Fieldnotes: On Staying Clam & Reading More in 2021 ☽ Part I ☾

Welcome to my 2021 thread!



Good Morning, Midnight gets the honor of being my first read of the new year. I did enjoy this one very much, despite there being plot holes large enough to drive several trains through. Last night I watched the movie version, which is called 'The Midnight Sky' on Netflix. They cleaned up some of the plot holes from the book, but then added a few giant ones of their own. So be it. I would be likely to recommend the book to certain people, and the movie to others.

Happy New Year, and happy new thread! Looking forward to exchanging book bullets with you once again.

>2 Marissa_Doyle: May we both go down in a hail of excellent book bullets! :o)

>1 clamairy: Happy new year, I hope you have a wonderful 2021! And congrats on finishing a book already. :)

Happy new year!

Warmest wishes for the new year, clam!

Found and starred your thread!

I hope you realise I will be in the crowd following your thread. I will be watching to ensure you have a great reading year, i will also be attempting to avoid being hit by BBs that I am sure you will be firing into the crowd.

Have a wonderful 2021.

Happy new year!

I looked at Good Morning, Midnight when it was released but ultimately decided it sounded too much like Station Eleven, if not in plot then in writing style. Glad you kicked off your reading year with a book you liked, despite the plot train running off the tracks.

Happy New Year, glad to see you've started a new thread.

Happy New Year! We survived! May this year be one of revelation and joy for you.

Happy New Year to you all! May it bring everyone good health, happiness, peace and many many books!!!!

And to kick it off - my indie has a New Years Day 25% off sale every year, but this year instead of one day, they are spreading it through 3 days, and only allowing 40 people in at a time. I miss (sorta) the long serpintine line through the store, but I went yesterday and it was great, plenty of social distancing hand washing and mask wearing. Came away with

A Promised Land

The Splendid and the Vile

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

Best American Travel Writing 2020

Best American Essay Writing 2020

Angel's Game

Artemis

Have no idea what I will read first! In the meantime they look nice on my TBR stack!! (still have a few unread from last years sale, but I'll get to them!)

Thinking about going back today to look though their sale stock, I always find some goodies, but didn't have time yesterday.

Happy New Year! Hope you get to enjoy as much reading as you want to!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year Clam! I hope it will be a good one for you in every way. I'm looking forward to more of your beach photos; they are such a lovely escape from my everyday sights.

>1 clamairy: That book has a lovely cover ... definitely going for the Station Eleven audience!

>1 clamairy: the movie has been showing up in my “for you” Netflix line. I think it looks interesting.

>16 catzteach: Yeah, for me ditto.

>9 libraryperilous: The stories are not that similar, but the writing style in both is very methodical and paced slowly. And also, post-apocalyptic. Station Eleven's is caused by a plague, and who knows what causes the this one. That is one thing the book only hints at, but the movie jumps into feet first. LOL

>15 Sakerfalcon: Yes, I'm pretty sure that cover is a still from the Netflix movie. I think the original cover looked like this:



I'm guessing the option to film it was snapped up pretty quickly after publication as I am only seeing a handful of covers without the Netflix sticker added.

>12 cindydavid4: Good for you! Enjoy them all.

Many thanks to everyone stopping by with well wishes and New Year's greetings. :o)

I forgot to mention I'm already into The Curse of Chalion and enjoying it immensely. I am loving Bujold's writing style.

PS - I also forgot to mention that I bailed out on Connie Willis' A Lot Like Christmas: Stories a little past halfway through. I enjoyed about 4 of the first 6 I read, and that was not enough to keep me going.

>19 clamairy: Has anyone started the Chalion group read thread yet?

>20 Narilka: I assumed Jim would start it, since it was his suggestion, but if you want to do it please feel free.

Happy New Year!

And best wishes for a better New Year from me too.

>16 catzteach: My wife and I watched that movie and we thought it was terrible. Confusing and pointless with giant scientific plot sinkholes.

>24 Karlstar: Yeah, some of the plot holes were ridiculous. I have had people tell me they loved it, though. I thought the special effects were quite good, and most of the acting. But geez... I thought I was being too critical because I'd read (and mostly enjoyed) the book, but if you felt that way going in cold then I suspect that had little to do with it.

I know I hold Sci-Fi to a much higher plausibility standard than I do Fantasy.

Happy new year!
I'll be along for the ride. Not biting the book bullet for Good Morning, Midnight, though, even as it sounds interesting. My TBR pile is threatening to avalanche ;-)

>21 clamairy: Will do. I think this might be my next book and my first by Bujold :)

>18 clamairy: That combo of literary fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction is not my cup of tea, lol. It was easy to see, reading Station Eleven, why so many readers loved it, but I just couldn't muddle through.

>20 Narilka: what? A Chalion reading thread???

I read the first book a couple years ago, enjoyed it. But I've not started book 2 yet...

>29 fuzzi: Go look at Jim's thread. Somehow he talked a bunch of us into taking the plunge with him. :o)

>29 fuzzi: I am in the same situation. But I will be trying the group read as a reread.

The thread is up. Everyone is welcome to join in :) If all goes as planned I'll be starting the book tomorrow.

>30 clamairy: who is Jim?

>32 Narilka: found it, thank you.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/328368

I didn't know you were Jim. Your profile says Gale.

>33 fuzzi: & >34 fuzzi: LOL Here is how the group read came about: https://www.librarything.com/topic/326417#7347388

If you scroll up a bit you will see the hail of bullets.

>35 clamairy: bwahahaha! What a delightful thread of library and cheese teases!

It's been a while since I read The Curse of Chalion, four years by the date of my review, but I'm good for a reread. I think it was Morphy who recommended it to me. I'd read Falling Free and I think The Warrior's Apprentice before I moved over to the author's true fantasy works.

>36 fuzzi: That's a quintessential Green Dragon thread right there. (Rife with piffle, cheese pics and serious book discussion.)

I'm only 20% into this, but there does not seem to be much magic happening so far, except briefly and 'off-screen,' so to speak. I assume that's about to change at some point. But I would be interested in this author's non-fantasy books, too. I'm enjoying her style.

Hi Clam! Finally found my way over to wish you a very happy new year. Glad that I managed to duck in this once without taking a bullet ;-)

Just popping by to note what a beautiful, if somewhat menacing, picture of Rosie you have now found.

Well, I just followed the link referenced in #35 above which was a really great mix of piffle, library porn and the background discussion as to why folks need to read The Curse of Chalion. I do look forward to joining in that particular group read.

It's been one he**uva week, so I again want to express my thanks to you clamairy for opening this group on this particular platform. You're saving my general mental outlook on life.

