more, but as a teen it just seemed wildly romantic! But then, I've always been a sucker for stories with big old houses, and F&H certainly has that.

>171 libraryperilous: I see you have rated Howl's moving castle 5 stars! That makes me happy!

>172 Marissa_Doyle: I hope you enjoy The eye of love! I enjoyed how Sharp was absolutely merciless in showing her characters' flaws and absurdities, yet you felt she still cared about them and their fates.

>173 clamairy: I haven't yet read The secret commonwealth but I too loved La belle sauvage, which hugely exceeded my expectations.

Yesterday I received and binge read the prequel to The Lower Fourth excels itself. Two thrilling terms tells of Drusilla and Sally's beginnings at Creighton Towers, which sees them assigned to different forms, who are in the midst of a deadly feud! The two girls must try and put a stop to the feud in order to enjoy their friendship. Once again the supporting cast are distinctive and amusing, and I very much enjoyed this book.

I've read the first section of The doomed city in which we see Andrei in the role of garbage collector. He has been brought to the experimental city by the mysterious Mentors, who choose people from various times and places from earth to participate. As -pilgrim- noted in the discussion of Old man's war, all the volunteers have diverse options, reactions and attitudes. Interestingly, Andrei our protagonist is a bit of a conformist, believing in and respecting authority even when it seems to be absurd or dishonest. He is sure that the Experiment is logical and for the best of humanity. It's a very interesting read so far.

The latest highlights from the Weird collection are Tainaron : mail from another city which is an epistolary novella set in a very strange yet often beautiful city ; Yellow and Red by Tanith Lee, in which she convincingly channels a stuffy middle-aged bachelor ; and The snow pavilion by Angela Carter, long a favourite of mine.

The Anne Sexton biography is a good read so far, balanced in its view of the poet and her writings. I have Sexton's collected poems to refer to alongside the biography. I'm not very good at reading poetry; I don't often engage with it - but reading it with the biography really helps me to focus and enjoy exploring it.

And I started reading a YA novel The babysitters coven, which is one of a bunch of recent YA witch books to come out. This one is written in prose that is clearly intended to resonate with teen readers - lots of slang and some text speak - which doesn't appeal much to me. Also, there are one or two incongruities that threw me out of the story - I cannot believe that in a Driver's Ed class at school other students would be in the car with the learner driver and teacher. It's necessary for a (rather silly) plot incident, but I seriously doubted this would be standard practice. So far the book is suffering in comparison to These witches don't burn and Undead girl gang.

>174 Sakerfalcon: I am glad that you like The Doomed City. As you have probably gathered from my repeated burblings, for me this is one of the books of the type you were referring to in >168 Sakerfalcon:, where you love it so much that it hurts when a friend does not like it.

>174 Sakerfalcon: Also, there are one or two incongruities that threw me out of the story - I cannot believe that in a Driver's Ed class at school other students would be in the car with the learner driver and teacher.
That was standard practice at my school. You actually learn a fair amount from other students, as when you're the one behind the wheel it can be difficult to focus on the mistakes you're making. But when someone else is driving it's easier to notice what they're doing wrong and how the teacher is telling them to correct it.

Also, yeah, that is one big issue I have with the Fire and Hemlock (even though I first read it as a teen), but I think ultimately the issue was that I didn't click with the book or characters. Hexwood's main romance makes some readers uncomfortable but I bought it wholeheartedly because I was already invested in the book.

I also haven't read much Sexton (her life story is so fascinating but also doesn't make me particularly inclined to read more of her work), but she did publish a book of poems based upon fairy tales, Transformations, and those poems might be of particular interest to you. Of the ones I read from that volume I especially liked The White Snake.

>174 Sakerfalcon: & >176 Kanarthi: I didn't read Fire and Hemlock until a few years ago and I enjoyed it, but had some issues: https://www.librarything.com/topic/254188#5996533

Which reminds me, I need to read a few more Tam Lin books one of these days!

>177 clamairy: *whispers* The Perilous Gard is a Tam Lin retelling.

>174 Sakerfalcon: My hold came in earlier than expected, and I was high on the conversation strands from your thread, so I read it in an evening. Hooray!

re: Sexton, she was one of my favorite poets as a teenager. Her poems are perfect for teenage hormones and angst, but they've not resonated with me as much as an adult. ETA: "Her Kind" remains a favorite poem of mine, perhaps because it's more collective in the rage it expresses than many of her other poems.

I agree with >176 Kanarthi: that Transformations might appeal to you, Sakerfalcon. The poems always have struck me as the poetry versions of an Angela Chambers story. "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a masterpiece, although I may be biased in its favor because of my fondness for the fairy tale. If anyone is interested in exploring more fairy tale poems, I recommend The Poets' Grimm, although I can't remember if that's where I first encountered Susan Mitchell's excellent "From the Journals of the Frog Prince."

>174 Sakerfalcon: I enjoy the denim cover trend for the witch books.

>176 Kanarthi: Yes, my driver's ed course had three students to a driver. I was paired with two other girls who got mad at me because I could parallel park well. Is there any area of high school that doesn't descend into a competition?

There were two driver's ed instructors. I ended up with the strict one who wouldn't let us have drinks in the back seats because "If we have to slam on the breaks, the straw will come through the seat and poke a hole in my neck." My best friend had the other instructor, who (correctly) reasoned that we'd be eating while driving, so my friend was allowed to eat hamburgers while at the wheel.

>177 clamairy: Wow, that's got a high rating! *wanders off to check OverDrive*

>175 -pilgrim-: I'm now into the second section, where Andrei is under pressure as an Investigator of what sounds like a very Kafka-esque case. (The Building)

>176 Kanarthi:, >179 libraryperilous: Thanks for the clarification on the Driver's Ed classes! It's not a part of school in the UK at all so I have no experience of it. It just seems highly unsafe to me that the very first time a student is put behind the wheel she would have passengers. In the book she has an accident because of distractions from the idiot guys she has been assigned with. The book improved after the first 100 pages or so and now I'm enjoying it, despite its flaws. For dog lovers there is an adorable pit bull called Pig.

>176 Kanarthi:, >178 libraryperilous: Well done for thinking that Transformations would appeal to me! I remember reading some poems by Denise Levertov at university which were based on fairy tale themes and loving them. And, in fact, it was an LT treasure hunt where Transformations was one of the clues/answers which drew the poems to my attention, and subsequently made me purchase the bio and the complete poems. So you two are so spot on it's scary!

