Tanya-dogearedcopy's 100

JANUARY

001. The Silver Ships (The Silver Ships series, Book #1; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SpaceOpera #FirstContact

002. The Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Classic #Comedy

003. Sin City: Family Values (Sin City, Volume #5; by Frank Miller #GN #Noir

004. Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets (Sin City, Volume #6; by Frank Miller) #GN #Noir

005. Sin City: Hell and Back (Sin City, Volume #7; by Frank Miller) #GN #Noir

006. The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers and Two Stories ("The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Jolly Corner") (by Henry James) #Classic #Horror #Ghosts #Shorts

007. Love Minus Eighty (by Will McIntosh; narrated by Kevin T. Collins, Eileen Stephens and Ali Ahn) #SFF #Future #Romance

008. From This Moment On (De Piaget series, Book #8; by Lynn Kurland) #Romance #Medieval

009. A Dying Light in Corduba (Marcus Didius Falco mystery series, Book #8; by Lindsey Davis) #Mystery #AncientRome #Córdoba #Spain

010. Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (by Anderson Cooper) #NF #Memoir #Journalism

011. Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare) #Classic #Drama #Comedy

012. Irresistibly Yours: An Oxford Novel (Oxford series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #Office #SportsJournalism

013. Murder on a Girl's Night Out (Southern Sisters series, Book #1; by Anne George) #Mystery #Cozy #Retirees

014. Libre (The Silver Ships series, Book #2; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SpaceOpera

015. The Dirt on the Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson series, Book #9; by Darynda Jones) #paranormal #romance #mystery

016. Beauty Queens (written and narrated by Libba Bray) #YA #Satire

017. Only with You (The Best Mistake series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #Office

018. The Seduction Hypothesis (The Science of Temptation series, Book #2; by Delphine Dryden) #Romance #Erotica #BDSM #Contemporary

019. Lumberjanes: Vol. 1 (by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, and Brooke Allen) #YA #GN #Adventure #Fantasy #Camping

020. Exclusively Yours (The Kowalskis series. Book #1; by Shannon Stacey) #Romance #Contemporary #Writers

021. GodBomb! (by Kit Power; narrated by Chris Barnes) #LitFic #Horror

022. John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 1: Original Sins (by Jamie Delano and Rick Veitch) #GN #UrbanFantasy

FEBRUARY

023. After the Kiss (Sex, Love, & Stiletto series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #CounterBets

024. The Library at Mount Char (by Scott Hawkins; narrated by Hillary Huber) #SFF #DarkFantasy

025: The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture (by Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez) #Religion #Mariology #Feminism

026. The Perfect Match (Blue Heron series, Book #2; (by Kristan Higgins) #Romance #Contemporary #FakeFiance

027. A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge series, Book #1; by Charles Todd) #Mystery #ScotlandYard #PostWWI

028. Three Hands in the Fountain (Marcus Didius Falco mystery series, Book #10; by Lindsey Davis) #Mystery #AncientRome #Aqueducts

029. Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out series, Book #1; by Victoria Dahl) #Romance #Contemporary #OppositesAtrract

030. The Girl with All the Gifts (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Williams) #SFF #Horror #Zombies

031. Avenge Me (Fifth Avenue series, Book #1; by Maisey Yates) #Romance #Erotica #BDSM #Billionaire

032. Knitting Pearls: Writers Writing About Knitting (by Ann Hood) #NF #Essays #Knitting

MARCH

033. The Supermodel's Best Friend (by Gretchen Galway) #Romance #Comedy #OpposingPlans #CA

034. The Fishermen (by Chigozie Obioma; narrated by Chukwudi Iwuji) #LitFic #Nigeria

035. Méridien (Silver Ship series, Book #3; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SpaceOpera #WorldBuilding

036. Love Handles (Oakland Hills series, Book #1; by Gretchen Galway) #Romance #Comedy #SmallBusiness #Fitness #CA

037. Falling Into Bed with a Duke (Hellions of Havisham; by Lorraine Heath) #Romance #HistoricalFiction #Regency

038. Losing It (Losing It series, Book #1; by Cora Carmack) #Romance #NewAdult #Contemporary #Theater

039. Me Before You (by Jojo Moyes) #WomensLit #Tearjerker

040. The Travelers (by Chris Pavone) #Suspense #Thriller #SpyThriller

041. The Light Between Oceans (by M.L. Stedman) #LitFic #Lighthouse #Australia

042. Beautiful Bastard (The Beautiful series, Book #1; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #HateLove #USA #IL

043. Beautiful Stranger (The Beautiful series, Book #2; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #PhotoVoyeurism #USA #NY

044. Beautiful Bitch (The Beautiful series, Book #1.5; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Proposal #Novella #France

045. Beautiful Bombshell (The Beautiful series, Book #2.5; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Pranks #Novella #LasVegas

046. Beautiful Player (The Beautiful series, Book #3; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #MyFairLady #Novella #USA #NYC

047. Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger with an Essay by Larry McMurty; narrated by David Aaron Baker, Scott Sowers, and Henry Strozier) #Western #AmericanClassic #MT

APRIL

048. Beautiful Beginning (Beautiful series, Book #6; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Wedding #CA

049. Beautiful Beloved (Beautiful series, Book #7; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Voyeurism #Baby #NYC

050. Two for the Lions (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #10; by Lyndsey Davis) #Mystery #HistoricalFiction #NAfrica #Arena

051. Sweetland (by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) #LitFic #Canada #Island

052. Tram 83 (by Fiston Mwanza Mujila) #Africa #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo #Translation

053. Beautiful Secret (Beautiful series, Book #4; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Corporate #NYC

054. Beautiful Boss (Beautiful series, Book #5; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #JobHunting #NYC

055. Beauty Queens (written and narrated by Libba Bray) #YA #Satire #ReListen #TropicalIsland #Feminism

056. The Raven and Selected Short Stories (by Edgar Allan Poe; by Bronson Pinchot and Stefan Rudnicki) #Classic #Horror #Shorts #Poem

The Raven narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

The Fall of the House of Usher narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Masque of the Red Death narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Pit and the Pendulum narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Tell-Tale Heart narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Black Cat narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Cask of Amontillado narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Hop-Frog narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Did NOT listen to The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of the Marie Rogêt, or The Purloined Letter as narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

057. Poe's Detective (by Edgar Allan Poe; narrated by Bronson Pinchot) Classic #Mystery #Shorts

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Mystery of the Marie Rogêt

The Purloined Letter

Thou Art the Man

058: The Player (The Game Maker series, Book #3; by Kresley Cole) #Romance #Erotica #BDSM #Vegas

059. Last Call (Cocktail series, Book #5; by Alice Clayton) #Romance #Contemporary #Humor

060. The Damned Busters (To Hell and Back, Book #1; by Mathew Hughes) #SFF #Fantasy #Humor #Hell #Superhero

061. Ithaca: A Novel of Homer's Odyssey (by Patrick Dillon) #AncientGreece

062. Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel ( Beau Monde series, Book #1; by Samantha Grace) #Romance #Regency #Historical Fiction #England

063. The Looking Glass Wars (The Looking Glass Wars trilogy, Book #1; by Frank Beddor) #SFF #Fantasy #MG #Alice

064. The Burrowers Beneath (by Brian Lumley; narrated by Simon Vance) #Horror #Lovecraft

MAY

065. The Transition of Titus Crow (by Brian Lumley; narrated by Simon Vance) #Horror #Lovecraft

066. Sweet Filthy Boy (Wild Seasons, Book #1; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Erotica #Contemporary #Vegas #France

067. Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Season, Book #2; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Contemporary #BDSM

068. Fellside (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Williams) #Horror #GhostStory #England

069. The Rebel Angels (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #1; by Robertson Davies) #LitFic

070. The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (by Michael Punke) #Western #HistFic

071. The Raphael Affair (Art History Mysteries, Book #1; by Iain Pears) #Mystery #Art #Raphael #Italy

072. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (written and narrated by Nail Gaiman) #SFF #Bildungsroman

073. The Unleashing (Call of Crows, Book#1; by Shelley Laurenston) #Romance #Paranormal #NorseMythology

074. Warlord Wants Forever (Immortal After Dark series, Book #1; by Kresley Cole) #Romance #Paranormal

075. The Troupe (by Robert Jackson Bennett; narrated by Luis Moreno) #SFF #Vaudeville

076. One Virgin Too Many (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #11; by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistFic #AncientRome

077. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (by Alfred Lansing; narrated by Simon Prebble) #NF #Exploration #Survival #SouthPole

078. Sweet Filthy Morning After (Wild Seasons series, Book#1.5; by Christina Lauren; narrated by Jason Carpenter) #Romance #ShortStory

079. Heart of Darkness (by Joseph Conrad; narrated by Kenneth Branagh) #Classics

080. Mad About the Marquess (Highland Brides Romances, Book #1; by Elizabeth Essex) #Romance #Regency #Scotland

081. Savage Season (Hap & Leonard Mysteries, Book #1; by Joe R. Lansdale) #Msytery #Texas

JUNE

082. Plugged (Plugged series, Book #1; by Eoin Colfer) #Mystery #Thriller #IrishMob #NJ

083. Outfoxed (Andy Carpenter series, Book #14; by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner) #mystery #cozy #courtroom #NJ

084. I Hear the Sirens in the Street (The Troubles series, Book #2; by Adrian McKinty) #Mystery #IrishNoir #TheTroubles

085. Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons, Book #3; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Contemporary #CA #GraphicArtists

086. Wicked Sexy Liar (Wild Seasons, Book #4; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #COntemporary #CA #Player

087. The Last of the Demon Slayers (Biker Witches series, Book#4; by Angie Fox) #Paranormal #Romance #USA

088. Widows & Orphans (Rachael Flynn Mysteries, Book #1; by Susan Meissner) #Mystery #Lawyer #Christian #James_1_27

089. The Last of the Demon Slayers (Biker Witches series, Book#4; by Angie Fox; narrated by Tavia Gilbert) #Paranormal #Romance #USA

090. Tangled (Tangled series, Book #1; by Emma Chase) #Romance #Contemporary #Corporate NYC #MY #USA

091. Pets on the Couch: Neurotic Dogs, Compulsive Cats, Anxious Birds, and the New Science of Animal Psychiatry (by Nicholas Dodman, DVM) #NF #VeterinaryCare

092. Redeployment (by Phil Klay) #Fiction #shorts #military #OIF #USA #Iraq

093. The Bees (by Laline Paull) #Fiction #anthropomorphic #bees

094. The Water Knife (by Paolo Bacigalupi) #SFF #SpeculativeFiction #ClimateFiction

095. The Graveyard Book (by Neil Gaiman; performed by a full cast) #SFF #ghosts

096. The Insides (by Jeremy P. Bushnell) #SFF #DarkStrange #Magic #Portals

097. Emperor of the Eight Islands (The Tale of Shikanoko, Book #1; by Lian Hearn) #SFF #Fantasy #Myth #Legend #Japan

098. Ode to a Banker (Marcus Didus Falco Mysteries, Book #12; by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistFic #Rome

099. Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die series, Book #1; by Danielle Paige) #SFF #Fantasy #YA #Oz

100. HEX (by Thomas Olde Heuvelt) #Horror #ghost #witch #translation

JULY

101. When the Song of Angels is Stilled (Before Watson series, Book #1; by A. S. Croyle; narrated by Cat Gould) #Mystery #Sherlock

102. Harakan (Silver Ships series, Book #4; by S. H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #First Contact

103. What's Bred in the Bone (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #2; by Robertson Davies) #litfic

104. The Black Notebook (by Patrick Modiano) #Mystery #Translation #French

105. Irène (The Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy, Book #1; by Pierre Lemaitre) #Mystery #Translation #French

106. The Widow Larouge (Monsieur Lecoq Mysteries, Book #1; by Emile Gaboriau) #Mystery #Translation #French

107. The Cairo Affair (by Olen Steinhauer) #SpyThriller #Contemporary #MENA

108. Richard II (Folger Shakespeare Library Edition; by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Shakespeare

109. The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio (by Andrea Mays) #NF #History #Books #Shakespeare #Folger

110. A Body in the Bathhouse (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #13; by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome

111. Andrew Fuller: Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Mission (by John Piper; narrated by Grover Gardner) #NF #Bio #Religion

112. Get Lucky (by Lila Monroe) #Romance #Contemporary #Vegas

113. A Wicked Way to Win an Earl (Sutherland Scandal, Book #1; by Anna Bradley) #Romance #HistFic #Regency

114. News of the World (by Paulette Jiles) #LitFic #Western

AUGUST

115. The Big Four (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, Book #5; by Agatha Christie) #Mystery #Cozy #Poirot

116. Chasing Jillian (Love and Football series, Book #5; by Julie Brannagh) #Romance #Contemporary #Football

117. How to Train Your Dragon (How to Train Your Dragon series, Book #1; by Cressida Crowell; narrated by David Tennent) #SFF #Children #Dragons

118. It Can't Happen Here (by Sinclair Lewis) #AltHistory #Political #Fascism

119. Chronicle of a Last Summer (by Yasmone El Rashidi) #LitFic #Egypt #Revolution

120. Year of Wonders (by Geraldine Brooks) #HistFic #Plague

121. The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded (by Jim Ottiviani; illustrated by Leland Purvis) #GN #NF #Bio #Computers

122. Jitterbug Perfume (by Tom Robbins) #Fiction #Humor

123. The Little Shop of Happy Ever After (by Jenny Colgan) #WomensLit

SEPTEMBER

124. Schroder (by Amity Gaige; narrated by Will Collyer) #LitFic #Family

125. The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (Andy Carpenter series, Book #15; by David Rosenfelt) #mystery #cozy #courtroom #NJ

126. The Bedding Proposal (The Rakes of Cavendish Square, Book #1, by Tracy Anne Warren) #Romance #Regency

127. If I Dare (MacCarrick Brothers Trilogy, Book #1; by Kresley Cole) #Romance #Regency #Scotland

128. Dear Mr. M (by Herman Koch) #litfic #suspense

129. The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen) #SFF #Christianity

130. The Shining (by Stephen King; narrated by Campbell Scott) #Horror

131. The Underground Railroad (by Colson Whitehead; narrated by Bahni Turpin #Fiction #American #BlackLit #SlaveNarrative

OCTOBER

132. Sol (Silver Ships series, Book #5; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #FirstContact

133. The Tempest (by Willam Shakespeare) #Drama #Classic #Comedy

134. Clockwork Angel (Shadowhunters Novel; Infernal Devices series, Book #1; by Cassandra Clare) #SFF #Paranormal #YA #Steampunk

135. Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss, Book #1; byNalini Singh) #Romance #Contemporary #RNR #NewZealand #LosAngeles

136. Hag-Seed (by Margaret Atwood) #LitFic #HogarthShakespeare #PrisonNarrative #TheTempest

137. The Jupiter Myth (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #14; by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome

138. Doctor Sleep (Sequel to 'The Shining'; by Stephen King) #Horror

139. H is for Hawk (written and narrated by Helen MacDonald) #NF #Memoir #Grief #Falconry

NOVEMBER

144. John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit (by James Traub) #NF #History #Biography #USA #President

145. Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, Book #1; by Ruby Dixon) #Romance #SFF

146. Merchant of Venice (Folger Library edition; by William Shakespeare) #Classic #Drama #Comedy

147. Shylock is My Name (by Howard Jacobson) #HogarthShakespeare #LitFic

148. The Wall of Winnipeg (by Mariana Zapata) #Romance #Contemporary #Football #TX

149. Beautiful (Beautiful series, Book #8; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Contemporary #Opposites #NewEngland