>38 Jim53: & >39 -pilgrim-: Thank you.

>40 jillmwo: You're most welcome, and it's been mostly my own salvation as well. I stayed out of the pub for a few days because I didn't think I could refrain from flaming at the mouth... Big supportive hugs to you, Jill. What are your plans for 'our birthday' next week? My kids are coming to visit, barring any end of the world type event.

nvm

>40 jillmwo:

when is your birthday? Mine was yesterday, turned the big 64,

I agree with others that I am thankful for a place like this. And to make it better for me, I realize that none of these books are satisfying me, so I opened A Promise Land Can not think of anything better to help me ease into this new year than by reading his work.

>43 cindydavid4: I'm going to have to ask you to edit your comment. As much as I agree with it, we are trying to keep the pub free of political discussion.

Oh and Jill and I share a birthday, January 14th. Albert Schweitzer was also born that day, and when I was a child my mom would always tell me the cake she was making was for him.

>44 clamairy: done, sorry :)

>44 clamairy: Thank you. 💙

>45 clamairy: As does my mother and 2 friends!

>43 cindydavid4: Happy birthday!

>43 cindydavid4: Happy Belated Birthday!

>yup, a cheese cake. Happy birthday!

>43 cindydavid4: Happy Birthday. I reach that marker next month.

Oh yum!!!! I'll take that thankyou very much!

And slightly belated happy birthday to clam also!

nvm

>50 clamairy: Now that is how to celebrate!

Happy belated birthday!

>43 cindydavid4: >52 pgmcc: Your age now has a certain property for the seventh time. Under current conditions it is probably the last time. What is it?

Happy late birthday! Hope there was cheese and wine!

>58 Jim53: We will not be able to sing the Beatle’s “When I’m Sixty-four” and it still refer to the future.

And (as I said earlier, but on MrsLee's thread which is not, I realise, a sensible place) a (now belated) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

>60 pgmcc: Ha! So true.

Slow turtle wishes you a happy birthday!

Happy belated birthday :)

And another belated Happy Birthday!

I knew that you had to have a thread somewhere, not sure how I've missed it for so long! So 1. Happy New year and 2. Happy Belated Birthday (not quite as belated as 1 but ...)

And you got me with a BB with your first book of the year, although it will probably be some time before I get to it - I am being good and tackling Mt TBR (honest!)

Thank you all so much! There has been wine and cheese, and the festivities have been ongoing. 🥂🧀🍷

>60 pgmcc: That's a pity as well, but I was a math major...
And clearly we will still need you and still feed you, as long as you can get by on virtual cheese.

>68 Jim53: ...but will you lock the door?

>45 clamairy: Very belated happy birthday!

I also wanted to make sure you saw this in case you wanted to use it for anything. :) Group admins can pin topics now and they'll show at the top for people who use the Groups page. Those of us who prefer to use Talk won't see that of course, but we can always pop over to the group page if we need to see them. https://www.librarything.com/topic/328876

>70 YouKneeK: Thank you, and thank you. Anyone have any suggestions on what to pin? I don't think the welcome thread would be a good option, but perhaps the thread with all the tips on how to post spoilers, etc might be a good option. Oh, and the link to our journals...

>71 clamairy: Excellent suggestions. Perhaps also the thread on doing fancy things.

>72 pgmcc: The thread with the tips on how to post spoilers is the ' fancy things' thread. 😆

>71 clamairy: I think pinning those two would make good sense!

>69 pgmcc: This is Clam's house, so it's up to her. If it were me, I wouldn't want to figure out the time zones ;-)

Happy happy belated birthday wishes.

A friend has volunteered to assist you with the festivities:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ThUqGSfEI

>76 fuzzi: Hocus Pocus by Focus, or Focus by Hocus Pocus.

I have that on a vinyl 45 rpm. Love that music.

E.T.A. Yes, I bought it new when it came out. I was that soldier.

Just a note to say thanks for all you do here, clam. It is very much appreciated! Even if the new updates do take away the easy viewing of the spectacular Green Dragon and the Knight photo. :P

>76 fuzzi: Hahaha! Thank you for that.

>77 pgmcc: I have the LP somewhere.

>78 MrsLee: You are most welcome! And yeah... I am not happy about how squished that new set up has made the group page. I will probably just delete that pic for now. (I love it though.)

I read The Curse of Chalion for our group read. Really enjoyed this one, and will most likely read the second one at some point in the near future. I won't say much about it here, as I'm going to post in the main thread.

I also finished The Bear and the Nightingale, which was amazing. I'd like to thank everyone else who read this before me and sprayed me with bullets. (That would be NorthernStar, Sakerfalcon, littlegeek,
catzteach, Darth-Heather and YouKneeK, and probably a few others I have forgotten about.) I definitely enjoyed this one more than Spinning Silver, but possibly not quite as much as Uprooted, if only because it's a bit darker in tone. Also colder. MUCH colder... Oh, and I can't begin to tell you all how relieved I was that there was no romance with the scary priest. I was getting nervous there.

I know very little about this period in Russian history (14th century apparently) so was surprised that tribute was being sent to a khan. I loved the idea of the spirits of the house, stable, woods, lakes, etc needing to be appreciated. I'm going to read the second one as soon as it's available to borrow. (It was ready to download two days ago, and I decided to wait until I finished the first one, which I own. In the meantime someone else snagged it. Haa haa.)

>81 clamairy: oh I loved that book (and yeah your spoiler? ditto) you do need to read the other two girl in the tower and winter of the witch

>81 clamairy: I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I also agree with your spoiler!

>71 clamairy: Maybe pin group reads when they happen?

>84 Narilka: I will pin it until we are done with it. Then it will be added to the list of group reads.

>81 clamairy: I'm so glad you enjoyed this! The sequels are just as good too.

And thank you from me too for all you do in making the Green Dragon the best place to hang out on the internet!

>81 clamairy: What >86 Sakerfalcon: said. Hear! Hear!

What >86 Sakerfalcon: and >87 pgmcc: said! More cheers!

>86 Sakerfalcon: >87 pgmcc: >88 hfglen:

Absolutely!

>86 Sakerfalcon:, >87 pgmcc:, >88 hfglen: & >89 suitable1: Many thanks. You are too kind.

I have started The Girl in the Tower and I was sucked right in. I was halfway through Men Explain Things to Me when I got a notice that the Arden book was ready to borrow already. I'll go back to the Solnit for sure, but I was happy for the break because I was getting angry reading it.