>177 clamairy: Tam Lin by Pamela Dean is one of my favourites, although some are not so keen because outwardly most of the book is a slice-of-life about attending college, with the Tam Lin story underlying that.

>181 Sakerfalcon: That appears to be the first in a series of five books, though. Or are they actually unrelated?

>181 Sakerfalcon: Yes, that is the section where I have an uneasy feeling that I am not getting all the references. The elderly Jew outside is, for example, a historical figure. I am sure that you will recognise Andrei's opponent in the chess game - but how many of the others in that room (I only got a few)?

>182 clamairy: It's a publisher series. The actual books are completely unconnected. Each is by a different author, with totally different characters, setting and inspiration.

>183 -pilgrim-: I haven't got to that bit yet and I'm sure I won't get as many of the references as you did! But we'll see!

Hello! Stopping by after encountering you in the YA group and on Diana's thread :) Loving the DWJ discussion and agree with those who preferred Hexwood to Mythago Wood. I also love Pamela Dean's Tam Lin. I've read pretty much everything DWJ has written, except for Power of Three. I bought a copy so it's on my shelf and ready to read... but if I read it, there will be no more DWJ to discover for the first time, and that sounds tragic and sad. So I haven't quite gotten there yet.

>180 clamairy: Oooh, I am witnessing the spreading of the gospel? The Perilous Gard is absolutely fantastic.

>181 Sakerfalcon: Well, the cars are retrofitted so that the teacher in the passenger seat has an additional brake. Stops anyone from doing really foolish things. Our drivers' ed teachers were mostly gym teachers and coaches, so they were good at being strict and delivering impassioned speeches when we failed to listen to them. Our teacher had to use this emergency brake at least once, but I can't recall anyone from the program actually causing an accident! Sounds like the teacher in the book was bad at their job to an extent that beggars belief.

>186 Kanarthi: It's one of my all-time favorites. I'd probably pick it if I could only keep one book on my shelves. Rude of the author to only write two novels for us to read.

>185 curioussquared: *waving hello*

I am celebrating the end of Ramadan, Claire, a time of thanks and forgiveness and I want to say my thanks to all my LT friends for helping keep me somewhat sane these last few years.

>185 curioussquared: Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. I was so glad you enjoyed Break the fall as much as I did. Power of three was one of the first DWJ books that I read, as our library had it. In fact, my copy is the library copy that I bought when they deacessioned it!

>186 Kanarthi: Yes, the teacher was kind of incompetent. I think the whole scene was staged for the author's purposes rather than written with any attempt at realism. It was a sour note that lowered my opinion of the book right at the start.

>187 libraryperilous: I can see that I need to read The perilous Gard as so many of you whose opinions I trust are recommending it!

>188 PaulCranswick: You are very welcome Paul. I hope that you managed to celebrate at the end of your fast even under these strange circumstances.

I finished The doomed city this weekend, and enjoyed it even though I know I missed some of the historical and political references in the book. Andrei came to the City from 1950s Leningrad, keen to do his bit in the Experiment - despite having no idea of the motives of its designers. We see him working as a rubbish collector, a crime investigator, a newspaper editor and a political committee head, before he leaves the city on a mission of discovery. Andrei is an idealist, one of those people who comes up with reasons for why things seem a bit off, rather than questioning those above him. He is sure that everything is for the best in the Experiment. The Jew Izya functions as a gadfly, questioning everything and goading people into admitted things they'd rather not. He is described in very unflattering and sometimes offensive language, yet ultimately he is the wisest character in the novel. Women are not treated well, which was a disappointment. We see three of them, and none are exactly admirable or three dimensional although this obviously reflects Andrei's attitude to them as it is his eyes we see through. But whereas in the Soviet Union women worked as scientists, designers, writers, etc, in the novel we only see them as cleaners and secretaries and sexual objects. The Experiment is a critique of Communism and Soviet history, but in this regard it is worse than its target. This is a book that will undoubtedly reveal more of itself on a reread - I've really only scratched the surface of its themes in these comments, and there is so much more that could be said of it by someone better versed in C20th Russian history and politics than me. Roadside picnic is still my favourite book by the Strugatskys, but this is an important and fascinating read.

>189 Sakerfalcon: Yay - I am so glad that you have read and enjoyed it! Now I can ask - what do you make of the last few pages, and where, possibly, it reveals The City to be?

I disagree that all the women are treated unflatteringly, once one filters out Andrei's chauvinistic perspective. Amalia's behaviour at the newspaper office is the most competent and heroic of them all - and this is completely overlooked by all the men around her. That seems to be an accurate reflection of the Soviet Union in the fifties, where women could hold jobs in which they were theoretically the equal of men, yet were still treated as second class citizens, and probably available for sex, by the men around them. I do not see it as a weakness of the novel, but as another criticism of Andrei's attitudes by the authors.

BTW Boris Strugatsky's comments in the Afterword of my edition make it clear that the brothers considered Izya, not Andrei, to be the hero of their novel. (The casual slurs in Andrei's thoughts about Izya would have been endemic in his era, and the Strugatskys, being half-Jewish, would have been very familiar with such language.)

I am not really around online at the moment. But I hope to be back later.

>189 Sakerfalcon: Aaaahhhhh, I'm so excited for you to read it—and envious, of course. I hope you love it, and I shall try to bear it if you hate it.

>190 -pilgrim-: You are right about Amalia, she is heroic when it matters. I'd like for her to have been developed into a fuller character. Yes, I got that impression of Izya as the true hero too, upon reading the afterword. I've seen reviews that criticise the book as being anti-Semitic for the portrayal of Izya, but it is clear from his character development and role in the book that that is not the authors' intention. The Los Angeles Review of Books review goes into a lot of detail about the treatment of Jewishness in the novel - it's a detailed article that helped me understand more of the book. I'm afraid I will have to reread the last section to come up with clues as to where the city might be! I did guess that Andrei and Izya meet their doubles at the end, and Andrei shoots either his or Izya's double. It was a good read and one that I can understand your love for.

>191 libraryperilous: A copy of The perilous Gard is on its way to me!