150. The Accusers (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #15, by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistoricalFic #AncientRome #Jurisprudence

151. The Hating Game (by Sally Thorne) #Romance #Contemporary #Workplace #Enemies2Lovers

152. How to Kiss a Cowboy (Cowboys of Decker Ranch, Book #2; by Joanne Kennedy) #Romance #Contemporary #Rodeo #Cowboy #WY

153. The Vegetarian (by Han Kang) #litfic #SouthKorea #ManBookerInternational

154. The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun Mysteries, Book #1; by Colin Cotterill) #Mystery #Laos

155. The Good Rain (by Timothy Egan) #NF #Travel #History #PNW

156. Idol (VIP series, Book #1; by Kristen Callihan) #RockStars #Contemporary #Romance

157. Managed (VIP series, Book #1; by Kristen Callihan) #RockStars #Contemporary #Romance

158. March: Book One (by John Lewis) #GN #AmericanHistory #CivilRights

DECEMBER

159. The Clock of Dreams Titus Crow series, Book #3; by Brian Lumley; narrated by Simon Vance) #SFF #Fantasy #Cthulu #Dreamscape

160. The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood) #PoliticalThriller #Dystopia #WomensAgency

161. March: Book Two (by John Lewis) #GN #AmericanHistory #CivilRights

162. March: Book Three (by John Lewis) #GN #AmericanHistory #CivilRights

163. Someone Like You (Oxford novels, Book #3; by Lauren Lane) #Romance #Contemporary #Office

164. When a Scot Ties the Knot (Castles Ever After, Book #2; by Tessa Dare) #Romance #Regency #Highlander

165. A Week to be Wicked (Spindle Cove series, Book #2; by Tessa Dare) #Romance #Regency

166. A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove series, Book #3; by Tessa Dare) #Romance #Regency

167. Say Yes to the Marquess (Castles Ever After series, Book #2; by Tessa Dare) #Romance #Regency

168. Scandal Takes a Holiday (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #16; by Lindsey Davies) #Mystery #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome

169. Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School series, Book #1; byGail Carringer #YA #Steampunk #Paranormal

170. Human Acts (by Han Kang) #LitFic #SKorea

Currently Reading:

The New American Bible (by Various) #ReligiousText #Bible #Catholic

Currently Listening:

The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) #horror

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter series, Book #5; by J.K. Rowling; narrated by Jim Dale) #MG #Fantasy

937 SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (by Mary Beard; narrated by Phyllida Nash)

Wow! You are so organized already. I'm impressed. :) Happy New Year, and I wish you the best in 2016!

WEEK 1

I read the play, A Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare.) I started it a few weeks ago; but Real Life interrupted. I saw the live-streamed performance from the Garrick Theatre in London starring Kenneth Brannagh and Judi Dench. It's a bit odd: It starts off something like a Greek tragedy; but in the second Act, seems to turn into a romantic comedy!

WEEK 2

I read Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets (by Frank Miller.) This is a comic art collection of 11 stories set in Basin City, a corrupt noirish American city in the West inhabited by men and women living by a code of honor and motivated by vengeance. Sin City is violent and graphic, sometimes ugly; and the theme that runs through all the volumes so far is of vigilante justice. I love the interconnectedness of all the Sin City stories, and find myself immersed in Frank Miller's dark work. The illustrations are stark, high contrast black & white inkings, dramatic and impactful. I admit that sometimes there are panels that I initially can't make heads or tails of, so I walk away and come back with fresh eyes.

003. Sin City: Family Values (Sin City, Volume #5; by Frank Miller) #GN #Noir
002. The Winter's Tale (by William Shakespeare) #Drama #Classic #Comedy
001. The Silver Ships (by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SpaceOpera #FirstContact

WEEK 3

I'm reading Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (by Anderson Cooper) - This is a surprisingly short autobiography that reflects on the CNN journalist's personal and professional life through 2005. Though wealthy, well-educated, and loved, he was not immune to tragedy in his life; and seems to have deliberately put himself in harm's way in his early career, not to "find his bliss," but to find excitement and feeling. I packed this title off the library shelves because I thought there would be more about his war-front reporting; but his field experience seems to be not only "smooshed" up with his memories, but with multiple assignments - all connected by theme. This is one of those books that had I thought about it more, I probably would have picked up in audio instead. I still might!

007. Love Minus Eighty (by Will McIntosh; narrated by Kevin T. Collins, Eileen Stevens, and Ali Ahn) #SFF #FutureScape #Relationships
006. The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers and Two Stories ("The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Jolly Corner"; by Henry James) #Classic #Ghosts #Novellas #Shorts
005. Sin City: Hell and Back (Sin City, Volume #7; by Frank Miller) #GN #Noir
004. Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets (Sin City, Volume #6; by Frank Miller) #GN #Noir

WEEK 4

Libre: A Silver Ships Novel (Silver Ships Novel #2. by S.H. Jucha) - I wrapped this one up today! It's a SFF novel that's all about world building and ideas about technology. Admiral Alex Racine has approached the Independents' planet-colony of Libre hoping for military assistance against the silver ships; but discovers that they are building escape pods instead!

013. Murder on a Girl's Night Out (Southern Sisters series, Book #1; by Anne George) #Mystery #Cozy #Retirees
012. Irresistibly Yours: An Oxford Novel (Oxford series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #Office #SportsJournalism
011. Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare) #Classic #Drama #Comedy
010. Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (by Anderson Cooper) #NF #Memoir #Journalism
009. A Dying Light in Corduba (Marcus Didius Falco mystery series, Book #8; by Lindsey Davis) #Mystery #AncientRome #Córdoba #Spain
008. From This Moment On (De Piaget series, Book #8; by Lynn Kurland) #Romance #Medieval

I like how you organized this as well. I am going to emulate you.

WEEK 5

The Story of Music: From Babylon to the Beatles: How Music Has Shaped Civilization (by Howard Goodall) - I was very suspicious of this book when I picked it up as other books I have picked up about music history (e.g. those written by Gustave Reese) often quickly go over my head; but this is a pleasant surprise. It's about the history of music as well as a reflection of history as seen mirrored by music. The author takes the time to explain stuff in non-musician terms which makes the book highly accessible. There's a playlist at the end of the book, extended Spotify playlists on the author's web-site; and BBC did a six-part series on the book (which the author hosts.)

017. Only with You (The Best Mistake series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary #Office
016. Beauty Queens (written and narrated by Libba Bray) #YA #Satire
015. The Dirt on the Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson series, Book #9; by Darynda Jones) #paranormal #romance #mystery
014. Libre (The Silver Ships series, Book #2; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #SpaceOpera

WEEK 6

I finished GodBomb! (by Kit Power, narrated by Chris Barnes last night. This is a short (190 paperback pages/6-hour audiobook) but rather intense novel about a young man who walks into a religious revival/faith healing service with a block of explosive in hand, and his thumb on the release trigger. His demand? He wants to hear the voice of God speak to him, or else he is going to blow up and take everyone with him... Ostensibly this is a horror story, but I'm more inclined to put it in the lit-fic category - not because there isn't a lot of horrific things that happen, (because they do); but because the of the structure/shape of the novel which allows the reader/listener a Rashomon-style take of the events within the story and the play-writing bones. This is Kit Power's debut novel, and while not perfect (If I were an editor, I would have made some changes regarding the development/presentation of one or two of the key characters); the facts are that 1) I had no idea how this story was going to end, even during the closing minutes; and 2) I can't stop thinking about it! The author portrays emotional complexity and tension deftly. While not particularly lyrical, there is a flow to the narrative that places the reader at the scene very effectively.

I listened to the audiobook edition, and in the first couple of minutes, I almost gave up. The narrator has a very thick Scottish accent, and coupled with some idiomatically UK expressions, I wasn't sure what the heck I had gotten myself into; but after rewinding and replaying the first bit and going on, it seemed that the narrator dialed back a little bit and/or my ear acclimated to the accent. So, that said, it's probably helpful to know that "tenobare" is actually a "tin of beer" (a can of beer)! Overall though, the narrator does a very nice job, telling the story and delineating the characters without dropping into caricature.
I'm looking forward to more by this author and narrator respectively. And no, I didn't get paid to say that. And no, I'm not related to either. I am FB friends with the narrator; but he didn't ask me to listen to the audiobook, and doesn't know I have - unless he's reading this right now ;-)

021. GodBomb! (by Kit Power; narrated by Chris Barnes) #LitFic #Horror
020. Exclusively Yours (The Kowalskis series. Book #1; by Shannon Stacey) #Romance #Contemporary #Writers
019. Lumberjanes: Vol. 1 (by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, and Brooke Allen) #YA #GN #Adventure #Fantasy #Camping
018. The Seduction Hypothesis (The Science of Temptation series, Book #2; by Delphine Dryden) #Romance #Erotica #Contemporary

WEEK 7

I'm currently reading A Test of Wills (by Charles Todd) - A WWI vet, Ian Rutledge is suffering from a form of PTSD in which a soldier he executed during the Great War haunts his conscience. Rutledge returns to his job at Scotland Yard and is assigned to a politically charged homicide case in a small village. When I first read the description to this mystery novel, I was hoping it would be more along the lines of Stuart Neville's 'The Ghosts of Belfast' - dark, violent, and poetic; but it so far it seems more like a cozy in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel. This is the first-in-series launched in 2011, though the writing style feels older in keeping with the setting of the novel itself.

024. The Library at Mount Char (by Scott Hawkins; narrated by Hillary Huber) #SFF #DarkFantasy;
023. After the Kiss (Sex, Love, & Stiletto series, Book #1; by Lauren Layne) #Romance #Contemporary;
022. John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 1: Original Sins (by Jamie Delano and Rick Veitch) #GN #UrbanFantasy

WEEK 8

I'm about to wrap up Three Hands in the Fountain (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #9, by Lindsey Davis) - This is a cozy-ish mystery series set in Ancient Rome during Vespasian's reign (~ 70 C.E.) Falco, a palace informer, is often sent on under-renumerated assignments on behalf of the Palace; and always pitted against the official spy master Anacrites. The research done for each of the novels in the series, set in a different place and/or concerning a different aspect of the Roman Empire, is pretty deep. I often google the places mentioned, or the area of interest the author has highlighted, and come away not only impressed, but amused at some of the "meta" jokes she cracks. In this novel, Falco and his friend, Petronius are looking into a case in which body parts are showing up in the Roman aqueducts. While much of the violence occurs "off camera," there are still graphic descriptions of corpses and death, which is why I call the series "cozy-ish." The books include a maps; and there is a companion to the series that the autor also wrote (but which I haven't looked at because I'm afraid of inadvertent spoilers.)

027. A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge series, Book #1; by Charles Todd) #Mystery #ScotlandYard #PostWWI
026. The Perfect Match (Blue Heron series, Book #2; (by Kristan Higgins) #Romance #Contemporary #FakeFiance
025: The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture (by Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez) #Religion #Mariology #Feminism

WEEK 9

I'm currently reading The Light Between Oceans (by M.L. Stedman.) This is a lit-fic novel set at a lighthouse station off of the West Coast of Australia, post WWI. Tom and his wife have a childless marriage; but then one day, a boat with a dead man and a surviving baby come ashore... The writing is entrancing, though I'm not expecting a lot to actually happen.

030. The Girl with All the Gifts (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Williams) #SFF #Horror #Zombies
029. Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out series, Book #1; by Victoria Dahl) #Romance #Contemporary #OppositesAtrract
028. Three Hands in the Fountain (Marcus Didius Falco mystery series, Book #10; by Lindsey Davis) #Mystery #AncientRome #Aqueducts

WEEK 10

I've just started The Travelers (by Chris Pavone.) Tom, struggling with a five-year old marriage and a money pit of a house, is a travel writer for a NY magazine (of course, in an age when magazines themselves are declining in circulation and number.) More often than not he's on the road, sampling high-end offerings while writing what he knows is basically ad copy for the magazine's sponsors. He's going through an existential crisis, unknowingly embroiled in an espionage scenario... I've only read the first part (out of four or five), so I can't tell if his magazine is a cover for spies, or other spies just mistakenly think he's a spy. So far, the story's okay: Not as much action or comedy/comic relief as I had been expecting; but there's still 75-80% of the book to go.

032. Knitting Pearls: Writers Writing About Knitting (edited by Ann Hood) #Essays #Knitting
031. Avenge Me (Fifth Avenue series, Book #1; by Maisey Yates) #Romance #Contemporary #BDSMLite #NYC

WEEK 11

I had a false start with an audiobook, Trespass (by Rose Tremain, narrated by Juliet Stevenson.) The narrator's British voice is lovely, so comforting, so warm,... ZZZ! Normally, I whip through at least 75 minutes of audio a day; but after a week, I realized that I had only listened to less than two hours of the audiobook! This was because I kept falling asleep, waking up, and having to rewind to the last remembered spot. This happened last year with 'Middlemarch' (by George Eliot; read by the same performer) so I realized that as much as I truly do like Ms Stevenson's voice, it's not enough to capture my attention. I tried speeding up the audiobook, but that's not for me either; so I took out the print book from the library. After I wrap up 'The Light Between the Oceans' (by M.L. Steadman), I'll try Rose Tremain's work again.

035. Méridien (Silver Ship series, Book #3; by S.H. Jucha; narrated by Grover Gardner) #SFF #FamilyFriendly #SpaceOpera #WorldBuilding
034. The Fishermen (by Chigozie Obioma; narrated by Chukwudi Iwuji) #LitFic #Nigeria
033. The Supermodel's Best Friend (by Gretchen Galway) #Romance #Comedy #OpposingPlans #CA

WEEK 12
I'm in this weird place reading-wise: I've started a half dozen books; but none of them have been able to hold my interest for very long. I'm not sure if it's because the material is mediocre, or if I'm just exhausted (Lots of pear and plum trees are in bloom right now here and my allergies are kicking my butt!) I've decided to table the lot until a little later; and I went for the "easy kills" in regard to reading. I usually read one Romance a week anyway to help break up the other stuff I'm reading, so I just picked up two this week instead; and started Me Before You (by Jojo Moyes) last night. I understand it's a tear-jerker; but knowing that going in, I think I'll be okay. Just so long as there's no dog involved! :-D

037. Falling Into Bed with a Duke (Hellions of Havisham; by Lorraine Heath) #Romance #HistoricalFiction #Regency;
036. Love Handles (Oakland Hills series, Book #1; by Gretchen Galway) #Romance #Comedy #SmallBusiness #Fitness #CA

WEEK 13
I think this past week may have been my worst reading week outside of outright not-reading-at-all! I have several books that caught my attention at first, but now are hanging in some sort of book purgatory.

Determined to finish this coming week:

Me Before You (by Jojo Moyes) - Its been spoiled for me, and there's something perverse (masochistic?) about my wanting to finish it anyway; but there you are!

The Light Between the Oceans (by M.L. Stead) - My heart is breaking over the whole situation, so I've been avoiding this one. Time to suck it up and read on!

The Travelers (by Chris Pavone) - I don't expect every author in the spy thriller game to be a LeCarre or even an Ian Fleming; but this is easily the lamest most non-thrilling thriller I've come across. I got an ARC for review, and have posted a couple of update/comments to show I've made the effort; but I should really just whip through the rest and post a proper review.

Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger; narrated by David Aaron Baker, Scott Sowers; Introduction by Larry McMurty and narrated by Henry Strozier) - I'm participating in the Armchair Audies which means that I listen to all the finalists in a given category (I chose Classics/Lit-Fic this year) and make my own prediction as to which will win an Audie (The Audies are like the Oscars of the audiobook industry.) While not my favorite of the contenders so far, I'd like to finish it and move on to the next title in my queue, 'Sweetland' (by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) or maybe ''Til the Well Runs Dry' (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated by Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin.)