I finished Men Explain Things to Me after leaving it half done to get to a library ebook. I'm glad I split this in two because it's hard to take in one go. Actually it was hard to take in two halves. I probably should have read it one essay at a time, but I might not have gone back. The first essay, the one that shares the book title, was actually a bit humorous. The rest were not. There are a lot of mind-blowing stats about how many women are murdered and assaulted each year. Though I realize as a woman with sisters and a daughter I should be aware of these statistics, it was just painful to read. And infuriating, too. We are making progress, but it's been a long time coming.

I also finished The Girl in the Tower, which is the second book in Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy, and is was wonderful. I'm teetering on the brink between 4.5 and 5 stars, mainly because it made me really anxious. LOL I already have the third one on my kindle ready to go. We've got two days of high winds and heavy snow headed here, so this should be the perfect book to be immersed in.

third one will knock your socks off.

>92 clamairy: Oh good, I’m glad you enjoyed the second book and hope you enjoy the third one!

If you haven’t seen it, there’s more talk about giving admins additional powers in the Talk About LibraryThing group. I’ve not been following it closely as one of the threads (maybe not that one, but they’re all blurring together as I skim them quickly) devolved into very long arguments. I’ve stopped paying them much attention for now as I don’t have time to read walls of text about problems other groups have that I’m not a member of. I read enough to know that we’re very lucky to have such a calm and mostly polite group! :)

>94 YouKneeK: I read enough to know that we’re very lucky to have such a calm and mostly polite group! :)

yes indeed!!!

>94 YouKneeK: & >95 cindydavid4: It wasn't always that way! The group regulars were great, but we had quite a few trolls during the first few years. The internet has gotten so large that I suspect most of the shirtheads have gone places where they can get instant reactions, like Twitter, etc. Many of us just started posting pictures of newts in reply to the trolls, and they would often get so confused they would leave.

I will check out the thread about the new powers at some point. I have to log out of this account and into the admin account to do anything with the group. It keeps me from accidentally doing something terrible without realizing it.

It keeps me from accidentally doing something terrible without realizing it.
"She turned me into a newt!"

>97 MrAndrew: Yea, what would >96 clamairy: do with even more power? Should we be afraid? Should we be very afraid?

Heh, I volunteered to be an admin in a couple of groups I follow that are for fans of two of my favorite authors. The Black Orchid, for fans of Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout mysteries, and All Things Discworldian-The Guide of Pratchett Fans (I never noticed before how unwieldy that name is. Oh well.). These are both pretty quiet - on the verge of being Dormant - groups. I don't mind if they stay that way. ;P

>99 MrsLee: I've been added as an admin for the Cheese! group. Can't wait to get that back up and running. 🧀

>100 clamairy: Mmmmm, cheeese. I can see a cheese group sitting idle, ripening if you will, and then coming back stronger, better, than ever.

>97 MrAndrew: ha haha good one!

>97 MrAndrew: Yes, indeed. Much more difficult for you to post with those itty bitty limbs.

>100 clamairy: cheese, I just looooooooooove cheese...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-BBoVUdOf4

>104 fuzzi: Cute!

The group is here, btw: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/1442/Cheese21

>96 clamairy: It wasn't always that way! The group regulars were great, but we had quite a few trolls during the first few years.

oh believe me I knew! I was on the Table Talk Salon from the Atlantic in 2000 or so, but yeah. it was pretty bad then, and never found a place without them. Most of the sites Im on have good mods, but they do have a way of sneaking through

>99 MrsLee: All Things Discworldian-The Guide of Pratchett Fans

oh my I can't even imagine. Been a long time fan in games of thrones Watchers on the Wall and boy oh boy did we have trolls, along with amazing laughs and stories and conversations. But still, I love discworld but wouldn't want to be a mod around too many of the fans

>101 MrsLee: Haahaa! Great... Now I'm hungry.

>101 MrsLee: That is such a mature view of the world.

>101 MrsLee:, 109 Sounds like a well-aged philosophy to me.

>110 Sakerfalcon: There may be a few holes in it.

>105 clamairy: Good luck, you know what they say. It ain't easy, being cheesy.

Please, no more in this vein.

>113 MrAndrew: Is it making you feel blue?

>113 MrAndrew: Isn't it gouda nough for you?

I can't disabrie with any of these remarks.

If believe we've entered a very gruyere area in this discussion.

I've Havarti-nuff of this conversation...

Is this nacho favorite topic?

>119 clamairy: bwahaha! Touché!

If anyone is looking for something slow-paced and beautifully acted I'd like to recommend The Dig on Netflix. It's a film not a series and it is about the uncovering of the archeological treasures at Sutton Hoo.

>121 clamairy: I am trying to persuade Mrs. PGMCC to watch this. It looks good from the trailer and the cast listing.

>122 pgmcc: I wish there had been a little more archeology and a little less human drama, but I'm sure I can find documentaries about this amazing site to watch.

>121 clamairy: I heard about this a while back and I think my other half has it on his list to download next time he travels.

>121 clamairy: Ooo, sounds good!
>123 clamairy: Meh. Nevermind. :P

>125 MrsLee: LOL It was still quite good!

>123 clamairy: OTOH, Ralph Fiennes is in it, looking - at least in the trailer - all grubby. If for no other reason, I want to watch it for that.

>121 clamairy:, >127 Storeetllr: This does sound intriguing. I just cancelled my Netflix, oops. I recently finished a children's book set near Sutton Hoo and featuring a treasure from the hoard.

I finished Katherine Arden's The Winter of the Witch last night and loved this final segment of the Winternight Trilogy. The medieval Russian setting is wonderful and I hadn't read much like it before. (Spinning Silver comes close, but this is set centuries earlier, I believe.) I hadn't realized, though in retrospect it makes perfect sense, that the Russian peasant belief system co-existed with Christianity for centuries. I feel like offering food to my GE gas oven and my fridge now... Not to mention my hybrid SUV, and my furnace.

I highly recommend this series. My only complaint would be that the action never really stops. I found myself reading into the wee hours because there were very few chapters that ended with a rest or a pause. My anxiety level was rather high because I'd gotten tightly wrapped up in Vasya's trials and tribulations. Not a bad thing to become so enmeshed in a tale that one can't put down one's Kindle, is it?

Arden started writing this when she was 23. Damn! I can't wait to see where she takes us next.

>129 clamairy:
Both Russian Orthodoxy and Rodnovery have undergone significant resurgence in post-Communist times. (And although both can get mixed up with Russian ultra-nationalism, it is unfair to equate either of them with that movement.) The folk element still has a place in Russian ostensibly Christian practice.

And you are really, really making me want to read this trilogy.

pew pew pew! Book bullets!