This week I have finally made the acquaintance of Murderbot! I read All systems red on my laptop while it was slow at work. I can see why so many people have loved these novellas and are raving about them. Murderbot is an engaging narrator, and I thought that Wells did a good job of writing in a gender-neutral mode. I didn't feel strongly that MB was either male or female, which is as it should be. The other characters weren't strongly developed, but I thought that was because we only see them through MB's eyes, and they aren't really interested in humans. I found this a very enjoyable, undemanding read, in a similar vein as Small angry planet. It's not as feel-good as that book, but it has something of a comfort read about it - funny given how the main character sees itself! I will definitely be reading the next 3 stories in the very near future.

I'm still reading and enjoying the Anne Sexton biography. It would be easy to dismiss her as a dissatisfied suburban housewife who has the luxury of time, childcare and money to be able to write her poetry. But Sexton suffered from very real mental health issues that left her unable to function at times, and from which poetry was one of her very few effective escapes. She was one of the first confessional poets, putting her own life into her work, warts and all. Unusually, she found instant acclaim and success with her first book, which led to fellowships and grants for new opportunities. Sexton was a complex and difficult person and this book explores her outer and inner lives and her poetry in detail.

I'm nearing the end of the Weird anthology, and am a bit disappointed by the most recent stories ( the collection is organised chronologically). They seem to be more horror than weird, and are quite gruesome in a couple of cases. I can tell without reading that a story called The brotherhood of mutilation is not going to be for me. (I skimmed it and was right.) But overall it has been a very strong collection that has introduced me to new authors (Robert Aickman among them) and given me many hours of entertainment.

I've started reading Ingathering which is a complete collection of Zenna Henderson's People stories. They are about humanlike aliens whose ship crashed on earth, leaving them stranded to make the best of it. They can integrate with humans as long as they hide their powers, which include levitation and mental healing. They are sensitive, caring individuals who value community, and seek the best for each other. It is lovely to read a book where kindness is such a strong theme.

Hmm, I think Murderbot hacked the above comment, as All systems red is the only working touchstone!

>192 Sakerfalcon: l am so glad you enjoyed it.

>193 Sakerfalcon: LOL I'd agree, except I seriously doubt Murderbot would want the extra attention. 😁

>194 clamairy: You're probably right!

>192 Sakerfalcon: I feel you are missing the point (in my opinion!) about Amalia in the same way that the reviewers who see anti-Semitism in the book are misinterpreting Izya.

Andrei is the typical Soviet hero: hard-working, believing that he is working for the Ideal Future, and willing to labour unquestioningly for this cause, making whatever sacrifices are necessary.

He is NOT the hero of this book.

He also has the flaws of a Soviet male of his era (the fifties): casual racism, anti-Semitism and a complete inability to notice women as fellow human beings, except insomuch as they provide the sexual release he feels he deserves.

And, in fact, he is a complete idiot, who kills his best friend at the end - and himself.

The derogatory language Andrei uses about Izya, contrasted with his role as the nicest, most selfless, and wisest character (i.e. the hero), is an oblique attack on the anti-Semitism to he Strugatsky family will have experienced.

In the same way, the minimal presence of Amalia in the book, when in fact her actual behaviour is exceptional - she is diligent, good at her job, and both brave and quick-thinking in an emergency, as well as self-sacrificing - is Andrei's viewpoint again. It critiques the appalling treatment of women by Soviet society of that era. She is mentioned little, because Andrei disregards her worth (except as sex object). It is, I think, quite deliberate, as a criticism of the marginalisation of women.

Boris Strugatsky credits his female work colleague (in astronomical research) with co-authorship of the skit that grew into the first section of Monday Starts On Saturday. It is clear that the authors do not see women as marginal or irrelevant. That is the attitude of the character they have created.

The tone of your comment on >189 Sakerfalcon: about the role of women in the Soviet Union suggests a rather idealised view.

As I was growing up, I was aware of the disconnect between the roles of women as homemakers that I was presented with by American TV programming, and the cosmonauts, soldiers, fighter pilots and factory workers who were presented by Russian media. I assumed that this meant that in the Soviet Union, women were treated as the equals of men, withoutv the gender segregation of the West, as stated in the revolutionary declarations.

Reading autobiographies of lives of Soviet women of the thirties, forties and fifties, I have realised that in fact they were subject to the most appalling double standard.

They were admitted to traditionally male occupations, and expected to perform to the same standards - but the senior rank would always go to a man, even when his qualifications and skills were demonstrably inferior. Furthermore, these full-time jobs as the "equals" of men were to be performed in addition to carrying the full burden of domestic duties (shopping, cooking, cleaning etc.) and childcare - and a culture of early marriage and no contraception meant that most women were juggling these three roles.

And on top of that, they were treated as sex objects, expected to be always available to not only their husbands, but also their bosses, like Andrei and even their peers. (So, for example, the feted female tank driver in World War II was treated like "any other soldier", without any "allowances" being made for her gender. Except that at the end of the day, it was taken for granted that she was also sexually available for the rest of her (otherwise all-male) tank crew! - I recommend Avenging Angels for multiple examples of these attitudes.)

Andrei's treatment of Amalia is not incidental. It is an attack on societal misogyny.

The internalisation of this double standard is still a reality. (A female Russian friend of mine was appalled at the idea that woman should get the same pay as a man if she does the same job!) That being the case fifty years later, I don't see that Amalia's acceptance of Andrei's behaviour reflects badly on her at all.

>192 Sakerfalcon: Welcome to the Murderbot fan club! ;) I did a blog post about comfort reads not too long ago and included the Murderbot series in it, observing the irony of a comfort read about an entity with that name.

And I haven't picked up any of my Zenna Henderson books in a long time. They are very soothing reads, though I find the occasional religious overtones make me a tad itchy.

I hope you can all see how controlled I have been despite all these Murderbot posts. I am shielded from your target practice. I am oblivious to your attempts to hit me. I continue to look away...for the moment.

>192 Sakerfalcon: As to the ending: I tried to draw attention to the old man Andrei meets sitting outside The Building, for a reason. He is a real historical figure, notorious for informing on Jews and handing them over to the gas chambers. He thinks that The City is Hell.

I think we should take his theory seriously.