All right then, DNF:

The Story of Music: From Babylon to the Beatles: How Music Has Shaped Civilization (by Howard Goodall) - I 'm stuck on understanding what the difference between a minor chord and a major chord; and this seems to me an important thing to understand as I've tried to move forward on this. I'll probably pick this back up when I can get a musician to explain it to me or show me in person.

Trespass (by Rose Tremain; narrated by Juliet Stevenson) - Tried this in audio; but the narrator's voice was so warm and comforting, that it put me to sleep. I borrowed a print copy from the library; but haven't been in the mood for it. I like lit-fic, but this doesn't feel like the author put her heart into it.

A Map of Time: A Novel (by Félix J. Palma) - I have actually really enjoyed what I've read so far (two-thirds!); but it's been so long since I put it down, I'm not sure I would know what was happening anymore. I may re-visit this one in audio (narrated by Stephen Langdon.)

What I did manage to read: ONE light New Adult Romance novel. On Friday nights, I usually stop whatever else I'm reading and pick up something light (Romance, Space Opera, a graphic novel, a novella...)

This past Friday, it was:

038. Losing It (Losing It series, Book #1; by Cora Carmack) #Romance #NewAdult #Contemporary #Theater - I'm definitely too old for this sort of offering. I kept seeing how unrealistic the whole thing was, and SMH. Oh, well, better luck next week!

WEEK 14
Last week I was determined to finish four books. I'm pleased to report that I managed to finish reading three out of the four:

039. Me Before You (by Jojo Moyes) #WomensLit #Tearjerker
040. The Travelers (by Chris Pavone) #Suspense #Thriller #SpyThriller
041. The Light Between Oceans (by M.L. Stedman) #LitFic #Lighthouse #Australia

I'm still listening to Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger; narrated by David Aaron Baker, Scott Sowers; Introduction by Larry McMurty and narrated by Henry Strozier); and from City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, I picked up:

Tram 83 (by Fiston Mwanza Mujila; Translated from the French by Roland Glasser) - The author is a poet who has turned his hand to writing a novel about two friends in Congolese Africa and the mining culture they grow up in. This caught my attention on litsy, and after taking a peek at the highly stylized writing online, thought I might give this one a go this week.

Silence (by Shūsaku Endō) - At the bookstore, Asian, African and "Other" Culture books are in a separate room from the Western fare. 'Silence' caught my eye, admittedly because the cover is gorgeous; and because it happened to be on the shelf near 'Tram 83' (Browsing at its best!) Anyway, this is a historical novel about Jesuit missionaries in 16th-century Japan. I got a "1000 Autumns" feel off of it; and am looking forward to starting this one later this week too.

WEEK 15

In Print:
Still reading Tram 83 (by Fiston Mwanza Mujila; translated from the French by Roland Glasser) - This is a novel set in Congolese Africa and featuring two friends in a fictional mining town which includes the nightclub, Tram 83. The writing is highly stylized and lyrical, as you might expect from an author who is most notably a poet; and there is the translation factor which proves to be a little bit of a challenge; but it's interesting so far and nice to read something outside of the Western world.

In Audio:
Finally finished up Little Big Man (by Thomas Berger; narrated by David Aaron Baker and Scott Sowers; with an Essay by Larry McMurty narrated by Henry Strozier) - This is a satire of the American Old West. The main body of the work is a POV1- narrative from Jack Crabbe, a Zelig-like character who lives alternately amongst white people and the Cheyenne in the 1850s-1870s. Most notably (and this is not a spoiler**) he participates in, and survives, Custer's Last Stand! I gather that Berger researched this time period, and using original source material such as letters and diaries, constructed this novel to debunk the myth of the era, and to a certain extent he succeeded by incorporating the elements of avarice, filth, and moral equivocation that prevailed; OTOH the tarnish lends a sort of patina to the myth and makes it more real and relatable. Anyway, I I really liked the story, and the narrators were terrific; but the production values were terrible: Page turns, mouth noises, booth noises, repeating sentence, a couple sections out of order, and overall the main portion of the book didn't sound as clean as the parts narrated by David Aaron Baker or Henry Strozier.

Now I'm listening to Sweetland (by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) - It's lit-fic novel about a Canadian on an island. The government is attempting to buy everyone out; but Sweetland (the name of the man and the island) is one of two remaining holdouts. John Lee seems to be clipping through the narration at a brisk pace. I'm not sure how I feel about that right now. I can't make up my mind if he's saving me from getting bugged down; or if he's getting in the way of my savoring the language.

In ebook:
I'm currently reading Two for the Lions ( A Marcus Didius Falco mystery, Book #10, by Lindsey Davies) - This is a historical novel set in Ancient Rome. Each book in the series features a different aspect of Vespasian culture, and this one centers around the people and animals that fight in the arena. The novel opens with Falco working as an auditor for the palace, and a lion being killed in captivity. Even if one of your reading triggers might be animal cruelty, this doesn't have gory or gratuitous descriptions, and the topic is really interesting, so you should be okay.

This past week-end, I totally binged on The Beautiful Series (Books 1-7), by Christina Lauren. These are a collection of romance novels & novellas featuring four couples in NewYork City. Explicit sex, romance, and humor, the thing about these novels which set them apart are the POVS from the men! I'll probably wrap up the series with the last two books this coming week-end. Fun and light :-)

WEEK 16

050. Two for the Lions (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #10,) by Lyndsey Davis - Though I'm not one for reading cozies in bgerneal, the historical research that goes into each of the author's novels is thorough and fascinating. In this book, Lindsey Davis deals with gladiators, beasts, and criminals who face off in the arena; and there is a sub-plot involving the search for a now-extinct plant which was popular at the time, silphium. Some of Davis' novels in the series are closely paired , and this seems to be one of them as it ends rather abrubtly.#Mystery #HistoricalFiction #NAfrica #Arena

051. Sweetland by Michael Crummey; narrated by John Lee) - When all was said and done, it was just an "okay" novel. A seventy-year old man, Moses Sweetland has lived on an island his forefathers founded many generations ago. Faced with the prospect of resettlement, he lives with his memories and ghosts. Present-day scenes merge nicely with the flashbacks; but overall I can't say that it was as evocative, sad or even comic as the publisher's blurb made it out to be. 'We, the Drowned' (by Carsten Jensen) and 'The Solitude of Thomas Cave' (by Georgina Harding; coincidentally narrated byJohn Lee as well) immediately came to mind in terms of the tie-in between land, sea, and man; and there were some stylistic points that the three books share as well (though I can't divulge them as that would be terribly spoilerific!) John Lee's narration was rather brisk, and at one point I had absolutely no idea WTF he was talking about despite having rewound the audio several times! I had to go to the print edition to figure out what he was saying as he had barreled right through the passage :-/#LitFic #Canada #Island

052. Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila; translated from the French by Roland Glasser) - This is a sordid, vibrant, and even comical story set at a nightclub in the heart of a mining district in an unnamed town in the DRC. The challenge in reading the novel lies in the translation. I would have loved to have had a French copy on hand for certain passages that did not come across as clean or as lyrical as I suspect they were in the original. #Africa #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo #Translation

053. Beautiful Secret (Beautiful series, Book #6; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #Corporate #NYC and 054. Beautiful Boss (Beautiful series, Book #7; by Christina Lauren) #Romance #JobHunting #NYC - Wrapped up this series, a romance run of nine novels and novellas featuring four couples. The relationships feature strong, ball-busting women, corporate men, graphic sex, and avoids many of the common tropes of relationship adversity (such as misunderstanding something she saw.) Each of the stories alternates between his and her POVs.

Currently Reading:
The Damned Busters (by Matthew Hughes) - Charlie accidentally summons a demon while playing poker; but refuses to sell his soul... This is a backlist title that has been in my TBR stacks for a couple of years; but is calling out to me now! I just picked it off the shelf this morning, so I haven't a first impression yet #Fantasy #Comedy

The New American Bible - This is the Catholic Bible rendered in modern language. I've started with the New Testament; and read the Gospels According to Matthew and Mark. It lacks elegance; but at the same time is stripped of the overly flowery language of other versions I've read parts of over the years. I'm not religious; but I do enjoy a certain amount of exegesis and otherwise academic interest.

Currently Listening:
'Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated by Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin - I'm about a fifth a way though this, and I'm not really sure where this is going: A young woman, Marcia who is taking care of her two younger twin brothers is pursued by an Indian police officer (Farouk) romantically. There's a dark secret about the boys however, a secret that she will not divulge to Farouk, and which threatens to destroy their tenuous relationship. I'm at the point where I don't know if Farouk is part of the rest of the story or not... #LitFic #Caribbean #Trinidad

WEEK 17

055. Beauty Queens (written and narrated by Libba Bray) - This is a YA satire about a bunch of teenage beauty pageant contestants whose plane crashes on a seemingly deserted tropical island. The messages are feminist in tone; and there's a definite skewering of corporate, political, and marketing interests. I listened to this earlier in the year, and realized that I wanted my own daughter to hear it too, so I queued it up again for a joint listen! Libba Bray's performance is like a one-woman show, and she's clearly enjoying herself. Last week, someone mentioned that, in reading the print, they found it too preachy; but I think the author's performance saves it from being that...

056. I listened to The Raven and Selected Short Stories (by Edgar Allan Poe; narrated by Bronson Pinchot and Stefan Rudnicki - I loved Stefan Rudnicki's deep-voiced rendition of the iconic poem, The Raven, and thought Bronson Pinchot's narration of the short stories was brilliant:

The Raven narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

The Fall of the House of Usher narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Masque of the Red Death narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Pit and the Pendulum narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Tell-Tale Heart narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Black Cat narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar narrated by Bronson Pinchot

The Cask of Amontillado narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Hop-Frog narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Did NOT listen to The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of the Marie Rogêt, or The Purloined Letter as narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Instead, I listened to:

057. Poe's Detective (by Edgar Allan Poe; narrated by Bronson Pinchot) - Again, I thought Bronson Pinchot was brilliant, though perhaps at times he was so invested in the character of Dupin, his accent became very thick! Also, I had not realized how much Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was indebted to Poe's C. Auguste Dupin!

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Mystery of the Marie Rogêt

The Purloined Letter

Thou Art the Man

058: The Player (The Game Maker series, Book #3, by Kresley Cole) - This wrapped up a trilogy of Romance/BDSM novels featuring Russian brothers and the women they pursue. In this novel, the female protag is a grifter working Las Vegas, and the male protag is a tech billionaire suffering from mental health issues stemming from childhood abuse. CMNF is the brand of BDSM Cole featured in this installment. Overall, not as light and fluffy as far as standard Romance fare goes; but decently plotted and fairly well executed.

Still reading The Damned Busters (by Mathew Hughes) - This is a fantasy novel about a guy who, while setting up a five-sided poker table, accidentally conjures up Satan. Oddly, this feels very British in style and tone; but it's set in the US. The disjunct is a little disconcerting, and the humor isn't as fast or clever as I had been hoping; but I'll still probably finish it this week.

Also still listening to 'Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated by Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin) - This is a lit-fic novel set in Trinidad in the 1950s. Farouk, a policeman is obsessed with Marcia Garcia, a seamstress. Over the years, they can't seem to disentangle from each other, even when it doesn't seem like they even like each other. I'm a little less than half-way through, and I'm still not sure where this is going, but I'll probably binge listen at one point to finish it off this week. The narrators aren't form Trinidad, but give enough of the flavor of the patois to gove their performances color. This is an odd book in that while I'm listening to it, I thoroughly engaged; but when I put it down, I'm not particularly eager to return to it.

About to start Ithaca: A Novel of Homer's Odyssey (by Patrick Dillon) - Well, the subtitle pretty much describes it all!

WEEK 18

059. Last Call (Cocktail series, Book #5; by Alice Clayton) - Novella which wraps up Alice Clayton's popular Cocktail series, a line up of rom-com novels and novellas. Clayton tends to get into food descriptions a bit, and not so much into the cocktails despite the book titles. Vanilla sex; but heavy on actual romance;

060. The Damned Busters (To Hell and Back, Book #1; by Matthew Hughes) - Fantasy novel featuring a guy who accidentally summons up Hell's demons when he's setting up a five-sided poker table. This is set in the USA; but inexplicably feels like a British novel. Not nearly as fast, funny or clever as I would like, and it's a bit long for what it is (400+ pages), so I probably won't be continuing this series;

061. Ithaca: A Novel of Homer's Odyssey (by Patrick Dillon) - I was wary of this retelling of the epic which I have read, loved, and studied; but Dillon's approach of telling the story of Odysseus' return through Telemachus' POV was fresh and gave the scenes color. There are two middle sections told from Odysseus' and Eumaeus' individual points of view which were equally well painted;

062. Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel (Beau Monde series, Book #1; by Samantha Grace) Forgettable Regency Romance

063. The Looking Glass Wars (The Looking Glass Wars trilogy, Book #1; by Frank Beddor) As a hardcore Alice in Wonderland fan, is was irresistible: A little bit historical fiction, a lot of fantasy, even a touch of steampunk, it's the story of the "real" Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately, it's pretty sketchy: A lot of ideas; but not nearly as well fleshed out as you might want it to be; and not nearly as dark or rich as , say Gregor the Overlander (by Suzanne Collins; a series about a boy who ends up having adventures in the subterranean world beneath his apartment complex.) I think 'The Looking Glass Wars' os geared for MG readers, and it doesn't really travel very well up the age groups.

Just started The Rebel Angels (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #; by Robertson Davies) - A few years ago, I bout 'The Cornish Trilogy' because it was less inexpensive than just buying the second book in the trilogy, 'What's Bred in the Bone.' For whatever reason, I didn't read any of the trilogy as planned; so it has been kicking around the house since 2010*! Anyway, I cut up the book (it was an unwieldy third-run second-hand edition) into its three sections, and started reading it this morning. I'm not far enough into it though to tell you what it's about yet:-/

PROGRESS STATS
50 books = 15.397b pages = Average of 307.94 pages per book
13 audiobooks = 137 hours, 47 minutes, 58 seconds = 10 hours, 36 minutes per audiobook

WEEK 19

064. The Burrowers Beneath (by Brian Lumley - This is a Lovecraftian tale which features Titus Crow, an occultist who lived in the 1960s at his sprawling bungalow in England. In this novel, Cthulhu and his minions are on the move, creating earthquakes as they burrow beneath the earth's crust in their mission to retrieve something of great value to them. Lumley writes his Titus Crow stories in epistolary form; and while many probably consider his writings derivative, there is a richness to the prose and style that's enjoyable.

DNF - After two weeks of avoiding it, I finally decided to DNF ‘Til the Well Runs Dry (by Lauren Francis-Sharma; narrated by Ron Butler and Bahni Turpin) just shy of the half-way mark. It was the story of a seamstress and a policeman in Trinidad in the 1950s and 1960s who seemed unable to disentangle themselves from each other, even when they didn't seem to really like each other. It just wasn't working for me: The story had a couple of dramatic scenes, but whatever dramatic tension or energy those scenes had, was short-lived; And too I felt like I was sorting through the characters' dirty, sordid laundry. The audiobook narrators were clear in their delivery; but neither were native Trinidadians; so their accents, while providing some color, seemed a bit forced.