>129 clamairy: LOL, I like the idea of offering food to your appliances. :) I’m glad you enjoyed this trilogy all the way through! I thought it was pretty impressive.

nvm I

nvm II

>130 -pilgrim-: Oh you really must!! For me it was all about Russian folk tale and Medieval times, well developed characters and excellent writing. And like Clam feel like appeasing the gods of my stove, microwave, and maybe computer, with a treat And I also can't wait to see what she comes up with next

ETA she has written a few YA Novels, small spaces and dead voices (at least I think they are YA.)

>136 cindydavid4: I loved the Winternight books too, so much that I went seeking anything else she had written and turned up Small Spaces. It's definitely meant to be YA but spooky enough to give anyone the creeps. It's also very well written with interesting characters. I will have to look for the other book too.

Sprayed with bullets in my own thread! 😆

Add me to the list of those taking a hit on this series.

>129 clamairy: Oh, I really need to read the next two! I want to wait until I can really focus on them, though. So maybe this summer.

>129 clamairy: So glad you loved this series as much and I and others did! It's so well-written and blends history and fantasy perfectly. I too will be looking for more of her books.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (AKA Mira Grant) was a freebee from Tor some time last year. I wasn't expecting much, until quite a few folks in the group began to sing its praises. I ended up enjoying it immensely, and I will proceed with the series (the first five books of which were given away by Tor) at some point in the near future.

This one packs an emotional punch. It's set in a school for exceptional children all of whom were able to pass into other worlds at some point, but found themselves back in this one. None of them are happy about it.

I'm taking a break from Down Among the Sticks and Bones to read my OverDrive loan The Sellout, which was heavily plugged by littlegeek. Excellent so far.

>143 clamairy: FWIW I enjoyed The Sellout quite a bit. An old book club read it, and the reactions were quite mixed, with a substantial WTF contingent.

>144 Jim53: So far it's hilarious. This man has a delightfully twisted sense of humor.

I DNFed The Sellout because I'm not a reader of literary fiction or satire. It's a brilliant book; I'm just not the right reader for it. This was back in the days when I tried several prizewinners or critically acclaimed titles that I could see were good novels. They just didn't turn me into a different kind of reader. IIRC, I tried it around the same time I tried The Idiot and Less, among others.

I hope you continue to enjoy it!

>143 clamairy: Think this might be a good book for me, always looking for a Swift like satire and commentary on the real world.

>146 libraryperilous: Before I started this group with JPB I hadn't been reading fantasy for decades. I had been reading all non-fiction and literary fiction. Look at what happened to me! LOL (I have no regrets.)

I have one big issue with The Sellout so far. I stayed completely spoiler free for this one and had no clue what I was walking into. Pretty much every outburst of laughter, and there have been many of them, is followed by a groan of guilt. I guess that is the point... I'm enjoying the laughter, but guilt? Yikes.

>149 clamairy: as I recall, the guilt is what made it a memorable book. The humor was fabulous, but the reflections that it invites are the real point. Now I'm realizing how few details I actually remember. This aging stuff really sucks sometimes.

I am putting The Sellout on the back burner and reading The Doctors Blackwell instead. It's non-fiction, and details the life of the first woman to become an MD in the US, and her younger sister who did likewise. I'm about 10% in and enjoying it immensely. I will most likely go back to the Paul Beatty book and read it in small bits, because I am finding it much to difficult to enjoy in one fell swoop.

I finished listening to A Promised Land by Barack Obama. I own a hardcover edition as well, but I liked the idea of the author reading this one to me, as the inflections are all exactly where they are intended to be. Loved this one, and I plan to write a review, but I will not be posting it in this group.



Now I can start listening to The Silmarillion. YAY!

Did you just roll your r's ?

>152 clamairy: Im loving that, but am a bit stuck with too many details so its slow going. Im not a fan of audio books but with him narrating it, might need to switch up and listen while I read. It is worthwhile thats for sure (have you read Michelles memoir? very interesting to compare their look of that time

>153 MrAndrew: Blimey, I did! Thank you...

>154 cindydavid4: I suspect that if I was reading the paper copy I might have skimmed some of the procedural passages. It is very detailed, but I still enjoyed it. Yes, I think Michelle's book was a great counterpoint to this one. Neither one of them dwells on the negative aspects of their public life, but I think he's more accepting of its inevitably.

>152 clamairy: Thanks for the review, I thought I had this on my wishlist, but looks like I have to add it again.

>142 clamairy: the issue I have with that series, and other collections of novellas, is that they never quite follow the characters that I'm most interested in. I know the author is telling the story that they want to write, but I want more details on the characters I most care about.

>158 reading_fox: I don't know where the rest of the books go, so I can't comment on this. I shared them with my daughter and last I heard she was on the 4th one. I do hope one of them was about Kade, as he was one of my favorites characters.

>157 Karlstar: Add it again. You won't regret it.

>160 clamairy: Done, I just had to confirm with my wife that I hadn't gotten it already.

Just finished The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura. This was fascinating but not really what I was expecting. I will be coming back to edit this post, or add details in a later post. But suffice it to say the older of the two sisters, while quite admirable, was not terribly likable.

While I'm wandering around in the pub trying to catch I accidentally got hit right over the head with the Winternight trilogy. Had not heard about it, at all, so thank you!

>163 Busifer: I hope you enjoy it! I was sprayed with bullets by NorthernStar, Sakerfalcon, littlegeek, catzteach, Darth-Heather and YouKneeK (among others) for almost year before I succumbed.

>163 Busifer: Are you sure it was an accident? ;)

Once I'd started it I couldn't stop reading After Alice Fell by Kim Taylor Blakemore. This was one of last month's Amazon Prime's Kindle First Reads, and as usual I waited until the end of the month to pick my book, after checking the ratings of the few that interested me here on LT. This one was well over 4 stars, which is a bit unusual for a freebie, so I grabbed it. It's possible I got sucked in because I had just finished the book about the Blackwell doctors, and this took place at roughly the same time period. The writing is dense and perhaps overly descriptive, so I took a half a star off for that. It's basically a mystery, with a fair amount of gas-lighting. Has a bit of a Shirley Jackson feel, if she were writing about the Civil War era. It's not for the faint hearted!

I still need to come back and write my review of the previous read, but it's very nice out here, after over a month of dismal cold, so I am going to be outside as much as possible!