The solution to the mystery of the Falling Stars proves that one cannot leave the City. It is evident that The City is a test. And features like The Building suggest a metaphysical rather than a "transplanted to an alien world" explanation, even though Andrei, as a good atheist Communist, assumes the former.
Remember that the Russian label for the genre for this story of book makes no distinction between science fiction and fantasy - they come under the same category.

Throughout the book Andrei faces moral challenges (and fails at every turn). Izya and Wang, the people he despises, do not.

Eventually, Izya guides him through a long, painful, purgatorial journey, when at the Noon point, at the point of meeting what are obviously the "other selves of Andrei and Izya", Andrei reverts to violent, uncomprehending self, and kills Mirror-Izya - just as Mirror-Andrei kills his friend.

Andrei has failed again, and is obviously going to die out there. (No food, no water, no way of getting back.)

But what of the last image, which of is him looking down a well, to Izya-as-a-child, who is obviously playing with Andrei-as-a-child?

It could be interpreted as the flashback of a dying man.

But I think it means Andrei is in hell. Literal hell.

He is damned, just as the old man is damned. (But the old man, spiritually advanced further than Andrei, has at least learned to recognise the fact.)

There is a strand of Russian Orthodox belief, IIRC, which conceives of the fate of the soul is to undergo a sequence of purgative torments until it achieves purity. (This is not mainstream Orthodoxy so much as a folk variant.)

I am also aware of the strand of Judaism that no longer awaits The Messiah, as an individual, but sees the sufferings of Jews as the Jewish people, corporately, taken on the redemptive messianic role of the Suffering Servant and leading the gentiles, and humanity as a whole, to salvation and union with the Deity.

I don't think the Strugatskys are attempting anything as simple as a straight religious allegory - as far as I know, they did not profess any traditional religious belief.

But I have the impression that both those beliefs have been borrowed from here.

So Andrei is condemned to repeat the errors of his life (until he learns better?) I am taking the ending as an oblivion from which he will have to start again.

And the Jew, Izya, is the spiritually advanced guide who tries to lead Andrei on the way - but despite the fact that he seems to understand everything that is going on, it is his fate to suffer nevertheless.

Argh. Very long essay here. How much of the last bit is over-reading I don't know. But the argument that the City is a circle of Hell is I think compelling. Consider the Mentors, whose role is purely to assess..

And most reviewers, including Dmitri Glukhovsky in the Foreword, point out that the City is obviously Leningrad (the Strugatskys' home city, and where they witnessed almost unimaginable horrors during the Siege).

So an equation of Soviet Leningrad with Hell would make this a very dangerous book indeed!

Re >199 -pilgrim-: - agree with me - or shoot me down in flames! I just had to try those theories out on someone.

>198 pgmcc: Aw, c'mon, you know you want to give them a try... To borrow a phrase from a young Vogon guard, "Resistance is useless!"

>192 Sakerfalcon: Thinking about the depiction of the secondary characters in All Systems Red and the others by extension...I thought Wells handled it very cleverly because yes, while the narrative voice is Murderbot's, we can still get a fairly accurate (if muted) picture of the others just via their conversation.

>198 pgmcc: I'm glad you posted! My resolve was weakening.

>202 MrsLee: Together we will prevail.

>203 pgmcc: I am immune due to solely the armour plating provided by all the BB pgmcc has riddled me with recently. Even my TBR pile(s) have limits.

>202 MrsLee: & >203 pgmcc: Interesting. You two probably top the list of regulars who riddle the most other members with bullets, and you deny the rest of us that pleasure? ;o)

>205 clamairy: Think of it as a delayed pleasure. ;)

>196 -pilgrim-: Thanks for your detailed response to my comments on The doomed city. I will try to do this discussion justice, although I fear that my brain is not what it used to be when I studied literature at university.

I should have used the term "protagonist" instead of "hero' (laziness in typing I'm afraid!) because you are right, Andrei is very definitely not the latter. I soon realised that he was at best a naive idealist who strove to see the best in a bad system, and at worst a toady who would defend any atrocities committed by the powers that be. The fact that he seems happy to ally with a Nazi makes this clear even if nothing else did I do enjoy books with unsympathetic protagonists - in a completely different genre, The custom of the country is one of my favourites. Andrei is despicable but for me that made his progress all the more compelling to follow.

I did realise that the authors are not misogynists; rather it is Andrei and several of the other men who are. I know that life was extremely difficult for women in the Soviet Union, as they were expected to bear and raise children alongside their careers. I just think it was notable that, unlike in other nations at that time, women were admitted into STEM professions at all (and not just as secretaries), rather than steered into traditionally "female" occupations. I'm not saying their lives were better, just that it was different to the UK and US, for example. I remember an exhibition at the Design Museum a few years ago of unbuilt Soviet projects, one of which was a communal nursery that would have freed women of childcare responsibilities and allowed them to focus on their careers with the day-to-day needs of their children taken care of. That could have been a game changer (well, maybe not given the authorities at the time and the entrenched sexism, but people dreamed).

>199 -pilgrim-: I found your interpretation of the ending of the book very interesting and plausible. So Andrei is condemned to repeat the errors of his life (until he learns better?) I am taking the ending as an oblivion from which he will have to start again. I agree with this, that was my impression too. He is trapped in a purgatorial cycle which, honestly, given his nature, I can't see him ever learning to escape from. Izya's role was rather like that of Virgil in The Divine Comedy, but also like Socrates in the way he provokes people and acts as a gadfly. I had wondered if the Falling Stars would be identified as the same people who disappeared into the Red Building, but didn't spot any obvious link, and it didn't seem to be among Andrei's lines of investigation, such as they were. I completely missed the identity of the old man at the end of the book, so might go back and reread that section, in light of your commentary. I think your deeper knowledge of Russian Orthodoxy has given you a great insight into these pages.
In fact, I definitely need to go back and reread the last two sections!

>197 Marissa_Doyle: Yes, my membership card is in the post! I'm glad I'm not alone in finding the books comforting. Murderbot is a great creation and I'm looking forward to more of their adventures. I'm enjoying the Zenna Henderson stories a lot. They are quite different to anything else I can think of, gentle yet powerful. I can see the religious aspects not sitting well with some, but it works for me. Perhaps it is that (as well as the setting) that makes them seem to me like tales that are uniquely American.

>198 pgmcc: Indeed, your armour must be as effective as Murderbot's the way all the bullets are bouncing off it! Just be careful of the ricochet!