CURRENTLY READING
The Transition of Titus Crow (by Brian Lumley);
Fellside (by M.R. Carey;narrated by Finty Williams);
The Rebel Angels (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #1; by Robertson Davies)

2016 STATS (SO FAR)
Pages Read: 15, 749
Average Book Length: 302 pages
Audiobook Hours Listened To: 157:51:37
Average Audiobook Length: 10:31:26

WEEK 20

065. The Transition of Titus Crow (by Brian Lumley) - Heavily indebted to Lovecraft, Lumley's writing this time pays an additional homage to H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine' as Titus Crow whips across space and time;

066. Sweet Filthy Boy (Wild Seasons Book #1; by Christina Lauren) - Erotica from the duo known collectively as "Christina Lauren," this novel felt different in that it doesn't have the alternating male and female POVs. The story features a Vegas wedding that the couple tries to make work, at least for a summer in Paris; Explicit, but not kinky;

067. Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Seasons, Book #2; by Christina Lauren) - Second in the Wild Seasons series, this goes back to Christina Lauren's form of alternating male and female POVs. The story features a L.A. woman from the Hollywood crowd, and a Canadian fisherman (they were introduced in 'Sweety Filthy Boy'; Explicit sex featuring a little bit of bondage;

068. Fellside (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Willams) - A modern day ghost story about a woman convicted of murdering a little boy. She is sent to Fellside, a maximum detention prison on the Yorkshire moors where she is haunted by the little boy's ghost. Though it has more psychological elements than 'The Girl with All the Gifts,' there's plenty of action (And yes, at one point, I was screaming at my iPod, "NO JESS! DON'T DO IT!!!" - so I think it's pretty safe to say I was pretty engaged with the whole thing!)

069. The Rebel Angels (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #1; by Robertson Davies) - There is a lot to love in this novel: the themes, symbolism, satire... Davies is clearly a smart writer; but the point of the whole story isn't really clear to me; and I haven't had that "Aha!" moment where it all clicks for me yet. I'm thinking its merit may lie within context of the whole trilogy, so I'll be heading into 'What's Bred into the Bone' in a couple of days.

070. The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke - It's an absolutely fascinating and unforgettable story based on the real life of Hugh Glass. It's well-researched, almost to the point of it reading like non-fiction; and Punke's inelegant style deadens the prose; but it's worth the time to take and read!

CURRENTLY READING:

One Virgin Too Many (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #11; by Lindsey Davies) - Historical Fiction set in Vespasian's Rome (circa 70 A.D.) - Falco is a former legionary who is a palace informer who takes on additional work as an investigator. I'm actually starting this one tonight, so I don't know anything about the plot yet; but I'm a sucker for history (and a dash of humor!)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (written and narrated by Neil Gaiman) - I read thins in print a couple of years ago; so there will be no surprises plot-wise; but a performance by Neil himself is always a pleasure!

WEEK 21

071. The Raphael Affair (Art History Mystery series, Book #1; by Iain Pears) - Cozy mystery featuring Jonathan Argyll an Art History doctoral candidate from England, and Flavia di Stefano, an assistant on the Italian National Art Theft Squad. They are the trail of recovering a missing Raphael thorugh the art audtion houses and museums... The novel has all the tells of being written by someone who read Art History at Oxford: Slightly erudite, a little clever, but lacks heat and passion that you would expect between the protags and/or from the lush Italian settings.

072. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (written and narrated by Neil Gaiman) - I read this one in print a couple of years ago, and thought it was okay; and was convinced to try it in audio as it is a favorite of a friend of mine's. This is one of those audiobooks that's actually better in audio than in print. NeilHimself narrates with all the poignancy, nostalgia, and Other Worldiness that the story needs to make it truly breathe to life. The audiobook is so much more than the slender novel, which I admittedly had underrated as an adult reiteration of 'Coraline'!

073. The Unleashing (Call of Crows series, Book #1, by Shelley Laurenston) - Romantic Paranormal Thriller that came recommended by the Smart Bitches at Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Every Friday, they put out a newsletter of books on discounted sale, along with commentary on each of the titles on the slate. Even with the recs, buying from the list can be dicey, and this one was absolutely ridiculous: A former female US Marine is given a second life with super strength through the intervention of Norse/Viking deities; and becomes a member of a group of like-saved women. The love interest is a fierce Viking god who has a sensitive side. Lots of killing, a couple scenes of graphic sex,and a bit of a cliffhanger ending :-/

CURRENTLY READING:
One Virgin Too Many (Marcus Didius Falco series, Book #11, by Lindsey Davies) - Historical Fiction set in Ancient Rome set during Vespasian's reign as Caesar (A.D. 74) - Falco has retuned from a mission in Northern Africa (see Book #10, 'Two for the Lions') to find himself named Procurator of the Sacred Geese, and caught up in some sort intrigue involving the Vestal Virgins.

I'm currently half-way through The Troupe (by Robert Jackson Bennett; narrated by Luis Moreno) - This was another favorite (of yet another friend of mine); but I'm not as enthralled with it as he is. The author apparently hasn't met a simile he didn't like. The heavy usage of "like," "almost as if," "Seems as if, " etc. is like the hammering of those little tiny IKEA nail-tacks into my listening soul... Still, it is a unique plot involving a Vaudevillian troupe and the remnants of a primordial song... The narrator reminds me of a younger Malcolm Hillgartner (narrator of Neil Stephenson's, 'Reamde').

STATUS UPDATES:
58 Books/18,117 pages read (Average book length 312 pages long) 18 Audiobooks/186 hours, 47 minutes of audio listened to (Average audiobook length = 10 hours, 22 minutes long)

(3 titles I read I listened to the audio at the same time)

WEEK 22

074. Warlord Wants Forever (Immortal Dark Series, Book #1, by Kresley Cole) - Paranormal Romance featuring a vampire and a Valkyrie; I tried this on the strength of the author's Game Maker series; but I was a bit underwhelmed. Of course, all romance novels are built on a set of pre-determined standards but the characters and settings are so hyper-caricaturized, it's nearly comical. Perhaps if I had read this series before the author's BDSM series; or if I hadn't inadvertently read yet another Valkyrie-based Paranormal Romance the week before, I might have been more open or more favorably inclined to this.

075. The Troupe (by Robert Jackson Bennett; narrated by Luis Moreno) - The story is a bildungsroman about a sixteen-year boy who joins the Vaudeville circuit to find his father. Based on picture on an old flyer, he tracks the man down and joins his father's troupe of players. The group has four acts, the last of which is the performance of a unique song; and this song is the raison d'être for the troupe's existence... Man, when it was good, it was really good; but when it was bad it drove me crazy! The story was original, fascinating, and challenging; but the heavy-handed use of similes vandalized the plot. The narrator did a great job with a couple of the male character's voices; but seems to be sort of out of sync with the internal meter of the book (maybe because of the way the story was broken up with all the similes?); and a couple of the voices didn't ring true, especially that of the young mulatto girl form New Orleans (She sounded just like the protag of the story both in tone and style.)

076. One Virgin Too Many (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #11, by Lindsey Davis) - Set in AD 74 during Vespasian's reign, this cozy mystery is set in Rome. Returning from Northern Africa, Falco finds himself in charge of the royal geese, and drawn into a murder case involving the Vestal Virgins. Davies does a lot of research for her historical-fiction; and this case the world of religious cults is brought to the fore. Though you could read this as a stand-alone; it's really a true serial novel - meaning that it flows from the previous novel; and the expectation is that the next novel will pick up where this one left off.

077. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing; narrated by Simon Prebble - The true story of Shackleton's Trans Antarctic Expedition is an amazing story. Lansing's compelling narrative and Prebble's masterful narration are a perfect match. This will not only become a part of my own personal Pantheon of All-Time Great Audiobooks; but one that I know I will re-listen to again; and recommend without reservation to everyone.
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CURRRENTLY READING:

The Water Knife (by Paolo Bacigalupi - I'm struggling through this one, and may DNF it before the week is over. The dystopian novel is set in the near future where drought prevails in AZ-CA-NV; and corporations control water as the new oil. This is getting a little too close to home for me. I live in an area that has had several consecutive years of drought; and I see the news headlines where Nestle is buying up/taking up long-term water leases municipal water resources in ME and AZ; and now making a bid for another in OR. Reading 'The Water Knife' is making me feel impotent and depressed. The writing is great, and the landscape Bacigalupi has created utterly believable; but after 100 pages, I find myself avoiding it. Maybe if I take a little breather with something a little lighter for the next couple of days, I'll come back to it and binge-read to finish it off.
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STATUS UPDATE
60 Books = 18,690 pages read = Average book is about 311 pages long;
20 Audiobooks = 215 hours, 16 minutes listened to = Average audiobook 10 hours, 45 minutes long

3 titles were ebooks and audiobooks read/listened to at the same time
DNF's not counted

WEEK 23

Sweet Filthy Morning After (Wild Seasons #1.5; by Christina Lauren; narrated by Jason Carpenter - I really love the authors' (two women writing under one pseudonym) Beautiful Bastard series; and while the Wild Seasons isn't nearly as good, it's still pretty good. A couple of weeks ago, I read 'Sweet Filthy Boy' which is about a couple who got married in Vegas during an alcohol-fueled evening. Instead of getting the marriage annulled, they try to make the marriage work. What was really interesting about the novel itself was that the authors did not go with their usual format of alternating chapters between the male and female POVs. In 'Sweet Filthy Boy' the POV was all from the girl's point-of-view. In this audio exclusive, listeners get what seems to be a chapter from the guy's point-of-view. If this is a sample of what may have been cut, I really wish it had been originally included with 'Sweet Filthy Boy' and expanded upon. It was detailed, and introspective (And no, there wasn't anything sexually explicit in the material.) The audiobook narrator affects a French accent; and the whole thing was well-produced. Be aware though, that this isn't even really a novella. It's a short story at best, but best described as a long, excised chapter from the novel.

Heart of Darkness (by Joseph Conrad; narrated by Kenneth Branagh) - Marlow recounts his time as a steamer captain in the interior of Africa; and his meet-up with the enigmatic Kurtz. The story was much more caustic in tone and raw in setting than I remembered it as having been; and it's hard not to picture 'Apocalypse Now' while the story spools out; but it's a rich evocative story more than capably narrated by Kenneth Branagh. I know celebrity narrators can be an issues; but he told the story with just a touch of color, without over-doing it.

Mad About the Marquess (Highlands Brides series, Book #1; by Elizabeth Essex) - This is a Regency Romance set in London and Scotland. She's a thief who can't keep her hands off his silver buttons... The details weren't over-wrought, the dialogue was fun and snappy; but the sex scenes were saved up for the last chapters, and spun out at the expense of any further fun between the protags.

Savage Season (Hap & Leonard mysteries, Book #1; by Joe R. Lansdale) - Hap and Leonard are two middle-aged guys hanging out in East Texas, when Haps' ex shows up with a scheme that could earn H&L two-hundred grand. Published in 1990, it's a bit dated; but the plot moves quickly, the dialogue between Hap and Leonard is fast and funny; and the scenes are deftly painted. Despite some of the violence, it feels a bit light, like a TV show (which I just became aware of and have not seen); but good as summer fare.

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CURRENTLY READING:
I haven' actually started it yet; but I think I'm going to start Eoin Colfer's Plugged tonight!

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (by Mary Beard; narrated by Phyllida Nash) - The material is fascinating, carefully examining the "evidence" that we have for the narrative as we know it inre Ancient Rome. Unfortunately, the text obviously has illustrations (references to painting, statues, etc.) that can't be accessed while you are driving; and in taking a peek "Inside the Book" on AMZN, there are other pictures, and lengthly captions that are missed in the audio edition :-/ Phyllida Nash has a rich, cultured voice not unlike Judi Dench's; but the audio file has been processed poorly - sometimes stripping out some of the richness of her voice; and applying the "gating" a bit too heavy-handed (this is when the ends of the words may sound complete, but there is a "snip" effect right after.) I'm waiting for my hold on the print book to come through at the library before I pick this one back up.

WEEK 24

Plugged (Plugged Novels, Book #1, by Eoin Colfer) - Daniel McEvoy is an Irishman working as a bouncer at a sleazy NJ casino, when his love interest is found murdered in the parking lot. The novel features a level of quirkiness and humor that keeps the plot moving. If not credible, at least it's highly entertaining!

Outfoxed (Andy Carpenter Mystery series, Book #14, by David Rosenfelt) - Andy Carpenter is a millionaire lawyer who finds himself defending a client already serving time for corporate embezzlement; and now accused of a double homicide. There is an element of computer tech involved which the author neatly sidesteps getting into by having the protag be technically challenged; and by having the tech explained away as a company secret. There is also a Mob factor; and a modest body count. It's a straight forward cozy; and while readers will probably figure it out a couple of chapters in, it's still fun.

I Hear the Sirens in the Street (The Troubles, Book #2, by Adrian McKinty) - Sean Duffy is a Catholic serving as a DI in Northern Ireland. A male torso shows up, stuffed in a suitcase; and Duffy's inquiries lead him to investigate leads involving the US FBI, and the RUC. The author's writing for this series, while not as strong as for The Dead Trilogy, still display some of the staccato-like lyricism that reads like poetry; and original and interesting plots. McKinty also sets the time of The Troubles with the keen insight of someone who has lived it; but the musical and other pop references which place the action in the 1980's (more specifically in 1982) seem kluged in.

Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons, Book #3, by Christina Lauren) - Contemporary Romance featuring Lola and Oliver, a graphic novelist and comic book store owner respectively. Readers will recall Lola and Oliver from the first-in-series, 'Sweet Filthy Bastard' as the couple who did not get freaky on the night they got married in Las Vegas during a alcohol-induced Bacchanalia; and were able to get their marriage annulled quickly and cleanly. Since then, Lola and Oliver have had a great friendship; but her work schedule is threatening any attempts on Oliver's part to get out of the Friend Zone. The Wild Seasons series isn't the semi-erotic series that the authors' (two women who write under one pseudonym) Beautiful Bastard series is; but the sex scenes are explicit.

Wicked Sexy Liar (Wild Seasons, Book #4, by Christina Lauren) - Contemporary Romance novel featuring London and Luke. London is Lola's room-mate (see above) a graphic arts designer who has been spending her days surfing and her evenings bartending. She hooks up with Luke for a one-night stand; but things get complicated when it turns out he is Mia's ex-boyfriend of several years (Mia's story is in the first-in-series, 'Sweet Filthy Bastard'); and the fact that Luke is a total Player. Again told in the authors' style of alternating male and female POVs; the stories in this series have backed away from the BDSM erotica; and gotten more into the other things that underpin relationships (e.g. friendships, outside friends and family, work schedules, and the past...)

The Last of the Demon Slayers (Biker Witches Novels, Book #4, by Angie Fox) - Paranormal Romance featuring Lizzie Brown, a demon slayer who runs around with a group of geriatric biker witches, a talking dog, a dragon, and a griffin named Dmitri who also happens to be her gorgeous Greek boyfriend. After having been abandoned by her father before she was even born, she receives a message from him asking for help. Eager to meet and establish some sort of relationship with him, she reaches out to discover more about who and what she herself is. So much stuff is going on in this book, and none of particularly well articulated; and the action choreography in the final scene doesn't quite work out which leads to some confused re-reading at the climax. I think it's also supposed to be funny. This is pretty much poorly disguised Buffy fan-fiction :-(

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CURRENTLY READING:
Dorothy Must Die (by Danielle Paige) - Amy Gunn is teenage trailer trash who gets sucked up in a tornado, and landed in OZ. But this Oz is stripped of its Technicolor, and it's clear there's is something terribly awry... The start of the book is good; but already, it has the feel of a lesser YA novel with it's lack of complex vocabulary.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
The Graveyard Book (by Neil Gaiman; performed by a full cast) - A toddler manages to escape the house as his family is murdered; and ends up at a graveyard where the "locals" decide to raise him. So many people rave about this book and this audiobook production in particular; but I'm not feeling it. I think I was hoping for something a bit faster and slicker a la a BBC Radio4 performance. It's not bad. It just feels kinda slow and overly deliberate in delivery.