Coming back for a quickie review of The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine. Two sisters (Elizabeth and Emily) from a large family were among the first women to graduate from medical school* in the US and start practicing medicine. One of them was born to it, and it wasn't the older one, Elizabeth. She was the first to go through the process, and I have to admit I was rather disappointed that she wasn't at all encouraging of more women (other than her sister) to follow in her footsteps. I'm pretty sure she'd be diagnosed as having Asperger's if she were alive today. She didn't fare well in private practice, and when she and her sister opened their clinic in NYC her sister did about 95% of the actual doctoring work, while Elizabeth handled all the fundraising and executive matters. She didn't think much of her contemporary, Florence Nightingale. And Florence felt the same about Elizabeth.

I was more than just a little shocked at the attitudes of men in the medical profession towards women. As I expected a chunk of them didn't think women had the mental capabilities needed to handle being a doctor. The shocker to me was that the rest of them knew women did indeed have what it took, but didn't want them practicing because they were afraid they'd be out of work because women would just be too good at it. I kid you not...

Fast forward to today - more than half of medical school students in the US are females.

*You got a degree after two 3 month terms in those days! Washing hands between patients was NOT one of the things they taught.

>167 clamairy: Have you ever read Dr James Barry? I think you may find it both relevant and a very good read in its own right. AFAIK "James Barry" antedated the Blackwell sisters by most of a lifetime.

>168 hfglen: I have not, but she was mentioned in the book. Yes, she was able to achieve so much, but only by hiding her gender. I'm sure she was not the only one! Kind of like Mulan with a scalpel.

>169 clamairy: She comes across in the book as the kind of person my mother and grandmother would have described as "related to the dragon rather than St. George".

>170 hfglen: Hahaha!!! I've never heard that expression before. I love it.

>167 clamairy: *You got a degree after two 3 month terms in those days!

That made my jaw drop. Did that apply to ALL American degrees in that era, or only medical?

For comparison, the Oxford Bachelor of Medicine degree took 3 years in that era, and it was expected that this was merely the academic part, to be followed by training on one of the London teaching hospitals.

>172 -pilgrim-: I don't have time to do any research now, but no, I don't believe it was all degrees. The medical colleges were their own entities. The students were expected to study on their own the rest of the year at hospitals or other institutions*, to get hands on experience. I do remember that both of the sisters did some of their additional studying in France, because they believed Paris to have the state-of-the-art schools for study of medicine at the time. They did. There they were teaching the importance of hygiene, and no one else was.

*One of the sisters went to an insane asylum for one of her practical stints.

Read The Greatest Journey: Americans in Paris last summer about various artists and writers living in Paris during that time period. Several apparently attended med school there; I had no idea how behind we were in comparison.

>174 cindydavid4: Oh, David McCullough. 😍

Took this one just a few days ago. There was a bit of ice under the water at the low tide line.



Well, I can see it on my desktop. But not on my phone. $#@%!

>176 clamairy: It’s visible on my phone. What an angle! On the wings of a seagull?

>177 2wonderY: I think it's distorted on smaller screens. I'll fix it in a bit, but in the meantime try clicking on the image.

>176 clamairy: It is a super shot. The range of colours is beautiful.

Oh that is lovely. It pops on my screen. Glad you have the opportunity for these walks of yours.

>177 2wonderY:, >179 pgmcc: & >180 Bookmarque: Thank you!

Without these daily beach walks I suspect I would have snapped during the lock-down.

>181 clamairy: I would miss your pictures if they were to stop. I like seeing the different moods of the place as the weather changes, or the light is coming from a different angle, and the things you find on the beach.

>176 clamairy: Absolutely beautiful

>176 clamairy: What a picture, Clam. It must be such a joy to live where this is your view. What peace it must bring, storms notwithstanding. I think it's born in us to turn toward the sea.

>176 clamairy: That is beautiful, and such relaxing scenery (and sounds) to be able to enjoy close by!

>174 cindydavid4: How was that one? Should I be adding it to my McCullough collection?

>176 clamairy: Great picture! That's awesome you are that close to the beach.

I highly recommend it. Its long, but I took it slow to get the most out of it and never got bored. Most of his books were subjects I was somewhat familar with, tho I learned a lot. This was different;

(from the review'This is the inspiring and, until now, untold story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work. Most had never left home, never experienced a different culture. None had any guarantee of success. That they achieved so much for themselves and their country profoundly altered American history "

"American ambassador Elihu Washburne, who bravely remained at his post through the Franco-Prussian War, the long Siege of Paris and even more atrocious nightmare of the Commune. His vivid account in his diary of the starvation and suffering endured by the people of Paris (drawn on here for the first time"

Click on the title and look at the review for a better summary

I had started Sharks in the Time of Saviors but I set it aside because an OverDrive book was suddenly ready to borrow. Now I'm reading Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth and it is fascinating so far.

I finished Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb yesterday and have some mixed feelings abut it. My overall impression was positive, but this book could have benefited from a lot more editing. It's very repetitive. It appears as though the author had two different people editing it. Apparently they didn't communicate.

The books is about the object 'Oumuamua (Hawaiian for 'scout') that passed through our solar system back in 2017. Loeb is convinced there is a probability that the object was a piece of defunct (or functional) alien technology. (Quite possibly a light sail.) He makes a lot of good points. And I've noticed in the last couple of weeks more of the scientific community is admitting the shape of the object was in fact a disc and not a cigar, like the news was reporting a couple of years ago. The latest news stories quote scientists claiming 'Oumuamua was a cookie shaped rock that was probably 'chipped' off a planet or planetoid in another star system. The truth? We'll never know because we didn't realize it was even here until it was already around the sun and leaving our solar system.

At one point the author says popular culture is partially responsible for most scientists' unwillingness to consider an extraterrestrial source for 'Oumuamua.

Personally, I do not enjoy science fiction when it violates the laws of physics; I like science and I like fiction but only when they are honest, without pretensions. Professionally, I worry that sensationalized depictions of aliens have led to a popular and scientific culture in which it is acceptable to laugh off many serious discussions of alien life even when the evidence clearly indicates that this is a topic worthy of discussion; indeed, one that we ought to be discussing now more than ever.

I'm going with the alien technology, just because I love the idea!

Here is an image from the book. On the left is a solar sail, and on the right a 'cigar shaped rock' which is how 'Oumuamua was originally depicted when the story broke.

>189 clamairy: I thought at the time it more fit the profile of an intentional visitor from another solar system rather than an accident. I guess we'll never know?

>190 Karlstar: I guess one way we could know is if they came back and admitted they did a fly by.

>191 clamairy: So, we are waiting for Rama II, then?  ;-)

>192 ScoLgo: RAMA was my first thought when the news first broke. Remember, the Ramans do everything in threes.