>201 Marissa_Doyle: Yes, I always admire an author who can show characters' true selves even when that differs from the narrator's view of them. Some of the team stood out more than others, but we did get a sense of who they were. Another (totally different) book which I think achieved this exceptionally well is The stone angel by Margaret Laurence. The book is narrated by Hagar Shipley who complains bitterly about her awful children and their partners, yet we are shown by their speech and actions that they are not at all as Hagar sees them.

>202 MrsLee:, >203 pgmcc: Well done for holding out! I might just mention that the Murderbot novellas are short enough that you can read one in an afternoon. Perfect for lockdown reading!

>204 -pilgrim-: I see you hiding in your fortress of TBR books!

>205 clamairy: Haha! Quite right!

This weekend I diverged from my in-progress pile to read a novella set in the world of Astreiant, Point of Knives. This is possibly my favourite fantasy world, a Renaissance-feeling city with complex economic, social and political structures, where one's place in society is based upon one's birth stars - in this world, astrology is real. So you can be born, say, the child of a butcher, but your stars may lead you to become a sailor, or a mage, for example. Or vice versa. There is no discrimination based on sex, sexuality or class; there is, however, crime, and this series follows the Pointsman (policeman) Rathe and his partner the mercenary Eslingen as they solve mysteries in the city. I absolutely love the detail of the world building, the relationship between Rathe and Eslingen, the thoughtful plots that don't resort to cliches, and the well written prose. Somehow I lost touch with the series for a while and just discovered that there are two more full novels to read; those are on their way to me as I type.

I finished the Anne Sexton biography which was very good. It seems to be to be a fair treatment of the poet, respecting her work and taking her mental health issues seriously, yet also calling out her many faults and inconsistencies. She could be a charming, lively, vivacious entertainer, yet on another day a needy, clinging wreck. Controversially the biographer was allowed access to the tapes that were made of Sexton's early therapy sessions, and this allows her to give a detailed picture of Anne's illness and its treatment. There are hints of incestuous abuse, which the author considers but ultimately leaves open to judgement. The book achieved a good balance for me of telling the author's life story and analysing her poetry, which is what I look for in literary biography. I still have most of the poems to read, but I will continue to dip in and out of my anthology.

I have started to read The library of the unwritten, which imagines that there is a corner of Hell where unfinished books reside. Sometimes their characters try to break free and find their authors in order to try and get their story finished. It's an intriguing concept and I'm expecting to enjoy this a lot.

I've also started The house of sundering flames, third in Aliette de Bodard's series set in a post-apocalyptic Paris among fallen angels, spirits and humans. I found the first book in the series a bit disappointing but am very glad I read on because the second volume was excellent.

I expect to finish Artificial condition, the second Murderbot novella, today. I'm enjoying reading of MB's quest to find the truth about a half-remembered event from their past.

And I'm continuing to read the stories of the People from Ingathering.

>208 Sakerfalcon: I should not have poked my nose out. Got hit by a BB re Astreiant.

*retreats back into fortress*

So glad you showed up at the James White Sector General group read thread, Claire. Because you hang out here instead of over with the 75ers, I had lost track of you. That is now corrected. And I'm glad you are enjoying Murderbot and hope you will love The Perilous Gard as much as the rest of us do (no pressure here!).

>208 Sakerfalcon: Ah, I need to bump the Hell library book up my TBR list. It sounds super fun.

>208 Sakerfalcon: I bought this biography in Boston years ago, and read it during my holiday there Clare. I agree, a fine biography.

>209 -pilgrim-: Oops! I find the Astreiant books to be very immersive. I've seen reviews complaining that they are slow because a lot of time is spend exploring the world, but I love that. I would call them slice of life fantasy mysteries, if that is a thing!

>210 ronincats: Thanks! I'm glad I saw your post on Heather's thread. I've really enjoyed the Sector General stories I've read so far and am looking forward to seeing what others think of them.
My copy of The perilous Gard arrived this week so I shall read it soon and feed back!

>211 libraryperilous: I just finished it; see below for my thoughts.

>212 Caroline_McElwee: Caroline, that would be an excellent book to read while in Boston. Sexton was so rooted in that area. Now I need to read the novels I own by her friend Tillie Olsen.

I finished Library of the unwritten and decided that I liked, but didn't love it. I'm not quite sure why I found it hard to engage with. I usually love books set in fantastic libraries and this one even has a librarian called Claire among its protagonists! But somehow, although the ideas and many scenes were very good, it just lacked something for me. The library of unwritten books is situated in a neutral corner of Hell, and the librarian's job is to stop the books escaping in search of their authors (because all books want to be finished). Whilst in Seattle trying to retrieve an escaped Hero, Claire, her assistant Brevity and trainee demon Leto find themselves targeted by an Angel who believes they have a manuscript that he has been told to find. What follows is a journey through various afterlives (including Valhalla), on to Earth, to the gates of Heaven and back to Hell. The plot twists and turns as characters are shown to be other than they initially appeared and there is certainly a lot of action. I wonder if perhaps there was a bit too much going on, and too many different concepts - Brevity is not just assistant librarian, but a Muse as well; Leto turns out to have a complicated backstory that distracts from the main plot; Claire is not just the librarian but an unwritten author herself, etc. I was also unconvinced about the nature of heaven and hell. From what I can tell, you end up in one or the other based on where you think you belong, rather than being judged - although at one point we enter an afterworld where the soul is judged ... maybe it's best not to think too hard about the world building. It has loads of potential, but I think that Jasper Fforde and Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett have used these ideas more effectively.

I have no doubts however about how much I have been enjoying the Murderbot novellas! I just finished Rogue protocol which was another great adventure which made me snort with laughter a few times - something that doesn't often happen to me. I agree with those who say that the four novellas are really one book that has been split up, and this is especially true as episode 3 ends on quite a cliffhanger. Needless to say Exit strategy will be up next in my reading rota!

