Kaida's Reading Adventures

Arches National Park, Moab, UT

Hi, I'm back again for this year, which I think is my 14th year on LT. Introductions... I'm in Utah, and recently retired because of health concerns from teaching pathology students and working in hospital laboratories for many years, with a brief stint teaching honors science at the junior high level. To keep myself busy I volunteer at the local Natural History Museum one day a week and donate time helping to computerize vital statistics records from around the world, so they can be readily available to people all over the globe who are curious about their ancestral connections.

I read a mix of fiction and non-fiction and happen to enjoy the SF and Fantasy genre, history, historical fiction, science books, faith based books, ghost stories, occasional mysteries, maybe the only thing I really don't like reading are straight romances. I'm a fan of my local library, and will read ebooks, listen to audible, etc. I'm trying to hard to pare down the volume of tomes on my shelves, so after reading the books I own I donate them to thrift stores or little free libraries around town. If its really special I might keep it, but after doing clean up duty for my mother and in-laws after they passed, I am serious about not leaving that kind of task for my own children!

So....here's the new thread for 2023!

I still want to concentrate on my own shelves again for the bulk of my reading this year, with a goal of at least 75, so I guess that would be classified as a '75 ROOT' or a 'ROOT 75' thread. I was tossing around the idea of an alphabetical challenge where you pick one book title or author name (first or last) for every letter of the alphabet. I happen to have Xenocide on my shelf, so that one is already a given for that kind of reading challenge, and I'd like to finish off some series that I've been working my way through.

Alphabet Challenge for 2023
Pick one book title or author name-(first or last) for each letter of the alphabet, exceptions might be used for Q or Z, but I will give myself 'bonus points' if I can find a title for each letter. (Suggestions for the hard to find letters appreciated...)

A A Passage to India
B Brighty of the Grand Canyon
C Convenience Store woman, Cutting for Stone
D Death of a Cad, Death of a Gossip
E Ender's Shadow
F The Faerie Ring
G The Goddess Test
H Shadow of the Hegemon
I Time is the Simplest Thing
J Justin Morgan had a Horse
K Killing the Mob
L The Cabinet of Dr. Leng
M The Miles Between
N Nebula Awards Showcase 2013
O The Omnivore's Dilemma
P Shadow Puppets
Q Questland, All Quiet on the Western Front
R The October Country RAY Bradbury
S Shadow of the Giant, Shadows in Flight
T Tress of the Emerald Seas
U Unto the Sons
V
W The Age of Wonder The Wine-Dark Sea
X Xenocide
Y
Z

I'd also like to participate in the non-fiction challenge
2023 Nonfiction Challenge Books read:
January: Prizewinners and Nominees: Omnivore's Dilemma
February: Hobbies & Pastimes. Gardening, Genealogy, Travel etc.: Writing as a Road to Self-Discovery
March: Empires: Killing the Mob
April: The Sea/Ocean: Internet linked Encyclopedia of Seas and Oceans, The Brilliant Abyss
May: Literary Biography:
June: Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples/First Nations:
July: Explorations and Expeditions:
August: The World of the Land, Trees and Plants:
September: Family Ties:
October: Crimes, Mysteries, Puzzles, Enigmas:
November: Matters of Faith and Philosophy:
December: As You Like It:

Thingaversary Books (occurs in April) Acquired in 2023: 14 total

1. The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
2. Forgotten Worlds
3. Scottish Ghost Stories
4. The Monastery Cat and Other Animals
5. Sailing to Byzantium
6. Questland
7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
8. The Bread Baker's Apprentice
9. Walking Across Egypt
10. The Valachi Papers
11. People Hacker
12.
13.
14.

Happy to be first, Deb, but I hope I'm not jumping in too soon. Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023!

Thanks, and you are always welcome, Paul!

Welcome back, Deb! Glad you’re joining in again.

Happy new thread for the new year Deb!

Hi Deb, I've starred your thread again this year.