>189 clamairy: I saw an image of the cookie shaped rock. It looked a bit like The Millennium Falcon. If it is being tracked we may be due a visit from an Imperial Cruiser.

>191 clamairy: Time to invest in some Stalker gear then?

>192 ScoLgo: & >193 pgmcc: I haven't read any of that series, so I cannot confirm or deny.

>194 pgmcc: I can only assume that resemblance was intentional.

>195 -pilgrim-: Is this a gaming reference?

>196 clamairy: Not directly. I was thinking of Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers (although the games of that name are related to their novel, the Andrei Tarkovsky film is actually more apposite)..

The open discussion there is in the intentions of aliens, who have just passed though, leaving some Artifacts behind.
The theories are:
(I) Are these hostile? The first step in an invasion?
(II) Are these benign? They are leaving us technology; when we understand it, we will be ready for further contact.
(III) They were just passing through; but they dumped some trash. (The smart money is on the latter; hence the title.)

I have always liked that explanation. We should not assume that we ourselves are of interest to the first aliens who find us.

ETA: "Stalker" is the term used for alien artifact hunters.

>197 -pilgrim-: Thank you for the explanation. I've never heard the term stalker used in that context before. To me it's a creep that is paying someone else too much unwanted attention.

>198 clamairy: Hereabouts its primary meaning is someone who hunts game, usually deer.
(cf. Sherlock Holmes' well-known hat type).

The Strugatskys were naturally familiar with that meaning (given the popularity of hunting as a hobby and of Sherlock Holmes on Soviet television) and borrowed it.

I am aware of its secondary transference to your context too, of course (to creeps who think of women as "game").

>199 -pilgrim-: Yes, the game hunter usage would be primary British. Hunters here are just called hunters.

As for the creepy kind of stalker, they come in all genders. Much stalking is done virtually these days.

>200 clamairy: To me there are hunters and then there are hunters. The traditional Khoi procedure in the Kalahari involves stalking the quarry and shooting an arrow (often made of a grass stalk, no pun intended) from a relatively small bow at close range. That takes skill.

Then there's the, er, other kind, that involves hiding a wire noose over a game trail and checking it occasionally. Suffice to say that the rangers at Hlane Game Reserve, eSwatini, have removed (in the last 10 years or so) several times as many such traps from their reserve as there are wild animals in the whole of their country.

I was sucked into The Survivors very quickly. I really enjoyed this Aussie author's book The Dry a few years ago, and this one did not disappoint. I always think I'm not 'into' mysteries, but then I start a book like this and I'm completely useless for much else until I've finished reading it. This one is set in a seasonal beach community (not unlike my own) in Tasmania. This one would make an excellent beach read.

I'm already well into Silver in the Wood which was a Tor giveaway last Fall. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Hey, clam. Glad you liked Harper's latest. It gets mixed reviews on audible...some folks say it's not as tight as her other books and those are pretty sprawling in my opinion. Also there's a good deal of cruelty on display in The Dry, has she continued that here?

There's a bit of teen angst & male bravado in some flashbacks. Nothing like the abuse in The Dry.

>204 clamairy: Thanks, clam. I snagged William Boyd's latest instead of this on my last audible go 'round, so I might grab this one next. There's just stuff that does my head in these days and I can't put it it in there if you know what I mean.

>205 Bookmarque: I absolutely do. Might I suggest you listen to a sample first, to make sure the narrator works well for you.

>201 hfglen: To me there are hunters and then there are hunters.
I would agree with you completely. Stalkers are a subset of hunters, who need skill and stealth (even more so when not using mechanised weapons). "Riding to hounds" or grouse-shooting with beaters is a completely different matter.

And personally I would not count trappers as hunters at all.

>207 -pilgrim-: The story of how Hlane came to be protected bears repeating. There is a Swazi tradition that once a year the King and at least part of his army goes hunting (traditionally with spears) in a specific part of the lowveld of Swaziland. And it came to pass that one year, after a week or more of unremitting effort, all the army had to show the King was one solitary cane rat, about the only animal they'd seen. The king (Sobhuza I guess, don't think Mswati has that much insight) deduced that (1) the game in the lowveld had been poached out and (2) Something Must Be Done About This. So he called in Ted Reilly of Mlilwane Game Reserve (just down the road from the royal palace) and pretty well gave him a blank cheque to get on with it. Which he did, and fenced the area, employed rangers to patrol it, and imported game from pretty well wherever he could, as long as it was species that used to live there. So now there's a very attractive tourist area on one side of the main road (with the lions in a separate camp), and the royal hunting area on the other.

And yes, IMHO the correct name for that kind of trapper is "poachers".

I finished the first book in the Greenhollow Duology yesterday, Silver in the Wood. I really loved this one, and I've put the second on hold with OverDrive. As mentioned above this was a Tor giveaway last Fall, and I'm so glad I snapped it up. If I love the 2nd as much I'll buy it when it to goes on sale.

>209 clamairy: Nice shooting Clare! I snagged this one from TOR at the same time. Was looking for another book to help fill in my WWE Women of Genre Fiction Challenge for this year. Thanks!

>210 ScoLgo:

>211 clamairy: Direct hit!

>212 ScoLgo: Does it count as much if you already own the book? LOL

>213 clamairy: Absolutely! I'm sure I currently own more books than I have any hope of getting to before I shuffle off this mortal coil. Anything that moves one of them nearer the top of the pile definitely counts.

>214 ScoLgo: I'm in the same situation. Sometimes I take great comfort in it and other times I find depressing.

I do hope you enjoy it. It has a great 'feel' to it that I thoroughly appreciated. My only complaint was that it's so short.

I've started The Goblin Emperor. I'm pretty sure it was a book bullet in here, possibly a couple of years ago. Or I might have snagged it because it was on sale, and then people mentioned how great it was.

I returned The Sellout to the OverDrive unfinished. I couldn't make myself keep going. I have also set aside Sharks in the Time of Saviors for the time being. I do plan to return to that one.

>215 clamairy: I do my best to embrace Umberto Eco's view that unread books are a greater resource than the books already read.

I look forward to reading your thoughts on The Goblin Emperor. It seems pretty highly rated, won the 2015 Locus award, and was nominated for a slew of other awards, so I've been interested in reading it at some point. I'm currently chipping away at Cherryh's Foreigner series in print and am waiting for my holds on both Mexican Gothic and Falling in Love With Hominids to arrive on Overdrive.

>216 ScoLgo: I too am a supporter of Eco’s view of the unmined resources in our libraries being the true value.

>216 ScoLgo: >217 pgmcc: Well, there is all that potential there. Multiplied by close to 2K, in my case...