I am enjoying House of sundering flames, though I should have reread the previous book to remind myself of where characters ended up and what the situation was regarding the various Houses. It is a complicated world with lots of morally grey characters, but one that has grown on me since the first novel. The spirit Dan Chay (that should have some Viet diacritcs in it but I have no idea how to find them on my keyboard!) was captured by House Harrier and tortured into becoming a corrupt, violent force (we don't see the torture, that happened before the series began). Now he has been freed and is wreaking revenge on all of the Houses in Paris. They must unite if they are to contain him - but the Fallen do not work or play well together. And then you add the Annamese into the mix, a colonised people who were conscripted to fight for the Houses in the Great War that levelled Paris and whose loyalties are decidedly conflicted. Why does this very complicated series work for me but not the Library of the unwritten? Who knows? Maybe there is an underlying logic and cohesiveness to these that I felt was lacking in the Unwritten library.

>213 Sakerfalcon: Ah, nevermind. I didn't know it had an angel plot element. Striking off the TBR, even though the idea of books escaping hell is amusing.

Glad you continue to enjoy Murderbot. Really just a charming, heartwarming series!

>213 Sakerfalcon: Hmm... inconsistent world-building, you say?

Library of the Unwritten had been on my mental Wishlist, but you may just have removed it.

>214 libraryperilous: One of my favorite things about the Murderbot stories is how one can use "Murderbot", "charming", and "heartwarming" together in a sentence.

>213 Sakerfalcon: Ah, I hadn't weighed in on The Library of the Unwritten because I didn't want to influence you, but you got to the same place I did with the book. Loved the concept, wanted to love it, but it just didn't click. That said, I just got the most recent book of the Invisible Library series from the library (they are now curbside delivering previous holds!) and look forward to it.

And of COURSE you loved Murderbot!!

I enjoyed The House of Shattered Wings but haven't gotten to the second book yet and thus not to this one. I will remedy that when the libraries open up completely again.

>217 ronincats: I enjoyed the first Invisible Library book, although the potential love triangle bored me. I've been pondering a binge of the series.

>216 ScoLgo: Definitely one of its charms.

Trying to catch up, so... welcome to the Murderbot fanclub :-)
I'm presently reading Network effect, which is the fifth book in the series. This far it is as good as the previous four, though this one is a standard full-length novel *gasp!*

This will probably be another very long entry, as I had a week off work and chose to spend as little time as possible in front of a screen last week. I did get a lot of reading done so there is a lot to report!

>214 libraryperilous: It's more "angel vs demon tussling over a book" than "war between heaven and hell", but yes, there is conflict.

>215 -pilgrim-: Happy to help manage people's TBR piles, whether it be by growing or shrinking them!

>216 ScoLgo: Yes! That is so true!

>217 ronincats: I'm really glad to know that it wasn't just me who bounced off Library of the unwritten. I read the first two Invisible Library books and enjoyed them but haven't got hold of the others.

>218 libraryperilous: I was not a fan of the potential relationship between Irene and Kai. I don't like mentor-mentee affairs. But I did like the concept and execution of the series as far as I read.

>219 Busifer: I am definitely a member of the fan club now! I will have to wait for the novel to come out in paperback though.

So I have now read all four Murderbot novellas and loved them. I especially enjoyed the scenes on the space station; there is something about a giant mall/accommodation/business complex in space and all the interactions that take place there that I love. It's like the Plexis supermarket in Julie Czerneda's space operas. I'm glad that Exit strategy brought the story full circle, back to the folks from PreservationAux.

I also finished House of sundering flames, which I think resolves the series. There are more stories that could be told in this setting but De Bodard closed things off nicely and left the characters in good places at the end of this volume. This is a series with very flawed characters - few are wholly good, but some of the bad ones show mercy or kindness in surprising moments. The setting of a ruined Paris is very well drawn, and the inclusion of Vietnamese spiritual elements adds another layer of depth to the world. Colonialisation is a theme, but you are never beaten over the head with a Message. I look forward to seeing where the author goes next.

Here is what else I've read:
The lingering is a psychological thriller/horror novel set in the fen country of England. Ali and her husband Jack are moving into a commune situated in a stately home, a former mental hospital. What could possibly go wrong? It soon becomes clear both that Ali and Jack have dark secrets, and that there are strange forces haunting the house. This kept me gripped as I read, not wanting to put the book down. The narrative switches between Ali, Angela (a young member of the commune) and the notebook of a doctor who was investigated alleged abusive practices at the hospital in the 1950s. What is revealed is the story of a tragedy that happened 500 years in the past, whose legacy still taints the small village and its residents.

The subjugate is a science fictional crime novel set in the future. In a USA where technology is commonplace, some townships have opted out and become havens for those seeking a more old-fashioned lifestyle. In a seemingly idyllic Christian community a horrible murder takes place, and cops Salvi and Mitch are called from San Francisco to investigate. Close by the town is a facility that claims to be able to totally rehabilitate rapists and murderers and prevent them from ever reoffending. Could there be a connection with the murder? I enjoyed the SFnal aspects of the book, and the crime story was quite satisfying (although I guessed the culprit quite quickly) but was less interested in the personal demons of the two cops, who are our protagonists. There were some moments which I felt could have been better written but on the whole it was an entertaining read.

For light relief I read Mistletoe and murder one of the Murder most unladylike mysteries for younger teens. Daisy and Hazel are spending Christmas in Cambridge with Daisy's brother who is a student. Bertie's friends, twin brothers, seem to keep falling afoul of dangerous accidents, and when one of them results in a death, the girls are keen to investigate. They thwart the efforts of the college porters to keep them out of the grounds, enlist the aid of a rival detective society, and are utterly fearless (well, almost) in tracking down the killer. I loved the setting in 1930s Cambridge in the closed world of the colleges, and enjoyed watching the relationship between the two girls grow as they mature and change.

I also finished reading Perelandra, which I didn't enjoy as much as Out of the silent planet. I am always put off by books where you turn the page and see a solid paragraph of prose with no dialogue and no end in sight. Lewis's writing is as good as ever, and he lets his imagination run wild when describing the watery world of Venus and its denizens, but the plot, such as it is, is very dry, being more a vehicle to explore philosophy and theology. I'm afraid I skimmed quite a bit of the book.