>8 kgodey: Thanks for visiting WhiteRaven.17 and kgodkey! I started reading Xenocide because I am excited for my new alphabet challenge but I can't let myself finish it until after the new year comes. I would like to finish the Ender series this year, as I already own most of them on my shelves.
I also started with previewing a few books with 'A' titles to see which one to pick as well, A Passage to India was keeping me company yesterday afternoon.

Happy new year Deb!

>2 kaida46: I'm rather fond of Iron Widow - you get both X & Z!

Have a great year of reading!

Happy New Year, Deb!

Happy New Year! Always happy to check in and see what SFF people are enjoying.

Thanks for visiting and Happy New Year to all!

My Top 5 Books for 2022: (in no particular order)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Island of Missing Trees
3. How the Penquins Saved Veronica (which seems to only come up with a touchstone if you write it "Away With the Penguins" for some reason)
4. The Fountains of Silence
5. My Brilliant Life
Reading around the world challenge areas in the top 5: North American Continent, Cyprus, England, Antarctica, Spain, and Korea.

Honorable mentions and Notable Reads for 2022:
Nine Continents
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
The Hungry Tide
Old Man's War
The Sicilian
The Fortunate Pilgrim
The Kaiju Preservation Society

Outstanding YA:
The Orphan of Ellis Island
The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1)

Fill in the questions/phrases with book titles you read in 2022…

Describe yourself: The beloved songsmith. Songsmith
How do you feel?: Brilliant and like a firebird soaring. (Firebirds Soaring My Brilliant Life)
Describe where you currently live: In The white darkness.
If you could go anywhere...? S is for Space
Favorite form of transportation: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her own Making
Your best friend is: The Sicilian
You and your friends are: The sultanas of the Kaiju club. (The Kaiju Preservation Society The Sultan of Byzantium)
What's the weather like? Dark as night. Dark Night by Paige Shelton, (no touchstone available.)
Your favorite time of day is? The Midnight Library
What is life for you? Just One Damned Thing After Another
You fear: The Mountains of Madness and The City of Beasts.
Best advice: You were (Born to Change the World.)
Thought for the day: Living Free.
How you would like to die: When the owl calls my name and when my cat eats my eyeballs. (I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs)

Currently reading: Xenocide and Convenience Store woman

It's late, but happy new year Deb! Starred and ready to see what exotic places you cross into this year.

Finished Tioli #1: Read a book that takes place in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto Japan:
Convenience Store Woman its a unique perspective but I liked the book.

Also finished: Xenocide in the Ender series, Card was quite philosophical in this book, and I enjoyed the read. After reading I watched the Ender's Game movie.

Current reads: The Age of Wonder, this one is interesting but has so much detail contained in it, (a whopping 2000 pages on my e-reader) that I will admit to skimming a bit- almost finished. (non-fiction), A Passage to India,
Tress of the Emerald Seas, Mystery book #1 if you backed Sanderson's secret project last year. I couldn't resist starting it.

Christmas is officially all packed in boxes and stowed away until the end of the year at our house. We actually cleaned out the storage boxes and got rid of some of the old stuff, before stashing it all so Marie Kondo would be proud of me, lol.

>14 kaida46: Some good picks, Deb. Harper Lee is timeless!

>18 kaida46: I downloaded the ebook for Tress of the Emerald Sea but I probably won't read it until my print copy gets here. Apparently they have so many Kickstarter orders to fulfill that it could take until February :(.

Happy reading in 2023, Deb!

Five under my belt for 2023 and it seems like the new year is already flying by too fast.
1. Convenience Store Woman
An easy, unique and interesting read from a Japanese author.
2. Xenocide
From the 'Ender' series, a bullet point to describe it might be philosophical Sci Fi? Along with a good continuing story.
3. The Age of Wonder NF, covers the period of 'Romantic Science' at the end of the eighteenth century, lots of astromony, William Herschel and sister Caroline, Humphrey Davy, Royal Society, etc. and very interesting beginning with Joseph Banks and Tahiti. It's a pretty long and detailed read. Davy was nuts to experiment with gases the way he did. It's also quite literary, which made it unique as a science book.
4. Tress of the Emerald Seas This was first of the Sanderson 'mystery novels' from his kickstarter campaign. Next month those who participated will be getting a nice hardcover version of the book after receiving the digital version, and from what I saw its going to be lovely. Fun story with twists I did not figure out ahead of time.