>215 clamairy: >216 ScoLgo: I really, really liked The Goblin Emperor, I hope you do too.

>217 pgmcc: The only issue I have is that I want to read all those unread books immediately. They are all getting in each others way vying for my attention. Yes, it's a personal - and a first-world - problem... ;)

>218 clamairy: Wow! That's a lot more unread books than I have - even counting all the e-books I've picked up.

>219 Karlstar: That's good to hear! I see there is a sequel; do you know if Addison is working on more volumes for the series or will it be limited to a duology? I hesitate to begin a series before it's fully published, (looking at you, GRRM! ;)

>215 clamairy: I too loved The goblin emperor! It is so different to the books she writes as Sarah Monette (which I also love but are waaaayyyy darker).

>220 ScoLgo: I believe the forthcoming sequel focuses on another character; it sounds as though it is an adventure set in the same world rather than a direct sequel. Certainly Emperor feels complete in itself.

>216 ScoLgo: I do my best to embrace Umberto Eco's view that unread books are a greater resource than the books already read.
In that case, my home is a treasure trove indeed!

>220 ScoLgo: >221 Sakerfalcon: I've pre-ordered the sequel, I liked it that much, I almost never do that. I was hoping that despite what the summary says on Amazon, that while the primary plot follows another character, the main thread will continue.

>220 ScoLgo: I'm exaggerating, but not by much. :o/ I don't have all of the books I want to read all in my 'to read' collection because I only created it and started adding stuff to it long after the horses were out of the barn, so to speak. I do know I own a bunch of stuff that I am not that interested in reading now, but hope to get to eventually. It doesn't help that so much of my stuff is still in boxes. Covid halted all of the renovation plans I hadn't started yet. And even with the vaccine and numbers coming down here in NY I am very hesitant to start scheduling anything inside my house.

>219 Karlstar: I'm enjoying it so far, thank you.

>223 clamairy: I would not be exaggerating to say that I can beat that figure. Inheritance from book-loving relatives can do that to you. And I sympathise completely with your position. Covid-19 restrictions mean that I have not collected books stores where I am not.

Ok ok ok , Ill do it - add Goblin Emperor to the multipage list of TBR books. Sigh you guys are making me crazy! Really it does look interesting i'll give it a try

>226 cindydavid4:

>226 cindydavid4: Haha! Me too... >215 clamairy: >221 Sakerfalcon: >222 Karlstar: You all can put another notch in your BB guns; I have added The Goblin Emperor to my WWE reading lists for this year.

>223 clamairy: My LT listings are woefully incomplete. I re-organized all of my physical books a couple of months ago so at least everything is now in a semblance of order. Next step will be to (slowly) go through the shelves and enter any missing pieces here on LT. Most of what I have listed on this site was imported from Shelfari back when that site was shutting down. I've been pretty good about adding new acquisitions since that time - but there is a significant backlog of print books that have never made it online. Likely due to starting my reading life in the previous century.

>209 clamairy: You might have gotten me with this one too. I seem particularly susceptible to fantasy bullets this year. I've had The Goblin Emperor on my list for a while too.

>209 clamairy: so do you get commission from LT for hooking the most people on a single book? Asking for a frien

*cackles*

>228 ScoLgo: I had forgotten you were one of the Shelfari refugees! Enjoy updating your catalog. I've almost given up hope that my books will ever be in any kind of order again.

>229 Jim53: I have definitely been reading more fantasy and sci-fi in the last year than I usually do.

>232 clamairy: Yeah, I still miss Shelfari - but this place is pretty cool too! :-D

>234 ScoLgo: How many of the friends you made there migrated over here when you did?

>235 clamairy: Not very many. A few opted for other places while some did come here at first but have since faded away. I still see a few familiar user nicks here & there in the small number of LT groups that I haunt.

The Shelfarians on LibraryThing group currently has a mere 141 members. It's not very active at all but someone will occasionally post over there. Some of the members there are familiar to me from Shelfari but not all that many were active in the same groups as me even in those days.

>236 ScoLgo: That's too bad. I'm glad you found us.

I too came here with a bunch of people, and now that Tane is back that means that two of us are still here. There were at least a dozen or more of us in this group early on. So it goes...

When I was on Atlantic Table Talk Salon in the early 2000s, and Readerville was starting up we had a huge slew of people switch over, and then switched over to Book Balloon. When we came here some came over but not as many. Still have about 5 or 6 who are still active in LT as well as BB. Nice to see their fonts again, but miss lots of people too.

>238 cindydavid4: I have never heard of any of those websites! I have 'lost' a couple of friends to Goodreads.

>239 clamairy: Maybe it's my age, but I find Goodreads too busy and superficial. I cannot see any in depth discussion on books. It strikes me as a more commercial book promotion site than a cataloguing site.

>240 pgmcc: and as much as I like pictures, there's a plethora of pictures but a dearth of meaty cataloging stuff as we have here.

I'm a member of GR, but don't go there much anymore.

>240 pgmcc: I was on another site for a while called Common Reader, when it switched over to good reads a while back. I tried to stay with it but yeah, the discussions weren't as good as I was used to be on the old site, or this one for that matter (btw in case you are wondering I wasn't on all these at the same time, but for a while there they were my social life which in RL I don't have much of!)

I’m active both here and on Goodreads, although more here than there when it comes to having conversations with people. I’m on both sites for socializing though, not cataloging. I don’t know people in real life who share my reading interests, so I enjoy having people to talk to about what I’m reading.

On GR I’m in a SF&F group that has a large membership and has some pretty good book discussions with regular group reads and more spontaneous buddy reads, although participation varies. Since you have multiple people reading the same book, the conversations can often go into more depth because the book is fresh in everybody's minds. I don’t participate regularly myself, but I’ve enjoyed the discussions when I do. I hate the quoting process on GR though, and especially hate it when people don't clean their quotes up and leave you a completely pointless default "he said she said he said" quote that gets cut off before you find out what they're actually replying to, and then you're intently scanning posts looking for the proper pattern of he said she said he said in the posts to try to figure out what they're replying to. (Or you don't bother and just move on without having any clue what they're talking about because you have better things to do!)

On GR, I occasionally get comments on my reviews, but they definitely don't generate the level of discussion I see in my thread here. I love the discussions here. I think the GR review commenting format tends to lend itself to shorter comments. On the other hand, one thing I do really like on GR is that I usually see more people I know reviewing books I’m familiar with than I do here. Many of my friends there are in the same SF&F group and some of us get a lot of our reading choices from the group shelf.