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STATUS UPDATES:
68 print/eBooks books read = 21,210 pages read
23 audiobooks listened to = 236 hours, 55 minutes, 3 seconds of audio listened to
87 titles total (4 titles were books and audio listened to together)
Average length book = 311 pages
Average length audiobook = 9 hours, 52 minutes

WEEK 25

This past week I felt a little "off," having had to come out of my shell to attend more IRL social events (graduation parties, birthday parties, dinner parties) than I'm used to. Besides not having a lot of time for myself, it always throws me when I don't read every day :-/

I only read one book last week, Widows & Orphans (Rachael Flynn Mysteries, Book #1, by Susan Meissner. Rachael Flynn is a NY-based lawyer whose brother has confessed to first degree homicide. She returns to her home state of Minnesota to provide moral support to her parents, and see what's what. She doesn't believe that her brother, a man who had dedicated his life to helping widows and orphans (as per KJV James 1:27,) would kill a man; and so goes about investigating without actually interfering. One of the techniques she uses is to have her artist- husband and friends draw out possible scenarios; and reacting to what her instincts tell her. It is not clear from the publisher's summary, and should probably made more clear both for readers who like this sub-genre, and for those that don't; but this is Christian-based fiction: The character's personalities are religiously grounded; actions on the brother's part are based on a narrow interpretation of a Bible passage; and the protag ascribes divine and abstract values to her intuitive senses. As for the writing itself, it suffers somewhat structurally: Much of the book has Rachael Flynn running around declaiming that her brother couldn't have possibly have done the crime to which he has confessed; and that no one knows him like she does. There's not really any tension, or sense of anything really happening. In the end, the final scenario is played out twice, ostensibly from two POVs; but nothing is added to our understanding of the situation with the second re-telling. The scenario itself was interesting; but ultimately the novel was a good idea poorly executed.

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CURRENTLY READING:
The Bees: A Novel (by Laline Paull) - This is the story of Flora 717, a sanitation bee in a hive. She's born physically different in some way that borderlines on deformity; but instead of being destroyed by the hive, she is allowed to survive; and ends up gaining access to different parts of the hive by plan or by accident... It's hard to explain, but there is an internal meter or subtle beat to the writing that makes it hypnotic; and the events that untold are both beautiful and terrifying at times. I know the premise sounds ridiculous; but so far, it's anything but.

Redeployment (by Phil Kay) - This is a short story collection about soldiers recounting their respective experiences of having served their tours in the Sandbox. The use of Power Language (specialized language that exclude those not in the know) can seem heavy or off-putting; but I find the use of the acronyms and slang effective in the same way Jennifer Egan used it in 'A Visit from the Goon Squad.'

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STATUS UPDATE:
71 print/e- books read = 21,783 pages read = 306 pages/book average
25 audiobooks listened to = 243 hours, 38 minutes, 45 seconds listened to = 9 hours, 45 minutes/audiobook average
7 titles both listened to and read
89 titles total

WEEK 26

I'm ahead of schedule; but as a hedge against an unforeseen reading slump for whatever reason, I decided not to change my goal :-)

Tangled (Tangled series, Book #1, by Emma Chase - Contemporary Romance set in corporate NYC - At first, I liked the male POV; but the relentless crassness ultimately negates the comic aspect; and cheapens (instead of eroticizing) the sexual components. Also, he's an asshole and she's an idiot; and neither is improved by the other.

Pets on the Couch: Neurotic Dogs, Compulsive Cats, Anxious Birds, and the New Science of Animal Psychiatry (by Nicholas Dodman, DVM) - This was the book I finished on 6/15, making it the official half-way marker in my reading year! It's expository non-fiction about a behavioral veterinarian who takes a unique approach to diagnosing & treating animals: He finds commonalities with human conditions such as depression and ADHD. #OneMedicine

Redeployment (by Phil Klay) - This is a collection of short stories featuring soldiers who served in OIF. I really loved the use of "power language" (words used by a group of people as a sort of shorthand; but that often excludes others outside of the group, e.g. slang & acronyms); and the stories were well-crafted even if I didn't "get" a couple of them; and none really got under my skin the way 'Matterhorn' (by Karl Marlantes) and 'Dispatches' (by Michael Herr) did.

The Bees (by Laline Paull) - A lit-fic novel about anthropomorphic bess - Nothing "cute" here: This is a hypnotic read with beauty and brutal violence. Flora717 is a bee born with some sort of deformity; but is not killed off by the hive. By plan or by accident, she is able to gain access to the different parts of the hierarchical structure.

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CURRENTLY READING

The Water Knife (by Paolo Bacigalupi - A dystopian novel set in the near-future when water becomes a more prized utility than oil. I started this weeks ago, and had been struggling with it owing to the feeling that this could very well happen, and in fact may have already started. It's a bit depressing; but I decided to pick it back up again and focus on the actual story that Bacigalupi has written.

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STATUS UPDATE
75 Print & e-books read = 23,000 pages (306 page/book average)
25 Audiobooks listened to = 243 hours, 38 minutes (9 hours, 44 minutes/audiobook average)
07 Titles were listened to & read at the same time
93 Titles Total

WEEK 27

The Water Knife (by Paolo Bacigalupi) - Depressed by Bacigalupi's realistic portrayal of a near future in which water is more precious than oil, I put this book down a couple of weeks ago, uncertain if I would disposition it as a "DNF" or not. I picked it back up again though and decided to focus more on the actual story the author was telling - that of a journalist who covers the politics of water and its impact on the western US. One of her friends, who is in the water industry is killed, and she pursues leads to discover what happened at great risk to herself. The world is bleak, and the descriptions are graphic. Though this will not be a favorite of mine, I cannot deny that Bacigalupi knows how to nail down the story.

The Graveyard Book (by Neil Gaiman; Performed by a Full Cast) - This is a story about a toddler who escapes his death at the hands of a murderer, and ends up in a local graveyard where he is raised by its inhabitants. All the elements were there: A star-studded cast (including Derek Jacobi and Neil Gaiman himself,) original music and, an interesting story; but it fell short of being a great listen for me. The pacing is very deliberate and even, lacking a liveliness that I would have expected from a British production. Some of the lines are difficult to discern because of special effects; and the music, composed by Tori Amos is performed on a banjo (a uniquely American instrument.) It was okay; but in this case, I think I would have liked to have read it in print and imagined everything instead.

The Insides (by Jeremy P. Bushnell) - This is a strange, outré tale about a woman who, at the age of eighteen, wishes for a family. There's magic involved, and quite a bit of non-comic ridiculousness that you have to tolerate; but the story redeems itself by ultimately being about taking ownership of the choices you make and the consequences. Note: This is not a YA or light-hearted fantasy tale. There is an uneasiness that underlies the writing that may have many readers think it's just too weird.

Emperor of the Eight Islands (Tales of Shikanoko, Book #1; by Lian Hearn) - Stylized like a translation of a feudal Japanese tale, this is a story of magic, passions, political power and shifting allegiances. It is spare prose that yields rich imagery, a slender book that bears an epic story. The internal beat or meter of the story reminds me a little of medieval chansons de trouveres with the evocation of poetry, the lyrical prose, the linear narrative told in small sections, and the ultimate sum being greater than the parts. I'm eager to read the whole quatrain.

Ode to a Banker (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #12; by Lindsey Davies) - This is the twelfth installment in the historical fiction series set in Rome during Vespasian's reign (70s AD.) Falco is a palace informer who acts as a sort of early prototype of a detective or investigator. Davies incorporates her research with a little bit of humor into her stories; and in this book she takes on the publishing and banking industries. These are cozies; but with togas, wine, spies, and vigiles instead of cats, tea cups or spinsters.

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die series, Book #1; by Danielle Paige) - This is a YA novel offered as a Barnes & Noble Serial Read. The premise is that Amy, a girl from Kansas, is sucked up in a tornado and delivered to Oz; but an Oz devoid of the Technicolor and charm of the movie. I loved the idea; but Paige never really fully committed to developing the characters or the relationships. Superficial treatments of the settings and action lines, plus a lack of complex vocabulary, plus a lame ending, all added up to a light, forgettable, and non-compelling story.

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CURRENTLY READING:

HEX (by Thomas Olde Heuvelt) - This is a story about the ghost of a witch who haunts & curses a small town in the Hudson Valley. It started out strong and creepy; but I'm currently halfway through and I'm a bit bogged down. So much, perhaps too much is happening so the tension has been diffused. And there seems to be some translation issues where some sentences just don't make sense, or are un-relatable. There are sudden shifts in the narrative voice as well (e.g. switching from third person omniscient to breaking the fourth wall - which isn't necessarily reflected in the formatting of the text.)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:

Shroder (by Amity Gaige; narrated by Will Collyer) - This is the story of a guy who assumes an elite American surname, and eventually kidnaps his daughter. Basically, this is a thinly fictionalized account of a chapter from the real-life story of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller.) I just started, but the narrator is doing a great job so far.

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STATUS UPDATE
80 Print/e-Books Read (24,813 pages; 310 page average/book)
26 Audiobooks Listened To (252 hours;; 9 hours & 41 minutes average/audiobook)
07 Titles Listened To & Read Together
99 Titles Total

I'm currently ahead of "schedule," and at this rate will probably reach my goal by mid-September; but I'm hedging against a reading slump, so I'm not changing or reassessing my goal.

WEEK 28

HEX (by Thomas Olde Heuvelt) - A modern horror story about a town on the Hudson haunted and cursed by a seventeenth-century witch. 'Hex' started out strong and creepy; but lost its intensity mid-way (so much going on... maybe too much?); and plots holes started appearing. The original story was written in Dutch; but revised and edited for an English audience. I would really love to know how the original ending went; but as for the English version? Meh.

When the Song of Angels is Stilled (Before Watson series, Book #1; by A. S. Croyle) - This is a mystery and soft romance set in the universe of Sherlock Holmes. The author did a lot of homework on the period and places that the book is set in (though s/he does give Holmes a deer stalker hat); and often the research gets in the way of the story; but an imaginative foray into a young adult Holmes.

Haraken (Silver Ships series, Book #4; by S. H. Jucha) - The Silver Ships series is a family friendly space opera about first contact, world building, and governance. Though the books are generally in the Rodenberry tradition of trying to resolve conflict through diplomacy-first, the author's obvious military interest comes into play with the establishment of a strong defensive force and a couple of battles in each book in the series so far. In this novel, an aggressive "explorer ship" from Earth appears in the hope of reclaiming a lost colony, whether the lost colony wants to be reunited with United Earth or not...

What's Bred in the Bone (The Cornish Trilogy, Book #2, by Robertson Davies) - The conceit of the book is that one of the executors of Frank Cornish's estate is having trouble writing a biography of FC. The narrative then becomes an actual biography of the deceased man, told from the perspective of an archangel and a daimon. I had a little trouble with the first book in the series, 'The Rebel Angels' - but in this one, I finally stopped trying to judge the author by the book(s) he wrote; and also stopped trying to read the books by 21st-century measures. There is a lot to unpack in this novel, arguably the jewel in the crown of the trilogy.

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CURRENTLY READING

Irène (The Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy, Book #1; by Pierre Lemaitre) - This is a contemporary mystery set in Paris, France featuring a diminutive, middle-aged detective faced with a series of grisly murders. I'm only a quarter of the way in; and I'm already pretty sure I know who did it (and why); and who one of the next victims will be; but I'll continue to see how Verhoeven solves the case.

WEEK 29

The Black Notebook (by Patrick Modiano; translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti) - This is a slender novel about an older man's reminiscences of 1960s Paris. He recalls Dannie, a young woman of mysterious and furtive actions against a background of Moroccans and the haze of memory. Slow and deliberate; but elegant in its own way.

Irène (The Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy, Book #1; by Pierre Lemaitre; translated from the French by Frank Wynne) - This is a mystery-thriller about series of murders that are staged as re-created murder scenes from crime novels; and the Commandant who is tasked with tracking him/them down... Grisly. Devastating. Serious mind-fuckery. Absolutely brilliant. WARNING: Not for the squeamish or faint-of-heart

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CURRENTLY READING

The Widow Larouge (Monsieur Lecoq Mysteries, Book #1; by Émile Gaboriau; translated from the French) - Perhaps the first detective novel, oit preceded and then was eclipsed by Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. This novel ids the first in series featuring Lecoq (based on the real life detective Vidoq,) though he is a secondary character here. There's murder, forensics, inductive reasoning, unrequited love, fading aristocracy, self-made men, some good old fashioned melodrama, and a true mystery! It's holding up remarkably well in terms of plot and procedure... (Half-way though)

WEEK 30

This past week, we had out-of-town guests, so there was a lot of socializing; but not much reading done at all. Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago, there was a twitter convo about being a reader during family & friend get-togethers. Those who preferred to read over interacting with others felt defensive; while those who felt connecting with family & friends was more important, basically said that whipping out a book during a reunion (or whatever) was anti-social to the point of rudeness. Though I fall into the latter camp, I would be lying if I said I wasn't stressed out by the end of ten days without having had significant reading time. Everyone's gone back to where they came from, however; and I was able to get a little reading time in last night before I passed out exhausted!

The Widow Larouge (by Émile Gaboriau; translated from the French) - This is an amateur-detective story written in 1866, preceding the Sherlock Holmes stories by 20+ years. In this novel, the eponymous character is murdered; and Monsieur Tabaret (a.k.a. "Tirauclair" (the "clarifier")) is on the case! There is a cast of colorful characters, great takes on the thinking of the characters, a lead down the garden path which turns into an indictment on too heavy a reliance on forensics, and quite a bit of melodrama which kept things lively. The mystery itself was well constructed, though I take issue with Tirauclair's final bit of confirming evidence; but I'm more than eager to start the next book in the series, 'The Mystery of Orcival.'

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio (by Andrea Mays) - Half a lifetime ago, I worked for The Shakespeare Company when it resided at The Folger Library; but I never really knew the history of the place! This narrative non-fiction book covers the history of the First Folio, Shakespeare, Henry Folger, and printing. It's a really fascinating look which delivers a lot of "Aha!" moments! I saw a First Folio at The Folger LIbrary many years ago; but I wish I could see it again now that I have better context. The good news is that a First Folio is on tour! The bad news is that I missed it when it was relatively close by :-/

WEEK 31

* The Cairo Affair (by Olen Steinhauer) - A modern day spy thriller in which a junior diplomat is assassinated in Hungary; but all trails are leading back to Cairo. The story is set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, and the scuttling of spies through the streets and the desert. The plot is fairly well constructed; but slow to gel in terms of suspense. Readers of Scott Turow ('Presumed Innocent') and Scott Smith ('A Simple Plan') will catch on fairly quickly as to "what's what." There's a big continuity error, and a factual error, so while the writing is fairly solid otherwise, John le Carré has nothing to worry about.

* Richard II (by William Shakespeare) - The first of the five Henriad plays, 'The Tragedy of Richard II' covers Richard II's "Jesus Year": The eponymous king was only 32- and 33-years old as the tragedy of his life played out, setting the stage for The War of the Roses. During his 22-year reign, he was spoiled, and he abused the royal prerogative, so his fate should be no surprise; but The Bard paints a portrait of a man who found his humanity before paying the ultimate price.
The Millionaire and the Bard, by Andrea Mays - "Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio" (subtitle) seems like such a boring topic; but Andrea May's narrative non-fiction work is deeply engrossing and informative. I can't wait to head back to the Folger lIbrary in Washington, DC and see it with fresh eyes!