5. A Passage to India A classic about British colonialism in India, good, but kindof a sad story.

All good reads!

We spend the whole afternoon sealing the deal for a newer car, an upgrade from our current model of Subaru Outback to a 2021 model. Yay! From an odometer of 150,000 miles to one of 20,000. But, it has lots more 'bells and whistles' than I am used to so there will be a bit of a learning curve getting used to all that for me. (Must have butt warmers for the winter, lol!)

Current read: Omnivore's Dilemma for the non-fiction challenge (Award winners).

>24 kaida46: good luck. We briefly had a 2020 Toyota rental and it was like a science fiction car. I was afraid to drive it!

Well, we are loving the new car! Snow a plenty around here this winter, too.
Omnivore's Dilemma is very interesting, just a sliver of pages left.

Read for the American Author Challenge: Justin Morgan had a Horse, revisiting all those horse books from a long time ago for the American Authors challenge.

Also, just started The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, I pre-ordered and the kindle just became available. Yes, I am an AXL Pendergast fan!

I am having a good reading year so far, but am having trouble keeping up with posting and all the different threads! My days keep me pretty busy. So, to avoid unnecessary stress, I will just post when I can.

Completed:
6. Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
7. Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
8. The Cabinet of Dr. Leng (Kindle) (Pendergast #21) (Yes, I've read them all more than once.)
9. Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry

I am doing the Marquerite Henry reads for the Jan. American author challenge and to read/reread through the childhood books sitting on the shelves. These are generally interesting and exciting reads, especially if you like animal stories, sometimes they can be a bit old fashioned since they were written in the 50's. They usually have a few tear jerking scenes and an animal (horse mostly, donkey in Brighty's case) is the main character. the story of the Morgan horse would be a good read aloud book. Many children grew up loving these stories. I don't remember the Brighty book from my youth so I made sure to read it. It was an interesting story and based on a measure of fact, but with embellishments. It seemed really violent to me for a kids story but of course you fall in love with the little donkey and root for the underdog. I would choose a different Henry story to share with grandkids though like Misty.

Omnivore's Dilemma for the Jan non fiction challenge- Quite interesting! If you have read it you will understand why now I am trying out grass-fed beef (even though I don't eat much meat), and why I purchased a comprehensive bread making 'Bible' type of book and entertain visions of making bread with wild captured yeast. (Call me crazy, if you like.) I've had my own garden and do a fair amount of food preservation and have kept chickens for years. In fact my oldest hen (8yrs) is a free ranger who has had trouble with the unusual cold snap we are having here and the copious amounts of snow, so she is getting a vacation from it in the garage and house with us (and I could never eat her shes so tame like a pet, but I have no trouble eating the delicious eggs she still occasionally provides.)

Preston and Child have delivered an exciting tale with the latest Agent Pendergast story, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng but I could smack them both upside the head for leaving you hanging at the end so you have to wait for the next book. It feels like as a fan and loyal reader you are being 'used', but I will buy the next one when it comes out, so there's that.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Cutting for Stone, and really enjoying it. I picked it out of the stack to read last year, but never got to it so I can pat myself on the back for finally getting to it.

Happy reading everyone!

>28 kaida46: Cutting for Stone looks appealing just now!

>29 quondame: Cutting for Stone is very good, just finished it last night.

10. I think this is going to end up as one of my favorites for this year! Highly recommended.

Current reads:

Death of a Cad for D in the read the alphabet challenge. A Hamish MacBeth mystery is always a good diversion.

Writing as a Road to Self-Discovery for the Feb non-fiction challenge (Hobbies, Pastimes category). I like to dabble in writing, not because I wish to write a best seller, but as a way to stimulate the intellect, process emotions, record life, and because I enjoy it.

This little gem is compact in size about 5x4 inches so you can easily tuck it into your bag to fill a few minutes while waiting for appointments or to fill a few minutes, here and there. Fits nicely with the Feb non-fiction challenge writing book I am reading right now.