So for me, both sites have their purpose. If I were forced to give one up, I would give up GR, but I wouldn't be entirely happy about it. It’s funny because a lot of non-LT regulars typically think of LT as a very non-social site, I think primarily because you can’t comment on reviews, and because the activity feed isn’t as prominent or interactive, and there's less friending and liking. I much prefer forum-based discussions and find feed-based discussion (or whatever the proper term is -- another example would be Reddit) very frustrating, so LT works great for me.

Oops, a bit long, sorry! :)

>243 YouKneeK: Don't apologize. Because I've been here so long I haven't been able to find my way around Goodreads very well. I have a few RL friends that use it, so I will comment on their reviews but I haven't gone near the discussions. Also I was unable to upload my library from here to there, despite making sure I had the right size file and format. It stalled at 300 something books. I tried smaller files and nothing would be added. Now it only adds what I read on my Kindle. And if I read three pages and switch to another book (rinse and repeat) it will just keep adding those to 'currently reading.' So when I went in last week it showed me reading a massive pile of books at once. LOL

Now that the Kindle will only let me share passages to Goodreads anything I want to post elsewhere has to be shared there first then copied and pasted to post on Twitter or Facebook or via email. Once upon a time Amazon made it a lot easier to share. Though I think it's still relatively easy with the Kindle Fire, but I rarely use that.

>244 clamairy: LOL, the first time GR made an update based on something I did on my Kindle, I was annoyed and unlinked the accounts. I can make my own announcements, thank you very much, and they’ll be a lot more accurate. ;) I don't normally share quotes though, so I could see it being useful for that, although annoying that it's more limited now.

I joined the sites pretty close together (GR in Nov 2013 and LT in Jan 2014) so I wasn’t too attached to either interface at the time. I thought GR was a little more intuitive for a new user, but I loved the customizability of LT. I've never tried to run the import process on either site.

On GR I mostly sit on the Community/Discussions page which lists the groups I’m a member of. Once or twice a day I’ll go to the Home page which has the activity feed from my friends. I have a lot of complaints about that feed, but I try to keep its noise minimized by setting it to only show book updates so I don’t have to wade through lots of notifications that my friends liked various random things.

>234 ScoLgo: I started on Shelfari, but once I looked at the cataloging functions here at LT, I never looked back. :)

>244 clamairy: >245 YouKneeK: I'm glad I'm not the only one that doesn't care for Goodreads. The only time I use it is if I get an ER book here, I figure the book can use the publicity. I just don't care for it as much as LT.

>234 ScoLgo: The Shelfari days were good ones, and Leafmarks was nice in it's way. I'm glad a bunch of us washed up here! I tried Goodreads also but the people weren't as much fun so I stuck with LT instead..

So I set The Goblin Emperor aside briefly to quickly read a book I read a glowing review of called The Scapegoat. I was about 20% of the way in when I realized I thoroughly detested the narrator. I bailed and returned the file unfinished. Back to Maia, and his empire.

>249 clamairy: Had a bad moment when I saw that book title. Was relieved to see that the touchstone didn't point at Daphne du Maurier... ;-)

>250 ScoLgo: I had the same experience.

>251 pgmcc: And I.

>250 ScoLgo:, >251 pgmcc:& >252 -pilgrim-: I apologize for the midnight and early morning heart failure. The du Maurier book is the one that the touchstone kept pointing to, and I had to fix it twice. This other book had a review in either the NY Times or the Washington Post recently that said it was a mind-blowing read. It just wasn't working for me.

I've added the du Maurier to my OverDrive wishlist as that is one of hers I don't own and haven't read yet.

I really liked The Scapegoat, but it does require you to suspend disbelief for it to work. If you can do that and just go with it, it's terrific.

Im missing a reference here, explain pls?

>255 cindydavid4: We were discussing two different books with the same title.

ok I thought so but wasn't sure. Carry on... :)

>250 ScoLgo: Yep! Me too!

>253 clamairy: The Scapegoat was a 5-star read for me. I was rather stricken at the thought you detested it enough to DNF at 20%. Imagine my relief!! ;-)

>254 Bookmarque: The Scapegoat was the first du Maurier title I read and I loved it. I agree one must suspend disbelief regarding the central premise - but the writing and first-person narration are both superb and really carried me away. I borrowed the hardback from the library and read it in two sessions. It was incredibly difficult to put the book down once I began reading it. Unfortunately, the two film adaptations I have watched both completely bungled du Maurier's ending, though I thought both versions did a decent enough job with the story up until the denouement.

>249 clamairy: I'm glad you didn't want to bail on The Goblin Emperor.

>260 Karlstar: Oh no, I'm loving it! Trying not to race through it, though.

So Du Maurier is this month's author discussion if you'd like to participate. I have a couple books of hers I haven't read or haven't read in ages so it might be Jamaica Inn or The King's General for me.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/330978

>262 Bookmarque: I love Rebecca, and enjoyed Jamaica Inn very much when I read it at school.

Unfortunately I am too busy at the moment to read anything to plan, but I will follow this thread with interest.

My real life sci fi group is reading Magicians Apprentice by Raymond Feist* and it just arrived today (hard to find, used , new, hard back paperback. Ended up using Abe.)I read ever book by Fiest but that first trilogy was pure gold. Apparently he added some parts that had been cut in 1997 and so this copy is Authors Cut!!!!Should be fun!

Re DuMaurier, my fav after Rebecca was House on the Strand

sorry about the tombstone! Figured out a work around

um, touchstone

>262 Bookmarque: Oh, so how does this work? You pick something of hers to read and then discuss it without spoilers?

>264 cindydavid4: Pretty sure your touchstone is not pointing to the right book.

or with spoilers - hidden as we do on the talk threads. It's been a while since I've done one, but I think I'll jump on this one.

>209 clamairy: really was wonderful. Last time I looked drowned country wasn't yet available, but as ever once it makes it onto a wishlist I forget to keep searching.

>215 clamairy: I was less impressed with GE. The innocent at court trope needs careful handling and I felt not enough world-building supported the characters even if they were all well crafted.

>264 cindydavid4:, >268 cindydavid4: I think you’re referring to Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist. That’s the series that got me addicted to fantasy about 25 years ago. :)

>268 cindydavid4: yes, I fixed it. I was reading fantasy before, this just took it to a higher level!!

>267 reading_fox: I should be able to borrow the eBook of Drowned Country within the next two weeks. There is only one person in the virtual line ahead of me.

I am enjoying the The Goblin Emperor very much. My only issue is with the names. Many of the characters have more than one. I should have made a cheat sheet.

>266 Bookmarque: I might jump in as well. But we're supposed to be reading Paladin of Souls in here for April, I believe...