* A Body in the Bathhouse (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #13; by Lindsey Davies) - Marcus and his father break through the cheap mosaic flooring of the bathhouse to discover the source of a nasty smell... The body they discover leads Marcus back to Britain where a palace is being built in Noviomagus Reginorum (present day Chichester.) The Falco series is set during the times of Vespasian's reign (70s AD), and Lindsey Davies researched quit a bit in developing the stories. This time she looks at the architecture and building practices of Ancient Rome. This is not my favorite in the series, so far: There'a a gap of time glossed over between books #12 and #13 (a full year in which the social and family structure of Falco has changed dramatically!); the resolution felt a bit too conveniently; and while not exactly ending on a cliff-hanger, the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory. This book is "paired" with the next book in the series, 'The Jupiter Myth' - so maybe my perspective will change once I've read that one as well.
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CURRENTLY READING:

* News of the World (by Paulette Jiles) - A LitFic Western in which an older gentleman ekes out a living by going from town to town reading selected newspaper articles to audiences (each listener pays ten cents.) Along the way, he manages to pick up an unusual cargo to deliver to a couple in South Texas: A ten-year old German girl who had been kidnapped by the Kiowa when she was six. Much of the writing seems oddly removed from the drama or passions that you might expect from the story; but then Paulette Jiles will hit you with an extremely powerful phrase or passage that galvanizes the reader to the page.

WEEK 33

The Big Four (Hercule Poirot Mysteries, Book #5; by Agatha Christie) - A man wanders into Poirot's office/apartment deliriously muttering something about "The Big Four"... International intrigue and homicides notwithstanding, absolutely ridiculous plot and characters. It's hard to believe that this came from the same author who gave is, 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'!

Chasing Jillian (Love & Football Romance series, Book #5; by Julie Brannagh) - Jillian sneaks into the football team's workout area after work; but runs into a linebacker who is there after practice hours to blow off some steam... Both protags were unsympathetically dumb; and there was absolutely no heat to the romance at all.

How to Train Your Dragon (How to Train Your Dragon series, Book #1; by Cressida Crowell; narrated by David Tennent) - Hiccup is the less-than robust son of a Viking chieftain. His hopes are simple - simply not to be embarrassed when it comes time to capture and train a dragon; and to be an ordinary hero of the clan. The story plays out a lot differently than the movie of the same name; but is no less entertaining! This is definitely a children's book; but its humor and narration by David Tennent make this a fun listen, and appropriate for a family road trip. The only caution here is the the variance between the narrator's whispering and the interstitial music between chapters is so great that you may feel a need to ride the volume control to make sure you hear everything or don't get your ears blasted out respectively!

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CURRENTLY READING

It Can't Happen Here (by Sinclair Lewis) - Written in 1937, this is a novel of alternate history in which the American populace elects Buzz Windrup into office, and ushers in an era of fascism. The prose doesn't flow lyrically; but the story is compelling as it follows a newspaper editor who, while not voting for Windrup, was guilty of being rather complacent in thinking that whatever was happening in Germany and Italy couldn't possibly happen here in the USA. Gripping story that I had to put down at 3 a.m. this morning so I wasn't a total wreck today!

WEEK 34

It Can't Happen Here (by Sinclair Lewis; Introduction by Michael Meyer) - Lewis' wife was Dorothy Thompson, was a journalist who accurately reported, to an incredulous American audience, what was going on in Germany during the rise of Nazism. Lewis himself turned away from the popular satires he had been known for to write this alternate history of the US in which Roosevelt loses the election to a fascist. The didactic style and serious message(s) don't make this an easy read; but it's one that makes you think regardless of your political affiliation. Read the Introduction by Michael Meyer afterward (if you are the type to read intros at all) as it's a bit spoilerific; and be prepared to set some time aside when you're done with the whole thing for some self-assessment - especially if you like to engage online over political topics. Highly recommend in light of the election year and for the future.

Chronicle of a Last Summer (by Yasmine El Rashidi) - Elegant, almost elegiac prose paradoxically reflects the disquietude of three summers of revolution in Cairo, Egypt: 1984, 1998, and 2014. This lit-fic novel reads like a memoir owing to its powerful, spare and introspective language. We meet the unnamed-protagonist as a little girl at a time when Mubarek first takes office; and the narrative continues until his resignation thirty years later. Rich with descriptive and symbolic language while at the same time simple and straightforward in delivery, the internal rhythm carries the reader to another time and place, making one’s world a little bit bigger than it was before starting this remarkable debut novel.

Year of Wonders (by Geraldine Brooks) - This is the fictional account of an actual Plague Village in Derbyshire, England where the rector made the decision to quarantine Eyam. Anna Frith is a young woman, wife and mother in 1665 when the plague hits her small mining corner of the world. I had this in audio without checking the narrator, and it turns out it's the author, and a perfect example of why most authors should never read their own work (So I picked it up in print.) It's a deeply engrossing novel; but in Olympic gymnastics terminology, Brooks didn't "stick the landing." The end seemed a bit implausible, and What happened to Anteros?!

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CURRENTLY READING
Jitterbug Perfume (by Tom Robbins) - I honestly don't know what to make of this so far. The writing has scenes in Seattle, Paris, and in places set hundreds of years ago. There are real and fantastical elements, absurdist humor, and some clever tie-ins; but it has been 100+ pages, and I still have no clue what the story is about!

WEEK 35

Right now, I've still got Jitterbug Perfume (by Tom Robbins) on my nightstand. It's about a man seeking immortality, a beet & lavender-based perfume, and Pan... I'm struggling through it, and I would have DNF-ed it, if it weren't for #LitsyGoesPostal. I need to just sit down and finish it off once and for all, so that I can move on and ship it out!

I did manage to distract myself for a few hours with a graphic novel, The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded (by Jim Ottaviani; illustrated by Leland Purvis.) This is a biography of the brilliant mathematician who basically created modern computer programming as well as the hardware to run it on - all while he was working on decrypting German U-Boat codes during World War II. Though this is a "glorified comic book," it's not easy reading. There are complex ideas being presented not only in terms of math problems and concepts, but sociological and philosophical issues as well. It really requires at least a couple of read-throughs to get a sense of even a fraction of the breadth of Turing's life and impact. This is definitely for the YA STEM crowd and up (unlike Ottaviani's other efforts which skew to younger audiences.) Colored ink panels, soft color pallets, detailed drawings.

WEEK 36

Jitterbug Perfume (by Tom Robbins) - Alobar, a Bohemian tribal king from the 11th century, is fated to die; but not if he has anything to say about it! His search to relegate death as an option, as opposed to a certainty, is the baseline plot of this story. An absurdist novel with fantastical elements, vulgar sexual references, and didactic passages streamed directly from the author's frenzied mind, TR is something of an acquired taste. While not for me, I can see how his clever simile-riven prose would appeal to others.

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After (by Jenny Colgan) - Nina is an introverted librarian in Birmingham, England whose job has just been made redundant by a new media center. Things are getting desperate for her, so she decides to buy a van and sell books... It's a story of taking risks, Scottish landscapes, a couple of good-looking guys, and a lot of love for books! I ordered this book from the UK after seeing so many Litsy-ers rave about it; but when it came, I was a little dismayed. It looks like a chick-lit book, which isn't really my thing; BUT it turned out to a completely charming story! It's going to be released in the US on September 20 under the title, 'The Bookshop on the Corner' - which is completely misleading.

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CURRENTLY READING

Dear Mr. M (by Herman Koch) - The story opens with a segment from a stalker's POV! Whoever this guy is, he's following a writer very closely. It all has to do with a story the "stalkee" wrote years go - about a teacher who disappeared in the Netherlands, last seen in the company of two of his students. The fictional disappearance was based on an actual event, and somehow both the stalker and the writer in the story are connected. The sections in the book are from different points of view; and the suspense is tautly written in.

WEEK 37

Schroder (by Amity Gaige; narrated by Will Collyer - Eric Kennedy isn't exactly who he says he is, and as he extends his custodial visit with his daughter, his past comes down to bear on his present. The story holds up very well until the final section, which did not tie in well with the rest of the narrative, and included a metaphor about glass that is rather bemusing. It's a story very closely similar to that of Clark Rockefeller, and it is surprising to see that the author neither acknowledged the case, and very pronouncedly included the Fictional Character disclaimer. The narrator did a great job of inhabiting the character in this story told from the first person point of view; and voicing the character of a little girl as well. (3 stars for the story; 4 stars for the narration)

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CURRENTLY READING

The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe - Poe's œvre is much larger then I thought! There is a lot of untranslated Greek and French, and references to now archaic figures of history an mythology. I don't know if Poe was exceptionally erudite, or if this was the norm for the time; but some of the material can be quite challenging. The pleasant surprise is that many of his stories have an element of humor in them as well ;-)

WEEK 38

I'm not in a reading slump; but my reading pace has definitely slowed over the past month. If I had continued on my previous pace, I would have met my goal later on this week; but now it looks like I'll probably reach my goal by the end of the year instead. I sort of anticipated this, as there is usually *something* that happens every year that breaks my momentum! This year, it wasn't a specific thing, just a general "reading exhaustion" if that makes any sense. Anyway, I thought I would jump start my reading with a quick kill, The Bedding Proposal (Rakes of Cavendish Square romances, Book #1, by Tracy Anne Warren.) Years ago, the author wrote a charming quartet of books, The Wallflower series, and I was hoping for more of the same; but I was disappointed. TAW seems to have lost the ability to plot cleanly: This is a Regency Romance in which the Lady Thalia is a divorcee shunned by the *ton*; and the Lord Leo is a younger son intent on pursuing her. There is a lot of emotional baggage (so many issues including, but not limited to age differences and domestic violence) and the sex scenes are sub par even for a softer romance.

So sadly, I'm still mucking about trying to get back in the swing of things; but I did pick up a couple things at the library to try out, so we'll see...

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CURRENTLY READING:

I'm in the middle of The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen.). It was recommended to me by a hardcore sci-fi audiobook listener, so I was completely caught off guard by this story of a Christian missionary sent to an outpost somewhere "out there." There is a sense of unease underlying the mission, and is all the more underscored by the slow pace thus far. I have to admit I'm a little weirded out by the religious tenor of the story; but I think I'll stick with it anyway. The narrator has a calming British voice that handles the accents demanded of the American characters extremely well. The voices of the other species are challenging and sometimes difficult to understand; but that's the way it's supposed to be, so no complaints per se other than you have to listen closely to those lines of dialogue.

WEEK 39

If You Dare (The MacCarrick Brothers Trilogy, Book #1, by Kresley Cole)- This is a historical Romance set in Scotland in the late 1830s/early 1840s. The premise is that the legacy of three brothers include a curse that fates them to a loveless & childless life of violence; but of course, since this a Romance novel there must be some sort of twist that will guarantee a HEA... In this first-in-series, Courtland "Court" MacCarrick is a mercenary serving in Spain; and Lady Annalía Tristán Llorente is the mistress of an estate in the Pyrenees. I really liked the author's recent Game Maker series; but I haven't been able to click with with her paranormal romance series (Immortals After Dark) or this effort in historical romances. Though the story is different enough that it won't melt into the morass of Regency-era Romances that flood this market, it's not competitive with Diana Gabaldon's, 'Outlander.'

Dear Mr. M. (by Herman Koch) - Decades ago, a teacher disappears after having been seen in the company of two of his students. What exactly happened? One student was a boy. What did he do? The other student was a girl. What does she know? Is she hiding something? Later, a writer creates a bestselling novel based on those events. What is his connection to that event and/or those people? How could he know? And now, the author is married to a beautiful young woman, is father to a little girl, and he's being stalked! Who is this stalker? The author's wife takes off for their country house every once in a while. Why? As the chapters, each from a different character's POV, unfold in Dear Mr. M., more connections are made, but more questions arise; and Herman Koch has sharpened his suspense-writing skills significantly since 'Summer House with a Swimming Pool'. He still imbues his characters with unlikeable qualities; but instead of making them obtusely distasteful, the characters seem flawed in a more realistic and perhaps more acceptable way. This novel is tight and fast-paced, and will have readers eagerly turning the pages to see how it all comes together in the end - And in this, we can only expect the unexpected for all that we saw all the pieces being assembled in front of our eyes. I got an ARC of the book. Was the ARC a perfect draft? No, there were odd bits that - while they might have added some character color or provided some insight into the overall picture, went nowhere. Nonetheless, the main plot line was strong.

The Book of Strange New Things (by Michel Faber; narrated by Josh Cohen - This is a story about a Christian missionary sent to an outpost on another planet in order to proselytize to the natives there. Because of this premise, it is tempting to draw a comparison to Mary Dora Russell's novel, 'The Sparrow' ("Jesuits in Space"); but TBOSNT is more firmly seated as Christian fiction. The thoughtfully-written prose is mesmerizing, if a bit slow in tempo (albeit, this underscores the sense of unease you intuit from the start of the novel.) Pastor Peter Leigh not only must minister to a population whose comprehension of the Gospels is difficult to assess, there are the added issues of his handler, the sponsoring corporation who eliminated his wife from coming along, the wife who sends messages of Earth's developing collapse embroidered with her own insecurities, and the question of what happened to the last pastor... The novel requires a bit of patience in accordance with how secularist you are; but it's hypnotic and intriguing. Michel Faber has stated that this is his last novel, which is a shame. I think I would actually like to have seen a sequel or companion piece to this one. As far as the audio goes, Josh Cohen (British narrator) performs the role of Peter and his American colleagues (both male and female) with consummate skill. The Oasans (the natives of the planet) present a unique challenge: Their physiological makeup makes communication difficult. The studio that produced the audio took a risk by slightly enhancing Cohen's voice in some places and it pays off more or less. You have to listen carefully, and you still might not catch on to what exactly they are saying; but it works in context.

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CURRENTLY READING:

I'm just about to start The Shining (by Stephen King) - It's been decades since I read the book or saw Kubrick's film (I don't think I watched the TV series) so my recall is sketchy: A snow-bound hotel, Cab Calloway, REDRUM, and Jack Nicholson trashing a door with an ax... So basically, it's been so long, that it's all new-to-me now! This time around, I listening to the audio (narrated by Campbell Scott.)

WEEK 40

I'm in the middle of a few things; but managed to finish off The Shining (by Stephen King; narrated by Campbell Scott) - The iconic horror story of a man who heads to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He's a recovering alcoholic attempting to salvage his writing career and dignity while also providing for his wife and son. This is a potent admixture of the real and the surreal, of madness and sobriety. This is #VintageKing, the guy who makes you live the dream and the nightmare, and wondering which is which! There are some pop psychology references, dated social conventions, and some cringe-worthy pejorative terms or expletives - all sustained within the book's context; but showing the story's age a bit. Campbell Scott delivers the story with a subtle but effective range.

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Currently Reading:

Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices Trilogy, Book #1, by Cassandra Clare) - A Steampunk YA novel featuring Tessa Gray, an American who finds herself in London and prey to the machinations of rival paranormal cults. Tessa herself has a unique gift, but despite the challenges in her life, she seems to spend most of her time wondering if Will likes her. I'll finish this novel in order to be fair in my final assessment of it, and continue to hope I will be pleasantly surprised by the end; but right now I'm a little less than half-way done, and I'm thinking it unlikely that I will continue with this series.