>28 kaida46: Just go at your own pace with the posting and don't feel stressed or pressured to keep up everywhere. Just happy to see you enjoying your reading and popping up now and then when you are comfortable to do so.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks Paul!

completed: More Hamish Mac Beth Death of a Gossip
current read: Ender's Shadow

Catching up on some book reviews...
Cutting for Stone The story of twin brothers who were born on the day their mother died, who also happened to be a nun.....The author has a talented way with words, but he likes using a lot of them so this is a long book (600
plus pages). The story takes place mostly in Ethiopia, and later in the USA, the setting is interesting and exotic at a mission run hospital compound close to the Ethiopian capital and in a period of time during and after the reign of Haile Selassie and the struggle for Eritrean independence. It is an engaging and emotional story, somewhat mystical, but also very real. It explores the bond of twins and the bounds of family relationships. The author is a surgeon and the setting is in the hospital compound so there's a good measure of medical drama and terminology, as the characters lives revolve around this setting and some are also are surgeons. Includes some religious imagery, historical and medical themes, some sex and violence, plot sometimes moves slowly along, but ultimately the book is about the meaning of family. (4.5 stars)

Hamish Mac Beth Mysteries by M.C. Beaton, Death of a Gossip, Death of a Cad, etc. (cozy mystery series). Beaton is also the author of the Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series (Raisin kindof annoys me as stuffy and nosy), personally I liked the Hamish character better, in all his quirky Scottish glory. This is an entertaining series of relatively short mystery novels, where Hamish is the constable of a small town in the Scottish highlands, and he always has a few murder mysteries to solve, he occasionally poaches for his dinner, and is an amusing character all around. Some of these books are definitely better than others but you have fun riding along with Hamish on his various escapades; will he ever really get that girl or Priscilla for that matter, the supposed love of his life? The colorful depictions of Scottish highland life, the town 'seer', the English moving into old estates and pretending to be Lords and Ladies, all good fun, escapist reading with laugh out loud moments and mysteries to figure out. Sometimes the way many of the younger women in the stories are depicted as gossips and easily infatuated fools can get grating, they are tired troupes, but Hamish is fun enough to read about that you can overlook a bit of that and still have an enjoyable reading experience.

Ender's Shadow, I read Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead, previously and have made a goal of finishing the series this year with Xenocide in January and Ender's Shadow this month. These books are surprising me with how philosophical they are but its not like a lecture. Its woven into the story with the actions and reactions and circumstances the characters experience. You have a front row seat into what's going on in their minds. I don't remember thinking that way about the previous books I read in the series. I guess my perspective on life has changed, but I am enjoying the intellectual aspect of these books. Or, maybe I am just a weirdo, who knows?

Ender's Shadow is a retelling of Ender's Game from the point of view of Bean, Ender's friend and fellow battle school student, but it is also much more than that. Bean's backstory is very different from Ender's. I guess you could enjoy it without reading Ender's Game first, but I don't think I'd recommend that. It adds meat and potatoes to the Ender story, it's also a coming of age tale, since Bean is small in stature but has been genetically engineered to be a genius. If you can get past the fact that a five year old boy is doing all this heavy thinking (a genius 5 yr old, no less), you will find the book interesting. (4 stars)

14. The Faerie Ring
15. The Goddess Test

Two more finished for my Alphabet reading challenge (F, G )

Both were already on my shelves and they happen to be geared for a YA audience, fantasy. Faerie Ring was pretty good, set in the 1870's, a band of petty pick pockets, orphans, in London band together and one of them nicks a ring, which turns out to be very important to the peace between humans and the fay folk. I liked it better than The Goddess Test. If you dabble a bit in YA stuff and like fantasy, you may like it.

The Goddess Test is a modern retelling of the Persephone story. The protagonist seemed like a pushover to me and it was a but saccharine, but that is coming from me, a person who generally does not read or like romance novels very much.