The book of M is an apocalyptic novel that I acquired despite some doubts. I should have heeded my doubts. The premise that causes the fall of society as we know it is that people start losing their shadows, and with them, their memories. As they forget things, so the world around them changes to conform - a building they forget might disappear; a knife with a black handle might sudden have a green handle if that is how they misremember it. This spreads across the world (which at least avoids one of my pet peeves, where a disaster takes place on one continent with no mention of how the rest of the world is affected) but most of the plot takes place in America. We follow a few viewpoint characters through this strange, violent new world. Max has lost her shadow and knows it's only a matter of time before she forgets her husband Ory so she leaves their shelter and heads out into the unknown. Ory leaves to find her, but goes the opposite direction and ends up in DC where warring bands of shadowed and shadowless have taken over the streets. Ahmadi is an Iranian archer who moved to Boston to train for the Olympics when the shadow plague struck. And the One Who Gathers has no memories, due to a catastrophic accident in his past. Could he hold the key to remaking memories? There was a lot of travelling in the book as all the characters converge on New Orleans and face dangers on the way. The problem I had with the book was the illogic of it all. This was our world with no SFnal elements, until the loss of shadows starts. There is no science at all behind what happens; on the rare occasions when someone does wonder about the cause, they think "magic" and shrug. I believe this was trying to be a more thoughtful apocalypse book, "a moving treatise on love and loss" as the quote on the cover puts it, but I need some plausibility. Station Eleven had similar goals, I think, but was infinitely more successful for not veering off into fantasy. I do like urban fantasy, as most of you will know, but that has structure and rules to it; there is none of that here. The illogic and inconsistency threw me out of the story all the time. I read to the end because I'd bought the book, but it's definitely not a keeper.

Fever dream is a short novel by the Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin, whose collection of short stories I read last year. It's a hypnotic dialogue between a woman in a fever, nearing death, and the young son of a female friend. David is prompting Amanda to recall events from the recent past, which builds a growing sense of menace as the nature of their existence becomes clearer. It's an unreliable narrative that begins by throwing the reader in the deep end and letting them figure out the characters, their relationships and the events that have led to this situation. It is a surreal mediation on motherhood, family, and contamination. I read it all in one go and found it very powerful. It will stay with me.

Finally I read a YA novel on kindle. Game, Set Match follows three young women in the world of professional tennis. Indiana is the talented newbie, Jasmine is the daughter of champions, and Penny is the up and coming star on the Grand Slam circuit. We see their rivalries and romances - a bit too much of the latter, IMO. This is the same author as wrote Break the fall, which I loved, but this book wasn't as good.

I'm currently still reading the Ingathering stories of the People, one or two a week. I'm still dipping into the poems of Anne Sexton. And I've started The summer prince, a YA novel set in a futuristic Brazilian matriarchy, A plague of doves by Louise Erdrich, and Shirley - not the Charlotte Bronte novel, but a novel about Shirley Jackson. It's just been filmed with Elisabeth Moss as Jackson.

>220 Sakerfalcon: Yay! Glad you've joined us on the Murderbot Bandwagon. :o)

Curious about the Shirley Jackson novel. Is that film version going to theaters or will it stream?

>221 clamairy: It's streaming, google shows it on amazon prime and Hulu. I'm hoping it will be released on DVD because I'm old school!

>222 Sakerfalcon: Oh my. :o) How do you survive? LOL My kids were making fun of me because I saved so many DVDs and BluRay discs when I moved. And then I lost internet for 10 days. I felt pretty smug.

>223 clamairy: Ha! Also why i keep my very favorite books in a paper version.

>223 clamairy: & >224 MrsLee:
We still have a few films on VHS.

>225 pgmcc: I only have one VHS left: my Star Wars 1997 special edition box set. No, we don't have a VHS player. Yes, I have a DVD box set. No, I will not get rid of it.
(And no, I'm not a Star Wars fan. But.)

>226 Busifer: I think we must share a common ancestor. :-)

>226 Busifer: In your defense, the dvd boxset has content that is quite different from the special editions vhs. I too own that, in a nice gold slipcase :-) and I haven't owned a vcr for close to 15 years now :-D

>228 BookstoogeLT: So it does. Still doesn't change the fact that I have no way to play the media. Still not getting rid of anything!
:D

>223 clamairy: Yes, it's nice not to have to rely on the internet for entertainment! Your experience reminds me of the time a friend and I were travelling to Edinburgh and she switched her kindle on ... and nothing happened. I was able to lend her my spare book for the journey!

>224 MrsLee: Very wise. We are in a situation at work where our main book supplier, from whom we have bought ebooks, has gone out of business. We need to transfer those ebooks to another platform, but whether we can do so or not is up to the publishers. So far out of 888 titles matched, only 360 can be switched. You never really do own an ebook ...

>225 pgmcc:, >226 Busifer: I draw the line at keeping VHS! I do have audio cassette tapes, although I haven't tried to play them in years and they may have perished.

>228 BookstoogeLT:, >229 Busifer: Sometimes it's about the history of an item, not whether it is still useful or not, that determines whether you keep it. Sound perfectly reasonable to me!

I've finished a few more books since I last posted.

Shirley was an interesting read. I must admit to not being completely comfortable with an author writing fiction about a real person who still has children living, but I find Jackson and her work so interesting that I decided to read this anyway. The portrayal of Shirley and Stanley does fit with what I've read in biographical material - the large house full of cats, books and children; near constant smoking and heavy drinking; evenings spent with fellow writers; a household viewed with suspicion by the locals. The book is narrated by Rose, a fictional character who with her husband Fred has come to board with the Jacksons when they move to Bennington. Rose is 19, recently married, and pregnant with her first child. She idolises Jackson and is in awe of her and Stanley, wanting them to see her as part of their lives. Rose's need to be seen and to develop her identity is the main theme of the book, causing her to make some bad decisions. There are also fairly subtle hints that Shirley and/or Stanley have something to do with the disappearance of a female student almost 20 years earlier. The novel contains allusions to Jackson's work, especially The haunting of Hill House and Hangsaman and stories based on the James Harris legend. I can't see myself rereading this, although it wasn't bad, but I would still like to see the film.

I also finished A plague of doves, which was excellent. Its plot criss-crosses between several generations of a few families in the small town of Pluto, ND, rotating between 3 or 4 different narrators. Teenage Evelina Harp opens the story, learning of a horrific incident in her family's history while listening to her grandfather and great-uncle talking. A family of settlers was murdered, all but the baby, and a group of Native Americans were lynched as punishment. This event links natives and settlers throughout the generations that follow. As the narrative switches to the voices of Judge Antone Bazil Coutts and Marn Wolde, we begin to see a picture of the community and its history building up. The final part, from an as-yet unheard voice, provides the final pieces of the jigsaw. The book is frequently very funny, despite the dark history, and the characters come to life, warts and all. Highly recommended.