WEEK 41

The Underground Railroad (by Colson Whitehead; narrated by Bahni Turpin) - This is the story of a slave named Cora who runs away from the owners of a slave plantation in Georgia. I usually wait about 5 years before hitting up an Oprah pick or hyped bestseller; but for some reason, I thought it was important to read/listen to this one now. At first, I was like, "WTF?! The Underground Railroad wasn't literally a subterranean train! And a thriving progressive safe haven for blacks in the Antebellum South Carolina?!" It's like all the horrible things you think can't be true are really true, while all the great things are too good to be true... Oh. Wait. Got it. Well played Mr. Whitehead, well played! Bahni Turpin narrates with a slightly clipped and measured cadence. There are a couple mispronunciations that the narrator makes (e.g. "victuals" should be pronounced as /vit'ls/) which is a little distracting.) (★★★★)

Sol (Silver Ships series, Book #5, by S.H. Jucha) - This is the fifth installment in the ongoing epic sci-fi series featuring Alex Racine and the multi-species population of Haraken. In this novel, President Racine travels to Earth to thwart their attempts to assimilate the Harakens' planetary system into the the United Earth empire. This story seemed more militant, more fascist; and more misogynistic than the previous novels in this series. The Silver Ships series is usually very family friendly, and while the sex and violence remain in the "G" to "PG" range, I'm not as comfortable with some of the underlying messages in this first contact/space novel: Characters pay lip service to the casualties; but don't hesitate to develop and use a grisly form of death for their enemies; and President Racine's wife has been reduced to a figurehead that basically pets Alex and soothes him when his temper might be flaring :-/ (★★)

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Tempest (by William Shakespeare; Updated Edition, Folger Shakespeare Librar) - This is a comedy about a manipulative wizard and his daughter who live on an island somewhere in the Caribbean. I'm reading the play in anticipation of Margaret Atwood's 'Hag-Seed' which is being released on Tuesday.

WEEK 42

The Tempest (by William Shakespeare - Classic Comedy play about a manipulative wizard and his daughter who have been stranded on an island. Prospero arranges for a storm to appear in order that a ship's passengers will be stranded on the island with him so that he may exact his order of revenge. I've read and seen this play multiple times before; but this time I was really struck how no one is a likable character, except maybe Ariel, the primary spirit who serves Prospero. The appeal for me has been primarily in the magical or illusory elements... which I guess is sort of admitting that I like the imagined special effects more than I like the actual story! (★★★★)

The Clockwork Angel (A Shadowhunters novel, Infernal Devices Trilogy, Book #1; by Cassandra Clare) - The premise of this YA steampunk book, a young American girl becomes embroiled in the occult world of Victorian London, is intriguing; and the plot outline is interesting; but the characters themselves are so poorly developed and without any interior substance to begin with, that I was left feeling indifferent to the outcome of their individual and collective fates; No interest in continuing the series or delving further into this biblioverse. (★★)

Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss series, Book #1, by Nalini Singh) - A romance novel featuring a librarian (her) and a rock star (him.) This is an explicit "romance" that's really a poorly written porn novel. I have absolutely nothing against graphic sex in a novel; but I still want a fairly well written and believable plot, and dialogue that makes sense. I had heard great things about this author; but she's not for me. (★★)

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CURRENTLY READING

Hag-Seed (A Hogarth Shakespeare novel, by Margaret Atwood) - A re-telling of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" - Interesting meta form: The main character is a dispossessed theater director who is staging a production of "The Tempest" at a correctional facility, while also using it to enact is own real life drama of revenge. Atwood uses the re-telling as exposition for her own understanding/didacticism and cleverly up-cycles the Bard's material in both structure and content.

WEEK 43

Hag-Seed (by Margaret Atwwod) - "The Tempest is a play about a man producing a play - one that comes out of his own head..."; and 'Hag-Seed' is a novel about Felix Phillips, the former artistic director of the Makeshewig Theater Festival, who finally gets to mount a production of The Tempest, albeit with the Fletcher Correctional Players instead of a professional acting company. Felix is also using the play to enact his own real-life drama of revenge. Atwood constructs an interesting meta form: The novel is the re-telling of The Tempest; The director has the players re-write Shakespeare's Comedy; and the director himself is living out an alternate version... Depending on how involved the reader is in the novel, it could be argued that Atwood has added another layer into the story by capturing the reader as the audience. Atwood uses this re-telling as exposition of her own understanding of the play; and cleverly up-cycles the Bard's material both in structure and content. Felix becomes the avatar for Atwood's research, teaching a class about the play to the would-be actors and the readers of the novel too. The FCP's re-constructed Tempest raps out lines from the play and re-interprets the figures into modern understanding. The book itself is set up into five parts, mirroring the five acts of Shakespeare's play. If there is to be any quibble, it is only this: There is no magic. The original play contains mostly unlikable characters. With the exception of Ariel and Gonzalo, they are best described as manipulative, incredibly naive, homicidal, rapacious, scheming, lying... The appeal of much of the play are the spells that Prospero casts, casting illusions on epic scale. With 'Hag-Seed', that magic is reduced to special effects, which shears off the glamour of the story. The novel is well executed and deserving of study alongside the Classic play, especially in discussions about modern or contemporary relevance and revisionist Shakespeare. (★★★★)

The Jupiter Myth (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries, Book #14, by Lindsey Davies) - The Falco series is set in Ancient Rome during Vespasian's reign (AD 70s) and features a palace informer/private investigator living on the edges of respectability; bit always with a touch of humor. Each of the books in the series showcases an aspect of Ancient Roman life and the research that the author has put into it. Some of the books in the series are "paired", meaning that while they could each technically be read as stand-alones, some are story-arcs spread out over two volumes. This is one of them and needs to be read after book #13, 'The Body in the Bathhouse.' Falco is now wrapping up his time in Londinium, but not before a character from the previous book is discovered a victim of foul play... 'The Jupiter Myth' takes a look at the early days of Roman London, and the criminal aspects that accompany "progress." (★★★)

Doctor Sleep (by Stephen King; narrated by Will Patton) - Stephen King's sequel to 'The Shining' features Danny Torrance as an adult. He's a recovering alcoholic, hospice worker, and fated to another large-scale Shining event. At first, and through the first third of the book, I wasn't so sure about it, wondering if SK should've have left well enough alone; but by the closing credits, I had to admire the thoroughness of the story (King picks up details and themes from the first novel and expands them); and brings in a new terror to keep you up at night... I really loved Will Patton in the couple of Dave Robicheaux titles that he narrated; but here, he was a bit over the top, and pardon me for saying so, but a bit long in the tooth for my taste. (★★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Beats (by Harvey Pekar; edited by Paul Buhle) - This is an overview of several members of the Beat generation, most notably Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs - told in b&w comic book panels. It seems to be a pretty good introduction to/about some free thinkers who inspired generations of poets, writers, musicians and political activists. That said, I don't think I would have enjoyed their company had I been their contemporary; but it's an interesting primer nonetheless; and I may seek out some of their more notable works later.

WEEK 44

The Beats (by Harvey Pekar; edited by Paul Buhle) - This is a cut & paste from last week when, at the time of posting, I was only part way through the book. After I was done, I realized that I didn't have anything more to add. I include it here jic you may have missed it last week and are interested. - This is an overview of several members of the Beat generation, most notably Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs - told in b&w comic book panels. It seems to be a pretty good introduction to/about some free thinkers who inspired generations of poets, writers, musicians and political activists. That said, I don't think I would have enjoyed their company had I been their contemporary; but it's an interesting primer nonetheless; and I may seek out some of their more notable works later.

Rules of Engagement (Governess Brides series, Book #12; by Christina Dodd) - This is a Regency Romance novel featuring a Lord needing respectability; and a Lady in the guise of a governess. All the components for a fun romance were there; but ultimately the overall story was structured badly with the climax hitting about two-thirds of the way through, and the rest underdeveloped and disappointing.

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe - I've been chipping away at this for months, re-reading some of the stories multiple times. There is horror fare as you might expect; but there are also quite a few pieces that are in turns humorous, erudite, satirical, adventuresome, fantastical, and melodramatic. The challenge resides in some of the more esoteric references, and the untranslated foreign languages. By Halloween, I should have it all wrapped up!

WEEK 45

Back to Christmas (by Dennis Canfield) - In what turned out to be a novella, an elf named Marmel is in charge of labeling those who are Naughty and those who are Nice. A stickler to the rules, he's about to relegate the Krumwerth family to the Permanent Naughty List; but not without due process. The Krumwerths have three chances to redeem themselves... It's a bit early for Christmas stories; when you get there, this isn't without its charms. (★★★)

H is for Hawk (written and narrated by Helen MacDonald) - A grief narrative and memoir that pulls the reader into the author's world of hawking/falconry. Helen MacDonald moves through her sorrow with a beautiful, mellifluous voice that recounts her time training a goshawk and through the layers of her psychic healing. Hypnotic, and truly interesting despite the seemingly esoteric nature of the subject matter. (STORY: ★★★★★; NARRATION:★★★★★)

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems (by Edgar Allan Poe) - This took me a few months; and even now I hesitate to say I'm "done!" even after having read all the shorts, poems, and colloquies. There were a couple that were so boring that I ended up skimming them just get through them; but others I loved so much that I -re-read them several times; and I suspect that I'll keep going back. There's horror, yes; but also humor, erudition, sentiment, and whimsy. (★★★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Edition, by William Shakespeare)- Yes, I did read this play earlier this year; but I re-reading it again before I hit 'Shylock is My Name' (by Howard Jacobson) later this week. This time though, I reading the Folger Library offering. I'm noticing differences between the two publishers' editions (the former text was published by Penguin): Slightly different wording, different line assignments, and of course, different notes. Different folios were probably used to prep their respective mss. Really interesting to a Bard Nerd :-)

WEEK 46

James Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit (by James Traub) - A biography of the sixth president of the United States, this covers his life from the time he was about six-years old though to his death. I sometimes got confused as to whether the author was talking about the father or the son; and because Traub breaks down the chapters into one- to two-year segments, the pace is glacial. I was disappointed to find out that JQA didn't have much to show for his presidency; but surprised at his diplomatic career beforehand; and his Congressional career afterwards. He was always a man who saw things in black & white; but his outspokenness as he got older was refreshing; and his role in the Amistad case seminal. I took me a while to work through this chunkster; and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it outright: Only for hardcore presidential bio fans. Otherwise, just go rent the Steven Spielberg movie, "Amistad" :-)

Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, Book #1, by Ruby Dixon) - A sci-fi romance novel involving young women from Earth who end up stranded on a planet with blue natives... OK, I would normally never have been interested in picking this up; but Eloisa James, whose own Regency Romance novels have a certain joie de vivre to them, recommended them, so I went ahead and "one-clicked" the first-in-series. It's all kind of weird, and so outrageously stupid, that they're almost fun. I say "almost" only because, even though it was original and not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, I'm not going to be reading anymore in the series.

The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare edition, by William Shakespeare) - A story of money lending, bonds, and people behaving badly all around. The soliloquy about the quality of mercy is breathtaking in its eloquence. As I was reading it, I was reminded of the scene in "Schindler's List" when Schindler tries to persuade Goethe to be merciful. I thought there was a certain literary irony that in the play, a Jew was being exhorted to show mercy, whereas in "Schlinder's List," it was a Nazi... I read the Pelican edition of MOV earlier this year; but came back to it preparation to reading 'Shylock is My Name' (by Howard Jacobson)...

Shylock is My Name (by Howard Jacobson) - This lit-fic novel starts off with a sort of colloquy between Simon Strulovitch and Shylock as they discuss Jewish identity, humor, and families (especially the relationships between fathers and daughters.) Then the story kicks into gear as Simon lives out the 16th century play, "The Merchant of Venice" against the backdrop of an upscale neighborhood in 21st century England. It is not clear whether Shylock is a literary revenant incarnate and/or an alter ego made manifest under the pressure Simon is under. The initialism of the novel's title, "SIMN" serves as a possible allusion to the schizophrenic nature of the heroic element; but the double-protagonist scheme does not break down so its possible that Howard Jacobson simply created a contemporary Shylock, complete with fedora. The conversations tend to be excessively neurotic and introspective, often encumbering the overall story line even as the action line surfaces. The comic elements feel a bit forced; and the humor dry and subtle. Highly recommend reading William Shakespeare's, "The Merchant of Venice" beforehand. Those with an affinity for Jewish literature may also find this more rewarding than those who do not.

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CURRENTLY READING:

The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) - This will probably last me to/through the end of the year audiobook-wise!

WEEK 47

I have a number of books in play, but I lost a bit of my reading focus last week, so I went with a couple of light romance novels instead:

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me (by Mariana Zapata) - Contemporary workplace romance featuring a personal assistant (her) to a football player (him.) I have seen this described as a "slow burn" romance, but really, nothing really happens (sexy-times or otherwise) until close to the end; and even at that, it's pretty underwhelming. This is way longer than it needs to be (600+ pages!); and the male character is so under-developed, he never came across as more than a dumb jock. (★★★)

Beautiful (Beautiful series Book #8, by Christina Lauren) - The final novel in the contemporary romance series by the writing duo Christina Lauren is something for fans only as the cast of characters includes couples from the other books in the Beautiful series; and it's told in the authors' signature style of him/her POVs; but overall it's disappointing. The main couple just don't seem to have any real chemistry, and the sex scenes are pedestrian. The series ends with some sloppy, tired writing instead of a bang (ha!) (★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING

The Accusers (Marcus Didius Falco series, Book #15, by Lindsey Davis) - This is a historical fiction/mystery novel set during Vespasian's reign in Ancient Rome. After having returned from his English adventures in books #13 & #14, Marcus Didius Falco returns to Rome and starts re-building his practice as a sort of early prototype of a detective. Some of this entails picking up legal scut work, which is how he ends up looking into a case of apparent suicide of a corrupt senator. I just started this one, but it seems devoid of the author's usual flair. Hopefully it will pick up. Even if it doesn't though, I'll finish. There's always something of interest to learn about Ancient Roman life from this series.

WEEK 48

The Accusers (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #15; by Lindsey Davis) - Marcus Didius Falco is the Ancient Roman version of a private investigator; and in this novel, returns from assignments abroad in Britain to re-build his practice. This involves some legal scut work; but leads to a case in which a suicide is called into question, and at which estates and considerable compensation are at stake. Lindsey Davies' novels are well researched, focus on Vespasian's reign (AD 70s); and usually have a bit of humor in them. This time though, her usual style seems to be a little lacking, reducing this to a more straightforward what happened/whodunnit. I'm hoping this isn't a sign of things to come for the remainder of the series. (★★★)

The Hating Game (by Sally Thorpe) - This is the debut novel of a fairly promising author. It's a contemporary romance novel featuring two junior executives at a publishing firm who are up for the same promotion. They've spent two years at odds with each other, playing mind games, and the professional competition ups the ante. The games they were playing weren't always clear to me (e.g. "The "Or something" game); and I wish there had been more about the publishing world in which they were supposedly embroiled; but I'll look for Thorne's next novel due out next year. (★★★-1/2)

How to Kiss a Cowboy (Cowboys of Decker Ranch, Book #2; by Joanne Kennedy) - A contemporary cowboy romance novel featuring rodeo players, this one was great on setting the scene; but I wasn't sold on the chemistry between the couple. At one point, he lassoes her and sends her to the hospital with injuries serious enough to warrant a five-day stay in the hospital, and a bit of recovery time which takes her off the rodeo circuit. He's always been a player, so on top of the accident, she now has some serious trust issues. And somehow that's her problem... Er, no. (★★)

The Vegetarian (by Han Kang) - This is a lit-fic novella which won the author the ManBooker International Prize. Set in South Korea, the story features a married woman who suddenly decides to become a vegetarian. This sets up a chain reaction of strange and dramatic responses from her husband, father, brother-in-law, and sister. At first, the story was so alien and weird to me; but I quickly had a host of thoughts running through my head... Eventually, I had an epiphany that this was somewhat like a modern re-telling of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (and therefore wasn't surprised to see that it was published by Hogarth!)(★★★★)

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CURRENTLY READING

The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun mysteries, Book #1; by Colin Cotterill) - This is a story set in Laos, 1975 (after the conversion of the country to a communist government.) Siri is the newly appointed coroner, with no experience, extremely limited resources, and very little to lose in the face of political and bureaucratic hurdles as he is 72 years old! But it helps that ghosts visit him... Though there is a paranormal aspect to this, I wouldn't classify it as a paranormal novel, more like a sort of magical realism along a superstitious vein. Anyway, in this first-in-series, three corpses have been found in a lake having been air-dropped there, attached to missiles.