Current read: Shadow of the Hegemon

I've been making time on Sundays to browse on LT, and have finished two more books: #16 Writing as a Road to Self-Discovery for the NF category read and #17 Shadow of the Hegemon for my 'reading the alphabet' challenge and for reading books from the Ender Saga. I'm determined to use books already on my shelves for practically all my reading this year, so far its going well. I do enjoy trips to the local library but there is so much to get lost in that will temp me away from my goals that I have purposely stayed away! I am happily planning and bit by bit purchasing my 14 April 'thingaversary' books though!

Lots of snow here lately!

18. Time is the Simplest Thing (1961) Simak is old school or maybe its better to say classic Sci Fi? This story involves an Earth where physical space travel is no longer possible or desirable to most of the population, and civilization has regressed with beliefs in werewolves, hexes, being afraid of anything that smacks of the supernatural, and fighting against it with prejudice. The protagonist has ESP skills, and there is a secretive corporation that sends people on virtual outer space trips using the power of the mind, but the people who have ESP skills are not accepted into regular society. The story gets a bit goofy with the protagonist meeting a group of witches that fly around at night harassing cars on the road, but it fits within the context of the story. The more interesting part is the protagonist building a mind link with an alien he visited on one of the virtual space trips. It was also written at a time when interest in ESP was building in the general populace. I was interested in this author as part of my quest to familiarize myself with authors from the classic/golden age of science fiction.

19. Shadow Puppets
I was intrigued by the character of Bean from Ender's Shadow and I wanted to finish reading the Ender series, so I sidetracked off to the 'shadow' series of books that feature Bean as the main character. I felt this one fit in with the others even if Bean and Petra as a couple seemed to develop really fast, but I guess if you knew you would die by age 20 because of genetic engineering that was done on you without consent, you would probably move fast in a relationship, too. Some people have criticized the book as being rather preachy and seem predisposed to dislike Card because he supposedly has conservative views. If he does, I've never heard him hogging the news feeds espousing them, like some other Hollywood, sports or political types do. Some reviewers of the book made it a point to disparage the author's views in their review of this book. Not everything has to be edgy or trendy to be enjoyed, sometimes its nice to have a rest from all that and just enjoy reading a novel.

If you put yourself in Bean's shoes and knew you only had a few years to live, the desire to find love and start a family does not seem that unrealistic. The future of the earth and the political posturing by various nations after the Bugger Wars is pretty interesting especially how the Muslim world has reacted to their history and wind up liberating India and parts of Asia from their oppressors. That said, I read this book in about 4 days because the story was still compelling if you don't pick at it too much or start the reading of it with a chip on your shoulder just because of the author's personal views.

>40 kaida46: I've not eschewed Card's books because of his views - though he was somewhat out and about with them on his online newsletter which was, and some version of which may still be, pretty popular among SF fans. But he never had the huge financial clout that someone has, nor anywhere near the visibility, nor did his early works raise any expectations that he was other than he is. I think the Bean series - except the last one, is almost as good as Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

>40 kaida46: I read a lot of Simak over the years - he was sort of a favorite SF author of mine, and some of his works just weren't as good as others. I don't recall this specifically now but know I read it and don't remember it being one of his good ones. I was never big on that ESP/Psi theme that was prevalent at the time no matter who was the author tho! Try Waystation or City or All Flesh Is Grass or one of his reasonably good ones like Ring around the Sun - he was often said to be a pastoral science fiction author and that sounds about right to me. He has a lot of books that one would call good but not great. Very few stinkers but I didn't care for the Fantasy/SF he was writing the last few years of his life. Give him another try sometime.

Hi Susan, I've really enjoyed getting into the mind of Bean with the shadow series, my current read is Shadow of the Giant, and have found it a good mix of Sci Fi, political intrigue, and that it gives me things to think about. I will continue reading them. I was annoyed reading book reviews about some of the shadow books where people were judging the content only by the authors personal views, so it actually prompted me to want to read them more and find out for myself. The series contains some mind bending science fiction with the race of 'piggies' and their evolutionary path, the hive queen and the ansible, etc., and it is interesting to see how Ender and others navigate through the moral dilemmas they are faced with, and generally not of their own making. How do they think this stuff up? I've never heard Card speak or read his online newsletter. Maybe he is just more of a keep to himself kind of person, he has talent as an author and that is what I look for in choosing a book to read.