I also read a supernatural novel by T. Kingfisher, The twisted ones. This was a great read. It's set in North Carolina, and narrated by Melissa (Mouse) as she and her dog Bongo go to clear out her late grandmother's house. Turns our grandmother was a hoarder - the house is a nightmare. But what's really scary is the diary of her step-grandfather, whose strange phrases start to haunt her. Then she and Bongo discover weird things in the woods, and find themselves on top of a bare hill that shouldn't exist ... something creepy is going on. Luckily Mouse finds allies - the barista at the local coffee shop, the supervisor at the dump and, most importantly, her near neighbours. This is a scary book, but Mouse's self-deprecating, witty voice keeps it from getting too dark, although it is intense. Bongo is wonderfully written, and springs off the page. Something I really appreciated is that the book is narrated by Mouse after the events have concluded, so you know at the start that she and Bongo survive. I hate being taken by surprise with animal deaths. This book references The white people by Arthur Machen and is a response to it, so especially recommended to anyone familiar with that. I wasn't but still enjoyed the book.

I'm still enjoying the People stories of Zenna Henderson which are great comfort reading.

I've also started a strange murder mystery which takes place over one day that repeats itself until the mystery is solved. The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle opens with the narrator crying a woman's name as he runs through the woods. He remembers nothing before this moment, and has to try and work out who he is and what is going on. The day ends with a woman dying. Next morning he is in a different person's body and the day has started all over again. Set at an English country house in the ?1920s?, among a mostly unpleasant cast of characters, this twisty book is complex and intriguing. It's clearly inspired by Agatha Christie and other golden-age crime writers, but the Sfnal aspects provide a unique twist and throw lots of red herrings into the mix. I'm enjoying it so far.

On kindle I've been reading Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, but I'm not really enjoying it. The villains are really horrible and evil for no reason that we're given, and they treat people like pawns. Our protagonists, Roger and Dodger (really?) are twins, bred in a lab and separated at birth so that the villains can see if they grow up to embody the alchemic principles that they are seeking. Roger is brilliant with words and language, Dodger is a maths prodigy. They are both very likeable, but horribly vulnerable. The novel is interspersed with extracts from a children's book, just like in the Parasite trilogy, but thankfully it's not as overused as in those books. I believe that MacGuire is going to publish this as a separate book, like Catherynne Valente did with The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland. I'm only about 30% into the book so far, and I can't see how there is enough plot and character growth to fill up the remaining 70%. I may persevere, but IMO this is not up to MacGuire's usual standard. However, it's on the Hugo best novel shortlist, so what do I know?

>230 Sakerfalcon: At least I beat you to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle! Interesting for me because I didn't really find any of the characters particularly likeable and this is normally a turn-off for me. But the book is fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

>230 Sakerfalcon: I plan to watch the film version instead of reading Shirley for now. I am sure there's a decent biography waiting for me somewhere that would be better for me to read. Thank you for your honest review.

I'm lukewarm on reading Evelyn Hardcastle, because of the unlikable characters, but Turton has a novel out this October that is on my radar.

>230 Sakerfalcon:
I too have reservations about reading fiction based on real people's lives if it is implying things that were never part of the real person's life. I had that experience twice recently; once with Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor which read like a biography of Bram Stoker but was only fiction with enough fact to make people think it was biography, and then with The Last Day at Bowen's Court, a book that the author prefaced by stating it was purely fictitious but in his acknowledgements he wrote as if it were a fact based biography.

I know Bram Stoker's descendants are not too happy about "Shadowplay", not a book that I would recommend.

>234 pgmcc: I do as well. I read a novel about Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh that bothered the heck out of me for that very reason. To add insult to injury, it wasn't very good.

>231 haydninvienna: >233 libraryperilous: I didn't find the unpleasant characters in The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle a turn-off either, perhaps because the author gave a reason at the end for them being that way. The twists and turns of the plot kept me so engaged and I found the setting compelling too. It's a book that you definitely need to concentrate on while reading as there is so much going on and so many clues to be uncovered as the day repeats from different perspectives. Normally I don't like stories that rely on a Groundhog Day set-up, but this one worked for me.

>232 clamairy: I can highly recommend the biography of Shirley Jackson by Ruth Franklin, A rather haunted life.

>234 pgmcc:, >235 Marissa_Doyle: I think the implications in Shirley were subtle enough that they didn't offend me, and the portrayal of Shirley and Stanley seemed plausible based on the biographical material I've read. I just found myself wondering what was the point of writing this novel? It doesn't tell us anything new about the Jacksons, and while it is an effective portrait of a young woman and her desire to be seen and heard, it didn't really need the non-fictional characters to achieve that. Although, I doubt I'd have picked it up without the Shirley Jackson link, so I suppose that's my answer!

I finished The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and really enjoyed this complicated mystery. It is a homage to Agatha Christie, as the author says in his afterword, but with time-looping, body-swapping twists. I liked the decaying country house setting which created a stifling atmosphere as rain poured down all day, meaning that even the outdoor scenes felt claustrophobic.I will be interested to see what the author does next.

In its place I've started The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern, which so far is as delightful and imaginative as The night circus. It's the perfect escapist read at the moment.

I'm also reading In the last analysis which is a mystery set in 1960s NYC with English lecturer Kate Fansler trying to solve the death of one of her students, who was found dead on the couch of Kate's psychoanalyst friend. It's funny, I've never been a big reader of mysteries or crime novels but I do seem to be picking up more of them at the moment.

>236 Sakerfalcon: Thank you! I have added that to my OverDrive wishlist.

And I'm about halfway through The Starless Sea and also enjoying it. I'm trying not to race through it, but to savor it as much as I can.

>236 Sakerfalcon: You have scored a hit with me with The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.

>238 -pilgrim-: Me too. I'm intrigued by the 1/2 death, (which is a pretty great hook to include in a title).

>237 clamairy: It is definitely a book to linger in.

>238 -pilgrim-: >239 ScoLgo: I hope you enjoy it when you get your hands on a copy. The English title doesn't have the "half"; I believe that was a change by the US publisher to prevent confusion with The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo which appeared around the same time.

As we are exactly half way through the year, and this thread has got quite long, I am going to continue in a new one.