WEEK 49

The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun Mysteries, Book #1, by Colin Cotterill) - Dr. Siri is a 72-yo medical doctor who has been appointed to the position of head coroner with the newly-formed Communist government in Laos (1975.) Faced with limited resources, but armed with stubbornness and curiosity, he takes on the challenges of determining the cause of death for his cases. However, it must be noted that this first-in-series isn't really about solving crimes via forensic science and logic; but more of a historical novel reflecting the Asian brand of magical realism (spirits) juxtaposed against the poli-bureaucratic realities of the time. (★★★-1/2)

The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest (by Timothy Egan) - This is a non-fiction book wherein Timothy Egan travels around the Pacific Northwest in the the steps of a 19th century travel writer, Theodore Winthrop. Egan catalogues the changes over the centuries, comparing Winthrop's passages with the current conditions; So we have history and social commentary along with the descriptive writing. It's enlightening; but since it was written in the late 1990s, it could stand an update. (★★★★)

Idol (VIP series, Book #1, by Kristen Callihan) - This is a contemporary romance novel where He is a rock star and She is a songwriting recluse. The plot line was actually very strong, though there was a passage that was presented in the beginning as a future scenario; and later written in the body of the work that went nowhere. It was a false sense of anticipation that could have been cut for all the value it added to the story. The plot also references a lot of 80s and 90s music, which if you're not into, you may need to listen to the tracks of in order to get a sense of the "messages" the protags were sending each other, or to get the full vibe of a scene. (★★★-1/2)

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CURRENTLY READING

The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood) - This is arguably Atwood's seminal work, a political thriller and dystopian tale in which the agency of women are stripped using a biblical precept, and in the name of literal survival. The story is from the POV of "Offred" and, considering it was written in 1985, frightening in its prescience specifically in reflecting conservative politic landscapes.

WEEK 50

Managed (VIP series, Book #2, by Kristen Callihan) - This is a contemporary romance featuring a rock n/ roll band's manager (him) and a publicist/social media manager/photographer (her.) The first book in the series, 'Idol' wasn't too bad (I gave it three-and-a-half stars last week,) so I decided to read the follow-up; but the author just didn't deliver: The level of absolutely unrealistic pretexts set up to get the two protags touching one another was absurd; and the author was unable to create any emotionally dramatic moments, grand gestures or otherwise. Plus, there were copy editing issues that drove me crazy, like referring to an after dinner treat both as a "dessert" and as a "desert" in the same paragraph; and sentences with missing words. :-( (★★)

March: Book One (by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell) - The first book of John Lewis' graphic novel memoir recounts his life from the time he was six-years old living on a small farm (preaching to chickens!) to the early days of the Cilvil Rights Movement. B&W ink-wash panels illustrate the non-violent protests (e.g. sit-ins, boycotts) that rocked the U.S. in the 1960s; and are framed as a recollection as the now-Congressman heads out to receive his Medal of Freedom. I'll give it four stars for now; but it's likely to get bumped up top a five-star read once I get my hands on the other two books and can see the whole arc. (★★★★)

The Clock of Dreams (Titus Crow series, Book #3, by Brian Lumley) - These is the third novella in Lumley's series that features the time-and-space traveling Titus Crow. In this adventure, Titus and his love, Tiania are in trouble in the land of dreams; and Titus' friend must navigate the time-clock to attempt a rescue. There is a Cthlulu element in play in the Titus Crow series; and have a pulpy adventure feel to them. Fun and imaginative. (★★★★)

The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood) - A dystopian political thriller about Offred, a woman in the Republic of Gilead whose free agency has been thoroughly stripped in the name of Biblical literalism and socio-political necessity. This is the third or fourth re-read for me; and I still marvel at Atwood's prescience; and how it has mirrored US politics and our fears. The imagery too is striking. (★★★★-1/2)

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CURRENTLY READING

Geek Love (by Katherine Dunn) - This is a National Book Award winner (1989) about a circus family that breeds its own freaks.

WEEK 51

One of the books I read in Week 50 was March: Book One (by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell. It is the bio/memoir of John Lewis, Civil Rights Activist and current US Representative for Georgia (CD05.) It takes a look at his life from the time he was six-years old to the early days of the Cilvil Rights Movement. This week, I re-read "Book One" and then launched into "Book Two" and "Book Three" in succession. Book Two picks up from "Book One" and recounts the the difficulties of trying to stay non-violent in the face of opposition; and the Kennedy administration's responses. It ends with the march on Washington, DC and MLK's speech. Book Three is the knockout punch of the trilogy. The physical violence that was exacted on African-Americans and their allies was staggering. Names are named, and a schism widens within the Movement itself; but ultimately, the Civil Rights Voting Act was passed. It didn't stop people from being racists, but it was one step in the metaphorical march. It's a graphic novel set, but don't let the idea that this is a "glorified comic book" fool you: It's intense and eye-opening.

WEEK 52

I've been struggling through a little bit of a depression for about six weeks now, and finding it difficult to focus on some of the books I have going, most notably 'Geek Love' (by Katherine Dunne.) I'm torn between forcing myself to finish it, or just tabling it to a later time (but also acknowledging that I rarely go back to finish those books.) In the meantime, I've been gift-shopping, watching a few movies, and I knocked off two Romance novels:

Someone Like You: An Oxford Novel (Oxford series, Book #3; by Lauren Layne) - I read the first in the series, which introduced the male protag in this novel, Lincoln Mathis. In this contemporary office romance, both the male and the female protags have secrets which prevent the both of them from committing to a relationship. Neither of the secrets are little or trite ones, and the resolution of their issues deserves more ink and time than the novel allows for; but kudos to Lauren Layne for packing it into 200 pages with some credibility. This was supposed to be the final novel in a trilogy, so characters from past novels, both from the Oxford and the Sex, Love & Stiletto series all make an appearance, which is a little annoying; but fans of her works will love seeing everyone for the penultimate time (there will be one more book in the series that covers the romance between two characters introduced in this book.) (★★★)

When a Scot Ties the Knot (Castles Ever After, Book #3; by Tessa Dare) - I read the first in this series too, and hated it; but I was persuaded to try this one from a clever passage that was quoted on litsy, and the fact that it was available at my library branch. In this Regency Romance, Madeline Gracechurch creates a fictitious suitor, writing letters to a Captain Logan MacKenzie, on the presumption that the letters would end up in a dead letter bin somewhere. And, yes, you guessed it, there really is a Captain Logan MacKenzie! And he wants something that Madeline has... There are some funny lines; and this one wasn't as ludicrous as the first-in-series; but I was glad I hadn't spent any money on it. (★★)

On the Nightstand:

Scandal Takes a Holiday (Marcus Didius Falco mysteries, Book #15; by Lindsey Davies)

Geek Love (by Katherine Dunn) (Maybe)

The Stand (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner) - This one will probably cross over into 2017

The New American Bible (a.k.a. "The Catholic Bible") - Ongoing, currently in the middle of "1 Samuel"

So far this year, I've read 167 books, and I've probably got one or two I can get finished in this last week of the year. My favorites (all five-star reads):

Fellside (by M.R. Carey; narrated by Finty Williams (2016)) - A modern day ghost story about a woman convicted of murdering a little boy. She is sent to Fellside, a maximum detention prison on the Yorkshire moors where she is haunted by the little boy's ghost. Though it has more psychological elements than 'The Girl with All the Gifts,' there's plenty of action (And yes, at one point, I was screaming at my iPod, "NO JESS! DON'T DO IT!!!" - so I think it's pretty safe to say I was pretty engaged with the whole thing!)

March: Book One, March: Book Two, and March: Book Three (by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell (2013, 2015, 2016 respectively)) - This is the bio/memoir of John Lewis, Civil Rights Activist and current US Representative for Georgia (CD05.) "Book One" takes a look at his life from the time he was six-years old to the early days of the Cilvil Rights Movement. "Book Two" picks up from "Book One" and recounts the the difficulties of trying to stay non-violent in the face of opposition; and the Kennedy administration's responses. It ends with the march on Washington, DC and MLK's speech. "Book Three" is the knockout punch of the trilogy. The physical violence that was exacted on African-Americans and their allies was staggering. Names are named, and a schism widens within the Movement itself; but ultimately, the Civil Rights Voting Act was passed. It didn't stop people from being racists, but it was one step in the metaphorical march. It's a graphic novel set, but don't let the idea that this is a "glorified comic book" fool you: It's intense and eye-opening.

Irène (Commandant Camille Verhœven series#1 (by Pierre Lemaitre; translated by Frank Wynne(2014)) - This is a mystery-thriller about series of murders that are staged as re-created murder scenes from crime novels; and the Commandant who is tasked with tracking him/them down... Grisly. Devastating. Serious mind-fuckery. Absolutely brilliant. WARNING: Not for the squeamish or faint-of-heart

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (by Alfred Lansing; narrated by Simon Prebble (Book: 1958, Audio: 2008)) - The true story of Shackleton's Trans Antarctic Expedition is amazing. Lansing's compelling narrative and Prebble's masterful narration are a perfect match. This will not only become a part of my own personal Pantheon of All-Time Great Audiobooks; but one that I know I will re-listen to again; and recommend without reservation to everyone.

The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood (1985)) - A dystopian political thriller about Offred, a woman in the Republic of Gilead whose free agency has been thoroughly stripped in the name of Biblical literalism and socio-political necessity. This is the third or fourth re-read for me; and I still marvel at Atwood's prescience; and how it has mirrored US politics and our fears. The imagery too is striking.

I'm not going to get into my disappointments (twenty-nine two-stars, and twelve DNFs) except to say that I've noticed more books coming from major publishing houses fraught with copy-editing errors, plot holes, lack of fact-checking, poor "choreography" (having characters do physically impossible things); and "mis-management of props" (author and/or editor forgot that there was a gun, dog, or whatever in the scene...) :-(

For 2017, I'm keeping my goals loose. I'll keep my numerical goal at 150; but I will try to read more non-fiction, more translated works, and maybe even a couple of things in French (probably comic books and children's books.)

These were the last books I read in 2016, and I read right up to 11-ish o'clock on New ear's Eve!

Say Yes to the Marquess (Castles Ever After series, Book #2; by Tessa Dare) - Clio Whitmore seeks to end her eight-year engagement to the ever-absent Piers Brandon, and pursue her dream of opening a brewery on the grounds of the castle that she has inherited. Piers' brother, Rafe, is the second son, and a boxer, who is equally determined that the wedding should happen so he can focus on re-gaining his former title. As Rafe attempts to tempt Clio into a wedding, the forced proximity of the endeavor engenders interest on both sides... The whole thing was so preposterous, rivaling Tessa Dare's first novel in the series, Romancing the Duke in the level of absurdity. (★★)

A Week to be Wicked (Spindle Cove series, Book #2; by Tessa Dare) - A Regency Romance novel in which Minerva Highwood seeks an end to her sister's engagement to a known rake, and an escort to present her paleontological research in Edinburgh. Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne is impoverished and in need of an infusion of cash, though he actually has no intention of marrying Minerva's sister. The misunderstanding, plus the opportunity to take Minerva to Edinburgh as a means to his own ends results in a week of adventure. Despite the opening scene in which there was a floating bed in a turret, this actually turned out not too horribly far-fetched (cf Castles Ever After series: Romancing the Duke (#1) and Say Yes to the Marquess (#2) which were both ridiculous); and a lot of fun! In the end, however, the effect was spoiled as Minerva's handling of her traveling issues was very waffly. (★★)

A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove series, Book #3; by Tessa Dare) - Kate is an orphan who makes her living teaching music in Spindle Cover, insecure in her looks (a wine port stain on her face) and in her social standing. Captain Thorne is the rough militiaman who seeks a new life in the New World. He is aware of his own lower social standing; but works with what he has: his toughness and determination. The status quo is rocked when an eccentric family of note and wealth arrives in town, claiming Kate as one of their own. Captain Thorne decides to remain behind to check out this claim, and as a result becomes closer to Kate. There's a secret history revealed on both their parts which puts their relationship at risk and pushes the topic of class distinction to the fore of their dealings. The eccentricity of the Grammercys was unnecessarily over-the-top and melodramatic, ruining the historical rom-com style the Tessa Dare seems to be cultivating. (★★)

Scandal Takes a Holiday (Marcus Didius Falco series, Book #16; by Lindsey Davies) - In this mystery set in Ancient Rome during Vespasian's reign (AD 76), Falco is sent down to Ostia to track down a missing person. "Infamia" is a gossip columnist back in Rome who has disappeared while ostensibly visiting his aunt. As Falco investigates however, the corrupt builders' guilds and a network of pirates complicate matters. Was Infamia in fact about to publish an exposé? Lindsey Davies writes well researched historical novels; but you sense that with the last installment in the series, The Accusers and with this one, that she's a bit tired of Falco. The verve or energy are gone; but as there aren't many more to the series, so I'll see it through to the end.

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School series, Book #1; by Gail Carriger) - This is a re-read for me. I was "So-So" on it a couple of years ago; but scouring the library stacks for a light read to get me through the Seasonal Blues, this seemed like a good fit. This is a fun, frothy YA paranormal steampunk novel about a girl named Sophronia who is sent away to finishing school; but this is a different sort of finishing school than what she was expecting! Intrigue and wit blend with Carriger's signature sense of humor; and the world she builds, filled with mechanical maids, dirigibles, vampires, werewolves. petticoats and tea cakes dazzles the senses; but be aware this doesn't carry the same sort of tension or energy that her Soulless series does. (★★★)

Human Acts (by Han Kang) - In 1980, in a Southern Korean province, a democratic uprising against the tyrannical government was brutally quashed by soldiers. Known as the Gawngju Uprising, its violence and toll in human lives was shocking: An estimated 2,000 people were summarily executed. Amongst the casualties was a fifteen-year old boy named Dong-Ho; and his death is the centerpiece of Han Kang's sophomore effort. The author utilizes the Roshomon Effect in driving the plot forward though the years, revealing events though six sections told from various POVs: That of Dong-Ho himself; Dong-Ho's friend; An editor; A prisoner; A factory girl; and Dong-Ho's mother. There is an Epilogue, which is not part of the story; but an actual statement form the author regarding her connection to the fictionalized account that she has written. The events recounted are unflinchingly savage, its effects scarring the survivors mentally and physically for years after the uprising itself. Han Kang's writing is tighter and more grounded than it is in The Vegetarian, perhaps owing to a more concrete set of events at hand (history)) as opposed to the performance-piece-like style of her debut novel in the West. That said, there were a few places where the translation felt a little awkward: The shift from third-person omniscient to first person accusatory was disconcerting; and replacing South Korean vernacular with Yorkshire idiomacy was jarring. Overall, however, the novel was powerful; and intentional or not, relevant in today's political climate in asking the question, "How far would you go to be on the right side of history?" (★★★★)

And, that brings me to a grand total of 170 books read for the year! I exceed my expectations by about 20 titles; but I think I'll keep my personal challenge to 150 :-)