Ron, I've not given up on Simak yet, I think I have All Flesh is Grass somewhere on my kindle, I just have to dig it out. I found an old copy of Trouble with Tycho at a thrift store, read it and thought it was good enough to read more by the author, even if Tycho seemed more of a YA story, it fit the bill for a 'golden age' sci fi story, which is what I've been seeking with my little quest to become more familiar with the classic stuff.

20. Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card
21. Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card
Yes, I was determined to finish out the shadow series which are companion books to Ender's Game. I guess I can pat myself on the back now. The final book, Shadows in Flight was my least favorite with all the bickering of Bean's genius kids going back and forth, it was a bit grating, but ultimately it had an interesting conclusion, (and I do admit I cried a bit at the end).

Now I will finish up the gangster NF book and decide which book to read from my shelves that has an 'L' in the title or author's name for my alphabet challenge. See post #2 on this thread for a list of the challenge books I've read.

Happy Reading Everyone!

>44 kaida46: You are more generous with Shadows in Flight than I could be. But, yes, some of the ending revelations were decent. You might want to avoid The Last Shadow though. It's more of a wrap up of the The Speaker for the Dead than for Bean's progeny, but it doesn't even rise to the heights of Shadows in Flight just flails around for a excuse and plot to end on.

>45 quondame: Thanks for the advice, I forgot about that one! So I guess I'm not really done after all, oops! Later on in the year I plan to read the other Ender books such as Children of the Mind, etc. I am taking a break from that story line for a bit to read some other things.

It's that time of year where the peeping of little chicks is heard daily around here. We have 5 new chicks. Let's hope at least 3 or 4 of them turn out to be hens. (Cross fingers) We should have at least 2, since they are color-linked leghorns, but for the Easter-egger and the two barred rock chicks, we will have to wait and see. We have some ducks from the nearby park scouting out the yard for nesting sights again, I don't really mind having them about but if they do nest and have ducklings I have to be careful about letting the dogs out unsupervised until they make their way back to the river in the park.

We continue to have weekly snow storms and since we have lots more snow pack than 1983, one of the big flood years around here, springtime could get pretty soggy very fast. In 1983 they turned main street downtown into a temporary canal with sand bags because of all the flooding from spring runoff. I'm actually dreading the thaw a bit because there has been so much more development since then, basements will probably be flooded soon. It's still so cold I can't plant the vegetable starts in the cold frame, they will freeze. I did manage a nice walk with the pups during the best part of the day though, we have a bit of sun, yay!

>46 kaida46: Ermgawd chicks :3
I adore baby chicks, with their fluffy yellow feathers.

22. Killing the Mob
23. The Miles Between

Interesting reading about organized crime in the US, especially during the 1930-60 period. My sister gave this book to me earlier in the year, it fit the bill for the letter K alphabet challenge, and I used it (with a bit of a squishy definition) for the NF challenge for 'Empires' because if building a multi-million dollar drug, gambling and money making enterprise is not empire building, I don't know what is!

The Miles Between has been sitting on my shelf ever since I read The Adoration of Jenna Fox (same author), it does not fit into any one category, but since the characters are High School age, maybe YA is appropriate. Its coming of age, a bit of fantasy, lots of things. The character just wishes for one 'fair day' in her life, and off the story goes... It started out hard to follow at first and a bit slow, I was getting a bit irritated for something to happen with the story but kept on reading. As soon as the action picked up I was glued to the pages. It did not dawn on me until a few pages before the 'big reveal' what it was. Then I cried. I'll let you figure out the rest if you want to read it.

Two more finished: Nebula Awards Showcase 2013 and The October Country

Both of these are Science Fiction and collections of stories. The Nebula Awards Showcase was a well rounded story collection of award winners and The October Country is a collection of strange tales by Bradbury, fit for Halloween, thus the title. Some of these were really bizarre, having been published in the Weird Tales periodical, way back when. I especially enjoyed the forward by Bradbury himself, telling the inspiration for the stories. Some of them are horror and a bit dark, but nevertheless oddly fascinating. My favorite story was "The Lake". I skipped over some of the dark detail in a few stories because the author was a bit too descriptive, and then chuckled through "There was an Old Woman". Classic weirdness for any Bradbury or odd story fan.

We are still getting daily snow here, its good to make up for the lack of moisture the last few years but its going to be a big problem when all the snow pack starts melting. Mud slides here we come!

Current read: Questland I just started it for my Alphabet reading challenge for the letter Q, so far its pretty funny with a lot of wry SF nerd and gaming humor.
I've read this author's whole series of fantasy books about a woman (ironically named Kitty) who is a radio show host and happens to be a werewolf, that in itself was enough to peak my interest because it seemed to be an unusual combination. The series starts with Kitty and the Midnight Hour, which I did not love but was interesting enough to make me want to read the next one and off I went.....to read the whole series. Plus the author is from Colorado, and currently lives in Boulder, where I briefly lived, where my sis lives and where my Mom lived in the mountains of Boulder, CO, for many years.

Another foot of snow over the past few days! Its been a banner year for moisture, which is a good thing but might be fraught with flooding when it all decides to melt. There was a deadly avalanche that killed a man on a snow mobile, but I think it was a bit unwise to go out in it given the current conditions. This week they also closed one mountain road through the canyon for a few days (which lead to ski resorts) to do avalanche control, as they sometimes do each winter. It would be nice to see some sunshine around here! I think Mother Nature has decided to skip spring all together and when she decides to warm up it will be full blown unrelenting summer. Such is the weather here.

Total books read: 30
The only letters left for my alphabet reading challenge are U, V, Y, and Z. For the letter U, I was considering Unto the Sons or Unbroken. For the letter V, I was considering The Valachi Papers or Bannerless (authors last name starts with V), with emphasis being given to books already on my shelves for this challenge.

Questland mini review: This one started out really fun and incorporated a bunch of 'nerd' jokes, then it kindof went off the rails and turned pretty dark. It was a quick read and mostly entertaining but I felt a bit unfulfilled when it ended. 3 stars.

The Wine-Dark Sea short stories and commentary by Sciascia, part of my specialized library of all things Italian. Some of the stories were insightful and interesting, some were just plain boring. A mixed bag, and a bit disappointing. 3 stars.

Wow, has it really been 10 days since I last posted......?

1st Quarter Round-Up:
Total books read: 32
In process: 2 The Brilliant Abyss for April Non-fiction challenge- Seas and Oceans and Unto the Sons for the letter U
Total pages read: 10,615
Total books from my shelves read: 22
Library Books read: 9
Kindle/Electronic, etc.: 5
Male authors: 19
Female authors: 9
New authors I never read before: 11
Genres sampled: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Non-Fiction
Alphabet Challenge Progress: Letters A to T, completed and also the letters W and X.

Latest reads: All Quiet on the Western Front, WW I classic, I've been wanting to read this for a long time. I was about halfway through Unto the Sons and the author was recounting a family member's experiences in WWI as he served in the Italian Army, so I became even more interested in reading about the war. 'All Quiet' tells it from a German soldiers point of view, so it was the right time to detour into that book, then return to Unto the Sons after finishing it. (Note: I have not seen any of the movie versions of All Quiet..the book was sobering enough.)

From a personal point of view, my Great Uncle served in the Italian army in WWI and he was gassed and injured, but he survived. His younger brother, my Grandfather, immigrated to the US in 1912, and I have a vague idea now of how torn their family must have been when all these events were occurring in the world. In 2019 I was able to reconnect with my Great Uncle's grandchildren on a trip to Italy and it was an amazing reunion.

I'm not sure why they call a sobering war book 'great' but it should be required reading for any government official or organization that is o.k. with promoting and or profiting off war, and their family members should be drafted first and put on the front lines before anyone else's.

Missing your posts and discussions, Deb. Hope all is well.

>49 kaida46: I think The Lake is one of Bradbury's intriguing stories, but felt unfinished. When I read the tribute to Bradbury collection last year I like the story that updated and completed "The Lake"

Thinking about you during the festive season, Deb